improvements
The other day I was talking to my mom about the presidential election. I asked if she thought a person ought to vote for the candidate they believed to be best or for the lesser candidate who stood more chance of winning. Her stance--or at least her reasoning for it--was the pragmatic one: that a vote for anyone other than the two major party nominees was a vote wasted.
I have been leaning the other way. There is a lot I like about both MPNs (major party nominees). Obama is very inspirational and has some good goals. (Of course, his strategy for reaching those goals is debatable.) McCain is an American hero and seems very principled, not one to go along with the crowd. (A McCain-Lieberman ticket, or Lieberman-McCain would have been totally awesome to think of, a bipartisan pair of rebels.) But I really can't back either one of them wholeheartedly.
I've never affiliated myself with a party, so I had never participated in a primary until this year, when I decided on principle I needed to go vote for Ron Paul. I thought it was "my one chance" to vote for him, assuming at the time that I'd take the pragmatic route and pick one of the two MPNs later.
But now I think I will write in Ron Paul. The line of reasoning that it's a waste to vote for other than the MPNs assumes too much. Basically, it assumes that we know from the polls who's going to win. But if we already know that, then my vote is wasted anyway, as far as actually deciding the winner of the election. Even from the pragmatic standpoint, I might as well use my vote for something else, say, helping legitimize a third party. Or making a statement. Or just taking a stand. (Or, heck, electing the right candidate.)
I say down with the defeatist attitude of picking the lesser of two evils. Everyone should vote for someone they can really get behind. Actually, everyone should vote for Ron Paul.
The reason our government is a mess is that we have two dumb political parties that are too alike and don't do what they say they stand for. If you are voting for just another Democrat or Republican, you're part of the problem. It is your fault. So don't do it anymore.
Now, it would be disingenuous of me to deny the partial validity of my Mom's point of view. I guess if you live in a state where the race is close, it's easier to see my stand on principles as a wasted vote. The winner of my state's electoral votes is supposedly a foregone conclusion, so I don't have to worry as much about "making my vote count".
But I say again, it doesn't have to be this way. The only reason it has been this way is that everybody says, "well, everybody is going to do this, so I might as well do it too." Maybe tomorrow everyone will vote their conscience. It could happen.
Anyway, specifically about Ron Paul:
Faithful, consistent, principled.
He was a flight surgeon in the Air Force.
He is an obstetrician who has delivered more than 4000 babies.
Still married to his wife; they have five kids.
He has served in Congress since the 1970s. (Between 1984 and 1997 he returned to his medical practice.)
In all that time, his record is consistent (these points from ronpaul.org):
- He was an unwavering advocate of pro-life and pro-family values.
- He has never voted to raise taxes.
- He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
- He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.
- He has never voted to raise congressional pay.
- He has never taken a government-paid junket.
- He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.
- He voted against the Patriot Act.
- He voted against regulating the Internet.
- He voted against the Iraq war.
- He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program.
- He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.
The man practices what he preaches, and I think he has it right. Ron Paul.
So, update: I'm told that I, the uninformed citizen, actually do not have the option to write-in my vote in this state. I have also learned that Ron Paul has endorsed Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party. That's good enough for me.
32 2008-10-23 21:30 "Your cruelty reveals everything!"
quotes
"Admit it!"
"It's possible, pig... It's conceivable, you miserable vomitous mass."
So awesomely funny that I had to comment, but since Nathan's blog (because that is what it is, admit it, Nathan) doesn't allow comments, I must post the tech support hilarity here.
31 2008-08-21 08:04 Remote Desktop Hints
tips
Here's something I've been meaning to mention for quite a while. It's a bit behind the times, but still probably useful news to a lot of people who have a home network of more than one computer running Microsoft Windows. Windows XP and Vista have a built-in remote control program that lets you sit at one computer and login to another computer. It's aptly named "Remote Desktop Connection", but henceforth I'll refer to it as Remote Desktop or just RD.
Note: the computer to be remotely accessed is the "host"; the computer you're sitting at is the "client". The host computer must be running XP Professional or Vista at least Business edition. XP Home and Vista Home and Starter editions cannot host Remote Desktop. But the client software is built into XP or Vista, and client software can be installed on older versions of Windows or even other operating systems.
