Brian's Blog

Once again, in a feeble attempt to be sort of useful with a script, I decided to have the Slackware changelog automatically sent to me via E-mail. Not the entire change log, just the parts that changed from the previous. This is probably a kludge as there have to be a bunch of ways to make it better. As usual, it's simply an exercise to reinforce what I've learned about bash scripting with a side bonus of being sort of useful. Well, useful to me at least.

Here's what I have at the moment. I just stuck this in my crontab to run at a reasonable interval.

#!/bin/bash
logurl=ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-current/ChangeLog.txt 

if [ ! -d $HOME/.logdiff ]; then
        mkdir $HOME/.logdiff
fi 

# Get the log
if [ -e $HOME/.logdiff/ChangeLog.txt ]; then
        mv $HOME/.logdiff/ChangeLog.txt $HOME/.logdiff/ChangeLog.txt.old
        wget -O - $logurl > $HOME/.logdiff/ChangeLog.txt

	if [ $? = "0" ]; then
        	diff $HOME/.logdiff/ChangeLog.txt $HOME/.logdiff/ChangeLog.txt.old > \
		$HOME/.logdiff/difference
	else
		exit
	fi 

# Exit if nothing has changed
        if [ $? = "0" ]; then
                exit 
        fi
else
        wget -O - $logurl > $HOME/.logdiff/ChangeLog.txt
        exit
fi 

# Email the differences 

cat << EOF > $HOME/.logdiff/message
From: rignes@ptd.net
To: rignes@ptd.net
Cc: 
Bcc: 
Subject: [logdiff] Slackware Changelog
Reply-To: 

EOF 

cat $HOME/.logdiff/difference >> $HOME/.logdiff/message 

cat $HOME/.logdiff/message | /usr/sbin/sendmail -t

This is sort of significant in a way for me as this is the first thing I've written that actually uses flow control. BTW, constructive educational criticism is welcome.

In a nice change from the norm at work I've actually had a few fun, and not mundane projects to work on. As I've blogged about before the typical day consists of cleaning up after hapless Windows users who just can't seem to learn to not click on every attachment they get from people who they don't know. Or that still insist on using IE, even though it still has old unpatched vulnerabilities that allow for Drive-By-Downloads of spyware and hijacks. Or my personal favorite, "What do you mean I have to update my anti-virus!?"

A couple of weeks ago I managed an upgrade of a small domain from Windows 2000 Server to Windows Server 2003 and also setup Exchange 2003 for them. Plus there were about 10 of the users who got new Palms. All around it was a nice departure from the norm. Today's fun was to get a small network into a much larger one. As in, a smaller company was purchased by a much larger one. And they didn't want to setup a trust so we got to rip down the entire old domain and then then dcpromo the server into the new one.

Anyway, I hope we keep getting projects like this stuff. Cleaning up messed up computers all the time gets boring fast.

I just learned today that gas prices have set a new record. The best part is that overall us Americans haven't reduced our fuel consumption. Apparently it's really important for us Americans to keep showing off our giant, gas guzzling, status symbol SUVs.

At $2.61 a gallon I'm glad I got my 30+ MPG (Highway) sedan. It's big enough to fit the family of four plus luggage for a weeks vacation and doesn't cost me $200 a week at the pump.

Lets think this out a second though. If people overall made a conscious effort to not use as much gas, thus reducing demand, then the prices would start to drop. But, I don't have enough faith in people to do that. It's going to take much higher prices to make that happen. Till then I'm going to keep walking to the store, and combining multiple errands into one trip to reduce driving.

I think it's time to dust off the bike too.

This looks like a fun hack! To bad its illegal. Even so, from what I've read there are companies that charge $500+ for a single unit and here we are with a home grown version for about $20. What I'm talking about is a device that will turn red lights green ahead of you as you drive. Supposedly law enforcement use these to get where they need to in a hurry. You know, important places like the donut shop...

My sister put this list up on her blog. I thought it was a fun exercise in self reflection. If you read this you'll probably hear more about me than you'll want to know and also realize just how boring I am.

