EWITK.COM http://www.ewitk.com/ Being better than you so you don't have to. en-us Nucleus CMS v3.22 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.ewitk.com//nucleus/nucleus2.gif EWITK.COM http://www.ewitk.com/ Pop music sucks, essentially http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=43
I'm in Rome write now, at a fantastic Hostel/Resort. I'm having too much fun to leave it and go into the city, but I will. If you are ever in Rome, Tiber Hostel and Camping is where it's at. Pool, bar, nice beds, the works.

But, there is one problem. Italian radio is playing everywhere. I don't really have a problem with the music, per se, I just don't like how safe the music is. Seems to me, that everywhere I've gone, pop is basically the same. Different artists, languages and hits of course, but they all have that one radio-friendly sound.

That "sound" is exactly why I gave up the radio years ago. Music is about much more than popularity and making money.]]> Travel http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=43 Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:11:20 -0700 Personal Goals http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=42
As a first time European traveler, I felt it would be a good idea to try and write as much as possible. I have been writing a lot lately, mostly for school, but it's cathartic and habit forming. So, not only will I be documenting my travels for myself, my friends and my family but I will also be satisfying my need to typey type type.

One thing that has always amused me is differences in brands between different countries. Here in the U.K. they have a dish soap called Fairy Liquid. Maybe I'm a pervert, but that's funny.

GET IT?! hahahahahah]]> Travel http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=42 Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:48:43 -0700 AT&T/Cingular Bluetooth dial up networking configuration http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=41
Oh, sure. It got bad reviews... but the reviewers missed the point.

It wasn't meant for businesspeople to use when they were away from the office (but it can be). It wasn't meant for students to be able to take notes on in class, but it could be used that way. This tablet was meant for people who think the idea of listening to streaming internet radio in the car is exciting. This thing was MADE for people who like to tinker with their gadgets.

I have a Nokia 770 tablet, and it's tethered to my Nokia E62 phone by Bluetooth - and I can get internet (with a good browser) anywhere I can get cell reception. And, you know what? It feels good.

It was a lot of work for a few of my friends to figure out exactly how to do this, and as it turns out it was because nobody anywhere on the internet has a good tutorial how to tether to a Cingular phone and get EDGE (or better) internet through the phone.

First off, I'm going to try and keep this as platform non-specific as possible. There are tutorials for Windows XP, but they are a little lacking in detail. And, there are tutorials for other hand-held devices, but there are none that are just the facts.

First things first, you need a working Bluetooth connection. I try and know as little as possible about how Bluetooth works, so you're pretty much on your own for this. Once you have this working (it should be easy), its time to move on.

As for configuring the connection itself, there are certain things you must have set up correctly for the connection to work at all. They are generally in the form of several fields that need input from the user. They are listed below. Bold are the field names, italics are the input.

Connection method: Packet Data
Access point: wap.cingular
Phone number: *99# [Silly number, eh?]
User name: ISPDA@CINGULARGPRS.COM [This is case sensitive.]
Password: CINGULAR1 [Also case sensitive.]

If you can get all that set up, it should work for you.]]> linux http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=41 Mon, 9 Jul 2007 21:17:41 -0700 How you could've had a free iPhone http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=40
AAPL stock price over past six months


More after the jump.Now you may be asking, “How could you know that the iPhone was going to be announced the next day?” If you’re a regular to digg.com, engadget.com or any of the other thousands of tech news sites, you would’ve known. You may have even known months in advance as there were rumors dating back to September of 2006 of an iPhone announcement coming to the Mac World Expo held in January 2007. In case you’ve been under a rock for the last two years, those rumors turned out to be true. So the moral of the story folks, next time there’s an announcement as big as Apple’s iPhone, buy some stock in that company and you just may be able to get that item for free.]]> General http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=40 Thu, 5 Jul 2007 14:08:38 -0700 A Primer for Instant Messaging N00bs http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=39
What you need is the One Ring of IM clients. Luckily there happens to be many One Rings. Here is a great review of some of them. I, personally, use Pidgin, because Pidgin is cross platform. Since I use at least three different operating systems, its important to me to have the same interface all of the time. I haven't used it in years, but rumor has it that if you are a Windows-only person, Trillian is the way to go.

Next, we talk about IM conversation etiquette.

Acronyms that people typically associate with IMing are stupid and should be avoided at all costs, lest you look like a 12 year old. It's not that much more work to use grown-up speak, I promise. They can however be used in jest, and only in jest. Some examples of the aforementioned acronyms:

LOL (aka lol, lollerskates, looool, lawl) - Laugh Out Loud. You really should know what this is by now.
ROFL (aka roflcopter, roflmao) - Rolling On Floor Laughing. Same idea as LOL, still stupid.
LMAO (aka LMAOnade) - Laughing My Ass Off. Why so many different ways to express laughter? Because 12 year olds laugh a lot, I guess. I don't really remember being 12.
WTF - What The Fuck. Pretty self explanatory.
OMG (aka zOMG, omfg) - Oh My God. Look, by using the acronym you saved the time it took to hit FOUR KEYS AND THE SPACE BAR TWICE.
STFU - Shut The Fuck Up. This gets used way more than it should. How often do you talk to your friends like that in real life (see IRL). That's right, you don't talk to them that way because they'd beat your skinny ass.
IRL - In Real Life. The outside world, yo. It's a scary place, but I think you can manage.
POMK - Puke On My Keyboard. I actually kind of like this one. But, that's only because my cousin invented it. Seriously, spread the word.
GTFO - Get The Fuck Out. Once again, who would say this to their friends.

