David's Notes

On wisdom

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 21:20:00 -0400

We come across much “wisdom” throughout our lives. Inherited from people from old, past years, or from religious books and teachings, or from our parents—for those, like me, lucky enough to had had good ones. It seems that just about everyone, from yesterday to today, has some wisdom to convey: from world leaders, religious leaders, and the common folk amongst us. Some of their “wisdom”, depending on the nation, or ethnic group, or religion, or another myriad of small factors, tends to contradict itself.

Now, what has such wisdom done for us, as the human race? Are we, as a whole, any better? Has it helped us solve any problem? Do we have less conflicts because of it? Is it feeding the hungry? Is it providing for those in dire need? Is it curing our illnesses? No. It is all poppycock.

Most often than not when I come across “wisdom” online, I just roll my eyes, don’t click/tap, and move on. I also pay no attention to inspirational speakers. Now, that’s wisdom.

Everyone is gone

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 28 May 2023 19:43:33 -0400

I am the youngest of my siblings. Having been born when my parents were in their late forties has a few meanings. It means my parents are gone. It also means all my aunts and uncles, all the people around my parents age in my native neighbourhood, they are all gone.

Today I spent some time remembering them. In my memories I searched house by house in my neighbourhood (or my block, rather), remembering—and often trying to remember—their names, and their faces. It is horrible how memory fades away, and becomes a blur.

I believe people truly die when they are no longer remembered. Some of my childhood neighbours died today. Again, this time for good. It’s sad.

Twosday

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 16:22:42 -0500

Because today is 22-2-22, or 2-22-22, or 2022-2-22, it makes it worth for me to come here, after so many months of silence, to mark the event. So, happy Twosday, everyone!

Alone, scared, and lonely

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 17:58:57 -0400

Our vehicle was towed away earlier this week because I parked it on the street momentarily during the day, and completely forgot to move it back to the driveway at dusk. Our neighbourhood strictly enforces a no street parking from 00:00 to 06:00, so we paid the consequences of an old mind’s oversight.

Other than having to pick it up, spending time, and money–it cost $125 to get it back–we worried about the poor automobile. It was alone, scared, and lonely, in an unknown territory. We wondered if it had thoughts like “Where are they taking me?” – “What is this dirty place?” – “What am I doing here?” – “What have I done to deserve this?” – “I am so scared!” and so on. 😢

Horses don't lie

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 09:15:44 -0400

A horse is a straight forward animal. When you look at a horse’s eyes you know it is telling you the truth, even before it mutters a word—not that it can, but you get the gist. A horse is sincere, forthcoming, warm, and above all faithful.

My wife is a Horse 😂 ❤️. Let it be noted.

Adobe Flash Player EOL

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 14:49:17 -0400

After ten years since Steve Jobs expressed his thoughts on Flash, effectively banning Flash from ever existing on iOS, Adobe has finally decided to announce that as of 31 December 2020 they will stop distributing, and updating, the Flash Player. Why, they say, they are doing this?

Open standards such as HTML5, WebGL, and WebAssembly have continually matured over the years and serve as viable alternatives for Flash content. Also, the major browser vendors are integrating these open standards into their browsers and deprecating most other plug-ins (like Adobe Flash Player). By announcing our business decision in 2017, with three years advance notice, we believed that would allow sufficient time for developers, designers, businesses, and other parties to migrate existing Flash content as needed to new, open standards.

Adobe Flash Player EOL General Information Page

Interesting because, that is, precisely, amongst the things Steve said over ten years ago. It is puzzling that is has taken Adobe this long to finally “execute the sentence.”

Dreelix, King of Gears

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 18:51:34 -0400

Dreelix is a goblin, and he is 130 years old. A young goblin, as goblins can live for many, many years. Dreelix lives in a tidy, relatively small house, in the little town of Enter Town Name Here near the Enter geographical reference here. He is a tinker by nature and by heritage, as his parents, and parents’ parents were all tinkers, and very proud of it.

The title he holds, King of Gears, was given to his great-great-great-great-great grandfather by the Trade Excellency Tenlix VI himself, as a reward for fixing His Excellency’s transport in a time of danger. No one else in all Insert Name of Town/Country Here holds such title. Dreelix, as you can imagine, is very proud of it—even though he has done nothing to deserve it. Yet.

Since very young age Dreelix has been curious about the mechanics of the universe, and he now craves to possess the highest mechanical craftsmanship. He dreams to travel beyond the mountains, to take apprenticeship with Grandmaster Leroaux, and bring his profession to the maximum level. Yet, he does not wants recognition, he wants knowledge. To be able to afford Leroaux’s training he has been crafting toys for his neighbour’s’ children, and fixing their clocks. Even though his skills are excellent, and his creations very useful, he gets little remuneration, mostly due to the goblin’s cheapness. He doesn’t despair, though, but perseveres.

A little bit more about his house. Although small, and humble, the walls are decorated with functional artwork the resembles gears and serves a purpose. For example, small frames around his house, when activated, will pull out a pitcher and serve chilled water, should you feel thirsty. And boy, the house is clean! Dreelix is very neat, and tidy. The walls are painted light green with rivets of dark green. Gears, and Dreelix’s own artwork adorns his house walls. Most of the gears are metallic chrome, and of different sizes.

Dreelix dress on an light brown all leather set, with accents of tin metal re-enforcing it. A tool belt in which he carries his tools and gadgets never leaves his hips. His leather boots are also light brown, with tin metal accents. He wears a monocle with a high powered lens—used to craft and fix very small tinkers—which he normally keeps folded over his head. His hair is curly and dark reddish. He is normally quiet, composed, and thoughtful¹.

Dreelix’s mount and faithful companion is Hux, a magnificent condor he found on a warm summer afternoon eating the corpse of a stranger by the side of the road.

I wrote the above around six years ago, or so, in anticipation to role playing with Kent. He liked to tell stories, and liked me to do the same. Just making sure I don’t lose it, keeping it for my records. Maybe one day I will finish it.

Just like his creator. 😂 ↩︎

Automatically scheduled bank payments

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 02 Aug 2019 16:40:20 +0000

So, you sign up for a gym, or another service, that gives you a small discount for paying using an automatic scheduled withdraw from your bank’s checking account. Things go well for a while, then they go sour—or you simply change your mind—and you want to sever that agreement, to disconnect the link between them and your bank account. Guess what? You can’t. Not through your mobile banking app, nor through a bank’s web site, call, or in-person visit. It is a long process, not a simple action.

Cancelling a scheduled payment is close to impossible. It is 2019, we are preparing to send people to Mars, but this can’t be done simply. They can put a stop payment order to one, and/or future payments, but cutting ties? They can’t. In other words, if you set-up scheduled payments with your bank account, you are giving someone unlimited checks, hopefully with a pre-determined set amount.

To revoke authorisation you will need to go through a series of steps which conclude with a never-ending monitoring of your account, just in case an unauthorised transfer occurs. Want to fully “break up?” Cancel your bank account, and create a new one. Moral of the story? Don’t ever set-up automatic scheduled payments that withdraw funds from your bank account. Never. Ever.

As a side note, if you are a Bank of America (BofA) customer, and are not an Advantage Member, be prepared to pay $30 for a stop payment order. Luckily for me, I am.

Elections 2020

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 16:48:09 -0400

Election time is always an important time. We, the people, get to vote for the person that will be our nation’s president for at least four years—and with any luck, eight. The presidential election of 2020 is going to be an interesting one. I know, I know, we could say the same for every election. This time, though, it’s easy to understand why the upcoming election holds an extra weight.

The problem

I could go on, and describe the reasons why Trump shouldn’t get re-elected. They are the same reasons why he shouldn’t have been elected the first time. Those, plus so much more. Really. If you slightly follow politics, if you are honourable, if you don’t blatantly lie all the time, if you are educated, if you are smart, if you care about the environment and your fellow human beings, if you consider yourself to be an overall decent individual, if you have common sense… then you will know the reasons why Trump shouldn’t be president.

What’s being done?

From a non-partisan point of view, we need someone, anyone, but Trump. I can’t imagine it worse. As he will be the one running for re-election, and he was chosen by the Republican Party, we can eliminate the possibility of having a Republican running against him. That leaves us with a Democrat to replace him. The question is, who? With as many as 25 democratic hopefuls, it becomes a difficult task, Presidential Debates or not. The chosen one will not only be required to be the very best to lead our country, but the one with the highest chances of defeating Trump. One will say, that’s so easy, right? I mean, come on, who will vote again for that guy ? Well, many of our fellow Americans seem to have devolved—and I don’t understand why—so what would otherwise be a non-brainier, is no longer.

What to do then?

What will be required to defeat Trump? For any presidential hopeful, lowering itself to Trump’s level would be unthinkable. He is the lowest of the lowest. What to do? How to open the eyes of those who support him? How to change the minds of those who subscribe to his behaviour, who might just be like him? Arduous, close to impossible task, isn’t it? The only thing that comes to mind is to win by sheer numbers. To win by popular vote. That could be it, right? Ah, alas, the Electoral College!

Either we are in a pickle, or we are f!@#$%.

Using Gnupg and openssl for encryption

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 13:15:56 -0400

I have used Gnupg to encrypt my private files, specially those that I upload to the clouds, for a long time. I used to encrypt to self, using my own key, then later moved to symmetric encryption only. The command is easy:

Using Gnupg

To encrypt:

gpg --cipher-algo aes256 --symmetric file.txt

Adding the option --armor to the above will produce an ASCII armoured encrypted file.

To decrypt:

gpg --output file.txt --decrypt file.txt.{gpg,asc}

Use asc ending to decrypt, if encrypted with the --armor option.

Using OpenSSL

Although Gnupg is common, openssl is even more so. Encrypting with openssl is a breeze as well. Even though this should work on earlier versions of openssl, I am going to assume openssl v1.1 and up:

To encrypt:

openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -md sha256 -iter 1000 -in file.txt -out file.txt.enc

To decrypt:

openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -md sha256 -iter 1000 -in file.txt.enc -out file.txt

If a base64 output is preferred, then the option -a should be added to both, encryption and decryption.

There is always a first time

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 17:04:16 -0400

For eleven years I have used iPhones exclusively. More than half of that time, I have used them without any cover. My rationale? It is a beautifully crafted device, why to hide its beauty behind a cover? I never had an issue with it, until today. I am coming here to mark the first time my iPhone screen has ever shattered. I didn’t drop it, but placed it in a way that, after a few vibrations, made it fall to a tiled floor. RIP!

This will not change, nor affect, how I keep my iPhones. The next one will continue to be used “naked,” in all its beauty.

Closing LinkedIn

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 11:48:32 -0400

Not long ago—not even a year now—I re-created a LinkedIn account, mostly following an invitation to join from one of my friends. I did it against my will, because for whatever reason I have hated LinkedIn even since before it was acquired by Microsoft. Yet, I joined, filled very little information, set privacy settings to fully closed—or so I thought—and moved on.

Soon after I started receiving UCE from medical, or pharmaceutical related companies. As many as ten emails per day. I called one, who happened to be local, mostly out of curiosity (although I was annoyed too). I got a hold of someone who told me in the last 15 years or so of him sending those emails, I was the first person to contact him via phone. He explained to me to the AI program he was using would compile information about people working in the medical field (his business is a collection agency, by the way), which he would, in turn, use to advertise his business. Did I mention I had set my LinkedIn privacy settings to be fully closed?

So, for the second, and final time, I am closing LinkedIn. I don’t trust them, I don’t find them useful, I hate them. I know how to find the people I care about, I don’t need anyone to “link” me to them.

Close my account, Robinhood!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 12 Jul 2019 18:23:05 -0400

On 23 April, 2019 I sent an email to Robinhood, using their on-line help tool, because I couldn’t find a phone number to call on their website.

Couldn’t find […] a proper choice under “support issue,” so picked something that is close to what I want, but not quite. I would like to close, and delete my account (not just deactivate). Thanks!

The reply promptly arrived the same day, stating, along other things:

We’ve submitted a request to close your account. You’ll receive an email within 1-2 business days once your account has been successfully closed.

We’re required to preserve various books and records per Rule 17a-4 of the Securities Exchange Act. We take the security of all collected data very seriously, and we don’t intend to use this data for anything other than the fulfilment of our regulatory requirements. — Angelee

So, my account was to be closed, but not deleted due to regulations. My account had no records, never used it, never conducted any transaction. Yet, regulations are regulations, and there is nothing we can do about it.

Almost three months passed, and today I get an email from Robinhood letting me know that my account statement was now available. 😳

I promptly emailed their support team:

Why am I continuing to receive these, if my account […] is allegedly closed?

Their reply?

Thanks for your patience. We can understand how this can be confusing and apologize for any inconvenience. I’ve resubmitted a request to close your account. — Maria

How hard can this be?

I am sorry I was late

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 18:38:42 -0400

I can explain why I was so late, I swear.

I woke up this morning after a brilliant two hours of sleep and went to milk the cow. She did not really have much, so the cereal kinda blew. Anyways, as I turned on my red 1993 Chevy Malibu I realised the garage was not opening. Great, the power was down! I went upstairs with a broom and woke up the hamster, which must have fallen asleep on the job. It took some deliberation, taking a full three minutes to get the power working again.

I sped out of my local neighbourhood, keenly aware I was cutting it close on time. Listening to Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” I was ready to take on any traffic peril thrown at my direction. That’s when the unexpected occurred. The mother of all meteors bursted at my 9 o’clock. I remained vigilant and undistracted, but the same could not be said about my fellow motorists. The vehicle directly in front of me slammed on his brakes. I was forced to expertly manoeuvre around him using the road’s shoulder. Unfortunately for me, a deceased porcupine happened to be on the shoulder, and caused severe damage to my forward right tire. My vessel was unsafe for travel.

I proceeded the arduous and unsavoury activity of changing the deflating tire. Equipped with a tire iron, I got to work. I fixed my car fairly quickly and I was about to be on my way when a marshal parked behind me. He prompted me if I had slain the aforementioned porcupine. In my sleepy haze I said, “Yes”. The marshal congratulated me. Apparently the porcupine had been terrorising the region for the last few months. I signed an autograph and went off.

Sadly, despite my best efforts, I was ten minutes late. Please forgive me, Mrs. Lamorte.

Post Information

The above was writen by Kent, jokingly after I had to sign a tardy for him because he was ten minutes late to class, due to traffic.

My friend

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 20:22:10 -0500

Friends are not easy to come across. They are made, just like good wine, after many years of ageing. At a certain point they cease to be just friends and become family. They give you the best advise, uncompromisingly, unabashedly, unreservedly. They praise your virtues and take pride on them, but are quick to call out the stupid things you are bound to do. They are patient, they forgive, they forget. They listen, and they are always available.

John was my dear friend for eighteen years. John was family.

I was part of the group that interviewed John when he applied to work at the College of Business. His knowledge and calm demeanour make him the perfect choice for our environment. During his years at UCF he was very hard working, thorough, and almost fastidious with his work. But I have not come here to talk about his work ethics, though they were exceptional.

The old man, as I used to call him every once in a while, quickly became the older brother to whom I would go to for advise, the moderator of my often too outspoken mind. We always had good topics of conversation, and he was the only person I could talk to about religion, and politics without breaking a sweat, or raising my voice. We talked about anything, and everything.

When time came for Kent—my child—to learn how to swim, it was John the one who taught him on his swimming pool. Through the years, John and Ann’s house became instruction grounds for my son Kent and cousin Alyssa, which not only shared the swimming lessons and a fun time at the pool, but also enjoyed petting the cats and dogs, and consuming high quality hot-dogs, and hamburgers.

Years passed by and when Kent needed driving lessons, uncle John offered himself, once again, as an instructor. Who better than him, right? After all, John had my utmost trust, and it was patient, yet firm. Exactly the kind of teacher a fifteen years old needed! Kent today drives, and does it very well, thanks to John.

John had my back, and I had his. After I convinced him to leave his flip phone behind and join the smart-phone generation, we shared locations with each other as a way to provide backup protection, and often used our phones to share news and stories of all kinds, commenting on them.

When John got sick I tried to spend as much time as I could with him. I understood that because of his illness, the time I could spend with him was limited, but I made myself available to him for as much as he could have me. Although I was very sad to see him dying, I put up my best face, and held back my tears as he did.

I am here to offer my contribution to John’s life celebration. I am glad that I was part of his life, and that he was part of mine. The impact he made, and the many memories we shared, will live with me for as long as I do (and he knew that, way before he even got sick). I am profoundly thankful for everything John did for me, and I celebrate his life.

What is happiness?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 10:54:11 -0400

After questioning myself on the meaning of life—something I still do, by the way—I long settled that, regardless of what it might be, living a happy life and aiming to be happy is what life is all about. Happiness, though, isn’t a fixed thing. Just like the many avatars of gods, their many incarnations, happiness comes from many sources, and is often found in subtle contexts throughout life. It is not absolute, and its definition may vary from person to person: what brings me happiness might be different to what brings you happiness.

On a TED Talk, Emily Esfahani said that there’s more to life than being happy. She summarises that having a meaning in life is what our aim should be. I do not disagree, I also agree that happiness comes and goes. Yet, I don’t think we should separate meaning from happiness: having a meaning in life contributes to one happiness. I did say happiness wasn’t fixed, right? It encompasses many things.

Dr. William Glasser suggested that finding happiness was achieved by realising what to do, how to do it, and finding the strength of getting it done. He also defined happiness as:

“Enjoying the life you are choosing to live, getting along well with the people near and dear to you, doing something with your life you believe is worthwhile, and not doing anything to deprive anyone else of the same chance for the happiness you have.”

Mark Pilgrim, whom I deeply admire, used to write a blog that I, almost religiously, read. One of his posts, “The Pursuit of Happiness,” listed eight steps to accomplish it:

Stop buying stuff you don’t need.
Pay off your credit cards.
Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in your house/apartment (storage lockers, etc.).
Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit on the first floor of your house (or attic, garage, etc.).
Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in one room of your house.
Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in a suitcase.
Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in a backpack.
Get rid of the backpack.

Again, see how happiness morphs from person to person?

It is said that kindness makes you happy, and happiness makes you kind. I believe that. I might sound rather selfish, but each time I have done something nice for someone, it has brought happiness to me. Are we kind because we are “hooked” on that happy feeling kindness brings? Maybe. What I am trying to convey—albeit poorly—is that happiness is complex, is ever changing, and have sprinkles of uniqueness for each of us. Finding a meaning in life will make us happy; knowing those we love are happy will make us happy; loving will makes us happy, being loved will make us happy. Being happy is the ultimate goal, and the meaning of life. Also 42.

Someone is in trouble when...

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 25 Mar 2018 18:02:05 -0400

You know a company is in trouble when they have to take a full page advertisement on several major newspapers in the U.S., and the U.K., with an apology from their chief. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg did just that.

Simplicity

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 13:34:10 -0400

That is a screenshot of my macOS desktop. It could be simpler, but as it is it does what I need, and want. When I need to use an app, I simply hit command (⌘) space and start typing the app name to launch it. That is, I use Spotlight.

Wouldn’t it be great that iOS could be customized like that too? Preferably it would be a setting, that would allow to turn off the visibility of all, or any app on the phone. Then, to open an app, one would use the Spotlight as well.

Maybe Apple will do something like that, one of these days.

Another meltdown

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 17 Mar 2018 21:19:21 -0400

Someone is having another meltdown.

The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!

😂

Now, there is a background for his latest fit.

Yesterday, 16 March, Jeff Sessions fired Andrew McCabe, the FBI deputy director. McCabe, like his former boss, James B. Comey, “kept contemporaneous memos detailing his fraught conversations with the president.” That explains it as “the danger for Trump is that those memos could help corroborate McCabe’s witness testimony and become damaging evidence in Mueller’s investigation of whether Trump has sought to obstruct justice.” Which in my eyes, based on what I have seeing, and read, he has.

Flowers will follow

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 17 Mar 2018 18:17:46 -0400

To the untrained, this image will have little meaning. Who could imagine that those “ugly sticks,” as the child called them, will soon bloom into hundreds of beautiful yellow flowers? Yet, as it has happened each year, flowers will follow!

Searching for the car

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 17 Mar 2018 17:15:18 -0400

A year ago, Kent got his learner’s permit. With the help of John, and a little from me, he practiced driving for over 250 hours. A year later — more or less — on 9 March, he got his driver’s license, passing the practical test with a 96, out of 100 points, score. And so the asking for a car began.

What car should we get for a 17 year old? New, or used? We want it to be safe, reliable, one he would like, but one not too expensive. Which will it be? A Toyota Corolla, a Corolla IM? A Mazda 3? A Honda Civic? A Ford Focus? Today we visited three dealers, Mazda, Honda, and Toyota, to test drive. It was just the beginning, more to follow.

Mueller goes after the Trump Organisation

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 15 Mar 2018 19:50:42 -0400

I have disliked other presidents in the past, for actions taken while they were in the office that I—and many others—considered stupid, crazy, or just plain wrong. My dislike for the current president eclipses any of my previous. I voted for Hillary, and wrongly predicted that she would win the presidency.

Today news, although perhaps inconsequential, brings joy to an otherwise political nightmare.

The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has subpoenaed the Trump Organization in recent weeks to turn over documents, including some related to Russia, according to two people briefed on the matter. The order is the first known instance of the special counsel demanding records directly related to President Trump’s businesses, bringing the investigation closer to the president.

It seems, though, that is nothing new, when it comes to the Trump Organization’s investigation.

The special counsel’s investigation has been already looking at other aspects of the Trump Organization’s business dealings for months, but this latest sign shows the attention is now turning to Russia-related matters.

Keeping fingers crossed because it is all I can do.

On the market for a camera

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 04 Mar 2018 21:12:22 -0500

We have gone through quite a few cameras. The very first one we recall was a Canon EOS D30, with an amazing 3.2 megapixel — sarcasm aside, it took amazing photos. After that we had had many Sony Cyber-shots, a Canon Powershot A640, a couple of Canon Powershot Gs, and another bigger Canon, the EOS 6D. In between we have used the camera that comes with the iPhones, starting with the iPhone 2G.

Now, the iPhone camera isn’t too bad, and since we already carry the phone, it also means we carry a camera everywhere we go. Yet, neither wife nor I fully enjoy the photos that come out of it. In a bind, the iPhone camera does a decent job, but when looking for higher resolution, to blow up photos, or when greater details are needed, it simply doesn’t cut it. For that we need a dedicated camera. It is that need which have brought us, inexorably, here.

Which camera to buy? We really do not want to spend over $500, but we understand there aren’t many good choices at that price range. The Fujifilm X-A5 goes for around $600, and it is not really that great. The Canon EOS M50, on the other hand, looks like a very good camera (and we like Canon very much), but it goes for $900. So, decisions, decisions. Which one to get?

We really could use some advise, so if you are reading this, and have one to offer, please do.

About the impermanence of things

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 21 Jan 2018 11:13:50 -0500

Thinking about the impermanence of things is a reoccurring theme for me. It usually happens if I get mad at something I don’t like, which used to be quite often no long ago. I still notice situations that are less than desirable for my point of view, but I no longer get mad every single time. I am trying my very best not to get upset for anything, or with anyone. Yet, the thought of everything being temporary still surrounds me. The last time it came to mind was when grandfather died.

Truly understanding the meaning, and embracing it could bring sadness first, but then content, and assurance. We have always wanted to be in control, to know as much as we can of the world around us. Both might never be truly achievable, but yet the fact that everything around us is impermanent, in flux, remains a constant.

I have never been very religious, even less so now. Nevertheless, I can’t help but to like, and agree with, one of the Buddha’s teaching: nothing, mental or physical, is permanent, and having an attachment to either leads to suffering. Fully resigning to this fact brings me much inner peace.

Grandfather has left us

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 13 Jan 2018 14:40:14 -0500

Grandfather died today.

Kim was very close to him because she lived with her grandparents since she was young, until we got married. Back in Vietnam, when she was in elementary school, grandpa took her and her siblings to school, and picked them up in his bicycle every day. He was more than a grandfather to her. He was, throughout her life, a father figure.

Grandpa was a soft spoken man. I never heard him raise his voice, never saw him mad. He was also a man of little wants; always giving, always sharing the little he had. His grandsons, granddaughter, daughters… the entire family benefitted from his selflessness.

Kim told me, jokingly of course, the secret to grandpa’s longevity was that grandpa was a Highlander. He was immortal! Truthfully, the secret was a combination of good genes and healthy diet. Grandpa preferred fish over red meat, boiled eggs over fried ones, oatmeal over hash browns.

Grandpa lived a long life. One hundred years old he was. What a life! Lived through more than one war, experienced extreme sadness having to bury his three sons, and losing his lifetime wife. He certainly deserved a rest. Although family delves into sadness — and I am not immune to it — I want to believe grandpa would not want us to be sad. The impact he made in our lives lives today, and we are all thankful to have have him for this long amongst us.

Thus, as he goes back to be stardust again, we say: thank you for your life, for your care, for your love. Farewell grandpa!

Unalloyed irony

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 08 Dec 2017 13:14:44 -0500

Soon to be ex-Senator Al Franken announced, on an emotional speech, his resignation yesterday. He is leaving the Senate after been accused of sexual misconduct.

“I, of all people, am aware that there is some irony in the fact that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party.”

— Al Franken

Ironic indeed.

On AT&T fibre

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 12:42:10 +0000

Had to chat with an AT&T employee, as a result of an order I placed yesterday. This is the feedback I left (with minor spelling corrections), after concluding the chat:

The chat experience was excellent (chat agent, Marry). AT&T experience thus far, not quite so.

I had an AT&T sales agent visit me yesterday. I signed up for Internet 1Gbps (Internet 1000 on AT&T lingo), and phone service (transferring my current number). I have a signed form, with all one time service charges waived. The appointment was set for Saturday, 21 October, 2017, from 11 to 13 hours.

Received many emails from AT&T, one of which was asking me to call AT&T “for additional information.” It seems it was to place the order! (again?). Was told installation weekends were no longer available for the remainder of the year (what?). I accepted begrudgingly, and finalised the order (telephone agent Cristina, #CC872V).

I went on to check my on-line billing, and saw I was being charged $99 for “one time charges” (the same ones waived to begin with!). Came on-line to chat, and Marry wasn’t able to deducted it, but told me to call again after installation, to get credit for it. He cancelled, and recreated the order, trying to deduct the “one time charges” to no avail.

Bottom line, very disorganised experience. It might not matter much to you, but it doesn’t give me the “warm, fuzzy feelings.” My service hasn’t started, but I am already starting to regret it.

That’s my feedback.

As of now, my on-line bill still shows a $33 “one time charge.”

Addendum 09 Oct 2017

I cancelled the service, even before it was installed. Really bad experience.

A downright moron

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 05:57:14 +0000

Henry Louis Mencken wrote an article on the Baltimore Sun, on 26 July, 1920, that amongst other things read:

As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

It seems we have “perfected” democracy. He himself clairvoyantly recognised it.

The Uber affair

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 11:53:37 +0000

Using Uber for the first time, in France, was a delightful experience. We were able to summon a relatively cheap minivan within minutes, the drivers were nice, nothing found to complain. Then, once back home, I decided that I might want to occasionally drive for Uber, for fun. That is when the real affair started.

To begin with, the rider photo I had on my profile no longer met their requirements. Then, the driver’s application asked me for information that I did not have handy, making me change my mind. I did no longer wanted to drive, but when I went to set my old profile photo back, it was no longer possible, because there was a driver’s application pending. Got a hold of Uber on chat, and they told me that to accomplish what I needed, they would have to delete my account. “Don’t worry,” I was told, “you can re-create it again without much problem.” So, I gave the go ahead.

Three days after its deletion, I tried to recreate the account again, only to be greeted with a message stating that my account was disabled. Back I was on chat with Uber, which reassured me the phone number was being “released,” so it could be used again. “Give it some time,” they told me. Sure, I can do that. Yet, I forgot about it until today, when I decided to install the app on my iPhone again — an email from Lyft reminded me. Tried to create an account again, same message, “Your account is currently disabled. Visit t.uber.com/account-disabled for more information.” This time I have sent an email, and am waiting on a reply.

The third time is the charm. Either I am able to use Uber again, or we will part ways for good. My Lyft account is ready, and in good standing.

Comey's sacking

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 11 May 2017 16:56:28 +0000

This is, at least for me, completely surreal. It is not only that Trump sacked the FBI director — who arguably helped him getting elected President — while he was conducting an investigation on Trump’s presidential campaign, but the way he wrote the sacking letter (I emphasised):

Dear Director Comey:

I have received the attached letters from the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the United States recommending your dismissal as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I have accepted their recommendation and you are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately.

While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau.

It is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission.

I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

Donald J. Trump

Isn’t that completely bonkers?

A few technical changes

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 05 Mar 2017 19:28:16 -0500

A few things have happened on my current server setup. The biggest one was my move from FreeBSD to Ubuntu. I do not have complains about FreeBSD — how could I? — but I wanted to play with more recent stuff, and it was becoming very hard to do under BSD. I also wanted a refresh, since I had been running that VPS for a while and it was starting to feel “dirty.”

So, I spawned up an Ubuntu 16.04 LTS VPS, and migrated. It all worked like a charm, took couple of hours, mostly because I really enjoy doing things manually, without automation. To top it off, Vultr (affiliated link) upgraded their plans (and launched a brand new, $2.50/month one), so I now have 1GB RAM, and 25GB SSD, for my $5/month plan. Such a sweet deal!

I also changed my blog static generator from Jekyll to Hugo. The move was driven by the desire to gain speed (Hugo, writen in Go, is very fast), and by wishing to get rid of the many dependencies Jekyll has (being Ruby based and all). Additionally, I am hosting a presence, albeit pretty simple, for all my domains, all under Letscrypt SSL. I am also using Gitea to manage my gits via the web. This very own weblog is generated upon a commit.

Finally, I am also running a second Ubuntu server on Azure, which I am using as my VPN, and test server, for now.

An intelligent person

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 19:59:15 -0500

From Twitter:

The most amazing thing about the Trump presidency is that it’s made GWB look like a reasonably intelligent person.

— Derek Powazek (@fraying) February 27, 2017

And from The New York Times:

Former President George W. Bush said Monday “we all need answers” on the extent of contact between President Donald Trump’s team and the Russian government, and didn’t rule out the idea that a special prosecutor could be necessary to lead an investigation.

The Republican also defended the media’s role in keeping world leaders in check, noting that “power can be addictive,” and warned against immigration policies that could alienate Muslims.

— The New York Times

I agree.

The silence of the hacks

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 18 Feb 2017 21:32:59 -0500

There is a reason why I subscribed to the digital edition of The New York Times. Its journalists are superb; it is a paper I trust, and have found to be veridical after cross referencing the news they post with other major, equally trusted, news sources.

From yesterday’s edition (some emphasis mine):

The story so far: A foreign dictator intervened on behalf of a U.S. presidential candidate — and that candidate won. Close associates of the new president were in contact with the dictator’s espionage officials during the campaign, and his national security adviser was forced out over improper calls to that country’s ambassador — but not until the press reported it; the president learned about his actions weeks earlier, but took no action.

Meanwhile, the president seems oddly solicitous of the dictator’s interests, and rumors swirl about his personal financial connections to the country in question. Is there anything to those rumors? Nobody knows, in part because the president refuses to release his tax returns.

Maybe there’s nothing wrong here, and it’s all perfectly innocent. But if it’s not innocent, it’s very bad indeed. So what do Republicans in Congress, who have the power to investigate the situation, believe should be done?

Nothing.

— The New York Times

Wow.

Incapable of serving

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 05:49:38 -0500

From the opinion pages of The New York Times yesterday, 13 of February, 2017, also appearing in print today. Some emphasis mine.

Mr. Trump’s speech and actions demonstrate an inability to tolerate views different from his own, leading to rage reactions. His words and behavior suggest a profound inability to empathize. Individuals with these traits distort reality to suit their psychological state, attacking facts and those who convey them (journalists, scientists).

In a powerful leader, these attacks are likely to increase, as his personal myth of greatness appears to be confirmed. We believe that the grave emotional instability indicated by Mr. Trump’s speech and actions makes him incapable of serving safely as president.

— The New York Times

That, of course, is nothing new it as it has been said before, more than one time.

Cleaning the plate

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 12 Feb 2017 11:04:35 -0500

My wife has always told me, “don’t eat everything in your plate, leave something!” It is her believe, and her culture’s, that only poor people eats everything, and that if I do so, it will show I am dying of hunger, and thus, poor. If it were so, what’s wrong with being poor? Why will I leave food on the plate, food that I really like, to pretend what I am not? I am poor, poor, poor!

That custom, though, would be an easy one to follow if the food was bad. That’s something impossible when wife cooks, or mum. No kidding.

Fake email clients

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 21:06:15 -0500

For a few (years?) now, there has been an increase of so called email clients that are not so. I am talking about the “value added email clients” that require a third party server/service to work. Within that category there is Nylas, Polymail, and Sparkmail, to mention a few. Although they bring an array of features not normally found on an email client, they are worthless if the third party company server(s) goes down, or have problems. They will also cease to work as soon as the company who created them goes belly up. They are not email clients per se, they are “email services clients”.

Not standard, but niche. No good.

In times when we all live on a web browser, pretty much, email clients of all types, including the fake ones above, are quickly becoming a second class citizen. After all, who wants to open an application to read/compose emails, when you already have one open that can do it as well? Yet, should I insist on using one, I would rather use a client that will only misbehave if my email provider has problems. You know, a regular IMAP one. As a macOS user, Mail.app does the job for me.

Hard to believe

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 14:30:24 -0500

If you hear or read this somewhere else — whether on social media, or via your clueless uncle Olaf — you will find it hard, if not impossible, to believe. Now, finding it on Reuters is a different story.

In his first call as president with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump denounced a treaty that caps U.S. and Russian deployment of nuclear warheads as a bad deal for the United States, according to two U.S. officials and one former U.S. official with knowledge of the call.

When Putin raised the possibility of extending the 2010 treaty, known as New START, Trump paused to ask his aides in an aside what the treaty was, these sources said.

— Reuters

Unpresidential

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 20:07:20 +0000

Not presidential at all.

“President-elect Donald J. Trump’s aides often cite his appearances at professional wrestling matches as an inspiration for his outsize political speaking style, and his buoyantly belligerent news conference in New York on Wednesday proved he has no plans to betray his brawler’s roots in the service of seeming more presidential.”

— New York Times

Warming up to emoji

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 19:39:17 +0000

No long ago I wrote that I loathed Emoji. My main grumble was their usage abuse, and, especially, the overuse of “smilies.”

Since Apple’s iOS 10, I have been warming up to them, but it wasn’t until I came across Mu-An that they really started to captivate me. She uses them, sparingly, but with such taste! A few of her repositories exclusively deal with Emoji as well. Thus, this post is to correct myself: I don’t loathe Emoji. I actually like them quite a bit.

It all comes down to how they are used. 😸

I was wrong

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 09 Nov 2016 14:00:00 +0000

Back in 5 October 2015, I wrote a prediction, which I saved in a file for which I posted a hash. I predicted that Hillary Clinton would win the United States presidential elections. Sadly, I was wrong.

I really do not have much else to say. I am sorry.

What have you taught me?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 14:00:00 +0000

His father was only giving him a small advise, worried for him. Parents worry too much, sometimes. It was not taken well.

“You suffocate me, don’t worry so much about me! Enough advise, what have you taught me, until now?” He asks. Perhaps no much, the father thinks in retrospect. Brushing the teeth, maybe? Lacing the shoes? How to clean the arse? How to respect others, and do good? To be happy, love, study hard, work hard? That, and the many little things of daily life. He can’t remember much, but one thing he knows for sure: he has loved him, and will continue to love him until the end.

Ah, that too! He has taught him how to give unconditional love.

Bernie Sanders keeps fighting

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 14:00:00 +0000

Bernie Sanders has had a good run. Yet numbers are pilled against him, and he should know it. After all he said he was “pretty good in arithmetic.” Hillary has beaten him, and the right and honorable thing for him to do is to call it quits.

“If, on November 8th of this year, Hillary Clinton is elected President, we will have only begun to fight,” Sanders told a packed rally in San Francisco.

– The New Yorker

I know it is satire, of course. But Bernie’s insistency on “fighting on” (who, or what I am not really sure anymore) is disappointing.

Violin lessons

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 14:00:00 +0000

Just as they started, randomly, on a whim, as a child desire to learn to play the violin, the lessons that Kent has been taking for almost two years came to an end two weeks ago. It was hard to tell Julie — his teacher — that he was not to continue, but it was what he wanted.

Kent never intended to play violin professionally, it was no more than an artistic hobby. As such, he can hold the violin and extract out of it some lamenting notes. This entry is for the records. Who knows, maybe one day he will go back to it. For the time being, the violin languishes, yearning for his master’s touch.

A dangerous precedent

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 14:00:00 +0000

The United States government demanded that Apple weakens the security on iOS. Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, replied.

Rather than asking for legislative action through Congress, the FBI is proposing an unprecedented use of the All Writs Act of 1789 to justify an expansion of its authority.

The government would have us remove security features and add new capabilities to the operating system, allowing a passcode to be input electronically. This would make it easier to unlock an iPhone by “brute force,” trying thousands or millions of combinations with the speed of a modern computer.

The implications of the government’s demands are chilling. If the government can use the All Writs Act to make it easier to unlock your iPhone, it would have the power to reach into anyone’s device to capture their data. The government could extend this breach of privacy and demand that Apple build surveillance software to intercept your messages, access your health records or financial data, track your location, or even access your phone’s microphone or camera without your knowledge.

Opposing this order is not something we take lightly. We feel we must speak up in the face of what we see as an overreach by the U.S. government.

We are challenging the FBI’s demands with the deepest respect for American democracy and a love of our country. We believe it would be in the best interest of everyone to step back and consider the implications.

While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.

— Tim Cook

Home alone

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Just like I did on 18 July, 2014, this one is mostly for keeping a record of a first time activity or occasion. This time it was Kent’s first home alone day. He is almost 15 years old, and for the first time he spent eight hours home alone, while Kim and I were at work.

Happy “graduation” step, Kent!

Amazon Cloud Drive feedback

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 14:00:00 +0000

This is not merely a technical problem, but I did not have the choice for multiple selections. Anytime I use the word “you” down below, I mean Amazon.

First the good. I love you, I have used AWS S3 for a long time, no complains. I do much of my online purchases on you, although I am not a fervent shopper. I rent my movies on Amazon Video. I am signed up for Flex. I want you to succeed even more. I love you!

Now the bad. Amazon Cloud Drive is bad. The OS X client is clunky, far from streamlined, and dull. It can’t compete with Google Drive client–and that is bad, because the Google Drive client is far from being good. The web interface is extremely slow, it times out, it is featureless. It can’t render SVGs (maybe not even RAW images, I have not uploaded my photos and videos yet), it can’t play MP3s, or any other audio files. I just cancelled my 1 TB with Google Drive to come to Amazon Cloud Drive, but I do not see me keeping it either. Is that bad.

You could have something good going on here, to compete with Google, with Dropbox, with Microsoft. But you either decided not to allocate a big enough team to work on Cloud Drive, or the team you have working on it is learning as it goes. Either way, the end result is a half baked, or raw, product. This makes me sad, you know, like being dumped by girlfriend I really care about.

I am willing to be contacted for recommendations or further feedback.

American parenting is killing marriage

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 14:00:00 +0000

This article sounds very true, although I would not go as far as generalizing it for all Americans.

Mothers must devote themselves to their children above anyone or anything else, but many wives would be offended if their husbands said, “You’re pretty great, but my love for you will never hold a candle to the love I have for John Junior.”

Mothers are also holy in a way that fathers are not expected to be. Mothers live in a clean, cheerful world filled with primary colors and children’s songs, and they don’t think about sex. A father could admit to desiring his wife without seeming like a distracted parent, but society is not as willing to cut Ms. Waldman that same slack. It is unseemly for a mother to enjoy pleasures that don’t involve her children.

There are doubtless benefits that come from elevating parenthood to the status of a religion, but there are obvious pitfalls as well. Parents who do not feel free to express their feelings honestly are less likely to resolve problems at home. Children who are raised to believe that they are the center of the universe have a tough time when their special status erodes as they approach adulthood. Most troubling of all, couples who live entirely child-centric lives can lose touch with one another to the point where they have nothing left to say to one another when the kids leave home.

— QZ

Dumping dollars left and right

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 14:00:00 +0000

“DOD charged the American taxpayer $43 million for what is likely the world’s most expensive gas station.”

That’s what Special Inspector General John F. Sopko found when he looked at the construction of a natural gas station in Sheberghan, Afghanistan.

According to the report, at most that station should have cost about $500,000. But in this case, the Department of Defense’s Task Force for Stability and Business Operations awarded Central Asian Engineering a contract to build the station for a little under $3 million.

But somehow the spending got out of control […]

— NPR

It is sickening the amount of money (yes, I know, we print it) that we are spending in Afghanistan, Iraq, and who knows where else.

Standard and daylight savings time

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 01 Nov 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Standard Time. When I was a child, an old lady I loved as my own grandmother used to tell me this time was “God’s time,” and that she never changed clocks when everyone else switched to “Daylight Savings Time.” I wish I could do the same, unfortunately I am not old enough not to care.

I am part of the growing group that believes DST (or time changing of any kind) is worthless.

On a different topic—but one that I wanted to note for being a first—we did not have not even one door bell last night (Halloween). Our bag of candies remained untouched.

China's two child policy

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

This one is worth documenting, as it doesn’t happen every day. As a matter of fact, it hasn’t happened for over three decades.

“It is the latest twist in the most ambitious and ruthless social-engineering program ever undertaken by a modern state: Beijing announced Thursday that the Chinese Communist Party will officially abandon its one-child policy. Yet it has no plans to relinquish authority over its subjects’ birth patterns; rather, Beijing has simply changed the ration. Now two children per family will be permitted.”

— The Wall Street Journal

And from one of my favorites:

“China said Thursday it would allow all married couples to have two children, signaling the end after 35 years to its drastic and unpopular “one-child” policy that has been blamed for skewing the gender balance, forcing women into unwanted abortions and bringing about a rapidly aging workforce.”"

— The New York Times

Big Red Bus

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

“Hi guys, don’t forget to donate today!” says the lady with the oneblood.org t-shirt. The Big Red Bus parks on campus often, sometimes they seem to be here every day. “We’ll give you a t-shirt and a cookie!” She says. That’s the price of your donation, but is it?

A typical pint of blood costs $130-150, and sometimes even more. A lucrative business, don’t you agree? Yet, oneblood.org is non-profit.

Apple on encryption

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Apple mobile devices—iPhones, iPads, iPods—are used everywhere. The US smartphone subscriber market share highest percentage is dominated by them. As an American company, they are bound to comply with U.S. laws and regulations. So, when the U.S. Justice Department requested that Apple grants access to a locked iPhone, Apple brought the case to court.

Apple Inc told a U.S. judge that accessing data stored on a locked iPhone would be “impossible” with devices using its latest operating system, but the company has the “technical ability” to help law enforcement unlock older phones.

— Reuters

Technically, new iPhones running iOS 8 or higher are impossible to crack open; older iPhones are no problem. The iPhone in the U.S. Justice Department request is an old one, and hence not a problem for Apple to unlock. Nevertheless, Apple is asking the judge not to budge.

“Forcing Apple to extract data in this case, absent clear legal authority to do so, could threaten the trust between Apple and its customers and substantially tarnish the Apple brand,” Apple’s lawyers wrote.

— Reuters

Kudos to Apple!

Walking and using the phone

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Walking around with your head stuck on the phone is like playing the chicken game. The fully aware pedestrian walking in your opposite direction—and on the same path—is forced to play the game. Not as dangerous as driving but still very annoying. When you walk, please pay attention, look where you are walking, and leave the phone in your pocket.