Another option, which I won't detail, allows you to set up the host to be accessed from any computer via Internet Explorer, without client software. Furthermore, you can use Remote Desktop over the internet, though I won't go into the details of that either. Mostly I have some tips for how to use it after it's connected. By the way, I use Windows XP, and I'm not sure all the details are exactly the same for Vista.
Note that there are other programs that allow similar remote access, but Remote Desktop is already included with Windows.
Getting Connected
As for the basics of getting connected, first you have to set up the host computer. Go to System Properties (either Winkey-Break or Winkey-Pause, depending on your keyboard, or just right click My Computer and select Properties), go to the "Remote" tab, and check "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer". Note the "Full computer name", which you'll need later.
Now click the "Select Remote Users" button. You will have to login using a username and password of a user on the host computer. Here is where you select which users will have remote access. By default, all Administrator accounts automatically have access so you probably don't have to do anything. If you want to give access to any non-administrator accounts, click the "Add" button, then the "Advanced" button, then the "Find Now" button, then select the user from the list and hit, OK, OK, OK.
If you have a firewall on the host computer, you'll have to make sure it's set to allow connections from the client computer you'll be using. (That would probably mean creating a range of privileged local IP addresses.)
Now you're ready to connect. Go to the client computer. Remote Desktop Connection should by default be in your Start menu under, I think, All Programs, Accessories, Communications. Alternately, if you can't find the shortcut, you can just hit Winkey-R (for Run program), then type "mstsc" (for MicroSoft Terminal ServiCes) and hit Enter.
Type the (NetBIOS host) "full computer name" from above or the IP address of the host Computer and click connect. Log in with the appropriate username and password. You'll now be controlling the remote host computer from your local monitor, keyboard and mouse.
Note: before connecting, you can change other options if you choose. One thing you can do is save configurations so you can quickly replicate them again later, to connect to a particular user account on a particular computer with particular settings for sound and graphics. You could even put shortcuts to these .rdp files in your start menu.
Basics
By default, Remote Desktop will be full-screen. You won't see the Start button and taskbar for your local computer session, just the ones for the remote host computer. Most of the familiar keyboard shortcuts will now be sent to the host computer. For example, Alt-Tab will switch between programs on the host. Alt-F4 will close a window on the host.
It's so much like sitting at the other computer that if you're not careful, you could forget that you're in a Remote Desktop session and things could get confusing. That's why there's a Remote Desktop "tab" at the top center of the screen with the name of the host computer. At the right side of that tab are familiar-looking minimize, restore, and close buttons, all of which do what you'd expect. If you are done working on the remote computer, click that close button, which will just disconnect your remote session, leaving all your programs running until the next time you login. Or you can minimize or restore down the Remote Desktop window so that you can switch between controlling the local and remote computers.
Also, at the left side of the RD tab, there's a thumbtack button which lets you "unpin" the RD tab from the screen, in which case it will "auto-hide", i.e. it will be visible only if you put your mouse pointer up there (thus making it even more likely you'll forget that you're in a RD window). The RD tab is pretty unobtrusive, so there's usually no reason to unpin it. You'd need to if you really had to see or click on something in that small area that's otherwise hidden by the RD tab. (Or, if you open a RD session B from within a RD session A and need a way to escape back to RD session A without escaping all the way back to your local console session, but that's beyond the scope of this post...)
If instead of minimizing you restore the RD window, it will show up as a window on your local computer session. You won't be able to see the whole desktop of the remote computer without scrolling (unless you changed the window size in the options before connecting).
Keyboard Shortcuts
While full screen, most Windows keyboard shortcuts will be sent to the remote computer. While the RD window is NOT full screened, Windows keyboard shortcuts go to the local computer. There are some special Remote Desktop keyboard shortcuts.
When RD window is not full screen:
- Alt-PgUp switches between programs on the remote computer (equivalent of Alt-Tab. Likewise, Alt-PgDn is like Shift-Alt-Tab.)
- Alt-Home opens Start menu on the remote computer (equivalent of Winkey)
Whether or not RD is full screen:
- Ctrl-Alt-End opens Task Manager on the remote computer (equivalent of Ctrl-Alt-Del. Ctrl-Alt-Del will always be sent to the local computer and, when logged into Windows, will open Task Manager.)
