Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, 2nd Generation (Rel 2) - SSD Replacement / Upgrade

Our refurbished laptop came with a 128GB SSD, which quickly filled-up, due to dual-booting, student software, and so forth.

So, time to upgrade!

Lenovo recommends the following storage options:

• 128GB SSD M.2
• Intel 180GB Opal SSD
• 256GB SSD M.2 eDrive Capable
• Intel 240GB Opal SSD
• 512GB SSD M.2

NOTES

• Lingo
• Second generation names:
• ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 2
• ThinkPad X1 Carbon 2nd gen
• New ThinkPad X1 Carbon
• ThinkPad X1C2
• m.2
• "The M.2 connector can have different keying notches that denote various uses of M.2 modules."
• Overview of what M and B+M means
• eDrive: 
• Per Wikipedia, "Microsoft eDrive is a specification for storage devices to allow compliant storage devices to use its built-in encryption."
• It seems "eDrive adds the additional capability of BitLocker in HW mode (IEEE1667)
• Opal: 
• Per Wikipedia, "The Opal Storage Specification is a set of specifications for features of data storage devices (such as disk drives) that enhance their security. For example, it defines a way of encrypting the stored data so that an unauthorized person who gains possession of the device cannot see the data."
• It appears Opal does not represent an acronym
• PCIe (PCI Express, or Peripheral Component Interconnect Express)
• Overview of what 2280 means (note: please ignore PCIe, at the link)
• 2280 means, "22mm wide, 80mm length"
• 22mm width seems to represent the standard, with lengths set at 30, 42, 60, 80, and 110
• Reference
• Hardware Maintenance Manual, for machine types: 20A7 and 20A8
• Lenovo Product Specifications Reference (PSREF)
• Comparing mSATA (generation one) with m.2 (generation two)
• X1 generation 2, announced in January, 2014, comes in two machine types:
• 20A7
• 20A8
• The difference (?)
• Storage details:
• One commenter, on which drives will work: "...any SATA (not the newest PCIe) 2280 m.2 SSD with M or B+M keys."
• Seems to imply it needs the notch in the m.2 module in the "M" position
• 80mm length (or less, I guess?)...so, no 110mm form factors
• "Only one M.2 slot in the X1C2 will recognize SSDs" (via)
• Note: "The SSD in the X1C2 only supported SATA M.2 2280 NGFF SSDs. Which means that the port was only connected to SATA. With the X1C3, the socket is connected to both PCIe and SATAIII." That is, you can use PCIe SSDs.
• SSDs advertised as 480GB instead of 512GB...potentially the controller over-provisioning (?)
• Upgrade notes
• Video of removing chassis screws and replacing SSD, in a first generation X1 Carbon
• Clone the existing SSD to the new SSD
• Vendor options:
• SSD:
• Transcend 512 GB SATA III 6Gb/s MTS800 80 mm M.2 SSD Solid State Drive TS512GMTS800
• Reviews: positive and positive
• M+B keyed
• Micron MTFDDAV512MBF-1AN12A M600 512 GB Internal Solid State Drive - M.2 - 560 MBps Maximum Read Transfer Rate - 510 MBps Maximum Write Transfer Rate - M.2 2280
• Crucial M500 480GB SATA 6Gbps M.2 Internal SSD [Crucial PN: CT480M500SSD4]
• (?)
• Cloning
• M-Factors Storage "DT-119 (M.2 (NGFF) SSD to SATA adapter)" + Apricorn EZ Upgrade USB 3.0 enclosure + Apricorn EZ Gig software  
• Cloning hint: "The only tricky part was getting the X1 Carbon 2014 to recognize the Transcend ssd while it was attached externally through the USB 3.0 configuration. But this just requires that you run diskmgmt.msc (just do a search for it in the X1 Carbon 2014 start menu and then click on the program once you find it to open it) to right-click on unallocated drive-space to create a "New Simple Volume," partition so that the new SSD can then be formatted."
• ZTC Thunder Enclosure NGFF M.2 SSD to USB 3.0 Adapter. Support UASP SuperSpeed 6Gb/s 520MB/s Black Model ZTC-EN004-BK
• (?)
• Post-upgrade:
• "The SSD did not have the latest firmware. There is no update program for Windows 8, so it was necessary to create a bootable USB flash drive (or a bootable CD/DVD). The recommended program "Universal USB Installer" prepared the USB flash drive. It was not UEFI compatible, so it was necessary to temporarily disable Secure Boot and enable Legacy Boot mode. This was not difficult for me, but it could be for others. The firmware update was successful and no files were lost." (via)
• "I had troubles for the first two days ater installation due to Power saving configuration under windows 8." (via)

We determined to go with the Transcend and ZTC Thunder.

Cat maintenance

Spending some time today reviewing our cat maintenance setup.

CURRENT
Two domestic shorthair cats
Omega Paw Roll' N Clean Litterbox (3x)
PetSmart ExquisiCat Naturals Pine Cat Litter

PROBLEMS
The Roll' N Clean litter box does not work with pine pellets litter. It does work well with pine cobble litter, but the cobble tracks all over our carpets. The pine pellets track much less. The Roll' N Clean litter box takes some effort to turn over and sift, which means, in practice, it does not get done, as frequently as needed.

With a busy student lifestyle, minimizing maintenance represents a goal.

IDEAS

Feline Pine Self Cleaning Litter Box

• Pine sawdust falls into sub-tray
• Unused pellets remain in upper-tray (note: we dispose of many unused pellets, currently, as too much hassle to sift)
• Manually remove solids, daily
• "The sawdust that falls to the bottom absolutely REEKS when you go to scoop it out...I guess because it’s so concentrated and no air gets to it down there."
• A response: "I find that spreading a little bit of litter on the bottom pan to help absorb the urine soaked litter as it falls makes a big difference. When I do this, I don’t get the urine smell."
• Pellets get wedged in the holes (note: yes; have noticed this also on our tracking mats)
• Lower sides (?)

PeeWee Cat Litter Box (note: not in the United States (?) )

Smart Cat Box

• Non-absorbent safflower seeds
• Liquid drains to sub-tray, then collected, via slope, into sub-sub-reservoir
• Manually remove solids, daily

Tidy Cats Breeze litter box

• Zeolite pellets; exchange after one month
• Pads trap liquids, in sub-tray; exchange after one week
• Anecdotal evidence seems to indicate can use pine pellets
• Manually remove solids, daily
• "Runny/watery solids which will go all over the pellets and is tougher and takes longer to clean."

Iris Cat Litter Scoop

We determined to go with the Feline Pine Self Cleaning Litter Box.

Additionally:

We recently purchased a BISSELL SpotClean Professional Portable Carpet Cleaner, 3624.

On Saturday, we wondered where to find BISSELL 2X Pet Stain & Odor Portable Machine Formula, 32 ounces, 74R7. Unfortunately, the ones we saw, at PetSmart, said, on the label, "for FULL SIZED cleaner only." So, we did not buy those. On the Bissell web site, they have some squishy answers (in my opinion) about this.