Neighbors

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Our neighbors are moving. The ones on the left, that is. They have been our neighbors for fifteen years, and lived here for seventeen, since the community was built. Quiet neighbors, the best kind. Now we roll the dice, and hope for the best, for whoever comes next.

The house on the right has had three owners; we have known them all. The first were the previous owners of our house. They left within two years. The second occupants came, and lasted a little longer. Then emptiness. For a while. The current ones have been around for three years, maybe a bit more.

The neighborhood has changed. I wonder when our time will come.

Reminders

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

“What did you have for lunch?,” the father asks while driving home. “Same as usual,” he replies. “And that is?” “I just eat random sandwiches of what comes to whim.” The father processes that for a bit. “I see.” Later, at home, “what’s there for homework today?” “No much,” he says. “Brush your teeth,” he is reminded. Later, in the evening. “Take a shower.” A few times.

Just before the father goes to sleep, and sees his bedroom lights on. “What are you doing up so late? Time to sleep!” “I am finishing my homework” is the reply. “But you said it wasn’t much!” No reply. “Take a shower. And remember to brush your teeth.”

AP classes

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Yesterday (15 October) Kent told me he doesn’t want to take AP (Advanced Placement) classes next year. He also told me he might not want to be a neurological surgeon after all, and that he really doesn’t know what he will want to be, professionally. We talked more, but the rest of it has no place in here.

Amongst the many feelings I am experiencing, regret is one of them. If only my parents were alive. I can’t express with words how very sorry I am for the many bad times I made them go through.

Backing up and restoring GPG keys

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

If you use GPG to occasionally encrypt and/or sign your email, or to encrypt your files before placing them on the cloud, you will understand how important it is to have a backup of your GPG keys. Similarly important will be to know how to restore them as well.

Backing up your keys and configuration files

To back your private, and public keys, as well as your trust database, you will do¹:

gpg --armor --export-secret-keys > ~/Desktop/gpg_private_keys.asc
gpg --armor --export > ~/Desktop/gpg_public_keys.asc
gpg --export-ownertrust > ~/Desktop/gpg_ownertrust.asc

You might want to backup your gpg.conf and gpg-agent.conf as well:

cp ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf ~/Desktop/

Next, you will want to compress all the files into a single archive:

cd ~/Desktop/; zip gpg_stuff.zip gpg_private_keys.asc gpg_public_keys.asc gpg_ownertrust.asc gpg.conf gpg-agent.conf

Finally, encrypt gpg_stuff.zip before uploading it to you cloud service of choice:

gpg -c -z 9 --require-secmem --cipher-algo AES256 --s2k-cipher-algo AES256 --s2k-digest-algo SHA512 --digest-algo SHA512 --s2k-mode 3 --s2k-count 65000000 --compress-algo BZIP2 --bzip2-compress-level 9 gpg_stuff.zip

Make sure to remember the password you used, as you will not be able to decompress the files if you forget it, and your keys and configuration files will be rendered worthless.

Restoring your keys and configuration files

To restore the key and configuration files, you will first need to decrypt and decompress gpg_stuff.zip.gpg:

gpg gpg_stuff.zip.gpg; unzip gpg_stuff.zip

And then restore the keys and trust database:

gpg --import gpg_private_keys.asc
gpg --import gpg_public_keys.asc
gpg --import-ownertrust gpg_ownertrust.asc

Finally, copy your configuration files to the proper directory:

cp gpg.conf gpg-agent.conf ~/.gnupg/

This assumes your are using OS X. Change destinations depending on your OS accordingly, if using another Unix alike OS. ↩︎

Good office slave manual

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 11 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Yegor Bugayenko has a few tips—a short manual, per se—to help us be good office slaves.

Don’t Nag. No matter what is happening, you should never criticize your direct manager. The boss is always right. Everything else may be wrong — the situation, colleagues, suppliers, computers, the CEO, investors, the market, or the weather, but not the boss you directly report to. The word of this person is the law. The boss is the god. Ideally, you should be the prophet. No matter what the boss says, you deliver it to others. And you must look like you sincerely believe that it’s right.

You should go and read the entire manual.

Enticement

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 10 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Someone decided to entice us to fill out a survey, by sending us a “lucky” two dollars bill with it. Normally we do not fill out any type of surveys, unless proper remuneration is provided. Two dollars isn’t really worth the effort, and normally would not be accepted as a fee. Yet, since there is no way to send it back with assurances it will reach the original sender, we have a small dilemma on hands.

Thus, as the survey is only two pages, and a grand total of five questions, this time—and this time only!—we will abide.

The Martian

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 10 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

We just came from seeing the movie “The Martian.” Minus the obvious, very predictable, Hollywood scenes, the movie was quite alright. It made me wish I could live to see the first few missions to the Red Planet. Being the selfless guy that I am, thought, I would be willing to settle if my child gets to see them instead.

While on the topic of movies, and theaters, it is amazing how expensive it is to see a movie these days. For three tickets we paid $36.39, and that doesn’t include concession stand charges. Yikes!

Russians and Syria

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

We bomb. From the air, from the ground, from afar, from ships. And so do the Russians now. We target what we believe are terrorists, sometimes we miss. Russians are doing the same now.

We removed Saddam, and the Taliban, just to mention two, and that created—or increased—a mess that continues until today. The Russian’s tactic is different, they are targeting both, the terrorists fighting against the “official” regime, and those which we are targeting as well. The way I see it, both seem to be terrorists. Removing Bashar al-Assad—the current Syrian president—right now would just make matters worse. We should know that.

Just this time, I think we should, perhaps, be united with the Russians. That, or completely out of the way. And, above all, we should avoid hypocrisy and sensationalism.

Of no use

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

A farmer got so old that he couldn’t work the fields anymore. So he would spend the day just sitting on the porch. His son, still working the farm, would look up from time to time and see his father sitting there.

“He’s of no use any more,” the son thought to himself, “he doesn’t do anything!”

One day the son got so frustrated by this, that he built a wood coffin, dragged it over to the porch, and told his father to get in. Without saying anything, the father climbed inside. After closing the lid, the son dragged the coffin to the edge of the farm where there was a high cliff.

As he approached the drop, he heard a light tapping on the lid from inside the coffin. He opened it up. Still lying there peacefully, the father looked up at his son. “I know you are going to throw me over the cliff, but before you do, may I suggest something?”

“What is it?” replied the son.

“Throw me over the cliff, if you like,” said the father, “but save this good wood coffin. Your children might need to use it.”

— A Useless Life, Zen Stories to tell your neighbors.

“Hijo eres, padre serás” is an old Spanish saying.

Prediction

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Next year we will have our Presidential Elections. Everyone knows that, of course, because the politicians have been campaining for almost a year now.

Below is the name of a file with my winner’s prediction on the United States 2016 Presidential Elections written on it. It is a hash algorithm of a file containing a sentence with my prediction. I will refer to this post the day after elections, as the results are known.

2016-Presidential-Elections-Prediction.txt

eeb872df145294d1c7c25473c821a29242a4c043fb103ed71a470e90a8cdfcd1

Let’s see how close—or far—I was.

Space for the dead

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 04 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

I read an article today on The Guardian, which showed up on the eight page of Hacker’s News. It talks about the lack of space for the dead, in the world of the living.

“Some 55 million people are reckoned to pass away each year (about 0.8% of the planet’s total population – equivalent to 100% of England’s). Yet urban planners and developers focus overwhelmingly on accommodating and making money from the living. Cemeteries and columbaria (burial vaults) dating back hundreds of years retain an iconic place in our towns and cities – but, partly as a result of their limited profitability, most have not been allowed to grow. Which means metropolises the world over are running out of room to house their dead.”

— Death in the city: what happens when all our cemeteries are full?

I know it varies from culture to culture, with religion having a major impact on how the dead is handled. I subscribe to a most pragmatic approach: incineration. My father once told me, “When I die, just cremate me and flush me down the toilet.” With the exception of the flushing—which would have created major problems for obvious reasons—we granted his wish, disposing his ashes into the sea instead. Same was done with my mother. Same will be done with me.

I would even go a step further. If I could be of better use after death, I would be all for it. A few ideas that come to mind: fertilizer, fish food, or—at the very least—as a practice/learning skeleton in a medical school. Paying money for graveyard space? Wasting valuable space in a cemetery? Not in a million years.

Tempus Fugit

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 04 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Time seems to be passing by too fast. Way too fast.

A week starts and then it is over when I blink. Same applies to weekends. It used to be that time seemed to pass quick only when engaged in something. Lately it is the same, whether I am busy or not. I am afraid I will blink again, and I will be gone.

Amongst the many things we can’t control, time is the one that hurts the most, especially as we grow older. I think I am having a déjà vu.

On a rock

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

From our last vacation—which occurred four months ago—to Colorado. This one was taken somewhere around Pikes Peak. Kent was daring, and Kim was afraid. I took the photo.

Disappointing

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Pope Francis “thanked her for her courage” and told her to “stay strong”, Mr. Stavers said.

— BBC News

If this truly happened, it is disappointing. A person as charismatic as Pope Francis, who has been so politically careful, should have known better. She is a government employee, fulfilling an official task. She must abide the law, or simply leave her job, if she can’t perform as expected. What would we do if our troops, due to their religious beliefs, decide to put down their weapons? Should they still be in our military?

Should I have been in the Pope’s clothes, I would have steered away from such dilemma. It would have been, at the very least, the smart thing to do.

Presidential Elections 2016

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 27 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Back in 2011 was the last time I wrote about Presidential Elections (2012). I can’t believe we are about to get into them again. In 2012 I knew exactly who to vote for, but in 2016, with the selection we have thus far, I really have no idea about who is the most viable—if there is one. Certainly not this one:

Question: “How will you bring back the American Dream?”

Trump: “Look, We can bring the American Dream back. That I will tell you. We’re bringing it back. OK? And I understand what you’re saying. And I get that from so many people. “Is The American Dream dead?” They are asking me the question, “Is the American Dream dead?” And the American Dream is in trouble. That I can tell you. OK? It’s in trouble. But we’re going to get it back and do some real jobs. How about the man with that beautiful red hat? Stand up! Stand up! What a hat!”

— Donald Trump Town Hall in Rochester, New Hampshire

Oh dear.

Saturday

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Respect others, seek peace, do not be irascible. Give, help, construct; never the opposite. Turn lemons into lemonade. Hard things to do, most of the time, even more so all the time. We are so recalcitrant by nature!

Yet, our existence would be idyllic if we could manage to, at least, try to do all of the above often.

Glowforge

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

We all need this. Watch the video and tell me if you do not feel amazed. It is pricey, but oh the fun one could have with one of those!

Glowforge is a wireless 3D laser printer that fits on your desktop, works with your favorite design programs, and stores your designs & data on a cloud.

— What is Glowforge?

Selling out

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

It seems iOS 9 ad blocker, Crystal, will allow some ads to go through for a fee. From an article on the Wall Street Journal:

Mr. Murphy said he has taken Eyeo up on its offer, and plans to implement an option within his app whereby “acceptable” ads will be displayed to users. The feature will be switched on by default, Mr. Murphy said, and he will receive a flat monthly fee from Eyeo in return. Mr. Murphy declined to disclose the fee, but said he expects to make less money from Eyeo’s payments than from sales of the app itself.

— Apple Propels an Ad-Blocking Cottage Industry

And just like that, Crystal was uninstalled from my devices, to never come back again. Anyone who asks me for recommendations will get others recommended, but Crystal. Conflict of interest like these are unacceptable.

Eyeo, by the way, is the company behind Adblock Plus, which is already accepting payments from “around 70 companies in exchange for letting their ads through its filter” (WSJ). Keep away from that one too!

Autumnal Equinox

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Today marks the beginning of one of my two favorite seasons, Autumn—or Fall, as it is commonly called in the United States. Living in Florida makes the season a very, very mild one, with temperatures still quite high (it will be 90°F today), yet it brings the solid certainty that summer is being left behind.

Join me on celebrating the Autumnal Equinox today, at 04:21 US Eastern time, which is 08:21 UTC. Google is also celebrating it, with a beautiful doodle and an adorable little squirrel.

Protecting Francis

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

The Pope has recently been to Cuba, and today he will be arriving to the United States. Like any other dignitary, the Pope needs protection from both, bad people, and adoring crowds. Yet, doing so is not easy feat.

“The crowds throw things,” Mr. Clancy, who took over as the head of the Secret Service last October, said in an interview. “They throw flags, dolls and, obviously, babies towards him. It’s difficult because we don’t want our agents to overreact. He doesn’t want to see an overreaction, either, but you don’t want to miss anything.”

— The New York Times

Flags, dolls, flowers, I understand, but babies thrown at him? That was a surprise that brought scary thoughts!

Yet, will all the protection he gets, Francis seems not to be too worry about matters of life and death. After all, he represents the Christian God on Earth, why should he worry? Reflecting on his own mortality during an interview for a community newspaper in Argentina, Francis is quoted to have, jokingly, said:

“Look, life is in God’s hands. I told the Lord: ‘You are taking care of me,’ ” he told the newspaper. “But if your will is that I die or that they do something to me, I ask you only one favor: that it doesn’t hurt,” he said in a light tone. “Because I’m a big coward when it comes to physical pain.”

— The New York Times

Shogi

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Kent’s latest hobby is to play Shogi. That makes me an obligatory player and fan as well since, just like chess, Shogi requires two players. We bought a cheap board from Amazon, but he has already stated that a better quality board and pieces is what he would want for Christmas (yes, he is already planning for it).

The game isn’t difficult to play, but I am having an excruciating hard time remembering each piece—labeled with kanji characters—and how they move. Ah, the joys of growing older!

Microsoft Visual Studio Code

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 19 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Microsoft launched its free (non open source), cross-platform, code editor early this year (April, 2015), at its Build Developer Conference.

I have been tempted to try it, as I read its file comparison is very nice, its intelliSense, and it’s based on the same platform as Atom, which I happen to love. Today was the day, but as you can see, it is a non-signed OS X application. Microsoft is big enough, and rich enough to afford signing their OS X applications, but they chose not to. Therefore, I am passing. I am sure it’s very nice.

I loathe emoji

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

I despise Emoji and emoticons, specially graphical emoji, or people who continuously abuse them, and interject them in every single sentence they type, sometimes even more than once. I thought that I hated “LOL,” which I do, but I would rather see LOL — when justified, not the moronic “LOL” without reason you see often — than see the utter idiotic smiles, winks, etc., continuously, all the time. “I am an elitist asshole, but here, have an Emoji! That way you will perceive me differently.”

I just wanted to state my rant here, where I do not bother anyone. Maybe in the future, when someone who overuses Emoji today reaches to me to tell me they have changed their mind, that they hate them now, I will be able to say, while browsing to this entry, “I told you so."

Secrets of living to be 200 years old

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

This article refers to ageing as not being an inevitable fact of life. It goes to describe the marvellous capabilities that some animals have to live, seemingly, forever. Yet, do we really want to? With all the problems we are having with over population, do we want to pursue the holy grail, and extend life to last hundreds?

We have already “extended” our lives considerably, taking into account that in 1950 the world average on life expectancy was 48 years old. I think we should strive to make our current quality of life better, not extend it. That is, live better, no longer. Otherwise we will have to leave our planet and colonize, which is something that many argue we should do, regardless.

About the removal of garbage apps

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Tim Cook answered a few questions for BuzzFeed, while they talked about things iPhone, iPad Pro, and many other Apple–related things. This part got close to me, as I am sure it might be to anyone who likes iPhones. Why can’t we remove certain apps?

Why are there apps on the iOS that I can’t delete even though I never use them? Why does Apple insist that I keep Tips and Stocks”on my iPhone when I’d like nothing more than to delete them? For Cook the question seems a familiar one. “This is a more complex issue than it first appears,” he says. “There are some apps that are linked to something else on the iPhone. If they were to be removed they might cause issues elsewhere on the phone. There are other apps that aren’t like that. So over time, I think with the ones that aren’t like that, we’ll figure out a way [for you to remove them]. … It’s not that we want to suck up your real estate; we’re not motivated to do that. We want you to be happy. So I recognize that some people want to do this, and it’s something we’re looking at.”

— BuzzFeed, 20 minutes with Tim Cook.

I really hope so. I do not care about Tips, or Watch and would like to get rid of them.

Never-ending homework

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Ever since Kent started the 9th grade he has been having to do an unusual amount, and I mean really unusual, of homework. I might be getting too old, but I do not recall having to do that much, so early into high school. It is really messing up his sleeping schedule, and–kind of–mine.

Going to sleep really late each day, and waking up when sun still sleeps is wearing me out too.

Huckabee offers his support

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Mike Huckabee, a christian pastor turned politician has offered his support to the Court clerk in Kentucky who, against Supreme Court order, refuses to issue gay marriage licenses.

“I spoke with Kim Davis this morning to offer my prayers and support. I let her know how proud I am of her for not abandoning her religious convictions and standing strong for religious liberty. She is showing more courage and humility than just about any federal office holder in Washington.”

— Mike Huckabee

When it rains, it pours.

Jekyll and Git

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 29 Aug 2015 14:00:03 +0000

I have been using Jekyll for a while now, but all this time I have been generating it on the server, That is, I had had a directory on the server holding the Jekyll files, in which I would run jekyll build to generate the website. Not too streamlined.

Before hosting this weblog on Vultr, I had it on GitHub, and their Pages would do the publishing for me, right after a commit, which was great. Yesterday I decided to implement the same, but on my VPS. This is what I did:

Created empty git repository (git init --bare website.git).
Cloned it.
Added my Jekyll files.

What was left was to add the following post-receive hook¹:

#!/bin/bash -l
GIT_REPOSITORY=/path/to/my/website.git
TMP_GIT_CLONE=/tmp/git/website
WWW_ROOT=/path/to/my/website

git clone $GIT_REPOSITORY $TMP_GIT_CLONE
jekyll build --source $TMP_GIT_CLONE --destination $WWW_ROOT
rm -rf $TMP_GIT_CLONE
exit

Now a few seconds right after committing, my website will show the changes. Being able to use Atom with markdown-writer to compose entries, and use git to deploy them is a bliss.

Thanks to Matt Harzewski for pointing me to the right path. ↩︎

Using Atom

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 29 Aug 2015 14:00:00 +0000

I have used many editors in the past, either under Windows or OS X. Too many, I have really lost the count. The last one I used was Sublime Text. Great editor, cross platform too, but pricey. Each time I would get the nag, I would feel guilty for not buying me a licensed copy.

I tried Atom when it first came out. It was buggy and slow, really, really slow. Not anymore. I am using version 1.0.9 now, and it is a joy. So fast, so customizable, so complete, so free!

Me, but you, but me

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 28 May 2015 14:00:00 +0000

On May 28, 2010, Mark Pilgrim wrote the entry below on his weblog. He has since long been gone, but I am keeping this entry, named “Me, but you, but me,” which I liked very much. I really wish he would come back.

I’ve been active online for 9 years now. With one exception, nothing I’ve done online has brought me closer to making 25-year friends. Life online rewards breadth, not depth. As gratifying as it may be to have 1 million “visitors” read at least one word of my latest online book, chances are none of those visitors will turn into people who turn into friends who turn into 25-year friends.

How many 25-year friends can you hope to make in one lifetime? 25 years is a long time. That’s half of a short life, a third of a normal life, or a quarter of an extraordinary life. Depending on when you start counting, 25 years might include some or all of growing up, graduating from multiple schools, getting married (or remarried), having (and raising) kids, changing jobs, or changing careers.

But a 25-year friend is not just “a friend for 25 years.” It’s not the passage of time that matters as much as the “of course”-ness of it all. Of course I want to hear about your breakup. Of course you can come over anytime. Of course I’ll help you move. Of course you’ll be my best man, and I yours. Of course we’ll be each other’s godfathers. Of course you’ll “lend” me some money when I hit hard times. 25 years of “of course.”

And in the end, and I mean the very end, of course you’ll come visit me when I’m all but paralyzed. Of course you’ll go outside to throw a ball around with my son while the paramedics take me off to the hospital, again. After I can’t so much as lift my legs, of course you’ll sit with me in the hospital and help me get comfortable every five minutes. After I can’t feed myself, of course you’ll ignore the doctor’s orders and sneak in some cheese bisque and feed me one spoonful at a time. And after I can’t change myself, of course you’ll call the nurse to say there’s shit running down my leg, and of course you’ll stick around to help the nurse roll me over so she can wipe me down, then roll me back so she can change my sheets.

A good friend will help you move. A great friend will help you move a body. A 25-year friend will help you move your own body, if that’s all that’s left to do.

And when the nurse asks, “Family? Friend?” of course you’ll say, “25-year friend.” And she’ll say, “25-year friend. What a thing. What a thing to be.”

In the end, how many 25-year friends can you hope to make in one lifetime? How many do you really need? I would have said “only one,” but it turns out what I meant was “one who will outlive me.”

So, two.

Gmail.app on iOS

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 16 May 2015 14:00:00 +0000

I like Google and its services. Like is too little, I love them! Their mobile applications on the other hand — specifically those running under iOS — are horrible. The UIX is confusing and it does not follows Apple UIX design. Their choice of font is of poor taste and, again, does not match the rest of the OS. They lack of functionality and/or their functionality is limited by poor choices and, what is seems to be, a lack of common sense. I could describe and point out the problems on any of their applications, but this rant pertains to the Gmail application running under iOS.

The Gmail application is the only client the allows real time notifications of new emails, also known as Google Sync. Google used to allow that feature under iOS Mail.app, but they discontinued it on January 30, 2013 for non-paying users (me). Such feature is the only reason to use Gmail.app. The only reason. Some of the Gmail.app flaws:

Horrible UIX (includes icons, fonts, and associated resources)
Uses Google’s “material design,” which does not match the rest of the iDevices design
Lack “all inboxes” view, so one most open each account — if multiple accounts — looking for new emails
Lack “delete” on email swipe
Weird, non-standard, inconsistent use of colors (red to create new email, blue to delete, etc.)

I have not encountered any bugs, but some people swear there are, and although their client on Android is slighter better, their UIX on their own mobile OS leaves lots to desire. Amazing that, even after they bought Sparrow¹, they can’t come up with something better!

Google bought Sparrow in 2012. Sparrow was an amazing email client for OS X and iOS, which used a simplified user interface similar of that of Twitter client. ↩︎

The very last of something

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 14 May 2015 14:00:00 +0000

There hasn’t been an article like this for a while, that fills me with such feeling of sadness, and emptiness. For as long as I can remember, a cartoon I saw as a child started my attraction for rhinoceros. Such lovely animals!

And now, the one pictured above (CB2/ZOB/Brent Stirton/National Geographic) is the last of his kind. Who do we have to thank for that? Us. On a comment to the article, a poster under a “Gordo Granudo” pseudonym writes:

If you teach people that there are magical forces in the world, that general framework of belief will metastasize into the most repugnant superstitions imaginable.

When you believe in magic or lords or gods or wizards or spirits or spooks, then consequences of the natural world become decoupled from reality as anything can always be rationalized in some supernatural context: “… well, it must be god’s will after all …”

The fact we will all live to see the extinction of a creature as noble as this can be traced back to one, single failing in our collective human condition; superstitious ignorance. Don’t teach your children of Easter bunnies and tooth fairies. Teach them of the even more immensely magical world of giraffes and the things that can be seen in a microscope. Teach them not of the supernatural “magic” of miracles, but the real magic of science. Teach them of human history, not 2000 year old fairy tales. This rhino? This is the consequence laid most bare of the ugliest manifestation of human superstition. Perhaps it isn’t as profound as all the human suffering caused by wars, motivated by precisely the same intellectual failings, but it stands as the starkest possible reminder that we as a species have, within our power, the ability to manage our world, or destroy it through ignorance.

It could not have been said better.

How to beat a polygraph test

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 03 May 2015 14:00:00 +0000

“He used to advise trainees to clench their anus but has since concluded that terrifying mental imagery works better.”

When you get a control question, which is more general, envision the scariest thing you can in order to trigger physiological distress; the polygraph’s tubes around your chest measure breathing, the arm cuff monitors heart rate and electrodes attached to you fingertips detect perspiration. What is your greatest fear? Falling? Drowning? Being buried alive? “Picture that,” Williams says.

— How to Beat a Polygraph Test, by Malia Wollan.

Short but interesting read. Reading so much from the NY Times lately, I am seriously considering a subscription.

iCloud mess

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 02 May 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Having lost many photos of certain sentimental value a few years ago has made me paranoid. Ever since I lost my child’s first four years of photographic memory I have kept copies of our family photos and videos in two different places. I keep a copy of photos and videos in our Synology NAS at home, which backup photos to Amazon S3 and videos to Glacier.

When Apple announced their iCloud plans, and the ability to keep my entire photo library on the cloud, I was one of the first to sign up. After the release of 10.10.3 I decided to try it again. What could be better than having every photo show on all my Apple devices? Little did I know I was about to embark in a wasting time journey. First struggle was importing my 80 GB photo archive into Photos.app, so it could be synchronized with iCloud. At the end of what it was a very long time, I was told that a little bit over 1,000 of my photos — out of 26,000+ — could not be imported because the file format was not recognized. They were all JPEG. Since I had no way to just re-import those that failed, I decided to re-import all again, trusting that existing ones would either be overwritten or simply not imported, since they were already there. I was wrong.

Following the second import, which ended without failing, I realized many photos were repeated. Not once, but some had quadruple copies. The ultimate nightmare had happened. After having taking painstakingly care keeping my archives de-duplicated the worse was in sight. The 26,000+ photo archive became 29,000+. All of it on iCloud, and without a fix at hand.

Now, the above was not the only problem. Even if you choose to download an optimized version of your photos on your very small sized iDevices, when you have over 80 GB worth of photos on iCloud it will overflow them, which is precisely what happened to me next. My 16 GB iPhone 5S was left completely full, so were my iPads. There is no way to do a selective synchronization with iCloud, and there is no way to disable iCloud Photo Library on an iPhone in such way one can still upload my photos to iCloud (up), but not synchronize them all (down). At least, I could not figured that out — please if someone knows a way, correct me, and let me know.

I ended up canceling my 200 GB a month iCloud storage — which I was charged for — and deleting my entire iCloud Photo Library. Instead, I increased my Google storage quota. I still keep a copy on my NAS, which backs them up to S3 and Glacier, plus synchronizes them with Google Photos. Photos on Google Photos (part of Google Plus) will soon show up on Google Drive as well, which in turn I will be able to synchronize with my iMacs.

For the time being, I will not touch Apple iCloud for big data storage until they have proven to have reached maturity.

Finding little to talk about

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 14:00:00 +0000

The main problem with Jekyll is that is out of the way. Unlike other weblog engines, which are managed via the web, I come to the shell to type and process this. Perhaps I need to research a better workflow?

I am finding little to talk about lately, and that is keeping things here rather quiet. It is not only that I do not have much to write, but that when the desire arrives it gets lost in translation, mostly because of the way I have decided to handle this little space of mine. The short burts of thoughts are almost tweet alike, but over 140 characters. Twitter then, sometimes, doesn’t cut it.

Instead of simply abruptly stopping, I will say that I am pausing. Pausing until something comes along.

Happy 2015!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 14:00:00 +0000

Here we go again. Not complaining, as there is nothing to complain about. Just another year. It seems 2014 flew by quite fast, will you agree? Nevertheless, happy 2015 everyone!

iCloud Drive on standby

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 13 Nov 2014 14:00:00 +0000

When Apple announced the iCloud Drive integration in Yosemite, I got really excited. As I was already part of the “Apple ecosystem” (iPhone, iPad, iMac), the iCloud Drive availability in all, specially on the desktop, seemed like the culmination of all my dreams: a Cloud to rule them all. I ordered the 200 GB for $4 a month right away.

As it turns out with products in infancy, the iCloud Drive is no yet mature. My single complain, but a very important one, is the lack of selective synchronization. The absence of such feature kills the product for my intended use completely, and so I will wait until it is added. Back to the free, 5 GB plan.

Where are you from?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 14:00:00 +0000

In the States, looking different and/or having an accent will get you asked “Where are you from?” It doesn’t fail, it happens all the time.

Why are we so concerned about knowing someone’s country of origin? What difference does it make? If anything, it might be a knowledge we do not want to have. Knowing from where someone is from might spark stereotypical comments and behaviors that would jeopardize an otherwise perfect encounter.

“I know these questions often come from well meaning places, but sometimes I wish we could just get rid of them entirely, much like the racial identifier question on job and school applications.”

— My least favourite question: where are you from?

Where am I from? No where, I have no place to call home. Earth, perhaps? Or simply American. That should do it.

On braces

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 14:00:00 +0000

This is mainly for our records. Today Kent got his braces on, and thus it begins a few months of uncomfortable chewing, special diet, fastidious brushing and everything else that comes with braces.

Now I must go to sell some blood, and place one of my kidneys for sale on the black market.

Microsoft and global cybercrime

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 14:00:00 +0000

From The Official Microsoft Blog:

On June 19, Microsoft filed for an ex parte temporary restraining order (TRO) from the U.S. District Court for Nevada against No-IP. On June 26, the court granted our request and made Microsoft the DNS authority for the company’s 23 free No-IP domains, allowing us to identify and route all known bad traffic to the Microsoft sinkhole and classify the identified threats.

Microsoft granted rights to take control of another business’ DNS, to “identify and route” bad traffic? This doesn’t sound right, no matter how much I hate malware.

Moved to a Droplet

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 29 Jun 2014 14:00:00 +0000

Having wished for a while to run this little site on SSL —as well as having the freedom to do more things— which GitHub does not allow, I have finally decided to move to a virtual server of my own. At $5 a month per droplet, DigitalOcean was the provider of choice.

DigitalOcean droplets web interface is very clean, simple, responsive and functional. Spawning the server took 54 seconds, and configuring nginx took 15 minutes, SSL included. I ordered and received my SSL certificate while quickly configuring nginx; kudos to Namecheap and Comodo for a speedy service.

Cloud backup

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 28 Jun 2014 14:00:00 +0000

I have a NAS at home, a Synology DS411J, which we use for backups, and to keep our family photos and videos. It works great, no complains here, but I am looking to keep an outside backup. A backup in the cloud, to be precise.

The choices are:

I used to have Arqbackup, but it became unreliable, and I never liked the way it stored the files on AWS. Sadly I have not been able to find a substitute to automate backups to the cloud. So, the questions are: which cloud storage, and what work-flow to use?

From the ones listed above, I use Google Drive and iCloud already, but their current use is specific. Google Drive holds my everyday files, while iCloud synchronizes all my bookmarks, iCloud keychain, and iDevices documents and photo streams. iCloud is going to change drastically with the next version of OS X and iOS, but yet, what I am looking for is the storage to keep my automated backups.

If you have any suggestions, please drop me an email.

Four-way stop

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 14:00:00 +0000

Drivers in Orlando do not seem to know what to do when they reach a four way stop. It really makes me wonder how were they able to obtain a drivers license without that knowledge, as it is part of Drivers Handbook (search for “Stop Signs” on that page), the test, and occasionally encountered while driving.

For the record, and in case you live in Orlando, and do not know what to do on a four-way stop (also known as all-way stop), these are the basics:

You fully stop, it is a stop sign after all.
First car to the stop sign goes first, after a full stop.
If two or more cars reach the stop sign at the same time, the car to your right goes first.

Simple, right? Don’t fail at it again! I am looking at you, Waterford Lakes!

Cold winter morning small talk

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 14:00:00 +0000

We have 36 Fahrenheit degrees this morning (2.2° Celsius). That is mighty cold for almost-always warm, sunny Florida. I stressed it to my child yesternight: he must wear warm clothes the next day. Reluctantly he said “OK”.

Then comes this morning, and the iMessages exchange look like this:


Child:	“Mama is trying to make me wear an incredibly uncomfortable shirt and is yelling like a siren.”
Me:	“Why? What’s going on?”
Child:	“She wants me to wear an itchy shirt under the jacket. I will be toasting in class.”
Me:	“Calling.”
Child:	“OK.”

I talked to wife, and child. I hope he will be OK, they both be OK. Keeping a calm conversation — even when there is a rush —, and trying to use logic accomplishes more than “yelling like a siren.” 😄

Specialization is for Insects

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 14:00:00 +0000

From Robert Heinlein’s science fiction book, Time Enough for Love:

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

— Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

The Sands of Time

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 14:00:00 +0000

“It is said that some lives are linked across time connected by an ancient calling that echoes through the ages. Destiny.”

— Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

I do not believe on such thing as destiny, but the line above from the movie is certainly touching. The movie itself is quite nice. Last night we watched it for the fourth time.

Happy MMXIV everyone!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 14:00:00 +0000

Now that we have gone around the Sun one more time, we simply start doing it again. We don’t fool ourselves, it is not by choice. And with this new elliptical orbit we walk into age, which will lead, ultimately, to our demise. It is a simple concept.

Leaving the obvious behind, what’s left is to enjoy what we have. To try being nice to others, to the best of our abilities. To go the extra mile to bring the same happiness we want for us to the rest. Not a new year resolution, I don’t have those, just aiming to be better.

Happy MMXIV everyone!

It is all around us

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 29 Dec 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Love. It really is.

“Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there — fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge — they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around.”

Last night I was looking for a movie to watch in both, Netflix and Amazon Video. I wasn’t having much luck, until I came across to this, now veteran, one. I have watched it a few times, but it doesn’t get old, specially around this time. So, even though Christmas is now a recent memory, Love Actually isn’t.

The joy of reading Hemingway

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 27 Dec 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Recently, Kent had the misfortune of picking “A Moveable Feast”, by Ernest Hemingway, for a school assignment. I know I am not the right person¹ to judge anyone’s writing style, I am simply recollecting the comments Kent has made while reading the book.

So far, other than finding the book boring — mind it, he is barely 13 — he is puzzled at the use of French terms that he wonders how would the “everyday” American reader comprehend. Usage of French words such as “quais”, “sérieux”, “génération perdue”, “foie de veau”, “valet de chambre”, “fritures”, etc. throw him off, and make reading and overall comprehending difficult. But what has amused him the most is the way Hemingway writes some sentences, very long, and with a pronounced used of the word “and.” For example (emphasis mine):

“I knew several of the men who fished the fruitful parts of the Seine between the Île St.-Louis and the Place du Verte Galente and sometimes, if the day was bright, I would buy a liter of wine and a piece of bread and some sausage and sit in the sun and read one of the books I had bought and watch the fishing.”

Excerpt from: Ernest Hemingway, “A Moveable Feast”, iBooks.

Now, isn’t that amazing? Not only the sentence’s length, but the “ands!” The book has many more sentences like this, a one paragraph sentence. Anyway, I cannot tell you how sorry he is for picking this book.

My grammar and writing “style” are utter rubbish. ↩︎

Films to watch during Christmas

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Christmas is not the same without watching certain films. The ones that are always a must for me are “National Lampoon’s European Vacation” and “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”. As I type this I am getting ready to watch them both. Those are the ones to laugh to tears and have fun. The other favourite one –please don’t hate me– is “The Sound of Music.” There is something about it that just does it for me.

“The hills are alive, with the sound of music!”

Funnily enough, Clark and family make fun of this one on “National Lampoon’s European Vacation.”

It is Christmas day

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 14:00:00 +0000

One of the many things to look forward to each year is, of course, the end of year holidays. Christmas, Festivus, or whatever you call it, the end of December is always a special time. My only complain, and that might be yours too, is that it comes and goes so fast! Kent has finished opening his presents, and somehow it feels “it is all over.” But we waited the whole year for this! We stayed up late wrapping gifts, gifts that are now open, and the “magic” gone. It should not be.

I know it is in our minds. The holidays and all. Why can’t we make it so it feels like now, the whole year round? What will it take?

T-Mobile and the iPad

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 14:00:00 +0000

I am not sure about the other mobile telephony providers, but this morning I went to T-Mobile with the intention of buying an iPad mini. They had only the dark colour in stock, and on 32GB capacity—I was wanting a 16GB. The transaction was almost finished, when I was asked for a telephone number. After stating that I just wanted the iPad, no connection, I was told they could only sell it, if it was with a mobile data plan. Business was lost.

Why? If I am buying an iPad, with a cellular radio set for T-Mobile frequencies, why to enforce activation right on the spot? It is absurd. The Apple Store¹, on the other hand, had plenty in all colours, all capacities and no other attachments.

I need to add, the Apple Store at Millenia Mall was packed to the point I could barely walk. Apple is selling a lot this holiday season! ↩︎

A Christmas tree small story

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Last year we had a plastic Christmas tree. Wife was not happy. This year she wanted a real one, so this morning the child and I went on the quest of getting it. Most families in the States will get a Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving, but I am used to get it the day before Christmas. Of course, if I wait for that day there will be none left. So it is today, or never¹.

We purchased one, which is already soaking in water. The main reason that brought me here to write this is because I felt sad purchasing the tree. I was telling Kent that I would rather use a tree for something more useful. I feel sad for a tree that is killed to serve a very short lived purpose. But, in retrospect, I thought too that this one we have got lucky. It would have been worse if no one would have bought it. Then it really would have been killed for no reason other than to be disposed; cut and disposed, nothing else. Now, that is really sad.

As it was, very few trees were left for purchase. Yet, we got a decent one, for half the price. I guess it was worth the wait! ↩︎

Chuck Lorre Productions, 373

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 14:00:00 +0000

At the end of each episode of “The Big Bang Theory” there is always something witty printed, that passes by so fast you can not read it. Today I saw, and remembered, “… the prophet did not answer right away ….” I looked it up, and this came up.

The Prophet

A young woman stepped forward from the throng and asked, “0’ great prophet, tell us how we might find love that is unconditional, unwavering and unending.” The prophet did not answer right away. He looked off into the distance, gathering his thoughts. Silence descended upon the crowd. Then he turned his gaze upon the young woman and said, “Get a dog.”

This and other “vanity cards” at Chuck Lorre Productions.

Hello world, or hello again!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 21 Dec 2013 14:00:00 +0000

This is the first post. It seems I have started writing occasionally again. I still conserve the old posts, from the previous weblog. Not sure many of them were worth of keeping, but I might browse through them and pick one or two to bring back here.

This time I will keep this simple. Well, as simple as a person with slight OCD can keep it. I promise, I think. This little site is generated by Jekyll and hosted on GitHub. They are both great!

Create files on GitHub

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:00:00 +0000

There is a new feautre on GitHub, and this one allows you to create files directly from the web interface. This is very handy, for those of us running Jekyll.

This is my first test of the feature, I had to try it right away. Only wishing now to have a friendlier Markdown/kramdown editor. But it’s a start. I like it!

Sprint crookery

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:00:00 +0000

I am not happy with Sprint, I think it is a bad company. That, of course, is my opinion.

I left them and took the hit of the early termination fee (ETF) because their service in my area was, and is, not usable. Even though I had documented the many times I called for not having reception, not able to make calls, and their “unlimited” data plan been unusable, I paid the ETF and decided to move on.

What I wasn’t counting on was the taxes they, or my local government, charged me. They charged me taxes on an early termination fee! What a bunch of thieves! I think it is crooked, shady, and dishonest, whether it is Sprint (pocketing the money), or the local government.

I am never going back to them. I would rather not use a telephone, if it comes to it, than using Sprint.

Morale

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Last week I wrote about Kent’s Spelling Bee, and how preparing for it was hard for him and I.

Well, the Bee came and went, and I forgot to come back to post the results. He misspelled “morale” (he spelled it as “moral”) and finished in 4th place—for me, it doesn’t make sense, as I have always considered first, second and third place relevant, but fourth?—, which still qualified him to go to the State competition. That, of course, means more practice and hence more pain.

“You don’t want soup? — I’ll give you three cups!”

Spelling bee

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 14:00:00 +0000

As a foreigner, trying to go over a Spelling Bee word list with my kid is nothing less than a challenge. For the both of us. First, there are the words I have never seeing; those I can’t pronounce. Second, there are the words I will mispronounce. And third, there are the ones I don’t know what they mean.

If you add to that the fact that the kid is learning them, hence bound to make many mistakes… well, yes, a challenge, to put it mildly. It gives me a headache. I will be glad when is over. 26 October can’t come fast enough.

On the meaning of life

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Will Durant sent a letter to a few notable figures, asking them for the meaning of life.

Spare me a moment to tell me what meaning life has for you, what keeps you going, what help—if any—religion gives you, what are the sources of your inspiration and your energy, what is the goal or motive-force of your toil, where you find your consolations and your happiness, where, in the last resort, your treasure lies. Write briefly if you must; write at length and at leisure if you possibly can; for every word from you will be precious to me.

Among others, H. L. Mencken replied:

Dear Durant

You ask me, in brief, what satisfaction I get out of life, and why I go on working. I go on working for the same reason that a hen goes on laying eggs. There is in every living creature an obscure but powerful impulse to active functioning. Life demands to be lived. Inaction, save as a measure of recuperation between bursts of activity, is painful and dangerous to the healthy organism—in fact, it is almost impossible. Only the dying can be really idle.

The precise form of an individual’s activity is determined, of course, by the equipment with which he came into the world. In other words, it is determined by his heredity. I do not lay eggs, as a hen does, because I was born without any equipment for it. For the same reason I do not get myself elected to Congress, or play the violoncello, or teach metaphysics in a college, or work in a steel mill. What I do is simply what lies easiest to my hand. It happens that I was born with an intense and insatiable interest in ideas, and thus like to play with them. It happens also that I was born with rather more than the average facility for putting them into words. In consequence, I am a writer and editor, which is to say, a dealer in them and concoctor of them.

There is very little conscious volition in all this. What I do was ordained by the inscrutable fates, not chosen by me. In my boyhood, yielding to a powerful but still subordinate interest in exact facts, I wanted to be a chemist, and at the same time my poor father tried to make me a business man. At other times, like any other realtively poor man, I have longed to make a lot of money by some easy swindle. But I became a writer all the same, and shall remain one until the end of the chapter, just as a cow goes on giving milk all her life, even though what appears to be her self-interest urges her to give gin.

I am far luckier than most men, for I have been able since boyhood to make a good living doing precisely what I have wanted to do—what I would have done for nothing, and very gladly, if there had been no reward for it. Not many men, I believe, are so fortunate. Millions of them have to make their livings at tasks which really do not interest them. As for me, I have had an extraordinarily pleasant life, despite the fact that I have had the usual share of woes. For in the midst of these woes I still enjoyed the immense satisfaction which goes with free activity. I have done, in the main, exactly what I wanted to do. Its possible effects on other people have interested me very little. I have not written and published to please other people, but to satisfy myself, just as a cow gives milk, not to profit the dairyman, but to satisfy herself. I like to think that most of my ideas have been sound ones, but I really don’t care. The world may take them or leave them. I have had my fun hatching them.

Next to agreeable work as a means of attaining happiness I put what Huxley called the domestic affections—the day to day intercourse with family and friends. My home has seen bitter sorrow, but it has never seen any serious disputes, and it has never seen poverty. I was completely happy with my mother and sister, and I am completely happy with my wife. Most of the men I commonly associate with are friends of very old standing. I have known some of them for more than thirty years. I seldom see anyone, intimately, whom I have known for less than ten years. These friends delight me. I turn to them when work is done with unfailing eagerness. We have the same general tastes, and see the world much alike. Most of them are interestd in music, as I am. It has given me more pleasure in this life than any external thing. I love it more every year.

As for religion, I am quite devoid of it. Never in my adult life have I experienced anything that could be plausibly called a religious impulse. My father and grandfather were agnostics before me, and though I was sent to Sunday-school as a boy and exposed to the Christian theology I was never taught to believe it. My father thought that I should learn what it was, but it apparently never occurred to him that I would accept it. He was a good psychologist. What I got in Sunday-school—beside a wide acquaintance with Christian hymnology—was simply a firm conviction that the Christian faith was full of palpable absurdities, and the Christian God preposterous. Since that time I have read a great deal in theology—perhaps much more than the average clergyman—but I have never discovered any reason to change my mind.

