Sunday, March 26, 2006

Life Of Satisfaction Expectation Ratio

On last week's Trendspotting on The Daily Show Demetri Martin presented a segment on lifecoaching with a formula to determine whether or not lifecoaching would be good for someone. Simply using the original formula qualifies a person for lifecoaching. With my tweak, anything close to 50 or higher and you should probably be looking for a coach.

Life Of Satisfaction Expectation Ratio or L.O.S.E.R


Formula Tweak

Extreme Non-LOSER: 2
Extreme LOSER: 2075
Average LOSER: 6.5

Hamachi As Service In Fedora

Hamachi can be set up as a service in Linux easily. The following instructions work with Fedora and other Linux distributions that use chkconfig. A different method and set of instructions for other distributions can be found on the Hamachi forum topic. Normally, Hamachi puts configuration files in the user's home directory in .hamachi. A global configuration directory can be created
hamachi-init -c /etc/hamachi

To use Hamachi with the global configuration, the -c /etc/hamachi argument must me included in Hamachi commands
hamachi -c /etc/hamachi set-nick nickname
hamachi -c /etc/hamachi login
hamachi -c /etc/hamachi create network password
hamachi -c /etc/hamachi join network password
hamachi -c /etc/hamachi go-online network
hamachi -c /etc/hamachi list
hamachi -c /etc/hamachi go-offline network
A startup script named "hamachi" needs to be created in /etc/init.d/
#!/bin/bash
#
# hamachi         This shell script takes care of starting and stopping
#                 hamachi.
#
# chkconfig: 345 99 9
# description: hamachi is a zero-configuration VPN

# Source function library.
. /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions

# Source networking configuration.
. /etc/sysconfig/network

# Check that networking is up.
[ "${NETWORKING}" = "no" ] && exit 0

[ -f /etc/hamachi/client.pri ]  exit 0
[ -f /etc/hamachi/client.pub ]  exit 0

[ -f /usr/bin/hamachi ]  exit 0

# See how we were called.
case "$1" in
start)
 echo "Starting hamachi..."
 /sbin/tuncfg
 /usr/bin/hamachi -c /etc/hamachi start
 ;;
stop)
 echo "Stopping hamachi..."
 killall tuncfg
 /usr/bin/hamachi -c /etc/hamachi stop
 ;;
restart)
 stop
 sleep 1
 start
 ;;
  *)
 echo "Usage: hamachi {startstoprestart}\n"
 exit 1
esac

exit 0
Next, give executable permissions to the start up script
chmod a+x /etc/init.d/hamachi
Add Hamachi to the list of services
chkconfig --add hamachi
Make sure the script was properly added
chkconfig --list  grep hamachi
The service can then be started, stopped, or restarted
service hamachi start
service hamachi stop
service hamachi restart

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Counting Sheep The NIH Way

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has released a comprehensive 60-page handbook describing the how and why we sleep, and tips on getting enough sleep, such as sticking to a sleep schedule and relaxing before going to bed. Of course, reading a 60-page handbook on sleep might be all the help a person needs to fall asleep.

How much sleep a person needs constantly changes through a person's life: newborns require 16-18 hours, preschoolers 10-12, schoolaged children at least 9, while adults on average need around eight hours of sleep. The handbook also discusses snoring and sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrom, narcolepsy, and parasomnias. About half of all adults snore and African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics are more likely to snore loudly and frequently compared to Caucasians. Alcolhol and sedative taken before going to bed promote snoring.

Sleep Disorder Symptoms
  • You consistently take more than 30 minutes each night to fall asleep.
  • You consistently awaken more than a few times or for long periods of time each night.
  • You take frequent naps.
  • You often feel sleepy during the day, especially if you fall asleep at inappropriate times during the day.

One-Letter Domain Names According To Firefox/Google

In 2005, ICANN announced it might allow the registration of single-letter domain names. If you type "s" in Firefox's address bar, Firefox does an "I'm Feeling Lucky" Google search going to the first hit. Some letters A, H, J, have relevance to the sites they lead to, while others such as the letter "L" leave you wondering why its the first result on Google, of course Google results are constantly changing.

