::::: : 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.

DVD database hackery

News, Technical ·Sunday June 21, 2009 @ 00:39 EDT (link)

I spent some time tonight updating my DVD scan system. We keep a list of the DVDs we have (and have watched), with the help of my local web server, barcode scanner, and some perl code. It had stopped working for a while; it turned out that it needed to follow another meta refresh (<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" …>) and one of the referrers needed fixing, by simple expedient of calling WWW::Mechanize::back after fetching the cover image (so that the next fetch didn't look like it came from the image URL). And now I can again scan a DVD barcode and have it added to the system.

I also, in installing and updating modules, found out about the Moose object system (manual), which looks interesting, as well as a few other modules (e.g., I used CHI, the latest caching system, to cache pages to avoid hitting sites too frequently while tuning my DVD lookup module). I still would like to find out some way to speed up (mod_)perl under Apache, but I guess I'll have to wait for a stable Perl 6 for that (it's been a while since I took a look, but I know progress is slow; it may be worth taking another look soon). With the Parrot VM, Perl should be able to compete well with the .NET languages, and run even more languages. I look forward to being able to use a good, fast, stable functional language—with access to the perl module tree—standalone and under Apache.

DVDs finished: Species Trilogy.

Steak: it's what's for dinner

News ·Friday June 19, 2009 @ 21:11 EDT (link)

We went out for steak tonight (Outback). Had a good time, too full for dessert.

The MS Gun group at work is planning another Second Amendment Day at the Sultan pit on July 19th (some people will be there on the 18th too), with an optional stop to eat (and drink) at Redhook in Woodinville after all the ammunition is expended (and after cleanup).

And it looks like the mole(s) are gone! Either something got them, or they got to the gum and they really can't digest it, or they moved: whatever the case, we're just glad they're gone and I'm glad I can try to replant grass where they piled up dirt on my lawn (some of the patches already have grass coming in from stray seeds).

Books finished: When In the Course of Human Events: Arguing the Case for Southern Secession.

Props to Goodreads

News, Political, Theology, School ·Saturday June 13, 2009 @ 12:00 EDT (link)

I noticed the last few times I added books to Goodreads that the synchronized Facebook now includes my review (cut for length, of course, with a link). It's good to see this implemented.

I finished my Databases course with a 3.9 final grade (which means I still have a 4.0 average with normal rounding).

Stuff Christians Like is a cool blog (the linked post has the index of the first 500 entries, although a few links are bad). It borrows a bit from the Stuff White People Like blog (which is really "Stuff Liberals Like"). Both have books out. I like the worship eagle post—it's better than butterflies; heck if i had an eagle of my own it would have eaten the damn butterflies (yay victory).

The Bill of Federalism (via LJ Libertarians) is a great idea for 10 amendments to restore state and individual rights against a growing collectivist Federal government.

Ladder ball morale event

News, Work ·Wednesday June 10, 2009 @ 19:42 EDT (link)

This first picture wasn't from the morale event, but it helped my morale (taken in the Microsoft parking garage, on the ramp going down from level 1). (It's a Hitchhiker's Guide reference—"Don't Panic!"—for those unfamiliar.)

The rest are from an event on the soccer fields, playing a game (new to most if not all of us) called ladder ball (or ladder golf), where the object is to throw a bolo (two balls joined by a rope) so that it wraps around and stays on one of the rungs of a frame set about 20' away from the the thrower; rungs are 1-3 points (higher rung, higher score).

It was pretty entertaining, and nice to get a chance to unwind.

Books finished: Eat Mor Chikin: Inspire More People, Predictably Irrational, The End of Prosperity, The Younger Gods.

DVDs finished: M*A*S*H: Season Seven, Lost season 5, Dune.

Chicken run

News ·Saturday June 6, 2009 @ 15:50 EDT (link)

We drove up to Western Washington University in Bellingham today because their student union (Viking Union) has the only Chick-Fil-A restaurant in the state (details). It's 85 miles (1h 40, mostly on I-5) each way. Next time, we'll combine it with going up to Canada to visit someone up there. It's an "express" which means they put out the food and you pick up your order and take it to the cashier. Regardless, everything is made on the premises and doesn't sit out long. Shout outs to all the idiots who thought that driving five miles under the speed limit in the left lane is a good idea.

Databases final exam complete

News, School ·Friday June 5, 2009 @ 19:16 EDT (link)

I have checked over my Database Management Systems (CSE P 544) take-home final for the last time, made a few minor corrections, and ensured everything has been uploaded into the "Catalyst" system. It wasn't a very interesting exam, and I'm a little worried about a few ambiguities, but I think it went well.

DVDs finished: The Fugitive, Lost season 3, Lost season 4.