The act of worship, as carried on by Christians, seems to me to be debasing rather than ennobling. It involves grovelling before a Being who, if He really exists, deserves to be denounced instead of respected. I see little evidence in this world of the so-called goodness of God. On the contrary, it seems to me that, on the strength of His daily acts, He must be set down a most cruel, stupid and villainous fellow. I can say this with a clear conscience, for He has treated me very well—in fact, with vast politeness. But I can’t help thinking of his barbaric torture of most of the rest of humanity. I simply can’t imagine revering the God of war and politics, theology and cancer.

I do not believe in immortality, and have no desire for it. The belief in it issues from the puerile egos of inferior men. In its Christian form it is little more than a device for getting revenge upon those who are having a better time on this earth. What the meaning of human life may be I don’t know: I incline to suspect that it has none. All I know about it is that, to me at least, it is very amusing while it lasts. Even its troubles, indeed, can be amusing. Moreover, they tend to foster the human qualities that I admire most—courage and its analogues. The noblest man, I think, is that one who fights God, and triumphs over Him. I have had little of this to do. When I die I shall be content to vanish into nothingness. No show, however good, could conceivably be good for ever.

Sincerely yours,

H. L. Mencken

From Letters of Note.

On AWS S3

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

I have moved from Linode (which I will be canceling soon) to Namecheap DNS management (I have all my domains on Namecheap) and Amazon S3. Transition went well, and painless. It should save me some money.

Nothing wrong with Linode, which I recommend to anyone looking to having their own Virtual Server. Their service rock, and their price is hard to beat. I used their services for a year and totally loved it.

Mi vieja

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

She created me, all my flaws and gifts unintended. She nurtured and guided me through life the best she could, suffering for my mistakes—but always hopeful—and rejoicing on my victories. Always supportive she gave herself to me (and my siblings), selflessly.

After a lifetime mission, her time around here has expired. We knew it would come, but never fully prepared for it. And so we wept, sadness seeping through us. Forget her? Never. Miss her? Forever.

XX January 19XX — 3rd December 2011

Stephen Fry on Steve Jobs

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Stephen Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter, film director and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He is also an awesome human being.

As always there are those who reveal their asininity (as they did throughout his career) with ascriptions like “salesman”, “showman” or the giveaway blunder “triumph of style over substance”. The use of that last phrase, “style over substance” has always been, as Oscar Wilde observed, a marvellous and instant indicator of a fool. For those who perceive a separation between the two have either not lived, thought, read or experienced the world with any degree of insight, imagination or connective intelligence. It may have been Leclerc Buffon who first said “le style c’est l’homme — the style is the man” but it is an observation that anyone with sense had understood centuries before. Only dullards crippled into cretinism by a fear of being thought pretentious could be so dumb as to believe that there is a distinction between design and use, between form and function, between style and substance. If the unprecedented and phenomenal success of Steve Jobs at Apple proves anything it is that those commentators and tech-bloggers and “experts” who sneered at him for producing sleek, shiny, well-designed products or who denigrated the man because he was not an inventor or originator of technology himself missed the point in such a fantastically stupid way that any employer would surely question the purpose of having such people on their payroll, writing for their magazines or indeed making any decisions on which lives, destinies or fortunes depended.

— Stephen Fry on Steve Jobs

The entire article is well worth reading.

Steve P. Jobs, 1955 - 2011

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:00:00 +0000

A great man has passed away. While mourning, we celebrate all he brought to us… his many accomplishments. He will not be forgotten.

February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011

C.E.O. no longer, good bye Steve!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Steve Jobs “resigns” as Apple’s C.E.O.

“I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s C.E.O., I would be the first to let you know,” Mr. Jobs wrote. “Unfortunately, that day has come.”

The world needs more Steve Jobs. He will be missed. Get better Steve!

Non-Social

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Almost over two years ago I left Facebook. A few months ago I left LinkedIn and Twitter. Two weeks ago I left Google+. I also left Groupon (I don’t even know why I ever sign up for that junk!). Next is to leave here. I guess this is my way to pursuit happiness.

As Mark weblog is gone¹ —perhaps step 9 was, “Get rid of the weblog”— I enumerate what he wrote:

Stop buying stuff you don’t need.
Pay off all your credit cards.
Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in your house/apartment (storage lockers, etc.).
Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit on the first floor of your house (attic, garage, etc.).
Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in one room of your house.
Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in a suitcase.
Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in a backpack.
Get rid of the backpack.

See reference on Wikipedia. ↩︎

The ritual of seduction

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 27 May 2011 14:00:00 +0000

“The ritual —considered old-fashioned nowadays by just about everyone under the age of 60— was traditionally a ceremonial, sacred gesture; its history can be traced to ancient Greece and Rome. In the Middle Ages, a vassal paid homage to his lord by kissing his hand. By the 19th century, hand kissing had been reinvented to convey a man’s gallantry and politesse toward a woman. Those men who still practice it today know the rules: never kiss a gloved hand or the hand of a young girl; kiss the hand only of a married woman, and do so only indoors.”

Very interesting article.

Upcoming presidential elections

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 13 May 2011 14:00:00 +0000

I really need to get into politics—as much as I hate it—to prepare for the upcoming presidential elections. I have the feeling that it’s going to be nasty… as always.

What I thought when my plane crashed

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 12 May 2011 14:00:00 +0000

From CNN Opinion, this article, written by Ric Elias I liked. I liked it so much, I decided to keep it here, for when it is not longer available at CNN. As I did with a previous article I kept from the WSJ, if CNN does not likes what I have done, let me know and I will remove it, or adapt it to a compromise. Please do not sue me.

I haven’t had a life changing experience like his, but I truly understand the learnings he gained from it.

Some emphasis mine.

What I thought when my plane crashed

When you start your own company and become your own boss, you think, “Life is good.” When you actually start making money and growing your business, you think, “Life is great.” But when you’re sitting in seat 1D of an airborne plane that’s completely silent because the engines have been shut down, and you hear the pilot say, “Brace for impact,” none of it really matters.

As I sat in the first row of Flight 1549, just moments before it crashed in the Hudson River that day in January 2009, the things that had once seemed so important no longer mattered. I didn’t have to talk to the flight attendant anymore. I could see a very distinct look in her eyes. It was the look of terror. And I was going to die.

It was a true miracle that I didn’t die that day. It was also an experience that changed me forever. It gave me a tremendous appreciation for life and an immense amount of gratitude for the pilot, Chesley Sullenberger, and the people who were sitting next to me. I took many lessons from that flight, three in particular that will shape the rest of my life.

I learned that everything changes in an instant. We all have this bucket list of the things we want to do in life. And I sat there thinking about all the people I wanted to reach out to that I didn’t, all the fences I wanted to mend, all the experiences I wanted to have and never did. So I came up with a new saying for myself: I collect bad wines. Because if the wine is ready and the person is there, I’m opening it. I no longer want to postpone anything in life. And that urgency, that purpose, has changed me —as a husband, as a father, and as a business owner.

The second thing I learned that day—and this was as we cleared the George Washington Bridge, which was by not a lot: I thought, “Wow, I really feel one real regret.” I’ve lived a good life. I’ve learned from my mistakes and I’ve tried to get better at everything I do. But in my humanity, I’ve also allowed my ego to get in. And I regretted the time I wasted on things that didn’t matter.

I thought about my relationship with my wife, with my friends, with people. And as I reflected on that, I decided to eliminate negative energy from my life. Things aren’t perfect, but they’re a lot better. I haven’t had a fight with my wife in two years. It feels great. I no longer try to be right — I choose to be happy.

The third thing he learned, which the article does not mention, is that the only thing that matter in his life is to be with his kids. I too would trade anything to be with mine. You can see his TED appeareance as well.

U.S. credit rating lowered

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 14:00:00 +0000

It seems our credit “worthiness” (and hence our capabilities to acquired loans in the future) has diminished:

S&P maintained its ‘AAA/A-1+’ credit rating on U.S. sovereign debt, saying the nation’s “highly diversified” economy and “effective monetary policies” have helped support growth.

But the ratings agency lowered its outlook for America’s long-term credit rating to “negative” from “stable,” based on the uncertain political debate around the nation’s fiscal problems.

— CNN Money

On this [being in debt up to the head], of course, both parties are to blame. They seem to be more interested on their own political agendas and not on the well being of the country.

Drawing a blank, again

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Drawing a blank.

Lost in a search of identity, on a broader scale
Consumed by the unknowns
Overflowed by love; furious for not knowing why
Feeling I am missing something
Moving towards the end

Drawing a blank.

Find what you love

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Steve Jobs commencement address at Stanford University, in 2005:

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

and,

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

The whole text is very nice, a good read and (for now) timeless.

Many changes coming soon

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Just very recently I wrote about me moving to Jekyll from WordPress:

After much thought, and tinkering, I decided to ditch my six year old or so WordPress and start blogging like a hacker with the awesome Jekyll.

I also wrote —fairly recently— about living on a Linode:

Moved to Linode. Love it, highly recommend it. They reward customers that bring referrals, but notice my links do not have any referral code. That much I like their product.

Now, not even two months after, I need to publicly admit:

Jekyll isn’t good. I hate it! I am going back to WordPress.
Linode is horrible. I have decided instead to host with Godaddy.

And that’s that.

Note

This was written on April 1st. April Fools’, that is.

Science Fair 1st place

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Kent did it again (and we are so happy and proud of him!). The last time he brought home an award was for being on Principal’s list. This time he has gotten first place on Elementary School Science Fair. His project was “How is Electricity produced?

Off topic, we need a new camera to replace our aged PowerShot (Canon PowerShot A640). Any tips?

Japan earthquake and tsunami

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Japan’s destruction due to the recent earthquake and tsunami is unbelievable. It is more than heartbreaking. Google has setup a page (Google’s Japan Earthquake Crisis Response) with informational links, one of them being one to donate through the Red Cross Japan. Around the clock information from the BBC is also available.

A small donation can go a long way. I have donated, and you can too. Please help by donating (Google’s Japan Earthquake Crisis Response) today!

St. Augustine

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Yesterday I went with Kent and classmates to St. Augustine, the oldest continuously occupied European established city and port in the continental United States.

It was a great trip, we learned a lot, we saw a lot, it was cold, we came home tired. We will return… one day. The end.

Ricky Gervais - Why I'm an atheist

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:00:00 +0000

This is an article written by Ricky Gervais, for The Wall Street Journal back in 2010.

Reproduced entirely here, as SpeakEasy seems not to be keep articles around long enough. If WSJ does not like what I have done, let me know and I will remove it, or adapt it to a compromise. Please do not sue me.

Some emphasis mine.

Ricky Gervais: Why I’m an Atheist

Why don’t you believe in God? I get that question all the time. I always try to give a sensitive, reasoned answer. This is usually awkward, time consuming and pointless. People who believe in God don’t need proof of his existence, and they certainly don’t want evidence to the contrary. They are happy with their belief. They even say things like “it’s true to me” and “it’s faith.” I still give my logical answer because I feel that not being honest would be patronizing and impolite. It is ironic therefore that “I don’t believe in God because there is absolutely no scientific evidence for his existence and from what I’ve heard the very definition is a logical impossibility in this known universe,” comes across as both patronizing and impolite.

Arrogance is another accusation. Which seems particularly unfair. Science seeks the truth. And it does not discriminate. For better or worse it finds things out. Science is humble. It knows what it knows and it knows what it doesn’t know. It bases its conclusions and beliefs on hard evidence — evidence that is constantly updated and upgraded. It doesn’t get offended when new facts come along. It embraces the body of knowledge. It doesn’t hold on to medieval practices because they are tradition. If it did, you wouldn’t get a shot of penicillin, you’d pop a leach down your trousers and pray. Whatever you “believe,” this is not as effective as medicine. Again you can say, “It works for me,” but so do placebos. My point being, I’m saying God doesn’t exist. I’m not saying faith doesn’t exist. I know faith exists. I see it all the time. But believing in something doesn’t make it true. Hoping that something is true doesn’t make it true. The existence of God is not subjective. He either exists or he doesn’t. It’s not a matter of opinion. You can have your own opinions. But you can’t have your own facts.

Why don’t I believe in God? No, no no, why do YOU believe in God? Surely the burden of proof is on the believer. You started all this. If I came up to you and said, “Why don’t you believe I can fly?” You’d say, “Why would I?” I’d reply, “Because it’s a matter of faith.” If I then said, “Prove I can’t fly. Prove I can’t fly see, see, you can’t prove it can you?” You’d probably either walk away, call security or throw me out of the window and shout, “F—ing fly then you lunatic.”

This, is of course a spirituality issue, religion is a different matter. As an atheist, I see nothing “wrong” in believing in a god. I don’t think there is a god, but belief in him does no harm. If it helps you in any way, then that’s fine with me. It’s when belief starts infringing on other people’s rights when it worries me. I would never deny your right to believe in a god. I would just rather you didn’t kill people who believe in a different god, say. Or stone someone to death because your rulebook says their sexuality is immoral. It’s strange that anyone who believes that an all-powerful all-knowing, omniscient power responsible for everything that happens, would also want to judge and punish people for what they are. From what I can gather, pretty much the worst type of person you can be is an atheist. The first four commandments hammer this point home. There is a god, I’m him, no one else is, you’re not as good and don’t forget it. (Don’t murder anyone, doesn’t get a mention till number 6.)

When confronted with anyone who holds my lack of religious faith in such contempt, I say, “It’s the way God made me.”

But what are atheists really being accused of?

The dictionary definition of God is “a supernatural creator and overseer of the universe.” Included in this definition are all deities, goddesses and supernatural beings. Since the beginning of recorded history, which is defined by the invention of writing by the Sumerians around 6,000 years ago, historians have cataloged over 3700 supernatural beings, of which 2870 can be considered deities.

So next time someone tells me they believe in God, I’ll say “Oh which one? Zeus? Hades? Jupiter? Mars? Odin? Thor? Krishna? Vishnu? Ra?.” If they say “Just God. I only believe in the one God,” I’ll point out that they are nearly as atheistic as me. I don’t believe in 2,870 gods, and they don’t believe in 2,869.

I used to believe in God. The Christian one that is.

I loved Jesus. He was my hero. More than pop stars. More than footballers. More than God. God was by definition omnipotent and perfect. Jesus was a man. He had to work at it. He had temptation but defeated sin. He had integrity and courage. But He was my hero because He was kind. And He was kind to everyone. He didn’t bow to peer pressure or tyranny or cruelty. He didn’t care who you were. He loved you. What a guy. I wanted to be just like Him.

One day when I was about 8 years old, I was drawing the crucifixion as part of my Bible studies homework. I loved art too. And nature. I loved how God made all the animals. They were also perfect. Unconditionally beautiful. It was an amazing world.

I lived in a very poor, working-class estate in an urban sprawl called Reading, about 40 miles west of London. My father was a laborer and my mother was a housewife. I was never ashamed of poverty. It was almost noble. Also, everyone I knew was in the same situation, and I had everything I needed. School was free. My clothes were cheap and always clean and ironed. And mum was always cooking. She was cooking the day I was drawing on the cross.

I was sitting at the kitchen table when my brother came home. He was 11 years older than me, so he would have been 19. He was as smart as anyone I knew, but he was too cheeky. He would answer back and get into trouble. I was a good boy. I went to church and believed in God — what a relief for a working-class mother. You see, growing up where I did, mums didn’t hope as high as their kids growing up to be doctors; they just hoped their kids didn’t go to jail. So bring them up believing in God and they’ll be good and law abiding. It’s a perfect system. Well, nearly. 75 percent of Americans are God-fearing Christians; 75 percent of prisoners are God-fearing Christians. 10 percent of Americans are atheists; 0.2 percent of prisoners are atheists.

But anyway, there I was happily drawing my hero when my big brother Bob asked, “Why do you believe in God?” Just a simple question. But my mum panicked. “Bob,” she said in a tone that I knew meant, “Shut up.” Why was that a bad thing to ask? If there was a God and my faith was strong it didn’t matter what people said.

Oh… hang on. There is no God. He knows it, and she knows it deep down. It was as simple as that. I started thinking about it and asking more questions, and within an hour, I was an atheist.

Wow. No God. If mum had lied to me about God, had she also lied to me about Santa? Yes, of course, but who cares? The gifts kept coming. And so did the gifts of my new found atheism. The gifts of truth, science, nature. The real beauty of this world. I learned of evolution — a theory so simple that only England’s greatest genius could have come up with it. Evolution of plants, animals and us — with imagination, free will, love, humor. I no longer needed a reason for my existence, just a reason to live. And imagination, free will, love, humor, fun, music, sports, beer and pizza are all good enough reasons for living.

But living an honest life — for that you need the truth. That’s the other thing I learned that day, that the truth, however shocking or uncomfortable, in the end leads to liberation and dignity.

So what does the question “Why don’t you believe in God?” really mean. I think when someone asks that they are really questioning their own belief. In a way they are asking “what makes you so special?” “How come you weren’t brainwashed with the rest of us?” “How dare you say I’m a fool and I’m not going to heaven, f— you!” Let’s be honest, if one person believed in God he would be considered pretty strange. But because it’s a very popular view it’s accepted. And why is it such a popular view? That’s obvious. It’s an attractive proposition. Believe in me and live forever. Again if it was just a case of spirituality this would be fine.

“It all comes down to respect. Forcing everyone to love everyone is impossible. But in love, or hate, you can always respect.”

“Do unto others… " is a good rule of thumb. I live by that. Forgiveness is probably the greatest virtue there is. But that’s exactly what it is — a virtue. Not just a Christian virtue. No one owns being good. I’m good. I just don’t believe I’ll be rewarded for it in heaven. My reward is here and now. It’s knowing that I try to do the right thing. That I lived a good life. And that’s where spirituality really lost its way. When it became a stick to beat people with. “Do this or you’ll burn in hell.”

You won’t burn in hell. But be nice anyway.

Happy birthday, viejo!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Not a day goes by without me thinking of my Dad. Today he would have being 92 years old.

I still remember him on his 90th birthday, doing push ups using only three fingers on each hand. I will forever remember the endless stories he used to tell, and his constant smile. He was the best father a son can ask for, an example for many. It hurts so very much not to have him around anymore…!

You are not here anymore, but in our minds you are immortal. Happy Birthday, mi Viejo!

Route 53, wish I could have used you

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Ever since Amazon announced it’s Route 53 service I have been dreaming on using it, but since I dislike to have services too spread out (got Google Apps and Linode now), I held up. Two days ago or so, Amazon announced new features that make hosting static websites—such as this one—on AWS S3 buckets possible. This was it, just what I have been waiting for!

Promptly I set off to migrate one of my domains over Route 53. New buckets were created on my S3, to accommodate the new websites. Started to create all needed entries: Google Apps, all old “IN A” were converted to “IN CNAME”. Ready, set! Then it hit me.

Since the rules of DNS forbid CNAMEs¹ at the zone apex, you cannot set domain.tld (a “naked” domain) to also be a CNAME for your Amazon web enabled bucket. You need an “IN A”, an IP for that, which Amazon doesn’t provide on S3. Bummer!

Too bad, so sad. Reversed everything. As we were!

If a CNAME RR is present at a node, no other data should be present; this ensures that the data for a canonical name and its aliases cannot be different. ↩︎

Forget Hyde, moved to Jekyll!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:00:00 +0000

After much thought, and tinkering, I decided to ditch my six year old or so WordPress and start blogging like a hacker with the awesome Jekyll.

I am still getting a few things in place, like making sure all entries are properly converted to markdown, but overall I am liking this. A lot. I do not longer need MySQL, nor PHP. It is a no sweat setup! Some might say, back to basics. Yup.

Anyway, let me know if you find anything broken —the video links were broken, now fixed!— and I will tackle it.

Insignificant

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Do you see the pale dot on the dark image above? You don’t see it? Look carefully, it is there! That pale dot could be us, Earth; but you pick: Solar System, Milky Way, it doesn’t matter. We are that insignificant because of the vastness of the universe we live in. And vastness is an understatement. After all, the universe is infinite.

We might try to explain what is at our noses, but that “what” will always be too insignificant to mean anything more than what is immediate. That is why I shake my head and laugh when I read things like this:

“We’ve gone back through 96 percent of the life of the universe, to when the universe was only 4 percent of its current age, through 500 million years after the Big Bang […]”

— Garth Illingworth of the University of California

A good day

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

There is nothing sweeter than waking up and hear your kid say “Have a good day Papá. Good bye!” It made my day. Thank you, Super Duper!

Living on a Linode

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

TL;DR.

Moved to Linode. Love it, highly recommend it. They reward customers that bring referrals, but notice my links do not have any referral code. That much I like their product.

All my domains have resided on a ServerBeach dedicated server for over six years now. I have tried to find something else before (cheaper, price wise), but I always stayed on ServerBeach, as they have always been reliable, with fast connections.

The server that until recently hosted my domains has long been at the end of life, and the reason it was never replaced was because the alternative, on a comparable hardware, was more expensive. Yes, my EOL server was “grandfathered.” So I went off to research and find my domains a new home, and after a couple of months I decided to pick a virtual machine from Linode, a virtual server (Xen) provider. I had had my Linode for about a week now, and I could not be happier.

Unlike many other virtual server providers, Linode allows you to boot a very small Linux distribution (they have a list of the supported ones on their website) that you can then use to build upon, adding only the bits and pieces that interests you. Their management utility —Linode Manager— is quite simple, yet powerful and organized. It allows for all management (including recovery) of your Linode. You can also pick the geographical location of your Linode.

The Brotherhood

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Recently I got the PS3 game “Assassin Creed Brotherhood” for my birthday and it has being very fun. My dad got me the Harlequin code, and playing him is very fun as well. I have already gotten the armor of Brutus, the very best on the game. Needless is to say, I already finished the game, but am still “renovating” things.

— Kent

Unknown Unknowns

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

It is all about the unknown unknowns, of course!

“There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”

— Donald Rumsfeld, DoD News briefing.

Steal everything

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: ‘It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.’”

— Jim Jarmusch, Golden rule of Filming #5

A Christmas tree

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 14:00:00 +0000

After a small, but heated battle, on whether or not to buy a real tree for Christmas (Kent and I said no, Kim said yes), Kent and Alyssa are now decorating a Fraser pine tree. I am sure you guessed who won.

Mi viejo

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:00:00 +0000

A steady, yet gentle, rain was falling over Miami on the night of 24th November 2010. Some say rain are tears from the sky. I was crying as well. On 24th November my father died.

Those who have lost an infinitely dear one will understand how I feel. Not only did I lose the best father a son could have, I lost a lifetime friend, a restless protector, a confidant. The many memories that I have of him continue to bring tears. It hurts so much!

This entry is just another way I have to bring homage to him. My memories of him will one day die with me; until then I will never, ever, forget him.

XX February 19XX – 24th November 2010

Dragons can be killed

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 14:00:00 +0000

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

— G. K. Chesterton

“By confining your child to blameless stories of child life in which nothing at all alarming ever happened, you would fail to banish the terrors, and would succeed in banishing all that can ennoble them or make them endurable. For in the fairy tales, side by side with the terrible figures, we find the immemorial comforters and protectors, the radiant ones; and the terrible figures are not merely terrible, but sublime. It would be nice if no little boy in bed, hearing or thinking he hears, a sound, were ever at all frightened. But if he is going to be frightened, I think it better that he should think of giants and dragons than merely of burglars. And I think St. George, or any bright champion in armour, is a better comfort than the idea of police. — C.S. Lewis "

So really, these “dragons” are the bad things in life, and children know that bad things can happen, but what stories envisage are that these “dragons” (bad things) can be ‘killed’ (sorted out, or removed from our lives).

Thank you, Gemma Wilson (grumbleduck).

Viva Spain!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Woohoo! Spain, Champions of Europe and now Champions of the World! What an amazing match! So excited! Now I can’t hardly wait until the next World Cup! :-) Viva España! Viva España!

The Unthinkable

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Yesterday I did the unthinkable. Something I have never done — nor will I do again — before. I went very early (03:15) to stand at the Millenia all, to be one of the first (or so I thought) to buy the iPhone 4.

I don’t want to write long about something I am more than half way ashamed of. Suffice it to say that I got an iPhone 4 after standing in line for 14 hours (17:15). Never again.

The photo above was taken by George, around 11:30, not even half way my day there. Did I say never again?

A month

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:00:00 +0000

It has been a month since our Jean passed away. Times flies, yet it seems like it was yesterday. Nor a day has passed by without coming to mind, one way or another. We miss her like we did the first day. I truly dislike Warcraft, but I am keeping her toons alive, and advancing. Somehow playing something she dedicated so much time on, where she had so many good friends, gives me the feeling she still lives. Quiet mornings, though, speak otherwise.

Back from vacations

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 14:00:00 +0000

We are back from vacations. It was a great one, but at the end we agreed that there is no place like home, for many reasons. They are mostly minor things, to which we have grown accustom to, but that combined make the type of life we live. I might detail some of those little things later.

A few posts will be due, to narrate some relevant things from the trip: Iberia and our misplaced luggages (and their English/Spanish phones lines), Hertz and our lemon like rental car, speed limits, Aix-en-Provence hotel, and the high cost of everything. I want to document a few things with photos, so, well, it might take a while. Oh, we also lost a day worth of photos (the ones on Aix-en-Provence), thanks to a brand new Transcend class 6 memory card gone bad.

We went to Barcelona, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Perpignan, Aix-en-Provence, Nice, Monaco, and Monte-Carlo. All and all, as I said, a great vacation. Now, we are glad to be back!

Kent on Principal's List

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Kent’s school Awards Ceremony was today. I did not take a picture there, but filmed a bit. The photo above was taken afterwards, at home. He was so happy –and I so proud of him!– to receive the trophy for being the whole third academic year on the Principal’s List (straight A in all subjects).

I am lucky I got him to smile too!

R.I.P. Dixie J. McCoy

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Our Dixie died in her sleep, on May 23rd, 2010. Her death brought sorrow, and she is greatly missed each day. We will never forget her sweetness, kindness, good advise… Her gentle smile will live in our memories.

Rest in peace Maxie Bizzenscooter, Astlyr, Thorir, kitty, Dixie Jean McCoy. We loved you, we miss you, we will remember you.

Drobo FW800

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 17 May 2010 14:00:00 +0000

A Drobo FW800 (four bays) is all I want for Christmas. I will settle for one without drives, just the enclosure. I will buy the drives later. Slowly. One at a time.

Please Santa. I know Christmas is far away, I am just giving you time. The device will be used mainly for family photos and videos. It is a good use, for a good device. Could you… make it so?

Update 18 May 2010

Not sure if I still want it, based on more than one review and their associated comments.

It's decided

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 05 May 2010 14:00:00 +0000

It’s decided, my next machine will be an Apple computer. Most likely I will end up buying a Mac Mini, although an iMac is also being considered. Now, who wants a (still under warranty) DELL XPS 630i? It is a Q6600 (quad), with 4GB RAM, 500GB HD, and NVIDIA 9800GT. Comes with Windows 7 Ultimate. Nice machine!

Note: Someone contacted me, but the email went to spam, and got deleted. Try again please, I have whitelisted the contact form address. Sorry!

Bright House saga

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 02 May 2010 14:00:00 +0000

In two occasions I have written about Bright House service, or the lack of. Ever since my last entry, many issues aroused, but I never came here to document them.

What where those issues?

They vary, and cover a wide range. So many Bright House technicians has passed by my house, I lost count. The proverbial “how many technicians do Bright House needs…” comes to mind. Issues:

Black out screens, with “Please wait.”
Channels with messages stating we are not subscribed (and we are). One channel, or all.
Channels freezing, having couple of seconds blackouts, and/or couple of seconds of no audio.
Channel guide crashing, and freezing.
Channel guide becoming sluggish, taking many second to show/hide, or change channels.
Loosing Internet connection from seconds, to minutes; randomly, few times a day.
Loosing Internet connection and the only way of getting it back is by turning off/on the cable modem.
Internet coming to a halt, with all websites, even including the own Bright House.

As you can see, there are many issues. Technicians come, perform their tests and measures, everything checks out and they leave. Nothing gets resolved. On their behalf, their customer service is superb. They follow up, and the keep sending technicians over and over. They are nice, and professional. But the service I am expecting? The cable and Internet service? Stinks. What’s more worrisome, they seem not to know what they are doing, as no one has been able to figure out our problem. Honestly, how many more technicians will they to send? By now I almost know them all.

They have no competition in my area. There is no one else offering cable service, other than satellite video companies. In my area, they have a monopoly, I have no other choice. If there were competition, they would either fix their issues, or lose customers. I know they would have lose me long ago.

Video quality while on 3G

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 01 May 2010 14:00:00 +0000

The same day I got the iPad 3G, I noticed a very contrasting video quality while using Wi-Fi and while using 3G. Videos watched on Youtube would have HD quality (Wi-Fi); same videos, while on 3G, would show horribly. Yet, videos on Apple, while on 3G or Wi-Fi, would show perfectly. All that whether using the app or the web browser, tested both.

Is it Youtube serving a very low quality video to 3G users? Is it AT&T doing it? Is it something built-in on iOS?

iPad 3G status

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:00:00 +0000

It seems that it will be here tomorrow before, or around 3:00PM after all. Just when I was starting to lose my faith… So happy!

Thoughts on Flash

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Steve Jobs shared with us this month his thoughts on Flash:

“Flash was created during the PC era —for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards —all areas where Flash falls short.

The avalanche of media outlets offering their content for Apple’s mobile devices demonstrates that Flash is no longer necessary to watch video or consume any kind of web content. And the 200,000 apps on Apple’s App Store proves that Flash isn’t necessary for tens of thousands of developers to create graphically rich applications, including games.

New open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win on mobile devices and PCs too. Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.” — Thoughts on Flash

I truly love how the whole thing is written in a way, even my grandmother would understand. Well done Steve!

Don't talk to aliens

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:00:00 +0000

“We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach.”

[…]

“If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.”

— Stephen Hawking

Isn’t this old? I remember many science fiction movies and series covering this topic exactly as he is describing it. Perhaps Mr. Hawking is a Science Fiction fan too? I guess it is not what’s being said, but who says it.

Paradox of the Active User

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:00:00 +0000

The “paradox of the active user” is a concept introduced by John M. Carroll and Mary Beth Rosson (then at IBM, now at Penn State) to explain a common observation in several user studies done at the IBM User Interface Institute in the early 1980s (later confirmed by many other studies, including my own): Users never read manuals but start using the software immediately. They are motivated to get started and to get their immediate task done: they don’t care about the system as such and don’t want to spend time up front on getting established, set up, or going through learning packages.

The “paradox of the active user” is a paradox because users would save time in the long term by taking some initial time to optimize the system and learn more about it. But that’s not how people behave in the real world, so we cannot allow engineers to build products for an idealized rational user when real humans are irrational: we must design for the way users actually behave.

— Jakob Nielsen

I think we will all agree that certain Cupertino based company knows this quite well. And they act accordingly.

The wheels of justice

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:00:00 +0000

I thought twice before coming here and write two or three sentences. But sometimes two or three sentences is all you have. I had to do it: Apple Inc., you rock!

If you want to be a “journalist”, act as one. As Powazek wrote in a tweet, “Real journalists don’t buy stolen property.”

Clan of the Cave Bear

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Just saw the Clan of the Cave Bear movie, for the first time, on it’s entirety. Great movie. Touching; got me a knot on the throat in more than one occasion. I think it is a sad movie, and brought up many memories. Sometimes movies, like music, have that effect. Sometimes it is just us, and how our mind works.

Weekend starts

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 14:00:00 +0000

The weekend has started. It really started yesterday’s afternoon, but who is keeping tabs? The fact is, it is here and thus it brings a dilemma. If I do nothing—which is impossible if you have a kid—the weekend will fly by. On the other hand, if I get busy—and I will—it will fly by as well.

There are little things in life that keeps you, in a short term, looking forward to a near future. Of course there are others that makes you want to stop time, so that near future will not come. For now, I look forward to getting the iPad, next week. In a way, I want time to fly. But I also want the weekend to never end. Can’t have it all, right?

Breakfast at 10:00AM sounds right.

Glad I am not in North Korea

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:00:00 +0000

From the Wall Street Journal:

North Korea said on Monday it would issue new won currency this week that would in effect lop two zeros off the old —requiring 1,000-won bills, for example, to be exchanged for 10-won notes with, theoretically, the same buying power.

It said it would limit the amount of old currency it would accept in exchange, to the equivalent of about $40 worth at unofficial exchange rates.

— Wall Street Journal

Only $40 worth! Oh boy…

Host hunting

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:00:00 +0000

I had had all my websites —this one, and many other test ones, etc—, plus my self-managed DNS on ServerBeach (now part of Peer1) for a very long time. They all reside on a dedicated server, which has, sadly, reached it’s end of life (EOL).

Although I can keep it as it is, doing so represents a liability problem, as I will be out of luck, should it decide to fail. The problem is, ServerBeach isn’t offering anything right now similar to the server I have, for the amount of money I pay. Hence the dilemma. I need to find a host. One that allows/has:

Multiple domains hosting
Multiple MySQL databases
Complete control of my own DNS
Ability to compile my own applications and run my own servers (persistent processes)
Good uptime, enough bandwidth not to have to pay for extra
One that doesn’t oversells
Decently priced

Any recommendations, please?

Bookmarklets I use

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:00:00 +0000

These are some of the general bookmarklets I use. I have them synchronized with Chrome and Google Docs, but I am listing them here in case I want to share them with someone else, like you (yes, you there, reading this now). Here there go:

More will be added as I find the need for something else. If you know of any handy bookmarklets, let me know. To use the bookmarklets above, drag and drop them to your bookmarks bar.

Use Google Checkout

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:00:00 +0000

I was going to write a longer note on Paypal and eBay, but after some time to cool down I do not think it is worth it. Instead I am going to recommend, wholeheartedly, the use of Google Checkout for all your payments and shopping needs. Really, once again Google did not let me down and transformed an otherwise nightmare into a pleasant auctioning/shopping dream.

If you must use eBay, find a way to use Google Checkout with it. You will thank me for it.

The Hero

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +0000

I am in love with the HTC Hero. I do not have one… yet, still, when thinking on a mobile device I would love to have, the Hero is what comes to mind. And what better song to keep my hopes alive than “Holding out for a Hero”, by Bonnie Tyler? So, here it goes!

Edited: Song removed. Did not wanted to get sued for hosting a sound track which copyright might forbid wide audience availability.

Can you feel it?! (smile)

Selling iPhone

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +0000

In an effort to start saving money towards an Android based device (would love HTC Hero), I am selling my 2G 16GB iPhone. As the eBay listing reads, it is a very well kept, 2G 16GB iPhone, unlocked and jailbroken. No scratches, no blemishes. Bid starts at $1, no reserve. Yes, $1.

Bright House follow up

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +0000

You will remember my previous Bright House post. The same day I wrote that, I got a call from a Bright House customer service representative. Since there is no need to know names, let’s call her Christine. I like that name.

Christine told me Bright House was aware I had publicly written about my displeasure with their services, and that her job was to make sure I was completely satisfied. Fair enough. After patiently listening to my long diatribe, and taking notes, she scheduled a technician to come over and take a look. How is that different from any previous iterations, I asked to myself? Well, they contacted me. Maybe this time, just maybe.

The technician arrived, two days later, as agreed. He has to leave early, due to a family emergency, so another appointment is convened for the next day, same time. I have never had problems with Bright House customer service, nor the professionalism of their employees. That has never been the issue.

Next day comes. The technician does a complete check, and replacement. He does new terminations on all cables, inside and outside the house. He replaces my digital, HDMI, cable box. He isolates an old TV –small one– in the house, that is “injecting” signal noise to the rest of the system (the TV was just picked up by the garbage truck this morning), he conducts further tests. All systems a go, OK. Perfect.

Yet, I really would like to have the same competition we have for home phone, for cable TV. As I wrote on my previous post, right now there is none.

Bright House has done the job, and we are happy. How long will it last is yet to be known. It is too soon to say.

Avoid Bright House if you can

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +0000

I live in Central Florida. In my area, if I want cable TV and Internet, I have no choice but to use Bright House services. The competition is satellite TV/Internet and/or DSL (for Internet). Why am I recommending to avoid Bright House, if you can? It is simple: their service is far from being of a good quality and/or reliable. I will elaborate a little.

On cable TV, you get black screens (no video or audio), or “Please wait” screens, constantly and randomly. You call, they send a technician, which normally finds nothing wrong. Yet the problems re-occur. Most of the times, those problems happen often (a second or two of screen black outs, sound out), but at times they last 30 minutes to an hour. Don’t bother trying to call them, their lines are never available when those problems arise. They will ring busy or with problems all the time. No update on cable outages anywhere. They do have Internet “status” information, that gets updated a day after the fact.

Internet connectivity will often crawl or come to a stop. That seems to happen, of course, at the time you need it the most. You can call them, and 99.9% of the time they will only schedule a technician visit, which might or might not fix present and near future problems. Just toss a coin. And there is never a credit for problems, although I would settle for an acknowledgement at least. Finding out through local news the next day that there were problems speaks very little about the company.

If you are in Central Florida, or directly affected by Bright House service (or lack thereof), let me know. I would be curious to know about your “experiences” with them.

Another Facebook rant

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0000

This one will be short, Twitter style… almost. A while ago I wrote about how Facebook has cached my OpenID credentials (wrong ones) and it was refusing to clear them after a few days. Well, twenty five (that is 25) days after, Facebook is still insisting on going to the wrong place, when I enter /bits/ as my OpenID on my “Settings → Account Settings → Linked Accounts → OpenID…”.

Now isn’t that the ultimate imbecility, or what?

September 11th

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0000

We will never forget.

Today, eight years ago, a group of humans, guided by a political agenda, a deep hatred towards the United States, and a mad religious fanaticism slammed airplanes into the World Trade Center, destroying the Twin Towers, damaging other buildings, and killing almost 3,000 people. A second airplane hit The Pentagon, and a third crashed near Pennsylvania after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of it.

Lets us always remember our brothers and sisters who died that day. Let us also remember that human stupidity is infinite, and that we are our worse enemies.

IP migration

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0000

I have a deadline to meet. I must migrate all my servers, and clients to a private IP space. Servers must be done — if at all possible — by September 30th. Clients by October 30th. That is, this year. Problem is, I have never done anything close to it, and there are so many things that need to be done at once, I don’t know where to start.

I have a Linux DNS/DHCP to change (Internet facing one). I have an AD DNS to change (AD, as AD integrated zones. Three servers, actually. All for internal AD use). I have 20 servers to change (file, print, DFS, web multi-homed, etc). There are close to 1000 clients as well, but those, once DHCP is migrated, will just fall in place. But… I also have special areas, like laboratories, for example, that are currently assigned to a specific IP segment (using their MAC).

Thinking where to start.

I tried adding a new IP to the Linux box (the one with DNS/DHCP), to start at a point. It is breaking DNS when I do that. DNS resolution stops as soon as “ifup ifcfg-eth0:0” is issued. I am drawing a blank here, since ifcfg-eth0:0 is simply a copy of ifcfg-eth0, reflecting the other IP, and the DEVICE=eth0:0 instead of DEVICE=eth0. All by the book. How is that causing DNS to malfunction?

I will come back and update, or follow up on a different post. Open to suggestions though.

Update

Changing the name to ifcfg-eth0:1 worked. Was ifcfg-eth0:0 getting confused with eth1 (the second — and disabled — NIC)? I am not sure, but certainly the naming had something to do with it. I never did this on servers with two NIC, and most of the HOWTOs do not take that into consideration.

Facebook and OpenID caching

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0000

When I first read that Facebook was going to allow OpenID logins, I was happy. OpenID means less usernames and passwords to remember. So I merrily went to setup mine, just to find out that their support was exclusively for OpenID version 2.0, and my implementation was 1.1. No graceful fall back, Facebook demands OpenID 2.0. So I decided it was time for me to upgrade my implementation for one capable to handle 1.1 and 2.0.

Of course, the first one I tried I did not like it (and that one worked perfectly with Facebook). I ended up picking up, configuring and using SimpleID. Well, when I went ahead and tried to used it in Facebook, I found out that Facebook wasn’t contacting my delegation anymore. It had stored my OpenID (collantes.us) and match it to the first implementation I tried, the one I did not like, which no longer existed.

Well, I thought, Facebook has many millions of users, some caching is expected. So I waited, and waited. A week passed by, and still going to the wrong server. I emailed them, clearly stated the problem, got the first canned reply acknowledging. Two days after got the second canned reply brushing me off.

It has now being three weeks, and still Facebook insists on not going to collantes.us to check my OpenID delegation and reach the proper server. I wonder how long will it take. Makes me wonder how serious are they about OpenID.

Special, just like you

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0000

At first I thought I was special, when I received my first offering of marriage, or the bank transfer to help the widow of some foreign fallen dignitary. Then they kept going, and I knew I was “special”, just like everyone else.

Read one of today’s emails and smile:

I am 26 years old, just started work with Central bank of Nigeria, as a scientist and why i was diong system maintance . I came across your file which was marked X and your released disk painted RED, I took time to study it and found out that you have paid VIRTUALLY all fees and certificate but the fund has not been release to you. The most annoying thing is that they cannot tell you the truth that on no account will they ever release the fund to you, instead they let you spend money unnecessarily. I do not intend to work here all the days of my life, I can release this fund to you if you can certify me of my security, and how I can run away from this Nigeria if I do this, because if I don’t run away from this country after i make the transfer, I will seriously be in trouble and my life will be in danger.

You may not understand it because you are not a Nigerian. The only thing I will need to release this fund is a special HARD DISK we call it HD120 GIG. I will buy two of it, recopy your information, destroy the previous one, punch the computer to reflect in your bank. I will clean up the tracer and destroy your file, after which I will run away from Nigeria to meet with you. If you are interested.

Do get in touch with me immediately.

Regards,

Miss Linda Jones
Computer Scientist

The part that I found really funny was:

“[…] You may not understand it because you are not a Nigerian. The only thing I will need to release this fund is a special HARD DISK we call it HD120 GIG. I will buy two of it, recopy your information, destroy the previous one, punch the computer to reflect in your bank. I will clean up the tracer and destroy your file, after which I will run away from Nigeria to meet with you. […]”.

The name Linda Jones sounds very Nigerian, don’t you think? Smile. And the “HARD DISK name? Wide smile. And the punching of the computer? Laughing hard.

Please, keep them coming, Linda Jones, Onyeka Blessing, Jane James, or whatever other name you might have.

Hello world, again!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0000

I am starting over. I might “port” back some entries from the old weblog, but that’s pretty much it. Right now everything is in state of flux, running on a vanilla WordPress installation with a couple of plugins on. Work will progress as time permits.

There isn’t one single reason why I am starting over, but a few. Basically, the old weblog database was “dirty” with entries and rows, and tables from plugins… and god knows what other things (I ran quite a few experiments on that one). It was also designed in a way that made it very hard to just port (odd photos sizes, nasty CSS, etc).

That’s pretty much it!

Aion, the WoW killer

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Aion isn’t out yet for North America or Europe, but has already caused long time WoW players to quit. That is what my household has done, ending the life of two, four years old, accounts.

Beta 4 is coming up, July 17th and we can hardly wait. Preorder will give you access to the beta, so go ahead! Simply Google Aion and follow the appropiated link.

While we wait, it feels good to be out of WoW. Really liberating!

gOS is coming our way

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Yes, it is coming!

We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear – computers need to get better. People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don’t want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates. And any time our users have a better computing experience, Google benefits as well by having happier users who are more likely to spend time on the Internet.

— Introducing the Google Chrome OS

Safari 4 Beta

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Safari 4 Beta is out and it is rocking. Apple has adopted (copied) quite a bit from Chrome interface and I have to say the browser looks and behaves awesomely under Windows 7.

