cygweb

We had a great trip down to Atlanta to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with my folks and some of our relatives. It was a great three days. We played catch-up at home yesterday and I'm doing the same thing at work today. I figured I should post some stuff here since I've been remiss.

Traveling by highway in this country is one of the best ways to experience the freedoms we have. I'm grateful to be an American. But I'm not proud of President Bush's visit to Iraq on Thanksgiving day. I know it was a huge morale boost for the troops over there, as well it should be, but I can't help but think that besides that, it was all about PR back here. According to news reports, he spent 2.5 hours on the ground and didn't get outside of the heavily-controlled area of the Baghdad Airport. I don't want to see our president (whomever he or she is) put in harm's way, but I also don't want him or her to be seen as a coward.

I'm slowly adding more music to WCYG; I like being able to share my musical tastes in this sort of interactive fashion. Doing this is increasing my appreciation of Foobar2000, but it's also prompting me to ask for implementation of certain features. Stuff I'm thinking would be nice includes parameters controlling the selection of random songs, such as not playing a certain artist twice in a row or only every x songs. I'll have to go over to the FB2K forums and see if anyone's mentioned wanting that.

I'm having a lot of fun setting up Gallery; what a great piece of software. Highly recommended. I found out about it from Don.

I'm thinking of expanding the Enjoying section into its own page that includes the history of what I've listed there, as well as any other media recommendations I'd like to share. What do you guys think?

I noticed a few comment spams when I got back from our trip and I deleted them. I guess it's time to install MT-Blacklist!

Update: It took me all of 10 minutes to install MT-Blacklist. Thanks to Jay Allen for the tool. Also, it looks like foo_shuffle is what I'm looking for to better control FB2K's shuffle mode. It looks cool.

I'm on Yahoo! Sports' NFL pages a lot, and noticed quite a few player photos that look like they were taken under duress:

C'mon, guys! Many of the other players' photos are a bit more jovial, even if they had bad hair days:

This article points out some interesting facts about the president's Thanksgiving visit to Iraq.

Source: DNC RSS feed.

I gave my Nokia 3360 to my wife today and upgraded to the 3560 for $25. I suppose that's mostly a lateral move in many respects, but I really like the 3560's color screen and polyphonic ringtones. And it's a bit more svelte than the 3360.

Lessig blogged about a new open letter from Darl McBride of SCO; it purports to communicate SCO's current position on the legality of the GPL. In the process, it groups open-source advocates with those who propose to limit or eliminate software patents and copyrights. Admittedly, there is an overlap between these groups, but to say that someone who wants to work on an open-source project is against the concept of copyright (which is what I'm taking away from this letter) is pure nonsense.

If the IBM/SCO trial is going to continue to play out in the media, Mr. McBride should expect even more of the vehement opposition he complains about in the letter. SCO/Caldera seems intent on rewriting their history of being an open-source champion. The fact that they won't even bother to take down online references to their past support of Linux shows me a company with a severe personality disorder.

Reading both McBride's letter and Lessig's response is recommended if you're interested in this.

Well, not yet, but about 5 years after he retires, I'm sure they will unveil the bust of Bruce. He broke the "since-1982" sack record today. Of course, he'd be going to the hall just because of his career with the Bills.

Congrats, Bruce.

This is what I want for Christmas.

Just got word that Geddy and Alex will be on Rockline Wednesday night. That should be on 93.5 WTPA here in Harrisburg. I'll record it and archive it as I normally do!

Update (12-Dec-2003): I recorded, edited, and encoded an Ogg of this show. It was pretty good. WTPA played a local ad over about a minute of Rockline at one point, though. If you'd like to hear it, leave a comment here with your email address if I don't already know it.

...and I'm also a dreamer. Yes, I realize how much of a longshot this is. If you strike it rich, at least have the courtesy to let me know!

Update (11-Dec-2003): This is version 1.1:

#!/usr/bin/env python

# rsa-640-rand.py:
# RSA-640 Factoring Challenge "Lottery Solution" by Alex Harden
# 09-Dec-2003

# Version 1.1 11-Dec-2003: Eliminated the test against the smaller
#  primes and make sure no factors ending with a "5" are attempted.
# Copyright (C) 2003  Alex Harden

# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
# as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
# of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.

# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.