Bissell also recommend "pre-treating the area before cleaning for best results." So, we should probably do that.

Star Wars Review

For later:

http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/star-wars-episode-1-the-phantom-menace/

What is the purpose?

"To find it."

One answer!

Random Marshall Rosenberg Notes

Paolo Freire - regarding his efforts to teach literacy to Brazilian populace

Alfie Kohn - "Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes" (Houghton Mifflin, 1993/1999)

O.J. Harvey - Research on the relationship between language and violence

Stimulus notebook, for later review

Dan Greenburg - "How to Make Yourself Miserable: Another Vital Training Manual" (1966)

Herb Gardner's play, "A Thousand Clowns" (1962)

Manfred Max Neef - "...urged a change towards "Human Scale Development" of local economies based on the satisfaction of nine fundamental human needs: subsistence, protection, affection, understanding, participation, leisure, creation, identity and freedom. He measured the success of a development plan by how well it satisfied these nine needs for the community in question." (via)

Safety comes from how we respond to people, not how they respond.

Carl Rogers

Martin Buber

Choppy energy of people in the most need of empathy express it most violently. (Disk 4, Track 2)

Example of husband who denies own needs. (Disk 5, Track 3)

Dr. M.R. recommends making a list of things afraid to say and then think about why afraid to say it. If honest, others are ok (Disk 4, Track 10)

Santa Cruz Sunday

Walked from our apartment to the Seymour Marine Discovery Center / Long Marine Laboratory.

Smells of dill as we passed the Homeless Garden Project, the non-profit which currently operates the Natural Bridges Farm location, at 30 W Cliff Dr, Santa Cruz.

Watched two surfers floating and waiting for sizable waves, a few of which they caught and rode, for a short distance.

From there, we took the coastal path a short distance to the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. An interpretive sign mentioned how the facilities use a coastal water intake to service their operations with sea water, which they return to the sea. A passing docent talked a bit about the gray whale skeleton (for example, she mentioned they favor one side when diving into the mud, at the bottom; also, they have not protected the bones with a cast, yet). We saw Ms. Blue, then headed to the Ocean Discovery Shop. At the gift shop, we saw the following:

• Starfish bracelet, vendor = (?)
• Coastal Classics technical long-sleeve running shirt (CC-172), with nautical map of Santa Cruz harbor, from vendor Altered Latitudes, out of Charleston, South Carolina
• Turtle purse, vendor = (?)
• Pajama bottoms, from vendor Lazy One, out of North Logan, Utah:
• Deep Sleeper Whale pajama bottoms
• Otter Be Asleep pajama bottoms
• Wide Mouth Goldfish socks, from vendor K. Bell, out of Inglewood, California
• Sea Turtles of the World poster, by Dawn Witherington, out of Florida
• Sea turtle ring (silver, #40946, $70), vendor = (?)
• Jewelry, from vendor Bamboo Jewelry, out of Alameda, California:
• Leatherback Sea Turtle pin
• Flatback Hatchling Sea Turtle necklace
• Sea Turtle tile, from vendor Pacific Blue Tile, out of Rough and Ready, California
• Jellyfish mosaic stationery/poster/etc., from vendor Lantern Press, out of Seattle, Washington
• A 2.25" square ceramic tile with a turtle, from vendor Cindy Searles, out of Occidental, California

On the way back, we noticed a car with a sticker reading "Can't Afford It", which seems to represent Santa Cruz resident Zachary Frandeen's enterprise, started in 2011-12.

Grandmaster Chess Blitz

Out of the blue, I saw an article on Grandmaster Maxim Dlugy, who lost to a complicated maneuver.

Interestingly, this represented the first chess Banter Blitz I have seen! So, I have watched a few, since then.

When Marnie Was There

Dawn and I viewed the 2014 Studio Ghibli film, "When Marnie Was There", at The Nick.

A wonderful film, one of the best animated films I have seen, ever.

Costco Jewelry

572458 - heart-shaped pendant, diamond, ruby
970951 - heart-shaped pendant, blue topaz
886221 - amethyst pendant
444915 - multicolor freshwater pearl necklace

Om Gallery - Egg Chair, Space Chair

Stopped at Om Gallery store in Santa Cruz and Dawn really liked this wicker hanging egg chair:

Note: photo via Om Gallery Instagram (price: 50% off, I think, as of 9/25/2015, so down from ~$900 to ~$450 (?))

Also liked the hanging turtles. And also a space chair two-seater (!):

Chair, on the right (tag read something like "hyacinth chair": ~$1500 (?))

UPDATE: "HALF-MOON WATER HYACINTH CHAIR"

Metrojuice Porsche, Tesla

At Jamba Juice for breakfast, on Thursday, and noticed a woman and a man talking. They exited, and she departed in a Tesla, while he left in a Porsche. They both carried what seemed like lunch bags with the logo "Metrojuice" on them.

Apparently, this refers to Metro Juice Kitchen and Drinkery, which plans to open a new location on R Street.

Notable only due to the vehicles!

Radio Songs

Heard on KFOG 104.5 FM out of San Francisco, California:

• Honolulu, Hawaii-native Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's "Somewhere over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" from his 1990 album "Ka 'Ano'i" on the Discos Tropical, Mountain Apple, and Big Boy labels. Video.

Heard on FRSC (namely, "Free Radio Santa Cruz") 101.3 FM out of Santa Cruz, California:

• As mentioned previously, heard what sounded like ambient music, ala Hearts of Space, around 10:30 p.m.

Homey Cozy Lovey Dovey

So good!

Puuung
http://www.grafolio.com/illustration/detail.grfl?projectNo=31639

From the artist:

“Love” is something everybody can relate to.
And “Love” comes in ways we can easily overlook in our daily lives.
So, I try to find the meaning of love in our daily lives and make it into artworks. 

Red Knoll, LLC

In Sacramento, on S Street, between 15th and 16th Streets, the City of Sacramento has shuttered at least three homes:

The notices on the structures cites, in one case, a dangerous structure (the stairs), and, in the other case, junk left in the yard, poor upkeep, and so forth. City staff seem to have served the papers in the March-April time frame.

City staff have also shuttered the building on the corner of 15th Street and S Street. The building in-between all of these buildings also seems abandoned/empty.

However, the final two buildings, on that side of the block, an auto repair business and a private homeowner, seem OK. 

My first thought: someone plans to do development. My second thought: who is Red Knoll, LLC, out of Roseville, California, that owns and apparently has abandoned at least two of the properties?

Hrm. A mystery!

UPDATE: 10/2015: It seems this may represent a project in the works, to convert these properties into "76 residential units above 13,000 square feet of commercial space. Steve Whitesides of Roseville is the applicant." Via: http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2014/07/29/five-story-mixed-used-building-proposed-for.html

Guitarist - Beat It, by Michael Jackson

Question: The guitarist for the song "Beat It", by Michael Jackson.

Answer: Who was Eddie Van Halen?

