Trying to use perl to connect via https with WWW::Mechanize and then LWP::UserAgent, the script returned an error that the server closed the connection. That "server" meant the proxy server. I finally figured that one out that one after telnetting to the proxy server myself. It was a simple test, but not so simple to figure out that it was the test to do.

To make a not so long story even shorter, it's a decade-old bug with complicated solutions already fixed in Debian

Now's a good time to go back to Linode and try that $50 off coupon again. (Instead of applying those patches and whatnot.) It'd either get me a month and some of really easy access to a server, or, perhaps, use hourly billing. If hourly allows me to easily setup an environment, that $50 would last qwuite some time. :)

Reading Wikipedia's articles without the Talk section is like basing purchasing decision from Amazon without reading the reviews.

Although i left Wikipedia some time ago it contiuosly comes up in Google searches. Recently, i saw an article listing myths within which was listed the Tongue Map. Wikipedia has an entry which is refuted in the Talk section. I eventually got to Common Misconceptions (and its own interesting Talk section) which can be an amusing read.

Just now i was looking up Vinculum as a possible name for the fraction bar. The Talk section points out there is no source for it.

Wikipedia being inaccurate is old news, obvious to anyone who knows a subject. But if you do not know the subject and accuracy matters, be sure to read the Talk section.

A completely unrelated side note: While writing this i glanced at the clock which said "1:01:01" and did a double-take.

A side note related only in that it is unrelated: Started Book 3, Chapter 9 in LoTR

So, a friend made a typo in a message changing "of" to "oe". Looking to make a witty response and remembering that oe is on the Scrabble two-letter word list, i went to check it's definition on Google by searching for define oe.

OE "is" a word "&" IS in the official scrabble players' dictionary. MAking it aq LEGAL WORD for use in SCRABBLE, As well. --- So, do u think sCRABBLE allows u to "CHEAT" as well?? smh!!! NO ABBREVRIATIONS are ALLOWED in SCRABBLE "or" words with friends.

Seeming a bit odd, i followed the link to Merriam-Webster, which has it as an abbreviation for oersted and biographical name for Kenzaburo Oe.

Trying to find the word brought me to scrabblefinder.com which has

Is oe a scrabble word?

No Definition of 'oe' Found - It's still good as a Scrabble word though!

Who knows, maybe i'll look it up in The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (Third Edition) when i get home. (There is a Fourth Edition out there, but it's not what i happen to have.)

How do you domesticate a chili pepper?

I bought an Amazon Kindle (received 11/15/13) after receiving a coupon for $40 off. For $29 dollars, the device seemed quite nice and the e-ink display is all its cracked up to be. They said it was valid for a limited time, so i grabbed it.

Afterward, i googled* at the time and found* that there was a $60 promotion as well. I wondered if i should have canceled and waited for the $60, but i didn't. Who knows if that would have worked anyway? Regardless, it's well worth $29.

I replaced it once (received 12/7/13) after the bottom of the directional button stopped working smoothly. It had to be pressed firmly to make it work, which was inconvenient. I reported this to Amazon, and added that i tossed the Kindle to the floor (carpeted, from maybe knee-height) which might have led to ti not working. The rep said that he would replace it as a one-time thing, and that was nice.

Since then, i have gotten a chip in the display, though i am not sure how, but i am okay with it. A few days ago i picked it up, and half the display was frozen. Resetting it didn't work, and now i have a new one on it's way (estimated delivery 4/16/14). Amazon is very nice about the one year warranty, and replaced it with two-day shipping. Yet another reason why i love Amazon.

I use the Amazon to read things in the tub. I highlight stuff to review later online, and together with Kindle for the PC and Mac, the Kindle is great for research.

* Links are examples, and not necessarily the one i used.

What's up with technocrat.net?

He's there, he's not there, he's there again, and now its stagnant. He need a (meta-)blog, Or maybe 10 great story submissions. Is there an update anywhere?

