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Thursday Stuff

Well, I now be a member of the Toledo Area Linux Users Group! I went to their meeting last night and thought it was pretty schweet. They were covering some more intermediate/advanced topics, but I found it very informative. You can check out the site at http://www.talug.org. We meet on the second Wednesday of every month. Last night was at Palmer Hall room 3010 at the University of Toledo. However, they're not sure where the next meeting will take place. It'll be on the site when they know, I'm sure.

At the end of the meeting I introduced myself and GNU Phantom to them and offered to demonstrate it at the next meeting. So... if they approve it then you may be able to see Phantom in action! I'll keep ya posted...

On another topic, Richard Stallman (of GNU/Free Software fame) is giving a speach on Jan 24. 2000 at the University of Cincinatti. I'm currently planning on attending (if I can schedule it... it be on a Monday), and just want others to know about it!!!

Thursday 12/09/1999


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The Bicentennial Man

The news has been out for a while, but I thought that I'd mention it here... They've made a movie adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Bicentennial Man!!! It's starring Robin Williams and looks pretty schweet. I hope it's as good as the book (I liked the version with Robert Silverberg the most)...

Monday 12/06/1999


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God's IPO... and Y2K

What happens when everyone's favorite God decides to go corporate? Will He/She file for an IPO on the stock market? Will He/She go on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or the NASDAQ??? Will It be valued at $290B or $1T??!?! Will He/She stop worrying about His/Her subjects and start on His/Her bottom line??? Or will He/She only be concerned with His/Her share- holders??? If you sell your Share will you go to Hell?!?!

What happens when God's Stock crashes? Will Black Friday be the real thing???

Sound implausible? Why not? Doctors can do it. They play God everyday...

I've had quite a few Y2K related questions today. Most of them are first stage Y2K questions. It's kind of scary. These questions should have been asked long ago... like in '95...

Thursday 12/02/1999


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Turnabouts fair play

Now for those of you who think I'm an idiot biggot for my last post, please read the following very carefully:

Bill Clinton's a god-damned moron

Yep that's right. Our number one is simply none. I don't get this guy. He's been quoted recently as saying that "Developed countries should help out underdeveloped countries by giving them cell phones and the internet".
Ho-Lee-Shit....
How is a cell phone going to help Nantushna Abatekta figure out how to read? You know what the real underlying theme is? The United States Postal Service is so pissed off because of e-mail that they want to create a race of spammers that use laptops and cellphones to generate random spam so that people will stop using e-mail and start using snail mail once again.

Sound nuts? It is (for those of who shaking their heads saying "Is he for real?", no it's not... it's just a joke). Seriously. What the hell is a cell phone going to do for these people besides give them cancer and expose them to advertising? Who are they going to call??? Us?!? More importantly, who's going to pay for it?

You and me. It's not enough that we pay a $150 cell phone bill, now we have to tack-on a 10% 'underdeveloped nations cell phone service fund tax'. Jesus Christ! Now the bills at $165. Great. Looks like I better stop calling Hututu in Kenya, bills killing me.

I'm so confused. The internet I can understand. I mean we're going to put this really cool thing in their hut and it's going to talk to them. But it's only going to talk to them if it's plugged into something. However, if you stick your finger into that thing, you get shocked. So they're going to grow up thinking that they were never good enough to interface directly to the world, they're going to think that they'll always need an interface, and by the time puberty hits, they're going to be so world-weary and information overloaded that not only will they not be able to even talk to their parents on the same level, they will be unwilling to speak to anyone.

...Stick with me...

Now here you have a ripe group of terrorists unlike anything in recorded history!

Ohh!!! Now I get it! The cell phones are to make sure they're coordinated from the beginning! Instead of the Internet and THEN cell phones, we'll give 'em BOTH at the SAME TIME. Boom, double whammy. Sock it to 'em. Ring the bong.

In closing, Bill, please them alone and deal with the current crop of ripe young almost terrorists that we have in our own country! There's no need for our terrorists to talk to their terrorists to initiate a world wide anarchy. Save that for when everybody realizes that George Lucas won't release any of the Star Wars movies on DVD....

Monday 11/22/1999


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FUCK GREECE

I just have to say that again: FUCK GREECE. It's not that I don't like them because they don't like us, it's this: Greece spots don't like Clinton, Clinton goes to Greece, Greece spots riot and blow up their own fucking buildings.

Is it just me, or do they not make any sense? Even the fucking Chinese are smarter than they are. They at lease protest at the UN & US embassies, they don't blow up their own buildings in protest of another country.

Now for all of the idiots who read this and think "Yeah, well what about the riots in LA???? Stupid biggot asswipe...". OK. Tell you what, read this article again, M'kay? The Grease are blowing up (with gas bombs) their OWN buildings because Clintun went to see THEM in their OWN country... When Mao Ze Dung comes over from Han, we don't blow up our own fucking shopping malls!

Get a clue...

Sorry! It's friday and I gotta vent some steam...

