The First 100 Years Are The Hardest

Howto Create DVD Home Movies Using Linux: Here is a guide I put together to help you capture video from a miniDV camera and create homemade DVDs using linux. I have a Sony DCR TVR-18 MiniDV and run Fedora Core 2 (FC2) on a Shuttle XPC (detailed system specs ). I use the DAG YUM/APT repository to manage package installation dependencies when possible. Read this for more information about mixing repositories. I've been extremely happy with DAG. Most of my installation headaches were resolved after I dropped Livna and Fedora Extras from my YUM configuration. 1. Introduction - Kino Installation Tips from Linux Journal . This article from December 2004 provides a nice overview of the tools required to get your camcorder working with Kino via the Firewire/IEEE 1394 interface. If you're using the DAG YUM repository you might want simply try to install kino first and let YUM indentify and resolve the package dependencies for you. From the command line type (as root

Neal Stephenson Resources I just finished Stepehson's The Diamond Age (Hugo Winner and Nebula Nominee). I n my opinion The Diamond Age is his best novel written todate, although I haven't read Cryptonomicon and I have yet finish The System of The World, which concludes his Baroque Cycle master piece. Check out these links if you interested in some of his other work: Neal Stephenson Bibliography Excerpt from the Third and Last Volume of Tribes of the Pacific Coast In The Beginning Was the Command Line The Great Simoleon Caper Crunch (Disco 2000 Anthology) As Stephen Bury Interface Cobweb

[adult swim] Last week I discovered [adult swim] just in time for my fall vacation. Featured nightly from 11pm - 5am ET on cartoon network, [adult swim] brings the best anime directly into your home. Combined with the "TiVO Season Pass" and you get anime "on demand" without the hassle of renting DVDs. Seach a9.com or animeNfo Top100 for more information on boxed sets and movie editions that are worth collecting on DVD. There are over two dozen programs available from[adult swim], and each espisode is usually 20 minutes excluding commercials. Check out the clips and daily schedule fom [adult swim] for more information on each series. Personal favorites include: Cowboy Bebop Full Metal Alchemist Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Sealab 2021 Witch Hunter Robin

Newsweek Special Election - Read their special 50,000 word report- behind the scenes campaign coverage . Newsweek had reported embedded in each campaign for the past 14 months. They had signed non-disclosure agreeements not to leak anything till the elections were over November third. This makes for some very interesting (but lenghty) reading.

2004 Election Coverage Check out USA Today's County by County Voting Results Counties voting Republican are noted in Red, Democratic in Blue. Bush won the popular vote and the electoral vote, but its interesting that he carried the majority of the counties in states that went to Kerry. Kerry had strong support in the densely populated metropolitan areas of Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and but Bush carried most (if not all) of the smaller cities and rural areas in these states.

Electoral Vote Predictor 2004 Cool website that shows the electoral vote breakdown by state for Bush and Kerry campaigns. Updated daily. Interesting visual contrasts between the American heartland and the East/West coasts.

The Popular Vote Anyone who argues that the Electoral College should be scrapped in favor of the popular vote should first understand how the electoral college works and why it was established in the first place. The Electoral College provides a system of checks and balances between the federal and state governments. It maintains the balance of power between the large and the small states. It facilitates the stable transition of power across regular elections. There's also a conservative notion that the primary purpose of government is to secure and protect the liberty and property of its citizens. Stability is a prerequisite for security. The popular vote can be as fickle and dangerous as a tyrannical mob. It was used in Ancient Greece to condemn Socrates to death. It was manipulated by the demagogues of the 20th century to elect the likes of Adolf Hitler to public office. Links: How the Electoral College Works Brief History and Evaluation of the Electoral

Fun with the 2004 Vote Visit these websites to help celebrate the Vote on November 4: Best in Drag Bush Brain Game New! Voting Machines

The Laws of Software Development "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it." --Murphy's Law The speed of software halves every 18 months. --Gates Law "Software bloat tends to counter the every-18-month doubling in hardware capacity per dollar, as predicted by Moore's Law." --The Harrow Technology Report (12/22/03)