Nice! : o )

Santa Cruz Wave Photography

Photography on display at Westside Coffee, Santa Cruz:

MATT DOLL (worldwaveimagery)

I think they have this one blown up to 5'x4' (approx) (?)

Photo: Matt Doll; used for illustrative purposes only

Radio Songs

Heard on KSJS 90.5 FM out of San Jose, California:

• Los Angeles-formed Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band's "Express Yourself" from their 1970 "Express Yourself" on the Warner Bros. Records label. Audio.

Heard on KPIG 107.5 FM out of Freedom, California:

• Canton, Ohio-native William Royce "Boz" Scaggs' "I'm Easy" from his 1969 album "Boz Scaggs" on the Atlantic label. Audio.

James Mickens - Zombie Preparation

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/mickens/thenightwatch.pdf

Via

Santa Cruz Japanese Cultural Fair

http://jcfsantacruz.org/

Santa Cruz poster

Java Junction, in Santa Cruz, near Petsmart, has this poster:

http://www.lanternpress.com/catalog/item/33335?from=

Houseboat living

http://www.sunset.com/home/architecture-design/houseboat

Radio songs

Heard on KISQ 98.1 FM out of San Francisco, California:

• ??? at 5/29 at 11:15 p.m.

Heard on KABX 97.5 FM out of Modesto, California:

• ??? Something with lyrics "I've got some news for you" from 6/1 at 11:55 a.m.

Heard on KRXQ 98.5 FM out of Sacramento, California:

• Worthing, England-based Royal Blood's "Little Monster" from their 2014 album "Royal Blood" on the Black Mammoth and Warner Bros. Records labels.

Dawn had this on her mind: 

"Camille Saint-Saëns Clarinet Sonata in E flat major, Op.167 - Allegretto" (audio)

Configuring HP LaserJet CP1525nw

Found myself configuring out network printer again, so recording for future reference:

• Connect printer to router via network cable
• Power on the printer
• Use menu "Reports" to discover the IP address of the printer
• Connect to that IP address via web browser
• Configure wireless settings
• Disconnect the network cable from the printer
• Reconfigure any printer settings on client devices

Copland clarinet concerto vs. Addams Family theme

In a continuation of classical themes re-use, a passage of Aaron Copland's Clarinet Conerto (1948) seems quite similar to the theme song from the television show The Addams Family (1964-66):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Addams_Family_Theme
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarinet_Concerto_(Copland)

Previously, previously

"Parity is for farmers"

Seymour Cray, 1963.

Note: later, he stated, "I learned that a lot of farmers buy computers."

Note: this use of the term seems to stem from a part of the New Deal, which aimed to pay subsidies to farmers, in exchange for not bringing their products to market. The idea: limit supply of certain farm products, drive up prices, and allow farmers to earn "parity" pay for their efforts, in comparison to other professions.

"...[S]cience has taken a turn towards darkness"

Darkness!

Dr. Richard Horton and Dr. Marcia Angell, editors of Lancet and New England Medical Journal, respectively call bull-shittake on a lot of medical research published:

“The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness.”  

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2015/05/16/editor-in-chief-of-worlds-best-known-medical-journal-half-of-all-the-literature-is-false/

Reasons given?

• data is sculpted to fit a preferred theory
• important confirmations are often rejected
• little is done to correct bad practices
• omission of data: vaccine manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and health authorities have known about multiple dangers associated with vaccines but chose to withhold them from the public

Via

Place names: -chester, -caster, -cester, -shire, counties, parishes, and boroughs

 History!

When the Romans came to Great Britain, they built a bunch of forts called castra, which was Anglicized to chester. So, English cities whose names end in -chester, -caster and -cester were once Roman settlements, places like Manchester, Cirencester and Worcester. 

When the Anglo-Saxons arrived in England, they divided the land into shires, which is why so many English place names end in -shire. 

Finally, the Normans invaded England in 1066, and they subdivided the land into counties, from which we get the title of “Count”.

Of course, English settlers to North America brought the county system with them. And thus, every state in America is subdivided into counties, except for Louisiana (which is divided into parishes based on an old Spanish system) and Alaska (which is divided into boroughs).

Via

Japanese Film Festival - Sacramento, 2015

Films announced!

1. Like Father Like Son
2. I Was Born But...
3. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
4. Hafu, the Mixed Race Dxperience In Japan
5. Unforgiven
6. Pecoross’ Mother and Her Days
7. Under the Blood Red Sun

Erika Perloff

A painting of the Pacific coast, by Erika Perloff:

Morning Veils

The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 2013 film

Saw a copy of the 2013 film, "The Watsons Go to Birmingham" on display and would like to view it, at some point.

The trees sang fire

I'm a poet and did not know it! ; o )

Thought of this line last night on the drive through Campbell/Los Gatos, at sunset, with the reddish/orange rays illuminating the sides of the redwoods.

Seemed like a good intro line for a book involving dragons! ; o ) As of today, Google returns no hits for that specific phrase.

Radio Songs

Heard on KEZR 106.5 FM, out of San Jose, California:

• Little Rock, Arkansas-based Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life" from their 2003 album "Fallen" on the Wind-up and Epic labels. Video.

Heard on KBAY 94.5 FM, out of San Jose, California:

• London, England-based Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk" (featuring the vocals of Bruno Mars) from his 2014 album "Uptown Special" on the Sony, Columbia, and RCA labels.

Heard on KZSU 90.1 FM, out of Stanford, California:

• DJ John Powell's show "Emotive Force" critiqued the score from the 2010 DreamWorks film, "How to Train Your Dragon"

Las Vegas Notes

Dawn and I recently weekended in Las Vegas:

• High Roller (Ferris wheel)--interesting; entry/exit while moving
• Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay
• Watched an endangered Green Sea Turtle scratch its back
• Dawn liked watching the near threatened Cownose Rays
• Homies Cinnamon Roll Cafe at the MGM (note: we tried the Homie's Awesome Apple Cinnamon Roll...it is!)
• HEXX chocolate & confexxions (note: we had chocolate chip cookie ice-cream sandwich, with Ecuadorian single-origin chocolate ice cream)
• Hershey’s Chocolate World--interesting, but did not purchase anything
• Various vended items:
• KidRobot
• Yummy World
• Frank Kozik's labbits
• Pusheen the Cat pencil case
• Pebblechild turtle keyrings
• Heart-shaped lamp designs at the Brighton Collectibles-Caesar's
• LUSH Cosmetics Mandalay Bay -- saleswoman named Sally cheered us up! 
• Chris Reccardi art--saw his work inside the High Roller ticketing area (note: he did The Ren and Stimpy Show)
• Fergus Greer portrait photography
• William H. Macy
• Elliot Gould
• Rod Steiger
• Dick Dale
• LL Cool J
• Rode the tram back, from Mandalay Bay to Excalibur
• Reached the ticketing counter for the monorail but decided we prefer to walk the couple of blocks, rather than pay
• The 2015 Rock In Rio concert coincided with our stay, but we did not have time to attend
• Planet Hollywood hotel room #3756 
• Room decor: the 1984 Robert Redford film "The Natural" (framed of Redford's "Knights" baseball jacket, framed promotional photos from the film, a side table with a faux-program and baseball card props, from the film)
• Opened in 2007, our room seemed a bit tired looking
• Ground transportation:
• Stretch limo transportation from the airport to the hotel! Just us...we found a water bottle in the cooler, which was perfect...LED rainbow lights around the cabin...we buckled out seatbelts
• Shuttle transportation from hotel to airport--with about 6-8 others
• Other (?)