Friday 11/19/1999


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World Events for once...

You know, I've got to give props to ole Boris Yeltsin for once. He told the west to "Back off in regards to Chechnya". Why the hell don't we ever do that?!?! I'd like to see the following letter go from Clinton to Beijing: "Dear China, we own Taiwan and Japan, so fuck off". That'd be neat... of course, it'd probably start a war... hmm... maybe it wouldn't be so cool.

Well, it was fun for a while, but I've taken the GPS stuff out of my car. I hadn't thought much about temperature requirements on the equipment! And it gets damned cold here in northern Ohio. I hope the next year brings out some kick-ass portable GPS/MP3 devices... I'm too busy to design one :)

I've been messing around with SQL here for the past few days. I've been using POSTGRES. It comes with the full install of Red Hat (I've seen it in 5.2, 6.0, & 6.1). It's pretty sweet. AND IT'S FREE... which is VERY important!

Monday 11/15/1999


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GPS car stuff...

My web hosting service has been slow as dog shit so I apologize to those of you waiting for my site to load :(... I haven't able to get in either to do any work!!!!

I've put up a how to add a kick-ass TV/VCR/GPS/MP3 system to your vehilcle page to the cars section of the site.

Friday 11/05/1999


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Work work work :)

Yesterday was my 5th anniversary at work. It just kind of popped up the day before out of the blue. Pretty cool...

I'm working on the pages for adding a kick-ass TV/VCR/GPS/MP3 system to any vehicle. I want to get pictures of mine, so it may take a little while... but at least I've started on it!

As a side-note, I've released Phantom.Security 1.00!!! It's out of Beta. I've posted on-line HTML docs, as well as PostScript docs too. Both can be viewed on-line, or downloaded in a .tar.gz file! Gotta love it... If I can ever get to making the autolighting portion of Phantom.Home work correctly, I will promote that from Beta too! The docs for that will be tons of fun, though... I need to re-make to diagram :).

Friday 11/05/1999


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The upgraded '97 Monte Carlo...

After spending a weekend and something to the tune of $600, the Monte has been retrofitted for real-time GPS! The Monte sports a 9' TV/VCR that also runs sound through the CD player via inputs. I've mounted an AST Ascentia 280M laptop in the trunk using a 140-watt inverter from Murrays ($39) to charge the laptop battery when needed and to power the Antec TVator Exec which turns the VGA output of the lapop into NTSC output for the TV! I got the DeLorme Earthmate GPS Receiver/Street Atlas 7.0 bundle at Best Buy ($160) and hooked that up (via 2 6' serial cables running from the GPS receiver on the dash (only place I could get a good signal!). Then I had a complete GPS solution. The laptop boots up, loads Street Atlas, and initializes the GPS receiver automatically! So I can just turn the laptop/inverter on (in the trunk) and take off. Of course, it then takes about 5 minutes to boot up and get a 3-D signal for the GPS. But then you're off. However, I was then faced with the problem of getting input to the laptop (i.e. a mouse or keyboard). I didn't have any way to shut the laptop down from inside the car (except folding down the back seat... which is a task if you're on the road!). So... I had one free port on the laptop (because the floppy plugs in the parallel port and the CD-ROM has it's own port on the back) the PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse port. I went to Best Buy and got a small Touchpad (forgot the brand) with a pen (don't need it) and mounted that in the center console. I then got a 10' extension PS/2 cable and ran that from the console to the trunk. Now I can give input to the laptop (i.e. zoom in/out on the map, play solitaire, or use notepad to write down a quick note or look up an important phone number).

Sound like fun?!?! Well, when I get time I'm going to make a few web pages for the site and describe (in good detail) how to do this!

The next step would be to get a PCMCIA sound card (my laptop doesn't have sound outputs...) and use it as an MP3 player!!!

Monday 11/01/1999


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More on Toledo

I've been told that Denny's been 'silenced'... I haven't listened since Thursday, so I can't confirm... :)

There was an interesting piece in the Blade on the last hundred years in Toledo. It was amazed, frankly, at some of the things I read. It was a good piece to read.

Tuesday 10/26/1999


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Toledo's poppin'!

What the hell is going on here in the Glass City. It's like a political thing, or something. (As much as I hate this crap, why do I keep posting it?!?!). For a very long time Denny Schafer and his Morning Show on 92.5 Kiss FM have always bad-mouthed Carty and/or John Block. But now Block has been reported as saying that he wants "to over Toledo", and "bulldoze it". Ho-lee-shit. I wonder just how many people have canceled their subscription to the Blade today!!!

I haven't posting stuff here as much as I've done in the past. I'm slackin'. :)

Thursday 10/21/1999


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NSFGEN Beta0.21 ready!

OK. The initial public release of nsfgen is ready! It's GPL'd, so check it out on the www.familyandyouth.org website.

Friday 10/15/1999


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And for my next package...

I don't know if this one will be GNU or not, but I'm working on a billing utility for the State of Ohio MACSIS mental health billing system. This package will be avaliable on my company's web site website at www.familyandyouth.org. It will be completely free (and open-sourced), of course.