# Find the GPL online at: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

# Info about the RSA Challenge Numbers:
# http://www.rsasecurity.com/rsalabs/challenges/factoring/numbers.html

# Interesting fact about the solution to the RSA-576 challenge:
#  - both factors were 87 digits (exactly 50% of the number of digits of the
#  challenge number's 174)

# RSA-576 numbers: for reference and testing:
# x=18819881292060796383869723946165043980716356337941738270076335642298885971\
# 5234665485319060606504743045317388011303396716199692321205734031879550656996\
# 221305168759307650257059L
# y=39807508642406493739712550055038649119906436234252670840638518957594638895\
# 7261768583317L
# z=47277214610743530253622307197304822463291469530209711645985217113052071125\
# 6363590397527L

# For RSA-640 (193 digits), I'm concentrating on generating random odd numbers
# that have 96-98 digits (est. 319-321 binary digits)

# Let's try to make likely prime numbers using a neat method:

# Reference 1: http://www.maths.abdn.ac.uk/~igc/tch/mx3015/notes/node157.html
# - create random bitstring of 319-321 binary digits (make first and last
#   values "1") (v1.1 - eliminate the testing of candidates that end in "5")
# - convert it to decimal long int
# - if it's not divisible by any of the primes < 20000, see if it's a factor of
#   RSA-640

# Reference 2: baseconvert.py:
#   http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/Recipe/111286

# Reference 3: bin2dec: http://pleac.sourceforge.net/pleac_python/numbers.html

# Reference 4: http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/Recipe/162479
########################################

from random import seed, random
import baseconvert

def bin2dec(i):
    return baseconvert.baseconvert(i, baseconvert.BASE2, baseconvert.BASE10)

outfile='c:\rsa-640.txt'  #if a factor is found, write it here
max=6953607871644L        #iterate through the loop this many times then exit
i=0
seed()
x="insert RSA-640 Challenge Number here"L
while i < max:
    i+=1
    h='1'
    pos=0
    digits=int(round((2*random())+317,0))
    while pos < digits :
        if round(random(),0) :
            h+='1'
        else :
            h+='0'
        pos+=1
    h+='1'
    n=bin2dec(h)
    if n[-1] <> '5' :
        n=long(n)
        print 'i=',i
        print 'n=',n
        z=x%n
        if z == 0:
    		print 'found it'
    		print 'n=',n
    		print 'z=',z
    		file=open(outfile,'a+')
    		file.write(str(n))
    		file.write('\n')
    		file.close()
    		break

The regular season is over in my two FF leagues. Unfortunately, I didn't fare so well in the NiteFL; I had a horrible losing streak and ended up last in my division. In my Yahoo! league, I squeaked out a win this week to climb to 7th place and will get to play in the consolation playoff bracket. 5th place would definitely be nicer than the 10th place I was at for a few weeks.

My picks haven't turned out too great this year. At least I'm over .500 overall. The fact that the games are hard to predict is what makes the NFL so much fun to follow.

The NFL playoff picture is really starting to shape up. I guess I should issue a Super Bowl prediction; I'll say a Patriots-Eagles rematch (they played in Week 2) will see New England winning their second Super Bowl.

Super Bowl Almanac

I found this story interesting. I really need to familiarize myself with the major Democratic candidates before the primary.

I'm on a roll today, but lunchtime is just about over now. Time to get back to work!

I'm beta testing VMware GSX Server 3.0 today; it's pretty cool. I'm also about to get my hands on a copy of MS/Connectix Virtual PC; it will be neat to compare the two VM platforms and see how they stack up. The Virtual Server product (beta release next quarter) will be more interesting to me, since it should compete directly with GSX Server.

Anyone reading this a user or fan of x86-based virtual machines?

I've been reading Groklaw to keep up with the sitcom that is the SCO-IBM trial. After I received a off-schedule Netcraft News email concerning a DDOS attack against SCO's websites, I went over to Groklaw to see if they (she) had anything about it. They do. The article raises the possibility that they're faking the attack. If true, I guess the ire of their customers is nothing compared to the sympathy they're trying to engender. Poor SCO.

An Eweek article on the subject has some quotes from a SCO rep.

One irony of this situation is that www.sco.com is at least partially hosted or front-ended by Linux/Apache servers.

We went and cut down our Christmas tree on Saturday. This is our third season going out to Misty Run in Annville to tag our tree in October and retrieve/pay for it in December. Great place.

We were hit with another winter storm on Sunday and were lightly ice-covered this morning. Luckily we had warning and I stayed in and played with my son & watched football. ;)

I'm taking an Exchange Server 2003 class this week with some of my workmates. Good stuff.

Didn't do a lot of geek stuff over the weekend: upgraded to Icecast2 Win32 Beta 3, upgraded my Oddcast DLLs to Vorbis 1.0.1 (which I think improved the sound quality of my Quality-0 stream), and authored and burned off a copy of Rush's appearance on Rockline last Wednesday.

Now, when am I going to get some time to sit down and enjoy LOTR: TTT Extended Edition? Ugh.

Go Eagles! If they win tonight, I'll have my first 13-win week of the season in Yahoo! Pro Pick 'Em.

Thanks to Mark Pilgrim, I've upgraded Cygweb's Atom feed to the Atom 0.3 spec. It validates.

I was glad to hear the appeals court hearing the RIAA vs. Verizon case has smacked down expedited subpeona provisions in the DMCA. I dislike Verizon as a customer of theirs for holding out on their broadband promises, but their principle in this lawsuit is admirable.

I managed to remember to finalize my pick set for Week 16 yesterday morning because of the three games (two in HD!) yesterday. I managed to catch a little bit of each game at different times of the day. The most remarkable thing about the games yesterday for me is that I picked all three correctly. Weird.