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra - Taiikukan Live

A live concert! I believe the following video represents the second concert (that is, Taiikukan) of a two-DVD set, released in late 2010, to celebrate 20 years:

"Tokyo Ska Paradise Kokugikan & Tokyo Ska Paradise Taiikukan Live - (12/12/2010 Cutting Edge)"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqTTclgeaSI

NOTES

• Japanese <> English translations:
• Kokugikan = sumo hall (seems like the Ryōgoku Kokugikan (両国国技館 Ryōgoku Kokugikan)
• Taiikukan = gymnasium (seems like the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium (東京体育館 Tōkyō Taiikukan)
• Dates:
• March 27th, 2010: Kokugikan
• April 24th, 2010: Taiikukan
• Product Code: CTBR-92067 
• JAN Code: 4945817920676
• Female guest vocalist: Crystal Kay
• Track list:
• 1
• [Disc 2] OPENING / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] opening / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 2
• [Disc 2] BOPPIN` BUNNY / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] Boppin' Bunny / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 3
• [Disc 2] WHITE LIGHT / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] White Light / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 4
• [Disc 2] A SONG FOR ATHLETES / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] A Song for Athletes / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 5
• [Disc 2] WORLD SKA CRUISE / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] WORLD SKA CRUISE / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 6
• [Disc 2] MEIKYOUSHISUI / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] 明鏡止水 / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 7
• [Disc 2] STORM RIDER / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] STORM RIDER / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 8
• [Disc 2] KINOUKYOUASHITA / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] KinouKyouAshita -New horn arrangement- / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 9
• [Disc 2] LIKE JAZZ ON FIRE / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] Like Jazz On Fire / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 10
• [Disc 2] TOKYO SKA MEDLEY 20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL ISSUE / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] トーキョースカメドレー 20th Anniversary Special Issue / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 10
• [Disc 2] PERFECT FUTURE / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] Perfect Future / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 10
• [Disc 2] TABOO SKA / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] Taboo SKA / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 10
• [Disc 2] MANTECA / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] Manteca / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 10
• [Disc 2] L.O.V.E / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] L.O.V.E / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 10
• [Disc 2] FINGERTIPS / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] FINGERTIPS / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 11
• [Disc 2] ZUTTO / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] ずっと (Vo.Crystal Kay) / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 12
• [Disc 2] ONE EYED COBRA / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] ONE EYED COBRA / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 13
• [Disc 2] SHINONOME NIJUUGO JI / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] 東雲25時 / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 14
• [Disc 2] JUGGLING CITY / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] Juggling City / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 15
• [Disc 2] TAIYOU NI ONEGAI / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] 太陽にお願い / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 16
• [Disc 2] AME NO KISEKI / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] 雨の軌跡 / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 17
• [Disc 2] BOPPIN` BUNNY AGAIN! / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] Boppin' Bunny again! / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 18
• [Disc 2] RYUUSEI TO BALLAD / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] 流星とバラード (Vo.奥田民生) / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 19
• [Disc 2] JUST SAY YEAH! / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] Just say yeah! / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 20
• [Disc 2] HYMNE A L`AMOUR WITH STRINGS / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] 愛の讃歌 with strings / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 21
• [Disc 2] KIMI TO BOKU 2010 / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] 君と僕 2010 (Vo.斉藤和義) / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 22
• [Disc 2] PRIDE OF LIONS / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] Pride Of Lions (EC1) / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 23
• [Disc 2] JUNGLE BOOGIE / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA with OKUDA TAMIO.Crystal Kay.SAITO KAZUYOSHI
• [Disc 2] ジャングル・ブギ (w/奥田民生、Crystal Kay、斉藤和義) (EC1) / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ with 奥田民生、Crystal Kay、斉藤和義
• 24
• [Disc 2] DOWN BEAT STOMP / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] DOWN BEAT STOMP (EC1) / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ
• 25
• [Disc 2] SKA ME CRAZY / TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA
• [Disc 2] SKA ME CRAZY (EC2) / 東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ

So good!

Radio Songs

Heard on KXJZ 90.9 FM out of Sacramento, CA:

• Faster Than Light music played as background music on May 12, 2015, around the 5:30 p.m. mark.

Heard on KSAN 107.7 FM out of San Mateo, CA:

• London, England-natives Led Zeppelin's "Bring It On Home" from their 1969 album "Led Zeppelin II" on the Atlantic label. Audio.

Heard on KFJC 89.7 FM out of Los Altos Hills, California:

• London, England-based The Damned's "Life Goes On" from their 1982 album "Strawberries" on the Bronze label. Audio. Note: "Captain Sensible" represents a great pseudonym!

Roman peace

Auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium; atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant!

(To plunder, butcher, steal, these things they misname Empire: they make a desolation and they call it peace!)

-- Tacitus 

Stallman coined POSIX acronym

Interesting!

https://stallman.org/articles/posix.html

Good ideas

1. Good ideas do not need lots of lies told about them in order to gain public acceptance.
2. Fibbers' forecasts are worthless
3. The Vital Importance of Audit

Via, via

“Weird Al” Yankovic Mandatory World Tour - Las Vegas

Dawn recently won, with about ~50 others, the “Weird Al” Yankovic Mandatory World Tour Contest, which included the following:

• Two round-trip air tickets to Las Vegas, Nevada (for us, on Southwest ~$600)
• Two-Night Complimentary Stay at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino (~$600)
• Two Complimentary Tickets to Weird Al’s performance on Saturday, May 16th, 2015 at 8:00 p.m., in the Showroom at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino (~$300)
• Upgraded tickets (slightly modified, as noted), to "The Mandatory Czar Experience" (+~$400):
• Premium reserved ticket in the first five rows (note: we sat in Row 'R', close to center, with other contest winners, most likely to accommodate seating of customers paying for the experience...this seemed to represent the only modification)
• Complete Set of 133 Weird Al Trading Cards (including brand new cards from Mandatory Fun) 
• Mandatory VIP badge
• Mandatory Czar blue event sticker
• One Exclusive, Limited Edition Poster 18"x24" personally signed by Weird Al (note: it reads, "Hi Dawn!", followed by his signature)
• Additional exclusive Weird Al merchandise gift (note: in our case, we received a military-themed tee shirt: "a t-shirt that sort of looks like the dictator jacket which Al is wearing on the cover of Mandatory Fun. Sort of like those tuxedo print t-shirts.")
• VIP pre-show party, held in the re-purposed Gallery Night Club at Planet Hollywood, starting at 5:30 p.m.
• VIP after-party, held in the same space as the pre-show
• $100 Food and Beverage Credit to Planet Hollywood
• Two Complimentary Tickets to the High Roller at The LINQ (~$75)
• Ground transportation from and back to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas (~$50)

Many thanks to Weird Al, CID Entertainment staff (event logistics), and Frosch Entertainment staff (transportation logistics). This easily penciled out to thousands of dollars, per winner and guest! We had a great time and have nothing but love for all the hard work everyone did to pull this off.

