2006
06.30
I finally got around to cleaning up the source code and putting in safe string handling so I feel comfortable releasing it now. I squashed a long standing bug with the progress bar that generally made it look like crap on some systems. Pcast file support is a lot smoother now also. When you open a pcast file it will now add the feed and trigger the existing process to check for updates. Previously it just added the feed.
- Get the source and the binary here.
2006
06.30
This is pure unadulterated coolness. It’s also one more step toward having our computers take over the world. When I can get fragged by sendmail or jabberd something is wrong. By the way, I am liking digg these days. I know it’s fashionable right now to say that digg is kicking slashdot’s rear but I wouldn’t say that’s entirely true. The thing that is good about slashdot is that you don’t get overloaded with information. Digg moves so fast sometimes that I just can’t keep up. My RSS feed is updating like 100 times a day.
2006
06.29
If you have an office full of windows desktops but despise using the builtin DNS/DHCP services that come with network operating systems like Netware and Windows, you can still use BIND and DHCPD to handle the dynamic hostnames. This really only makes sense if you have a decent naming convention for you desktops but that’s another matter. What you want to do is give dhcpd dynamic update permissions to your internal zone. I’m going to use a simple example of a 192.168.1.0/24 subnet all in a single DNS domain called foo.com and both BIND and DHCPD running on the same server (i.e. localhost). Here is what you want your zones to look like in your named.conf file:
...
zone "foo.com"{
type master;
file "db.foo";
notify yes;
allow-update{
localhost;
};
};
zone "1.168.192.in-addr.arpa"{
type master;
file "db.192.168.1";
allow-update{
localhost;
};
};
...
This gives processes running on localhost the ability to make ddns updates on those zones. Just change “localhost;” to whatever host dhcpd is bound to if it isn’t running on the same server. You can also specify multiple hosts or a whole subnet using the “192.168.1.0/24″ format. After you have configured BIND it’s time to tell dhcpd where to send updates. You do this by adding the following to your dhcpd.conf file:
ddns-update-style interim;
...
subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
...
ddns-updates on;
ddns-domainname "foo.com.";
ddns-rev-domainname "in-addr.arpa.";
...
}
...
zone foo.com. {
primary localhost;
}
zone 1.168.192.in-addr.arpa. {
primary localhost;
}
...
This tells dhcpd where to send ddns update requests and for what domains. Be sure to monitor your syslog as you fire everything up to make sure you aren’t getting any ddns errors from either of the two daemons.
2006
06.28
National Review has a good article today on the effects of the No Child Left Behind laws on public schools. NCLB mandates achievement standards in Math and Reading only. This has had the effect of narrowing the curriculum in most public school systems as they focus entirely on trying to meet the standards in those two subjects. This quote really caught my eye though:
…Hirsch identifies an obvious solution to the challenge schools face: Teach reading through history, science, literature, and the arts. He argues persuasively that most of the students who have been “left behind” have successfully learned to decode words and sentences, but can’t comprehend much because of their limited vocabulary and knowledge base. Especially in the upper elementary grades and middle school—where we see student achievement plateau and then begin its long, precipitous decline—the best way to teach reading is to teach content. Instead of “doubling up” on rote, mechanical reading instruction, schools can engage students with compelling historical accounts, fanciful stories, fascinating science, and riveting poetry.
…Still enamored with romantic beliefs that children can learn to read as naturally as they learn to talk, and disregarding knowledge and content as nothing but “mere facts,” the leaders of the education establishment and their comrades in schools of education continue to indoctrinate teachers and principals in self-defeating ideas. The solution to schools’ reading woes and their curricular conundrum is right in front of them, but these misguided ideas get in the way.
–National Review
Private classical schools and homeschool curriculums have been doing this exact thing for years. For example, one of the curriculums we are considering for our kids is the Veritas system. It uses classic art, history, classic literature and bible content to teach reading using a phonics method. The kids learn to read as they learn about all of those other subjects. That is their kindergarten material too. Until the politicians stop using the public education system as a tool of political power I guess we won’t see anything like that in state curriculum.