Wednesday 10/12/1999


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Breakin' the rules... Breakin' the rules...

I'm going to break my rule again and mention my Phantom software here. Phantom.Home is now GNU Phantom.Home!!! That's right, I got an e-mail with the heads up from rms this morning! I will try and get an updated Beta (even though I just released one a few days ago) online pretty quick with the new GNU stuff. You can find GNU Phantom.Home here...

UPDATE: Phantom.Home Beta0.60 released! Check it out now!

Point: Rain in Mexico
Point: Volcano in Ecuador

Well, I've replaced my in-dash CD player with a Prestige with Aux inputs! Now I can listed to TV & movies through my stereo (albeit in mono...). It's pretty sweet. Next on my list: GPS software & hardware, power inverter, and PCMCIA sound card for my laptop... the exective mobile will be happening!

Friday 10/08/1999


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This shit gonna end???

Before I begin my already bleak day, I shall continue my list...

Point: Another earthquake in Turkey...
Point: Nuclear spill in S. Korea...

It begs the question... Is this shit gonna end???...

In any case... I've got and done it again. I've gotten a Philips/Magnavox 9' TV/VCR and put it in my car! Maybe I'll get around to doing my executive car after all... I'm getting a CD player with audio inputs (mine doesn't have any...), and hooking all that up. The only bad thing is that the VCR portion isn't in stereo :(. However, I may be able to pull a few strings and get hooked up with a portable DVD player!!! That'd kick ass. Now if I can only get my mini-notebook fixed I'd have the MP3 & GPS portion hooked! Of course, I can run my laptop through the TV... hmm..

Tuesday 10/05/1999


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More crazy stuff!!!

I'm just going keep adding to the list I made Tuesday here...

Point: Crazy disease in New York City.
Point: Nuclear accident in Japan.
Point: Earthquake in Mexico City.

Thursday 09/30/1999


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Another Misc. Tuesday

Is it me, or are BAD things happening EVERYWHERE?

Point: Shootings in schools & churches in US.
Point: Earthquake in Turkey
Point: Russian Bombings
Point: Earthquake in Taiwan
Point: Russia Vs. Chechnya (how the hell do you spell that?)
Point: China Vs. Taiwan
Point: N. Korea & China Vs. US & Japan & S. Korea
Point: E. Timor...

In any case...

I've decided against starting another project (the car computer/network). I just don't have the time and the resources right now. Just look at the robot project... which is basically a simple archive now.

I got the Matrix on DVD! I've watched it like 5 times since last Tuesday... that's what happens when you have no life and just work... Also, I should be getting Strange Days on DVD today or tomorrow...

Tuesday 09/28/1999


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Misc. Tuesday

Well, William Gibson's new book doesn't come out until Oct. 1... All I know is The Matrix came out on DVD today and it wasn't in my mailbox :(.

The Impala is no more! I sold it yesterday. But I did take off the blue neons and now they're on my Monte Carlo! "Blue neons on a red car?" Yes god damn it! :)

Tuesday 09/21/1999


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TGIF

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY. 15 minutes and I'm out like last year...

An apology: Floyd didn't kick the shit out of Florida. It pretty much missed. Sorry!!!

What's with this about the guy in Fort Worth? Straight up just enters a church and starts killing people? Jesus Christ...

It's kinda odd that at the same time we're getting this Russia is getting blown to hell all over the place too. And we're going to offer them help??? We can't even help ourselves!

I'd have to say if I got a new car, it'd have to be a cop car. I still got this idea in my head to create a computerized car. And I was sitting at a stop sign the other day watching this cop car go by. Those have to be the absolute coolest cars you can get. Of course, I probably can't get one :). They've got V8 engines like you wouldn't believe. And that's not to mention all the communications equipment inside. Hmm....

I just saw an ad for William Gibsons newest book: "All of Tomorrow's Parties". I'm already on my way to Barnes & Nobles...

Friday 09/17/1999


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More crazy stuff...

Well. Floyd is kicking the shit out of Florida. It might just kick the shit out of the entire east coast! And like less then a week behind it is Gert. I hope they get out while they can...

In other weather related news... the source I trust on weather, the Almanac, says that we're to have a mild winter and another summer like we just had, i.e. drought-like. Well, that's good news and bad news, I suppose... depends on your point of view.

My view on the current world news: do we learn from past mistakes??? Is it me or did we all of the sudden develop this REALLY SHORT ATTENTION SPAN? OK. E. Timor = Yugoslavia. Nuff said. But now China is swiftly trying to enter the WTO (World Trade Organiation). That means long talks with the USA. OK. But when they turn their backs, they are positioning themselves to pester Taiwan. Can someone say IRAQ? That's probably nothing compared to N. Korea/S. Korea/Japan, but I wont touch on that one quite yet...

Tuesday 09/14/1999


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9/9/99, a day that will live in infamy...