NOTES - CONCERT

• Celebrities in attendance at the performance we attended: Andy Richter, two of Neil Diamonds' keyboard players, Tom Lennon (of Reno 911! fame), (?)
• As noted, Las Vegas Magazine had a cover article on Weird Al, in their May 10, 2015 issue
• Highlight, for me: Dare to Be Stupid, live in concert (first time since 2011?)
• First concert, for us, since mid-2013 at the California State Fair
• I felt really salted-out and thirsty from the hot dogs and hamburgers
• The acoustic set reminded me of...a lounge act...in a good way (is that possible? I think so!)
• Confetti streamer cannon during Canadian Idiot
• No drum solo (retired?)
• Music (30 songs, total):
• Fun Zone
• Tacky
• Lame Claim to Fame
• Now That's What I Call Polka!
• Perform This Way
• Dare to Be Stupid
• Fat
• First World Problems
• Foil
• Smells Like Nirvana
• Party in the CIA / It's All About the Pentiums / Handy / Bedrock Anthem / Another One Rides the Bus / Ode to a Superhero / Gump / Inactive / eBay / Canadian Idiot
• Wanna B Ur Lovr
• Acoustic medley: Eat It / I Lost on Jeopardy / I Love Rocky Road / Like a Surgeon
• White & Nerdy
• Word Crimes
• Amish Paradise
• Encore:
• The Saga Begins
• Yoda
• Albums represented:
• "Weird Al" Yankovic (1983): 2
• "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D (1984): 2
• Dare To Be Stupid (1985): 3
• Even Worse (1988): 1
• UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff (1989): 1
• Off The Deep End (1992): 1
• Alapalooza (1993): 1
• Bad Hair Day (1996): 2
• Running With Scissors (1999): 2
• Poodle Hat (2003): 3
• Straight Outta Lynwood (2006): 2
• Alpocalypse (2011): 2
• Mandatory Fun (2014): 8
• Albums NOT formally represented (note: excluding EPs):
• Polka Party! (1986): 0

NOTES - PRE/POST-PERFORMANCE PARTY

• Pre-show details:
• Event staff wore red berets and military uniforms, in keeping with the propaganda-themed imagery of the album
• Brief, unannounced appearances:
• Suzanne Krajewski, Al's spouse, and their daughter
• Andy Richter
• Jim West, guitarist
• Easels displayed 3'x2' prints of propaganda-themed imagery, from the album art, as we walked to the night club
• Medium-sized lectern with faux-microphones--lots of attendees taking pictures with this as a prop, when not in use by the emcee
• Energy ebbed and flowed, but mostly upbeat and excited
• Spinnable Wheel of Fish with medium-sized blinking red light, at center (initially obscured by black banner with words "Top Secret")
• "Mandatory Cocktail" ($8, I forget the ingredients, but it had grapefruit juice, alcohol, and was served over ice in what looked like a highball glass)
• Four multimedia and poster displays showing a timeline of Weird Al from childhood to present
• Giant (~15'x10'?) Mandatory World Tour banner
• Large (~3' diameter) Mandatory World Tour circular promotional poster of some of the album art 
• Photo booth for taking/sharing pictures, in front of a green screen--note: ours may not have gotten posted to Facebook, even after the initial technical glitch (?)...always take a backup photo!
• Props for the photo booth: glittery mustaches on thin dowels, plastic bandolier, wigs, aloha shirt, metal eyewear frames (basically, you can appear as Weird Al, from the 1980's, or go with a more propaganda-themed album art imagery)
• I wore a wig and a floral shirt (over my floral shirt) and eyewear and bandolier and moustache
• Food and drink:
• Buffalo wings
• Mini hot dogs
• Hamburger sliders
• Carrots, celery, condiments
• Cash bar
• Music: variety of Weird Al songs played from all decades
• Party events
• Costume Contest
• Six contestants (* asterisk = finalist; ** = winner):
1. ** Smells Like Nirvana
2. * Lasagna chef
3. * Tinfoil hat
4. Tacky shirt
5. Tuxedo suit
6. Corporal (?) Spatula
• A crowd cheer eliminated three contestants, followed-by a dance-off to determine the winners
• Winner got a Weird Al Mandatory Tour circular patch
• Raffle #1 - Lip Sync battle
• Smells Like Nirvana contestant called up to stage to go first (did not get raffle ticket called)
• Lasagna selected as raffle winner and returned to stage
• Not sure who won!
• Raffle #2 - Wheel of Fish
• Raffle winner (tin foil hat girl?) got up on stage 
• Emcee revealed...the Wheel of Fish!
• Winner spun the Wheel, with marker landing on "trout"
• Emcee offered her a choice of the fish or the box
• Crowd and winner chose the box, which contained...nothing!
• Everyone got to take their picture with the Wheel of Fish, after this
• Prior to leaving the party, the emcee invited everyone to sing, "Harvey the Wonder Hamster"
• After-party details:
• Food and drink:
• Orange, black, and yellow tortilla chips
• Salt and pepper rippled potato chips
• Chex mix
• Guacamole
• Salsa verde
• Cash bar
• Subdued energy; people mostly talking in small circles
• Music: same as at pre-show party, a mix of Weird Al songs from across the decades
• Weird Al arrived in a brown tunic shirt and blue jeans after 45-60 minutes (he had other commitments, with other fans, first)
• Al signed 18"x24" tour posters for everyone (one per group)
• One cell phone photo, per group, with random requests considered (for example, Al posed with one woman in a dip dance move; another, he stood and posed, looking off to the distance, as did the fans)
• Jay Levey, Weird Al's manager, quietly observed the signing from the side
• Event staff members took the cell phone photos
• Overall party impressions -- ups and downs
• Bad news first:
• Cash bar prices--welcome to Las Vegas!
• Photo-booth malfunctions (note: per emcee, resolved after he called the photo-booth company president)
• Emcee seemed overheated in military uniform and overstretched, which seemed to distract him from connecting with the audience, a bit
• I sensed some awkward energy in the room during two of the unannounced pre-show party events...I think contestants and event staff handled things relatively gracefully but I wonder if event staff might consider discussing a more inclusive way to determine winners (?) Maybe it was just me and everyone had a great time (?) : o )
• At the after-party, one or two overly intoxicated individuals seemed fired up and edging toward belligerence...overheard the person relate to someone else, in a somewhat defensive tone, how someone earlier had commented on his drinking and/or behavior...he then proceeded to start going off on, "I won a trip to Las Vegas to have fun!", "Don't tell me what to do...", and so forth, and so forth...it set a more edgy tone to things than I preferred, for sure
• Thinking of things from a family-friendly angle, the night club represented a relatively subdued environment, compared to the Pleasure Pit gogo dancers visible below, on the casino floor, but the night club's back hallway--used as an exit after poster signing--did have a few larger-than-life racy pics...again, welcome to Las Vegas, parents ; o )
• Good news:
• Emcee--that voice!
• Technology (other than noted above) had everything on point--multimedia displays, lights, audio, music
• Props seemed right on point--banners, costumes, accessories for photo-booth, lectern, Wheel of Fish, and so forth
• Food seemed well done, to me--especially the hamburger sliders
• Resolved the photo-booth technical glitch
• After-party went off without a hitch, including food and handing out poster sleeves
• Al obviously exhausted, hand was a claw when he signed our poster, but soldiered on (please excuse the pun)
• Jay Levey appearance!
• Overall, a smashing success and it speaks very well to the entire team, moving forward!!

