::::: : the wood : davidrobins.net

My name is David Robins: Christian, lead developer (resume), writer, photographer, runner, libertarian (voluntaryist), and student.

This is also my son David Geoffrey Robins' site.

A small part of the spendulus protest

Political ·Wednesday February 11, 2009 @ 22:02 EST (link)

Co-signed an email with other CLAMS members protesting Steve Ballmer's letter supporting the "stimulus" (porculus/spendulus/Democrat wishlist/vote-buying extravaganza).

Second Amendment Day—Wrap Up

News, Guns ·Tuesday February 10, 2009 @ 18:56 EST (link)

This was posted to the Conservatives and Libertarians at Microsoft list (CLAMS) after the shooting exercise this weekend.

The MS Gun Group first Second Amendment Day was a total success on Saturday February 7th, 2009.

Everyone began meeting up right around 10:30-11:00 out at the pit in Sultan, which fortunately for all of us the gate was open! :)

No sooner than we had shown up to the pit, than Snohomish County Sheriff had rolled on in leaving many of us to think "Ohh great, well there goes the day may as well go get beer." Amazingly enough all the cop wanted to know is what we were shooting and told us to have fun! :D

As far as the firearms go, it was a mix of 9mm, .45, .22, .44 Magnums, 10-22 Rugers, AR-15s, and a Russian Sniper 7.62 x 54 (made a nice big boom).

Targets ranged from Pomelo grapefruits to pop cans (fully loaded, from Wal-Mart), an old Toshiba Laptop which no doubt won't see another meeting or conference room ever again, and a box with a smiley face on it which faced a full on AR-15 assault and about 10 rounds from Tim's 9mm (had to make sure it was dead in case it got back up) :D.

In all the weather couldn't have been more perfect, that and no one got hurt. In the end everyone had a lot of fun and we hauled out close to 3 large garbage bags full of debris left over from others, leaving the pit a bit cleaner than we had left it.

No doubt we'll have to hold another one of these events in the weeks/months to come here. Thanks to everyone for making it out and look forward to the next one!
—AL (on CLAMS)

Shooting with the Microsoft gun group

News, Technical, Guns ·Sunday February 8, 2009 @ 21:58 EST (link)

20090207: Went shooting with Microsoft gun group at pit near Sultan (left about 0930; arrived late at the meetup point in Woodinville, but so did everyone else, it turned out; headed on to the shooting pit, arrived first, at about 1100; others arrived 5-10 minutes later).


We were shooting until about 1320, and then picked up trash until about 1400, then some of us went over to the Redhook brewery in Woodinville to eat (and drink). I called Honey and she came and joined us; six in all, including the two of us. I think we got home around 1730.

You can view the rest of the photos of the msgun shooting event (excluding dupes due to rapid-fire shooting to capture a particular shot); link goes to the thumbnail and photo viewer that I built Sunday to cull and show the photos (internally, the tools allow marking and unmarking photos for deletion; no file deletion is done, just database updates).

Tried fixing up ClamAV permissions (having it run as qscand via setting in /etc/clamd.conf so it can access /var/spool/qscan, which is where files to scan live, and adding qscand to the clamav group and then setting group write permissions on /var/run/clamav). I take back what I said about ClamAV before; at least it has standard (Apache-style) configuration files, whereas for qmail-scanner-queue, which is a rat's nest of (v4) perl, modification is either via rebuilding and passing options to configure, or by editing the perl program directly. I'm not going to re-enable ClamAV yet, but at least next time Gentoo updates qmail-scanner, I have a fighting chance of having it not break on ClamAV.

20090208: Honey's friend Anna from school came by to help her with math. Wrote some web-based utilities to filter photos from the shooting yesterday and then some more code to show thumbnails.

Books finished: The Man In the High Castle.

Disrecommendation for new Prince Caspian

Media ·Saturday February 7, 2009 @ 19:26 EST (link)

I was recently discussing my disappointment with the new Chronicles of Narnia* first installment with someone on the Duvall list; it started with me posting the "never get out" quote in reference to the snow and then flooding, which I've used here before as it happens, which she recognized as being from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The conversation, which I'm recording so I have a place to point to when I tell people I dislike the new movies (the effects are pretty, the script is poor; these are reversed for the BBC versions, but they did what they could with the budget and technology they had 20 years ago). As I frequently do, the other party is identified by initials for their Internet privacy, but I don't believe they would object to the contents of the conversation being divulged; some minor edits were made.