But, why bore you with senseless praise? Go download it, and see it for yourself.

Email liturgy

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:00:00 +0000

I miss the days when emails were written with thought, and care. They were clear, and to the point. There was no HTML in them; replies were perfectly quoted, references were neatly annotated. Emoticons were kept to a minimum, if any.

No one does that anymore… well, not many of us do. I haven’t give up, I insist. For me, sending and replying emails is a liturgy.

NETBROS.COM for sale

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Yes, I am selling this domain, which I have have since, well, I already lost count. If you are interested on buying this domain, please contact me. I would rather sell it directly than going through a broker.

Yet another

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Yet another long downtime on World of Warcraft, just in the verge of the release of the second major expansion for the game. What a royal mess! You would think Blizzard has it figured out by now, down to a science, but…

I can’t imagine how tomorrow, with the expansion release, will be. Not going to “tune in.” Instead will let others have the “fun.”

Not allowed to tell

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:00:00 +0000

A local bank in front of which I sit quite often has a locked metal box sitting outside the branch. Yesterday my curiosity got sparked when I saw one of the employees (which I greet daily) opening it and taking a canvas bag out of it. When I asked what was the box for, she stopped like frozen, and muttered “Company doesn’t allow me to tell.”

Now, won’t you agree with me that such answer was a very silly —and dangerous!— one?

MCITP - Enterprise Server Administrator

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:00:00 +0000

The last two weeks were very busy ones. I went through a Boot Camp and obtained the Microsoft Certified Information Technology Professional certification, as an Enterprise Server 2008 Administrator. Much more to do with the product, but migration is on my close horizon.

As a side note, and totally unrelated, I will change the way this weblog look soon. I will probably start over as well, all the old content gone. Not sure yet about that last part, but it is a possibility.

Registration and comments disabled

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:00:00 +0000

I have grown tired of deleting bogus accounts. They do not do anything, they do not cause harm; it is just tiresome to delete, each day, 20 or 30 of them. So enough… for now. Those who had an account (which was created using OpenID), still can comment, but no new registrations anymore.

As a matter of fact… I think I will change this site completely. Soon… ish.

China earthquake help

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Cities completely wipe out, thousands dead, thousands missing, thousands without anything left. China needs our help, and every little thing would help. Ten dollars might not be much for you, but when many donate we can make a difference.

Einstein on religion

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Einstein: Letter to Eric Gutkind

“… The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can for me change this. These subtilized interpretations are highly manifold according to their nature and have almost nothing to do with the original text. For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are also no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything ‘chosen’ about them.”

From today's Barack's email

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:00:00 +0000

News broke this morning that Senator Clinton made three separate loans to her campaign in the past 30 days —including one as recently as Monday.

These loans total more than $6.4 million, which combined with her previous personal loans, add up to at least $11.4 million she’s loaned her campaign since February.

A spokesman said she may continue to “loan the campaign additional money out of her jointly-held assets” —which include more than $100 million in income since her husband left the White House.

How can she loan money to herself? Isn’t Hillary Clinton’s campaign, hers?

Hillary speaks like Bush

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Obama accuses Clinton of using the language of Bush on Iran

In the sharpest attack, Obama said that Clinton’s threat to “totally obliterate” Iran should it attempt a nuclear attack on Israel was inappropriate. “It’s not the language we need right now. It’s language that’s reflective of George Bush,” he said.

Obama said it was time to get away from a foreign policy of “bluster and sabre-rattling and tough talk”. He reminded Clinton that she had urged caution in terms of speculating about Iran on the campaign trail “yet a few days before an election she’s willing to use that language”.

Obama’s comments, made on Meet the Press on NBC, were put to Clinton as she appeared simultaneously on ABC’s This Week. She remained unapologetic: “I think we have to be very clear about what we would do. I don’t think it’s time to equivocate. [Iran has] to know they would face massive retaliation. That is the only way to rein them in.”

Asked by George Stephanopoulos, a former aide to Bill Clinton in the White House, whether she had any regrets over her Iran remarks, she replied: “No, why would I have any regrets?”

I specially like one of Diggers comment to this entry:

Because you are advocating the wholesale slaughter of 65,875,223 men, women and children (according to the most recent US Government estimate) all but a tiny tiny fraction of whom wouldn’t have had anything to do with a decision to attack Israel. You’d be guilty of genocide more than 10 times worse than Hitler. By murdering an entire nation of mostly civilians you’d be guilty of a war crime greater than any in the history of the world. That’s why you might consider regretting it you madwoman!

And this one, my feelings exactly:

Man, if she wins the Democratic candidacy and the vote comes down between McCain and Clinton, America is *****.

Microsoft DRM server going offline

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Rob Bennett, head of MSN Entertainment and Video Services, wrote to customers in an email:

As of August 31, 2008, we will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for the songs you purchased from MSN Music or the authorization of additional computers. You will need to obtain a license key for each of your songs downloaded from MSN Music on any new computer, and you must do so before August 31, 2008. If you attempt to transfer your songs to additional computers after August 31, 2008, those songs will not successfully play.

I really feel bad for those 7 people who bought music through them. If you are one of them, make sure to burn the music you bought into a CD, then rip the CD and there!

Lesbos islanders dispute gay name

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Who has the right to be called Lesbian?

Campaigners on the Greek island of Lesbos are to go to court in an attempt to stop a gay rights organisation from using the term “lesbian”.

The islanders say that if they are successful they may then start to fight the word lesbian internationally.

The issue boils down to who has the right to call themselves Lesbians.

Is it gay women, or the 100,000 people living on Greece’s third biggest island —plus another 250,000 expatriates who originate from Lesbos?

Nothing against homosexuals, but same applies to the word gay. This news made me remember an old post, and the comments it generated.

Prepare to pay more

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:00:00 +0000

It seems that within four years –if nothing is done to prevent it (and nobody really knows what to do)– we [americans] will be paying $7 for a gallon of gasoline.

A very interesting post over Wired explains some of the reasons. A brief summary of them:

Oil companies getting tax breaks, and not passing those savings down, but pocketing them.
The economic development in China and India, which increases the demand.
Oil is priced in dollars and with the Federal Government preparing for yet another interest cut, the dollar value is simply decreasing. You need to pay more, for everything.
Traders (stock exchange, etc) are acting on fear, or greed, or both, keeping and raising the oil’s stock current value.
Suppliers have decreased their output. Non-OPEC countries would normally boost their output when OPEN prices have gone too high. This time they have decrease it instead, due to political instability among others.

Go read, interesting article about something that affects us all.

Mental note

The use of a local URL shortener —now defunct— has made all links on this post worthless. Do not be that stupid again, and use Google’s. Or better yet, do not use any shortener at all.

Russia warned over Georgia move

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Russia warned over Georgia move

Nato has warned Russia that its recent troop build-up in Georgia’s two breakaway regions undermines its neighbour’s territorial integrity.

Would everyone chill out, please? This time Russians, specially. I think a “Back off, and chill” behavior is mandatory.

A day of sadness

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Today we realized that we have lost our camcorder, and with it, all the memories we had since KM was born: from birth until his last birthday, at least. And the pain we feel can’t be explained. How could we be so stupid?!

Although we have thoughts, accusing ourselves for lots of things… what sense does it make at this point? Everything is gone, and discussing the why’s, what if’s and so on will not bring the tapes back. Things will be done differently on regards of the archiving of family memories from now on. Very differently. But…

The only thing we can do is start over. KM has already told me, “You can film me all you want, papá”, when I explained to him what has happened. And that we shall.

Ubuntu Hardy Heron released

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:00:00 +0000

503 Service Temporarily Unavailable

Service Temporarily Unavailable

The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to
maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

Apache/2.2.8 (Ubuntu) Server at www.ubuntu.com Port 80

Duh! (Homer Simpson style)

eBay sues Craigslist

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Referring to an eBay Press release:

Tainted Love – We are surprised and disappointed by Ebay’s unfounded allegations, which came to us out of the blue, without any attempt to engage in a dialogue with us.

Coming from a shareholder that views craigslist as a prime competitor, filing suit without so much as mentioning these assertions beforehand seems unethical, and hints at ulterior motives.

Why they ever got in business with eBay is beyond my understanding. I hope they will be OK.

Clinton wins in Pennsylvania, projected

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Clinton wins in Pennsylvania – NBC News projected Tuesday night that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had won Pennsylvania’s presidential primary, a victory that analysts said she had to have if she were to remain a credible candidate for the Democratic nomination.

I find it incredible how she has been able to get as many votes as she has. But after seeing McCain take over the Republican’s vote I should have expected anything. My hopes, though, are still intact.

Linuxers for Obama

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Linuxers for Obama – LinuxersForObama is a campaign for all Free and Open Source Software advocates to contribute to the Obama campaign. Sorry for the shorthand “LinuxForObama”, I know it should have been “FLOSSGNUX11BSDApacheMySQLForObama”, but I went for short and simple.

Hopefully team LinuxForObama can do some nice fund raising for Obama and we can settle once and for all the argument about which operating system is the best.

I just donated a bit. I have never, ever done anything like this. I have been pondering, and thinking on doing this time, until this morning when George sent me this link through GTalk.

Do your little bit too, please. Click on the link, donate! Alternatively, you could Digg it.

Only in Russia

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Drunk Russian sleeps off knifing – A Russian man trying to sleep off a night of after-work drinking failed to notice a six inch (15 cm) knife in his back - until his wife woke him up.

Yuri Lyalin, 53, took a bus home, ate breakfast and apparently slept like a baby before his spouse noticed a handle sticking out of his back.

He was rushed to casualty but doctors found no vital organs damaged.

Amazing, isn’t it?

Olympics for sports

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Olympics Games relate to sport. The Olympic Games is where the World most accomplished athletes and teams compete for medals, for the win. Making the Olympics Games a political chess board goes against what Olympic Games are all about. And it is a nasty thing to do.

We—as in the U.S.A.—are not being fair with China. Our government and our politicians (including Presidential aspirants) are all playing politics with the Olympics for their own political advantage. And they are all wrong, including Barack Obama, for which I will vote for President.

Tibet might have some problems, but so does New Orleans. Leave politics aside, Olympics are about sports.

Chinese products are cheap

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Not anymore.

The era of cheap Chinese consumer goods may finally be ending, thanks to irrepressible inflation. Now when the Chinese present their lists, some American importers are conceding higher prices, meaning that American shoppers, for the first time in years, are starting to pick up the tab for rising costs in China. Some Chinese factories are now asking their American customers for price increases of as much as 20 percent to 30 percent.

— Slate

The time to pay much more for less has finally arrived. Not that we were expecting it happily. This was just a matter of time. Welcome to less! Now, what will the impact be on everything being made in China?

Talk radio after 3PM

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:00:00 +0000

I used to listen to talk radio after 3PM. I listened at the Sean Hannity show, on WDBO 580AM. I just realized yesterday his ‘show’ is a radio political –and biased– version of “The Jerry Springer” show. Full of junk, inaccuracies, lies sprinkled with some trues, repetitive. I should have stopped at junk.

And I listened for the entertainment, for the laugh it gives every once in a while, and as a background noise on my way home. But still, garbage. I will not more listen to it. Just grew tired of, well, it’s daily junk.

Vicepresident? No, thank you

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Obama spurns double ticket hints

“I don’t know how somebody who is in second place is offering the vice presidency to somebody who is in first place,” he told a rally in Columbus, Mississippi.

“I don’t want anybody here thinking that somehow ‘well, you know, maybe I can get both.’ Don’t think that way. You have to make a choice in this election.”

“I’m not running for vice president. I am running for president of the United States of America,” he added. “I am running to be commander-in-chief.”

Hillary is using all the [dirty] tactics you know about and then some. She is desperate.

Overturning the unconstitutional

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Overturning nightmares

As president, he said he would ask his attorney general “to review every executive order” of the Bush administration. “We are going to overturn those that were unconstitutional. We are going to overturn those that are unnecessary.”

I don’t think it is a slogan, I don’t think they are empty words. Yes, we can!

John McCain on religion

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:00:00 +0000

John McCain on religion.

“I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles…personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith…I think the number one issue people should make [in the] selection of the President of the United States is, ‘Will this person carry on in the Judeo Christian principled tradition that has made this nation the greatest experiment in the history of mankind?’”

I am starting to doubt on whether or not McCain and Bush are related. I would swear they are. Do you want another Bush?

That 3:00AM call

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Comment posted on Larry David: On the Red Phone

“It’s 3AM and your children are sleeping. But the phone is ringing. It’s your mortgage lender, calling to let you know that you are 180 days late on your payment for that crazy mortgage you agreed to. It doesn’t matter, because your phone was disconnected a long time ago. But no worries, Hillary Clinton is working late, at some desk somewhere, doing a Sudoku puzzle maybe. And she supports a 90 day moratorium on foreclosures. What is it that’s going to happen in those ninety days to solve your problem? Hell, she doesn’t even have the slighest clue and she really doesn’t care. But words like “90-day” and “moratorium” sure test well. ‘I am Hillary Clinton and I approve this message. You have 90 days to pack up your crap and get out of that house.’”

Certainly a more believable 3:00AM call… and answer.

Bush endorses McCain

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Bush endorses McCain in US race

US President George W Bush has endorsed John McCain’s White House bid after the Vietnam veteran sealed the Republican nomination on Tuesday.

Mr Bush said his one-time rival would be a president with the “determination to defeat an enemy and a heart big enough to love those who hurt”.

Now you know who not to vote for. Clear, right? Any questions?

The $2 Trillion Nightmare

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:00:00 +0000

The $2 Trillion Nightmare

“Normally, when America goes to war, nonessential spending programs are reduced to make room in the budget for the higher costs of the war. Individual programs that benefit specific constituencies are sacrificed for the common good … And taxes have never been cut during a major American war. For example, President Eisenhower adamantly resisted pressure from Senate Republicans for a tax cut during the Korean War.“

Said Mr. Stiglitz: “Because the administration actually cut taxes as we went to war, when we were already running huge deficits, this war has, effectively, been entirely financed by deficits. The national debt has increased by some $2.5 trillion since the beginning of the war, and of this, almost $1 trillion is due directly to the war itself … By 2017, we estimate that the national debt will have increased, just because of the war, by some $2 trillion.”

Some people do not grasp the immense implications of this.

I just hope...

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:00:00 +0000

I just hope she doesn’t win. I am talking about politics, if you are following the news, you know who I am talking about. Hard not to follow politics these days, but you never know.

Yes, I hope she looses.

Update 06 March 2008

She didn’t loose. She won three states. Obama still leads on delegates. There is still hope.

The day Santa died

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Kim and I have always told Kent Santa exists. Almost every kid is told the same, and get presents delivered by the fat, white bearded guy each year. He gets all the credits, but kids are happy.

With Kent getting into first grade, he has been hearing things from his peers. Things like, “Santa doesn’t exist”, “Santa isn’t real”, so he began asking about it. About a month ago I told him his peers weren’t right, when he commented about it, and that by not believing in Santa they might not get presents next time. Kent dropped the topic.

Yesterday, he asked me, “Tell me the truth Papá, is Santa real?” I do not lie. But even if I ever will, I will never lie to my kid, no matter what it takes. I had to tell him the truth. Yes, he was disappointed, sad perhaps, a bit, but then he asked, “Will I still get presents?”. “Of course!”, I replied. Light came to his eyes and face again, and life went on.

Thank you, Santa, for the good memories.

After Super Tuesday

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Barack Obama’s Super Tuesday speech.

A rather lengthy, yet inspiring speech. This man has charisma, something I have not seeing on the rest. I like him. I think he would do a good President.

Within ten days!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Thank you for submitting your registration to Microsoft Heroes Happen Here: 2008 Launch Events.

You can print this page for your records using the “Print” button at right. Please expect to receive a confirmation email from [long email] within ten business days.

The key words here are “within ten business days”. Ten “business” days. A confirmation email! Do you find that as crazy as I do? What in the world!? If there are using Exchange, and Microsoft web technologies to process this, and it takes as long as ten “business” days, boy, oh boy… I do not want it :-)

Yahoo! and the future of the Internet

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Official Google Blog: Yahoo! and the future of the Internet

Could the acquisition of Yahoo! allow Microsoft – despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses – to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet? In addition, Microsoft plus Yahoo! equals an overwhelming share of instant messaging and web email accounts. And between them, the two companies operate the two most heavily trafficked portals on the Internet. Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors’ email, IM, and web-based services? Policymakers around the world need to ask these questions – and consumers deserve satisfying answers.

What counts as an issue...

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:00:00 +0000

George Lakoff: What Counts as an “Issue” In the Clinton-Obama Race?

There is a reason that Obama recently spoke of Reagan. Reagan understood that you win elections by drawing support from independents and the opposite side. He understood what unified the country so that he could lead it according to his vision. His vision was a radical conservative one, a vision devastating for the country and contradicted by his economic policies.

Obama understands the importance of values, connection, authenticity, trust, and identity.

But his vision is deeply progressive. He proposes to lead in a very different direction than Reagan. Crucially, he adds to that vision a streetwise pragmatism: his policies have to do more than look good on paper; they have to bring concrete material results to millions of struggling Americans in the lower and middle classes. They have to meet the criteria of a community organizer.

The Clintonian policy wonks don’t seem to understand any of this. They have trivialized Reagan’s political acumen as an illegitimate triumph of personality over policy. They confuse values with programs. They have underestimated authenticity and trust.

Go read more. Excellent article.

I will vote

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:00:00 +0000

I will vote today, on Florida’s primary elections. I am registered republican and, hence, I can only vote for a running republican. As such, I will vote for Ron Paul. On the elections day, I shall vote for Barack Obama (I know this implies that he will win the nomination for the Democratic Party. I hope — and wish — he does) for President, Democrat.

Please, whatever State you are in, vote as well.

The truth is useless

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:00:00 +0000

On Digg, someone submitted, Jeb Bush, the truth is useless, to which a reader commented:

Digg - Jeb Bush: ‘The truth is useless’

[…] This is not just the Bushes, though. This is human nature. This sort of thing develops when you elevate yourself to stratospheric heights and start to believe your own hype. It happens to Hollywood actors, musicians, moguls, models, magicians, shop managers, morticians, bankers, soldiers, physicians… Even the guy temporarily assigned to run the night shift cleaning crew while the regular dick is out on sick leave starts to walk more proudly thinking he best be listened to. Pride, power and arrogance are a deadly concoction. […]

Digg is not just for the nerds. Digg touches everyone.

Don't step in the lines

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:00:00 +0000

The child inside of us lives, I am a living proof. That, or I have some autistic tendencies. Or both. Having a child, I unintentionally behave like a child when I am with him but, also, when I am alone.

I have found myself avoiding to step on cracks on the floor, or on lines. When challenged with floors with multiple lines together, which are difficult or impossible to avoid, I either find and alternative route, or simply enlarge my pattern of what I consider lined space, like lined areas of different colors become empty spaces –without lines–, for example, all the black mosaic, even though it has lines, becomes a “flat” and the lines not to be stepped on become those who divide the black mosaic space from a different colored space.

Am I making any sense?

I noticed that I do that, the same way I have noticed a few simple things I do, like sipping coffee and not leaving any leftover on the sipping cap, or remembering details of the people I talk to, or finding matching patterns on things and people (nail color, ear ring color and shape, etc). One of my pastimes is to mentally visualize a person I am actually looking at, but adding or taking years out of my mental image. I have been scarily surprised to see childhood photos of a person I mentally applied “age regression”, and find them to match almost perfectly to what I had imagined.

I tend to fantasize a lot, all in my mind, of course. I seem to have some type of obsession on finding geometric patterns all around. The weird thing is, no matter what I look at, I always find something that follows it.

The funny –and interesting– thing is, I have always been like that. I just never gave it any thought until someone recently mentioned some of my ‘weirdness.’

Happy 2008!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Hello everyone out there! Please, love one another. Be safe. Happy New Year!

Lets us make sure

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Comes v. Microsoft – Plaintiff’s Exhibit 2991 – (PDF)

From:     Bill Gates
Sent:     Saturday, December 05, 1998 9:44 AM
To:       Bob Muglia; Jon DeVaan; Steven Sinofsky
Cc:       Paul Maritz
Subject:  Office rendering
One thing we have got to change in our strategy - allowing Office documents to be rendered very well by other peoples browsers is one of the most destructive things we could do to the company.

We have to stop putting any effort into this and make sure that Office documents very well depends on PROPRIETARY IE capabilities.

Anything else is suicide for our platform. This is a case where Office has to avoid doing something to destory (It seems Bill do not use spell checking or, at least, did not use it in 1998) Windows.

I would be glad to explain at greater length.

Likewise this love of DAV in Office/Exchange is a huge problem. I would also like to make sure people understand this as well.

Really, Bill?

SCO Receives Nasdaq Notice Letter

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:00:00 +0000

This doesn’t surprise me. What surprises me is that they are still on business.

SCO Receives Nasdaq Notice Letter — Yahoo! Finance

The SCO Group, Inc. (“SCO”) (Nasdaq: SCOX - News), a leading provider of UNIX^(tm) software technology and mobile services, today announced that it received a Nasdaq Staff Determination letter on December 21, 2007 indicating that as a result of having filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel has determined to delist the company’s securities from the Nasdaq Stock Market and will suspend trading of the securities effective at the open of business on Thursday, December 27, 2007. – Via email from GT]

Christmas is gone, or is it?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 14:00:00 +0000

The long whole year wait, for many, comes to an end quite fast. It seems it takes a long time until Christmas arrives, but when it does, it goes away very quickly. “It’s not fair”, Kim says. Well, I am that type of crazy individual that sings Christmas Carols, listen to Christmas music and lives the “Christmas spirit” pretty much all year round. I have my ups and downs like everyone else, but I refuse to let Christmas be a one day celebration. Give it a try!

You are a prisoner, keep quiet!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 14:00:00 +0000

U.S. Seeks Silence on CIA Prisons

The Bush administration has told a federal judge that terrorism suspects held in secret CIA prisons should not be allowed to reveal details of the “alternative interrogation methods” that their captors used to get them to talk.

The government says in new court filings that those interrogation methods are now among the nation’s most sensitive national security secrets and that their release – even to the detainees’ own attorneys – “could reasonably be expected to cause extremely grave damage.” Terrorists could use the information to train in counter-interrogation techniques and foil government efforts to elicit information about their methods and plots […]

Just amazing.

Santa gets the extra love

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:00:00 +0000

KM believes in Santa. It is that childish fantasy we do not want to spoil quite yet. But the fat guy, with red cheeks, who pilots a sleigh pulled by reindeers, gets all the extra love –and credits– for the job we, as parents, do during Christmas time. I challenge Santa to come up with a Wii!

Want the darn thing?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Beta of XP update made public, A blog by Ina Fried, CNET News.com

Microsoft issued a release candidate version of XP SP3 in November and expanded its testing earlier this month, promising the public test version would come at some later date.

For anyone who still wants to try the darn thing, Microsoft says, the beta should be up on Microsoft’s Web site later Tuesday and ready in final form in the first half of next year.

Emphasis mine. If you want “the darn thing”, it will be available soon (haha).

Honeymoon's are over, honey

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:00:00 +0000

FL woman has 10 husbands, charges say - Yahoo News

Eunice Lopez has been charged with bigamy, accused of marrying 10 men between 2002 and 2006 without divorcing any of them, federal immigration authorities say. The Miami Herald reported Saturday that a records search by the newspaper found seven additional marriages under the bride’s name and birth date.

Lopez arrived in South Florida from Cuba in 2002 and was a legal U.S. resident.

“I can tell you that none of the individuals she married had any type of residency,” said Terry Chavez, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade office of the state attorney.

Prosecutors say she charged her husbands an unspecified amount to help them secure immigration status and continued asking the men for money long after the wedding, threatening to expose them if they didn’t pay.

Chavez said the state attorney’s office began investigating after being tipped off by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Lopez was released on $18,000 ¹ bond. Her last known address was in Hialeah, just north of Miami. A telephone listing for her could not be located, and it was not known whether she had an attorney.

Of course, I bet she is literally rich. She can afford that and more. ↩︎

Ron Paul on War and Foreign Policy

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Ron Paul: War and Foreign Policy

We can continue to fund and fight no-win police actions around the globe, or we can refocus on securing America and bring the troops home. No war should ever be fought without a declaration of war voted upon by the Congress, as required by the Constitution.

Under no circumstances should the U.S. again go to war as the result of a resolution that comes from an unelected, foreign body, such as the United Nations.

Too often we give foreign aid and intervene on behalf of governments that are despised. Then, we become despised. Too often we have supported those who turn on us, like the Kosovaars who aid Islamic terrorists, or the Afghan jihadist’s themselves, and their friend Osama bin Laden. We armed and trained them, and now we are paying the price.

At the same time, we must not isolate ourselves. The generosity of the American people has been felt around the globe. Many have thanked God for it, in many languages. Let us have a strong America, conducting open trade, travel, communication, and diplomacy with other nations.

Another Dell

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Almost four years ago I bought our first Dell machine. And almost four year after, that machine died. Not a really long life.

Since we need a computer, we acquired another Dell… again. This time it is a refurbished Precision 390. For the first time ever, I haven’t rebuilt that machine yet. I am using Dell’s factory install, cleaned up a bit, to remove the extra junk. I am starting to doubt my choice of both: buying Dell again and not completely wiping out the system.

It seems that the Quadro FX3450 that comes with it has problems. It started freezing on me while playing Warcraft, it would at times stop sending video (monitor will go into sleep mode) and Windows (XP Professional, that is) has given me a few blue screens with a “nv4_disp” error. This error refers to video card problems and/or video drivers problems. I have ruled out not to be the drivers, since the card is giving me screen artifacts even at POST time. The replacement should arrive today. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I had to have them

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:00:00 +0000

I found this weblog, via Kottke, and in it, this post I like: So long Flight of the Conchords. And I loved it. I had to have the list of videos on that log here¹, to show wife, to play them at a later time. Simply awesome. And here they come (links go to Youtube):

The most beautiful girl in the room - “you could be a part-time model”.
Humans are dead - the robot one.
I’m not crying - “It’s just raining on my face”. The one where Jemaine gets dumped.
Inner City Pressure - The Pet Shop Boys one.
She’s so hot - Boom - is this bogling?
Think about it - The Marvin Gaye one.
Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros - The rap one.
Sello tape - the one with the extended love/stationery metaphor.
If You’re into it - the one at the Unisphere.
Song for Sally - The piano one.
Business time - the one where Jemaine gets down to it.
Bowie’s in space - The Bowie one with terrible space jokes.
Bret, you’ve got it going on - Jemaine’s love song for for Brett, but not in a gay way. “Why can’t a heterosexual guy tell a heterosexual guy that he thinks his booty is fly?”
Mutha uckers - the one with the bikes and the almost-swearing.
Leggy blonde - Murray gets a song.
Albi the racist dragon - the kids’ one.
Foux de fa fa - The French one. Boeuf!
A kiss is not a contract - “Just because I’m in a two man novelty band/ Doesn’t mean it’s all about poontang.”
Mermaids - the one about the water polo team.
Ladies of the world - the Barry White one
Prince of parties - the Middle Ages on acid one.
Frodo, don’t wear the ring - the Lord of the Rings one.
Cheer up, Murray - The one with Gingerballs.
Bret’s angry dance - the one with no singing.

Full credits go to that website maintainer. ↩︎

Programmers != Antisocials

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:00:00 +0000

BBC NEWS: Business: Bill Gates: The skills you need to succeed

A lot of people assume that creating software is purely a solitary activity where you sit in an office with the door closed all day and write lots of code.

This isn’t true at all.

Software innovation, like almost every other kind of innovation, requires the ability to collaborate and share ideas with other people, and to sit down and talk with customers and get their feedback and understand their needs.

Indeed!

Primary elections

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:00:00 +0000

It is my desire that the U.S. primary elections were available to everyone, to vote for anyone, regardless of the political part affiliation ¹. In fact, I would not make a requirement to affiliate to a specific party at all.

Why? If I am registered, for example, democrat, but I see that the choices of the Democratic Party are not “presidential” material, then I would like to be able to vote (even at the primaries) for the best of the other party. Am I making any sense?

The upcoming Presidential Elections will be very interesting (they have already been, having started one year –or more– earlier).

Aha! What I want is called “open primary”. Unfortunately, Florida primaries are closed. ↩︎

I hate school

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 14:00:00 +0000

When your, almost seven years old, son tells you he hates going to school you worry. It is not the first time that KM tells me he doesn’t like going to school. He goes to a private, Christian school, and his main complain has always being that he doesn’t like to memorize the weekly versicle. I have noticed that this “disliking” normally comes after a weekend, holiday, or similar ’time off school’ occasion.

I have talked to him, trying to find out if there are other reasons, but haven’t been able to figure out what else, if anything, could be the cause of his aversion to school. For the few out there that might come by, or for the occasional Google visitor… do you have any experience with this? Any tips you could share?

SuperGenPass update

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:00:00 +0000

SuperGenPass: A Free Bookmarklet Password Generator

Chris Zarate has updated his SuperGenPass bookmarlet, which now has it’s own dedicated domain. Version 1.1 comes with (from the website):

Moveable window: The SuperGenPass window can be moved by dragging the title bar.
Smarter password capturing: When multiple master passwords are found, the conflict must be resolved by double-clicking the desired field.
Smarter autopopulate: Autopopulate is on by default, but only for fields where the master password was found. Other fields can be manually populated by double-clicking.
Protocol check: SuperGenPass will now work on FTP sites (when viewed in a Web browser). It will also fail gracefully on all protocols other than HTTP and FTP.
Updated look: Small changes in user interface; more consistent across browsers; better resistance to style overrides.
Usability: Enter key will submit forms; returns focus intelligently.

I first mentioned about this on my Single Sign on post, and I have been using ever since. Nice to see Chris keeps the utility fresh and useful.

Yes, they sold it

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:00:00 +0000

A while ago, I wrote about the closing of the C3 School, previously known as Parkway Preparatory School. As many other parents and staff, I was sad to see the school my kid attended to disappearing. And there were rumors, so I asked a senior Pastor (do not remember his name now) about them. I was told the Church wasn’t going anywhere, that the rumors about selling the Church were unfounded. I told him I was going to be very disappointed if the rumors were right, and we weren’t told the truth. It seems I have reasons to be disappointed after all.

You see, we saw the Church change names, run a big mail and street sign advertising, add signs to the Church area, change the front sign to a brand new, fancy C3 one. They spend good money conveying C3, “Connecting the Community with Christ” message. To then sell and move to a local theater? It seems there was no management and plans were being made and changed daily.

We were lied to, we were let down. Very disappointing. They had the right to do whatever they pleased with the Church, but I think we deserved to be openly told why the school was really closing. We had even pre-paid for the upcoming year registration, for Pete’s sake!

C3 didn’t connect my family with Christ. It just took us a step further away from him.

What a load of crock!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:00:00 +0000

If it weren’t enough that you have to go through airport hell every time you must take an airplane, some people is trying to cash in, and they are using terrorism to their advantage. Enter Clear card.

From their CEO (read while playing patriotic music on the background, waving an American flag) :

“I started Verified Identity Pass with a simple idea: In the post 9-11 era we have to take new measures to protect ourselves yet not destroy our way of life by strangling the free flow of people and commerce. Somehow, we have to find common sense solutions that don’t make everyone a suspect and create security bottlenecks everywhere we go. To be blunt, that means we need a fair, sensible way not to treat everyone the same when it comes to terrorism protection.”

The load of horse manure starts. Can you guess what comes next?

“Clear’s simple, two step enrollment process begins online. Applicants create an account and fill-in basic biographic information. Then, applicants must go to a Clear enrollment location, where our attendants will verify two forms of government-issued identification, and capture a photograph, your fingerprint images and your iris images. This information is used to allow you access to the designated Clear lane at the checkpoint. More information on enrollment.”

Give all your information to a third party company. That’s just great! And, on top of it, pay for it. Awesome so far…

“The Clear lane is a designated lane at the security checkpoint. Clear Members must verify a fingerprint or iris image collected during enrollment in order to enter the lane. At the Clear lane, a Clear attendant will greet you and check your boarding pass, Clear card and government-issued photo ID. You will be asked to insert your Clear card into the kiosk, which also verify the fingerprint or iris image that you selected during enrollment. When everything is verified which takes just a few seconds, you will receive a receipt indicating that you are a Clear member.”

Oh, ma’look, I am a Clear member!

“Clear members still proceed through metal detectors and x-ray machines operated and regulated by the Department of Homeland Security but other parts of the process are expedited. When you approach the lane, our attendants will help you with the bins and to get ready to go through the checkpoint. This alone helps our lane speed by as much as 30%.”

Back to the line, like everyone else. Well, this is just great, I must get “Cleared” now! Did I tell you this load of crock costs $100 for the first year, $200 for two years or $300 for three. ‘Clear’ mathematics! I don’t even want to link this crooks. They make me sick.

When you thought you hear it all

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:00:00 +0000

BBC NEWS: Toilet conference opens in Delhi

A World Toilet Summit has opened in the Indian capital, Delhi, with more than 40 countries taking part.

The four-day meeting will examine solutions and technologies that can be used to provide a basic need for nearly half the worlds population.

According to estimates, 2.6bn people around the world lack access to a hygienic toilet. The United Nations hopes to halve this figure by 2015 as part of its millennium development goals.

In India alone, more than 700 million people have no access to toilets which have proper waste disposal systems.

Amazing.

The slashes

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Lots of people do not get it. Lots of businesses and governmental institutions do not get it. Yesterday my call to the Federal Reserve Complain line (I called to complain about them, and their delay on ACH transfers, but there was no option to complain about them, yet, many to complain about others) had it wrong too:

The symbol “/” (without quotes, of course) is a “slash” or “stroke.” The symbol “\” is a “backslash”. Please do not invert the names or simply call a slash, backslash. It isn’t correct.

We remember: Six years ago

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Today, six years ago, a group of animals belonging to the human race decided to take away thousands of innocent lives by destroying the Twin Towers (see World Trade Center). Let us not to forget how stupid they were, how criminal they were, how inhuman they were. Let us remember our brothers and sisters who died that day. For me The Towers stand tall. They always will.

September 11th, 2001: We will never forget!

Farewell Maestro

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Luciano Pavarotti has died. “… One of the most popular contemporary vocal performers in the world of opera and across multiple musical genres..” The world grieves.

First day at school

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Today is Kent’s first day at school, after the long –although it did not seemed that long– summer vacation. It is his first grade, on a new school and I have “the jitters.” I worry for my son, all the time. I enjoyed this summer with him more than anything in the world. You can’t stop them from growing up, you can’t be with them all the time. But it is so hard not to…

It is an adaptation that will take time.

Write Articles, Not Blog Postings

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Write Articles, Not Blog Postings – Jakob Nielsens Alertbox

Boy, do I agree with Nielsen on this one. I have been guilty of many of the things he points out. That is why I am scribbling less lately. And it will be much less in the future. Totally dislike the “tumbler” generation. Junk.

Ebay feedback blackmail

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:00:00 +0000

If you do business on Ebay, whether you are power seller with your own store there or simply a John Doe such as myself, please follow the following etiquette:

If you are selling, and the item(s) you sold get paid (right away or in a timely manner), leave your feedback right away. No need to wait till the buyer leaves his. Doing so is bad, really bad.
If you are buying, wait till the item arrives and then leave a feedback accordingly. Consider communication with the seller, quality of item as advertised, etc.

Please help to stop the Ebay feedback blackmail.

Kent on elderly and fitness

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Having seeing an elder man jogging, Kent asked me why was he running. I told him that he probably wanted to be fit, to keep healthy to which he, in a very surprised voice, replied:

“What’s the fun on being healthy, when you are about to die?!” – kids, they say the ‘darnest’ things.

I shall not censure

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 11 May 2007 14:00:00 +0000

From today on, I shall not censure on this weblog. Any comment left (no spam comments, of course. Who needs those?) will be shown uncensored. I will only mask foul words (just because of my ICRA rating, safe for children), and correct capitalization as needed, but nothing else. I don’t remember ever censuring –I don’t write enough, really. But now I have taken that idea, if ever was, away from my mind.

C3 is no more

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 01 May 2007 14:00:00 +0000

I am sad, I am mad and I am pissed. We got a letter today from Kent’s school –was Parkway Preparatory School, later changed to C3 School– stating that the school is closing its doors.

Unfortunately, our continuing analysis and review of the Church’s financial obligations has led us to the conclusion that continued operation of the school is not the best use of Church resources. Our decision is also based in part on the projected enrollment for next school year. After much thought and prayer, the Board of Directors has decided to close the school as of the end of this current school year.

We have learned that the Church’s land is being sold to a housing developer. If this is true, I would have expected a more forthcoming letter, one closer to the truth. After all, it is a Christian School, part of a Baptist Church. They should be truthful, they should be better. I would also have wanted a bit more time, to search and register Kent in another school.

Not long ago the Church changed it’s name from “Parkway Baptist Church” to “C3”. That cryptic name means “Connecting the Community with Christ”. The church sent letters/cards via mail to close-by neighborhoods announcing the name change, and inviting people to attend to it. Is it selling out and abandoning the community another way to “connect” with it? I don’t think so.

Yes, I am pissed and mad. Kent was looking so much forward to his first grade, with his friends and teachers he had already met and liked. Now the dreams of a little boy are shattered.

¹⁵ People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. ¹⁶ But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷ I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” – Luke 18:15-17

This post is full of conjectures. I really would like to know everything about what’s happening. I think we deserve it. The truth. And why.

Update 07 Dec 2007

Yes, they sold it.

Made in China

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:00:00 +0000

I don’t have a particular problem with China. I admire its very old culture, its people resourcefulness and their resilience, among other things. But when I see everything I buy here in the U.S. made in China, I feel uncomfortable. It tells me something is wrong with the way we are doing business.

It isn’t the “Made in China” the thing that bugs me. It’s the everything “Made in China” that does. And the quality of it, which is bad overall. It is the sense of dependency. We have become a consumerist society, but one that consumes low quality items. Chinese products might be cheap to produce, even a good deal for our business here, but they are now reaching prices not to cheap for the consumer while the quality remains the same or lower.

Nation businesses that pride themselves of being on the market for hundreds of years, making their products their bread and butter are now having the same products made in China. Should that “pride” remain? I think they fool themselves. Highly recognized Japanese brands, like Canon, Nikon, etc., are having their products made in China as well. And yes, the drop in quality is distinguishable.

We will be going to a vacation soon. It will be our first vacation overseas in six or seven years. We want to bring presents, but we are having a very hard time finding gifts for friends and family that are U.S.A made. I totally refuse to bring something made somewhere else.

Microsoft is a crying baby

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 14:00:00 +0000

What does Microsoft do when they don’t get it their way? They cry like babies, they snitch and they try to use their mu$cle to get things their way.

Microsoft Urges Review of Google-DoubleClick Deal – Microsoft, a veteran defendant of epic antitrust battles in the United States and Europe, is urging regulators to consider scuttling Google’s plan to buy DoubleClick, an online advertising company.

Microsoft contends that the $3.1 billion deal, announced on Friday, would hurt competition in the fast-growing market for advertising on the Web and raises questions about how much personal information would be collected by Google, already a dominant player in online advertising.

[…]

Microsoft was one of the companies, along with Yahoo and Time Warner, that lost out to Google in the bidding for DoubleClick. – New York Times

See what I am saying? The more I see them (Microsoft) behaving, the less I like them.

Women of color?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:00:00 +0000

That term, women of color, emphasized by me below has always puzzled me. Aren’t all women and, as a matter of fact, all of us “of color”? What kind of silly (avoiding the use of a stronger word) terminology is that? And, why aren’t those “people of goodwill” asking for the same treatment to be given to rappers, comedians, writers, etc? Utterly stupid.

CBS chairman, Leslie Moonves – “Those who have spoken with us the last few days represent people of goodwill from all segments of our society –all races, economic groups, men and women alike. In our meetings with concerned groups, there has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society.”

— CBS drops Imus Radio Show

This has gone too far. Every time I see a black “reverend” involved into things like this, it makes me sick. They seem to have forgotten they “can’t serve two masters.”

Canon PowerShot A640

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Recently we decided to replace our old Sony little camera, since quite a few photos are going to be taken in the near future, and the poor Cyber-Shot we had really wasn’t up to the task. With an under $400 budget, I picked the Canon PowerShot A640, and the picture below is the first one I took, on total automatic mode.

More will come in the near future, as we will have our first real vacation in six years.

iPhone is near, Leopard not so

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:00:00 +0000

For many Apple fans (me included) that were anxiously waiting for both products, this is a good and slight bad news. Good news, iPhone is on track and it will be delivered as promised. Slight bad news, we will have to wait a bit longer for the Big Cat to come out.

Apple - Hot News – iPhone has already passed several of its required certification tests and is on schedule to ship in late June as planned. We can’t wait until customers get their hands (and fingers) on it and experience what a revolutionary and magical product it is. However, iPhone contains the most sophisticated software ever shipped on a mobile device, and finishing it on time has not come without a price as we had to borrow some key software engineering and QA resources from our Mac OS X team, and as a result we will not be able to release Leopard at our Worldwide Developers Conference in early June as planned. While Leopard’s features will be complete by then, we cannot deliver the quality release that we and our customers expect from us. We now plan to show our developers a near final version of Leopard at the conference, give them a beta copy to take home so they can do their final testing, and ship Leopard in October. We think it will be well worth the wait. Life often presents tradeoffs, and in this case we’re sure we’ve made the right ones." – Apr 12, 2007 – Apple Inc.

Of course, this all brings some advantage to me. I was planning on buying a new Apple Mac upon Leopard release. The delay just gives me more time to save.

Vista, don't like it? Too bad!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:00:00 +0000

It seems that for those individuals who do not build their own machines –that is, assemble them– there will be no choice when it comes to pick their OS.

Windows XP to be phased out by year’s end despite customer demand – Computer makers have been told they’ll no longer be able to get Windows XP OEM by the end of this year, despite consumer resistance to Vista and its compatibility problems.

By early 2008, Microsoft’s contracts with computer makers will require companies to only sell Vista-loaded machines. “The OEM version of XP Professional goes next January,” said Frank Luburic, senior ThinkPad product manager for Lenovo. “At that point, they’ll have no choice.” – APC Magazine

I was expecting to see something like this somewhere around Vista’s SP1 or so. I guess I was wrong, unless Vista SP1 is around the corner and we don’t know it.

Thought of the day

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 14:00:00 +0000

If your weblog or site –in general– advertising is slowing down the load of pages to an almost complete halt, it is time to re-think and take a different marketing approach. Your writings and your advertising are been missing. You may as well cancel your hosting and print what you want to say, along with the advertisings.

GoDaddy and MediaTemple

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Not long ago I was looking for a new collocation provider. I was with ServerBeach, as I am right now, but the friend I was teaming up with to share the expenses wanted to move from Linux to a Windows server, and I have nothing to do with one –Windows server, that is. Since I couldn’t afford to pay the fees on my own, I was off to find a new provider.

Having used Virtual Servers in the past, I decided to give it a try again, and picked GoDaddy, mainly because they have been my registrar for long time and I had no complains with the service received, and because their VS prices are very tempting. To make the long story short, I ended up getting and canceling the service withing two days. Why? They do not allow full control of port 25, you must relay through their mail hubs. That is unacceptable for me. That is not spelled out when getting the service, and it isn’t part of the agreement you must accept. Off I went to the “searching board”, again.

This time I picked MediaTemple, mainly because some weblog luminaries recommend them so well. Their VS are expensive, compared with GoDaddy’s, but “if their service is as good as these recognized webloggers claim, –I thought– I am willing to sacrifice.” Well, they treat VS, which isn’t supposed to be managed, as a managed service. They do not allow changes on certain key files, for example. If they provide VS claiming it is unmanaged, I should have full control over it, even if I break things up. That is not the case . Their 24 hours technical support lacks of knowledge for things beyond “I forgot my password” and everything else must wait on tickets. Once again, service canceled and back to the search.

