For the Fourth, a 4 Day Weekend

July 2, 2009 – 8:41 pm

Thanks to the nuances of holiday scheduling, tomorrow is the paid holiday for this Independence Day weekend. Thanks to a balance of PTO1, I’m taking off July 6th.

4 for the 4th. Neat! Our usual trip to visit our West Virgina friends begins on Saturday, with the BBQ, beer swilling, fireworks shooting, and Indepencence Cake2. An overnight stay, and back to tbbs WorldHQ.

Then, on the 7th, back to $DAYJOB. I’ll contemplate this event sometime the evening of the 6th.

Happy Fourth! Be safe, y’all.

-k-

1 Paid Time Off

2 The strawberry, blueberry, and Cool Whip concoction, atop a nice cake base; you know what it is

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Presto! It’s Fedora!

June 27, 2009 – 10:49 am

One of the many enhancements in Fedora 11 is delta RPMs. Delta RPMs are updates that contain only the updated files, rather than all files in the original RPM. This saves download time; nice if you’re updating over a slow internet connection. To use this feature; do this:

yum install yum-presto

Now, on your next update, any delta RPMS will be automatically detected and processed. Changed RPMs not supporting deltas will be downloaded in their entirety, just like old times. Both types are processed in the same invocation of yum update; in other words, it just works.

Output from my latest yum update:

Size of all updates downloaded from Presto-enabled repositories: 3.3M
Size of updates that would have been downloaded if Presto wasn’t enabled: 6.6M
This is a savings of 51 percent

Neat, eh?

-k-

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Geek Truckin’

June 25, 2009 – 1:55 pm

MLB and I enjoy our Search for America Tours. The extra time in driving is more than offset by the absence of dealing with poory trained, uncaring, and often surly TSA employees. We can pack as big a bottle of shampoo as we want, and no one cares. We also don’t have to deal with uncaring and surly airline employees, who see us only as cattle, to be herded on and off the plane to make room for the next batch of suckers. We can stop and get our own snacks, meals, and water whenever the need arises. Nevertheless, road trips are lots of hours on, well, the road. So MLB and I look at the 18 wheelers, note what truck line they are from, and opine as to what they may be carrying. On the most recent tour, the following dialogue unfolded:

MLB: I know I’ve asked a thousand times, but what does P.A.M. stand for in the PAM truck lines?

Me: Pluggable Authentication Modules.

I couldn’t find the answer to her question on the PAM website, so I guess my answer’s as good as any1

-k-

1 According to this, the company was founded by Paul A. Maestri, but that isn’t the meaning of P.A.M. It supposedly stands for Pretty Awesome Mileage. It looks like a great company. In some of my wild let’s get away musings, I fantasize about becoming an over the road trucker.

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The Search for America Tour Wrap-Up

June 25, 2009 – 11:52 am

We arrived back at tbbs WorldHQ yesterday afternoon, after yet another successful Search for America Tour. The Cadillac was a great car, traffic not too heavy, and the weather favorable, as least as far as the absence of severe weather was concerned.

As we were heading south down I-81 southbound last weekend, we observed a lot of bridge construction in the northbound lanes. This was going on in the Virginia boot1, and was causing 4-5 mile backups when we went through. We decided to alter our return route to avoid that part of Virginia, and wound up heading north from Nashville, to Lexington KY, across Kentucky and West Virginia, where we rejoined I-81 significantly north of all the constructuon. This was a longer route, but the scenery was worth it; Kentucky horse farms, and a ride through the heart of bourbon country spring to mind. We decided we’d like to do another SfAT to Kentucky, and spend some time on the distillery tour circuit, see the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, and in general, just do touristy stuff. We’ll do that another day.

Our best-laid plans for missing traffic backups went into the dumper less than 10 miles from home, where we endured a seemingly interminable wait on the Fairfax County Parkway. No accidents, no construction, just a gaggle of rude, selfish yuppies blabbing on their cell phones, and honking their horns. I truly lead a charmed life.

Since no tour is complete without metrics, here’s what I have:

  • Total miles: 2249.
  • Our average speed for the entire trip was greater than 60 mph, I think around 65.
  • MPG for the trip: 24.972356554. This is for the first 1874.5 miles; we had the “Bring the car back with empty tank” option.
  • Fuel range remaining at car turn-in: 74. This is the best number of all.

That gas service option is not a great deal; it’s more of a convenience. Avis has a totally different view of both the capacity of the fuel tank and the cost of gas than I do. And the car is never totally empty. Next tour, we stop at the Exxon less than a mile from the Avis return place, and top it off ourselves. Still, I thought bringing it back with 74 miles’ worth of fuel was a Great Thing.
-k-

1 That part of Virginia south of Blacksburg, is how I define it; don’t know if that’s the proper term or not.

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Dedicated to SC Gov Mark Sanford

June 25, 2009 – 11:20 am

I agree with many of Mark Sanford’s views. By observation, I see that the Lubricated Fly Syndrome crosses party lines, so much so that I think it’s nearly a requirement for politicians to be unfaithful, whether with another woman, another man, or occasionally, an intern.