Information consumes attention

“What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention” – Herbert Simon

Via

Model-View-Controller song

Heard the Model-View-Controller song, for the first time, today! http://csl.ensm-douai.fr/noury/20#mp3
 (Note: see Ralph Jonshon's comments, at the end)

Via

See, also: http://www.headfirstlabs.com/books/hfdp/dm.html

3x3 cubes

http://thecubicle.us/yuxin-p-3939.html (used for current world record)

http://thecubicle.us/moyu-hualong-p-4253.html (normally the one used by current world record holder)

World record thread

Hostage negotiation

The most dangerous negotiation is the one you don't know you're in.

Cognitive bias modification

Noting as a part of an audio book I am listening to (Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence, by Daniel Goleman)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_bias_modification

The Three Princes of Serendip

Today I learned...

"The story has become known in the English speaking world as the source of the word serendipity...."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Princes_of_Serendip

So Duh! Root Beer

Heritage Brewing, out of San Jose, California, makes this root beer, which we tried on Dawn's birthday. Moderate kick (in a good way).

http://rootbeerbarrel.com/2013/02/05/hermitage-brewing-so-duh-rockin-root-beer/
http://hermitagebrewing.com/

Frederic Laloux

A friend suggested I investigate this:

http://www.reinventingorganizations.com/

Sutton Hoo

One of my childhood friends, Jason Sutton -- his name may come from Sutton Hoo?

UPDATE

Probably not:

• "Sutton, meaning 'south settlement' in Old English, is a very common place name." (via)
• "The unusual name "Hoo" is a Saxon word meaning the spur of a hill, and is more commonly associated with East Anglia." (via)

Sacramento mopeds - Business deals turn violent

This happened near where I park each morning. Tragic for all involved.

Truck Tub

A wash for commercial semi tractor units, in California's central valley:
http://trucktub.com/

Noticed this the other day.

Relationship advice - Reddit

Wisdom and humor.

What's the best relationship advice you have ever heard? (self.AskReddit)
ckernan2 4726 points 5 days ago

On our wedding night, I told my wife that we now had a 2/2/2 rule. It goes like this:
Every 2 weeks, we go out for the evening.
Every 2 months, we go out for the weekend.
Every 2 years, we go out for a week.
We've stuck to it, and it really has made things awesome. We got married in August and people still ask how long our honeymoon phase will last. I think it'll last as long as we stick to our 2's.
permalinksaveparentreportgive goldreply

[–]tapsllew 3145 points 5 days ago
Oh I follow a similar 2/2/2 rule, but only at I-HOP...

Notepad++ and Geany plugins

Investigating how to port TextFX to Geany

NOTEPAD++
Source Code
Plugins HOWTO
Plugin Central
TextFX official site
Initial release

NOTEPAD++ NOTES

• "This plugin has no maintainer and wants one; please see TextFX's Future"
• "Currently, some plugins are taking over some areas where TextFX is being used:
• Code alignment
• NppConverter
• XBrackets Lite
• Tidy2"
• "The npp-plugins project features the v0.25 sources and the v0.26 binaries ([v0.26] changes are not deemed to be publcly available as sources by their author.)"

GEANY
Plugins
Github

ANALYSIS

So...it seems TextFX represents abandonware, last updated in 2009, and current strategy involves piecing it out into separate plugins. Which seems to imply the same strategy, for Geany.

VERDICT

Wait and see

Debian Jessie Stable

Upgrading to Debian Jessie stable soon. Have downloaded the ISOs for KDE and GNOME...need to decide which to go with.

INSTALLATION LOG

Backed up home directory
Wiped disk during install (/home in separate partition)
Had to use a separate USB to retrieve nonfree wifi for my Lenovo ThinkPad x201:

• Package: firmware-iwlwifi
• File: /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-6000-4.ucode

Put the USB in when prompted and the install proceeded without interruption.

Rebooted and all came up smoothly

CUSTOMIZATIONS

Google Chrome

Use Iceweasel to download 64-bit Google Chrome deb to Downloads folder

sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

This throws errors about missing packages libappindicator1 and libcurl3

sudo apt-get install libappindicator1 libcurl3

This throws errors

sudo apt-get -f install

This closes out the install and gets everything working

Add Google Chrome to Favorites

Geany

sudo apt-get install geany

sudo apt-get install geany-plugins

GCC

sudo apt-get install gcc

Note: already the latest version

Filezilla

sudo apt-get install filezilla

Configure vim  .vimrc

sudo apt-get install vim

From my 2009 post, copied and pasted into ~k/.vimrc .

Historical note: the "rc" in ".vimrc" derives from "runcom", from the MIT CTSS system, ca. 1965.

git

sudo apt-get install git

subversion
sudo apt-get install subversion

gimp extras

Via:

sudo apt-get install gimp-plugin-registry gimp-data-extras

Enabling NTP Support

sudo apt-get install ntp

Activities > Search for Date and Time

Automatic Date & Time: On

Automatic Time Zone: On

Set default editor to vim

vim ~k/.bashrc

Append line: export EDITOR="vim"

Default applications

Via:

Activities, Search for Details

Default Applications

Web: Chromium Web Browser

Mali: Chromium Web Browser

Calendar: Evolution

Music: VLC media player

Video: VLC media player

Compressing/decompressing

Via:

sudo apt-get install unace rar unrar zip unzip p7zip p7zip-full p7zip-rar mpack sharutils uudeview arj cabextract

curl

Via: sudo apt-get install curl

VLC installation and configuration

Note: a bit different than previous upgrades, but mostly the same (answer via)

sudo apt-get install vlc

This installs 2.2.0-rc2 Weatherwax....which apparently still cannot play YouTube

sudo rm /usr/lib/vlc/lua/playlist/youtube.*

sudo curl "http://git.videolan.org/?p=vlc.git;a=blob_plain;f=share/lua/playlist/youtube.lua;hb=HEAD" -o /usr/lib/vlc/lua/playlist/youtube.lua

Start VLC

Tested on video 

It works : o )