I ended up coming back to my trusted ServerBeach, splitting the costs again, this time with an even better deal. It felt good to be back “at home”. If you are looking for collocation, really look no further. You will not be disappointed with any of the ServerBeach products, technical and customer support. Guaranteed.

Small changes here and there

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:00:00 +0000

I have changed, once again, the theme around here, as you can see. Simple approaches have always been my favorites and this one excels in simplicity, hence the name I have given it, “Simplissimo”. It is a modified version of a WordPress theme based on an original Typo theme. As you can see, I have done slight (or not so slight) changes to make it mine. And still might change more or I might change it all together. Yes, again.

If you have OpenID enabled on your URI, it will be used when you leave comments and a local account will be created. If not, then it will behave just like any other weblog out there, and set a cookie for you. As I said, I am still fine tunning; I am also interested on knowing how does it look on a Mac. Bear with me –or let me know– if something shows broken.

Stop spamming, GoDaddy!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 14:00:00 +0000

I have several domains registered at Godaddy. For the ones I care about, I have auto renew enabled. For those I am letting go, I don’t. Godaddy gentlemanly reminds me when those about to expire domains are about to do so… four months in advance! The email “reminders” do not cease from there on. And then regular mail (snail mail, that is) starts coming to my mailbox as well.

Don’t you get it, Godaddy? I do not want to renew those domains. If I wanted, I would have set auto renew. Please stop sending me emails –you are borderline to spamming–, stop sending me letters at home. Stop getting in my face.

Is there any difference?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Is has always amazed me how people or groups of people self segregate, while voicing their concerns about discrimination and inequality.

Some websites have come across lately that really puzzle me. To show a couple, Black Engineer and The Black Collegian. Why? It doesn’t make any sense to me. Are engineers different because of their ethnic background, or because of their field of knowledge? Shouldn’t all Colleges teach the same, regardless of the ethnicity of their students? Mechanical Engineer versus Electrical Engineer, both engineers, different fields. Pharmacy College versus Law College, makes sense. Do you know what I mean? Also, I wonder what would it happen and if there would be an uproar if someone decided to create a White Engineer College, magazine, etc. It would be equally stupid, but I am sure it would not last long.

Human immense stupidity do not ceases to amaze me.

Dabbling with OpenID

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:00:00 +0000

I have implemented OpenID commenting here, and I have gone one step further, by allowing commenting only after logged in, while using OpenID. This isn’t to avoid comment spam, which I think it will happen regardless. I am encouraging the use of the technology, which others might consider flawed (the CardInfo lovers, etc).

All OpenID providers are accepted, of course. I have even setup a small OpenID server of my own as well. Lets see how it goes.

Two visions?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Mark posted yesterday that he will be working for Google, since out of the “two visions” of the web, he says, Google is the right one. I am not web savvy nor I really care much about it, but I am sure there is more than two visions on the web, there is not right and wrong, but many, many, many shades in between. But the way I see it, the bottom line in my mind: he is going to work for someone who will pay him very well. Yes, bottom line is all about money. Specially when there is a family to support. And that, my friend, is a single vision, but the most important one of all.

I too would do anything for the well being of my family.

More changes coming

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 14:00:00 +0000

For the first time I am working on creating a complete theme here. The last time I had a decent one was back when WordPress 1.5 was around, for which themes weren’t implemented as they are now.

No much have been happening in life. I don’t have much to tell right now, other that those minor breadcrumbs of life. Actually, I have a few things I want to write, if anything to keep record online of what happened. Those few things involve GoDaddy and Media Temple. But it will be a future topic, not right now.

The changes are mainly aesthetics. I am also making sure everyone knows I am still around. Yes, this is David typing this. No one else could fake my incredibly bad grammar.

Post Katrina crime increase

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Ever since after Katrina we have seeing crime increase to levels never saw before in Orlando. Crime has been so high, that it has placed our city on the top most 25 dangerous cities in the States. Orlando, City Beautiful, rated higher than Miami on crime. Every single day more than 4-5 people die victim of a violent crime. Others get injured. It seems other cities/states are experiencing similar problems.

I have worked for almost 10 years at UCF and I never saw graffiti on restrooms walls. All that changed last year—and even this new 2007. Graffiti, trash left over and things getting destroyed is becoming part of the Campus daily life. So sad.

I want my city back!

It's time to say goodbye

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 14:00:00 +0000

It’s almost time to say goodbye to 2006 and welcome 2007. This will be – I think – my last entry of the year. A few has happened to the Collantes’ family in 2006, but the most important thing is that we have kept together, and that we have being blessed in many ways. Kent Martin has brought joy to our lives, so much joy we did not know existed. He is the main reason I love life. He and my wife, Kim.

To all – those who might read and those passing by (including bots and all)– … Merry Christmas and Happy New 2007!

Heavy Microsoft ads on Freshmeat

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 14:00:00 +0000

Freshmeat is, in their own words, “the first stop for Linux users hunting for the software they need for work or play.” and it also “offers a variety of original content on technical, political, and social aspects of software and programming, written by both Freshmeat readers and Free Software luminaries.”

I have been very surprised to see, more and more, Microsoft ads on Freshmeat. All over the place. Quite often. Freshmeat lists thousands of applications, “[…] preferably released under an open source license […]” . Microsoft != Open source. In fact, Microsoft considers open source a virus (well, at least Ballmer does). Why an, mainly, open source software repository will sell out like that?

I liked Freshmeat, and Slashdot. They were fresh (no pun intended), innovative. I liked them a lot when both weren’t part of the OSTG, which is part of VA Software Corporation. Their decandence started then, somehow.

Why Vista is not going in

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 14:00:00 +0000

I was talking —well, chatting— the other day with a friend of mine and he was telling me some bad experiences he had had with a Windows Media Center upgrade. That got me talking about Windows Vista, perhaps it is because Windows Vista Ultimate comes with it, I am not sure. Anyways…

I told my friend I am not installing Vista (although I have Windows Vista Ultimate —the final version of Vista, no beta, no RC, but final— as part of my MSDN subscription). And I listed three main reasons:

Windows Vista doesn’t offer anything that I need and, sincerely, nothing that I want (I know, I should have stopped here, and make it a one point reason).
Not all the devices/parts I have on my home built machine will have Windows Vista drivers, hence they might not work right, or might not work at all.
Even if Vista had something that I needed/wanted, I am not willing to sacrifice my current applications/games performance, by sharing the available resources (video memory, system memory, CPU, etc) with an OS that is, indeed, resource hungry.

And that’s that.

Wired News: Apple's iPhone is Calling

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 14:00:00 +0000

Wired News: Apple’s iPhone is Calling

The most likely scenario, as Jupiter analyst Ian Fogg has pointed out, is that the iPhone will be a stand-alone device that will accept a standard SIM card. You’ll pop the SIM card out of your current cell phone and plug it into the iPhone. It’ll be just like buying an unlocked handset from Asia, except you’ll buy it at an Apple store instead of on Craigslist.

An iPhone with no provider strings attached would be better for the online iTunes store than selling tunes over the airwaves, as some cell companies are trying to do.

As Fogg notes: “Apple could continue to sell music via PCs and make its traditional retail margins. This approach doesn’t even need an expensive 3-G radio – which would help Apple keep handset cost, size and weight down and make the handset competitive with (relatively) bloated 3-G handsets sold by operators.”

If this were to be true, all I have to say, in awe, is… nice!

Winds of change

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 14:00:00 +0000

It seems winds of change had blown, brought by the mid-term elections. And yes, change was (is) what we needed. I am cautiously happy. After all, it is politics what we are talking about here.

Craigslist founder will not sell

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 14:00:00 +0000

The founder of craigslist, the free social-networking and classifieds Web site, said on Thursday he is not interested in selling out, just hours after MySpace.com was valued at $15 billion.

“Who needs the money? We don’t really care,” Craig Newmark said in an interview at the Picnic ‘06 Cross Media Week conference in Amsterdam.

“If you’re living comfortably, what’s the point of having more?” Newmark said.

[…]

Newmark said raising the money to subsequently give it away to good causes also did not interest him.

“Finding a good cause is incredibly hard and time-consuming,” he said, adding that he and Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster agree on not cashing in.

“We both know some people who own more than a billion (dollars) and they’re not any the happier. They also need bodyguards,” he said.

Somehow I really like the way this guy thinks. He is living comfortably. He doesn’t want or need to have more. I wish more people (if not everyone) would think like him.

Electoral signs: my approach

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 14:00:00 +0000

On every single election “season” I can see a multitude of signs and advertising that often remains until “natural decay” or the city gets them removed, 6 months –or more– after the elections are over. That really makes me mad. I would make it part of the process of being elected: if you win, you cannot take over office until you clean up all your garbage. And if they don’t, a hefty fine gets applied, they get ridiculed and their seat is up for claiming.

This mid-term elections I will not only vote for the less liar of the candidates, but for the one that has none or less signs.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 14:00:00 +0000

David Wu, democratic congressman representing the state of Oregon reportedly said, referring to the Military Commissions Act of 2006 recently signed into law:

Let us say that my wife, who is here in the gallery with us tonight, a sixth generation Oregonian, is walking by the friendly, local military base and is picked up as an unlawful enemy combatant. What is her recourse? She says, I am a U.S. citizen. That is a jurisdictional fact under this statute, and she will not have recourse to the courts? She can take it to Donald Rumsfeld, but she cannot take it across the street to an article 3 court.

Also read Beginning of the End of America, by Keith Olbermann. Perilous times, my fellow American. Perilous times.

Three years ago

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 14:00:00 +0000

In light of everything happening in Asia, specifically on the Korean peninsula, I remembered what I wrote three years ago, more or less. It took them three years to develop something that can be tested (a bomb), or were they working already on it for a long time and our intelligence was ‘asleep’? If it was the first, they could already have a way to deliver it overseas, and if it is the second, we may not even know it.

I really wish my kid would have born in the 80’s.

Too busy, too much money or...

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 14:00:00 +0000

Our College is trying to re-design. Our web manager has been assigned to some other project of more importance (Dean’s order), so he can’t tackle the conversion of the existing website to a full blown CMS driven one. Other than the locals we have seeing and sit through presentations and proposals, I sent emails –very brief ones, but to the point– to Dan Cederholm, Dan Bejamin (we live in the same town), and David Shea. They are web designers/backend programmers. They do that for a living. None of them has replied, now almost three weeks after the email was sent.

I noticed Dan Benjamin is selling some used Mac equipment, and he wants to be contacted. “Please send me an email and we’ll talk.”, he writes. I only hope that potential buyers emails go to the same place mine went and receive the same treatment – It seems he answered the potential buyers really quick, the “gear” is sold.

I always answer all my valid (not junk/spam) emails. If only to say “No”, “Yes”, “I can’t” or simply “Hi”. It is called education.

God is bad

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:00:00 +0000

“Papá, if you get close to a shark, what would he do to you?” –Kent asks one day. “Well –I replied–, if it is hungry he will most likely attack you, try to eat you. If not, he will be scared and swim away. Sharks are by nature afraid of humans and will only come close to them if they are very hungry.”

“God is bad. Why would he make sharks, if they could hurt us?” –he asks again. “Sharks have a very little brain, they can’t make a difference from what’s right or wrong. They can’t think, just like you and me,” I replied. “But why God make them like that? Why?” – Silence.

“God is bad!”

We, the forgetful

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 14:00:00 +0000

I am often intrigued, saddened, worried, by the human “natural” forgetful nature. Since the beginning of time, we haven’t kept memories of lost, gone ones. Did any of you remember –or even knew of– your great-grandparents? How many generations do you have knowledge of? When you are gone, how many years will you be remembered? Why do we forget? Why? What can we do to change that? Going through a life of accomplishments –or lack of, it doesn’t matter– and ending up in the void. Isn’t it sad?

Sometimes I wish we knew the real meaning of life. But I am afraid, afraid we will find there is none. And afraid is just a figurative word; I can’t come up with a word, when there is not a certain knowledge of an emotion to attach it to.

As for this post, don’t worry. I am not feeling down, I just keep thinking.

Here without you - WoW

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 14:00:00 +0000

An amateur video composed of Word of Warcraft game scenes, which my kid loves dearly.

Here without you (Dimoroc and Redsword are on my server now!)

On vacation now, typing this from beautiful Sterling, Virginia.

Why?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 23 May 2006 14:00:00 +0000

While visiting South today I found, once again, this quote that I like so much:

The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is this, ‘What is the use of climbing Mount Everest?’ and my answer must at once be, ‘It is no use.’ We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron. We shall not find a single foot of earth that can be planted with crops to raise food. It’s no use. So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.

Couldn’t the same quotation be applied to life itself?

Blue Security has gone down

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 17 May 2006 14:00:00 +0000

Blue Security has announced it has ceased their anti-spam operations. From their website (which could be down as I type this):

As we cannot build the Blue Security business on the foundation we originally envisioned, we are discontinuing all of our anti-spam activities on your behalf and are exploring other, non spam-related avenues for our technological developments. As much as it saddens us, we believe this is the responsible thing to do.

To which I replied, via email, to their press relations contact:

Hi there!

You thought you lost? You haven’t, yet! Open source the server, web module and client. Release it to the community. You will see how 1,000’s if not millions of Blue Security’s alike will raise and spammers will ‘really’ know how hell feels like.

Open the source, let us have it. Your company will always live in us.

Don’t you think that would be a good idea? I think it would.

Do not phone and drive

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 16 May 2006 14:00:00 +0000

It infuriates me the idiots who think (and insist) that driving a car while talking on their mobile phones represents no problem for them or those around. Well, it does, fools! I have done it, I confess –although I have stopped doing so for a while, unless it is a real emergency– and I know what I am talking about. A driver handling a phone conversation while driving is impaired. It is!

So, for the stupids out there still using their mobile phones to keep their idiotic conversations (idiotic, because on a 99.9% percent of the time it is senseless conversation or a conversation that can wait for a more appropriated time), stop. I was one of you, I was able to quit. You could too.

Nazi crimes archives set to open

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 16 May 2006 14:00:00 +0000

BBC News: Nazi crimes archives to set open.

The 47 million files hold Nazi records of forced labourers, concentration camp victims and political prisoners. They have been used to help people trace their relatives, but were kept closed to protect victims’ privacy. Many people felt the files should be opened to historical researchers to ensure the details of the Holocaust (Nazis genocide) are not forgotten.

Yes, we must not forget. We need to be reminded daily. We, the most forgetful of the living beings.

Why e-mails are so easily missunderstood

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 15 May 2006 14:00:00 +0000

Very interesting read and, in my case, it has proven to be as close to truth as it can be. Go read the whole thing, it is worth it.

Though e-mail is a powerful and convenient medium, researchers have identified three major problems. First and foremost, e-mail lacks cues like facial expression and tone of voice. That makes it difficult for recipients to decode meaning well. Second, the prospect of instantaneous communication creates an urgency that pressures e-mailers to think and write quickly, which can lead to carelessness. Finally, the inability to develop personal rapport over e-mail makes relationships fragile in the face of conflict.

Gmail for Domains

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 12 May 2006 14:00:00 +0000

Yesterday I received my invitation to move my Collantes.US domain over Google, to handle all mail by using the Gmail interface. That is Google new beta testing of hosted email for corporations or midsize companies. I don’t have a midsize company, but have a big family, so I qualified. Collantes.US, of course, is way too valuable for beta testing, but I have several more domains I can use, so I decided to resubmit my request. This morning a new message inviting the new domain was on my Gmail inbox. Yay!

Gmail for domains is awesome! It has everything you have gotten to know and love about Gmail, only with your domain in it. It gives you the ability to create your own users, change the logo to match your company and a whole administration that my four years old kid could use. Better yet! Gtalk now works too in the way of yourname@yourdomain.tld! How great is that folks!?

Once again, two thumbs up for Google. Guys, you rock!

Neoseeker: IBM will not use Windows[...]

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 14:00:00 +0000

IBM will not use Windows Vista - but will move to Linux desktops - Neoseeker News Article: IBM switching to Linux desktops in Germany according to a Linux Forum 2006 presentation by their head of open source and Linux sales in Germany.

You can't do that!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 14:00:00 +0000

Technology, Technology news, Times Online

“I can’t believe that your company would allow people to make money from something that you allow people to have free access to. Is this really the case?” she asked.

“If Mozilla permit the sale of copied versions of its software, it makes it virtually impossible for us, from a practical point of view, to enforce UK anti-piracy legislation, as it is difficult for us to give general advice to businesses over what is/is not permitted.”

Confussed

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 14:00:00 +0000

I have not written for a long time. I am in a state of confussion and change. I feel the urge to redefine life and things around me, I just don’t know how and when to start. And that urge to redefine does not relates to this weblog, even though the weblog falls into the category of “things around me.”

I am around, I am not dead (Kim and Kent need me). I am trying to find my way.

The Chocolate Imbecile

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 14:00:00 +0000

I can’t get it out of mind. How a person can be so idiotic? The major of New Orleans, Ray Nagin said, among other things:

“Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it’s destroyed and put stress on this country”

[…]

“Surely he doesn’t approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses.”

[…]

“But surely he is upset at black America also. We’re not taking care of ourselves.”

[…]

“This city will be chocolate at the end of the day” (meaning that the city will be mainly for black americans.)

All of the above remarks are so idiotic, so imbecile, that I can’t understand how or why someone would say something like that. That he is, still, a major boggles my mind.

BBC goes WoW again!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 14:00:00 +0000

Although this new “interview” involves only Horde players, the latest BBC article about WoW is awesome and it gives some very sutil but good insides of the game.

I’ts popularity can be primarily attributed to its accessibility. The game is easy, plain and simple.

It’s more forgiving than most other online role-playing games on the market, and does not take as much dedicated playing or “grinding” to reach the top level. It appeals to a casual market and a broader spectrum of ages.

— BBC News Technology

Tryggr, my main character, has reached level 57 now. A Rogue (dwarf) level 20 and a Paladin (dwarf) level 29 keeps him in company. All still in Argent Dawn. Kent characters, a Priest (night elf) level 10 (Alviss) and an Mage (undead) level 5 (Luciferous) reside on the same server.

What can I say, WoW is awesome! :-)

BBC and WoW

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 14:00:00 +0000

From one article on today’s BBC Online news:

Occasionally gryphons and hippogriffs swept majestically overhead taking their riders to elsewhere in Azeroth or, as it is also known, the World of Warcraft (WoW).

At the edge of the computer screen chatter constantly scrolled past as other WoW players sought members forguilds, buyers for magical items, help with quests or engaged in idle banter.

Go and read: A Walk in the World of Warcraft.

Still playing

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 14:00:00 +0000

Yes guys and gals, still playing WoW and loving it. Tryggr on Argent Dawn is already at level 48 and things are getting harder. Lots of quests can’t no longer be done alone and it is hard to find good players to group.

Soon Blizzard will allow characters moving, from server to server as well as accounts merging. I might decide then to move to another server. I am not sure it is going to be a PvP one, Anthony :-)

I know, you are bored with my babbling about WoW. You will not know exactly what I am talking about until you have try it. Go, give it a try! Then come back and join me on my ramblings…

Note

Patch 1.7 is out with new awesome things and lots of corrections. Yay!

The reason of my absence

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 14:00:00 +0000

I have not been posting anything in here, and I am afraid it might not happen for a while now. The reason I have been (and will be) away is Wow (World of Warcraft). I have been playing WoW for almost a month now and my character has so far reached level 41.

If you are playing WoW, I am on Argent Dawn, RP Server and my main character is Tryggr, a dwarf warrior. Get in touch!

Microsoft Security Bulletins

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 14:00:00 +0000

This is the second time that I receive a Microsoft Security Bulletin and, since Microsoft uses PGP to sign their bulletins, I have decided to check their signature validity. I don’t know if this has been a flaw in the past as well, since I delete those bulletins without even reading them most of the time, but in the two occassions I have checked them, they had failed to verify, since the signature is bad.

[-- Begin GPG Output (Wed Jul 13 08:30:48 2005) --] 
Signature made 07/12/05 10:47:53 using RSA key ID AA55BC66  
BAD signature from "Microsoft Security Response Center" <secure@microsoft.com>  
[--End GPG Output --]

What’s wrong with these people?

Worse hurricane season?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 14:00:00 +0000

With Dennis –the hurricane, that is– Florida has had 5 hurricanes in less than a year. And it seems it could get a bit worse.

LOXAHATCHEE, FL – A wildlife expert in south Florida says turtles may be giving us a sign that the hurricane season ahead is going to be a bad one.

Lyle Thomas said he’s noticed turtles at the edge of the Everglades have nested just about as high as they can in earthen levees.

Thomas operates Loxahatchee Everglade Tours and said he first noticed the turtles moving higher last year, before four hurricanes hit Florida.

This year, Thomas said, the nests are even higher than they were last year. – WFTV News

Perhaps we ought to pay more attention to our sorroundings, since we have lost those abilities ourselves.

Britons, our brothers and sisters

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 14:00:00 +0000

Once again some (insert some lots of bad words here) terrorists have tried to affect the civilized world by detonating bombs and killing innocent people. They’ve cause pain, allright, but their final goal has failed, as it will always do. Britons are not afraid, civilized world is more united because of those dumb (some more bad words here).

We are more united than ever. United Kingdom of England and North Ireland, all our love and support from the other side of the ocean!

Mention two

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 14:00:00 +0000

My parents are visiting. They got here July 3rd and on July 4th dad was telling me they needed to leave the coming Friday. My old people are really something, but that is not what I wanted to post about.

My father talks, continuously, a lot. He will start with a simple answer to a question I asked and go on into various topics and anecdotes that seem not to have an end. One of tonight twists brought up his statement (seconded by my mother’s) about President George W. Bush: “He is a very good President”, said my father, to which my mother joined “I like him very much”. Now, I forgot to tell you, my parents are old. Old as in 86 years old my dad and 78 years old my mom. They voted for Bush, they have always voted Republican since they have been in U.S.A., no matter ‘who’, no matter ‘what’. The came here quite old already though. Perhaps that will explain.

Normally, I will word fight a bit with them, to make their brain function and add some excitement to their lives. Awakening passion for anything on an old person I believe do them good. Not tonight. So, when I heard my father assert that I asked him to tell me three things for which he believed Mr. Bush was a good President. Got some silence. I asked, further more, ok, give me just two. More silence. I have given him till tomorrow to come up with something.

Like my parents, there are millions of old people. It is sad, but for me they are somehow justified, they are old and gullible. Their mind can’t process like the rest of us. What I can’t accept and understand are those younger citizens, who should know better, who should research and made up their own minds and still let themselves be manipulated by others.

Downing Street Memo

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 14:00:00 +0000

I have known about this since it was released to the News media, but I haven’t comment about it here. I am providing a link to the contents of the Memo (pretty small read, I assure you) as they showed on the Times Online on May 1st, 2005. Draw your conclusions. I just want to quote a few parts of it. The document itself says it all, really.

…C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime’s record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action…

…No decisions had been taken, but he thought the most likely timing in US minds for military action to begin was January, with the timeline beginning 30 days before the US Congressional elections…

…The Foreign Secretary said he would discuss this with Colin Powell this week. It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbors, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force…

Oh boy, oh boy… don’t you think?

USA PATRIOT Act

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 14:00:00 +0000

A lot has been said and written about the “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act”, commonly known as USA PATRIOT Act, but they are quite diverse interpretations —some biased—, mainly because the whole Act is written on 300 pages of legalese. Recently I found the Electronic Frontier Foundation page about such Act, which sums it up in the following points (as far as why should we care):

The law dramatically expands the ability of states and the Federal Government to conduct surveillance of American citizens

The Government can monitor an individual’s web surfing records, use roving wiretaps to monitor phone calls made by individuals “proximate” to the primary person being tapped, access Internet Service Provider records, and monitor the private records of people involved in legitimate protests.

PATRIOT is not limited to terrorism

The Government can add samples to DNA databases for individuals convicted of “any crime of violence.” Government spying on suspected computer trespassers (not just terrorist suspects) requires no court order. Wiretaps are now allowed for any suspected violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, offering possibilities for Government spying on any computer user.

Foreign and domestic intelligence agencies can more easily spy on Americans

Powers under the existing Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) have been broadened to allow for increased surveillance opportunities. FISA standards are lower than the constitutional standard applied by the courts in regular investigations. PATRIOT partially repeals legislation enacted in the 1970s that prohibited pervasive surveillance of Americans.

PATRIOT eliminates Government accountability

While PATRIOT freely eliminates privacy rights for individual Americans, it creates more secrecy for Government activities, making it extremely difficult to know about actions the Government is taking.

PATRIOT authorizes the use of “sneak and peek” search warrants in connection with any federal crime, including misdemeanour’s.

A “sneak and peek” warrant authorizes law enforcement officers to enter private premises without the occupant’s permission or knowledge and without informing the occupant that such a search was conducted.

The Department of Justice, with little input from Congress and the American people, is developing follow-on legislation

The Domestic Security Enhancement Act (nicknamed Patriot II) — which would greatly expand PATRIOT’s already sweeping powers.

I also found a very interesting article over Slate, writen by Dahlia Lithwick and Julia Turner on September 8th, 2003 that, albeit being 4 pages long, explains key points of such Act in a very plain and simple way. You ought to browse over and read it, since it is quite enlightening and as I said, easy to read.

Even though my “readership” is not that diverse and rather small, I would be interested to know your opinion —whether you have read the Slate article (or others) or not— or feedback — if you have read it — about this matter. It is my believe that USA PATRIOT Act is too flawed to be kept in existence. I believe it must sunset. What do you think?

Happy Birthday!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 14:00:00 +0000

Today, a few years ago, a wonderful person –at least very wonderful to me– was born. A few years later I was lucky enough to meet her and become her husband.

Today Kim reaches a new milestone and it is with love that Kent I have to say: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Terri's autopsy: What does it means?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 14:00:00 +0000

The results of Terri Schiavo’s autopsy were released today. BBC News reported:

Examiner John Throgmartin said there was no evidence of trauma or strangulation prior to Schiavo’s collapse. The autopsy also could not prove that she was suffering from an eating disorder at the time – her diminished potassium levels at the time could have been affected by emergency treatment. The 41-year-old was found not to have suffered a heart attack or been administered harmful drugs or other substances before her death. She died of dehydration. The report also said her brain was only half its normal size at her death. She was incapable of surviving without her feeding tube, Mr Throgmartin said, adding that she was blind and incapable of thinking, feeling or interacting with her environment. “This damage was irreversible, and no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons,” he said.

What does that means? Well, that politicians should not put their noses where it doesn’t belong, that the whole case went completely out of proportions. It means they should give the poor woman a rest, they should give her ex-husband a rest.

No more Freedom Fries?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 14:00:00 +0000

It was really interesting to read on the BBC News:

A pro-Iraq war US congressman who campaigned for French fries to be renamed “freedom fries” is now calling for US troops to return home from Iraq. Republican Representative Walter Jones is to introduce legislation demanding a timetable for the withdrawal.

[…]

“I just feel that the reason of going in for weapons of mass destruction, the ability of the Iraqis to make a nuclear weapon, that’s all been proven that it was never there.”

— Walter Jones (North Carolina Senator)

Not guilty!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 14:00:00 +0000

This is just news:

Singer Michael Jackson has been found innocent on all 10 charges of child abuse at the end of his trial.

The singer strenuously denied the charges of molesting a 13-year-old boy. There were cheers from his fans outside the court as the verdicts were read.

He was also cleared of giving the child alcohol and conspiring to kidnap him and his family. – BBC News

Now, let’s sue those “parents”. Bastards!

They advertise with the best

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 14:00:00 +0000

Imagine my surprise when I saw the following Google Ad showing under one of my posts this morning:

[Was a screenshot of a Microsoft MSN advertisement on Google]

I guess Microsoft knows who is the best, right? I mean, the only way to see that advertising (other than serving adds on your own web space) is by searching the web using Google. I think it is funny… and interesting.

Chosen by God?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 14:00:00 +0000

I have heard in several occasions, and read quite a few times, that President George W. Bush believes he was chosen (appointed) by God to be our President. God, supposedly, wants nothing but well being for us all, right? Then I would like to know what Mr. Bush is doing to end the killing, abuse and hunger (among other things) from places like Central, South America and Caribbean, Africa and great parts of Asia.

Some say God acts in mysterious ways. Boy, I am about to believe it!

Changes

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 14:00:00 +0000

Changes are coming soon. After a couple of years with the same patched interface I am about to a) have it right and migrate it to WP 1.5 or b) asimilate an existing WP template and start fresh. The advances behind WP 1.5.1 are way too attracting, I am not going to wait any longer.

So, should you tomorrow (or next month) come and find things completely different, do not fret. I am changing things around… once again.

Musical batons and other memes

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 14:00:00 +0000

I hate the “Musical Baton” and any other type of Memes (Friday’s craps, “This or That” imbecile lists, etc). Just do a quick search at Google and you will know what I am talking about.

Single sign on

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 29 May 2005 14:00:00 +0000

Since I am going to start migrating all my web logins to a single sign on approach (using Chris Zarate SuperGenPass), I think the best way to start is by saving the bookmarklet I will have to use over and over. There is a Greasemonkey version available, which has much more features than this bookmarklet version. I will use the latest because it works with all browsers.

The bookmarklet is: Single Sign on.. Drag and drop it on your bookmarks, lets see if it works (Firefox only). Firefox users can also use a Greasemonkey script for this. You can read more about that one at the developer’s website.

Update 30 May 2005

George point me out to the original version website (which I knew, by the way. My bad for not mentioning it).

PGP Corporation Decadence

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 28 May 2005 14:00:00 +0000

Recently PGP Corporation released their latest version of the PGP software created by Phil Zimmerman and made famous by millions of users around the world (me included). I wish I could say such latest release is great, but I can’t.

The new PGP Desktop 9.0 (or 9.0.1 beta as of this writting) come with a few new “features” and lacks of a few others that any old school PGP user might notice right away. It also comes with it fair amount of bugs and programming slopiness. The most prominent new feature is the lack of an Outlook plugin, since it comes with a built-in Mail Proxy. It also comes with a Whole Disk Encryption that, as the name reads, allows you to completely encrypt your hard drive, with authentication at boot time.

The release is buggy and lacks of decent documentation and formal support. The only support available is at the PGP Forums, but little help can be gotten from there. The PGP Whole Disk Encryption does not works on RAID systems (at least it doesn’t on my SATA RAID 1), spitting out a BSDO. The Mail Proxy re-writes your emails, breaking up formatting and creating random mayhem. If you want to know first hand the problems that people has encountered, browse over their forums and see it for yourself. I also encountered many other little problems, too many to list.

If you are using PGP 8.0.x (or any other version as a matter of fact), I recommend you stick with it, the new 9.0 bring more headaches than goodies. And if you really want to “upgrade”, go ahead and grab GNUPG and the plugin that make it interact with Outlook or Enigmal, if you use Thunderbird. For filesystem tasks (signing, encrypting, decrypting, hashing, etc) use GPGShell.

Note 29 May 2005

This entry is a stub. It might grow if I decide to create the long list of problems that PGP 9.0 has brought.

Shameful website

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 28 May 2005 14:00:00 +0000

Have you ever tried going to the U.S. website for Kenwood? Kenwood, you know, that audio equipment, transceivers maker, etc? Go look! They ought to be ashamed!

Your Privacy at stake

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 14:00:00 +0000

Something very infortunated has happened and I want to encourage you, and the people you know, to help amend this by signing the petition and emailing your elected officials as soon as possible.

The NTIA, which is the telecommunications and Internet arm of the Department of Commerce, has disallowed private registrations for .US domain names. This unfortunate decision was made by the NTIA, without a hearing or an opportunity for a response by those affected – in fact; there was no due process of any kind. It’s ironic that the NTIA has taken away our first amendment rights to privacy for the one domain name (.US) that is specifically intended for Americans. These bureaucrats stripped away the privacy that you’re entitled to as an American; on the only domain name that says that you are an American.

Even while the NTIA has ruthlessly criticized ICANN in the past for lack of transparency, the NTIA itself has been evasive and untruthful about the entire process, and has yet to provide a satisfactory explanation for the move.

After giving only two weeks’ notice, the NTIA has stated that they would not consider any arguments and that its decision is final, leaving thousands of .US domain owners confused and exposed.

What you can do about it

Simply sign the petition on this site and send an email to your elected representatives in Washington, D.C. to express your outrage and request their help in reversing the NTIA’s inappropriate decision. Your rights are at stake. Take action!

I am still here

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 14:00:00 +0000

It has been a while since I came to talk. I am afraid this time I will not talk much either. Between work, family, a game (I used not to play any game at all. Now the whole family has been playing Toon Town for almost 5 months. Give it a try, it is addictive! :-) ) and a few personal projects I had had little time to come here and chatter. But I am still here, I will come back. I want to upgrade to the latest Wordpress, I want to change a few things around. David is around guys and gals, albeit reclusive.

Adsense presence

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 25 Jan 2005 14:00:00 +0000

I few of you might have realized that I, finally, got approved on Goggle’s Adsense program. Two years ago I applied, with the hopes of becoming rich. I was very naïve and I was denied participation. Recently I applied again. I did it mainly for two reasons: I love Google. I can not deny I am in love with it. Everything that Google has offered so far is of my liking. Secondly, I wanted to offer my skimish audience related links to sites and/or products that could potentially be useful for them. This time there were no hopes or ideas of becoming rich. I wanted to offer a service.

All the above been said, please do not click on an Adsense ad if the information or product is not of your interest. Read the entry, comment — if you please — and if the Adsense makes “sense” do as you please. Remember, this is a service. For you.

Beware!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 14:00:00 +0000

There is a flu strain going around. I am not sure of how vast its geographic coverage will be, I just know I caught a drop –or a bucket– of it here in Orlando, Central Florida.

Now this sucker is not like any other. At least for me it isn’t. This one blocks your nose and lungs and converts you into a phlegm dispenser machine. It gives you pain in all your joins (joins, not loins!), head and eyes. It will take your appetite away, it will give you flatulence. It will not let you sleep and it will bother you while sitting. It will make your life miserable like you never being before. And it will linger. Medicines you ask? None will be enough to battle this one, none did anything for me.

Beware of this sucker! I feel miserable.

Sex is everything

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 14:00:00 +0000

For spammers –and others–, that is. Other than the trackback attack that a good group of people including me received recently, sex related spam seems to have doubled as the year increased by one. And all comes down to this: human beings are a bunch of sex driven machines. Take it or leave it. We all like it, enjoy it and are driven to it in a multifaceted spectrum. It goes beyond the Mother Nature purpose of procreation (continuity). We are obsessed with it. It makes us feel good. It is the best medicine ever. It is also the Doom on my Inbox and a small headache on my weblog.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I enjoy sex as much as the rest. But I do not want to be offered any pills (viagra, cialis, xanax, vicodin, etc) no matter how cheap they are, nor do I want to know how to enlarge my “manhood” among other things I prefer not to list. I do not want to visit a site with your particular method to approach or perform sex. If I want porno, I know where to get it. Please do not dump any of that on my weblog or Inbox. It will not do you any good. Your intentions will not become reality, I can tell you that much. That will eventually piss me off, and you don’t want to do that, do you?

More on VoIP

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 14:00:00 +0000

Last year I wrote about Lingo and recommended their VoIP service. While I was not that off on that “review”, I have changed my mind long ago and decided not to keep the service. I got a lot of emails from people wanting to try and/or get the service and they used my email for referral. As a result, I got a lot of free Lingo service, but I called them at the end of December to cancel for good (something they told me they did, but I still have the service, I am not sure why. I am not longer paying). Since I am still getting lots of emails regarding the topic, I have decided to ’touch it’ once again.

Why I am cancelling? My reply to two of the people who was interested on the service should make it clear. I wrote on October 12th, 2004:

“Lingo service is unreliable. You have two single points of failure: the service itself and your broadband connection to the Internet. The first is quite shaky; at times you will get disconnected in the middle of a conversation, sometimes people will call you and your phone will not ring and they will get your voicemail. In other occasions you will dial a number and you will get the message telling you the number was wrong, then you redial (redial key) and the call goes through. Sometimes I have no service at all (VoIP light off on the Lingo switch). Their customer and technical service are almost impossible to reach and most of the problem you call about (no service, dropped calls,etc) they are aware of it. If they tell you a technician will call you, do not believe it, they will never do it.

Lingo is not to replace your land line. No yet. If you can spare $20 (plus taxes,etc) a month for it, and you make a lot of long distance calls to Europe (like me) and the rest of US, then you will get your money worth.

I still have the service, but I am not keeping it. I called two weeks ago to cancel (my free trial was expiring) and they offered another free month, so I am using it. On my plan they advertised a free universal number and I got charged for it. They also refunded that charge and told me I could keep the number at no extra charge. In my case I signed up for Lingo to replace my Bell South line. I can not afford an extra $20 expense, I was trying to reduce not to add more expenses. If you can afford to spend $20 or so extra a month, as I said, the service will pay off on long distance charges. If you are looking to replace your existing phone (and transfer your number, God forbid!), then please don’t. It is not worth it.”

And on October 16th, 2004:

“…if you are going to use Lingo as a second line –not primary– and plan to make quite a few long distance calls with it, the service is for you. A second sentence would go along opposite lines, if you are planning on replacing your land line with Lingo or require a service that never fails, then Lingo is not for you…”

That should make my position regarding Lingo VoIP service pretty clear.

Good bye MMIV. Welcome MMV!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 14:00:00 +0000

And here I am, to wish good byes to 2004 and to greet 2005. The year 2004 was a heck of a year, too many things to write in just a couple of minutes. Just one true thing, everything we—the Collantes’ family—did go through was worth the journey.

So, 2005 starts and with it my often erratic and/or pedantic ramblings. To all a prosperous, peaceful, hopeful, fruitful 2005. Just love one to each other, everything else comes after.

Taking a break

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 29 Sep 2004 14:00:00 +0000

For the very first time I feel like taking a complete break from the weblogging world. I have gone away in the past, but it was never as permanent as I said it would be. Today, for once, I feel I can really do it. That is, break away for a longer time than the previous. Reasons? Just tired, just need more time with my growing kid and family in general.

Whatever reason is, I am taking a break. Will I be gone long? Will I come back tomorrow? Hard to tell. I am not that interesting of a read to start with anyways. Till next time, be good to each other. Do not do anything stupid that you may regret later on. Live an honourable life.

Quiet time

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 25 Sep 2004 14:00:00 +0000

It has been a quiet time here. But quiet here does not means it has been so everywhere else. It has been stressful, it has been painful. It hasn’t been easy. Whoever once said –or wrote– that life isn’t easy wasn’t lying. But as uneasy as it might get, it is worth living it.

I will be back, right after Jeanne has passed.

Remembrance

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 11 Sep 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Today, three years ago, a group of animals belonging to the human race decided to take away thousands of innocent lives by destroying the Twin Towers (see World TradeCenter). Let us not to forget how stupid they were, how criminal they were, how non human they were. Let us remember our brothers and sisters who died that day. For me The Towers stand tall. They always will.

September 11th, 2001: We will never forget!

Three in less than a month

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 14:00:00 +0000

There hasn’t been that much movement around here –on the weblog, I mean–, since hurricanes have kept us busy during the second half of August and the first of September. First Charley, then Frances and now Ivan. The stress level of people around is pretty high, so is their worry. There is a saying, you know, “three and you are out!”. Everyone I know, whose house or properties have been undamaged, is thinking on that saying.

I will see you all after the hurricane. Oh, on a separate note, I am testing posting to the weblog via a weblog client (Windows based application). Let’s see how it comes out.

Note

w.bloggar is excellent!

A hell of a week

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 04 Sep 2004 14:00:00 +0000

It has been a hell of a week and continues to be so. KM has been the whole week (and still is!) sick. Sick to a point that kept me home all those days. Kim and I have been very worried and needless is to say that our days hasn’t been fun one’s, to say the least.

To top it off, now we have got Frances, the hurricane that is, about to slam on us. Are we unprepared? Yes. After the week we had had we do not need anything else, honestly. I just hope it will stay category 2 or less… or that it will change course. I might be asking for too much. If everything is fine, I shall be back sometime next week. Or maybe not.

Note

Now I have 18 Gmail invitations to give out for free. As always, ask and you shall receive.

Gmail invitations

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 25 Aug 2004 14:00:00 +0000

I have 6 Gmail invitations that I will give out to anyone who writes a sincere comment about the use it will give to such account, if given. I have been using Gmail for a while now and I can assure you it is a great service, addictive indeed. It is not all about the 1GB of space that Google gives with it, but the excellent features and blazing speed. You can read more about Gmail on the Gmail Support Center. I also wrote about it a while ago.

Be sure to leave a good email address for me to contact you and use your full name (first and lastname). If after a week nobody is interested I will start a search to find people asking for Gmail accounts and give them out.

It is the Marketers fault!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 25 Aug 2004 14:00:00 +0000

While reading my daily doses of irrelevant information on Slashdot today, I saw that “…The UK Advertising Standards Authority has upheld complaints that Microsoft misled consumers by running advertisements claiming Linux is 10 times more expensive than Windows…” While they did not lied, they forgot to mention that the “independent research” used as a reference Linux running on an expensive Mainframe and Windows running on a common PC. That does not surprises me.

What really surprises me is that blame is being dumped on the marketing company and not on Microsoft. The guy that wrote the very first comment said (among other things), "…Not intended to be a flamebait, it’s not just a Microsoft problem - all marketing people are evil. Perhaps we should enact the death penalty for marketing droids?" And I beg to differ. No marketing campaign kicks on its own, without the approval of the company paying for it. Perhaps marketers suggested the low blow, but it was Microsoft ultimate decision to execute the punch.

Many others on Slashdot also blame the marketing company instead of pointing fingers at the root of the issue. And that makes me wonder… how many wolves (Microsoft followers) on sheep clothing frequently read and comment on Slashdot?

Google's Doodles

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 22 Aug 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Google is well known for altering its homepage logos to commemorate a special event or Holidays. They have done it since 1999 —at least, that is the earliest documented year.

This year Olympic Games are not an exception. Google Doodle VIII celebrates the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Below is a local cache of them (I will keep adding them until the Olympics are over). I hope I will not get into trouble for doing so.

Note

I have changed my mind. To see the Google Doodle VIII, simply go to their Holiday Logos page.

A busy week

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 21 Aug 2004 14:00:00 +0000

It has been a busy week. On Monday classes will start and, as you can imagine, a lot of things are left to the last moment on a Campus. It is also true that Murphy’s Law applies as well on that final week: if something is going to go wrong, it will certainly go wrong. If you are thinking Microsoft Exchange you are on the right track.

You see, when I installed Exchange 2003 I swear I installed the Enterprise version. Of course I did not; I guess Windows 2003 Enterprise Server got me confused. Running the Standard version would not be a problem in a world of plain text and no attachments… something that became an utopia a long time ago at work. So, we reached the 16GB limitation, yes, and everything stopped working. It is a good thing we could upgrade on the spot and everything seems to be fine, but was a good scare.

Another server needed to be built and ready for Monday. That is an easy task, but when you are on that final week of the break it becomes an Olympic task. Passwords need to be reset constantly, since our techs are finishing up touches on people’s machines, workstations need to be removed from the domain and/or moved to the appropriated organizational units and a lot of requests on a variety of topics come along as well. All things pieced together make a heck of a week, which it hasn’t ended for me (and others) yet, since I am still doing VPN to work and doing a few cleanups.