Now, for some other ways to express the same thing without sounding like a tard:

LOL - "Haha."
ROFL - "Hahaha."
LMAO - "Hahahaha."
WTF - "What the fuck?"
OMG - "Oh my god!"
STFU - Be nice to your friends. Everyone on your buddy list is your friend, right?
IRL - I have no idea what real life is like, I took the blue pill.
POMK - "POMK". Just use it.
GTFO - "Please, leave me alone."

It's also important to note that using fancy colors and fonts to express yourself over an IM client is not only a waste of time, but it generally pisses off whoever you are typing at. If you must use colors, make sure it is a dark color and that you are not using a custom background color. Its thoughtful to use the default colors for your IM client, because everyone else will be able to read what you write them quickly.

I'm done for now, but I have one other suggestion. Pidgin-encrypt. Use it, and make all of your friends use it. The providers store your conversations forever, and how many times have you had serious personal conversations over IM? How many times have you had conversations with coworkers that had sensitive to your business data in them? Protect yourself, and quit being such a n00b.
]]> General http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=39 Thu, 21 Jun 2007 15:24:41 -0700 I wouldn't normally blog about something like this... http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=38 Check this out [Digg.com].

If you don't know what Digg.com is, let me enlighten you. Its a "social" news site, where users "digg" stories if they like them, and the most popular stories make it to the homepage.

However, you can also digg (or digg-down, as the case may be) other users comments. The number of comments that have been dugg-down on that article is some sort of new world record.

If you want to see some seriously entertaining comments, get reading. There is plenty there.]]> General http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=38 Thu, 14 Jun 2007 13:23:07 -0700 Google hates blogs or blogs hate Google http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=37
Google links to the homepage of blogs instead of to the permalink for the post more often than they should.

Case in point: I was looking for a transcript of Ted Koppel's speech at the University of Southern California for the commencement on Friday,and every search result I looked at was something that had been indexed days ago but was indexed on the homepage.

Wouldn't it be more interesting and easier to find if the permalink was in the index and not the blogs homepage?]]> General http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=37 Tue, 15 May 2007 13:37:20 -0700 Own your very own 128-bit Integer http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=36 ED EB 63 0B 41 3C 10 0D 9D E5 70 63 57 87 4D 53 is MINE.

Click the read link for further info.Ed Felten at Freedom to Tinker put this together. He can explain it better than I can.

I'm going to google my number once a week and look for hits. Then, I will send the site DMCA take-down notices.

::Insert maniacal laugh here::

If you get a number, post it in the comments below - that way I can make sure that I don't accidentally use it.]]> General http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=36 Wed, 9 May 2007 12:05:33 -0700 Bungholejihad – One bot to rule them all http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=35
Here’s his story.
I decided to use jaimbot, because I know java pretty well and it seemed easy enough to set up. I was right. It starts up with one command, and is configured from a set of config files.

Because it uses MegaHal to converse, it learns from what you say to it. It later uses the words and phrases you used to create other statements. Sometimes it works, and most of the time it doesn’t. Someone said that MegaHal can be “terrifyingly lucid”. I don’t remember who, but they were correct.

If you want to converse with Bungholejihad, feel free. I’ll try and keep him up and running 24/7.

Here are some notable quotes:

ME: do you like cake?
bungholejihad: I know an amusing story about that, But it's a bit too rude to recount.
--
ME: your mom can bait a hook
bungholejihad: If i were to judge your iq by what you're typing, I would arrive at a school for professional fireworks people, I don't think you should just try to catch you because, Hey, Free dummy.
ME: free dummy? where? i want one!
bungholejihad: Thats fucking cool.
--
This is an example of him learning.

bungholejihad: U givin me mod powas dave...
ME: dave? dave's not here. he died

bungholejihad: Dave? Dave's not here. He died.
Stephanie: who the hell is dave?
bungholejihad: The ankle is the outer layer of an ass and a mare breeding.
--
bungholejihad: I just threw away a lifetime of guilt-free sex and floor seats to every sporting event in madison square garden. So, Please, A little respect, For i am not a computer program, And i don't think sudden, Uncontrolled urination should automatically disqualify you.
ME: i think it should
bungholejihad: Martha says the interesting thing about fly fishing is that it's two lives connected by a bow.
ME: fly fishing is boring
bungholejihad: It's not easy to juggle a pregnant wife and a mare breeding.
--
He also doesn’t always respond to the same questions the same way.

Sam: do you like cake?
bungholejihad: "That's very admirable of you perhaps you should just call them 'impressions' And it you got a complimentary bumper sticker that said, ``I helped skin bob.''

Stephanie: do you like cake?
bungholejihad: I've seen elderly kangaroos with better typing skills than you.
--
bungholejihad: If you're a young mafia gangster out on your first date, I bet it's real embarrassing if someone tries to kill you. And nobody wants that.
--
bungholejihad: Who's gonna turn down a junior mint? It's chocolate, It's peppermint -- it's *delicious*!
--

If you have any other good quotes, post them in the comments section below.
]]> Development http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=35 Tue, 24 Apr 2007 13:31:43 -0700 Steam, you do NOT own my hardware http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=34 As a programmer, i find valve guilty of being retarded.]]> Gaming http://www.ewitk.com/index.php?itemid=34 Fri, 20 Apr 2007 20:09:41 -0700