Shotwell
sudo apt-get install shotwell

gparted
sudo apt-get install gparted

bleachbit (system cleaner)
sudo apt-get install bleachbit

Screensaver
sudo apt-get install xscreensaver-gl

Note: this seems to need more (?) For example

UltraNav Touchpad

Activities > Mouse & TouchPad
Uncheck "Two finger scroll"
Uncheck "Natural scrolling"
Note: seems this works out-of-the-box, but the two finger scroll got me...used to one finger scrolling, on the right of the TrackPad

Fingerprint reader

Via:

lsusb reports: "Bus 001 Device 003: ID 147e:2016 Upek Biometric Touchchip/Touchstrip Fingerprint Sensor"

sudo apt-get install libpam-fprintd

grep fprint /etc/pam.d/common-auth 

This reports "auth [success=2 default=ignore] pam_fprintd.so max_tries=1 timeout=10 # debug"

fprintd-enroll

Running this prompts "Enrolling right-index-finger finger." and "Enroll result: enroll-stage-passed"

Scanned my finger each time; this ended after 6 times with message "Enroll result: enroll-completed"

Now it works! : o )

clisp

sudo apt-get install clisp

Note: seems like an abandoned package (?) 

Fonts

Via:

sudo apt-get install fonts-arphic-gkai00mp ttf-wqy-microhei ttf-kochi-gothic ttf-mscorefonts-installer ttf-bitstream-vera ttf-dejavu ttf-dejavu-core ttf-dejavu-extra ttf-freefont ttf-liberation

Configure printing

Activities > Search for "Printers"

Unlock, then select button "Add"

On screen "Add a New Printer" select "Network"

Select "HP LaserJet CP1525nw", then select button "Add"

Print test page...prints successfully in color

Configure GNOME 3 Settings

Activities > Tweak Tool

Desktop

• Icons on Desktop: On

Top Bar

• Show date: Checked
• Show week numbers: Checked

Extensions: Looks interesting!

MISTAKES

Forgot to transfer FileZilla site configurations, so manually recreated

May have forgotten to save touchpad settings (?)

UPDATE
Install updated version of libsane

Bathroom grout humor

Noticed this here at UCSC McHenry Library men's bathroom.

For example:
https://mechanisticmoth.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/grout-humor-and-other-distractions/
http://thegroutlands.tumblr.com/

And so forth, and so forth

Wayland

Fun, to me, to learn how people name things:

The name "Wayland" comes from the town of Wayland, Massachusetts. Høgsberg was driving through that town when the concepts behind Wayland "crystallized".

Via

Speeders (Railway)

Saw a bunch of these railway speeders travel by our apartments this afternoon, just before 5:00 p.m.: 

April 25, 26 FULL, WAITING LIST ONLY
PRO is pleased to announce, as part of the California Spring Rail Adventure, a run on the Santa Cruz Big Trees and Pacific on Saturday, April 25 and Sunday, April 26. This is in conjunction with the Santa Cruz Monterey Bay run on those same dates. To participate you will sign up with PRO for the Santa Cruz Big Trees and Pacific portion of the run and sign up with MOW for the Monterey Bay portion of the run. You cannot sign up for one portion without the other - they are connected. 

The cost of the Santa Cruz Big Trees portion is $70 per day. You may sign up for Saturday or Sunday or both. In the event one day is over-booked, you may only be able to sign up for one day. We will be coordinating with MOW to compare signup lists. This run has a limit of 30 cars per day.
Via: http://www.pro-online.org/calendar.htm#btrees

NOTES

• California Spring Rail Adventure
• Operated by: Pacific Railcar Operators, a part of a larger organization, the North American Railcar Operators Association
• Railway: Southern Pacific "Coast Line Railroad" (map)

Also

Steve Jobs bio

Listening to an audio version of Walter Isaacson's biography on Steve Jobs (Dylan Baker, Narrator).

NOTES

• Not a fan of Baker's voice
• Dave Winer (some balance)
• "Stross has the advantage of having already written a Jobs bio, while he was still at NeXT. It's the best tech book I've ever read."
• Narcissistic Personality Disorder (Tina Redse's theory)
• Isaacson treats Bill Gates as though he may wish to write his biography someday (?)

Cryptography terminology - Padlock = Public Key

Cryptography simplified--I really like the idea of calling the public key a lock, rather than a key:

"So Alice come out with a brilliant solution. Now, she only maintains one key (private key). She distributes the same padlocks (public key) to her friends. Anyone can close the padlocks (encrypt), but only she has the key to open (decrypt) them. Now, anyone can send stuff to Alice using the padlock she distributed, and Alice no longer have to maintain manage different keys for different people."

That is:

• Key = private key
• Lock = public key 

This seems intuitive and clarifies things, for me.

What would it take to make this terminology  mainstream?

Via (via Wikipedia, it seems?)

Note: origin of the names Alice and Bob: Rivest's original paper

Cajun Power spicy garlic pepper sauce

Hard to see, but on the right-side the label has a cartoon character with a heart above its head!

City of eternal spring

At a hair cut, my barber told me of Subject, another name for Cuernavaca.

Manually adding phone numbers to 2nd gen Toyota Prius phonebook

http://priuschat.com/threads/how-do-you-manually-add-phone-numbers-to-prius.29675/

Hrm...will have to try

UEFI Ubuntu boot on Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

• 128GB SSD as internal primary
• Removed recovery partition to thumb drive
• Shrunk main partition by 20GB, to make room
• Created partition from the free space (I think ?)
• Downloaded Ubuntu Kylin 14.04.2 LTS
• Used unetbootin to burn to thumb drive (another one)
• Installed Ubuntu to the free partition...this went normally
• Rebooted
• No GRUB, went straight into Microsoft Windows 8.1
• Ran the following command:
• bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi
• Rebooted
• Now GRUB appears and Ubuntu loads, but Microsoft Windows 8.1 boot manager failed to boot, with error 0xc000000e

Turns out BIOS was set to both UEFI and Legacy, with a preference for Legacy. Switching this to UEFI allowed Microsoft Windows 8.1 to load.

Loading into Ubuntu and running the following failed, the first time, because I had booted into Legacy mode:

• sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair  
• sudo apt-get update
• sudo apt-get install boot-repair
• boot-repair 

So, I switched BIOS to use both UEFI and Legacy, but with a preference for UEFI. Then, I booted from the Ubuntu installer thumb drive. I selected Try Ubuntu, ran the above (after connecting to the wireless router), and voila, after following the instructions and using the defaults, a reboot now allows the choice of both.

RESOURCES

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

http://askubuntu.com/questions/221835/installing-ubuntu-on-a-pre-installed-windows-8-64-bit-system-uefi-supported

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/repartition-hard-disk#1TC=windows-7

http://askubuntu.com/questions/235567/windows-8-removes-grub-as-default-boot-manager

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI#Converting_Ubuntu_into_EFI_mode

Train Simple lifetime subscription

Subscribed to a lifetime subscription at Train Simple today, for $79!