Continuous Partial Attention "Linda Stone, formerly of Apple and Microsoft, has coined the term "continuous partial attention" to describe life in the era of e-mail, instant messaging, cellphones, and other distractions. This curious feature of modern life poses a problem for a someone like me. Every productive thing that I do requires ALL my attention." Neal Stephenson "Email is a wonderful thing for people whose role in life is to be on top of things. But not for me; my role is to be on the bottom of things. What I do takes long hours of studying and uninterruptible concentration." Don Knuth "I don't even have an e-mail address. I have reached an age where my main purpose is not to receive messages." --- Umberto Eco, quoted in the New Yorker

Personal Firewall Reviews "The perfect personal firewall would be inexpensive and easy to install and use, would offer clearly explained configuration options, would hide all ports to make your PC invisible to scans, would protect your system from all attacks, would track all potential and actual threats, would immediately alert you to serious attacks, and would ensure nothing unauthorized entered or left your PC." This great definition is quoted from Make Your PC Hacker Proof, Jeff Sengstack, PC World, July 21, 2000.

Anit-Phishing Workging Group Resource to track scams and fraud on the internet: From the Anti-Phishing Website : Phishing attacks use 'spoofed' e-mails and fraudulent websites designed to fool recipients into divulging personal financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames and passwords, social security numbers, etc. By hijacking the trusted brands of well-known banks, online retailers and credit card companies, phishers are able to convince up to 5% of recipients to respond to them.

Responsible Reporting on 9/11 Snopes' Urban Legend Rebuttal for Pentagon Strike Flash Misinformation and rumors about the 9/11 attacks Wikipedia report on American Airlines Flight 77 Wikipedia Report on United Airlines Flight 93 CNN Report on United Airlines Flight 93

Alternative News Signs of the Times Pentagon Strike What Really Happened to Flight 93? What Really Happened to American Airlines Flight 11?

THE HITCHHIKER ADVENTURE GAME by Douglas Adams - 20th Anniversary Edition Wow! Has it already been 20 years? I've got great memories from my C-64. Infocom was in its Heyday. Sierra Online. OkiMate 20 Thermal Transfer color printers. $5 joysticks for "Popeye" and "Raid over Moscow".

Technology Roundup Controlling Global Weather (Funded NAIC Initiative) Optical (50nm) Technology Patented for Data Storage (100 Terabytes on 3.5" Disk) DOD Funding To Research Health Risks of Nanotechnology -from the Augutst 2004 Harrow Technology Report

Security Roundup Internet and Cell Phone "Alibi Clubs" Hacking the AMD 64 and Opteron CPU Microcode Cell-phone jammers Webcams for Secure ID Tokens Freeze your credit report to prevent identity theft -from the August 2004 CryptoGram

Earlier this year I read Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" and "Quicksilver." Last month I finished "The Confusion", which is the second volume of the Baroque Cycle. The third and final volume, "The System of the World" is supposed to be published in October. Although I'm really enjoying the Baroque Cycle, "Snow Crash" remains my favorite. If you are interested in the author you can read more at Neal Stephenson- (Wikipedia).

The Riches ( Jane's Addiction ) I love standing by the water and just knowing what it's for It's alright to swim and sip it let me have a little more Like my woman, like my shower get them hot until their steaming Love to find a little spot nice and shady that's for dreamin' of the riches Oh, tell me where are you hidden? Cause ready or not man, I'm coming in, Into the life, Into the life of riches! Stretching out in the sun like a cat in the window Hillside changing colors as I'm watching shadows throw I'm laughing that is rich it puts my stomach in the stiches Early bird from a perch looking down can see all the world's riches Oh, tell me where are you hidden? Cause ready or not man, I'm coming in, Into the life, Into the life of riches! Never lookin' over my shoulder again I wanna buy my time and finally own my fate If you tell me no, then I really must insist And when the hunt is over, kiss me on my lips Kisses!