My matzoh came as part of a larger shipment headed for Cleveland together with the other Detroiters who ordered from the same place. A driver was dispatched to pick it up, but 5 boxes of special (raichayim shel yad) order (2 for me, 3 for my sister) was missed. Instead, we got the regular (chabura) matzo. So, i decided to drive to Cleveland myself on Sunday. As i told my sister, "i have a need, i have a Sunday, what the heck".

In general, i drive to Cleveland once a year to go to Telshe for the high holidays. I know the road well (Southfield->75->280->80/90->90->Euclid->Sun). This time, however, i needed to go to Cleveland Heights, and going through Wickliffe would have been out of the way. Knowing this, i went to Google Maps for the way. My sister couldn't find her GPS device, so, i just went with the GM printout.

The directions say to go from Coventry to Cedar Glen. Cedar (didn't see the Glen) was closed in that direction. Not knowing where to go, i called a friend in Wickliffe who directed me. It didn't work, and i ended up driving up and down that part of Euclid for an hour or two before i realized it. Eventually, i got through again, and they told me to go up Mayfield. I found it on my second pass, and go to my destination shortly thereafter. It would have been faster for me to go "the long way" and go to Wickliffe, then just take Euclid to Taylor. Me and my bright ideas.

I am terrible at following directions...any directions. I was on a team with a friend, he being a programmer (doing Java at the time) and me doing the database. As the database needed to process something and he knew how, he started explaining to me the step-by-step instruction that would have to be followed. Completely bewildered, i stopped him, and tried to explain to him i cannot understand that step-by-step directions. He though i was pushing him off or something, and i explained it to him again. He relented, though i don't think he ever believed me. I need to know the overall picture and only then the small details.

Anyway, i got more LotR goodness, in Book 2 Chapter 4 now.

Sometime after the movies came out, i downloaded and watched them. I just didn't follow the story at all, and gave up before finishing them. Sometime later, i picked it up again and watched it again getting the entire story. Well, the movies' version that is. The movie is all about action and perhaps some reluctance. The book is all about wavering and perhaps a little action sprinkled about. The story is so much easier to follow as everything is explained and it is easy to get into.

I have my own thoughts on Tom Bambadil now, glad i finally "read it" in the original.

A poorly written, informative rant on post-period spacing.

Hop History:

1. Google search for some grammar rules.
2. Grammar Girl's article on the subject.

Ping! I love that duck!. Considering i see "15,295 of 15,772 people found the following review helpful", it looks like the comment has been around the block a few times.

Hop History:

1. PerlMonks' cabal group
2. merlyn
3. itenerary
4. homepage
5. books
6. The Story About Ping (on Amazon)

Perlmonks has polls, switching mostly one a month. Wasting time, i posted to the currently current poll thread (and many others as well, which strangely enough became a live poll.

On good old greenie, i trolled not too successfully, but realized people seem only read the first line of the post, or gave up when trying to make sense of the second.

It's like Slashdot is more of a playground. I'm trying to enjoy it before the beta destroys the last vestige of normalcy here.

Edit: Changed title from "Silliness" to "Chronicle". I should have followed my own advice and written the title after the entry.

Just now came across an informative article from over a decade ago. My favorite part is the URL. :)

Comcast is my ISP (again), and i have been receiving copyright violation notices.

Evidence:
Case ID: (removed)
Work Title: Maid to Obey
Copyright Owner: Froytal Services Limited DBA Brazzers
Unauthorized File Name: Jessie Andrews And Joslyn James - Maid to Obey
Unauthorized Hash: d48d521f033c2fb816c7dbf13753f5dcbe9dab0e
Unauthorized File Size: 497576269 bytes
Unauthorized Protocol: BitTorrent
Timestamp: 2014-03-27 06:12:08 North American Eastern Time
Unauthorized IP Address: (removed)
Unauthorized Port: 20036
The following files were included in the unauthorized copying and/or distribution:
File 1: Jessie Andrews And Joslyn James - Maid to Obey/ham_jessie_joslyn_jd020713_480p_2000.mp4

I use qbittorrent on my mac, but never downloaded that. And this isn't the first infringement notice for similar movies (guessing by the names).