* Contrary to popular belief, the title of the first movie (and book) isn't The Chronicles of Narnia (which legitimately refers to the series), it's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (or perhaps more correctly for the movie, Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; it is far more intelligent to it by identifying the work and not the whole series).

DR: "Never get out!" he yelled. "That's it. Of course. We shall never get out. What a fool I was to have thought they would let me go as easily as that. No, no, we shall never get out."

JS: Voyage of the Dawn Treader?

DR: Indeed :). They're among my favorite books-my wife berates me for nit-picking the (recent, not the old BBC) movies when they change stuff deleteriously.

JS: Me too! I love those books… my big sister started reading them out loud to me when I was 6, and they still have a special place in my heart.

I am fearful of what the upcoming Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie will be like (I'm assuming there will be one), as I was very disappointed with their take on Prince Caspian (I'm surprised [Rotten Tomatoes] gives it such a high rating… I thought it was awful.)

DR: I haven't watched the new Caspian yet, and don't have especially high hopes.

Several things disappointed me in Lion, among them the scene where the kids hit a cricket ball through the window and that's why they're running from Mrs. McReady and eventually get back to the wardrobe (in the book, as you may recall, they're just trying to get out of her way since she's showing the house). I think it goes to character; perhaps modern younger audiences would better understand running from guilt rather than running to be obedient, which is unfortunate/sad.

My cousin [Anna] back east and I used to try to stump each other with quotes from the books… given a quote identify the speaker/occasion.

I have the old BBC series (my wife got it for me as a gift a few years back); of course the special effects are nowhere near the new series, but the dialog is better (IMO, since it's closer to the books).

JS: Totally agree on your comment about the cricket ball incident. You might want to spare yourself the experience of watching the new Prince Caspian movie at all. They did even more this time that I thought was fundamentally disloyal to the characters and story…. For example at the very beginning of the movie Peter gets in a fistfight at the train station because somebody insulted him, or something like that. In the books Peter is always the calm, responsible, level-headed one… he would never get a fistfight, much less over something so petty. Plus they fabricated a romance between Caspian and Susan, complete with a kiss scene (!?!?!) C.S. Lewis must be rolling over in his grave. Also, even with all the fancy special effects, they somehow managed to make it boring.

My sister and I used to see if we could remember all the lords without looking at the books… Rhoop, Mavrimorn, etc. :)

Honey casts off her cast

News, Technical ·Saturday February 7, 2009 @ 00:18 EST (link)

20090201: Been reading some of Paul Graham's articles over the last few days. They do fill one with inspiration to start a startup—which I may someday, if I can figure out what to sell, provided I can make more money than either my present job or consulting.

Updated my Linux machine on the Linux Counter (they sent me a reminder mail), and added three that I'd got since the last update (which was a long time ago), although I don’t often boot into Linux on my laptop any more (which means it's long overdue for an update, which will probably be painful since it'll cross major version boundaries all over the place).

20090203: Honey's cast was taken off today; I took her to the doctor (at Evergreen Knee Foot and Ankle center); they removed it with a special saw, cut the cotton sleeve, and X-rayed her; the fracture was gone so they gave her a (removable) wrist brace to wear instead, which made Honey very happy; the cast was on her right hand, and it was extremely inconvenient

20090204: Workaholics (a kindler, gentler, optional version in theory) is back. Homework 3 has been posted for class.

20090206: Some neat Firefox tricks: shift + delete removes an autocomplete edit box entry, and if there's only one entry for an edit box it'll automatically populate, and then the GreaseMonkey extension's auto-login script will work (with the help of the allow password remembering script which removes autocomplete="off" attributes from form elements). Up all night (machine upgrades, Hell's Kitchen, Law and Order); going in to work early (0530); left at 1500; slept until 2100 when I got home; long day.

Upgrading minas-tirith clobbered my qmail-scanner changes, re-adding the (horribly broken) ClamAV to the scanner list, which caused mail sent to us to bounce (fortunately it's flooding in now that I re-disabled ClamAV).

DVDs finished: Friends: The Complete Fourth Season.