COULD 'E-MAIL-FREE' FRIDAYS REPLACE KHAKIS AND KNIT SHIRTS? We all know that e-mail is turning into a huge time and productivity sink, but one lone crusader in Silicon Valley is trying to do something about it. Two months ago Jeremy Burton at Veritas Software decreed that Fridays in his marketing department were to be "e-mail free" -- employees who needed to communicate with each other were instructed to stop by and chat or use the phone. "E-mail is supposed to be this big productivity tool, but it's getting to the point where it is out of control," says Burton, who complains that he was regularly spending two hours a day just dealing with e-mail. The ban applies only to interdepartmental communications and violators are fined $1 per transgression, with the proceeds going toward charity (so far, almost $70 has been collected). Many workers have endorsed the ban, noting the advantages of face-to-face conversations, and Burton says he

Quotes Roundup (Newsscan): "Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!" (Lewis Carroll) "Never retract. Never explain. Get it done and let them howl." (Benjamin Jowett) "We shall not cease from exploration. And at the end of our exploring will be to arrive where we started and to know the place for the first time." (T.S. Eliot) Nowher so besy a man as he ther n¹ as, And yet he semed besier than he was." (Geoffrey Chaucer) "Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance." (Samuel Johnson) "If you can't describe what you are doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing." (W. Edwards Deming)

Newscan Excerpt from 8/20/04: COURT ON FILE-SWAPPING: GET USED TO IT! A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the movie and recording industries can't stretch copyright law to block online piracy of songs and movies. If the decision is appealed, the U.S. Supreme Court could revisit its landmark Sony Betamax ruling that protected from copyright lawsuits products that have substantial legitimate uses. Whereas the same appeals court ruled against file-sharing service Napster in 2001 because it stored illegally copied files on its central computers, today's peer-to-peer file-sharing networks have no central computers -- and cannot even monitor users, let alone control them. The court urged the entertainment industry to adapt to file sharing the way movie studios did after losing the Betamax case: "The introduction of new technology is always disruptive to old markets, and particularly to those copyright owners whose works are sold through well-

Sanity Returns to the DMCA Debate The FCC ruled on Wednesday that Tivo's new "To Go" feature is not a violation of the Digital Millenium Copywrite Act. From the CNET article , "TiVo users will be able to share copies of digital TV shows through the Internet with a small number of friends and family members, the Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday."

Concerns Grow over the "new" Copywrite Debates I came across these these articles recently that concern the growing debate about the use of technology to enhance the way we live, work and play. The new "Induce Act" would virtually outlaw all forms of private P2P networks and would significantly dampen innovation for new consumer electronics like Apple's iPod, the Tivo, DVD writers, video on demand, and even "old school" products like the VCR. TiVo Battles Hollywood Over Copyrights Antipiracy Bill Gains New Ally (US Patent Office) Microsoft Research DRM Talk (Electronic Frountier Foundation on Digital Rights Management) Imagine life without the benefits brought about by the VCR over the past 20 years: home video rentals, home theater systems, big sreen/plasma TVs, Dolby Surround Sound, multimedia PCs, camcorders, MPEG, DIVx, etc., etc. The technology may be new but the debate isn't. What happened to " fair use " and

Quotes Round Up "Telephone, n. An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance." (Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary) "Beware the fury of a patient man." (John Dryden) "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." (Ben Franklin) "Things equal out pretty well. Our dreams seldom come true, but then neither do our nightmares." (Charles Kennedy)