Here's my version:

01. Bought everyone in the pub a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said "I love you" and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Done a striptease
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long, and watched the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Touched an iceberg
20. Slept under the stars
21. Changed a baby's diaper
22. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
23. Watched a meteor shower
24. Gotten drunk on champagne
25. Given more than you can afford to charity
26. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
27. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
28. Had a food fight
29. Bet on a winning horse
30. Called in sick when you were not ill
31. Asked out a stranger
32. Had a snowball fight
33. Photocopied your bottom on the office photocopier
34. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
35. Held a lamb
36. Enacted a favorite fantasy
37. Taken a midnight skinny dip
38. Taken an ice cold bath
39. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
40. Seen a total eclipse
41. Ridden a roller coaster
42. Hit a home run
43. Fit three weeks miraculously into three days
44. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
45. Adopted an accent for an entire day
46. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
47. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
48. Had two hard drives for your computer
49. Visited all 50 states
50. Loved your job
51. Taken care of someone who was s***faced
52. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
53. Had amazing friends
54. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
55. Watched wild whales
56. Stolen a sign
57. Backpacked in Europe
58. Taken a road-trip
59. Rock climbing
60. Lied to foreign government's official in that country to avoid notice
61. Midnight walk on the beach
62. Sky diving
63. Visited Ireland
64. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
65. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
66. Visited Japan
67. Bench pressed your own weight
68. Milked a cow
69. Alphabetized your records/books And labeled them
70. Pretended to be a superhero
71. Sung karaoke
72. Lounged around in bed all day
73. Posed nude in front of strangers
74. Scuba diving
75. Got it on to "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye
76. Kissed in the rain
77. Played in the mud
78. Played in the rain
79. Gone to a drive-in theater
80. Done something you should regret, but don't regret it
81. Visited the Great Wall of China
84. Started a business
85. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
86. Toured ancient sites
87. Taken a martial arts class.
88. Sword fought for the honor of a woman
89. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
90. Gotten married.
91. Been in a movie
92. Crashed a party
93. Loved someone you shouldn't have
94. Kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy
96. Had sex at the office
97. Gone without food for 5 days
98. Made cookies from scratch
99. Won first prize in a costume contest
100. Ridden a gondola in Venice
101. Gotten a tattoo
102. Found that the texture of some materials can turn you on
103. Rafted the Snake River
104. Been on television news programs as an 'expert'
105. Got flowers for no reason
107. Got so drunk you don't remember anything
108. Been addicted to some form of illegal drug
109. Performed on stage
110. Been to Las Vegas
111. Recorded music
112. Eaten shark
113. Had a one-night stand
114. Gone to Thailand
115. Seen Siouxsie live
116. Bought a house
117. Been in a combat zone
118. Buried one/both of your parents
119. Shaved or waxed your pubic hair off
120. Been on a cruise ship
121. Spoken more than one language fluently
122. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone
123. Bounced a check
124. Performed in Rocky Horror
125. Read - and understood - your credit report
126. Raised children
127. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
128. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
129. Created and named your own constellation of stars
130. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
131. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
132. Called or written your Congress person
133. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
134. ...more than once?
135. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
136. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
137. Had an abortion or your female partner did
138. Had plastic surgery. Reconstructive surgery, that is.
139. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
140. Wrote articles for a large publication
141. Lost over 100 pounds
142. Held someone while they were having a flashback
143. Piloted an airplane
144. Petted a stingray
145. Broken someones heart
146. Helped an animal give birth
147. Been fired or laid off from a job
148. Won money on a T.V. game show
149. Broken a bone
150. Killed a human being
151. Gone on an African photo safari
152. Ridden a motorcycle.
153. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100mph
154. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced.
155. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
156. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
157. Ridden a horse
158. Had major surgery
159. Had sex on a moving train
160. Had a snake as a pet
161. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
162. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
163. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
164. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
165. Visited all 7 continents
166. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
167. Eaten kangaroo meat
168. Fallen in love
169. Been a sperm or egg donor
170. Eaten sushi
171. Had your picture in the newspaper.
172. Had 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year in your
lifetime
173. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
174. Gotten someone fired for their actions
175. Gone back to school
176. Para sailed
177. Changed your name.
178. Petted a cockroach
179. Eaten fried green tomatoes
180. Read The Iliad And translated part of it.
181. Selected one 'important' author who you missed in school, and read
182. Dined in a restaurant and stolen silverware, plates, cups because your
apartment needed them
183. ...and gotten 86ed from the restaurant because you did it so many times,
they figured out it was you
184. Taught yourself an art from scratch
185. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
186. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
187. Skipped all your school reunions
188. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
189. Been elected to public office
190. Written your own computer language
191. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
192. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
193. Built your own PC from parts
194. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
195. Had a booth at a street fair
196. Dyed your hair
197. Been a DJ
198. Found out someone was going to dump you via the computer
199. Written your own role playing game paper-based, not computerized.
200. Been arrested
201. Shot someone
202. Sang a solo in public, while sober
203. Kissed a hummingbird
204. Given birth
205. Eaten some tree-bark
206. Baked your own bread, without a machine
207. Braided the bread
208. Foraged and eaten wild food, and/or used wild herbs as medicine
209. Climbed a waterfall
210. Walked in total darkness
211. Went snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef
212. Been mistaken as someone of the opposite sex, and they never realized it
213. Had a supernatural experience
214. Performed at a poetry reading
215. Been to a fetish party
216. Been strip searched
217. Gotten a lap dance at a strip club
218. Gotten hate mail from something of yours that had been published
219. Met someone in person who you first knew on-line
220. Cross-dressed
221. Been a resting-place for a butterfly
222. Had more than two novels published.