Who will pay if socialized healthcare comes? We all will

News, Political ·Sunday May 31, 2009 @ 23:35 EDT (link)

On Saturday we went to Westlake center in Seattle (4th and Pine) to protest a socialist healthcare rally (the rally was at the park, and they had the stage, since they had the permit; we gathered across the street). They were marching, and we met them, and we were louder, and possibly even more numerous, which is surprising since most of our group works for a living (so has less free time on weekends) and we were on the side that wasn't trying to get free stuff.

(It must take a lot of gall to gather together to beg the government to use its police power to steal from the productive members of society and force doctors and nurses and other providers to give you something for which you have not worked and to which you have no right. What utter scum; as if we don't pay enough taxes to give them "free" things already. (Half of them probably should have been deported, anyway.) When we responded to their "Healthcare for all" chant with "Who will pay?", they knew it would be the working people; several of them even pointed in our direction to acknowledge the fact.)

We the good guys, protesting socialized medicine, held up our signs boldly against the looters, those signs including:
(The sign with the Bible and cross—a somewhat abbreviated "two roads and two destinies" sign—not with us but taking this opportunity to get out the Good News, included the following: God Has Put Eternity in their Hearts, Christ Died for Our Sins.)


Our little group—Honey, John, Lori; random Israeli flag guy (he just walked around; he carried an American flag later on), and the police that patrolled the area, stood by the barricades, and kept the groups separate (and endured the boredom of nothing happening.



The barricades; we were in an enclosed area—I once was asked by a police officer at the entrance if I was with the group inside, probably since I'd crossed the road from the pro-socialized medicine side after taking pictures; they didn't want the sides to mix.


On Sunday evening we decided to walk to the local Safeway (candy run!); it's a little over two miles, about 5 minutes by car, and 40-50 minutes walking… more than we expected. It got dark as we went back, so we went through town to avoid the blind unlit curves of Big Rock Road.

Burden of proof: not met

News, Bad Drivers, Political ·Friday May 29, 2009 @ 19:33 EDT (link)

Today the forces of good triumphed: my lawyer, Jeannie Mucklestone, P.S. got my bogus "following too closely" case dismissed in King County court at 0945 yesterday because the government failed to meet their burden of proof (after my lawyer's motion to suppress was granted). If I had been following too closely, the twit in front of me certainly would have deserved it, trolling along at about 20 mph in a 30 zone (right through Duvall town center when people are driving home from work), on Monday March 23 at 1950. One for the little guy, zero for big government (although they get plenty of my money in myriad other ways, so it's a bit hollow). Ticket would be $124.50; lawyer cost $350; insurance increase, who knows, but more than the difference.

Books finished: A Briefer History of Time.

DVDs finished: Lost season 2.

Memorial Day shooting

News, Guns ·Monday May 25, 2009 @ 17:54 EDT (link)

We went out to SVRC this afternoon, after watching a few more episodes of Lost. It was a beautiful weekend. We took some paper targets (bull's eyes and some zombie and Osama figures) and some pop cans, and had some fun plinking, leaving about 1500 and getting back here about 1745.

We almost had the place to ourselves; the only person there left as we arrived, and then a guy and two newbie girls arrived (he was teaching them about shooting). He was using paper and spray painted a black blob then an orange blob in the center; interesting approach. He kept the targets pretty close since it was likely their first time. As we were leaving, a guy arrived to shoot a .22 in the rifle range; had a nice Leupold scope on it.

I tried shooting (the EMP) without earphones, just to see what it was like; it was louder than expected and left my ears ringing for a minute; it wasn't terrible.

I updated our MythTV channel lineup (either cable company had changed channel numbers or SchedulesDirect, which we just renewed, had the wrong channels), using this helpful MythTV wiki entry. (select channum, callsign from channel will show the current associations in the MythTV "mythconverg" MySQL database.)

I also finished assignment #5 for my Databases class. Didn't take too long: much ado about database roles and permissions.

Books finished: God in the Pits.

DVDs finished: Lost season 1, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 2.

Ron Paul at the Campaign for Liberty Seattle Conference

News, Political ·Friday May 22, 2009 @ 23:26 EDT (link)

We went to see and hear Ron Paul at the Seattle Campaign for Liberty Conference tonight. We left our car at Microsoft and got a ride from Mark who we met at the last PSCU meetup. He was a little late, but we got there in time and heard Tom Woods (author of several books, the latest being Meltdown) and then Dr. Paul, who was excellent as always. Although the current outlook is grim in terms of the economy and our liberties, he also had a message of hope: the Campaign for Liberty is taking off, a solid grassroots movement of people that want to restore liberty to these United States.


We also bought a couple white on navy Campaign for Liberty T-shirts and each got a button (badge).

Books finished: Man vs. the Welfare State.

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