FC1 Fedora Core 1 Linux Infrared Remote Control Project (lirc) I'm working on a homebrew lirc-0.6.6 receiver for Fedora Core 1. After extracting the source and running ./configure I immediately ran into complile problems with the following error: make[3]: Entering directory `/home/cwhite/download/lirc-0.6.6/drivers/lirc_serial' DIR=`pwd`; (cd /usr/src/linux/; make SUBDIRS=$DIR obj-m=lirc_serial.o modules) /usr/src/linux-2.4.22-1.2188.nptl/scripts/pathdown.sh: line 4: TOPDIR: parameter null or not set make[4]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.22-1.2188.nptl' make[4]: *** No rule to make target `lirc_serial.o', needed by `modules'. Stop. make[4]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.22-1.2188.nptl' make[3]: *** [lirc_serial.o] Error 2 After two days of reading the documentation and searching messages boards for related issues I found a similar solution by googling for lirc TOPDIR: parameter null or not set My problems were resolved when I

Fun with Reinhold's Yeti More Fun With Tux

Video Codecs Xvid- The open source DivX Codec XviD Users Guide WinXP XviD Installer DivX HowTOs DVD-Video to XviD Conversion Guide VLC - VideoLAN Client 0.7.2 Multimedia player for various audio and video formats

The Way to Work How To Ask Questions The Smart Way RFC 1855 Netiquette Guidelines

Fedora Core 1 (x86_64) Multimedia Support Yesterday I finally got full multimedia support configured for FC1. I'm successfully running MPlayer 1.0pre4-3.3.2 and K3b 11.9 built from source and optimized for the AMD 64-bit CPU! I've been able to play every DVDs from my personal library without any issues. Thanks to Mauriat Miranda's MPlayer - Fedora Guide set up and installation was a snap! I really like the proton skin. Other skins (including the default Blue) can be downloaded from here . GOTCHA : When I rebooted kudzu attached my DVD/CD Writer combo to /dev/scd1 instead of /dev/cdrom. Therefore my symlink from /dev/cdrom to /dev/dvd was worthless and prevented me from watching DVDs. You can use dmesg after a reboot to figure out what devices the CDROM/DVD Drives are attached to!

Helpul Fedora Core Multimedia resources ESR's Fedora Multimedia Installation HOWTO (ESR's books and other HOWTOs are entertaining and worth reading!) nVidia display drivers for Linux K3b 0.11.9 CD and DVD burning application for Linux rpmBone locate and resolve source and rpm dependencies rpmSeek Fedora Forum Fedora Chat

Fedora Core 1 / WinXP Dual Boot I've configured my new Shuttle AMD64 XPC to dual boot between Fedora Core 1 (FC1) x86_64 and the Windows XP 64 Bit beta . I'm actually trib-booting my sytem with grub . Unfortunately WinXP-64 was virtually worthless since I couldn't install any of my Win32 programs (installation fails seaching for files sush as windows/system/wsock32.dll). Here is a copy of my /etc/grub.conf: # grub.conf generated by anaconda # # Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file # NOTICE: You do not have a /boot partition. This means that # all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg. # root (hd0,1) # kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda2 # initrd /boot/initrd-version.img #boot=/dev/hda default=0 timeout=10 splashimage=(hd0,1)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz title Fedora Core (2.4.22-1.2188.nptl) root (hd0,1) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.22-1.2188.nptl r

Useful Quotes : "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." (Hunter S. Thompson) "The incompetent with nothing to do can still make a mess of it." (Laurence J. Peter) "Creativity is not merely the innocent spontaneity of our youth and childhood; it must also be married to the passion of the adult human being, which is a passion to live beyond one's death. (Rollo May) "The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds." (John Maynard Keynes) "Life Shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." (Anais Nin) "Logic, like whiskey, loses its beneficial effect when taken in too large quantities." (Lord Dunsany) "Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thi

