Archive for July, 2009
Went and picked the bike up today. Rode the SV up there so the previous owner of the FJR could take a few parts off my SV for his race bike. I’ll sell it when I get back from my guard stuff. The FJR rides like a dream, and has gobs and gobs of power. I can not wait to get this thing out in the twisty bits. Just wow.
Crappy iPhone pic for now, you know I’ll do a proper photoshoot as soona s I have time.
Right now I’m in the process of working out a deal to move up from my 2005 Suzuki SV650S to a 2007 Yamaha FJR1300A. It’ll be the first vehicle I’ve ever financed, but I’ll knock the payments out quickly. The bike has 7500mi on it, and is basically exactly what I’ve been after for months. I should know later today if everything is a go. If so, I intend to go get it as soon as possible.
Since I’d rather be rock climbing right now, this is going to be the short version. Last night I took delivery of one Monoprice-sourced mini-displayport to DVI adapter. This made me happy, as I could now use my external monitor with my 24″ iMac. Two screens are better than one, and such. I plugged in said adapter, and rejoiced. This joy was short-lived, as my internet suddenly stopped working. Given that Comcast is probably the single worst service provider known to man, I did not associate my failed connection with the addition of my second monitor.
For some reason, I could not connect to my wireless network. I could, however, connect to some open AP named “Guest.” I could also connect to my AirPort Express’ WPA2 network. Why, oh why, was my WRT54G’s WPA2 network timing out!? No clue. I tried for hours, resetting routers, nuking .plist files, changing wireless channels, etc. Nothing worked. Of course, every other wireless-enabled device in the house worked just fine and dandy through every single change. Only my iMac refused to play nicely. Finally, I gave up and packed up my iMac and my WRT54G (to recreate the problem) and headed for The Genius Bar.
Everything worked fine there.
What. The. Heck!?
When I returned home, it was right back to being broken again. This prompted me to go through exactly what was different, and the only thing I could point to was my second screen. Upon realizing this, I reached behind the iMac and unplugged the adapter. LET THERE BE WIRELESS! I’m sure, at that moment in time, I had the most bewildered face ever, but I’ll never know.
Now it looked like, despite all rational thought saying this was impossible, somehow my mini-displayport was unhappy with encrypted wireless. I moved the iMac to another screen in the house, and surprisingly enough my wireless still worked. Doublepluspuzzled. The only difference from there was one screen had a USB hub, and the other did not. Unplugging the USB hub on the Dell screen did nothing to resolve my lack of wireless. How very bizarre!
Electromagnetic Interference, I imagined, had to be the source of my problems. This shouldn’t be possible, given industry standards and whatnot. Ignore the fact that this very same screen spent a solid year plugged into my MacBook Pro before that unfortunate beer incident, and wireless worked that entire time. I did the only logical thing, and moved the screen away from the iMac. Specifically, I put it on the floor about three feet from the actual computer. When I plugged it in, my wireless remained. How very surprising. Thinking that moving it back would surely disconnect my wireless, and thus prove my EMI theory, I picked the screen back up and put it right back where it started. Only, nothing happened. In fact, I’m typing this from my iMac, with my browser on my second screen. All connected wirelessly.
If you can make sense of that, please contact some research agency and go figure out cold-fusion or something useful. This just makes no sense at all!
With so much “change” taking place in Washington, I have to wonder how matters of such little importance as state-level politicans’ stupid mistakes even make the stage. There are bills in both the House and the Senate that deserve the attention and scrutiny. The media are, sadly, far too focused on who sleeps with whom to pay any real attention to matters important to the future of the “American Dream.” This makes no distinction of political ideology. The pursuit of happiness, and the ability to lead meaningful life (though deciding what a meaningful life even is requires deeply philosophical discussion) in which you are able to enjoy all liberties afforded by the Constitution are threatened subsection after subsection in bill after bill.
Somehow, this passes by the public without notice. Some point to the “liberal media”, but even the “liberal media” ignore encroachment on the liberal ideology. While I find it hilariously laughable that anyone can say that “liberal bias is a myth” with a straight face, real stories do tend to be covered about as objectively as humans, a quite subjective species, can cover a story. The gatekeepers, from reporters to editors, ultimately decide what is important enough for public consumption. Liberal or not, those gatekeepers fail us all by ignoring the government actions that matter, instead focusing on packaged drivel that does not matter.
Lest anyone get confused about the rightful claim to virtue, I invite you to a harsh reality: Democrats and Republicans are, as surprising as this may seem, human. There is no party active in our government today that can claim to have upheld family values, civil liberties, peace, justice, or the Constitution throughout history. Without fail, everytime the direction of politics in the United States changes, the mudslinging overshadows real business.
Democrats, we get it. You are not the only party to regularly engage in extramarital affairs. Republicans, we get it. You are not the only party that panders to your base with undeliverable promises. Both parties, we get it. When your bases calls you out on a forgotten campaign promise, you shift responsibility elsewhere.
People, and this is not limited to citizens of the United States, wake up and smell the manure. We are smack in the middle of an age in which your phone can access more information than even existed at the height of the Roman Empire. Start accessing that information. Learn something. When that happens on a large scale, “yes we can” have some “change you can believe in.”
I’ve not updated very often lately, and I’ll fix that soon. After this coming week is said and done, things should cool down a bit and I’ll be able to say the things I’ve been meaning to say. There are quite a few things to talk about as well.