- Ctrl-Alt-Break switches RD between restored and full-screen. Note that this allows you to switch between controlling remote and local computers without having to use the mouse to click the RD tab. Press Ctrl-Alt-Break to switch RD from full screen to window, and then you can use Alt-Tab to switch between local programs.
Shutting Down
One other difference between a local session and a remote session is the Logoff and Shutdown options. For some reason, they made it hard to figure out how to Turn Off the computer remotely (presumably to help you avoid doing it accidentally, especially since you may not be able to turn it back on if it really is "remote") and even harder to hibernate. In the Start Menu of a RD session, you don't even have a "Turn Off" option. What if you want to power down the host computer remotely? One way is to use the Ctrl-Alt-End shortcut to open Task Manager and then use its "Shut Down" menu.
That will let you Turn Off the computer, but the Hibernate option is inexplicably grayed out. If you want to hibernate, select the "Desktop" (I just hit Winkey-D for Desktop. Winkey-M for Minimize All does the same thing.) and press Alt-F4. This brings up the same menu as when you click Start and then "Turn Off" in a non-remote session. To hibernate, just hit the letter H. (The hibernate option is always hidden; to use it with a mouse you have to hold down Shift, which makes the Stand By option change to Hibernate.) Again, to hibernate it's Winkey-D, Alt-F4, H.
Waking Up
Of course, even more handy, and making Remote Desktop much more usable and useful, is the ability to wake up the host computer remotely. If it's connected by an ethernet cable, this is probably possible using Wake On LAN (WOL for short. LAN stands for Local Area Network.) Not all ethernet adapters and motherboards support WOL, but nowadays most do.
To enable Wake On LAN, open System Properties again (Winkey-Pause or Winkey-Break), go to the Hardware tab, and click the Device Manger button. Expand Network Adapters in the tree, select your Ethernet adapter, and hit Alt-Enter (for properties. This works throughout Windows and is the keyboard equivalent of Right-Click -> Properties). Go to the Power Management tab and check both "Allow this device to bring the computer out of standby" and "Only allow management stations to bring the computer out of standby". This tells Windows to enable WOL from this adapter.
You may also need to go to the hardware-specific settings in the Advanced tab and enable options that sound appropriate. (On my laptop I have a Realtek adapter with "Wake-On-Lan After Shutdown" and "WakeUp on ARP/PING" both enabled. I have "WakeUp on Link Change" and "WakeUp using APM Mode" disabled.)
Finally, you need a way to send the wake-up call. Some routers will do this, one advantage of which is that you could do it from outside your local network, via the internet, even if no computers on your LAN were turned on. If you use DD-WRT firmware, it's under Administration -> WOL.
Otherwise, you can use this free program. Put in the hardware MAC address (six two-digit hexadecimal numbers, something like 00-35-E2-CA-5E-23) of the ethernet adapter on the computer you want to wake up, and type "0.0.0.0" for both Internet Address and Subnet Mask. (It'll actually broadcast the "magic packet" wake-up call to 255.255.255.255, which goes to every device on the network.) Then click the "Wake Me Up" button and the remote computer should boot up. (The port number doesn't matter for WOL within a LAN.)
Simultaneous Sessions
One thing about Remote Desktop is that if someone is already logged into the host computer (locally or via RD), they will be disconnected and sent back to the "Welcome" login screen when you connect. And if they log back in (or if anybody logs in) while you're connected, you'll get disconnected. Here's where the best tip of all comes in.
The funny thing is that Windows has built-in the ability to handle multiple users simultaneously logged in. Apparently someone changed their mind at some point and decided to disable the feature, but it can be re-enabled with this fix. Say your wife is using the desktop computer and you've got the laptop but you need access to a file or program on the desktop. With multiple concurrent sessions, you can just log in to the desktop (using a different user account than your wife is using) via Remote Desktop. You don't have to wait or interrupt the wife. Note you can't log in using the same username and password as the wife without disconnecting her. Only one session per user account is allowed, so you'll need to have multiple user accounts set up.