Now, if you add to that the effects of Charley (power going off and on, same with the phone), then you get a full grasp. Let’s hope the upcoming week is more relaxed, which I doubt though… classes are starting! Oh boy…

More on Lingo

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 21 Aug 2004 14:00:00 +0000

A while ago I wrote about my plans of dropping BellSouth for a VoIP provider called Lingo. At that time I also wrote that I would come back and write a review about it. Well, this is not a real review –I really do not know how to write one– but it contains my experiences with Lingo voice over IP (VoIP) service, so far.

When something works fine there is very little to tell. The “installation” was as advertised: simply connect it, wait a minute and you have got a go. Calls are very clear even though you could hear some delay or noise at times (1 to 15 ratio).

Reaching their customer support, as I said, it is quite difficult. Most of the time you will get some message taker on the other side of the world and calls will not get returned. But if you insist and keep calling their technical support line and finally get a technician your problem will be resolved, unless it is something that is affecting everyone. I had to call twice –well, three times–, first call was my mistake, I did not see how to change the number of rings until the voicemail kicks in on the web interface (duh!), but the guy did it for me nevertheless. The second, I realized that the voicemail timestamps were on GMT, so they change it to EST and the third was because I was loosing the dial tone (VoIP light will go off and the only way to get it back was by hard resetting the gateway). On this third one they acknowledged it, they were aware of the problem and were working to get it fixed –which it happened the next day.

Overall I am very happy with the service (quality and reliability) but unhappy with their technical support, since they are very difficult to reach. Their message taking in India is nothing good and their hold message when you call is very annoying. There are other VoIP providers out there, with more joining quite soon (AT&T, for example), but none offers all the features Lingo does and all are at least twice more expensive.

About the Gateway

A little technical information here, if you are using the service. If you want to reset the device to its defaults, unplug it, then when you see the power led come on enter the following on the telephone connected to it: *#26845#. Your gateway will then recycle. Also, if you want to access your gateway through its web interface, point your browser to 172.25.25.1 and use user/ph3taswe as the username and password.

Conclusion

I certainly recommend Lingo. It is a relatively new company on the VoIP market, you may have ups and downs but it is, overall, very good. If you need to relay on your phone lines for mission critical operations, of course, the service is not for you. It’s requirements add more point of failure to your phone communications, since you also need Internet connectivity and power to make phone calls.

Veteran of Charley

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Mother Nature, just as humans, changes her mind. That is the case of hurricane Charley. All forecasts read that Tampa, FL would be the one beaten by him but Mother Nature, with it’s natural (no pun intended) ambivalence made a twist and brought it directly near Fort Myers, and then to us in Orlando, FL.

Needless is to say we had winds. We had winds all right. Actually, we got everything: homes, commercial buildings, trees… all destroyed. And we got no power, no cable (and Internet) and no phone for one whole day. As I type this we have got power and cable (and Internet). Phone is still not available (well, we got VoIP phone, but the old BellSouth is tone dead)

Now some photos, which I did not take (I used the camera batteries for a flash light), to give you a slight idea of what happened around here:

[Fotos are gone, sorry]

Our home was untouched, we were lucky. One of our trees got a big branch broken, but that’s mainly all the damage we got. Some of our neighbors weren’t that lucky, they got a lot of shingles loose, broken roof and trees uprooted completely. Hopefully we will not have another hurricane anytime soon.

I am a virus, open me!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 09 Aug 2004 14:00:00 +0000

The history repeats itself. No matter how many viruses get to their inboxes, no matter how many times you tell them not to open those attachments, when all logic and common sense are just yelling “delete!”, they will open it.

Virus and trojan makers/scripters will always succeed. Antivirus companies will always be behind (even for a few hours/minutes) and make tons of money. As long as my type of user exists there will be a future of revenues on that field and a headache for the rest of us. Someone should make a virus, as sneaky as the rest, but one that will only set a special wallpaper (something along the lines “I am an idiot!”) and send the idiot’s name to a very well known place on the web, where rational people can laugh and other’s idiocities.

My users will always get infected. I am not longer surprised.

Small catching up

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 07 Aug 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Last week was a busy week. The Exchange server went into 3/4 full production and, yes, it crashed. For the first time I had to recover the PRIV and PUB databases and the server wasn’t been on production not even a week! Oh boy…

I got the Lingo gateway (VoIP gateway, that is) and the quality is excellent, while reaching their technical support is close to impossible. When I finally got a techie I told him I was starting to think Lingo technical support was a myth. But he got me fixed (could not check my voicemails) in one minute, so… they are difficult to reach, but they are knowledgable. If you want to hear the quality of the sound, give me a call at 786-319-4778 (my alternate number in Miami) and we will chat.

Now ready for the weekend. I’ll be back later, KM is waking up any time now…

Note

Oh, and yesterday was my birthday. Not that I pay too much attention to birthdays, but when I am almost reaching fourty I guess it is worth mentioning :-)

Dropping BellSouth

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 31 Jul 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Our VoIP gateway shipped yesterday and it should reach us around August 3rd (Tuesday). We are going to try Voice over IP technology and service, from Lingo. The reason why? Save money. Lingo VoIP service is $20 for unlimited long distance for US, Canada and Western Europe. Very –very– competitive fees to the rest of the world. And you get all the other goodies (caller ID, call waiting, return call, *69, voicemail, etc. See more on their website).

I will post my review of the service and equipment later on. We have decided to port our number over VoIP, if the service delivers. We will also get a Miami local number –also free–, so my parents can call us anytime at no charge. Goodies!

Way too early

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 31 Jul 2004 14:00:00 +0000

I woke up at 7:00 AM today, perhaps a bit earlier. The same thing happens every weekend, I cannot sleep as I wish, my internal clock just wouldn’t stop buzzing. So here I am, reading my favourites blogs and news sites, while feeling stressed about Monday (or should I say Sunday night?) morning changes at work. It is the weekend, for God’s sake! I shouldn’t be worrying about anything in the future related to work. I wish it was that easy.

On Linux I know, after years of experience, things work or doesn’t. It is that simple. On MS Windows, what doesn’t work now might “magically” start working later or what works now might—also magically—stop working at any time. Every action or command is delayed, everything needs restart. You tremble at the thought of what would happen next. On every reboot—and I am talking about servers here, not your 9X, 2000 or XP machine—there is the worry of whether or not the machine will come back up. For the sake of me, and others alike, that ought to change.

On a different topic…

Yesterday I called a friend of mine, BMW car salesman in Fort Lauderdale. Just wanted to say hi. Without giving me time to talk, he started bashing Bush—the president—on how stupid he is, on how this unneeded war is killing so many kids and a lot of other things. All that out of the blue! Now I am not a Bush lover, I just don’t like Kerry neither, but when someone gets to the point at which my friend was, only two things could be going on: Bush is so bad, it drives people frantically crazy or, my friend is evidently demented. I thought Bush could win a re-election, now I am not too sure. Why? My friend is not the only one with that “demented” behaviour.

Perhaps the next president will be a guy named John Kerry?

Flipping the switch

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 27 Jul 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Next Monday (August 2nd) we are flipping the switch from the old reliable Linux based email system (Sendmail, Washington University IMAP/POP3) to a relatively newly deployed Microsoft Exchange 2003. Needless is to say that we –TRC staff– all have been busy wrapping things up to minimize the impact. But things –bad things, unexpected things– are bound to happen. It is just a matter of time.

With Exchange I say good bye to the taken-for-granted reliability, easy maintenance and trouble free email system that we had, to dive into the unknown. I am not only a bit stressed, I am feeling sentimental. The system we are moving away from has been with us for seven long years. Seven long years of excellent service. I have no complains and infinite praise.

If, by any chance, you happen to manage an Exchange 2000/2003 single server or farm, get in touch. I would like to keep your contact information handy :-)

Where and what you eat...

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:00:00 +0000

While browsing the “Orlando Sentinel Express” I found the section Restaurant Penalties, which I never saw before –well, it is true that I do not browse the Sentinel Express everyday.

From that section, two restaurant violations caught my eye:

Giovanni’s Restaurant & Pizza, 2140 S. Chickasaw Trail – “…several five gallons pans of pizza and tomato sauce also were found without covers in the walk-in cooler. Raw whole shell eggs were found stored above produce in the walk-in cooler. A black mold like substance was observed on the ceiling inside the ice machine. The hand sink in the dish room was blocked with several soiled towels and a chemical storage rack… The in-use sandwich and salad cutting boards were badly scoured and stained”.

The Giovanni’s is a neighborhood restaurant, just half a mile from my house. Pretty popular establishment, I assure you. We have ordered food once or twice from there.

The other is a McDonald’s on a fairly good area, Winter Park:

McDonald’s, 4260 State Road 426 – “…found potentially hazardous food stored at an unsafe temperature… also observed a worker wearing only one glove preparing ready-to-eat hamburgers with both hands”.

Those are just two very small examples. There is a lot that escapes the eyes when you go lunching or dinning out. Where to go and what to eat? Choose wisely!

Shredder and Eggroll

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 18 Jul 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Kent assumes the personality of a different cartoon character — or hero — every day. He seems to shuffle between Ninja Turtles, Batman, Danny Phantom, Robin (from “Teen Titans”), Jackie Chang and others. He has even been Spongebob Squarepants! Needless is to say we — Kim and I — are always the bad guys.

Today he decided he was a Ninja Turtle (purple and blue at times) and that Kim and I were Shredders (of different colours, of course). Then Kim told him she was April (don’t ask me from what cartoon), which he understood as Eggroll and so a new hero was born: Kim, The Eggroll :-)

Here is him, as Robin (lead hero from “Teen Titans”). Don’t ask me what kind of “weapon” it is the inflatable mattress pump. It is, for sure, a super weapon.

Kids these days grow much faster than I did, no doubts. Amazing!

Sunday morning rants

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 18 Jul 2004 14:00:00 +0000

As I previously wrote, I believe IE is no match to Firefox. I will tell everyone I know about its problems, I will show those to them if I can. I will praise the goods of Firefox, so everyone I know will enjoy web browsing as much as I am. But…

One thing is not using IE and another thing is not serving pages to those using it. That’s plain wrong. It is like going to a japanese restaurant and have sushi denied because you are not japanese. I will do my best to “serve” good viewable pages to everyone including, yes, those using IE. IE users will not get redirected to a better browser website or evangelist website. I will let them know there is something better out there, but I will not punish anyone just because they do not know better or insist on using something else. That would not be right.

On my feeds I do not give out full posts nor comments entries, just as Zeldman and a lot of others. Someone thinks differently. As Jeffrey once wrote, refering to RSS “…If you stored your groceries on the sidewalk, we could eat your food without sitting across the table from you…” He also wrote “…reading Plastic Bag —or zeldman.com, presumably— in a news reader is like getting the text of your favorite magazine in email. Nice. But not the same.” Offering full posts on any feed would defeat the purpose of the web, the rich experience of it. For me, RSS feeds are teasers —just like movie teasers—. If you want to whole thing, come by. Unlike movie theathers, there is no charge.

The worse Web Browser

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 14 Jul 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Not too long ago I was an Internet Explorer fan. The pages I went to looked fine under it, the experience seemed rich. There were no complains. Then I started fiddling with CSS and moving away from tables. I experienced the advantages of the PNG format and I loved it. I experienced functionability I never saw before. I got tired of hearing about major problems and running security updates. I got my eyes opened.

I wonder why it took that long. Perhaps Mozilla Firefox was not that polished back them. Perhaps the times I used it, it crashed on me. Whatever the reason was it kept me blind. But thanks to IE being so bad I got back on track. The good track.

This site might look odd under some IE. There are minor things that IE refuses to do, which make no sense at all. If you are not using it already, do yourself a favor: get Firefox. You could thank me later.

Joined the rest

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 14:00:00 +0000

As you can see, I have joined the rest of the thousands using the drop shadow, centered approach on their websites/weblogs. There are several things I am not sure yet. Different background colour? Should I make the top and bottom with shadow too, with a space at the top and bottom just like it was before? Should I use this opportunity and make the whole interface 800 wide instead of 640 pixels? Decisions, decisions.. What do you think? Also, can you recommend how to re-structure the side “column” for the best? What should and should not be there?

We will probably be hiring –finally!– the guy that will be our next webmaster today. When this whole odyssey started back in February ([Gee] got the job early January, 2004) I did not know it was going to last this long. Well, I did not know I was going to be around in UCF till now neither. Life has it’s twists.

Note

Some have reported problems while browsing this site with IE. I have tried with IE 6 at home and everything looks fine. Could you –yes, you on the other side of the display– report on this as well?

First day

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 11 Jul 2004 14:00:00 +0000

I must admit, before I continue, that I did not exercise last night. At least, not as I had intended. It is my fault, I became lazy and even though Kim pushed me well, it did not worked out. But… I am proud the say that I just walked three miles this morning and, boy, it felt good. I know it is not a sensational “news”, but I wanted to mark the day of my come back. I will be fit in no time. I have to. I must. Next, I will buy a pedometer. Thanks to my friend Martin for the suggestion!

Off topic, my friend George has joined the hurd of weblogers. Previously Gee had done it too, even though he is now “sleeping”. Welcome aboard George!

Week recount

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 10 Jul 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Nothing major happened during the last week that I can recall. Someone called me a copycat and accused me of copying another site, which was a totally baseless accusation and hence not worth of occupying more space here. We have been looking —well, Kim more than I— for a pre-school for KM without much success. That’s pretty much it.

I am going to try and do some exercises starting tonight, since the lack of it is taking its toll on my body. It is not only the gaining of fat on certain spots that bothers me, it is the total and generalized pain I feel on my whole body just for being out of shape. It is for a better health, I feel sick in some way. Kim has been pushing me to do exercises for quite a while, but the real truth is that I have been pushing myself much longer without much success. Thanks to her insistence and my own internal fight, I think I might be getting somewhere. It is also thanks to KM. I want him to have a father to play with.

We had lunch today over Ying’s house and enjoyed a few hours together with her and her daughter Cynthia . KM and Cynthia met a while back and in more than one occasion both have expressed the wish to play together. Today their wish was fulfilled once again. I took some pictures that I may post later on here. Now I am still too tired, even though I slept for two hours already. KM and Kim are still sleeping. It was (is) very hot out there, so we all came home very tired.

The three of us

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 05 Jul 2004 14:00:00 +0000

For one reason or another, we have very few pictures on which the three of us are present. Even today, went I tried to snap one I failed. Don’t get me wrong, photos we have, but none of them pleases us –Kim– to put online for the viewing audience (the very small one we have here).

A couple of days ago I took one photo that I decided to put online, because I like they way KM eyes look and because it represents the priority level in our family: kid goes first, then us.

What’s the “priority level” in your family?

Happy 4th of July!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 14:00:00 +0000

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Happy 228th Birthday, America!

On July 4th, 1776, we claimed our independence from Great Britain (now United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) and Democracy was born. Every day thousands leave their homeland to come to the “land of the free and the home of the brave” so they can begin their American Dream.

The United States is truly a diverse nation made up of dynamic people. Each year on July 4th, Americans celebrate that freedom and independence with barbecues, picnics, and family gatherings. Through the Internet we are learning about and communicating with people of different nations, with different languages and different races throughout the world. Bringing the world closer with understanding and knowledge can only benefit all nations.

We invite all nations to celebrate with Americans online this Fourth of July. Happy Birthday, America! –USA CityLink

It happened again

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 03 Jul 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Last Friday family got together in our house and some photos were taken. Well, it happened again, just this time there was no other family around, but the three of us. We were making time to go over the airport to pick Khanh (brother-in-law) and girlfriend up, so I snapped a few photos, from which I have choosen five. It is mainly about KM, but Kim is in one of them, for the first time!

Something bad about the night, before I show you the photos. Went to the airport, brother airplane was landing at 9:00PM, US Airways flight from Denver. Got there, no signs of them or the airplane. Drove around the airport circle twenty something times! Finally we learned the flight had changed to United Airlines and was arriving at 10:30PM. Now, how could that happen?! A whole hour an a half driving around! Needless is to say, brother should not take a vacation anytime soon :-)

And talking about vacations, now Kim wants to go somewhere, but where? On her mind: Las Vegas (uhg!), San Francisco, North Carolina, Vietnam :-) Any recommendations?

In God we trust

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 02 Jul 2004 14:00:00 +0000

It is interesting to find out, at times when some minority wants to have removed “…under God…” from the Pledge of Allegiance, about this —it refers to the Great Seal of the United States of America motto:

The federal courts have held that the motto symbolizes the historical role of religion in our society, Lynch, 465 U.S. at 676, formalizes our medium of exchange, see O’Hair v. Blumenthal, 462 F. Supp. 19, 20 (W.D. Tex.), aff’d sub nom. O’Hair v. Murray, 588 F.2d 1144 (5th Cir. 1978) (per curiam), and cert. denied, 442 U.S.930 (1979), fosters patriotism, see Aronow v. United States, 432 F.2d 242, 243 (9th Cir. 1970), and expresses confidence in the future, Lynch, 465 U.S. at 692-93 (O’Connor, J., concurring). The motto’s primary effect is not to advance religion; instead, it is a form of “ceremonial deism” which through historical usage and ubiquity cannot be reasonably understood to convey government approval of religious belief. Allegheny, 492 U.S. at 625 (O’Connor, J., concurring); Lynch, 465 U.S. at 693 (O’Connor, J., concurring); id. at 716 (Brennan, J., dissenting). Finally, the motto does not create an intimate relationship of the type that suggests unconstitutional entanglement of church and state. O’Hair, 462 F. Supp. at 20. After making [inquiries], we find that a reasonable observer, aware of the purpose, context, and history of the phrase “In God we trust,” would not consider its use or its reproduction on U.S. currency to be an endorsement of religion. (Gaylor vs USA, 10th Cir. 1996)

I sincerely do not understand what the whole fuss is about. That been said, I agree with the minority (I know, I am contradicting myself).

They keep coming

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 28 Jun 2004 14:00:00 +0000

A while ago I wrote about a spam I got from Nigeria (of course, we all know it could be from anywhere) and how Mr. Tanko lost his Internet connection when I asked for $20. While it is true that before and after that posting I have gotten quite a few other offers of the kind, none of them came from a man in the United Arab Emirates, supposedly. Now, that is not the unusual thing about this one.

You see, this one is an ill man. Emmanuel Khan is an ill man to which his family has turned their back and stole a considerable amount of his money. Before becoming ill —from esophageal cancer— he managed to “distribute money to some charity organizations in the U.A.E, Algeria and Malaysia”, but now he can’t longer do it. That is why he is asking for my help to distribute it to several other charitable organizations around the world.

Now, the interesting (or funny) part of this whole thing is that, after my reply in which I expressed my willingness to help, he even sent me his photo, supposedly taken in a hospital, so I could know that it was him. He wanted to make sure I could “see” his misery. See it for yourself:

Doesn’t he inspire compassion? What wouldn’t you do for that poor man? Wouldn’t you help him? If you want, please email him offering your help (there is a 20% commission out of several millions for you) at Emmanuel Khan’s email addresses, here or here. Tell him I sent you and offer to buy him a better digital camera, please! :-)

Friday night photos

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 26 Jun 2004 14:00:00 +0000

As I previously mentioned, last night some family members got together in our home to eat and drink. Oh, and to say good bye to some other family that was visiting from California. As it is normal when family gets together, everything started quite early –5:30PM– and finished around 9:30PM. That simply means that food and beer was no longer available at that time ;-) .

Normally I am the one taking the photos around, taking care of this kids and later on posting things here. Last night I just needed to take care of the kids, while Kim acted like a photographer around. Easily is to imagine that the quality of the photos is amateurish, but they will do for now, mainly for family viewing. I wish there were more. Next time I will not let Kim take my job, she did not take not even one picture of KM!

Visitor cleaning

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 14:00:00 +0000

I find it interesting that we –and I know I am generalizing here, so correct me if I am wrong– worry about organizing and cleaning the house especially when we are expecting a visit. I know that we want to give the visitor the best impression possible, but aren’t we “lying” by doing so, just because someone is coming? Who are we kidding? I mean, if we were that clean and organized we didn’t have the need to do the “visitor cleaning” to start with, right?

What it’s even more interesting is that governments and nations behave just the same. The most universally known example is the Olympics Games. A city is picked for such games, rebuilt, cleaned, painted, all that specially for the event. The only difference it is that, in this case, the visitors know well about the cleaning and even help ($) to make it happen. I guess such behavior is just part of our human nature.

The reason all this came to my mind is because my wife has suddenly become a busy bee, cleaning and organizing around, to the point that it made me think she had lost her mind. Why all that clean and organizing, you ask? Yes, you guessed right. We got visitors coming in on Friday! I am just glad I do not have to build a brand new stadium for the occasion :-).

Note

The feast is over. A bit of clean up (again!) and to a good bath!

Moved!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 14:00:00 +0000

I have just moved Collantes.US to the new server. DNS is still running on the old one, but you should be seeing the new pages served on the new server Apache. If you see a note at the top asking not to enter a comment, please do so – that is, do not enter a comment. That server is the old one and it will disappear sooner rather than later.

Expect shaky things around for a brief while. Oh, and I still have Gmail invitations, just in case you might want one. Get in touch if interested!

Note

No more Gmail invitations are left. Thanks for your interest!

Screw SPEWS

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 20 Jun 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Recently I found out that my existing server IP—the server I am moving away from—is banned on SPEWS (I am not linking them, Google it and you shall know), because it is assigned to UUnet, which is blamed of harbouring spammers. Following the recommendation of the bounced email I posted on Usenet, asking to be removed, without knowing at that time that it was something out of my hands.

While I understand and hate as much as the next that spam has gotten out of proportions, I do not think blocking a whole company will do any good neither. It is the little people – like me – the one who get ultimately screwed. Believe me, I hate spam and I used to receive a lot (not any more since I am using TMDA) but blocking everyone’s emails because the business practices of the company that borrows the IP you are using is plain stupid, in my humble opinion.

SPEWS caused an effect on me, totally the opposite of what they expected, I am sure. I was upset and I dislike their initiative, just like I did/do with MAPS or any other wide area blocking system that targets huge name spaces. It is like blocking AOL because a lot of spam comes from a forged AOL account. As I said, stupid. But once again, that is just my humble opinion. The new server IP is not blocked by SPEWS.

On the up side… Happy Anniversary, Kim and David! – yes, that’s us! Today is our 6th marriage anniversary and I can not believe it is being already six years. Time flies. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would. I love my wife dearly.

Note

I still have Gmail invitations. A lot. Ask and you shall receive.

Short and sweet

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 17 Jun 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Just a quick post, short and sweet, while my wife and kid still sleep and I patiently wait for the ServerBeach people to fix the mess on my server (the other server). Can you believe that I lost connection last night, went to sleep and this morning I found that my IP goes to a Windows 2003 server? Boy, talk about some big time screw up!

I have 15 (fifteen, that is) invitations for Gmail that I am giving out for free. If anyone wants one, go ahead and email me. No, I am not asking for anything back, just wanting to share the joy of Gmail.

Another thing, Dovecot is awesome! If you use IMAP you ought to give it a try, honestly. Be sure to use Maildir!

WordPress and how I did it

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 11 Jun 2004 14:00:00 +0000

This might as well be my last entry completely related or dedicated to WP. I am sure I will mention it here and there in the future, but it would have to be something very important for me to talk about it exclusively in one entry.

As the few of you know, I used to run Movable Type (MT) and I was happy with it. The only thing that always bothered me was the rebuild times, which were getting bigger and bigger and the fact the every comment posted would take from 2 to 5 minutes to go through. Certainly not a good thing™.

So I decided to give WP a try. Installation was a breeze, no doubts about that, and I loved –from the very beginning– the light feeling that came with it. Light is in fast. WP is simple to install, even simple to modify, yet quite powerful. And it is totally dynamic. Yes, I know MT has shipped for quite a while with a file that will allow dynamic serving, but that does not even get close. It is buggy, slow; forget it!

I ported my all CSS over. It took me a while, since I wanted to bring over CSS only and not the table based layout that I have before. WP imported all my previous MT entries without a hitch –well, almost. The rest was customize a few things (HTML things), add the Acronym, Eric Meyer Next and previous, Adam Gessaman Rewrite MT archives, Nicer Archives (for the archives, of course), and some other default plugins and my WP migration was almost done. Since I wanted clean URI’s on pagination –on the front page, categories and monthly archives, I am running 1.3 pre-alpha (from the CVS), which already allows that. I am also using Anne (yes, he is a guy) comments preview hack, which doesn’t only allows for a comment preview but it does a very nice job at error handling, something WP itself lacks of. WP comes with comments moderation but I am not using it… for now.

The header images do not correspond with posts now as they used to, but they are randomly served and I am sporting a brand new contact form, for easy getting in touch. I am also “serving” valid RSS 2.0 (Posts and Comments), Atom 0.3 and CDF (bottom right). You can also add /feed/ at the end of any individual entry to get the comments RSS 2.0 feed for just that entry. Same applies to categories and months archives. Must of the imported entries from MT have wrong dates and times on the RSS feed. Hey, nothing is perfect!

And that’s about it. Any questions, comments, suggestions?

Just about there

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 08 Jun 2004 14:00:00 +0000

I know I have been writting a lot (well, not a lot, since I am holding down on writting until everything works as I want) about WP and how great it is and how happy I am to have moved away from MT, etc. I have been testing things, getting everything around to look and feel as they did a while back, when MT was still the one in command.

Now, finally, after a few weeks of trying, using the little time I have at home to work on this, I have managed to get the site to look very close to what I want. The colophon still needs to be writen and a few more little details will get added, but I should go back to my normal rantings quite soon. There is a server move in the works, which will make things a bit shaky around here, but after that is done expect steady course.

A favour, recommend (you can also write them down as comments) useful and/or interesting links to me, if you could please. I want to broad my browsing spectrum and add some more valuable resources to my links list.

Brainstorming

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 31 May 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Some of you might have noticed that I changed things around a little bit. I am still not decided what to have in here, but the actual interface will do for now, even though at time you might see the “blue” one that I had for quite a while before.

I have eliminated the categories, even though I still use them when writing entries. Tomorrow –or the day after tomorrow– I will be upgrading to 1.3-prealpha, which contains some code to allow clean URI’s across the whole site (with the exception of search, which I am not using at the moment). All and all, I like WP more and more every day. It is an adquired taste, since in the begining it gave me the idea I was dealing with something that was raw. Now, I still think it is raw, I am just liking the sushi.

<sarcasm>After a four days weekend –that sadly flew by– I am really looking forward to go to work!</sarcasm>

Parsing PHP code

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 27 May 2004 14:00:00 +0000

I am trying to implement a little hack that will allow the use of PHP code within posts. Since I am the only “author” here, I do not think that will bring much of a security risk. This post is intended to test this hack. I will try the following, < ?php echo(“This hack has worked”); ?> to see if it does the trick. And here it goes:

This concludes this test.

Changing servers

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 25 May 2004 14:00:00 +0000

As if weren’t enough my move to WordPress and my internal debacle on what to do with the site design, now I am getting ready to move all domains and files –physically– to another hosting company, on a real colocated server (not VS anymore).

The virtual server I have used until now (and that I still use now, for the time being) served me well, but it is getting old (RH 8.0) and upgrades are not easy to perform. Also it is mighty slow at times, which bothers me quite a bit. So, nothing new. Things will be even messier in a few days. Bear with me.

Bob Muglia on Longhorn

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 21 May 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Dreaming of Longhorn.

“When I think of Linux, I don’t think about it as our competitor. I think about Linux as a technology that is used by our competitors to build competitive offerings.” Very different from what Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates have been saying but Muglia says “he’s trying to teach them a thing or two.”

Software gentlemans

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 21 May 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Guidelines to help fight deceptive Internet software. “…We will strive to distribute our software only in bundles where all applications meet the above guidelines…”

Do you want to try it?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 20 May 2004 14:00:00 +0000

A demo of Office 2004 for Mac is available for Mac users to try. From Microsoft MacTopia Office 2004 page:

“…There’s time for fun and time to focus. When you’re ready to get down to business, Microsoft’s Office 2004 for Mac provides the intuitive, intelligent tools you need to transform your ideas and opportunities into action…”

No, thank you.

Living on the bleeding edge

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 20 May 2004 14:00:00 +0000

I have made a habit to upgrade WP every morning and evening to the latest CVS. As I type this I am running WP 1.2 Epsylon RC2, two hours –more or less– old. Upgrades are such a breeze that it is actually fun. I find myself looking forward to the next upgrade.

I am not alone on the habit though. Upgrading WP is, certainly, contagious.

Drawing a blank

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 19 May 2004 14:00:00 +0000

I am drawing a blank trying to decided the new layout of this site. I have no problems with the previous one, but as I am running a new engine here I would like the layout to be new as well. I spent a significant amount of time yesterday trying to come up with something and all went to waste.

Perhaps I am procastinating until I see Wordpress 1.2 out, and have all links to be cruft free. Right now the paging, whether on categories or archives (Posts Paged on WP options) does not spit out clean URI’s, which bothers me a lot. I know, I have a problem. I can’t help it.

After the difficult decision is made and the new layout is up, I will resume my normal activities. Actually, I will post daily, like I used to do back in 2002.

Matt implements inline links

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 19 May 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Matt implements inline links: Just as Charles Gagalac, Mullenweg has implemented a very nice hack. I did the same, but discontinued it after a few posts.

Mena wants to know

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 19 May 2004 14:00:00 +0000

How are you using “the tool”? Mena wants to know how people are using Movable Type. That should have been the first question before last week fiasco.

Old permalinks broken

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 15 May 2004 14:00:00 +0000

If you had links to specific entries here you are finding out they broke. Let me start by apologizing, I did not know some people had links pointing to here.

You see, I could’ve created permalinks on WordPress that matched the old ones, but I was tired on having such large URI’s. That’s the reason I have changed them when I switched. The one’s in use now will last for a very long time, I have choosen them to be around for a while. Broken links should not happen again. Sorry.

I am waiting for WordPress 1.2 to be released to start customizing here. I know I do not have the need of a final release to do so, I am just a procastinator. Talking about customizing, does anyone wants to do something for me on that matter? It has to be pure CSS, will not settle for less. Let me know, david at collantes dot us.

Update: Permalinks

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 15 May 2004 14:00:00 +0000

I’ve decided to honor all previously made links to entries around here, so I have tweaked WP accordingly. I did so not only because of the links, but because of the trackbacks as well. Enjoy!

I am not alone

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 14 May 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Looks like I am not the only one making the move. Judging by the length of the trackback list on “Mena’s Corner”, a whole lot of people is moving away from Movable Type. Since the news has bee Slashdotted, the WP server is overloaded by, not only switchers, but /. visitors. I am sure they will survive. Now ready for the weekend!

Note

Even Mark Pilgrim switched! The world is coming to an end :-)

In the process of moving

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 13 May 2004 14:00:00 +0000

As you can see, I am in the process of moving from the now defunct Movable Type to the sexy WordPress. Why, you may ask? Well, because I was already planning to and because Six Apart has changed to different venues that do not interest me at all. Also, I was getting tired of the lagginess of MT. Well, it is gone, history. Welcome to a dynamic scenario once again (it all started with i42, remember Stevo and Joey?).

It is going to take a while to let the dust settle. It is going to take even longer to get the dust on the air. But the conversion is done, there is no backing down now.

Gmail invitations for sale

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 08 May 2004 14:00:00 +0000

It was just a matter of time until this happened: Google webmail invitations are being sold like crazy on eBay. Some people are even buying one invitation knowing that eventually Google will give two (it has been happening on every new account), so they can resell more. Amazing!

This site looks like crap under Mozilla on Linux, which bothers me a lot. I think I will move things around here soon to accommodate what it might become my desktop OS. I am also tired of looking for banner pictures (I do not longer have a camera, as some of you may know I chose an XPS instead), so I may start rotating the banners, instead of having just one per entry… Or I may not have a banner at all. We’ll see.

I am also considering Wordpress.

Fedora Core Test 3

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 25 Apr 2004 14:00:00 +0000

I have installed Fedora Core Test 2 on my new XPS (dual boot), ran up2date, gotten Test 3 and I must say it is one sweet, nice coming along distribution. Hardened with SELinux, running kernel 2.6.3 and with a nice set of packages available, Fedora will certainly stand out.

I am really contemplating getting one of those mighty cheap Dell servers, get Fedora (once it is released) installed and collocate. I might do that, seriously. We —actually, I will have to team up to pay collo fees— might do that.

I will repeat some links for your enjoyment and perusal (or simply to induce boredom on you):

Fedora Project, sponsored by Red Hat.
Security Enhanced Linux, by the NSA.
Dell servers, the cheap kind.

Enjoy! :-)

Gmail is not for everyone

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 22 Apr 2004 14:00:00 +0000

I have used Gmail now a little bit. Sometimes I am a lucky guy; I have experienced good luck several times: when I met Kim, when my child was born, when I first flew over the Atlantic. This time my luck came in the form of a Gmail account. Thanks to those who graciously offered me the chance to see with my own eyes what many other mortals have ambition.

I can’t say that much that is not already said, but this: Gmail is not for everyone. It is not for the untrained HotMail/AOL/Other lame services luser. Gmail will confuse the hell out of them and they will be lost, like non-pilots on an airplane cockpit. Furthermore, they will not like it: it does not have smilies! ;-)

For the power users Gmail is still missing auto-signature, email text font change (I like fixed fonts on my emails), a keyboard shortcut for deleting messages — I know, why to delete when you’ve got 1 GB! Well, I do not want to save crap —, the capability to add your own customized headers, more criteria on the rules creation, and more rules (limit is 20, right Tomas?).

I am still playing around with Gmail, but I have seeing enough to re-afirm what I previously said “…Google is going to offer a webmail service and is going to do it well…”. Next gOS (Google Operating System), g.NET and tomorrow “…plan to take over the world!” :-)

Gmail Hype

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 17 Apr 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Everybody is talking about Google’s upcoming Gmail. Since I wasn’t choosen to beta test, I can not offer any excellent insider view, but I can write about what I think of the whole thing. The reason of this post is to keep a record, for the posterity, about my point of view on this whole thing.

So, let’s get to the point. I think Gmail will be awesome, if it opens at all for the general public (“We think it’s an absolute invasion of privacy. It’s like having a massive billboard in the middle of your home,’ said Sen. Liz Figueroa, a Democrat from Fremont, California. ‘We are asking them to rethink the whole product,’ she said.”). I think that anyone that might have privacy concerns –or any other– should refrain from using it; after all nobody at Google is forcing you to get an account (accounts aren’t available at the time I am typing this).

If I were Hotmail or any other webmail provider, I would be afraid. Google is going to offer a webmail service and is going to do it well, like everything it has done so far. As I said on my comment over Tomas Jogin related entry, “I can’t speak for the rest of the guys/gals, but I love Google. Should they go public I will buy Google stock. Google makes my every day life so much easier that praising them is the least I can do.”

An email to david@gmail.com¹ rendered the following from Mail Delivery Subsystem <mailer-daemon@gmail.com>:

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification
Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

david@gmail.com

Does that means there is, still, hope? :-)

This happened because usernames need to be six characters or more. Bummer! ↩︎

Spelling and grammar

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 13 Apr 2004 14:00:00 +0000

It is not difficult to realize, even for the untrained eye, that english is not my mother language. Spanish is. I have been “using” english for eight years now, but I have improved very little. Believe me, when you are as old as I am and, on top of that, are not that good with languages, getting where I have gotten today is quite an accomplishment, although one that leaves plenty space for improvement.

So, you will see misspellings and grammatical errors on my entries. If corrections are sent to me I will gratefully edit things accordingly. But understand that writing the way I do is what makes me unique (even though I belong the a great bunch just like me, including fellow Americans —born in America, that is, not naturalized).

I wish I could write like her, or like him, him, him or him. Sigh… maybe one day.

Sun and salty water

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 11 Apr 2004 14:00:00 +0000

After almost a year, we returned to the beach yesterday. Jetty Park, by Port Cañaveral is around 45 miles from where we live, but still closer than Daytona. It is quite a nice park, with a decently clean beach. For those of you living constantly under the cold weather, sun and salty water is as good as it gets, right? :-)

Almost a year ago we took KM to Cocoa beach and at the time he was afraid to even touch the water. He cried and constantly asked to go home. Well, yesterday was the total opposite. Protected by the sunblock cream and armed with several of his toys (dump truck, shovel and pail) he did not only decided to build castles on the sand, but took over the sea and fearlessly ventured into the waters. Needless is to say that by the end of the day we had to fight a small battle to get him out.

KM was very protected from the sun with the sunblock cream. I, on the other hand, did not use any and today — as I type this — my back, front and face are burning still, while a soothing cream try to give me solace. Mental note: protect yourself the next time.

In the afternoon, we went over aunt Hoa’s house to celebrate the “Florida room” addition to the house as well as aunt Hoa’s birthday. I was really ready to go home and sleep, while KM —and even Kim— were still going.

Life with an XPS

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 04 Apr 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Three weeks ago I finally got motivated — read Kim gave me an ultimatum — and sold my two Rolleiflex at eBay. The main purpose of selling them was to buy a digital camera, to replace the one I don’t have. But after consideration of:

The one I wanted was too expensive.
The body did not come with a lens.
I barely have time to take pictures.
KM has monopolized our home workstation.

I decided that the best investment would be to buy a new workstation. So, a week ago I ordered a Dell Dimension XPS and now I type this from it. The XPS is the one with the blue box on this entry banner image. It is big, with plenty space to grow. Some of its details:

3.4 Ghz HT processor with 800 Mhz FSB, 2 Gb of DDR 400 Mhz RAM, 128 Mb DDR ATI Radeon 9800 Pro video card, 120 Gb SATA hard drive, 1 Gbps NIC, LCD, 20" DVI.

Needless is to say that the system performs are advertised, and that the applications literally “fly”, even with the HT off. Lots of fun!

I guess the camera will have to wait another three years…

Futilely insisting

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Human nature is quite interesting and I type so based on my own experience. I am talking about myself.

It amazes me that I keep going to check for new entries or read comments, once — and sometimes two, three, four times — a day on Ambivalent.US, when I disagree 9 out of 10 with everything the owner has to say (actually, write). Same thing happens with Hivelogic, I go there every day just to find a boring, uninteresting entry, still I go. Actually, with Hivelogic what it bothers me the most is not to be able to comment and tell Dan how damn boring he is at times.

Adam Kalsey is another one I visit daily, even though he barely updates. Same applies to Brad Choate, Reid Philpot, Gee and Rael. Peter Lindsberg weblog is another that I daily go and I do not even know why, since the guy writes so philosophically deep about programming and what nots that 99% of the time I have no idea of what he is talking about.

I wonder what the brave two or three that come by every once and then think about this very own spot…

About the spanish elections

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 20 Mar 2004 14:00:00 +0000

The overturn of the elections in Spain was driven by several factors. Leftists accused the PP (Popular Party) of lying and one have to assume that socialists voters believed it. Aznar got Spain into a war that was considered by many as non-needed, following an agresive and self-centered ideology.

The truth is that while the war was out of spanish campgrounds everything was limited to talks about veracity of the (war) facts, justice and geostrategy. But for most of the voters, Spain participation on the war was a “low cost” contribution. Until the war came to their backyard.

So, no matter how may others speculate about it, the election results cannot be changed… now. I believe the socialists have never brought any good to Spain and they never will. It is bound to change, it happened in the past. We just will have to wait.

Why do they even bother?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 14:00:00 +0000

State institutions have a different way of doing things. Different from Corporate America, that is. For example let’s say, hypothetically, that a position opens on certain department on a state institution. A person already working for the department, a person which everyone is happy with about the job being done – by the person, that is – applies for the position. Odds of that person getting the job are very high, right? I mean, it makes perfect sense.

Now, what do they do? They open the position, they advertise. They get 200 applicants. Hopeful people. They all apply, following all the rules. They all submit reference letters, resumes, the real [McCoy]. Time and effort are involved here from both parts and it all comes down to money being spent. But the internal candidate had already won the job (so to speak), even before the position opened! Now, that does not make any sense at all. But it is the law.

On a different topic. Homosexual marriage. Why do people care? Do I care about heterosexual people marriage? Nope, I don’t. I only care if it is a person I know, and it is “mazel tov!” Other than that, also “mazel tov!” Why should anyone care about two consenting adults wanting to formalize on the eyes of the society their union? Noah Grey said it nicely in more than one ocassion; I like this one. Just let them be and don’t talk more about the topic.

Politically, I am still a republican. I hope you know what I mean.

Expect changes

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 12 Mar 2004 14:00:00 +0000

I know it has been a long time. I guess other things are using my mind and what’s left is not enough to dedicate on this. I have been back in Orlando for two weeks already, time is flying.

Wanted to get DSL, ordered and before receiving the modem cancelled. Bell South wants you to use their SMTP server and nothing else and I can not accept that. Modem is going back and I am back to my old cable modem.

Placed two cameras for auction on eBay, they are not selling that well. Let’s keep hoping for the best (The cameras sold at a good price! I never knew I had such valuable things on hand).

Presidential election race is heating up, get ready for what is to come. It is going to be very interesting, as always. I love the pre-election “fights” and what-nots. I am voting for the cowboy, giving him another four years as a benefit of the doubt. I am glad some arses are out of the race. Never liked the guy. Kerry might have some hope. Time will tell.

I am thinking on changing things around here, once again. Or perhaps I will focus a bit on Babbler. Gosh, I want a digital camera so badly!

Going to watch a movie but I may go to sleep. Ah, the weekend!

Family sticks together

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 23 Feb 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Back in 2001 KM was born. Orlando was his birth place and all he knows to be called home. It is where his house is, in which he freely roams his domains and plays with his toys. It is also where he fights his father on endless battles. Nana lives there so does uncle Thanh, and cousin Alyssa, Kevin, Tommy, Jason… along with thirty plus family members. He knows where choo-choo train, Target and Chuck E. Cheese are… and more. And he did not, does not, wants to trade that for all the money in the world. I am sorry I did not listen to you when I asked, KM and Kim, and you gave your vote. We are going back.

While it is true the move has brought sour consequences, since we are several thousand of dollars poorer, certain things are such that money can’t buy. I was also taught a lesson that I will not forget. “Ohana means family and family sticks together and leaves no one behind.”

But Death and Taxes

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 06 Feb 2004 14:00:00 +0000

“In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes” wrote Benjamin Franklin, 200 plus years ago and that truth remains unabated. It should be easy to figure out that we were involved on preparing our taxes. Being part of the decadent american middle class it is not hard to imagine that we treat taxes as what they are: a serious matter.

Years ago I used to get great refunds. Then they started to diminish and one lucky year I ended up paying $200. When Kent was born we got a sweet taste by receiving a bit more in return, but when Kim lost her job last year and unemployment checks started coming in we knew we were driving towards trouble. “This year we will have to pay a ton”, we told each other. It is the first time either of us collects unemployment, so we did not know what to expect. Well Sir, Madam, I am so glad we were wrong!

Yes, we were. We are breaking even this year. The perfect taxes, the dream of every working man and woman. Zero, zip, nil, nada. We do not owe anything to Mr. IRS, he does not owe anything to us. Needless is to say that we are happy as a clam (if clams really are that happy). A bit of weight has been lifted off ours shoulders. Now to concentrate on our imminent move. One week and counting…

Remember, “…nothing is certain but death and taxes.” Have you paid your dues yet?

It has been a ride, UCF

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 14:00:00 +0000

I am leaving the College of Business and, hence, the University of Central Florida. When I started working for UCF almost eight years ago I did not know I was going to stay that long, but most important of all, I did not know it was going to be that much fun. It has certainly been a ride, a good one. I learned a lot in all aspects and for that I am grateful.