This weekend I finished reading 1984 by George Orwell. Some years ago my friend Chris introduced me to 1984 via the movie which prompted me to check out the book. Unfortunately I never finished it back then. I got to the point there Julia and Winston were in their little hideout just before they got caught by the Thought Police then put it down and never finished. I think part of that is because on that first pass through the story was nothing more than entertainment to me. All the while that I was reading it I was thinking, this is an interesting story, but this could never happen. Not here in the United States anyway!

Well, this time through I read it in a new light. This time it struck home more than that first time since I think we are seeing things come about that could lead to this sort of world. I don't mean were all going to have to learn Newspeak and call everyone comrade or anything like that. I think it will be a much more subtle sort of control if we aren't careful and the general population (the proles in 1984) don't start to care a heck of a lot more about what's going on in the world.

The technology is there, or soon will be there, to have unprecedented surveillance on the general public. For instance, police may be able to see through walls in the not so distant future. And RFID tags are another interesting one in that they are so small that they can be hidden in cloth or, even paper. Supposedly the newer $20 bills already have them. Of course, these technologies, and many others, are developed with the idea of having a practical use that is to benefit people in some way. However, as with all technology, it can be a very bad thing in the wrong hands. And that is exactly the part the worries me. I don't trust human nature to lead people to do what is right in general. And least of all, I don't trust those in power to do what is right. A good example of this can be found in the recent Pennsylvania lawmaker pay raises in which they increased their pay to the 2ND highest in the country and also discovered, and exploited a loophole in the State Constitution that allowed them to take the pay raise in the current term when the raise isn't supposed to take effect until the next term. If this sort of thing is happening on the State level I'm sure there is a good chance it's happening on the Federal level.

And then comes in the issue of influencing the minds of the people, or manipulating them to think what the government/media wants them to think. For instance, there is the large number of people who believe that Saddam Hussein played a part in 9/11 when anyone who was awake and should have noticed the sudden transition from Bin Laden to Iraq. Some how or another the media/government played the general population into thinking and actually believing something that was not true. I can remember personally thinking, "But what about Bin Laden?!" when we were hearing about Iraq and their mythical weapons of mass destruction. So, at some point 40 plus percent of the American public was manipulated into believing a lie.

The point being there is a similarity with the Party's goal of controlling minds and manipulation of the US population to gain support for a war in Iraq. Albeit, on a much smaller scale than the fictitious world of 1984. Now, the reason I think this was so easy to do is that, well, people are generally living their lives in their own little bubble and don't really care about the big picture. They aren't watching those who are in charge of maintaining their rights. And, as they say, then the cat is away the mice will play. In this case, the cat is the people, and the mice are those we elect into office.

Portions of Orwell's description of the Proles seem to describe the mind set of the general masses in the real world pretty well. A couple of them follow:

They were born, they grew up in the gutters, they went to work at twelve, they passed through a brief blossoming period of beauty and sexual desire, they married at twenty, they were middle-ages at thirty, they died, for the most part, at sixty. Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbors, films, football, beer, and, above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult.

-- From 1984 by George Orwell

It was not desirable that the proles should have strong political feelings. All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer work hours or shorter rations. And even when they became discontented, as the sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because, being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances. The larger evils invariably escaped their notice.