This is yet another reason to support vouchers for those who can’t homeschool or private school their kids. Many kids, especially in urban areas where NCLB is most targeted, are stuck in a particular school that is totally inadequate or flat out unsafe. These kids would benefit tremendously from a voucher program. I think it’s pretty obvious that NCLB was a last ditch attempt by Ted Kennedy and his fat pocketed NEA friends to stop the bleeding in the public school system before having to resort to vouchers, which would totally shake the system to it’s core.
2006
06.27
Here is a great article on the detrimental effects of gun bans. It lays out the facts pretty clearly. I really don’t see how anyone could argue that crime rates go down when only the criminals have guns. It’s blatant common sense. And the U.N. side of the equation is terrifying. The idea of governments being the only ones allowed to have guns is insane. All that would do is ensure that all the oppressed peoples of the world are kept that way, with no ability to throw off their despot governments. The U.N. has become nothing but a place for unelected, anti-Semite, genocidal dictators to shackle the United States so they can rape their citizens some more.
2006
06.26
I did a brake job on both our cars this weekend and thought I would pass along a good tip my dad figured out a while back. If you do your own brake work this will save you a lot of time. You can use a Quick-Grip clamp to compress the pistons back into the calipers after you put the new pads on. Just take the yellow pads off before you do it. It will make the clamp filthy so don’t use one of your woodworking ones. If you don’t know what kind of clamp I’m talking about, here is a pic:
2006
06.23
We recently migrated our office from Groupwise 5.5 to Exchange Server 2003. After the migration was done, I wanted use the server hardware that Groupwise ran on for another task but still be able to get to the Groupwise data if needed. I ended up installing Netware 6 on an old workstation and restoring all the Groupwise data onto it from backup tape. After I had done it, I realized that I should have used VMWare instead so that I wouldn’t have to waste a whole box and take up space with a dead server. The problem was that I had an ATA hard disk with Netware/Groupwise on it and I didn’t want to have to redo the whole install/restore process again in VMWare. After Googling around for a while I realized that there were no tools out there to dump a physical disk to a VMWare virtual disk file. I ended up using a little Linux dd magic to get the job done. Here’s how:
- Create a virtual machine with VMWare and set it to use a physical disk instead of a virtual one as the primary hard disk.
- Hook up your source disk to that slot on your computer.
- Then add a virtual disk of equal or greater size as a second drive on your virtual machine.
- Grab a copy of knoppix off the internet and boot up your virtual machine with it.
- Become root and give it some dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb bs=4096 love.
- When it’s done just shut down the virtual machine, remove the physical disk, and set the virtual disk as primary.
- Your now good to go.
Now I don’t have to keep an old box lying around just for data that I may never need.
2006
06.22
Another day, another PodWrangler version. I added some rudimentary soft-404 checking this time around. I don’t know how common this is but I am plagued by it with podcasts from Oneplace.com. People need to realize that you can’t update an RSS feed without having the content it refers to already in place. That means your just publishing a broken link.
Anyway, I also fixed a few more bugs and made some changes to some of the informational message boxes. I also got the file size down to 84KB by reworking the GDI in the toaster popup boxes in the same way as the main windows. Enjoy!
2006
06.21
This is great. I found it while doing a Google image search.
2006
06.21
With North Korea threatening to do a test fire on it’s newest ICBM that could reach the US mainland and the US activating the missile shield, it reminds me of how important it is to have military bases spread out over the globe. Our bases in the Asian Pacific region have been invaluable at testing the missile shield against a simulated North Korean ICBM. It’s those kinds of tests and strategic placements that ensure the security of this country and we need more of them elsewhere like the middle east. A permanent base in Iraq is a must have. The strategic value of such a base can’t be overstated. Anyone who says otherwise is just being political.