29 2008-08-14 06:31 how to sync the sync
tips
more about the samsung "sync" flip-phone. (by the way, what a horrible name! how on earth are you supposed to google "sync" and find anything relevant? it does help to know that the model number is SGH-A707.)
if you save your phone number contacts to your SIM card it's easy to transfer them to another phone. it also gives you a backup copy in case the phone breaks. but if the phone gets lost, so does the SIM card. if those phone numbers are valuable to you, or if not having to re-enter them all into a new phone with your thumbs, then you should back them up to a computer.
with the free download "Samsung PC Studio 3" you can make a backup copy of your contacts via a bluetooth or usb connection. i don't know which other samsung phone models it works with, but it does work with the A707 "sync". you can also sync those contacts back to a phone.
one more advantage is that if you want to make many changes to your contacts, e.g. adding or changing area codes, deleting duplicates, etc. it might be a lot easier to do on a computer than on your phone. i cleaned up my contact list using excel.
run PC Studio 3, then select "PC Sync". under options, you can choose whether to sync from phone to PC, PC to phone, or both. you can also choose whether to use microsoft outlook contacts or a windows address book (.wab) file. i used the .wab file. the .wab option is listed as "Microsoft Outlook Express (Windows Address Book)".
you can just use the default file, but i preferred to create one specifically for phone contacts. to make a new .wab file, run "address book" from the start menu, then export to a new .wab file in the location of your choice. if there were any existing contact entries you can delete them from your new wab file. then, in PC Sync options, click "Setting" to select your empty .wab file as the sync target.
anyway, export contacts is pretty straightforward, but there was one little quirk i had to figure out for importing contacts from computer to phone. it doesn't work quite the way it ought to. the quirk and the workaround described below are the really useful information in this post.
quirk: to import from pc to phone, contacts have to have a "last name" and/or "first name" field or they won't be imported. but when you export from phone to pc, contacts do not have either of those data fields; they only have a single combined field called "name". therefore, the file you export to PC cannot be imported back to the phone!
the easy fix is to open the .wab file, export it as a text (.csv - comma separated values) file, and then delete all the contacts in the .wab. then, in the process of reimporting the .csv file back into the .wab, remap the "Name" field to "First Name". (when you do this import from text file, it will be obvious how to do the remapping. when the "change mapping" button shows up, just select the source field you want to remap, click the "change mapping" button, and select the desired destination field.) now you have a .wab file that can sync back to the A707 sync phone.
if you want, before that last step, you can manipulate the .csv file in any way you choose. another note, if you want names to be sorted by last name, use outlook instead of a .wab file. PC Sync will use outlook's "File As" values, i.e. they could be "Doe, John" instead of "John Doe".
28 2008-01-07 12:23 atom feed
newsletter
my blog now has an atom feed so you can subscribe to automatically receive new blog postings.
to subscribe to blog feeds, you need a reader such as google reader. the point of a reader is that it allows you to read multiple blogs all in a single location. the main advantage is that it saves you the time and effort of having to visit each blog one at a time just to see whether they've been updated since you last visited.
another advantage is that--since it's so much faster and easier to check them all at once--it's feasible to check them all more frequently, thus allowing you to find new posts much sooner after they are posted.
and yet another advantage is that (once you've subscribed to the feeds) you don't have to remember any links, e.g. "blog.t-rev.net". with an online reader such as google's, i can sit down at any computer connected to the internet, log in, and check all the blogs to which i'm subscribed. otherwise i would need bookmarks or favorites to remember the locations of them all for me.
update 2008-08-14: the address of my blog's feed is changing. you can subscibe to the new feed now at http://blog.t-rev.net/atom.php or http://blog.t-rev.net/xml-rss2.php
27 2008-01-01 14:15 MMF ringtones
tips
Laura's phone lets you use MP3s as ring tones, but it only accepts .mmf or .amr files (at least, it doesn't take .mp3 or .wav) for other sounds, such as reminder alarms and voice mail alert tones.
after trying some other methods that didn't work, here's how to make make .mmf (SMAF) ringtones that will actually work on the samsung sync (A707) phone:
0. download Yamaha's free WSD "Wave Sound Decorator" (for Windows) and install it.
