Every time I see something like this, I'm reminded how much easier things could be if I could just use WebObjects for web applications.
Read the paper, watch the video.
I've got three personal projects I want to do in WO (of course, I've only actually written code for one of them, but that's because it's the only useful one). I should get off my butt and finish it.
Yesterday, I received the iPod I won from the CDW/MacWarehouse contest. It's a 15GB model and already has all my mp3s on it :)
It was a good birthday present. Since I've been using my iPod mini for the past few weeks, though, it seems really really big. I'm thinking that I'll put the 'regular' iPod in my car and use the mini when I go biking.
Since I have the day off from work (it's my birthday!), I'm taking the opportunity to re-encode my CDs as AAC, they'll take up a little less space on the iPods and supposedly use less battery/cpu to play.
Last week I also managed to break smtp auth. on geeklair.net subtly.
I noticed in a logfile that the sasl2 I had built was complaining because it couldn't find the db4 libraries I had built it against. I had removed those (4.1) libraries and installed newer ones (4.2). I decided that since I'm not using the saslauthdb stuff, and so I don't care if they break, I would just use install_name_tool to point the lib to the newer db4 libraries. It seemed to work, I no longer go the 'missing library' message in my logs and I could still send mail using SMTP auth (and TLS). What I didn't know was that somehow this ended up breaking things for people using Mozilla Thunderbird.
After I finally figured out that this was why there were problems, I built and installed the latest sasl2.
(./configure --with-plugindir=/usr/local/lib/sasl2 \
--with-bdb-incdir=/usr/local/include/db4 \
--with-openssl=/usr/local --disable-gssapi \
--disable-krb4)
I really should make a portfile for this and submit it for inclusion in DarwinPorts.
I finally upgraded mailman to the latest stable version here.
I'm running a couple of mailing lists (one for the Michigan Division of the USFA and one for my club) and recently reconfigured them to strip any non-text MIME types (both lists allow posting only from one address, but with all the from address spoofing email viruses it was only a matter of time until one finally managed to post itself to the list -- one did, and so it was time for a lock down).
I originally had problems because I didn't add multipart/related to the allowed mime types, and html email from OE was being silently discarded, instead of being automatically converted into plain text (or instead of letting the plain text multipart/alternative section through). What with things already being slightly broken, I took the opportunity to upgrade to the latest stable version.
A simple:
./configure --prefix=/Users/mailman \
--with-python=/usr/local/bin/python \
--with-mail-gid=1 --with-cgi-gid=70 \
--with-mailhost=geeklair.net \
--with-urlhost=geeklair.net
was all it took. (I had put off upgrading because I didn't remember which gid's were correct, but these are the ones that work with Mac OS X 10.2, gid 1 = daemon and gid 70 = www).
My doctor fixed my back on Thursday, and I was able to attend the Excalibur Open in Grand Rapids.
In fact, I won.
I'm now rated C-04 in Epee. (My new shoes were great, too).
Well, I've managed to throw my back out again. I have a appointment to see my doctor tomorrow at 2:15PM. It's extra annoying (it keeps waking me up when I try to sleep and the timing is really bad. I am still eager to go to the Excalibur Open this weekend. I think I'll still be able to attend.)
In other news, Anne found shoes for me and they are exactly what I wanted. I might go buy the other pair (yes, _the_ other pair) that the store's supplier has.
Thanks to Apple's Garage Band (with Jam Pack) and Dent du Midi, I pulled the midi export of Fuge from Harmony Assistant, ran it through Dent du Midi and imported into Garage Band. I then selected the Classical Piano instrument exported it to iTunes (which creates an aiff) and finally converted it to AAC.
This should sound better than the midi or quicktime .mov.
The new-improved copy is here. I really should record a version of me playing it, with the better instrument sound of this version I am now bothered by the lack of finesse in the dynamics (before, I was mainly bothered by the low quality of the piano sound).
You should read this.
A good quote:
"War is generally crafted and pursued for political reasons, but the reasons given to the Congress and to the American people for this one were inaccurate and so misleading as to be false. Moreover, they were false by design. Certainly, the neoconservatives never bothered to sell the rest of the country on the real reasons for occupation of Iraq -- more bases from which to flex U.S. muscle with Syria and Iran, and better positioning for the inevitable fall of the regional ruling sheikdoms. Maintaining OPEC on a dollar track and not a euro and fulfilling a half-baked imperial vision also played a role. These more accurate reasons for invading and occupying could have been argued on their merits -- an angry and aggressive U.S. population might indeed have supported the war and occupation for those reasons. But Americans didn't get the chance for an honest debate."
(Link stolen from a moveOn.org email and doesn't require the usual salon.com daypass.)
People from Hansons are here installing new windows in my house right now.
Of course, since we currently have wind gusts of up to 43mph (according to weather.com) they can't do the 2nd story ones. (I don't blame them for not wanting to be on a ladder in wind like this).
So, they'll be back tomorrow or Sunday to finish up. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.
I need a new pair of (fencing) shoes.
I would like these but Adidas doesn't import them into the US in my size (if they even make them that big).
I could maybe try a competitor, but that color is ugly and the only color that they have in my size (I can't seem to find this shoe for sale on nike's website).
An indoor court/soccer shoe would be just about perfect to fence in. If I could find one it would probably be cheaper than buying another pair of the adidas asymmetrical fencing shoes. The sambas that other people at club have seem to hold up a little better too. (The fact that they look like normal shoes, so I could wear the same shoes when walking around and while practicing would be nice too).
But this is cool: Cinergy and Current Communications to Offer Broadband Services Over Power Lines.
Slashdot says $29.95/month for 1 Mb/s both upstream and down.
I hope for two things:
1. It's highly reliable (more so than my often flakey cable modem).
2. That it comes to Lansing soon :)
Maybe I'll try and bug the Lansing Board of Water & Light about it.