Hardware Configuration Updated 5/7/04 : Be sure to use a passively cooled video card if you want to minimize system noise. I replaced the PNY nVidia card with one from XForce (XFX) which is built on the same nVidia GeForce FX chipset. The XFX is passively cooled and uses DDR333 (vs DDR400) SDRAM. Otherwise the XFX is identical to the PNY model. The fan on the actively cooled PNY video card doubled the noise from the Shuttle XPC! Luckily, Tiger Direct agreed to RMA the card with no restocking fee and even paid for the return shipping. What started out as a PC upgrade has become a full scale replacement. Here are the specs for the system components that I have on order from Newegg and TigerDirect . All items are being shipped either UPS or FedX and should be delivered by Sunday! Shuttle XPC SN85G4 Barebones kit AMD Athlon 64 2800+, 512KB L2 Cache, 64-bit Processor XFX nVIDIA GeForce FX5200 Video Card, 128MB DDR, TV-Out, 8X AGP (Updated!) Corsair ValueSelect 184

Thinking About Data Retention on CD/DVD Medias The question of data retention becomes more important as I burn more "stuff" to CD-Rs, CD-RWs, DVD-Rs, DVD+R, DVD-RW etc. I found the following articles helpful: CD/DVD 'Longevity' Update Under The CD Covers A Dye To Die For -- Data Preservation Thoughts Understanding CD-R and CD-RW Quick Reference Guide for Care and Handling Guide to Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs (Very informative, excellent diagrams and extensive glossary!)

DVD and Video Support for Linux is quickly evolving. I wouldn't suggest anyone use the VCD/SVCD formats unless disk space is an issue, and disk space if finally getting reasonable. I just picked up a 200GB Seagate drive for $99, after the in-store special and mail-in-rebate. Follow these links if you are looking for more references: DVD Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers) DVDRHelp YoLinux Tutorial: Video, DVD, TV and Multimedia VideoLAN LVE- Linux Video Editor Kino

PVR UPDATE I received the Hauppauge WinTv-PVR 250 from NewEgg - $139 for the retail edition, which includes the remote control, bundled software and free shipping! I installed it on my son's 2.6GHz eMachine running WinXP on Friday night. Everything worked nicely out of the box. I was able to use the bundled software to edit the MPEG capture files and compare recordings from LiveTV as well as the home videos from my Sony Camcorder (which connects to the card's composite Video-Input). The Hauppauge bundle includes Ulead DVD MovieFactory (a $99 value if you need to order it directly from Ulead). MovieFactory has the ability to create custom menus with individual titles, chapters, etc, select film clips for each title, edit the menu soundtrack, back ground, etc. This is a nice piece of software in that it allows you to burn directly the mpeg files directoy to the DVD writer, to create a DVD-ISO image, or to save the raw IFO and VOB files directly into the standard Audio_

The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock TS Eliot was one of my college favorites.

Homebrew PVR - Intermediate Progress With the birth of my daughter Ava last week time is running short... so I've taken the dreaded Windows shortcut till I can get the remaining parts ordered. I purchased a V-Stream USB2800 Xpert DVD Maker video capture card from newegg for $50. It was cheap enough and supported MPEG 2 video with stereo audio encoding (44.1 or 48Khz). I didn't think it would work on Linux (it didn't) but I figured it would be ok on WinXP for capturing some VCDs (320x240) of Ava for the grand parents (it did). Even though the USB2800 technically supports 720x480 mpeg capture, the encoding is done all in software and the USB 2.0 interface significantly restricts the video capture bandwidth (6-8 mb/s variable bitrate (VBR) is required for DVD quality captures). I believe a hardware encoder simliar to the ones used in the Haupguage WinTV 250 PVR cards would produce better quality videos. After several test runs I've determined I'm better

DVD-V Resources : DVD Authoring HowTO VCDimager article describes how authoring DVD-V may be realized with GNU/Linux and other unices (brief and a bit dated). MJPEG Tools The mjpeg programs are a set of tools that can do recording of videos and playback, simple cut-and-paste editing and the MPEG compression of audio and video under Linux. MJPEG HOWTO - An introduction to the MJPEG-tools MJPEG capture/editting/replay and MPEG encoding toolset description. For those who REALLY want to start at the beginning... DVD Author (Great links to other projects, some of which I've linked to directly below) DVDRTOOLS Q-DVD-Author Qt front end for DVD Author DVD-Styler DVDStyler is a crossplatform GUI frontend to the dvd authoring and recording programs dvdauthor and dvdrecord. Polidori Gnome front end- no releases yet! DVD-Create (looks like this project is not active)