1. create your desired ring tone as a .wav file.
Note: it's best to make it monaural. also apply "compression" if you can. i use audacity for audio recording and editting.
2. run WSD and drag your .wav file onto it.
3. select "MA-5" in the drop-down box on the toolbar (upper left).
4. if the sample rate in the status bar (bottom right) is above 24000 Hz, click "Edit" and "Sample Type" then resample to 24000. (in the process, check "convert to mono" if it's not grayed out.)
Note: WSD can also normalize, trim, and fade in/out if you didn't do all that in step 1.
5. save it, (it saves only as .mmf format.) put it on the phone and use it.
ringtones on the Samsung A707 are limited to a file size of 300kB, which for a 19.4 second (that's how long her phone rings before voicemail picks up) mono MP3 requires you to use 112kbps (or less, or VBR).
alarm tones aren't subject to the 300kB limit. reminder alarms sound for 60 seconds or until acknowledged, and the phone allows you to use 60s of 16bit mono .mmf audio at the highest allowed sample rate, 24000Hz.
26 2007-12-17 14:51 Christmas carols
gifts
here's my collection of Christmas carols in this zip file. it's not comprehensive, but i know it could be useful to somebody. (would have been useful to me in the past!) i transcribed some myself; others are from various sources.
UPDATE 2007-12-25: i added a few more chord charts, and notably :) sheet music (both printable and powerpoint) for several songs. here's what's in the new zip file (link above).
Sheet Music:
Angels From The Realm Of Glory
Angels We Have Heard On High
Bring A Torch, Jeanette Isabella
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus (alternate tune)
Deck The Halls
Ding Dong Merrily On High
First Noel, The
Go Tell It On The Mountain
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
Good Christian Men Rejoice
Hark The Herald Angels Sing
I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
Joy To The World
Oh Christmas Tree
Oh Come All Ye Faithful
Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel
Oh Holy Night
Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem
Once In Royal David's City
Silent Night
Wassail Song (Here We Come A-Wassailing)
We Three Kings
What Child Is This
Chord Charts:
G Angels From The Realm Of Glory
E,G Angels We Have Heard On High
E Away In A Manger (two tunes)
D Born This Day
D,E Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
G For The Beauty Of The Earth
E Go Tell It On The Mountain
D Gotta Get Up
C,D Hark The Herald Angels Sing
G It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
CDEG Joy To The World
G Oh Come All Ye Faithful
Am Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel
A,G Oh Holy Night
A Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem
A Once In Royal David's City
D Prepare the Way
C Silent Night
Am/C We Three Kings
C We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Em,Am What Child Is This
Powerpoint:
A Communion Hymn For Christmas
Advent Of Our God
Angels From The Realm Of Glory
Angels We Have Heard On High
Away In A Manger (two tunes)
Birthday Of A King
Come On, Ring Those Bells
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
First Noel, The
For The Beauty Of The Earth
Go Tell It On The Mountain
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
Good Christian Men Rejoice
Hark The Herald Angels Sing
How Great Our Joy
I Cannot Tell
I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
I Wonder As I Wander
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
Joy To The World
Joy to the World (He Is Jesus the King)
Lo! How A Rose E'er Blooming
O Thou Joyful O Thou Wonderful
Oh Come All Ye Faithful
Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel
Oh Holy Night
Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem
Once In Royal David's City
Prepare the Way
Silent Night
Sweet Little Jesus Boy
There Is Room In My Heart For Thee
Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne
We Three Kings
What Child Is This
also in there is a longer list of Christmas songs along with what key and time signature they're in. happy carolling!
25 2007-12-17 13:20 more turbulence
newsletter
i'm pretty sure this is her head in this video:
24 2007-12-16 18:30 Christmas program
gifts
Trying to come up with a musical children's Christmas program? Feel free to recycle ours. The script and all the chord charts are in this zip file. (Could be handy for caroling or Christmas worship services too.) It includes one or two verses of each of these songs:
Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem
Silent Night
Away In A Manger
Angels We Have Heard On High (modified lyric)
Hark The Herald Angels Sing
We Three Kings
Joy To The World
We Wish You A Merry Christmas
23 2007-12-14 22:17 belly turbulence
newsletter