Yeah, it'll live in infamy alright, as one of the biggest anti-climaxes of all time. Today was supposed to be a prelude to Y2K, but, of course, those of us in the industry realize that the 9/9/99 problem is only really linked to older mainframe and COBOL applications (and a few assorted others)...

What's going on with Russia? Moscow's getting hammered! They're almost as bad as us now... And what's with Boris making a statement saying that he wasn't involved in any money laundering scandle? It's Russia, they're corrupt. Who gives a shit???

E. Timor. It's almost like this came out of nowhere! They try to have an independent vote and now it's like the St. Valentine's day massacre. What the hell's goin' on? The UN is pulling out. We don't want nothing to do with it. We already had a Kosovo this year. But wait, what is this? Austrailia wants to go in... with or without the US. Go ahead lil' buddy! We'll watch on CNN...

I'm still going nuts here at work. I got a few used PCs here to relieve the tension and get people back to work, but it's not good enough. I still have to wade through the mud here and get some things done!

I started, then stopped due to the current madness levels, working on the specs for a Linux based fully-integrated computerized car system, home system, and work system... sound confusing? Well, it kind of is. Give me some time to work on it, and I'll post it all here... I just hope I can stay on top of this, unlike my robot project...

Thursday 09/09/1999


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New web site HERE!!!

Well... there is good news and bad news. The good news is that my new site is up... www.joethielen.com. The bad news is that we had a bad storm where I work and I've got some fried computers. "Why don't you have surge strips"? I DO!!!! They didn't do their job! I've got good APC SurgeArrest Personal models, and they're supposed to handle all of this stuff! But they didn't, and now I have to deal with insurance people. JUST JIM FUCKING DANDY. :)

Feels good to say what I want on my own site...

Tuesday 09/07/1999


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New web site coming!!!

I've started the process of procuring my new web site. I should be up and running by the end of next week (earlier hopefully!!!)!

I'm getting this REALLY strange desire to design a system to computerize a car...

Thursday 09/02/1999


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September means change!!!

Well, a number of really great things happened today, or are about to happen.

First, I've discovered DJGPP, a GNU program which includes the GNU G++ compiler for DOS/Win!!! The best thing --- IT'S FREE!!! So I was able to compile the latest version of nsfgen with little problem. Of course, all that work I did with autoconf & automake doesn't work in DOS... I have still yet to try to get Phantom.Security to work. Phantom.Home won't because it's daemon based, and I don't even want to try to get that working in DOS/Win...

I maybe getting MY OWN WEBSITE including my own domain name. I'm currently looking at two providers in my area. I'm weighing the costs and benefits... but look out for that. When (IF!) I do, I will have a link from this site for a while before I switch it all over... Actually, I'll make it so that every directory on this server has a link to the appropriate place on the new server.

Wednesday 09/01/1999


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Hi Hi Hi!

Been REAL busy here working. I'm wrapping up (hopefully) on a program called nsfgen (National Standard Format (HCFA V2.0) GENerator) for medical billing purposes. You know... what I've been bitching about for like a year now... :). Don't look for it on the site, release details aren't clear as of yet...

Crazy stuff going on in the world. Kiss the last August of this millennium away!

Tuesday 08/31/1999


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Phantom.Security now GNU Phantom.Security!

No joke! Hopefully within the course of the week I will release the next-to-last Beta release of Phantom.Security, and create the necessary stuff for myself and the program on www.gnu.org.
Check out the Phantom news pages for more info!

What the hell is going on??? The world is crazy. Sometime this weekend I was reading the news and I say a quote not easily forgettable... North Korea: "... diplomatic hostility from the US & S. Korea are making a second Korean war 'unavoidable'...". What is that?!?!

And then I was watching a show on the Three-Gorges damn being built in China. They mentioned possible problems with it. Then they came straight out and said that it was being built on an earthquake fault line!!! What the hell is that?!? That's freakin' nuts! I can see the disaster for the next hundred years.... they said that if an earthquake hits and ruptures the damn, it would send a tidal wave that would kill millions of people. Holy crap.

Tuesday 08/24/1999


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I'm alive!

Yeah, I'm still alive. Been busy doin' things (decoding Medicaid!).

In any case, I've been looking into getting my works' network expanded via wireless networking. I had a meeting with a guy from Glass City Internet (Wireless Division). It was very interesting!!! They've got some neat things. I didn't know the technology has come this far!

Thursday 08/19/1999


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Friday the 13th update

Well, I wouldn't have recognized it if no one told me!!!

In any case, I've releasted Beta0.50 of my Phantom.Home software. This is a major release, so please check it out!!!

What the hell is going on?!?!? I read an article complaining that we've been bombing Iraq many times over the past year, but nothing has been said! What the hell is that?!??! Everytime I turn turn on freakin' CNN I see a report (if only for a second) that says we've bombed 'em again. How can you report the news if you don't know what the hell the news is???????

But it is the first time in a while that ol' Iraq has launched a missile at us!