Floppy disk drive (USB) + GNU/Linux

Today I used a floppy diskette drive (USB) for the first time in years, to migrate some media I had in long-term storage.

NOTES

• Noises of floppy drive brought a smile -- though I seem to recall if the floppy sounds that bad, it most likely will not last much longer (?)
• Purchased the FDD for ~$15
• For GNU/Linux, I ended up mounting the USB floppy as follows:
• Connect the drive and USB
• sudo blkid -c /dev/null
• This will list your device (for me, it was /dev/sdb)
• Alternatively: 
• udisks --mount /dev/sdb
• Nautilus then displayed the drive
• To unmount, I used Nautilus

Not pretty, but we got there--now I can ditch this old media! Next weekend, I will tackle some old ZIP disks.

Bongo drums

Reminded me of Richard Feynman playing the bongo drums:

"Most of us need our bodies in motion for our brains to reach their highest level of activation. Traditional cultures have understood this. That's why we have beads and wheels, yoga positions, davening, kneeling, prostrations, drumming, and other physical aids to prayer and meditation. We have a shared understanding our bodies need to be engaged to support our attention and focus. Muscle movement gets associated with certain memories in the same way odors or colors do, and assist in the retrieval."

Via

Alien microwave ovens

Fun:

Credit: Katie Mack. @AstroKatie's handy guide to distinguishing perytons from fast radio bursts.

Via:

Origins Of Mysterious Radio Wave Bursts Discovered

New Nintendo 3DS XL

Specs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Nintendo_3DS

• Released to North America region on February 13, 2015
• Metallic Red and Metallic Black (called "New Red" and "New Black" in North America)
• Some bundles, now overpriced

Games:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_3DS_games

• Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer (Q4 2015)
• Pokémon Infinity (October 2015)
• ?

Colors:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_3DS_colors_and_styles

• Metallic Purple available in 2012

Hotel Pillows

We seem to have had a similar experience as many others while staying at a Marriott hotel--great pillows.

However, upon looking up reviews of the Hotel Touch of Down Pillow on the Pacific Coast Feather Company website, we found many complaints alleging their purchases did not live up to the pillows they had found at the Marriott.

So, what gives (?):

• From one commenter, on October 17, 2012: "The response I got from PCF was that the pillows in the Hilton have been shrunk down from being washed hundreds of times and are more compact."
• Another commenter, on October 28, 2014: "I called customer service (Robin) and she was extremely helpful. The pillow I wanted is not on the website but can be special ordered. It is called "Double Touch of Down" and is the " Old Hyatt" pillow. The item number in King is 33034. When they arrived I compared the tags and there was only a difference of 5% duck feather in the inner chamber and 5% down in the outer chamber."
• Pacific Down Feather Company FAQ:
• The Down Surround pillow is softer than the Touch of Down pillow.
• The Touch of Down pillow is a super standard size, 20" x 28". Some hotels will put this super standard size pillow into a standard 20" x 26" pillow protector. The 2" difference causes the pillow to plump up more.
• Some hotels will even double the protectors on each pillow to reduce the air permeability of the pillow keeping it fluffier throughout the night.
• Hotel pillows are slept on and washed regularly which accelerates the softening process. If the pillow you order doesn't feel as soft as your hotel experience, it might be that you need to wash and dry it a few times.
• Lastly, pillows are made from 100% cotton. Over time, the washing process can shrink the pillow. A pillow that seems smaller than 20" x 26" even with extra protectors, may have shrunk from excessive washings.
• (?)

Suggested alternatives:

• The Company Store
• One commenter writes, "The authentic Marriott pillows can be purchased at ShopMarriott.com"
• The Sweet Home

The last link had this tip:

It’s a minor point, but Breus also pointed out that sleepers have different support needs over the course of the week. “If you’re typing at a desk all week, by Friday, you’re going to need more support,” he said. “If you’re out and about, you don’t need that type of support; your neck is looser.” Swapping out pillows according to the stresses on your neck is ideal, but due to expense and negligible long-term impacts, we don’t think you need to buy multiple pillows with different support unless a doctor advises you to do so.

Pinot Gris versus Pinot Grigio

Pinot Gris versus Pinot Grigio, courtesy of The Katering Show:

• Pinot Grigio - grapes harvested earlier, Italian wine, so fructose-free 
• Pinot Gris - grapes harvested later, so more fermented sugars, so has fructose 

Same grapes.

Natural Bridges State Beach

Walked to Natural Bridges State Beach today and visited the Visitor Center, where we purchased two magnets and learned a bit about monarch butterflies and various marine organisms. Watched two people bodyboarding.

The woman behind the counter mentioned she had recently visited our apartment complex with friends, in an attempt to see if she might personally hear a young coyote howling (evidently, some of her friends had passed along the news). The fellow residents told her, I believe, that coyote howls occur frequently, as coyotes may use the railroad tracks as a vector for traveling to and fro. Dawn confirmed she also has heard the coyotes, occasionally.

Library card

Obtained a library card today from the Santa Cruz Public Library.

The front desk assistant pointed out to us the web site offers several perks:

• Digital media (for example, "Films on Demand", "hoopla", "indieflix", and "medici.tv")
• Free tickets to regional attractions
• Download books to mobile devices

By the staff offices, they displayed several books about librarians:

• How I Fell in Love with a Librarian and Lived to Tell About it
• Due or Die (A Library Lover's Mystery)
• What the Librarian Did

Clos

From Wikipedia:

"Clos, from the French for Closure or enclosed, is a walled vineyard used to protect the grapes from theft as well as improving the mesoclimate. Often founded by Cistercians monks. The word is often used in the name of famous wines even when the wall no longer exists."

 We see this a lot on wine bottles. For example, Clos La Coutale.

Static code analysis

A strong opinion on adopting static code analysis (highlighting added; full article, below):

The most important thing I have done as a programmer in recent years is to aggressively pursue static code analysis. Even more valuable than the hundreds of serious bugs I have prevented with it is the change in mindset about the way I view software reliability and code quality.

…I feel the success that we have had with code analysis has been clear enough that I will say plainly it is irresponsible to not use it. 

-- John Carmack
Co-founder, Id Software; CTO, Oculus VR

(via, via)

Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS (Trusty Tahr) to Dell Inspiron 15r

Learned from my experiences last time:

• Downloaded latest Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS (Trusty Tahr) ISO from a mirror, using UC Santa Cruz connectivity (1.0GB in ~10 minutes)
• Disk Utility 3.0.2 used to wipe a 16GB USB thumb drive, then reformat the drive as a bootable 2GB FAT16 partition
• Installed unetbootin
• Used unetbootin to write the ISO to the USB thumb drive
• Booted the Dell Inspiron 15r from the USB thumb drive (F12 to select boot device)

From there, I followed the prompts, no problems--wiped the entire drive of Microsoft Windows and the previous Ubuntu install. No need to re-install GRUB. Configured encrypted hard drive and home directory, connected to Wi-Fi, connected to network printer, and so forth.

Success!