A: Apple
B: Physical Review B Hompage
C: C-Span
D: D-Link
E: E! Online
F: F-Secure
G: GMail
H: [H]ardOCP
I: iTools
J: J Records
K: K Desktop Environment
L: International Herald Tribune
M: Texas A&M University
N: The N
O: O'Reilly Media
P: PFLAG
Q: Q4music.com
R: R Project
S: Mc Donald's
T: AT&T
U: The University of Arizona, Tuscon Arizon
V: V Communications
W: White House
X: X.org
Y: Yahoo! Messenger
Z: A to Z Teacher Stuff

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

The Return of Chef!




South_Park premieres on Wednesday is entitled "The Return of Chef!", but the voice will not be played by Hayes. This comes after Comedy Central pulled a repeat of the episode "Trapped in the Closet" when Tom Cruise threatened to cancel all publicity for Mission Impossible 3.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

del.icio.us and Foxylicious

Tagging has arisen as a way for users to organize data in way that makes sense to them. Tags are keywords that represent categories, and objects with identical tags are linked and can be searched.

Social bookmarking websites allow users to share hyperlinks with other users; del.icio.us is the most popular of these sites because of its simplicity and ease of use. Other social bookmarking sites have been created that offer expanded or niche services such as the tech-oriented digg.com, which lets others users vote and make comments on submissions.

A user's links can be integrated into the Firefox browser using the Foxylicious extension allowing del.icio.us bookmarks to be updated daily on the user's computer. Foxylicious can also create subcategories from tags when bookmarks are tagged with identical prefixes separated by a user-specified character called a delimiter (i.e. college.classes and college.events where "." is the delimiting character).

Recently, del.icio.us has introduced an experimental function called tag bundles can also be used to group tags. Tag bundles are created from a user's profile http://del.icio.us/settings/username/bundle. Starting with version 0.6 Foxylicious has added support for tag bundles. One potential limitation of tag bundles is that they only offer one level of hierarchy.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Install R Packages On Linux Without Changing Permissions For Users

Typically, R installs packages /usr/lib/R/library/; other locations can be added using the R_LIBS environment variable in a Linux environment. If R_LIBS is null, R defaults to /usr/lib/R/library/

To change R_LIBS
export R_LIBS=/somefolder/
To check whether the variable was changed
echo $R_LIBS
Restart R to ensure that the packages in the alternative location are read. Packages installed in this fashion must be the Windows binary version of the package and must be unzipped into the directory. The library() command is used in the normal fashion.
library(somepackage)
This will only work for the current Linux session. To make the change permanent the export R_LIBS command can be placed in .bash_profile.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Chef Quits!

Issac Hayes, the voice of South Park's Chef, quit saying he can no longer tolerate the show's take on religion. Co-creator Matt Stone said "This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology... He has no problem - and he's cashed plenty of checks - with our show making fun of Christians;" Issac Hayes is a scientologist. Last November, the episode "Trapped in the Closet" targeted Scientology and its celebrity followers Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Spreadsheet::ParseExcel Warnings

An unresolved bug exists in the Perl module Spreadsheet::ParseExcel version 0.2603, which causes warnings to be displayed
Character in 'c' format wrapped in pack at /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.8.6/Spreadsheet/ParseExcel.pm line 1790.
Character in 'c' format wrapped in pack at /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.8.6/Spreadsheet/ParseExcel.pm line 1789.
While the warnings do not cause errors in the module output they are irritating when parsing large spreadsheets. A workaround involves changing basic changes to the two lines of code:

Before
substr($sWk, 3, 1) &= pack('c', unpack("c",substr($sWk, 3, 1)) & 0xFC);
substr($lWk, 0, 1) &= pack('c', unpack("c",substr($lWk, 0, 1)) & 0xFC);
After
substr($sWk, 3, 1) &= pack('C', unpack("C",substr($sWk, 3, 1)) & 0xFC);
substr($lWk, 0, 1) &= pack('C', unpack("C",substr($lWk, 0, 1)) & 0xFC);
Essentially, you are changing the lowercase "c" to capital "C", in all instances in the two lines. The error is caused by the module attempting to mask the last two bits of the character by unpacking it to a signed number, masking 0xFC, and then repacking it to a signed number. By changing, the letter the same operation is performed using unsigned integers.