-- From 1984 by George Orwell

In other words, people in general are so sucked into their selfish little worlds that they don't have the time or the care to observe what is going on around them. 1984, in my mind, is a big warning of what the world could be like, at least in part, if we don't wake up, smell the roses, and start to watch and care about what goes on in our government as well as the world.

Just before leaving for the beach I discovered another alternative news site that, so far, has impressed me by reporting just the kind of things that people don't want to hear, but really need to. I'm talking about Alternet.

Today they brought up the point that The Patriot Act is once again up for renewal and that likely large sections of it will become permanent. There are a multitude of points and concerns brought up in this article. All of which scare me. The Patriot Act undermines sections of the Constitution that are supposed to guarantee the protection against things such as search without probable cause, detention without probable cause and the right to a speedy trial. Additionally, they can, if they so choose, perform their searches in secret. As in, search your home or office while you are away and not tell you about it. Additionally the increased surveillance is looking a bit to Orwellian for me. For instance, they can get into Medical histories, credit reports, magazine subscriptions, membership lists, bookstore purchases, airline reservations, social service files, library records, academic transcripts, psychiatric records, charitable contributions, and genetic information. I'm still wondering how genetic info can indicate someone is a terrorist. I didn't realize terrorist tendencies were hereditary.

Really though, it does boggle the mind that this kind of a thing became law so quickly. I mean, all 342 pages if it were written, printed, distributed and read by the Congress, debated, revised, re-debated, voted on by both the House and the Senate, then signed into law by the President in something like 6 weeks after 9-11? All without a blip on the news media to tell us this we even happening? And to think that this initially temporary destruction of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights has a good shot at becoming permanent all under the noses of the mindless masses? The entire thing smells fishy to me.

Go read the Alternet article entitled One Nation, Under Watch and then make up your own mind. I personally found it educational. Don't forget to read the sidebar, it's good too.

Since I still have probable cause on my mind here's a little something from the article. But please, read the entire article to get the full context.

When the executive branch doesn't have to justify every arrest with probable cause, Kadidal says, "they can engage in sweeps based on ethnicity and religion that waste huge amounts of police resources by chasing after people we have no rational reason to suspect."

The end result? From the perspective of civil libertarians, the picture is far from pretty: a public kept in the dark; a government with unchecked and wide-ranging power over the lives of citizens; and immigrant communities on guard and less likely to provide the kinds of civilian tips that are typically at the heart of all major international anti-terrorism arrests.

I don't know that the government would do this sort of thing, but if the law isn't explicitly written to prevent them from having the ability to do it then there is a chance that they just might.

Anyone who knows me even slightly knows my views on 9-11 and the behavior of our current administration. While poking about on the subject of 9-11 I discovered a supposedly free DVD entitled Confronting the Evidence: A Call to Reopen the 9-11 Investigation. I was half thinking it was a scam to harvest E-mail addresses for spamers but filled out the form anyway. Much to my surprise I actually got the DVD in the mail! So, I watched all 3 hours of it and it sure brings up many points and unanswered questions. I've seen most of what it talks about in multiple sources already, so there wasn't a heck of a lot that was new to me. But it's nice having it all in one place.

Plus I was pleasantly surprised to see "NOT Copyrighted -- Please Copy!" written on the back! To me this alone puts some credibility to the producers. At the very least the people involved with creating this feel getting the information out into the public is more important than making a profit. So, seeing that this is supposedly free to share I took the time to rip it into avi format and share it on my favorite P2P network, Edonkey. Grab a good Edonkey client like Emule Plus (Win32) and use these links to start downloading it:

Confronting the Evidence CD1

Confronting the Evidence CD2

Painful Deceptions

To pique your interest a bit here's what's on the back of the case:

Dr. Marjorie Clarke's testimony on toxins and pollutants at Ground Zero -- which the White House said was "Safe to Breathe--" revealed the air really contained the following: Over 400,000+ pounds of lead, over 200,000+ pounds of asbestos. More than enough mercury to contaminate 2,500 city blocs. Radioactive Americium 241 from thousands of smoke detectors. Highest levels of Vanadium ever recorded. Children in nearby schools have developed serious respiratory problems. Half of those who cleaned ground zero have serious health problems. Hundreds of firefighters can no longer work. Fourteen rescue dogs have died.

We just spend a relatively relaxing week at Dewey Beach. I just hastily put the pictures in the photo gallery.

Now, no more vacations for a while. It sucks not having payed vacation. Back to reality.