Bailout humor that isn't so funny

Political ·Monday February 2, 2009 @ 22:22 EST (link)

(These originally were written about the rescue bill last year, but apply at least equally well to the current "stimulus".)
  1. The US has made a new weapon that destroys people but keeps the building standing. It's called the stock market.
  2. Do you have any idea how cheap stocks are? Wall Street is now being called Wal-Mart Street.
  3. The difference between a pigeon and a London investment banker is that the pigeon can still make a deposit on a BMW.
  4. What's the difference between a guy who lost everything in Las Vegas and an investment banker? A tie!
  5. The problem with investment bank balance sheets is that on the left side nothing's right and on the right side nothing's left.
  6. I want to warn people from Nigeria who might be watching our show, if you get any emails from Washington asking for money, it's a scam. Don't fall for it.
  7. Bush was asked about the credit crunch. He said it was his favorite candy bar.
  8. The rescue bill was about 450 pages. President Bush's copy is even thicker. They had to include pictures.
  9. President Bush's response was to meet some small business owners in San Antonio last week. The small business owners are General Motors, General Electric and Century 21.
  10. What worries me most about the credit crunch is that if one of my checks is returned stamped 'insufficient funds', I won't know whether that refers to mine or the bank's.
  11. How do you define an optimist? A banker who irons 5 shirts on a Sunday.
  12. What’s the difference between an investment banker and a large pizza? A large pizza can feed a family of four.
New terms:

CEO: Chief Embezzlement Officer.

CFO: Corporate Fraud Officer.

(Some attributed to Jay Leno, some to the BBC, some were unattributed. I got them from an internal work trading/investing discussion list. Enjoy.)

These bailouts are a horrible idea since they reward bad behavior and business practices with taxpayer money (without at least giving those taxpayers an equity stake for their trouble).

If you'd like to know how much you personally will be contributing to a $1 Trillion bailout (which is how much the banks' bailout will be, at least, and then add any auto industry bailout to that), based on your income/tax bracket, look at the article at http://seekingalpha.com/article/98028-bailout-cost-per-taxpayer-by-income. Seeing how much I'll be forced to contribute yearly (over 30 years, plus interest) hits home more than unimaginably large amounts like $1 Trillion.

Books finished: Day Trading For Dummies, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

DVDs finished: M*A*S*H: Season Four.

A Story Teller from days past

News ·Saturday January 31, 2009 @ 20:12 EST (link)

Tennessee… the patron state of all things shooting.
—Bob Lee Swagger, Shooter (2007)

20090130: For my birthday this year, I checked in 20 bug fixes, and helped Honey go over her math test.

20090131: Well, what do you know, Wikipedia has an entry for Story Teller (a serial story magazine for children that our parents bought us growing up; they came with tapes that read the stories and had sounds to turn the page; think of it as extremely low-tech TV!) and for one of the stories it serialized, Gobbolino and the Little Wooden Horse. The main page lists some other stories that I remember well, some classics, some lesser known: Wind in the Willows, The Wizard of Oz, The Little Tin Soldier (with the evil Jack in the box), Heidi, Timbertwig's Christmas Tree, Rumbles in the Jungles ("You are banished to the swamps for your evil treachery!"), The Lord of the Rushie River, The Ju-Ju Man (people would go into his cave… but never come out, although he'd acquire new furniture), Molly Whuppie ("Woe betide ye…"), Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, What Wanda Wanted, and William Tell. Ah, memories; ah for the days when people read books rather than watch television. I often say that one of the best things my parents ever did for me was to let me grow up without a television (we have one now, but only watch DVDs and pre-recorded programs on our Myth box).

The Americans With No Abilities Act (AWNAA)

Political ·Thursday January 29, 2009 @ 01:38 EST (link)

WASHINGTON, DC—Congress is considering sweeping legislation that will provide new benefits for many Americans.

The Americans With No Abilities Act (AWNAA) is being hailed as a major legislative goal by advocates of the millions of Americans who lack any real skills or ambition.

"Roughly 50 percent of Americans do not possess the competence and drive necessary to carve out a meaningful role for themselves in society," said California Senator Barbara Boxer. "We can no longer stand by and allow People of Inability to be ridiculed and passed over. With this legislation, employers will no longer be able to grant special favors to a small group of workers, simply because they have some idea of what they are doing."

In a Capitol Hill press conference, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pointed to the success of the U.S. Postal Service, which has a long-standing policy of providing opportunity without regard to performance. Approximately 74 percent of postal employees lack any job skills, making this agency the single largest U.S. employer of Persons of Inability.

Private-sector industries with good records of non-discrimination against the Inept include retail sales (72%), the airline industry (68%), and home improvement 'warehouse' stores (65%). At the state government level, the Department of Motor Vehicles also has an excellent record of hiring Persons of Inability (63%). Under the Americans With No Abilities Act, more than 25 million 'middle man' positions will be created, with important-sounding titles but little real responsibility, thus providing an illusory sense of purpose and performance.

Mandatory non-performance-based raises and promotions will be given so as to guarantee upward mobility for even the most unremarkable employees. The legislation provides substantial tax breaks to corporations that promote a significant number of Persons of Inability into middle-management positions, and gives a tax credit to small and medium-sized businesses that agree to hire one clueless worker for every two talented hires.