Maybe it is from one of the people using my connection, as a couple neighbors and a few friends have the password. I just want to get rid of the problem , i don't really want to know who it is.

I mentioned to my neighbors and one friend that i have been getting the violations, yet they still come. I may have to block access, but i want to let these people use it, if possible.

Any ideas on resolving this?

In the elevator today, on my way to the sixth floor, a man and woman were talking. She told him that she had a new phone, and after he asked, she explained (iirc), "It's a 5s....my old phone was a 'droid", putting on a more serious face, "it was three years old".

Luckily the doors opened an i got off. I might just have burst out laughing...youngsters.

With a 20 to 30 minute drive to and fro the office when traffic is light, i might as well listen to something. Being too lazy to read LoTR, maybe i can listen to it.

The 98 Honda Civic has a radio, though not much else in the way of audio. A friend lent me an FM transmitter, and then we realized it only transmits but does not play mp3s. An external device is required for that. And they seem expensive, until i found this item, which a number of sellers have for varying prices, but seemingly is the same product. There are many negative reviews on it, though one review which appears on top, really does set the record straight. So, for under five bucks, which includes (free) shipping, i gave it a shot.

I ordered it on 2/20 and got it last week, probably about 3/20. The plastic container was crushed, i didn't see any instructions, i set it to 87.7, and it works nicely. A day or two later i remembered to get the correct USB stick into the car, and started listening to LoTR.

LoTR, the book, is quite enjoyable (who woulda thought?) And the reader is pretty good too, changing his voice for the different characters which makes me giggle as i listen. Usually i change the speed to get the information faster. For example, i'm watching in anime at 2.55x (VLC is really strange sometimes). It's an anime aimed at teens so they speeeak veeerrrrrry sloooooooooooowly and........................pause..............a....lot.................in.................between.................words. I watched DBZ, iirc, at 1.7x, It's all a matter of how long the subtitles stay for, or in English, how long the pause in between words is. It can be sped up until just before the point where there is no pause. Regardless, i am enjoying this audiobook too well to want to speed it up.

But there is one issue. While the MP3 player does remember the track it is up to (by ordinal, that is, change the thumb drive or the tracks and it'll pick up a different track at that ordinal). So, i heard a lot of repeats for things before chapter 1. But chapter 1 itself is over an hour long. What to do, what to do...

Duh! Split it at every five minutes, or maybe just every one minute. Okay, but that sounds tedious, and what about splitting on silence. Enter MP3Split. On the "Batch & automatic split" it has an option "Silence - split with silence detection." "Threshold level (dB)" is set to -48.00, so i set "Minimum track length (seconds)" to 60 and gave it a shot. There were very few splits. Guessing, i set threshold to 0, but that resulted in no splits.

Giving up on the silent treatment, i set to split every 60 seconds, and got 3209 files (starting with Book 1). That is hard to manage and the player only has three digits for the ordinal. So, i set it to 200 seconds, resulting in 988 files. It splits words, but that seems ok, there's just a small click or something as it switches tracks. I wonder how it will sound in the car.

Why do i see people using Header & Trailer records? It is Header & Footer! Get it, the head is opposite the foot. If it is a Trailer record, the former is a Leader record. Head is the top of the body, foot is the bottom; lead comes before, trail comes after. Sheesh, some people just don't think! When should one be used over the other? It is a matter of paradigm. Are the records "part of" the body or not?

It's not limited to that. I see people using Start & End. It is Start & Finish or Begin & End. Like Lead & Trail, Start & Finish are outside the process, Begin & End are of the process. I get frustrated because i am starting to think in their stupid terminology! (The antidote to that sickness is to rant about it. :) )

When naming a COLUMN storing a process's start & finish times, Start & Finish are when they are set to start and finish. If it record the actual times of when it started and when it finished, the names should be Started and Finished.

Are these idiots turning their brains off before they name things or have they just not have brains to begin^H^H^H^H^Hstart with?