Thinking Small: Small Form Factor (SSF) Mini PC Resources Small Form Factor Pentium 4 PC Roundup - March 2003 Top 5 Small Form Factor PC Barebone Kits - January 2004 Shuttle Biostar CPU Parts International CappuccinoPC iMicros Ebay Store NewEgg The HTPC Store

DVD-Recording Status I successfully installed the new NEC DVD±RW from newegg and burned a sample VCD using 300mb worth of Star Trek Enterprise episode teasers from Mr. Video Productions . I used K3b 0.11 witht the VCDImager v0.7.14. Although the vcd didn't work in my old RCA DVD player, I was able to enjoy the teasers on my son's e-machine running WinXP. I had to compile and install k3b and vcdimager from the source since there were runtime issues with the latest versions of vdcimager. Note: The vcdimager website was down for several days. Keep trying if the link doesn't work. Also, I had to upgrade to College Linux 2.5 because vcdxbuild kept dying under CL 2.3. I wanted to add a second disk and upgrade sound support to ALSA anywat. Unfortunately ALSA didn't work out of the box (configuration at install time caused a kernel panic). aRTs didn't work either for some reason. Guess I'll have to become a Linux Sound support expert to fix this.

MPEG RECORDING SAMPLES I stumbled across the Library of Congress' American Memory digital library collection while searching for usable MPEG video recording samples to test various video formats for my PVR project. I was happily distracted for an hour while I downloaded and watched silent films from over 100 years ago! Of special interest is the collection on the Theodore Roosevelt .

Homebrew Project: Linux PVR Today its time to put my money on the table and go all in. I ordered an NEC 2500A DVD±RW burner today! YEAH! cdfreaks gave it their "best value" award. Unfutunately I forgot to followup on the Hauppauge WinTV card I was planning to buy this morning. It's just as well because I can't tell for sure that it supports stereo audio encoding (verify the part number TBS) and the seller never responded to my query. Oh well, there are hundreds more to be had for the same great price! But Patience, Daniel Sun. Make sure the card has a well supported Video for Linux driver! Other Resources: MySetTopBox (KnoppMyth- a Knoppix based Linux Distro customized for MythTV) DVD FAQ The State of Home-Brew PVRs on Linux DVD-Recording Home

Is there Anyboby Out there? I just received by first Harvested DVD - I'm really enjoying the Roger Waters video anthology. Thanks!

The Lathe of Heaven (Ursula K. LeGuin, 1971) "Those whom heaven helps we call the sons of heaven. They do not learn this by learning. They do not work it by working. They do not reason it by using reason. To let understanding stop at what cannot be understood is a high attainment. Those who cannot do it will be destroyed on the lathe of heaven." - Chuang Tse: XXIII Original Dustcover Artwork The Lathe of Heaven (Synopsis + Analysis) Academic Analysis Sci-Fi Channel Review A&E Site with cool downloads and links to Movie Trailer TLOH on PBS 'Jor Jor, please forgive warranted interruption. You are human capable of iahklu as previously noted. This troubles self... We also have been variously disturbed. Concepts cross in mist. Perception is difficult. Volcanoes emit fire. Help is offered : refusably. Snakebite serum is not prescribed for all. Before following directions leading in wrong directions, auxiliary forces may be summoned, in immediately foll

Imaginary Exponents and Euler's Equation

2003 Harrington Elementary Science Fair has come and gone, but alas, after much effort and significant improvement over last year, my son was still only able to place 3rd. He was greatly disappointed, especially after he looked at the projects that one first and second places! Next year we'll we'll try to place 1st by evaluating our project against a science fair " rubric " such as this one published by the Los Angles County Department of Education .

From the Meredith Willson Music Man Album: " Seventy-Six Trombones . Now THIS is music for a celebratory occasion!