Finally, the AWNAA contains tough new measures to make it more difficult to discriminate against the Non-abled, banning, for example, discriminatory interview questions such as, "Do you have any skills or experience that relate to this job?"

"As a Non-abled person, I can't be expected to keep up with people who have something going for them," said Mary Lou Gertz, who lost her position as a lug-nut twister at the GM plant in Flint, Michigan, due to her inability to remember 'rightey tightey, lefty loosey.' "This new law should be real good for people like me," Gertz added. With the passage of this bill, Gertz and millions of other untalented citizens will finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Said Senator Dick Durban (D-IL): "As a Senator with no abilities, I believe the same privileges that elected officials enjoy ought to be extended to every American with no abilities. It is our duty as lawmakers to provide each and every American citizen, regardless of his or her adequacy, with some sort of space to take up in this great nation and a good salary for doing so."


Very funny… but this is honestly what it is like working for the government and most unions. When I worked at the UW’s Medical Center (gov, education, and health care… talk about a triple-threat), this is literally exactly how it was. I literally had someone, a habitual under-performer that had been there for 15 years, ask me in a dialogue about this, “Why do you feel you should get a bigger raise simply because you worked harder? How is that fair to me?”

I realized there was no response that would make sense.
—Reply by AM (CLAMS) to the above post

Obamanomics: I can't believe it's not socialism

Political ·Tuesday January 27, 2009 @ 23:00 EST (link)

Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign the read "Vote Obama, I need the money." I laughed.

Once in the restaurant my server had on a "Obama 08" tie, again I laughed--just imagine the coincidence.

When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight.

I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful.

At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient deserved money more.

I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.
—Making the rounds (via)

Books finished: The New Case Against Immigration.

F# and Mono

News, Technical, School ·Tuesday January 27, 2009 @ 19:56 EST (link)

20090123: Finally set up new UPS (APC ES 550VA/330W), and plugged the portable HD (500 Gb USB/Firewire/eSATA external disk that I got way back when I got my new server from HDNW) into it. Next time I need to reboot the various machines in here, I'll move them over to the UPS (it needs time to charge the battery anyway). Our (also APC) UPC in the other room (by the Myth box and the TV) is indicating (by a shrill tone… a very shrill tone) that the battery is dead, but we've had it less than a month; I need to check if their warranty will replace it. The HD was auto-detected immediately (I plugged it into minas-tirith, the server; it may live there or on the new machine, so long as it's somewhere it can be shared to the machines in the network.

20090124: Honey's friend Meghan was here (1500-2200); she wanted me to help her with math (functions and graphs), then we got pizza and watched Scrubs. Later on I was replacing light bulbs downstairs (two had burned out, one from each light, making the rec. room rather dim): one was fine, but the other seemed to have shorted and somehow consumed itself; the glass part of the bulb came off, and I had to get the rest out of the socket (couldn't use the potato trick, it was too deep) using needle-nosed pliers and a couple of screwdrivers, first unbolting the socket from a fixed bar for easier access. Not fun holding my hands up that long. Then we got to pick up all the bits of metal and rust that had fallen down.

20090125: Installed mono (open source .NET platform) and F# (as I've said before, Ocaml but with libraries).

The only thing I needed to change to compile my first class assignment (mono <path to fscp.exe from F# archive> hw1.ml) was to rename the member function, since member is a keyword in F#. I got a few warnings, even with the --ml-compatibility switch: FS0044 (it didn't like s.[0] since the type of s was unknown; declaring (s : string) fixed it). Warnings that I got without the compatibility switch were to use <> instead of != and KeyNotFoundException instead of Not_found. For the second assignment, code using Some Type arg needed parenthesizing as Some (Type arg).

I couldn't get the interactive shell (fsi.exe) to work; it started and gave me a prompt, but then after a keypress or timeout complained about missing gdiplus.dll. I don't want to install libgdiplus on that machine because it requires X, which is silly on a headless machine. I figured I could start it with the --no-gui option and it wouldn't demand any GUI libraries. It seemed a tad slow; definitely slower than OCaml. Online benchmarks bear that up: Mono has a ways to go to catch up with .NET—but it'll get there.

20090127: Bought some AR cleaning supplies at Wade's (chamber brush, barrel brush, bore snake, bore guide). I should have all I need now.

Books finished: A Random Walk Down Wall Street.

DVDs finished: Children Of The Corn 7: Revelation.

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