Friday 08/13/1999


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The Blair Witch Project

I can't even begin to describe the thoughts in my mind after seeing The Blair Witch Project twice this weekend. Nor can I describe them after visiting the website and realizing that the footage is completely REAL. Everything seen on the screen is supposed to be exactly what they had captured on film (which was recovered later), albiet edited. For uninitated, please see the movie, then check out this!!!

This movie is definately an instant favorite.

Tuesday 08/10/1999


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Phantom.Home reorganization

Because of my growing interest in the Phantom software line, I'm going to be moving all Phantom-related news to the Phantom section of my web site. It can now be reached here! This means that this page will be left for my ranting and raving (which I have to get back into :)).

Thursday 08/05/1999


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Sky Blue 1964 Impala for sale!

Yep. That's right. I gotta start saving some $$$ here. Sooo... I'm putting my baby up for sale!

- Sky Blue 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS - $6000
- Chevy Small Block 305 Put in June 1999
(Roughly 89K miles on Engine)
With Edlebrock carburetor & intake (Bought in 1998)
- 112K Miles on Car
- Refurbished 350 Turbo Transmission put in August 1998.
- Power Steering & Brakes.
- 100 Spoke LA Wire Deep Dish Rims & Tires (W/Receipts)
All locking lugnuts
- Mostly original interior
- Minor body rust spots (punched lock/passenger door)
- Blue Neon Underlighting
- 6x9 AudioVox speakers W/ Alpine amp
(NO stereo/CD - Standard 'DIN' slot for Stereo or CD)

Pics here. Want it? E-mail me here.

Wednesday 08/04/1999


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New versions of EVERYTHING out!!!

That's right. Phantom.Security Beta0.91 is out. Phantom.Home Beta0.45 is out. And Phantom.Home.VRML Beta0.17 is out.

What gives???

Well, in preparation for a huge daunting task here at work I went out and bought some books on C++. They are:
Jamsa's C/C++ Programmer's Bible ISBN: 1-884133-25-8 by Kris Jamsa, Ph.D., and Lars Klander.
C++: The Complete Reference ISBN: 0-07-882476-1 by Herbert Schildt.

I haven't even touched the second book yet. I just started skimming the bible, and I picked up several things REAL quick. The main thing is I learned how to do makefiles. When I sent in my stuff to the GNU, they had asked that I conform to the makefile structure seen in so many GNU programs. I looked at several GNU programs' makefiles, and they were VERY complicated. If someone would have told me "Hey stupid, it's easy!", I'd of done it a long time ago! :) In any case, look for very rapid updates on ALL packages!

Tuesday 08/03/1999


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Phantom.Home.VRML Beta0.15 out..

It's Monday, I'm only working a half day... but I did manage to get the VRML_Generator done (no groups, however). Hence Beta0.15, since I didn't really change any of the previously released code.
You can get it here.

Well, I think I am going to integrate Phantom.Home & Phantom.VRML. I'm going to extend Phantom.Home.VRMLd & make it just Phantom.Homed. Then, any number of different interfaces can use it (i.e. the standard, text-based Phantom.Home & the VRML based Phantom.Home.VRML). In addition, anyone who wants to create a custom interface can go right ahead!!! Watch for this.

Monday 08/02/1999


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What the hell is wrong with people?!?!

Of course, I talking about the current events in Atlanta. What the hell?!?! I read a report saying that the mother was killed on one day, and then then kids were killed the next day. What the hell is that?!? Did he love the children more to justify waiting a day or something?!? This is seriously messed up here...

OK. Clear your mind. Or my mind...

... whatever...

I've fixed a really dumb spelling error in my Phantom.Home software. My brother pointed it out to me last night. Hence, phantom_home-beta0.42b is now available here.

Also, Phantom.Home.VRML is in the works (i.e. alpha stages). I'm re-coding it in C++. I don't think I'll get a beta today unless I get seriously bored (which can happen). In any case, it will be an add-on for Phantom.Home which will include a VRML Generator that will digest your Phantom.Devices and Phantom.Groups files and churn out a custom VRML file for you! Also included will be the needed CGI web scripts, as well as the Phantom.Home.VRMLd daemon. A daemon is needed because CGI scripts can't access parallel ports, because access to those is only granted for root users. Hence, the CGI script will create a request, and the daemon (if running) will do the dirty work. Look for it next week!

UPDATE:
I've done it! I decided to skip the inclusion of the VRML Generator until a later release. However, a sample VRML file is included. You can download phantom_home_vrml-beta0.10 from here!

Friday 07/30/1999


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STAY AWAY FROM CIRCUIT CITY!!!

I don't know if it's me or what, but once again I'm at odds with Circuit City. I mean, you pay some ungodly amount to feel safe by purchasing their 'Customer Service Plan', thinking that whatever happens, you'll be covered. Well, you won't! I didn't realize this. ALL THEIR SERVICE PLAN DOES IS EXTEND THE BASIC DEFECT GUARANTEE FROM THE MANUFACTURER. DON'T THINK IF IT IS ANYTHING OTHER THAN A DEFECT THEY WILL FIX IT, BECAUSE THEY WONT! The next time you are approached by someone at Circuit City, Best Buy, or Radio Shack and they ask you if you want to buy their warranty, say 'SCREW YOU'!!!