I don’t agree with the unfaithfulness; it’s usually the events surrounding it that are troublesome; getting arrested in airport bathrooms, lying under oath, and abandoning one’s elected post for a week all qualify.

So, Mark, I’ll be searching for a new representative for limited government and individual liberties. For you, this song by the original artist.

So long, dumbass.

-k-

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Searching for America, Again

June 17, 2009 – 9:04 pm

The second of this year’s Search for America Tours starts tomorrow: Destination Arkansas. I had the day off from work; from what I saw on the Weather Channel earlier, I’m thankful we’re not driving through Tennessee tonight. Tomorrow’s prospects seem much brighter.

We just got back from IAD, with our rental Cadillac. Again, it will be a sweet ride.

One thing I’ve been pondering of late is that when I was a lot younger, I considered Cadillacs the epitome of bourgeois decadence, stodgy overpriced transportation that could only be desired by hopelessly out of touch people. As I grow older, I consider a Caddy the best that American auto technology has to offer: stylish, comfortable, and a real treat to drive. I’m sure the Cadillac ads featuring the Led Zeppelin songs helped my change in thinking. What I’d really like to know is, do today’s young people view today’s Cadillac in the same light in which I saw the models of my youth? Am I now considered a hopeless, heartless old wanker by the younger set? I wonder. Maybe I should rename this trip the Old Age and Treachery Tour.

This could be the last Cadillac-powered tour; I think future tours will be powered by Lincoln, a division of Ford, an American car company.

Anyhow, tomorrow, we ride. Fuel economy numbers, and Cracker Barrel reviews will abound. Road bloggin’, too. Good Stuff.

-k-

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Amazon RPM Downloader on 64-bit Fedora

June 17, 2009 – 7:06 pm

Commenter Chris points out that my previous instructions assumed a 32-bit version of Fedora. And he is correct; the Amazon MP3 downloader is a 32-bit application. I see no reason it shouldn’t work on a 64-bit OS, provided the 32 bit version of certain libraries are present; these are the libs of interest:

libgtkmm-2.4.so.1 => /usr/lib/libgtkmm-2.4.so.1 (0×03321000)
libgdkmm-2.4.so.1 => /usr/lib/libgdkmm-2.4.so.1 (0×032d9000)
libatkmm-1.6.so.1 => /usr/lib/libatkmm-1.6.so.1 (0×077b2000)
libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 (0×004f5000)
libpangomm-1.4.so.1 => /usr/lib/libpangomm-1.4.so.1 (0×03685000)
libcairomm-1.0.so.1 => /usr/lib/libcairomm-1.0.so.1 (0×02ff4000)
libglibmm-2.4.so.1 => /usr/lib/libglibmm-2.4.so.1 (0×07675000)
libsigc-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libsigc-2.0.so.0 (0×070ec000)
libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 (0×02e49000)
libatk-1.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libatk-1.0.so.0 (0×00350000)
libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0 (0×0036f000)
libpangocairo-1.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpangocairo-1.0.so.0 (0×00900000)
libpango-1.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpango-1.0.so.0 (0×00110000)
libcairo.so.2 => /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2 (0×00156000)
libgobject-2.0.so.0 => /lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0 (0×00cb7000)
libgmodule-2.0.so.0 => /lib/libgmodule-2.0.so.0 (0×00d18000)
libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0×00b72000)
libglib-2.0.so.0 => /lib/libglib-2.0.so.0 (0×00bab000)
libcurl.so.4 => /usr/lib/libcurl.so.4 (0×001d1000)
libssl.so.6 => /lib/libssl.so.6 (0×03c4d000)
libboost_date_time.so.3 => /usr/lib/libboost_date_time.so.3 (0×00949000)
libboost_signals.so.3 => /usr/lib/libboost_signals.so.3 (0×00969000)
libboost_iostreams.so.3 => /usr/lib/libboost_iostreams.so.3 (0×0097d000)
libboost_thread-mt.so.3 => /usr/lib/libboost_thread-mt.so.3 (0×0095a000)
libpthread.so.0 => /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0×00b79000)
libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (0×03ccd000)
libm.so.6 => /lib/libm.so.6 (0×00b48000)
libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0×0398a000)
libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0×009d4000)
libcrypto.so.6 => /lib/libcrypto.so.6 (0×039b7000)
libgiomm-2.4.so.1 => /usr/lib/libgiomm-2.4.so.1 (0×07714000)
libgio-2.0.so.0 => /lib/libgio-2.0.so.0 (0×00d53000)
libpangoft2-1.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpangoft2-1.0.so.0 (0×03958000)
libfreetype.so.6 => /usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6 (0×00233000)
libfontconfig.so.1 => /usr/lib/libfontconfig.so.1 (0×002c8000)
libX11.so.6 => /usr/lib/libX11.so.6 (0×0038c000)
libXfixes.so.3 => /usr/lib/libXfixes.so.3 (0×0021e000)
libpng12.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpng12.so.0 (0×002fe000)
libz.so.1 => /lib/libz.so.1 (0×00b96000)
libXrender.so.1 => /usr/lib/libXrender.so.1 (0×00223000)
libXext.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXext.so.6 (0×00325000)
libXinerama.so.1 => /usr/lib/libXinerama.so.1 (0×008f6000)
libXi.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXi.so.6 (0×00335000)
libXrandr.so.2 => /usr/lib/libXrandr.so.2 (0×0033f000)
libXcursor.so.1 => /usr/lib/libXcursor.so.1 (0×004bb000)
libXcomposite.so.1 => /usr/lib/libXcomposite.so.1 (0×008fb000)
libXdamage.so.1 => /usr/lib/libXdamage.so.1 (0×0090d000)
libpixman-1.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpixman-1.so.0 (0×00dcc000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0×009b0000)
libidn.so.11 => /lib/libidn.so.11 (0×03b15000)
libssh2.so.1 => /usr/lib/libssh2.so.1 (0×03b48000)
libldap-2.4.so.2 => /usr/lib/libldap-2.4.so.2 (0×00e12000)
librt.so.1 => /lib/librt.so.1 (0×00cac000)
libgssapi_krb5.so.2 => /usr/lib/libgssapi_krb5.so.2 (0×03b76000)
libkrb5.so.3 => /usr/lib/libkrb5.so.3 (0×03baf000)
libk5crypto.so.3 => /usr/lib/libk5crypto.so.3 (0×03ca7000)
libcom_err.so.2 => /lib/libcom_err.so.2 (0×03b71000)
libssl3.so => /lib/libssl3.so (0×041c2000)
libsmime3.so => /lib/libsmime3.so (0×04199000)
libnss3.so => /lib/libnss3.so (0×04036000)
libplds4.so => /lib/libplds4.so (0×03fbe000)
libplc4.so => /lib/libplc4.so (0×0400b000)
libnspr4.so => /lib/libnspr4.so (0×03fc3000)
libresolv.so.2 => /lib/libresolv.so.2 (0×03afa000)
libbz2.so.1 => /lib/libbz2.so.1 (0×041f4000)
libselinux.so.1 => /lib/libselinux.so.1 (0×00c8c000)
libexpat.so.1 => /lib/libexpat.so.1 (0×00d2a000)
libxcb.so.1 => /usr/lib/libxcb.so.1 (0×00cfa000)
libXau.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXau.so.6 (0×00d1e000)
libssl.so.8 => /usr/lib/libssl.so.8 (0×03f36000)
libcrypto.so.8 => /usr/lib/libcrypto.so.8 (0×03dbe000)
liblber-2.4.so.2 => /usr/lib/liblber-2.4.so.2 (0×04012000)
libsasl2.so.2 => /usr/lib/libsasl2.so.2 (0×004c5000)
libkrb5support.so.0 => /usr/lib/libkrb5support.so.0 (0×03ba3000)
libkeyutils.so.1 => /lib/libkeyutils.so.1 (0×03ca2000)
libnssutil3.so => /lib/libnssutil3.so (0×0417e000)
libcrypt.so.1 => /lib/libcrypt.so.1 (0×00910000)
libfreebl3.so => /lib/libfreebl3.so (0×00e58000)

These can be had by installing these 32-bit RPMS:

atk-1.25.2-2.fc11.i586
bzip2-libs-1.0.5-5.fc11.i586
cairo-1.8.6-2.fc11.i586
cairomm-1.8.0-1.fc11.i586
cyrus-sasl-lib-2.1.22-22.fc11.i586
e2fsprogs-libs-1.41.4-10.fc11.i586
expat-2.0.1-6.i586
fontconfig-2.6.99.behdad.20090508-1.fc11.i586
freetype-2.3.9-3.fc11.i586
glib2-2.20.1-1.fc11.i586
glibc-2.10.1-2.i686
glibmm24-2.20.0-1.fc11.i586
gtk2-2.16.1-4.fc11.i586
gtkmm24-2.16.0-1.fc11.i586
keyutils-libs-1.2-5.fc11.i586
krb5-libs-1.6.3-20.fc11.i586
libcurl-7.19.4-8.fc11.i586
libgcc-4.4.0-4.i586
libidn-1.9-4.i586
libpng-1.2.35-1.fc11.i586
libselinux-2.0.80-1.fc11.i586
libsigc++20-2.2.2-3.fc11.i586
libssh2-1.0-2.fc11.i586
libstdc++-4.4.0-4.i586
libX11-1.2.1-2.fc11.i586
libXau-1.0.4-5.fc11.i586
libxcb-1.2-3.fc11.i586
libXcomposite-0.4.0-7.fc11.i586
libXcursor-1.1.9-4.fc11.i586
libXdamage-1.1.1-6.fc11.i586
libXext-1.0.99.1-2.fc11.i586
libXfixes-4.0.3-5.fc11.i586
libXi-1.2.1-1.fc11.i586
libXinerama-1.0.3-4.fc11.i586
libXrandr-1.2.99.4-3.fc11.i586
libXrender-0.9.4-5.fc11.i586
nspr-4.7.3-5.fc11.i586
nss-3.12.3-4.fc11.i586
nss-softokn-freebl-3.12.3-4.fc11.i586
openldap-2.4.15-3.fc11.i586
openssl-0.9.8k-4.fc11.i686
pango-1.24.1-1.fc11.i586
pangomm-2.24.0-1.fc11.i586
pixman-0.14.0-2.fc11.i586
zlib-1.2.3-22.fc11.i586

Then, insure you grab the 32-bit versions of boost and openssl mentioned in the original post.

Disclaimer: I have not tried this myself, but it should produce an MP3 downloader for a 64-bit system. I don’t know exactly how this might interact with a 64-bit Firefox, but the Amazon-supplied binaries should be OK.

As always, YMMV.
-k-

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John 11:35

June 12, 2009 – 11:10 pm

NASCAR announces tree planting program at tracks – Trees to be planted for each green flag at Cup races

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing announced “NASCAR Green Clean Air” — a program to help capture the carbon emissions produced by racing. Under a pilot program that will expand significantly next year, NASCAR will plant 10 new trees for each green flag that drops during Cup Series events.

-k-
Google the title.

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Surprised it Didn’t Happen Sooner

June 12, 2009 – 10:56 pm

GM cutting support for Nationwide, Truck teams

General Motors is cutting factory support for Chevrolet teams competing in the Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series as the automaker restructures under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to a story that will appear in Friday’s edition of SportsBusiness Journal.

This is a sad day; the trucks have provided the best pure racing in NASCAR’s Touring Series, in my opinion. The Nationwide Series has been in trouble for years; NASCAR has been unsure how to promote them; the result has been that the usual Sprint Cup suspects have turned Nationwide into a training camp.

Lack of support will doubtless kill off the trucks before long; the Nationwide Series will morph to the Sprint Cup Junior Varsity team even more.

Maybe it’s time for localization; I’ve watched cars sponsored by local diners and barber shops race on dirt tracks in small towns. And it was great. Pack the cooler, the wife and kids, and go to the local dirt track.

I’ve heard it said that the production of the first car was a remarkable event; somebody produced the second car, and they raced.

Factory backing or not, the racing will go on. And I’ll be there to watch.

-k-

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Arrived!

June 12, 2009 – 10:04 pm

The Kindle DX arrived, on schedule. The initial charging of the battery is done, the “Welcome Aboard” letter from His Bezosness has been read.

I’ve trained MLB in the usage of the Kindle 2. She’s diggin’ it.

Initial reactions:

  • It’s incredibly easy to share books between the two devices. The DX has retrieved content bought on the K2, and is happy to display it.
  • I bought a book and had it downloaded to the DX this evening. MLB’s K2 is happy to let her read that one as well, providing she has any interest in Security Monitoring.
  • The DX screen is every bit as sharp and crisp as the K2.
  • The DX is heavier; I knew that going in. Initially, the heaviness is not an impediment. It’s more of a balance thing; the DX seems bottom heavy. I make this observation after less than a half-hour of using the DX, whilst sitting in my chair, training MLB, drinking a beer, and watching the Stanley Cup Final. I’ll revisit this point.
  • The DX auto-rotate feature works nicely, at the expense of some strange page breaks. It is possible to lock portrait/landscape display. This is a Good Thing.
  • Initial copying of vendor supplied PDF manuals shows the DX on-board PDF reader does the best job yet of displaying arbitrary PDFs. Once again, some come up smiling, others are less than spectacular. Even the less than spectacular ones are readable. With some tweaking, I think things will improve. My naive hope of blindly copying arbitrary PDF documents over with no intermediate processing has faded somewhat, but the inital DX handling of them gives me hope.

The DX is a keeper. My initial observations are encouraging. I’ll fiddle, tweak, test, and let y’all know how it goes.

-k-

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