I had the opportunity to work with excellent people in a very healthy working environment. Accepting the fact that nothing is perfect — or completely perfect — my working place was “as good as it gets”, no kidding. Dr. David Scott, Edward Day, Dr. Ronald Michaels and a few other College faculty were the one’s who gave me the opportunity to work in such great place and to those I am endlessly grateful. Bruce Humphrey was an excellent boss that kept me around when leaving opportunities arose. Dr. Jeanette Harold patiently tolerated my occasional childish behavior and always offered her guidance and experience. All my coworkers (Gee, Mr. Chitty, Tsiokos, Lazar, McClellan, Mom Percival and a bunch of others throughout the College) has always been great. It is not easy to work with David, I tell you that much.

I will miss UCF, John knows I will. Nothing lasts forever, right? So, this post is to say “Hasta la vista, UCF!”. It is not a good bye, who knows if the waters of life will bring me back, once again, one day.

To Tampa back and forth

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 31 Jan 2004 14:00:00 +0000

In the last five days I have been in Tampa four times, twice by myself and twice with Kim and KM. One may say it is only 90 miles each way, not a biggie, but once it is done several times consecutively it does makes a difference.

Three days ago we thought we had the perfect apartment there but this morning Kim thought otherwise and, as quite often, she was right. She saw another apartment, just 2.8 miles from my new work place and at a reasonable price (prices online are not what we paid for it, no way). The new apartment is actually new (built in 2003) and the apartment we applied for has never been occupied. The area is nice (it is on the West Shore) and as I said, close enough from work that I could even walk – not that I am going to do it. The previous apartment was 14 miles from the new job and with a .75 cents toll each way in between. You do the math.

I sent my resignation email yesterday and now the clock is ticking. We have barely two weeks to pack everything, throw away what needs to be thrown and get ready to move. I am sure the upcoming two weeks will be very busy, at work and at home. It is also a fact that I will be very busy the first month after the move, finding my way around work and settling down at the new place. We will miss family – specially mom – and I bet we will spend any free weekend with them, in Orlando.

In all, life is full of changes. This is just one from the pack.

Drove a lot, saw places

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 27 Jan 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Today (actually, yesterday) Kim and I went over to Tampa. We drove a lot around and I am surprised of the fact that, even though it is the first time I drive around Tampa, we did not get lost, we did not drive more than normal to find the place(s) we were looking for, we did not get stuck in traffic.

I have to say that I found some of the parts of Tampa pretty abandoned. I do not mean the whole city is like that, but certain places had an almost dead (or completely dead) lawn, some of the highways were pretty dirty, not only trash on the road itself and on the sides, but the highway fence was also dirty. Having lived in Lake Mary and then Orlando, I am not so used to such neglect. Allow me to point out that Lake Mary is “super” clean and that Orlando, in general, also is.

What even caught more my attention was the apartment places we saw. The apartments themselves were magnificent, impeccable. The rent prices were, well, astronomical. Still, just out of the apartment complex itself, everything looked like a battle camp. As I said, not every place we saw was the same, but still it was evident enough to catch my attention.

It rains as I type this in Orlando, and the soothing sound of the rain is taking it’s toll on me. After all, it is already ‘good day’.

Year of the Monkey

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 24 Jan 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Today we went to the Vietnamese New Year of the Monkey celebration gathering. Of course, some of you know that today is not “the” New Year per se, it happened a few days ago, but it is never late when we are talking about food… and happiness… and food. Did I mention food?

On previous years there was a fee to get inside the Florida Fairgrounds to enjoy the celebration. Not this year! We got there around 1:30 PM and within a few minutes we were $20 lighter and three pounds heavier. KM and Alyssa enjoyed walking around with us and receiving their red envelopes with lucky money. KM wanted a water gun and he got it. After all, it is New Year celebration, you get to see one or two wishes granted.

Back at home around 4:30 PM, KM felt asleep and it has been doing so till now. It bothers me, since he needs to have his dinner, but it looks like he will sleep till tomorrow or he will wake up around 11:00 PM or so tonight, which would be a disaster.

Mom, my second mom here in Orlando is sad because of our inminent future changes. I believe we all are going to be allright. “El Rey ha muerto, que viva el Rey!” Life will go on.

On vacation now

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 23 Jan 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Today I enter a mini-vacation. There will be a lot of things to do next week, the most important of all will be to get the house ready to sell. Yes, you are not having any vision problems, you are reading well: we are selling the house. Interested?

The main thing we need to do is clean it, that’s the main goal this coming week. There are a few little things that need to get fixed, but they are minor details: some painting here, retouching there, nothing major.

Also, even though I will be on “vacation”, I may –I am almost sure I will– pass by work and check a few things out. When you are a workaholic it is actually difficult to keep away from work. I am not competing with John, I am not going to push it, but… Let’s just say that there is a backup appliance, which I do not recomend to anyone to buy (Dell Powervault 132T) that needs to be checked out.

What else is there to write about? Hmmm, ah! Yes! I met Thomas Welfley today, finally. We enjoyed a good cup of coffee and talk about how to accomplished a desire we both share: to take over the world.

Needless is to say that we did not reach any conclusion as of how to do so, but the time spent was enjoyable. And off he went to “study” (which I am almost sure wasn’t nothing else than going to put into practice some of the world taking ideas I gave him).

Weekend is close by and a shower awaits. Farewell for now. Have a nice weekend!

Slight redesign

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 20 Jan 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Slight redesign is in progress. It may span several days before it is finished but, as everything else, will get there, where I wanted it to be :-) I have been meaning to add a “side bar” for quite a while and today was the day.

At home today, tired. Kent sleeps. Good. Will come back, as soon as time permits. Oh boy, this post is going to be short… Wait, I hear noises. He is awake! Later!

Update

KM is sick. He has fever, 100.1 F. He also hasn’t poop in three days neither. It hurted me to give him a suppository today… and still it is a no go…

Uneventful weekend

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 12 Jan 2004 14:00:00 +0000

This weekend was a bit stressful and I felt some anxiety, but it was uneventful. We –floridians– are enjoying once again a nice fresh weather. Let’s hope it will stay for a little more longer.

I went to work today. I have planned to do the work from home, but could not VPN to work. That forced me to get up my comfortable chair at home, dressed and drive to work. Luckily everything was done on time and I was on my way home around 11:00 AM. It is 12:01 AM while I type this, so I guess I must say that today on this post means yesterday, Sunday 11th.

I am gaining weight. I have been all my life a skinny person but finally, with age I guess, I am building up a few pounds. The bad thing about it is that they are showing more on my belly and on the “love handles”. Kim already noticed, of course, and first she made fun of me, now she is insisting that I must exercise. I will, as soon as I have the time to do it… I thought I would never be fat. I guess I was wrong. Hehe, I am talking like I am fat, really. But in comparison with the David of three years ago, I am.

I need to work on three goals for this year. Not personal goals, but goals for work. And each goal must have two to three objectives. Having never done anything like that, I am kind of lost. Let’s see what I can come up with tomorrow. This year at work will be an interesting one, since things have changed around a bit and this goal/objective type of thing is one of them.

Time to go to sleep, if I want to wake up tomorrow on time.

Just suppose

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 10 Jan 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Suppose you have a friend, a friend like the whole meaning of the word friend “somebody who has a close personal relationship of mutual affection and trust with you.” It is the person you talk to when happy or when sad, when calm or stressed, when tired or rested. That person is your very good friend.

Now suppose that person wants a job that you think it is not appropriated. It is a job that might require more maturity than what you think your friend has. You do not think your friend is ready for it, hence applying for the job is something you think your friend shouldn’t do. What would you do? What could you do? Would you talk to your friend and try to change the decision taken? Would you rationalize with your friend and explain your concerns? Would you listen to what your friend has to say about what you think?

Now, suppose even further. Suppose you are part of the interviewing process for the position your friend is applying for. Would you not vouch for your friend, based on your thinking? That is, your thinking that your friend might not be up to the position sought. Would doing so hurt your friend? Would doing so make you a lesser friend or a better friend? Would your friend be overreacting if your way of thinking were known and decided not to talk to you anymore? Would all that be enough to break a very good friendship?

I think not.

You see, there could be a job. And I could be part of the interviewing process. And my wife could decide to apply for it. And I know what the job entitles and I know my wife is not up to it. So I would talk to her, and try to make her desist from her intentions. But she would still apply and get to the interview. Now, wife needs a job, we need money. It is very important that she gets a job. Still, since I am convinced the job is not for her, I would not vote for her. I would not hire her. It is that simple. Would I love her less because I did so? No. I think I am loving her more.

You always want the best thing for those you love.

Philosophical confussion

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 14:00:00 +0000

I do not like unsolicited pop-up windows. I like even less unsolicited browser resizing. Missuse of web cookies blows and should be illegal. Junk and spam emails are a disease (well, not for me, since I use TMDA on my John Companies server and I get zero spam) that is getting out of hand. Porno and the sex industry for sure are a profitable business; most of the spam today advertises such industry. And sex organs enhancers… and other body parts, and pills, and incoherency.

I think we should enjoy life more, and stop worrying and getting all mad and stressed about little or big things, as a matter of fact. I think family in America, in general, is all messed up. I think we all should go back to basics and live in harmony, first with our own family and then with others. We get upset for too many unimportant things way too easy, we worry too much, we judge too much… we screw ourselves up, unknowingly.

We should smile more often and even laught. We should say “Good morning” and “How are you?” meaning it. We should help more, give more, expect less. We should learn how to forgive, but also how to forget.

I know life is short, so very short. And it’s the only one we got.

First working week; about to start

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 04 Jan 2004 14:00:00 +0000

The 2004 first working week (at least for me) is about to start. I know it is going to be difficult after 4 and a half days off, but hey, “a man has to do what a man has to do…”. I hope we (TRC staff) will know early this week who was the choosen one for the position we interviewed people for.

Went to sleep early today (around 2:00 AM). I was playing with AnyDVD and CloneDVD, making a few backup copies of KM’s Spongebob Squarepants DVDs. It is amazing the quality one can get, when bonuses, featurettes, captions and foreign languages are left behind.

As always, woke up early today and soon after KM was awake. I was in the process of creating the header for this post when it happened and now he and Kim are waiting for me to finish this, rushing me to type faster. KM wants me to go and buy Samurai Jack clothes for him, sword included. I will probably update in the afternoon, or evening before the day is over.

10:34 PM: We ended up going to Lake Eola, downtown Orlando. KM cousin, Alyssa, went with us and while the kids had a blast, the adults got beat up :-) Actually, it is very satisfying seeing the kids having a blast. We are just getting old.

We got home and KM went to sleep for three and a half consecutive hours, so as we all imagine, he is still awake, watching “Die another Day – 007”. Before that, he kept me hijacked on the bedroom, playing bad and good guys (fighting). Weird, tonight he decided he wanted to be a bad guy, but he wanted to win as well. Hmm, I wonder what kind of TV is he watching during the day…

I have decided (20 plus emails made me decide, better said) to bring back the comments. They will come, for the first time, on a pop-up window. I will try to work on it next week.

Well, it has been a long day and I am going to wrap it up. Dashing out to hit the sack!

Happy Birthday Kent Martin!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 03 Jan 2004 14:00:00 +0000

Today is Kent Martin’s third birthday. Happy Birthday Kent! It is amazing how fast the time passes, it seems it was just yesterday when he was born. In this short three years we have managed to spoil him, but no more than the normal, when we are talking about the only child of mid-thirdties aged parents. The day before yesterday was mom birthday as well, 77 years old. Happy Birthday mama!

Our long weekend is rapidly reaching to an end and I have the feeling I have not accomplished anything. I guess the very first question that comes to mind is, what was there to be accomplished anyway? After a busy Christmas with family in our house, we had a very quiet, relaxing New Year. And all the holidays anticipation that we had build up throughout the year came to a conclusion in the blink of an eye.

A made a few changes here and I am not done. For starters I have taken away all commenting; I want to go back to where I started. That does not means I will never bring back comments, I just need to think of a better way to do it. I have been using Stock Xchng photos and I already feel the need of having a digital camera. Update: I forgot to add that as part of the changes around I began bringing into old entries from previous weblogs incarnations.

Kent and Kim are asleep while I type this, but Kent Martin time to wake up is rapidly approaching, so I better go, wash my teeth and wait for his call. In the mean time, I shall think what wonderful, exciting places will I take him today. That itself is a full time job.

Happy New Year 2004!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 31 Dec 2003 14:00:00 +0000

As we get closer to changing years —in some parts of the world it is already 2004— I feel like going over the things that happened to us (the Collantes’ family) during 2003. I may not have enough to write about to make this a serious entry, but here I go.

This year we are leaving behind brought very few things, but some made a deep impact in our lives at this point. To start with, we turned out one year older (duh!) and, hence, gained on experience (yeah, right!). We reached our 5th wedding anniversary and lived on our, still unfurnished, house for 3 years already.

I got to keep my job, a very difficult thing on a recesed economy, and managed not to go crazy with the every day stress. Kim, on the other hand, lost hers. Yeah, that’s fun.

Kent Martin is about to turn three (January 3rd) and he already uses the computer better than a bunch of grown ups that I know. He speaks much more, the three languages (english, vietnamese and spanish) and understands everything quite well in any of the three.

Thanks God, our parents are with us, alive. We suffered a major family loss, which was my dear uncle Erasmo. Other than that, family in general is allright and I can even swear we have gotten closer to each other.

As you can see, 2003 brough it’s ups and downs, but we have to be grateful with what we have. Overall, it could have being worse. We (Kim, Kent and myself) dearly hope you had an excellent 2003. Let’s look forward with the conviction that life is wonderful, no matter how harsh times may look, with the hope that every year will bring more challenges but more blessings to our lives.

To all, have a Happy and Prosperous 2004!

Good bye 2003!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 26 Dec 2003 14:00:00 +0000

Twenty one days is a long time without talking to you. Yes, you, the one reading here at this very moment. Even though I had my reasons I am afraid they were way too lame to be used, so I am not bailing out. A lot has happened since the last post, let’s recount.

At work we had had the most controversial and lenghty hiring process ever. It has been going throughout the whole month, more or less, and still extends to the new year. Moods changed, feelings were hurt. In all and all, I think it will ended up allright. I just don’t want to go through another :-) . Seriously.

Thankgiving in Miami was great. I really enjoy seeing family and spending time with them, even though I still feel kind of guilty for taking my nephew’s bed and sending him and wife to sleep on the computer room (office). Kent Martin gave us the scare of the lifetime by not having bowel movements in 5 days. If you are smiling while reading this, wait till you are a parent and then come back. No fun.

Kim’s unemployment is running out this week, so you can imagine our “State of the Union”. I have updated my resume and compiled a list of references, should the worse come to worse. That is, if Kim lands a great job somewhere else, we will have to move. We are a family, we do not separate. Of course, something else might happen. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Christmas eve was great. Lots of fun and family, the whole thirty something of them! Food was plentyful; so was the beer and wine. Christmas day we drove to Tampa, to visit our friend (more like a brother) Marcos and family. Once again, good time there, good food, not enough time. I wish one day we could go and stay overnight, swim on the swimming pool, visit downtown Tampa and shoot pictures around. Perhaps that day will come next year. Should I make it one of my New Year Resolutions?

Back into town around 6:30 PM (that’s yesterday) and straight to Mom-in-law house, were the presents were to be opened. Got there just-in-time. More food, more beer, more wine. Presents! Got a DVD -/+R, -/+RW, yes!! And KM got some toys, some clothes and a pair of shoes with lights that kept him busy all night. We got home around 9:30 PM and I was ready to go to bed (I was –I am always– the driver on the Tampa trip), so I did.

Yesterday (or was it the day before?) I emailed Joey, replying to his request, politely asking him to get back to his scribblings. He replied (and I paraphrase) “You update and I may consider”. Well, I did my part, don’t you think, Joey? Would you reconsider now?

Two thousand and three is leaving us. Or we are leaving him! In any case, I would to like to wish you, in my name and in the name of the whole Collantes Family, a peaceful, successful, full of all your wishes come through 2004!

Winter has come

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 14:00:00 +0000

It is snowing out there, somewhere. I hear New York got some snow recently. Other places have been under it’s white blanket for a while now. Well, it is cold here in Florida. Pretty cold for a State named “Sunshine State”. The sun shines, no doubt about it. It is shining right now, as I type this, but the temperature is 44 degrees (F). It was even colder overnight, I bet.

Christmas is rapidly approaching and we have no plans. For the first time since I have been working for UCF we are having 4 and a half days off on Christmas and 4 and a half days off on New Year. That’s mighty nice. Since we just came from Miami on Thanksgiving, I do not know if family would want to bear with us again so soon (grin). As I said, no plans, but something might come up from now till them.

I have been busy at work and I will probably be till Christmas. There are a few things that need to be done, but there is always something coming in between to slow me down or I do not feel with the energy to tackle them. I have been stressed out a bit at home, worried about Kent little problems and Kim not having a job. This Christmas will remind me the Christmas of ‘95, on which I did not have a job neither. With the only difference that I did not have a house, a wife or a kid at that time.

Oh well, we will adapt. Tata for now!

Happy Thanksgiving!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 26 Nov 2003 14:00:00 +0000

A few years ago, 383 more or less to be more precise, a bunch of british came to the now known America, running away, so to speak, from the beliefs of the Church of England, which they weren’t that happy with. The pilgrims settled on a piece of land that is now called the State of Massachusetts.

During their first winter everything was a mess: they had no food (they got there too late and winter made things more difficult), and without it, half of their settled colony died from diseases. Later on, the indians or native americans (Iroquois) –yes, the same one’s they would later kill– taugh them how to grow corn, hunt for food and fish.

By the next autumn food overflowed their barns. The colonist had a lot to be thankful for, so a feast was in order. The local native american chief was invited, along with a group from his tribe. The indians brought deer to roast with the turkeys and other wild animals hunted by the colonists. And the first thanksgiving happened.

The following years, many colonists celebrated the autumn harvest with a feast of thanks. After the United States independence (from the british, of course), the Congress recommended one yearly day of thanksgiving for the whole nation to celebrate. George Washington suggested the date November 26th as “Thanksgiving Day”. In 1863, at the end of a long and bloody civil war, Abraham Lincoln asked all Americans to set aside the last Thursday in November as a day of thanksgiving. And so it has been until these days.

Enough of well known history! A four day weekend is ahead and we are headed to Miami tomorrow morning. It will be a surprise for my parents, to whom we have not mentioned our plans. The rest of the family is waiting, though. Whatever you do on this Thanksgiving, please be safe and.. be thankful for everything we have.

Update 27 Sept 2003

Today is my brother’s Martin birthday. Please, do take a time and congratulate him on this milestone. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving Day everyone!

A moment in time

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 22 Nov 2003 14:00:00 +0000

Not much is happening lately. At least, not much worth of mentioning. Christmas is coming (yes, Christmas, I do not need to be “politically” correct by calling it “holidays”) and I tend to get a little bit sad just around this time. I know it might sound weird, but I can’t help it.

Time is flying by lately and I do not know whether that’s good or bad. It should be bad all the time, since time is one of the few things that never returns, it can’t be rewinded. But while at work, it is good to see time passing by quick, not because I do not want to work, but because I look forward, everyday, to get home and be with my kid… and my wife. The time I spend with them is quite minimal, if the amount of time I spend at work and driving is taken into consideration. So, the quicker the time passes, the sooner I will be with them. Kent is growing and changing very fast. I wish I could witness every step of that growth.

What else? Hmm, I do not longer have a digital camera, so I will be using Stock.Xchng free stock photos, until a digital camera falls into my hands again. I might use some scanning from my film SLR every once and then, but not that often. Film photography is great but it is costly.

And, finally, I have been thinking on a small change of style around here, once again. Perhaps a main column and a left or right smaller one. Fixed, centered. But I do not know. I do not have that much content to cover side columns, unless once I have them, the content will come. “If you build it, they will come.”

That’s it. Cheers, mates! Have nice weekend!

Got a Mac, once again

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 13 Nov 2003 14:00:00 +0000

My first knowledge about Mac’s came sorrounded by a mist of legend, legend that has lived until today: Mac’s are wonderful, powerful, friendly machines, that boot with a graphic interface and which mouse has only one big button. Ok, that was what I thought 15 years ago or so, but you get the idea.

Eight months ago I bought a dual 1.42 Ghz PowerMac G4, with 2GB RAM, 128 VRAM, 120GB HD, SuperDrive, Bluetooth… beautiful machine. Then wife lost her job and some of my most valuable posessions got sold: my D60 and all the associated lens… and my dream machine. But I longed, I longed for one. And one has come.

Granted, it is not a G5. It is not even a dual processor and not close to its predecesor, but it does the job quite well and Panther roams her kingdom. The vitals? A single processor at 933 Mhz, 1.5GB (well, soon to be 1.5GB, right now it is only 512MB) RAM, Superdive, 60GB hardrive, 64MB VRAM and, of course, ethernet, USB’s, firewire… and bluetooth ready.

Now if only I could publish to my iCal calendars from different places (machines), and eliminate threading on Mail App based on subjects I would be a happier man. Nonetheless, Panther is great and I look forward to a long, loving relationship with Apocalypse (that her name). Needless is to say that I have not touched my Wintel at home since she got into the house.

No hard feelings, Foobar (Wintel name), but I switched!

Mid-life Crisis

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 29 Oct 2003 14:00:00 +0000

When does mid-life crisis starts? I mean, how old do you need to be to start feeling the effects of it and, furthermore, what are such effects?

The reason I am asking all this is because, even thought I am barely on my 35th, I think –I just have that impression– that I am slowly, but at a very fast pace (talk about paradox here!), moving into my own version of mid-life crisis. I want to think it is version 1.0. Now, how many versions and for how long?

What’s going on with me? Hmm, hard to explain, specially without getting into trouble. Let’s say that I feel the urge to travel to exotic places and meet new people, just like I used to meet them when I was single, so long ago. I, as Homer Simpson, want to “shake off the dust of this one-horse town. I want to explore the world. I want to watch TV in a different time zone. I want to visit strange, exotic malls… I want to live…” It is interesting, because I would, truthfully, like to do all of the above.

I feel like getting away from everything that produces an electrical shock at times; I feel like going back to a more primitive, so to speak, kind of life: grow potatoes and tomatoes to live of, milk a cow, hurd some goats… I don’t feel like shaving or worrying about dressing. I want to be a mix of Robinson Crusoe, Robin Hood, Homer Simpson, who knows who else… and me. Didn’t I say it was hard to explain?

I’ve caught myself thinking, what if? Finding every twist of the road I could have taken, totally different or parallel to where I am now. Perhaps on each of them I would be feeling like I am right now, perhaps not. I’ll never know.

I sure hope this stage moves on quickly. It is keeping a bitter taste on my mouth, sort of.

I will never be happy in this lifetime

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 25 Oct 2003 14:00:00 +0000

Recently I received an email from a friend that has been on Iraq since the beginning of the war. He keeps us up-to-date of his experiences on the front and every email from him brings amazing details and interesting perspectives of the daily life on the liberated Iraq.

This last email was specially interesting because, as he mentions, it brings a part of Iraq that our news sources seems to have forgotten about, they haven’t picked up or they, simply, do not care to tell us about. After asking for his permission and deciding to mask out certain names, I decided to post pretty much his email on its entirety, to give you a glimpse, through the eyes, mind and heart of a friend, a fellow American and a military man of a side of Iraq and it’s people you may not know about.

I moved out of Iraq about ten days ago to a Marine base in Kuwait. We had been supporting the First Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) in Iraq but this unit has now turned over its area of responsibility to two multinational divisions in southern Iraq and has all but disappeared from Kuwait. We had originally expected to be starting the process of redeploying home at the same time since the multinational divisions brought their own Civil Affairs troops with them. You may have heard, however, of the recent Army decision to extend all forces in Iraq, including Reservists, to one year “boots on the ground” tours. Where I had previously expected to be out of the Army and back at […] by mid to late November I am now looking at returning at the beginning of March at the earliest. Meanwhile I am at Camp […], Kuwait, (just west of Kuwait City) and waiting to see if I will remain here or flow back into Iraq. I have to admit that the policy change, coming within days of when I had expected to be leaving the Middle East, came as a personal setback.

While I am here, I seem to have a little more time than I’d had available before. One of the things I’d like to do is send some observations on things I’ve seen here, especially things that we don’t see covered on the news –we are often able to see either CNN or Fox News and I see The Economist, Time, and Newsweek irregularly and a few weeks late.

One theme that I’ve seen covered just a little is the psychological burden that the people of Iraq have born and its impact on their present and future. I’ve seen indications of this personally and I want to tell you about the way this theme has presented itself to me.

I met a friend named Basim at a small swap meet or bazaar that grew up outside the camp gate near Al Hillah/Babylon. He had a small table of trinkets that grew to include other odds and ends as people at the bazaar came to realize what the Americans would buy (I need to write about the bazaar later as it was a fascinating economic laboratory with an incredibly efficient information flow). Basim is a big friendly guy and spoke some English and it was easy to spend some time with him. He never had anything that I really wanted to buy but I would make small purchases just to pass some money around. A dollar goes a very long way in Iraq where gasoline costs about 5 cents a gallon.

Basim’s booth was just a table in the very hot sun and he didn’t have a sun shade like some of the other vendors had. I ended up with a large tarp that I didn’t need so one day I took it down and gave it to him. At first he didn’t realize what it was or what it was for but when he did he started to cry. Then he started to gush out his story through the tears. It was a little distressing and nothing like the jovial guy I’d seen before but it was also fascinating.

Basim had been arrested several years ago along with 31 other men from his town. He was imprisoned for seven years and he said that over the course of this period thirty of the men he’d been arrested with were hung. He was also tortured repeatedly and described being hung by his wrists for days on end. On the other hand, it was in prison that he started to learn English. Basim was released as part of the general prisoner amnesty that Saddam declared last fall.

Basim and I talked several more times after this before I left Babylon. At one point I asked him if he had any children and he replied, “How could somebody like me have children? I have been in prison most of my life and I have no money. I need to work to make money for my family and only then can I think about having a wife.” The most common statement that Basim has ever made to me was, “Every day I thank My God and the American Army for coming to Iraq.” (In an interesting note, whenever an Iraqi mentioned God using English, which was quite often, they always used the phrase “My God.” This wasn’t used as an exclamation as we would use this phrase in the U.S. but in place of where we would use the noun “God.”)

In a later visit Basim told me that he had never known happiness as an adult and did not think that he ever would because of the memories that he had in his head. This is the theme that I have seen elsewhere in Iraq and wanted to share with you.

One of the things I did over a period of several weeks was oversee a crew working on improving the supply of fuel in our five governorates of Iraq. I met an Iraqi translator in the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) Oil Ministry office who received a bachelor’s degree in engineering in Britain before the 1991 war and received a master’s in petroleum economics from the University of Cairo. Two of us had a long talk with Mohammed and the conversation wandered far away from the original topic to many aspects of life in Iraq. He spoke about the repression that he had lived through for his entire life. He had a cousin who was arrested and executed by the regime and described how helpless everyone felt in the face of injustice that seemed to touch everyone in Iraq, and certainly everybody that he knew. He also told how he risked his life to bribe international truck drivers to hide Western news magazines in their trucks for him.

At one point, Mohammed, who seemed to be about 32 or so, made a statement that haunts me now. He said, “…I will never be happy in this lifetime but I work and pray that my son will know happiness…”

This same theme also came out in a meeting I attended in early September. The meeting was between Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, Commander of US forces in Iraq, the Iraqi governors of the five governorates of the I MEF sector, the senior CPA representative in the area, and some other Iraqi leaders in the area. The meeting was to give the Iraqi leaders the chance to raise issues directly to General Sanchez which is both a custom in this part of the world and a good way to establish direct communication.

One of the speakers was a senior Imam from the An Najaf area. The cities of An Najaf and Karbala are the two holiest cities to the Shia branch of Islam and the Imam was an influential moderate cleric. Whereas most of the politicians spoke about economic issues, the Imam spoke about spiritual and, interestingly, psychological issues. He said, “Of course you will repair the electricity, the water, the bridges, and the roads. But you must all remember the damage to the spirit of the people of Iraq from 35 years under this oppression. This damage will not be so easily repaired and will be with us for years to come. It may very well be that the spirit of this generation is lost forever and it is only the next that will realize the fruits of these times.” What a powerful statement. One of the governors also spoke briefly along the same theme.

Finally, the place where I am working now was involved with a conference sponsored by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health on psychological problems in Iraq. Most of the conference focused on the lack of trained counselors or facilities but it did dwell on conditions. One conclusion was that, in general, the entire country was suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome. It was caused by decades of war (don’t forget the Iraq-Iran war) and more than three decades of living with secret police, arrests, torture, and widespread executions. You may have seen the mass graves in Iraq mentioned in the news. They were real. One was just outside the town where I was stationed and they uncovered 10,000 bodies before the local leaders said that was enough. They reburied the remains they had found and let the rest lay. Other reports, both classified and open source, report horrible tortures inflicted on prisoners.

Things in Iraq are improving and there is hope. There are tremendous resources there and the people are one of them. But there are also problems beyond the electricity, fuel, and attacks. Please keep these people in your prayers.

Incredibly sad. I must say his writing touched me. My wife is unemployed and life for us has become harsh. But no matter how bad I might think our situation is, the people of Iraq has it worse. My problems are nothing in comparison with theirs. Yes, whether you believe in a God or not, please keep these people (Iraqi people) in your prayers and thoughts.

See also: An entry posted back in January 18th, 2003, named Iraq, are we going to war?.

That simple life

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 10 Oct 2003 14:00:00 +0000

Reading an email from my oldest brother today, I went back to the days of my infancy, when life was so simple. You see, these days no one will dare to drop by your house without previously calling; you will ride you car even if it is to go just around the corner for a bottle of milk, or a six pack—for those who drink. Everything has it’s price: “Would you do such-and-such for me?”, “Sure, it will be $25.” or “How much are you going to pay me?” And the money part will be normal and expected. Nobody does anything out of their good heart any more.

If an old person is carrying heavy bags from the grocery, an offer to help will bring similar worries: “I do not have money to pay you” or, “Help! Someone is trying to rob me!” As I said, we are loosing the warm touch that once made us humans. We work for money, we dream about it, about bills that need to be paid. We put a price on everything and constantly worry about having more money or the lack thereof.

Doctors see just money on every patient—there are exceptions, of course. The attention you get from the doctor is minimal and the bills are huge. Some may even diagnose redundant tests, just to make you, or your insurance, pay. And God forbid if you are old and on Medicare!

People with higher status—understand money—show it in different ways. Better cars, clothes, house…, partners. They live in better neighbourhoods and fly on business or first class. They can afford to send their kids to better schools and pamper them more. They still worry about money, the rest of us just worries more.

Now, I am a capitalist, I like the capitalism. But one thing should not necessarily affect the other. I am happy when people is successful—a great part of which is just having more money. Bottom line is that been somehow successful in live is the goal of almost everyone I know, including myself. But where are those simple “facts” of life we once experienced? Should we forget them?

I remember neighbours sharing their desserts and meals with each other. I remember bags full of fruits being delivered to every house on the block, compliments of Ms. Rose, which had several fruit trees on her backyard. I remember me helping old people to cross the street or carrying their heavy bags and receiving a smile in return. I do also remember when bread and milk were house delivered and even placed on top of your dinner table, because there was not locks on the doors. I remember doctors walking to their patient houses, knowing them by name and “really” knowing their personal problems and family medical history. Churches entrances were polished by the steps of their parishioners and priests—as well as parishioners—did really believed in God. Cents were not thrown away, you could buy a glass of milk with 15 of them and giving a kid a $1 note was a treasure to be cherished for months…

Where did that simple life go?

Mobility 20-20

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 07 Oct 2003 14:00:00 +0000

If you do not live in Orlando you will not know what I am talking about here. Today was also voting day here, in Orlando, FL, but for a different reason than the Californians. Let me explain.

As you may or may not know every city has its budget. I bet that even every county has its own as well. Talking about a city budget, some people, perhaps even a bunch of people, get paid big money to come up with the numbers. They get to plan and budget the city expenditures that will be paid, in a vast majority, with your money, the tax payer money. Road enhancements and/or road constructions are part of that budget.

Now, what is happening in Orlando? Well, the characters that are designated to come up with the city budget, together with the politicians in command, decided to make the local businesses and citizens paid for such road enhancements and/or constructions by increasing half a penny on the sales tax, for a period of 20 years. So, not only our economy is flaky, our salary increases poor (barely a 2%, inflation is at 2.5% or 3%) and the insurance rates went up among other things, but also we have to pay for the miscalculation or the “great idea” of a handful of morons.

As you probably already imagined, today’s vote was on whether or not “Mobility 20/20”, which is how they have called their great plan, were to become reality. Did they tell why was the increase needed, when there is –it better be– already a budget in place that covers road construction, enhancement and maintenance? No.

Well, the stupid thing did not pass. I am happy I voted NO.

Dissecting a Nigerian scam

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 29 Sep 2003 14:00:00 +0000

I am almost willing to bet that you know what I mean when I type “Nigerian scam”. It has been going around under different subjects, using different names and approaching the scam in a multitude of different ways. The ultimate goal is simply one: to get you bite their scam so they can get money out of you. They use some real facts to substantiate their scam.

Some of the faculty on my College has come to me to ask me to block that type of emails, but they always keep coming, from different sources. Another PhD. student even sent me a link to show me that some people still falls in the scammers trap. My reply to that one was:

Greed makes people do crazy things (that applies to both, the scammers and the “scammees”).
What it seems too good to be truth probably, on a 99.9%, it is, you must research on anything received from the Internet before acting up. Trash pretty much everything you are not expecting or does not comes from a known person,
Know where laws stand on your country so you will not break any and, finally,
Evidently, the guy (referred) on the news article is an IDIOT. Read carefully again everything he did. It took me two or three readings to grasp the size of his “idiopathy”. Needless to say that I believe he deserve what he got, but the people affected by him did not. He should pay for his stupidity. And I am talking about paying ‘seven times seven’.

It was then when I decided to run this little experiment. After receiving several of the afore mentioned letters, I decided to bug the scammers by behaving as if I have fallen caught on their trap. The letter I decided to reply to read as follows (I have formatted it for space saving and legibility, since it came all in upper case letters. I have not corrected the misspellings):

From: Barrister Ahmed Tanko.
Isako & Co Inneh Law Firm
Attorneys/Legal Practitioner
Nigeria

Dear friend,

Compliments of the season. Grace and peace and love from this part of the Atlantic to you. I hope my letter does not cause you too much embarrassment as I write to you in good faith based on the contact address given to me by a friend who works at the Nigerian embassy in your country. Please excuse my intrusion into your private life.

I am Barrister Ahmed Tanko, I represent Mohammed Abacha, son of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, who was the former military head of state in Nigeria. He died in 1998. Since his death, the family has been losing a lot of money due to vindictive government officials who are bent on dealing with the family. Based on this therefore, the family has asked me to seek for a foreign partner who can work with us as to move out the total sum of us$25,000,000.00 (twenty five million United States dollars), presently in their possession. This money was of course, acquired by the late president and is now kept secretly by the family. The swiss government has already frozen all the accounts of the family in Switzerland, and some other countries would soon follow to do the same.

This bid by some government officials to deal with this family has made it necessary that we seek your assisitance in receiving this money and in investing it on behalf of the family. This must be a joint venture transaction and we must all work together. Since this money is still cash, extra security measures have been taken to protect it from theft or seizure, pending when agreement is reached on when and how to move it into any of your nominated bank accounts. I have personally worked out all modalities for the peaceful conclusion of this transaction. My clients are willing to give you a reasonable percentage of this money as soon as the transactionis concluded. I will, however, based on the grounds that you are willing to work with us and also all contentious issues discussed before the commencement of this transaction. You may also discuss your percentage before we start to work. As soon as I hear from you, I will give you all necessary details as to how we intend to carry out the whole transaction.

Please, do not entertain any fears, as all necessary modalities are in place, and I assure you of all success and safety in this transaction. Please, this transaction requires absolute confidentiality and you would be expected to treat it as such until the funds are moved out of this country. Please, you will also ignore this letter and respect our trust in you by not exposing this transaction, even if you are not interested.

Look forward to working with you. Thank you.

Truly yours,

Barrister Ahmed Tanko Esq.

The headers are irrelevant, since they (or he/she) used different free accounts each time, but I should mention that it came from 123.com, a Chilean free web based email, with a reply-to at ahmedtanko@tiscali.co.uk, another free web based email this time from the United Kingdom.

My reply was short, but enticing:

Dear Mr. Tanko,

I am highly interested on this business proposal. Please provide more information and what I am to do next.

Best regards,

–
David Collantes

Soon after (not even 30 minutes), a reply arrived:

From: Barrister Ahmed Tanko.
Isako Lawfirm
Attorneys/Legal Practitioner
37 Kofi Abayomi Layout, Lagos
Nigeria.

Dear friend,

Greetings to you.

I must thank you for your interest to assist this transaction, which shall be based on mutual respect, honesty and above all, the fear of God. I want to beleive that you are sincerely ready to assist us, as we cannot afford to lose this business. We are prepared to have entire confidence in you to do the business with all honesty and to give us our share of the money when it is finally transferred to you. We wish that you have such confidence in us, and beleive that we are capable and that all efforts you will put in the transaction will not be in vain.

It is very important we adopt a code now that we are ready to do this deal.our code is “193”. any message I send to you must carry the code and if i call you or you call me, you must always be the one to ask me of the code before you discuss anything with me. The reason for this is to ensure it is i you are dealing with, taking into consideration the confidential nature of this transaction. as you are now aware, I represent the abacha family who are presently being hounded by the civilian administration of president Olusegun Obasanjo. This victimization is perceived as transferred aggression as the late general Sanni Abacha for coup plotting once jailed president Obasanjo. Bank accounts of the abacha family both in Nigeria and foreign countries such as Switzerland, Britain, France, Germany etc. have been frozen all in a bid to frustrate them.

The US $25m presently envisage for transfer is all the Abacha family has left. Like I mentioned in my first letter to you, I did say the funds are in cash, and for this reason and considering the present ordeal beingundergone by the Abacha family; this fund cannot be paid into a bank account as you have propsed, because if the government knows about it, it is big trouble. So for this reason, the first batch of US $25m have been arranged and securely sealed in a trunk box, crated and then deposited with a security company ready for shipment abroad via diplomatic courier service so as to make it immune to custom and other bureaucratic checks at the ports.the reason for this is because it is the only way the funds can be transferred without any problems. The officials of the security company have been informed the crate contains african wood carvings.

Immediately I receive your intention to cooperate, I shall give instructions for the shipment of the consignment via diplomatic courier to the diplomatic courier express services office in Madrid, Spain, where you will present yourself to take possession of the trunk box containing the cash. Mind you, the consignment is coded, no one must know of its true content. The officials of the diplomatic courier service will be informed the trunk box contain african wood carvings. Please take note. It is after the funds are successfully in your possession that we will have the capacity to discuss type and terms of investment we will use our share for.

My dear partner, I hope you appreciate all our secured arrangement in order to make sure we achieve a 100% hitch-free and mutually beneficial transaction with you as our lives and that of our families are involved. Having put in over 20 years of meritorious service as an attorney in my country, anything that will tarnish my image must be avoided in order not to be labelled economic saboteur. therefore, I implore you to keep everything about this business strictly confidential until the funds have been transferred.

I and my client have resolved to compensate you with 20% of the total funds for your assistance. So based on the above, it is important you communicate with me to let me know whether or not you accept to do this business with us so that we can negotiate your percentage. On the event that you cannot assist us do the business, I beg you to still keep our contact and existence of this fund a secret.

I will require you to email me with your confidential telephone and fax numbers. I am also at your disposition to entertain any question(s) relating to this transaction.

Thank you and Godbless you.

Yours truly,

Barrister Ahmed Tanko Esq. “193”

This one came from ahmedtanko03@yahoo.com (surprise!), sent from this IP, 192.116.107.61, a RIPE IP allocated to Israel, with no reply-to address.

And my subsequent reply was:

Mr. Tanko,

Thanks for your concise reply. I understand this transaction requires my utmost confidentiality and I am willing to do so. Yet, even thought you are entrusting me with a transaction of such magnitude, I need to be assured that you can be the holder of mine. Before going any further as of to provide you with phone and fax numbers to where I can be reached at, I need to have a proof of your honest and sincere intentions. For such, I kindly request:

A cashier check or money order in the amount of $20 (notice the small amount, which is meant to validate your honesty and sincerity).

A formal letter (not email) to the address below (PLEASE, use same address to send the cashier check or money order):

Trans. “193”
P.O Box XXXXX
Orlando, FL 32XXX

After this request is fulfilled I will be ready to engage, provide you with the information requested and travel as needed.

Awaiting for your reply, sincerely,

–
David Collantes

Needless is to say that I am still waiting on my $20. Mr. Tanko has lost his Internet connection.

Traveling, my unfulfilled hobby

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 26 Sep 2003 14:00:00 +0000

Today I came across Vagabonding and I have to admit I felt jealous, in a good way. You see, traveling around the world has always been my unfulfilled dream and, even thought I have traveled some, I still hope one day (sooner rather than later) that dream will come true.

Mike Pugh lives and writes, with words and pictures, his travels around the world and he does it well. What could be more energizing than fulfilling your hearts desire? Vagabonding is a must see and read. Go and look, do not take my words for it.

Some people travel in a different way. Take John, from Wanting Seed, for example. He decided to study, learn and live the Chinese culture by going to school in China. Pretty cool, huh? Oh boy, if only I were 20 years old and single! Not that I am complaining about my current status (husband and father), but youth and independence are very important to do what John did.

Finally, I thought I should mention Joey, the guy behind Ash. Being from Brunei Darussalam, on the Borneo Island, he decided — for his own good, I presume — to travel to the “Land down Under”, also to study. But even though knowing new cultures and lands could be very exciting, Joey puts it simple when he writes: “I am not like most Bruneians, who want to leave Brunei and never come back. I want to go back. Pronto."

Yes, traveling is great. But I guess there is not sweeter place, after running around globe, than home sweet home.

Yet more changes

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 20 Sep 2003 14:00:00 +0000

I am contemplating, once again, some changes around here. As a matter of fact, some changes have already happened, whether you realized it or not. I am now printing the four previous entries on any archived entry, as well as providing the navigation to the previously and afterwards entries after those four. It might look confusing; it is an acquired taste. It is not as structured as some others, but it will do for now.

I am also seriously considering removing commenting capabilities all together. I have never had plenty commenters like some people and to be honest, I am not going to write looking forward to knowing and reading about what others think. If I remove commenting, even the old one’s will go.

Finally, I will change – still cooking, or even uncertain – the layout of the site to hold two columns, one being a bigger one, of course (wider). That will allow me to have my favorite links all the time close by, not even one simple click away. And it will shorten my menu. Actually, I might even take the menu away and include it on the side column. Ah, the “Read more…” links will also disappear; whole entries will stick together.

I am fiddling with this while there is so much to do, here (home) and there. I am also hungry.

Money for your hobby?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 15 Sep 2003 14:00:00 +0000

I have seeing an increasing amount of weblogs that are, either running Google AdSense to make money or asking for donations. Does that works? I mean, does Google AdSense can be enough for someone to actually make a living out if it? And, on a related token, would the amount of “donations” add up enough to pay the rent? I am curious.

On politics. I am a republican although I am not sure if I will vote like so on the next Presidential elections. I am not liking any of the candidates of the alternatives parties neither. Will see; I am afraid that, regardless whom I will vote for, it will make no difference. That’s the way politics are.

To further add to this, already very disorganised entry, I upgraded the DHCP server today. Nice!

Like a Phoenix

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 14 Sep 2003 14:00:00 +0000

Just like a Phoenix, this is a rebirth from my own ashes. I wanted to change things around here, perhaps change the way I write. Finally, I have decided to come back on a more informal way. Like it was in the beginning, when I decided that blogging could be a fun thing to do.