My only other "out-on-a-limb" pick this week is for the Giants to upset the Cowboys. Besides the usual rivalry, I think the G-Men will want to win one for Fassel (whose firing at the end of this season was announced last week) and make it harder for the 'Boys to get to the playoffs.

I picked Tennessee (an underdog?) over Houston as well. I assume O'Donnell will get the start and shake off the rust quickly. He's not the best QB in the world, but he's a pro.

Perhaps someone's had enough of female sideline reporters at NFL games. I don't profess to know Namath all that well; I know him better as the pitchman he was after his life on the field.

Maybe he was trying to win a bet.

Another article makes it sound like he'd been boozing it up before the interview.

Update: He has apologized to Kolber.

Six Apart has released Movable Type v2.65. It took me all of about 10 minutes to upgrade from v2.64 (my first time upgrading MT since I started using it). Excellent product.

They also have some news about MT3.

Brett Favre had a career game last night, leading Green Bay's blowout of the Raiders. There was no "right" way to handle his personal situation, and I think he showed an immense amount of grace. Way to go, Brett.

I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!

My family and I are having a nice dinner together later this afternoon, then going to Christmas Eve mass at our church tonight. Then we will gather around the tree and each choose one gift to open before going to bed. After setting up the camera and opening the rest of our gifts Christmas morning, we'll phone our family with holiday greetings and thanks for the gifts we've received. In the afternoon we're going to have dinner with our friends in Hershey.

I'll finally get to turn my phone off on Friday and enjoy a full week off from work! That's always a nice present. ;)

I downloaded and started checking out Winamp5 last week. It's pretty cool. I've been using Foobar2000 for quite a while for several reasons: it never crashes (it has excellent error handling and status display), its integrated ReplayGain support, its excellent handling of Vorbis streams, and its customizable UI. It's got a great community around it and I'm proud to be a (quiet) member of it.

One thing I've wished would come to Foobar2000 is a crossfading plugin of the caliber of SQRSoft's for Winamp 2.x. I will probably load that up on Winamp5 and see how that sounds as a source for WCYG. I really dig the transitions a well-configured crossfader can produce. I occasionally browse the FB2K forums to see if anyone's working on a configurable crossfader but have always come up empty. The main features I want are threshold-based blending and fade-outs, as opposed to generic beginning- and end-of-song fades.

Winamp5 has a nice UI and its media library seems helpful. Sound quality so far has been excellent; however I'm noticing slight gaps in Vorbis playback that FB2K doesn't have. I'll be trying it as a crossfading Vorbis streaming server and streaming client soon. I recommend you check it out.

I'm thinking of some layout/color changes that I'd like to make to this site for 2004. I think I'm going to add one or two more primary colors, alter the fonts, and make a few layout changes. This stuff may be ready in time for the new year.

If you have any opinions or tips to share, please do!

PJ over at Groklaw linked to a very entertaining version of The Night Before Christmas. A must-read.

Read over on Slashdot about a fiasco that ReplayTV's caused with regards to pricing on their PVRs. I'm glad I didn't give, receive, or buy one of them! Interesting reading about the situation over on AVS Forum. My take is that ReplayTV created this problem and should fix it for affected customers before they are sued by the FTC and state Attorneys General. I have held out on PVRs mainly because I don't have a lot of channels that I would want to record from, hence I have little incentive to pay for the non-tiered service offered by either TiVo or ReplayTV. I would like a PVR that is reasonably priced, does not require a subscription, and supports HD. We'll see if Comcast's rumored PVR service will fill the bill. Other than that, I'm thinking a DVD-RAM solution that included a hard drive and VCR Plus-type scheduling would be a good alternative.

I really liked the Don Cheadle NFL ads that ran last season. Two new ones are running right now, and I think they're fun as well. I really like the current one featuring Chad Brown. Did you know that Cheadle directed them as well? Here's more info.

I'm very disappointed with the end of the Bills' season today. They were pretty thoroughly trashed by the Patriots today. I think coaching changes would help things in Buffalo.

Didn't watch the SEA-SF game, but I'm happy the Seahawks pulled it out.

I'm watching the Philly game now and they're looking good. Too bad that Westbrook was injured; it's sounding now like he might be done for the year.

I just read the news; Gregg Williams has been fired by the Bills. Good luck to whomever enters the turnstile next! There's a reason Marv Levy is in the Hall Of Fame (and on the Wall of Fame, for that matter); he lead the team to more victories than defeats. Four Super Bowl appearances didn't hurt either. The next coach of the Bills has some large shoes to fill.

Props to our FF commissioner Scotbuff: he's created a beautiful new website for next season and has it online now. The Nite Sports Network Fantasy Football League will henceforth be known as the Brutal Deluxe Football League. Can't wait!

Gotta tell you, Scott... Buff v5.0 is... well... BUFF! And you even have an Atom feed... ;)