OK. Now on to brighter things...

N. Korea is going on and on about missiles, and we're egging them on. Now we're banding together with Japan & S. Korea. We 'warned' them there would be 'serious consequences'. When asked what 'serious consequences' meant, someone replied 'not military'. They've tested a missile that can go over Japan. They launched it last August, and said it released a satellite. OK. Now they've undoubtedly got a missile that can reach us Alaska or Hawaii. Yeah, that doesn't suck!

Tuesday 07/27/1999


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Busy Busy Busy

There is ALWAYS something to do... but I'm sure you know that :).

I've been getting e-mails from the GNU about Phantom.Security & Phantom.Home, so that's been pretty cool! I've release Beta0.41 of Phantom.Home today. It accepts wider variations on command structure.

I learned how to play chess last night. I can't believe I went for so long without learning how. I'm going to write something for the site with the basic instructions. For beginners by a beginner!!!

I was fooling around with my home system (running Phantom.Home), and I got it to do something so crazy I figured I should mention it here. I created a VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) world re-creating my basement. It shows the lamps and the vent fan. When you click on a lamp, it turns on! When you click on the vent fan, it turns on! I love it! I was using my laptop to control it (although ANY web browser w/VRML capability could have done it, for it's just a VRML file & several CGI bourne scripts residing on the web server, which is also the Phantom.Home server!!!). However, over the weekend I've managed to break YET ANOTHER LAPTOP. Well... it still functions. However, the screen is cracked!!! I seriously need help here...

Monday 07/26/1999


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Phantom.Home...HERE NOW!

Alright! Here it is. Phantom.Home Beta0.40 is now released under the GNU GPL! I've assembled some documentation and the Phantom.Home.Controller circuit diagram. It's all nice and packaged and ready to go! You can get it here!

Friday 07/23/1999


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Phantom.Home...

I'm close to releasing my Phantom.Home software. I'm in the process of touching up the documentation (err... creating it?) and circuit diagram. Then I'll package it all up and release it under the GNU GPL (General Public License) as Phantom.Home Beta 0.40. It supports a limited command set, but it does work. I'm very busy as of late, and haven't had time to make additions to it. So I want to get a stable, if limited, version out. If I remember to bring in the circuit diagram tomorrow, then maybe I'll get it out tomorrow!

Thursday 07/22/1999


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AMERICA UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!

I just came back from a nice relaxing 4-day weekend vacation along the East Coast. It's absolutely amazing to me as to exactly how much of our country's roadway is currently under construction. It's hard to go five miles along any given Interstate without encountering miles of barrels and traffic jams! And I can personally testify that I-75, I-77, and I-95 are routes to AVOID! :)

Tuesday 07/20/1999


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Griping Time!

OK, I've tried to hold it inside, but it's just got to come out..

But first, a few good words :)... I finally got my laptop. Circuit City admitted to screwing up and gave me a new one (of comparable value), as well as a FULL 4-year warranty instead of the limp pro-rated version they were telling me. 'Bout time!

I saw the movie South Park twice so far. It gets better all the time. The entire underlying theme is censorship... it's a really great movie. If you can stomach it, that is :)

I'm working on getting my Phantom.Home software out. It's been completely re-written in C++. I've got a working Beta, but it doesn't accept that many commands. However, it does have a great Device Alias and Group Alias system for defining easy names for devices. In the Bourne Shell Beta version, the entire system was hardcoded for the devices in my basement. Now you can plug in whatever device you want and call it whatever you want. In addition to this, you can create groups of devices (i.e. a group called lights if you have more than one light you want to contain one-command control over). It's awesome! Expect it to be posted soon!

OK. I come into work and start-up my trusty Netscape Communicator which in turn loads up www.yahoo.com as the startup page. And in the neat little In the News section I see something called: China boasts neutron bomb. Ho Lee Shiit. So I'm reading, and I come across this quote: "You can sort of blow up a city and kill everybody in the city, but the buildings don't get destroyed". The last time I looked, the point of a war was to disable the other parties ability to make war, and render them useless. This is freakin' crazy right here. Talk about an easy route to de-population. Couldn't we have used this in Kosovo or Belgrade?!?!?

On the China note, what the hell is going on? Why are we in talks with China on how to re-pay them for their embassy? Screw China! Build your own goddamned embassy.

As I've forecasted, the Korean portion of the world is still heating up. Can we name some part of the world that isn't currently ready to kill someone? Australia? Hmm... It seems they've made enough racket. Between Internet censorship and revealing ECHELON, what else do they need?

Who needs Big Brother when everyone wants to kill each other?

Thursday 07/15/1999


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Phantom Friday!