How informal will it be? Well, as informal as life itself — at least, mine —. I will write things that happen to me, my family, my friends and fellow human beings in general. I will not hold back just because I may think my writing might not interest certain audience, I will just write — or will try to. When I decided to “rest for a while”, I receive two emails from two friends and co-workers. “I browse to it every once in a while to read it…”, one said. “What’s this? It’s really down? Do you still want the server hosting?” said the other. Enough said.

I am back.

Some of my points of view

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 13 Aug 2003 14:00:00 +0000

A recent post over Ambivalent sparked a small controversy. Small because it was a discussion of two, which also brought another post, made somewhere else. Both incidents have prompted me to come by and speak my mind on my points of view, specifically those related to homosexuals (also known as gays and lesbians) as well as the relation –or lack thereof– between them and religion.

I have always respected everyone. Whether they are homosexual or straight, it makes no difference. Any adult person has the right to live it’s own “lifestyle” as long as it doesn’t interfere with others. On that matter, there is not wrong or right for me: it’s something personal that has it’s roots, as we all know, on differences at birth. Even though I would agree that hanging out with certain group of people could bring that group habit(s) to a person, homosexuals are born that way, not made up.

Does a person, by being homosexual, bothers me? No, it doesn’t. Do I have any problems with homosexual marriages? No, I don’t. Where do I stand on homosexual child adoption and parenting? I think the odds of homosexuals parents raising successful kids are as good as with heterosexual parents.

How homosexuals relate to Christianity? Well, it depends. Some Christians will say the scriptures clearly mention that homosexuality is not “approved” by God and considered an aberration, thus homosexuals will go to hell, unless they practice celibate. In other words, unless they behave like “normal” people, they are dammed. Needless is to say they have “proof” of it on the Holy Scriptures.

Other group of Christians will say homosexuals are dammed, regardless. They have their “proof” too. Yet another group will accept them (this group is pretty small) as they are, as “Sons of God”, like everyone else. More theology is involved for those too. Should we (society) deprive homosexuals from having a believe (a believe on their creator), just because they are different? Who are we to act as God’s judges?

So, what about me? What do I think about it? Well, I refuse to believe in a God that creates people differently to make their lives miserable. If God is all present, all knowledgeable, omnipotent, he knew about everything that is going on from the beginning of time, yet, still allowed it to happen. That sound’s pretty sadistic to me. It makes me think we are just puppets on God’s hands and part of his own private party. It also makes us a flawed “creation”. That applies to all of us, homosexuals and heterosexuals. See what Wikipedia has to say about Religion and Homosexuality.

It is also worth noticing that I believe the Pope is not God’s ambassador, just a guy who sits on a higher chair, like the President of the United States does. The Pope is, so to speak, a politician, but it doesn’t deserve more respect or veneration than you or me. I believe priests should be allowed to marry and live a normal life, like the rest of us. I believe that the Roman Catholic Church needs a shaken up, they need to be tougher on their “God Servants” who violates the law and they should prosecute those to the maximum extend of the law, just like everyone else.

“Let those without sin cast the first stone”

One year older

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 06 Aug 2003 14:00:00 +0000

Well, I thought it will never come. We — adults —, sometimes pursuing our dreams of Peterpan… we think we’ll never age. Slowly our skin becomes saggy and wrinkled; we can not see as sharp as before, hence we wear glasses; our hair turn white (for the lucky ones) and falls down (for those unlucky, like me). The rhythm of live goes at a different beat then. You start getting tired easily, things that previously attracted you do not longer do. Ah… you have, inevitably, aged.

Yes, I just turned 35. With any luck, I am going to start walking down the road now; I have reached the half of my existence. The interesting thing is that I remember my childhood like it was yesterday, and all the good and bad times I went through. Good memory I still have, but for how long?

I am thankful to be around for one more year, I hope and pray I will have many more to come. I have one more incentive to live for, my son, and of course, my family and friends. I need to be around, not for my own enjoyment, but to serve those around me. That’s the meaning of life (meaning subject to change, not available with any other offers).

And to “celebrate” a new year, I will be changing things around, once again. Such changes are, also, getting old. I know. I am not decrepit… yet.

The never-ending story

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 30 Jul 2003 14:00:00 +0000

I am living the never-ending story with this website. It all comes down to lack of time. It could be also that the little time I have free I am dedicating to my family, but then again, that’s also lack of time.

Just a recount of the things that had occurred since the last time: we got cable for the first time (mainly for the enjoyment of Kent Martin and mother); our TV is kind of failing, so we go another; Kim got her first job interview, which she graciously flunked (hey, job search is itself a full time job and an art!); my left hand middle finger is hurting, I am afraid it is arthritis; I am having soup for lunch almost every day.

As you can see, life is pretty uneventful. And, as everyone else’s, we are getting old and I can feel it. Haven’t had a time to shut any new pictures, so my upcoming photo weblog is just there, upcoming, somehow collecting dust (pretty much like this site).

Yes, the never-ending story. Life goes on.

Update: I am selling one of my Rolleiflex on eBay. Come on, bid for it! Yay! – Sold!

On a training, for two days

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 16 Jul 2003 14:00:00 +0000

I am going through a Windows 2003 training for two days. A few things we are talking about here I have already played with, some others are boooring! But it could be worse, at least it is not a Microsoft sales pitch.

It does feels weird to be away from work, I am not used to Trainings of this kind. It feels weird as well to be typing this from the classroom, while the instructor is going through his Powerpoint presentation. Botton line is, the chair where I am sitting is very uncomfortable, I am hungry, sleepy, tired. Oh boy… snap back, David!

Ahhh, a break is coming up. Huzzah! Will I be coming back after lunch? Perhaps. Back to “Shadow copies” and ASR (Automated System Recovery). Later!

Update: On the second day. Today is a bit more interesting than yesterday. 2003 Server is an interesting build and there are quite a few things that I can see handy in it. IIS 6 this afternoon!

Longer than anticipated

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 11 Jul 2003 14:00:00 +0000

Well, my hiatus and upcoming photoblog are taking longer than anticipated. That’s due, most of the time, to lack of time. We have moved our offices to a new building (I am talking about work here) and things have been hectic at times. That added to Kent Martin’s growing up and the task of educating him becoming more important –and difficult– has taken all the little free time I have on my hands.

It is true that I had had some really “free” time. But then the inspiration hasn’t come to alow me to finish the photoblog interface. Then, of course, I need much more time to go around Orlando taking pictures. Orlando is not a city that gives too much inspiration to a photo amateur: there are not old buildings around and it is always sunny (well, when it is not raining).

The photoblog will come. I already got my cameras ready: a Nikon N50, a Nikon 5700, a Ricoh S35 and two beautiful Rollei’s, one 3.5 and another 2.8 with Planar lens and in perfect shape (even though they are over 50 years old). I got a scanner as well, thanks to the sugestion of the guy who runs Ambivalent, Eryk. It is an Epson 3200 Pro, which allows scanning of film negatives up to 120mm.

So, that’s the recount, so far. I will come back, hopefully soon. When that happens, the new photoblog will be online instead of this site (or I even decide to run both simultaneously). A weekend is ahead, have a nice one!

On hiatus...

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 20 Jun 2003 14:00:00 +0000

Well, collantes.US will go on hiatus for a while. I have some other things on my hands that are taking some—or a great part—of my free time. That’s it. Entries will resume soon. Not very soon, but soon. When that happens the site might look slightly different. Those of you out there that have been coming here now and then already know what I mean… 😄

That said… cheers, you all!

A new server, a new life

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 14 Jun 2003 14:00:00 +0000

Well, I have finally moved to my own collocated server. I know you saw nothing here for a while, then you probably saw some errors and now we are finally back, running smoothly, we want to think.

This new server is connected to a faster pipe, so you should see an improvement: pages should load faster and site availability should be around 98 or 99%. That’s about it!

There are a few things to left to do, so off I go. I will return later, hopefully with much more interesting things to say ;-) Have a nice weekend everyone!

A thought

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 11 Jun 2003 14:00:00 +0000

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to really step outside yourself and view yourself as a stranger would?

…What do you think that would be like? And how accurate do you think it is?

I honestly don’t know how I would view myself. Probably as someone who is shy, afraid, and introverted. I guess I come off as those on a first impression, but it could not be farther from the truth. I am so different to those I know and trust than I am to those that I meet for the first time. I wonder if I can, one day, pinpoint the exact second that a person goes from being a stranger to being a friend, in my mind. I wonder what triggers that transformation.

I wish I could objectively see myself, so I could fix my flaws. I know, I know - we shouldn’t think these things, we should be happy with who we are. Don’t get me wrong - I am very proud of what I am, of my accomplishments. I, however, do not know if I am proud of who I am. Is there really a difference?

Or am I just rambling at 3 in the morning?

If you have a weblog, read

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 09 Jun 2003 14:00:00 +0000

Recently, one of the weblogs I used to read often closed it’s doors. It was kind of sad to see it happen, but I am sure sooner or later it’s doors will open for something, even yet, more interesting. It is (or was?) Joaquin Bernal “bitacora”, a weblog in spanish.

I decided to poorly translate his last post, which I found quite informative and interesting. I say poorly translate, first because english is not my mother tongue, and second, because with every translation you loose a lot of meaning that can be only understood completely on the language the text was written.

According to Earful’s Joaquin Bernal, here is how to “maintain your weblog and be proud of it in twelve simple steps” (original in spanish):

Speak your mind, always. It will do good to your weblog: If you speak your mind and your readers do not like it, you will spark a controversy: that will attract visitors. If you speak your mind and your readers like it, your thoughts will have a good foundation: that will attract visitors. If you speak your mind and nobody cares, a lot of your readers will assume it is good material: that will attract visitors. Finally, if you speak your mind and all you are saying is something obvious, your readers will want to tell you they agree with you: that will attract visitors. Speak your mind, that will attract visitors. Phrase: “We can only give impartial opinions about the things that we do not care about, that’s why impartial opinions lack of value.” (Oscar Wilde)
What you do (your job) it is not you: A critique to what you do is not a critic to you. An opinion about someone else job must be focused about the job, whether you like it or not. That applies always, but even more on weblogs, where you will never meet a lot of your readers personally. No that you even need it. Phrase: “Having kids does not makes you a parent, the same way that having a piano will not make you a piano player.” (Michael Levine)
All opinions are not final. You do not need to please everyone: If you have the right to say whatever you please, your readers also have the right to disagree. That also applies to those who say that everyone has the right to say anything they want, curiously. Phrase: “There is something I can not deal with and that is intolerance.” (Earful)
Forget about your site statistics: A visitors counter is not a geiger counter. That is, you do not need to worry about what it reads. Further more, if you do not need it is because everything is working like a well oiled machine. I am refering to both, the geiger and visitor’s counter, of course. If anyone ask you, how many hits you get, just reply “enough” and start an interesting conversation, for example, talking about lobster’s sexual life has given very good results. Phrase: “No one is really envy worthy.” (Arthur Schopenhauer)
Be clear and stay away from ambiguities: Doing so you will avoid uncomfortable confussions. Although, if you think about it, no matter what you say there will always be someone that will twist it to make it sound completely different. So I am trying to tell you this, and the other at the same time. You do not understand? I was trying to be ambiguos. Phrase: “Try to understand what I am trying to say, not what I am saying.” (Popular wisdom)
You can not make a life out of your prestige. Nor of your fame, either: Being on center of a needle’s eye, on a hurricane eye or the epicenter of an earthquake is impossible by definition. Believe you are can be a slight “massage” to your ego. But your life is something else, or it should be. If you need one of those “massages”, stay with your friends. In real life they are much better (the messages). Phrase: “Starting out from nothing we have reached the highest pick of misery.” (Groucho Marx)
Think twice before you write your opinions about something, depending of that something: Think twice and then give your opinion. If later on you think you were wrong or your opinion has changed, do not be afraid to do so, it doesn’t hurt. You will not die because you changed your mind, you will not be worse or better by doing so. The head is round for a reason: so your thoughts can change direccion. Phrase: “Never reason with your superior, you might be right.” (Marco A. Almazon)
Run away from posting smart, intelligent things all the time: Not everything is useful. There are things we call unuseful that are, or should be, essential. Every once in a while, publish something stupid, or a link to a site without much interest. After a while you will realize that the end results to your weblog are the same. It is all about being, not doing, so do not try too hard. Phrase: “The unuseful wisdom only differs from the stupidity in that you need to work harder to come up with it.” (Swedish proverb)
Some chinese do not know how to play the violin: Every once in a while you will see on the news a report about some prodigy chinese child, how well it can play the violin at an age when we did not even know how to count with our fingers. Does it means that the chinese are musically genetically favored? No. It only means there are plenty of them. Phrase: “There are three types or lies: the lie, the damn lie and the statistics.” (Mark Twain)
Do your work right, so it will stand on itself: If you feel obligated to explain, justify and defend what you do, it means you are still on the early stages of what you do. Work harder and one day you will not have to worry more than the normal. Phrase: “From a protective father will come neurotic sons.” (Popular wisdom)
You haven’t signed a contract in which you are bind to post daily: This do not normally happens. If you have done so, then I can not help you. Publish, post, yes. But refrain from being obsessed. An interesting post every 4 days is better than 4 worthless daily. It is your weblog, and it is not clossing because you haven’t post. Phrase: “The indigestion will preach moral to your stomack.” (Victor Hugo)
Have a lot of fun, always: This is so obvious that does not needs commenting. If you have not fun on your weblog, then pack your things and go. If you do so, give me a buzz and we will drink some beers. Phrase: “Full of fortune is the man that laugh about himself, it will never run out of reasons to be happy.” (Habib Bourguiba)

Circa 1984

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 05 Jun 2003 14:00:00 +0000

I guess a fitting way to “welcome” myself to the collantes.us posting forum is to also give a brief rehashing of my digital lifestyle.

Rumor has it that nineteen years ago, in the summer of 1984, two brand new bundles of joy rolled into the Canzolino household. The first was a shiny new Macintosh; the second, coming six weeks or so later, was a baby girl. I’ve been raised on computers ever since, tinkering away at little games and clicking that little one button ever since.

My first experience with the “inter-net” was in 1994, when a friend of my father’s opened up a small BBS called “The Grotto,” which serviced a small audience in south-eastern Connecticut. This BBS was a marvel of modern technology, and allowed me to play numerous games of hang-man against others miles away.

Several computers have passed through the hands of our family, all of them Macintosh, all of them shared by the three members of the household. Summer 2002 saw me acquiring my first machine of my own –a hand-me-down beige 266 mhz G3 running the ever-buggy OS 9.2.2. Two months after this beige monster was acquired, Apple Computer called and offered me a job. The G3 was abandoned to the basement, and a 15" TiBook has taken it’s place (along with four other computers on the network that now runs through our 900 square foot house).

Note

This was written by Adrienne Canzolino, as a guest post.

Newly digital

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 02 Jun 2003 14:00:00 +0000

I started using computers back in 1985. The PC’s I used were old dinosaurs, running at the blazing speeds of 2 MHz, with 640KB of RAM, no hard drive and 5" 1/4 floppy drives. I could turn the machine on and go to flirt with girls on the halls of my college while it was booting. Sometimes I even had time to make out!

Programing was done with Quick Basic or Turbo Basic, and floppies had to be swaped at times, in endless search of the “command.com”. I had a whole collection of floppies, all carefully protected on a cardboard box I made and that I carried with me almost all the time. They were, after all, my most valuable posession.

I never had a PC of my own, not until 1992. I always used my school’s machines, so I was famous for always being on the labs or sleeping on the local Computer Club. I would always reserve machine time at nights, since most of the people would use them during the daylight and nights were mostly open. I have to point out that the labs on my school and the Computer Club were open 24/7/365.

I first connected to the Internet in January 1992. I send my first email using a Radio Packet BBS that had Internet connection. I beta tested Mosaic and needless is to say I saw the raise and downfall of Netscape. I paid $7.00 an hour for an Internet connection with Holonet, after I got tired of my local Freenet. Life was good.

Had had several computers ever since, including Macs and IBM Risc based. My life has revolved around computers and still does. Perhaps there isn’t a heaven, but your data packets get routed to a faster pipeline…

Back to the routinely life

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 01 Jun 2003 14:00:00 +0000

Another weekend has gone by, way faster than I expected. Being a husband, a father and a head of the household have it’s tradeoffs, although it is not that bad, after all. The things I do not like about it? For starters, white hair. A lot, all over my head. There is also the missing hair, quite more concerning than the first. There is also the fat on the abdominal part, the pain on the joins and neck and the morning’s dragon breath. Yes, it has it’s tradeoffs.

Everything in life has a price, but waking up in the morning by the sound of my son’s sweet voice asking for papá is priceless. Yes, another weekend gone by… and I just look forward to the next.

Things are changing... once again

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 11 May 2003 14:00:00 +0000

Things are changing around here once again. I am going to try, once again, to please my mind on this little spot. There has been a gap, since the last time I posted, but I had had my reasons. Uncle Eddie died and now, almost a month after, I feel the same emptiness I felt the first day.

I am working on a Webmail for family use. For those who already have a username and password, go ahead and give it a try. I am trying to make this webmail “the” prefered mail client: it is reachable from everywhere, it is convenient, since your mails reside on the server all the time and it is all yours, no advertising, no quota limits. What more could you ask for? :-)

We have not moved to the new building at work yet, but several departments have. In two weeks, they say, TRC will be moving. Lately I do not care. Que será, será… A buddy is trying to leave us, the world is coming to an end.

Allright, I am going to nap for a while, before “Mother’s Day” party starts at home. Remember to check out the Webmail. Only intended for family though. Next time you come by you may find something different here. Bye now!

A very sad day

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 14:00:00 +0000

I have, many times, felt saddened while thinking about the fragility of life. I feel often perturbed by the fact the life itself is very short. Throughout life we strive to achieve goals, whether they are set goals or not: we get an education, or try to, we search for happiness, we build an “empire” around us. And everything, everything disappears at the end. Does it makes any sense then? What is the reason of life?

I think that what we accomplish while alive is just the answer to that. But it is not a matter of success. It is a matter of how the accomplishment is made: being honest, rightous, generous, good… spending time with your parents and family, with your kids, doing good for others. Forgiving, not hating. So many things… Life is already too short, you see? We should not waste it on the negative.

Why do I bring this topic today? My dear uncle Eddie is dying. He had had two massive strokes and medical doctors spoke: he is not going to make it. Of course, only God has the last word, but the doctors diagnose is not hopeful. My uncle’s life was an accomplished one. He has been an example to follow and when he is gone he will be missed and remembered. I will make sure to talk to my kid about him. Now if he just didn’t have to go now…

I feel sad. Good people should never die.

A short and tiresome weekend

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 14:00:00 +0000

This has been a short weekend and I am tired. I wish I could talk about the great things I did, but it was mainly staying home, going to mom-in-law house and being with baby (and wife), of course.

I can tell I am growing old at a fast pace. You see, we are all moving towards elderly, that’s nothing new, but it does normally happens slow, or doesn’t it? Well, if that is the case –that is, it happens slow–, I do not know what failed on me. It seems like the years were piling up on top of me and then, suddenly, they just fell. If I start writting down every single spot that hurts on my body I would tire the most patient reader. Honestly. When the pain started I thought it was something that would go away in a few days but, oh boy, was I in for a surprise! No, I am not seventy. I am thirty four.

Well, as I said, it was a short week and I should have guessed it will be, since the preceding week was also short. I want to think that the next week will bring some peace to my rumble skeleton.

I haven’t read the news, I think I am the only person who does not have the details on the latest on the Iraq conflict. I spared a few minutes –sixty to be exact– to come up with a different interface here last night and now this, typed while Kent falls asleep. I am going to browse the news right now, and perhaps to read a few emails that I am sure I have. Let’s hope I did not kill anyone of boredom.

Definitely, humans are born violent

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 12 Apr 2003 14:00:00 +0000

War topics are prime news. From the time we wake up to the hour we go to sleep, war news are the focus of people’s attention. We are a violent race, it is not a stereotype: humans are born violent.

My son is barely two years old. He hasn’t seen violent television programs, our home is a stable one, no fights, no yelling. Still, when he is around his little cousin, and more often that we would like, he constantly hits her. They play along, like pals, but as I said, he misbehaves at times. He is not alone, all kids behave, more or less, the same way. So do we, grown ups.

Wars are the ultimate expression of our violent behavior. I was thinking the other day since, as I said, war news are continuously flowing, that the fact of being smart animals did not made us any different. We are still animals, nevertheless, and of the kind that exhibits stupidity and foolishness on their behavior. Also violence. Violence attract us. Television programs and movies that contain violence are big hits that drive masses to the theathers and TV sets.

Does this means that we are cursed to be violent and can’t do anything about it? Not necessarily. It is neither a justification for our wrong behavior. It is what I believe it to be: a fact. Whether or not we are screwed because of it, it’s is up to each one of us to decide.

There is no political meaning on this thought. Do not try to find one.

Thanks to the Slammer, Slammed

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 14:00:00 +0000

Yes, just like a lot of people around, we got “slammed at work.” There were several hundred of machines on Campus, I presumed, but the five we got compromised are the one’s that bothered me the most.

Out of the five, two were servers, our servers, my servers. A brand new SQL server, just a week old, more or less, was missing the hot fix. Another older one, under the control of somebody else, but still within my College was missing it too. It could have been worse. Just a semester ago, all the machines on the labs were running MS SQL server.

Now, I have no excuse. I failed to install the hot fix, I thought the SP2 was all there was (when I built that server there was not SP3). To be honest, I have never been fond of hot fixes. Microsoft does not recommend the install of any hot fix unless you are experiencing the problem that the hot fix is covering. Just not so on the slammer case. If you go to the hit fix page you will see the recommendation to install it and the reference of being a critical one down, at the end of the whole document, on the very same small font that disclaimers are written with.

The hot fix installation is not a piece of cake neither. Let me tell you, every time there is a hot fix, I really treat it with a bit (or more) of salt. If things go wrong – and there is always a big possibility of that happening – you may ended up messing up the server. And when the hot fix involves editing files and tweaking with the registry (always written on red on Microsoft documents) then the procedure starts to thicken. It is like seeing a TV advertisement of a new medicine. They tell you that it can cure your stomach problem, but there are high possibilities that may affect your liver, kidneys, heart, lunges and induce a brain stroke. So much for a peace of mind.

Microsoft needs to get their act together. Windows Update web site it’s a step forward to a centralized and safe delivery of patches and upgrades. There is an Office Update site too. I would say, they should put up a site for all OS and server (services) related patches and critical updates and another for all Office/Home products. Or to start with, at least, a better Security page, where patches and/or upgrades are listed by server (SQL, Exchange, IIS, etc), on an easily identifiable order. Perhaps that will be accomplished soon. Let’s all hope so, for our own sake.

From Bill Gates, with love

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 24 Jan 2003 14:00:00 +0000

I received an email today. While it is true that I receive 60 to 70 emails daily, this one was not trivial. It wasn’t the expected porno offer, nor a letter from Nigeria or Lagos promising riches. Is wasn’t “reputable” diplomas or innocent spam passed along by a lack-of-knowledge friend neither. If was an email from Bill Gates itself. Yes, that’s right, an email from the billionaire Gates.

I have to admit that my first thought was, “It is another spam”. This is not coming from Gates at all. Boy, was I wrong! I am not silly, I believe it was probably written by one of Bill’s minions, but nevertheless, it was real. Now, what would Bill want with this humble person? Well, it seems that he wanted to re-assure me. He wanted me to know that, even though Microsoft messed up in the past, serious things were to, finally, start happening at Redmond’s Headquarters. Why all this noise? The only conceivable explanation I could think of was the latest Buffer Overflow on the Windows Locator Service. It is a very serious vulnerability. I do not know why I think it was the drop the overflow the cup and Bill decided to put his face out, for the sake of his Company. The email itself is a statement. Between the lines I read — and perhaps I read more than it was — “We messed up in the past and present, we are sorry, very sorry, and it will not happen again. I, Bill Gates itself, am making that promise”.

Of course, the previous paragraph is meant to bother/infuriate Microsoft adorers. I really do not think that he is recognizing Microsoft mistakes. He is just talking about online security now and what is to come, but he writes something I never saw before coming from him:

“While we’ve accomplished a lot in the past year, there is still more to do –at Microsoft and across our industry. We invested more than $200 million in 2002 improving Windows security, and significantly more on our security work with other products. In the coming year, we will continue to work with customers, government officials and industry partners to deliver more secure products, and to share our findings and knowledge about security. In the meantime, there are three things customers can do to help: 1) stay up to date on patches, 2) use anti-virus software and keep it up to date with the latest signatures, and 3) use firewalls.”

— Microsoft Executive Email

“Invested more than $200 million… ‘improving’ Windows security… to deliver more secure products… to share our findings and knowledge about security… use firewalls”. Interesting. That quote says it all.

Nuclear Blackmail, North Korean Style

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 21 Jan 2003 14:00:00 +0000

Looks like the only thing a poor country, or a country in deep economical problems, has to do to turn things around and get all major powers striving to come up with a solution —which in the case I am talking about is recognition, non-aggression treaty and, most important of all, economical aid— is to publicly say it is going to build a nuclear bomb or that is in the process to do it. That is the case of North Korea, of course.

All major countries are working to find a solution to the actual situation. A Russian envoy to North Korea, sent to try to persuade (diffuse) the North Koreans from their endeavors, has catalogued it’s mission as ‘successful’. Their three part plan consists on:

…nuclear-free status for the Korean peninsula, and written security guarantees and a humanitarian and economic aid package for the impoverished North…

— MSNBC

Well, nuclear-free Korean peninsula is fine. You do not want such powerful weapons on the hands of a madman, even though madman definition is pretty relative. Security guarantees, sure, why not? But they will have to behave: with their southern neighbors and their own people. After all, they would not need guarantees if they were not a problem to start with. Economic package? Hmm, with that I have some problems. I do not mind helping someone in need, at any time. Now, if that someone just so happens not to be your friend or, worse yet, your enemy, then things change. It is like feeding a wild wolf: he will go away to eat his share, but he will come back for more (he will even expect more!) and if there is no more, he will turn on you.

No, North Korea needs to change the way their economy runs, by shacking the pillars of their political system. It is communism — or their approach to it — the one that is keeping them from reaching a higher level. They need a Glasnost, Soviet style. Now, whether or not something like that could happen in North Korea is another matter. You see, I knew a few young people from North Korea and they had a photo of their supreme leader in their bedroom, surrounded by candles and incense. The guy is not dead, he is a God for them! That is not communism, it is an extreme.

Years ago, the possession of “the bomb” guaranteed that there will be no nuclear war, since the parties involved knew there will be no winners, they knew the damage would be massive and general. Today, looks like, the new trend is to use it as a form of blackmail. And it seems to be working well.

Iraq, are we going to war?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 18 Jan 2003 18:14:00 +0000

If you have been following the news you already know about the Iraq situation. You might still be asking yourself why are we building up such a massive military power in the area, that is, Middle East. Right, you are not questioning that, since you know the answer: we are going to war. What you might be thinking is whether or not we should be there, should we care. All valid questions.

Why Iraq, when no one has yet to see a proof of it’s nuclear/chemical, “weapons of mass destruction” program? Is it the oil? Or we just tenderly care for millions of Iraqi citizens, oppressed under Saddam’s iron fist, and long to liberate them? Maybe it is, as a few out there joke about, that President Bush wants to finish what his father did not? Or is it that 1993 Kuwait incident still itching somewhere? Whatever the reasons are, we are going to war. Unless…

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said over the weekend that Saddam’s flight from Baghdad would be a “fair trade” for avoiding military conflict…

— MSNBC

Well, it seems there is a solution! Just tell a totalitarian, self-centered, narcissist, criminal-without-conscience dictator to leave the country he owns, leave all his palaces and slaves behind and go to take refuge on some country where, ultimately, someone will kill him. That makes perfect sense!

Is it me or this is just another crazy alternative—which we know is not going to be accepted—that will give us green light to go to war? Something at the same level of the empty shells we — actually, the U.N. team — found, which “irrefutably” prove an active Iraqi research and production of chemical weapons. Don’t get me wrong, I do not doubt that Iraq might be doing such research and production. Actually, I am almost convinced they are. But we can not— well, should not—annihilate a country based on suppositions. Proof, we need proof.

What is at stake is not an imminent military or terrorist threat, but the economic imperative of U.S. growth. What is at stake is America’s need to demonstrate its military power to all of us — to Europe and Russia and China, and poor mad little North Korea, as well as the Middle East; to show who rules America at home, and who is to be ruled by America abroad.

— Times Online

Would the above be true? It sounds like the words of an anti-american, but, could it be right this time? This war will not only cost the american taxpayer a great price, but also the lives of american, and allies, and innocent Iraqis. All prices too high to pay.

Honestly, I would worry more about North Korea but, wait, there is not oil there!

Last Entry, 2002: Happy New Year!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 31 Dec 2002 14:00:00 +0000

Well, this is it. The year 2002, as an aged gentlemen, is giving a clear path to baby 2003. Let us all hope that 2003 will be less violent than it’s predecessor. Rumors of war are heard, oh I so much wish there would stay just as rumors…

Peace, understanding, respect, health, prosperity… May the new 2003 bring you everything you wanted on 2002 and you could/did not have… and much more!

Happy 2003 everyone!

Parents at home

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 22 Dec 2002 14:00:00 +0000

We have my parents visiting for Christmas and New Year. Kent Martin is already showing his happiness and he remembered my dad. I am glad it is not too cold — at least for now — so my parents time is more enjoyable (meaning they will be able to go out with us and such). I have miss them a lot and I am really happy to have them with us for a while. It is curious, but now that I am older — and a father myself — I really appreciate what my parents did for me. Money can’t buy, not even Mastercard!

A few more days and I will be having some days off. I can’t hardly wait…

Redesign on the horizon

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 15 Dec 2002 14:00:00 +0000

Pretty soon I will be redesigning. I am not sure what I will do yet, but the main site will change. Additionally, I will be adding an extra blog using MT (Movable Type).

On the main site I am not sure whether to go simplistic or zeldmanian, but changes are due, since I am also changing the way I have been writing lately. The domain Collantes.US will become the echo of my thoughts on technology, science, religion, politics and everything else in between. Stay tuned, if you want. Or better yet, if you can. I dare you.

Thanks god it is Friday... 13th?!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 13 Dec 2002 14:00:00 +0000

Finally the weekend has arrived. After the week I have had, I have been looking forward this weekend, not because I have plans of anything special, but because I yern for some rest.

Today was a boring day at work, since my coworker and friend was not there. I only had two good moments: my french friend Claire and her sister Isabel came by to visit and we went out for lunch, and my friend Yanyan (Jane) came by to visit, just before I left. By the way, it was good that Yanyan came, because I am sure that she got the job she wanted, in the same department where I work. I bet she is very happy and I am too for her.

I hope to add some more photos this weekend. I already did some additions yesterday, but I am way behind. I have quite a few family photos that I need to post as well. So much to do, so little time!

Well, off to watch some TV with wife. I do not care about the TV, but if I want to spend time with her I ought to watch it :-) . Have a nice weekend everyone!

Coming back: Happy Thanksgiving!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 27 Nov 2002 14:00:00 +0000

Howdy all! Finally coming back on track now. Kid still sick but getting better, pain on my back still there, but feeling hopeful on both fronts.

It is the evening before Thanksgiving and a long weekend is ahead. My parents are coming up to visit on Friday, so I guess it is going to be quite busy. I am back, logs shall flow, as they did before. I have a lot to talk about and I certainly need to come here to upload.

For my fellow Americans, enjoy Thanksgiving, be safe –specially if you are driving. For my international audience, have a nice weekend!!

Ah, Happy Birthday Martin!

How to better protect Kent Martin?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 18 Nov 2002 14:00:00 +0000

Today was a sad day. I had good times, but my kid felt and badly bruised his lips and that shattered any happy moment I had. I feel like my hands are tied up, because I can not be with him 100% of the time to protect him. I know that even thought I could be with him all the time, I would not be able to protect him against everything. It just hurts me a lot to see him hurting. I wish I could trade and be the one bruised.

I feel tired, so I shall go to sleep. Perhaps I just want to be closed to my baby, and kiss him while he sleeps. How such a little being can take over us — Kim and I — so completely?

Kind of quiet lately, I know

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 13 Nov 2002 14:00:00 +0000

I have been quite quiet lately, I know. I have been going to sleep early and, when not, thinking and working on other site, which is not finished yet, by the way. I have been reading a bit too, something I used to do more and had neglected.

I am buying a Tablet PC soon (like tomorrow or so). It will be my first laptop in 9 years. I will let you know my first impressions as soon as I have it on my hands.

Going to sleep now. I hope to have more interesting things to write within a day or two. It will be hard when I open the other website, since I will have to share writings. In here there will always be my personal entries, on “the other” will be more general, mostly my (and others) thoughts about things/events. I will keep you posted. Good night!

Good bye October, hello November!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Fri, 01 Nov 2002 14:00:00 +0000

Today was a long day. I went to the dentist in the morning, with no little stress. Even though I has been going to the dentist since I was 5 years old, when I grew older I also grew a fear of them, I do not know why. Got to the dentist at 10:30 AM and, between x-rays and “impressions” (they put like a mold on your mouth to create a replica of your tooth in plastic), explanations and work (a crown), I ended up staying for almost 3 hours. I do have to admit that it is the first time I go to a dentist and I do not feel the anesthetic shots at all. That guy, Dr. Sipp, has a pretty “suave” hand and a charming personality. That added to the fact that he is an excellent dentist made all the fear disappear.

I got home around 2:00 PM and, even though I had planned to go to work, I felt still numb and with a coming headache, so I decided to stay home. Took tylenol, went to bed and… voila! …slept until 5:00 PM.

Wrapping up, today Kent Martin got hurt. He got his index finger caught on a closing door. Thanks God it is not broken, but it hurts him… and us (Kim and I).

Finally, we just came from Blockbuster. We took home “SpiderMan” and I shall post my humble opinion after I see it. And that is about it!

Good night everyone, and nice and safe weekend!

It is that time of the year: Halloween

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 31 Oct 2002 14:00:00 +0000

Well, you goblins, witches, bats, ghosts… Frankenstein lovers, here it comes your day, once again. Of course, I do not look at Halloween as such, it is just another day, like the others, with the subtle difference that is the day where kids go around, having fun, asking for sweet little treats, dressed up as the unimaginable.

Considering I never knew what Halloween was until I came to America and, hence, I did not experience the fun that it can bring, I am going to do my best to bring a safe, happy Halloween to my kid. It is not about witches, who cares what Halloween meant originally! It is about fun, search for cavities and healthy scaring. Of course, it is about business too.

After all, how many people think of Christmas as the christian’s celebration? Then why should we think of Halloween as the evil’s celebration? For those of you having fun tonight… Happy Halloween!

I hate cell phones!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 29 Oct 2002 14:00:00 +0000

I had had BellSouth Mobility, Cingular Wireless and, now, AT&T. Each and everyone of them rendered a really bad service. In street talk, they have sucked. Now I am at a dilemma: two years contract with AT&T, $150 to break it. On the other hand, I can not receive neither initiate calls from inside my house, neither at work. Most of the times the reception/transmission is really bad, regardless where I am at. So, what should I do? Suffer and pay (whether till the end of the contract or breaking it) or complain and have my problem fixed or contract voided because of poor services? Has anyone had a similar experience?

That prompts a question: Which cell phone carrier/provider would you choose?

Excellent weekend

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 28 Oct 2002 14:00:00 +0000

The weekend was excellent and… pretty tiresome. So tired I was that did not have the energy to come by and tell. It will happen tonight, I just wanted to create some anticipation.

Till tonight, good day!

All right! This is a continuation of what I started. The weekend was excellent, we (Gee, Jessica, Kim, Kent Martin and I) went to two Disney Parks, Disney MGM and Epcot. I had a good time although Kent Martin was the one who had a blast. He only did not sleep at all the whole day, he also got to see all the wonderful things the park has to offer that he never saw before — actually he did, but he was too young to remember and, less, to enjoy them.

For Kim and I was extremely tiresome, since we have to carry Kent most of the times and I have to haul a backpack and a stroller. Still, no complains, even though I feel a bit bad with Gee and Jessy: having a kid to take care of does not makes you too available for others. Another beauty of the parenthood.

Needless is to say that the three of us slept quite a bit on the Saturday and Sunday night. “There will be some time until we do something like this again… Kim said.

We will see ;-)

Interviewing potential candidates

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 30 Sep 2002 14:00:00 +0000

Today we interviewed the first candidate for a job opening we have at work. Everybody, or at least I, was expecting to see a guy. Boy, were we in for a surprise! It just happened to be a girl (chinese nationality), pretty smart, I could say, and charming. Nevertheless, I think she did not get the job, since the language barrier is pretty strong and the position demands fluency.

As you can see, I went to work and not to the dentist. Why? Well, the earliest, emergency appointment that I could get is on October 9th. Can you believe it?! So, I guess I need to be careful with what I eat (probably just keep my diet based on soups and soft stuff) until then.

The deplorable state of my teeth prompts another question: How often do you visit your dentist?

Just Sunday

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sun, 29 Sep 2002 14:00:00 +0000

I am not going to work tomorrow, I believe. I need to go to a dentist pronto. With that Monday prelude, it would be easy to guess that I did not had a great Sunday.

Oh boy, do I hate to go to the dentist!

And on the seventh day he rested

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Sat, 28 Sep 2002 14:00:00 +0000

Saturday is about over, at least for me. There is not much to tell about it, it just passed away silently, without much ado.

We went to the mall today, just to walk the kids around. The kids, you may ask? Well, we took Kent Martin and cousin Alyssa (six months younger) with us today. It was pretty tiresome to handle both of them, but it helped us to realize that we have enought with Kent Martin… for now.

On the new websites design topic, I already have on my mind what I want on eosgraphy.com: it will be a simple design, just the way I want it. Coming soon, stay posted.

I was watching “The Green Mile”, but I had to come by. I am afraid that I will be too sleepy to write anything afterwards. Now, let’s rest.

It is friday for me

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 19 Sep 2002 14:00:00 +0000

Tomorrow I will not be going to work. There are personal matters I need to take care of. Weird that I started this entry talking about tomorrow, but sometimes I think tomorrow is always more important. That is, if there is a tomorrow…

Today was great. Work was all right. We — John, George, Gee, Yanyan and I — went for lunch out of Campus, since I needed to take a letter to the post office to get it postmarked and the whole gang decided to join me. We had a good time.

I meant to call my brother tonight, but for one reason or another I did not. I need to talk to him about my parents and on whether or not would be a smart choice to bring them up to live with us. One thing is true: they are not getting any younger and pretty soon — if not now — they will need to live with someone that will take care of them.

A few things to do tomorrow, need to save energy. I should be sleeping now…

Mid-Autumn Festival, Mooncake!

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 17 Sep 2002 14:00:00 +0000

It is mooncake holiday again! Taken From Travel in Taiwan Festivals, the following “Legends of the Moon”:

Hhou Yi was a great archer and architect, who shot down nine extra suns that had suddenly appeared in the sky and thus kept the earth from being scorched. He also built a palace of jade for the goddess of the western heaven. For this, he was rewarded with a pill containing the elixir of immortality, but with strings attached –he must fast and pray for a year before taking it. His wife, Chang O, whose beauty was surpassed only by her curiosity, discovered and swallowed the pill and in no time soared to the moon and became a permanent resident there. upon reaching the moon, Chang O, in dismay, coughed up the pill, which turned into a jade rabbit that, day and night, pounds out a celestial elixir for the immortals.

Another permanent lunar resident of chinese origin is Wu Kang, a shiftless fellow who changed apprenticeships all the time before disappointing his last master, who was an immortal. From him Wu learned to be immortal himself, but he was punished by being required to chop down a cassia tree in the moon, an impossible mission. The cut in the tree heals completely the same day, so wu kang is still chopping away for eternity. Some chinese crave to drink his cassia blossom wine.

The chinese believe that the moon is at its largest and brightest, and Chang O at her most beautiful, on the 15th night of the eighth lunar month. They are at least half-right, for at that time most of China is in the dry season and the moon looms brightest. It’s also cool then, a perfect time to celebrate the harvest which has just concluded; hence, the mid-autumn festival is also called the harvest festival. The festival is a time for family reunions to appreciate the moon (shangyue) and eat moon cakes together. Bathed in bright moonshine and with the company of chrysanthemum and cassia blossoms, poets eat crab meat and moon cake, drink tea and wine, and versify the night away.

The moon cake is traditionally made in the shape of a full moon, symbolizing union and perfection and, did I also say that they are delicious?

It is over now, or it isn't

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Thu, 12 Sep 2002 14:00:00 +0000

Well, I got my car back today and it seems to be functioning all right. After this experience the only conclusion I can draw is: definitely, “Holler Mitsubishi” service completely sucks, their Service Manager does not have a slight idea on what customer service is, their mechanics — or, at least, one of them — do not know what the heck they are doing… to sum it up: do not take your car there. Trust me. I will wait one or two days, to make sure the car is fine and then I will go back there to give them a piece of my mind. A grievance will be filled as well.

Today was all right. I managed to break a teeth while eating at “Panera Bread”, so I guess I will be visiting the dentist real soon. It does not hurt, but the teeth bone is exposed and needs to be taken care of if I do not want to loose that teeth altogether.

Oh boy, am I ready for the weekend or what?

Will this become my week's Odyssey?

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Wed, 11 Sep 2002 14:00:00 +0000

Another day has passed and no car. They –the people from “Holler Mitsubishi”– called me and told me that they will be swapping back the parts they replaced yesterday, since that was not the problem and that the problem was on the transmission, that needed to be flushed. I will get my money back and will end up paying only $150. They were doing that today and by tomorrow noon the car should be ready, since they wanted to make sure it was all perfect. Any other repair shop –specially one that is the dealer itself, where I bought the car from– would have offered a courtesy car. After all, they have kept my car for three days!

I surely hope this ridicule episode will end tomorrow. Needless is to say, I will be filling a complain with the “Better Business Bureau” and I would, emphatically, not recommend “Holler Mitsubishi” to any of my family members and friends. Tomorrow, I hope, I will come with the conclusion.

Close, very close but no cigar

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Tue, 10 Sep 2002 14:00:00 +0000

I got called today to pick up my car. “It is fixed, all done”, they said, so I was happy, even thought they were taking $496.34 hard earned dollars out of my pocket. The car seat settings were changed, the radio was on, tuned to a latin radio station — which I do not listen — and the AC was on, which I had turned off before I dropped the car. Still, I drove away, trusting that I would have a very smooth ride home, trying to forget those little details that were, already, annoying me. How naïve I was! The same noise, the same shacking and rattling were still there, no different at all from the day before.

Needless is to say that as I type this I am, still, very pissed. The car is back at the shop and I shall battle with their manager tomorrow.

If you take your car for repairs to “Holler Mitsubishi”, beware.

Bad things come at once

david@collantes.us (David Collantes) — Mon, 09 Sep 2002 14:00:00 +0000

Today wasn’t a good day. If it weren’t enough that the weekend wasn’t good, there comes Monday with, yet another, bit of spice. To start, this morning my car started rattling and shacking like it was possessed by a voodoo spirit. Took it to the mechanic and, to make the long story short, I will be $500 short by tomorrow noon. Then I get to work and, on top of having a few little things to finish, I get an email from one of my sisters telling me about problems with my elder parents. Problems that I need to take care of before it gets really bad and out of hand. That got me worried the whole day, and I still am. Then I get to home, and my wife finds a solution, that I thought I had, to my parents problem unacceptable. I wonder what’s next.

To top it off –even thought it is not that bad, tomorrow is voting day, I got no car to get to the voting booths, neither to go to work. If you have ever been in Orlando then you know that public transportation sucks to the point that it could even be considered non-existent. Things has got to get better.

Update 10 Sept 2002

A friend of mine took me to vote, and to work.