Strathmore Artist Member Exhibit

On Thursday night, Strathmore held a reception for its 15th Annual Strathmore Artist Membership Juried Exhibition which runs from Feburary 25 through April 8 at the Strathmore Mansion. The exhibition is made of 116 works selected from 235 entries, which included sculptures, photography, paintings, computer generated images, and fabric art pieces.

Nancy Ungar, a DC area art critic who works for the Bethesda Gazette, was the juror. First place went to Insook Lee's "Psychomancy", second to Edward L. Kuff's "Evening Reverie", and third place went to Karen Stewart for "Brookside Lilies".



Images shown (Left to Right): "Street Balloons" by Dave Montgomery (Digital Compostion/Archival), "Monet Bouquet" by Marsha Liebl (Photography), "Cap on Chair" by Duncan Whitaker (Giclee/photograph), "Blossom at Night" by Ozge Alper (Watercolor), and "Luna" by Joanne Miller (Gelatin silver print)

Heliocentrism (Addition)

In 1664, Pope Alexander VII published his Index Librorum Prohibitorum Alexandri VII Pontificis Maximi jussu editus which included all previous condemnations of genocentric books. An annotated copy of Principia by Issac Newton is published in 1742 by Fathers le Seur and Jacquier of the Franciscan Minims, two Catholic mathematicians with a preface stating that the author's work assumed heliocentrism and could not be explained without the theory. Pope Benedict XIV suspends the ban on heliocentric works on April 16, 1757 based on Issac Newton's work. Pope Pius VII approves a decree in 1822 by the Sacred Congregation of the Inquisition to allow the printing of heliocentric books in Rome.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

West Philly Hybrid

Students from West Philadelphia High School's Academy for Automotive and Mechanical Engineering presented their hybrid vehicle at last month's Philadelphia International Auto Show. The vehicle runs on fuel made from soybeans, possesses a 300 horsepower engine, and gets gas mileage comparable to a Toyota Prius. Last year, the same vehicle won in the Tour de Sol competition for eco-friendly vehicles. The total value of the parts in the vehicle is about $90,000; it possesses carbon-fiber body panels from Hexcel Corp. of Stamford, Conn. and wheels and tires from OZ Racing in Philadelphia. Money for the vehicle was raised through Philadelphia Academics. The vehicle is based on a kit created by K-1 Engineering in Serbia and Montenegro and a donated Honda Accord. The frame was altered to accomodate a 200 horsepower electric motor under the hood and a 150 horsepower turbocharged Volkswagen disel engine in the trunk.

The program was started by Simon Hauger and other instructors of the Automotive Academy in 1998 by developing a curriculm that applied math and science to the creation of an alternate fuel vehicles (AFVs). In 9th grade, students perform lab experiments with toy electric cars. A six-week summer program was added to focus on the construction of the AFV, while majority of the school year focuses on standard coursework. The program incorporates more than just math and science, the students also learn the political ramifications on the dependence of oil and write essays in English class.

In 2005, the program was in danger of being dismantled in proposed budget cutting measures that would have eliminated an auto shop teacher's job and potential loss of connected faculty. The area occupied by the auto program would have been used by students with disciplinary problems. The program was saved through the outcry of parents and local auto dealers who view the program as a source of trained mechanics.

The students have received help from Boeing's V/STOL wind tunnel to make the team's entry in the Tour de Sol more aerodynamically efficient. In 2000, Bill Grauer and Tracie Cesarone proposed 10 modifications to the team's 1993 Saturn car donated by a local dealership; the modifications reduced the vehicle's aerodynamic drag by more than 15 percent.