Phantom.Security Beta0.90 has been released under the GNU Public License! Check it out here!

Friday 07/09/1999


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More Phantom!

In an effort to get my Phantom.Security software out there, I'm in the process of re-packageing it, and I'm going to make an effort to get it under the GNU. It's at Beta 0.90, and I think it runs pretty solid. Look out for this! When I get it all done and tar it up I'll post it!

I still don't have my laptop...:(
Poor me...:)

Thursday 07/08/1999


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Hmmm....

I wanted to keep this week on a good note, but I'm afraid I just can't do it! Looking at the foreign situation as a whole I get really bad vibes. Peace may exist in Yugoslavia, but everywhere else it's exploding, stinking of war. For example, Russia yesterday flew fighter craft out past iceland, not too far from us. Last night Washington said they were totally within their limits. This morning they're saying that the Russians were trying to test us. What? And what about N. Korea/S. Korea, or India/Pakistan? Or Russia/NATO, or China/US, or US(UN&NATO)/The World? Somethings brewing, and as we've seen before, all it takes is one major incident to spark off World War. I hope I'm wrong....

Well, it's happened again. I've been screwed by Circuit City... My laptop has been there for like two months. I finally went there yesterday because I knew they had another laptop for the same price, and I'm starting to feind for a laptop. Soooo... I went there, and they couldn't find it. Then they found it, maybe half an hour later, they said it didn't have my phone number on it. Well why didn't they look it up??? Christ. Then the guy says 'Well we had a replacement here for you!' but 'cause they didn't have my phone number in the system, it nevery got reported. Now that replacement is GONE. So again I walked out empty handed, and extremely angry...

Friday 07/02/1999


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So what?

Well, I was bored so I decided I'd better update my site! Yes, I'm still alive. No, I don't think I'm going to complain right about now. I've been very busy lately, and haven't really cared to look at the messed up world situation any way. :)

Wednesday 06/30/1999


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Iraq? Who? What!?

Does anyone but me find it absolutely hilarious what we're doing with Iraq? Watch the headlines, it's great! Nothing in the news? Hell, let's bomb Iraq. China pissed off again? Bomb Iraq! We loose troops in Kosovo? Bomb Iraq! Clinton get another blow-job? Bomb Iraq! Even though we haven't ousted Sadam Whosayin (although South Park is doing a damned good job!), we sure have turned his once epic reign into nothing but a freak show. It's like Iraq is a dartboard or a punching bag. The president's mad? Oh, let him take it out by blowing the hell out of Sadamn's newest palace... here... nuke? No... let's try one of them there new incindiary bunker busters... yeah...

Anyway... I was reading this book yesterday that was written in like 1983 about the Intel 8086 and 8088 chips, and the author went on a rampage about how these chips (which ran at what, 4.77Mhz?) were going to change the future, how they'd be implanted in cars to drive for us and etc... and look at us now. We've got 550MHZ Pentium IIIs, and all we can do is play Quake3 really fast... It was just kind of a weird look into retrospect. In mean, obviously the 8086 and 8088 were the foundations for the 286, 386, 486 & Pentium series, but if you put fat ass bloated software on them like Windows 95, & 98, then it becomes pointless. If you played pong on a DOS based 8088 (like my old PCjr) vs. the same game on a Pentium 133 with Windows 98, the experience on the 8088 was so much better because you wouldn't get the blue screen of death or kernel errors... but I liked astroids better anyway... :)

Tuesday 06/22/1999


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Ahh... It's Monday

Yes. It's sunny and everyone is back at work. Peace is in the air for the most part with the exceptions of the Koreas and the Kashmir conflict... so what's next? Who cares...

I watched that special on TNT called Pirates of Silicon Valley last night. I thought it was pretty schweet. Plus I thought it portrayed Bill Gates as a little bitch :). The stuff about the Apple Big Brother commercial was pretty awesome too, considering in 1984 I was 5.

Monday 06/21/1999


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What?!?

Before I start, let me mention my Got Chevy? page. Check it out, it's pretty simple... but it's pretty schweet!.

OK. Russia's moving right along. The Serbs are pulling out. We're finding mad bodies raped and burnt and beaten. Nothing out of the ordinary there...

Next, China isn't accepting our kiss-and-make-up tactics. Isn't time we say something about their humanitarian record again?!?!

Moving right along on the communist tour bus, the Koreas. We're (the US, not NATO or the UN) sending planes and ships to aid our South Korean brethren. What's up with this? Didn't this war already happen a long time ago? I told you this would happen...

Thursday 06/17/1999


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Ugh...

It's Monday so I'm just gonna cover some things real quick-like.

Kosovo. What's going on man?!?! The Russians walk in and take over the only airport. What? We decided to let the Russians in, but we didn't tell them what to do. We, err, the UN, said "OK, Russia, you guys can go into Kosovo. FYI, we'll be there Sunday." So what'd they do? They were there Saturday. Why not? We didn't tell them what to do! What the hell were we thinking??!?! OK... enough...

Starr & the Clintons. This is really odd. I read an article on how Clinton's daughter read the Starr report on the Internet. And Clinton got mad cause she did, and he blamed Starr. What the hell is he getting mad at??!? Did he not get a blow job? Sure did. Was he married when he got it? Yep. Was it from his wife? Nope. Sorry! You loose! How in the hell do you explain to your daughter that it's OK to get blow jobs from people other than your spouse? Go Clinton, you freak.

I'm all about my new state-wide pager. I love it! It gives news and weather updates... It's schweet!

Monday 06/14/1999


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TGIF FOR REAL!

If this weren't a short Friday for me, I think I'd explode! My AC doesn't work, so that doesn't make it any easier :). In any case, summer fever has set in and things are getting seriously nutz...

First the US: We're claiming victory over a war that never was while first lady Hillary decides that while she wants to be a congresswoman for NY, she doesn't know if she wants to live there!
Then China: Claims that they were the reason that the war in Kosovo was stopped. Can you believe this crap?!?! Then they publically state that a nation's sovereignty is more important than humanitarian causes. Yeah, you're not communists...

Now: Russia. Maybe they're trying to be the Russia of the post-WWI by trying to get to Kosovo first to get as much land as they can... who knows what the hell they're doing. But their trucks all say KFOR, and that's the force by NATO to keep the peace in Kosovo. But no one said the Russian troops could just walk in and take over... keep an eye on this one!

Finally, Yugoslavia. I don't know how Milosevich (the UK press calls him Slobo... I like that!) does it, but he's still going. According to most press, he made a 10 minute TV interview, and it's going out on their 'fuzzy' TV transmitters every hour on the hour. But all reports point to the fact that Ol' Dirty Slobo doesn't look too hot... with his parent's committing suicide and all. Hmmm...sorry ole boy!

But enough of Friday babbel... err.. no, just enough of politics... :)

I've upgraded my personal library of 'survival' gear. For the longest time I had my trusty, local (NW Ohio), pager. And it's worked good... but I've been taking trips every weekend or so out of Toledo, and it's not working out too good. So, I've upgraded my paging service to satewide... as well as added alpha-text messaging to it! I wanted nationwide service, but I couldn't keep my old pager number. And I don't want to change that number because everyone I know has it!!! In any case, just as with my Sprint PCS phone, I can receive e-mail with this. So at least now when I'm in Ohio (which is 99% of the time) and not in a Sprint PCS area I can receive pages. Of course, how to respond to them is another question... I wish Qualcomm would hurry up and release the pdQ already!!!

Friday 06/11/1999


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Vindication

Thanks Korea! They've finally put their say into this entire situation. Apparently there was some scourge in the waters between North and South Korea.

Situation update! The Serb General keeps walking out of talks which shouldn't be happening, he doesn't want NATO running the thing. NATO says "nope". The US is trying to brown nose by re-establishing talks about the WTO (World Trade Orginization) and China's entrance by giving an official report about the embassy bombing to China. Someone smell something?

In other words... hmm.. I don't have any! :)

Wednesday 06/09/1999


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It's Monday, YEAH!

Yeah. Peace. Sure... that happened real good, didn't it? Oh, did we forget to mention that the troops we were going to send were NATO troops?

I saw the craziest thing yesterday morning at around 5AM. I was coming home from out of town and I was going over an overpass. I was extremely tired. The next thing I know, I see this deer just standing there. I thought maybe I was too tired, but no, it was just standing there on the overpass. So I honked at it, and it took off running. It was very slow and swerving all over. I didn't was to go around it because I didn't want to hit it. But the next thing I know, that freak jumps over off the bridge! Just like that, over the side. Now that's a good 15' drop! I thought it was dead for sure. I didn't stop, I was just too freaked out. But I was telling this to a friend later and he said that they do that... and live! I thought that was nuts. I thought if I looked over the side of the bridge, I'd see a fat pile of deer bone & blood. I don't know, it was pretty crazy!

I love this weather! Bring it on! I go from my cool house to my car with AC to my office with AC to the store with AC :). And now our pool is up, so that's pretty schweet.

Monday 06/07/1999


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Peace?!?!

Hardly... It just doesn't make any sense. They've agreed (Yugoslavia) to the same terms that NATOs put forth since the beginning of the strikes. Now, however, the situation is different. In my humble opinion, Milosevich has won! How? Easy. The Albanians are out of Kosovo, and most aren't likely to return. And most importantly, they're going to get they're entire country rebuilt to modern specs... with our money and our people! All them bridges and hospitals we destroyed... guess who gets to fix 'em? We do! He can turn around and say he won with the help of the Russians, considering that it wasn't under NATO that the peace plan got signed, it was under the Russian umbrella. What the hell? I don't know what's going on anymore.

Pakistan and India. The last I heard they were starting peace talks already. For real? That's damned amazing. But now I look at CNN.com, and India is starting it up again... What's goin' on? I don't know!

Friday 05/04/1999


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