Jefflog

This is just wrong.

Check out the Google Weblog to keep abreast of developments with your favorite search engine. One curiously interesting article linked is this Canadian news story where a policeman was able to track down the location of a hijacking suspect thanks to a Google search.

WARNING: technical-speak ahead.

For the past few weeks at work, I’ve been involved in a project to migrate our current sendmail/WU-IMAP setup to one using Postfix, Cyrus IMAP, and OpenLDAP. It’s been a real chore trying to figure out some of the information, since OpenLDAP and Cyrus are both considered to be hard to administer. Turns out they’re not that hard, but the documentation sucks and you have to figure out a lot on your own.

Initially, I was installing the new server on a RedHat configuration using the ext3 filesystem. One of the bottlenecks I was running into was that migrating the mail systems, which involves moving mail stored in mbox format to Cyrus’s maildir-like format, was taking about 6 hours to accomplish. On a whim, I decided to try a similar setup on Mandrake using the ReiserFS filesystem. Result? Less than an hour to migrate. I could shut down the mailserver at 2am, migrate the data to the new server, and be out of here by 3am and no one would notice any change occurred. This makes me very happy.

I finally managed to put up my pictures from my trip to China last Christmas. No comments, and not really in chronological order, but ok nonetheless.

Hong and I went to see Minority Report over the weekend, and it’s filled with so many good ideas that I can’t stop thinking about it. Everything in the movie, from the idea of the ethicality of arresting people based on what they haven’t yet done, to pervasive, personal advertising based on retinal scans, to the mouseless, keyboardless computers, really opens up my mind. The Truman Show was another such movie for me, although it’s many plot holes made that movie less magical over time. The Matrix was another such movie, although I was less dazzled by it just because so many others had already made gushing reviews about it.

Spielberg’s really elevated himself to the level of science-fiction master with this one. Previous movies like E.T. were very good, but it doesn’t have anywhere near the vision or imagination of Minority Report. It’s too bad Lucas’s Star Wars couldn’t be equally visionary, which started off fantastic yet gets more weary with each successive movie.

Now that the sun is out in full force, I’ve been wanting to use it to dry my clothes outside. I’ve utilized the deck for the purpose so far, but a clothesline would be far better.

But, I’ve searched both Target and Wal-Mart, and neither of them seem to have any! They sell clothespins, but no clothesline! Does anyone happen to know where one can find clothesline?

Last week’s Doonesbury series also serves as an inspiration, which addresses the fact that most homeowner’s associations ban the use of clothesline. I’m guessing ours does too, something I should check into. We’ve got a private fence in the back, though, so who’s going to see?

I really hate having to live in a subdivision with a homeowner’s association. It smacks of totalitarianism, or at the very least Communism. I guess they’re fine if you think inside the lines like everyone else, but I’m the kind of person that can appreciate a house painted shocking blue or installing astroturf on the front lawn. I can guarantee you that my next house won’t be restricted by a homeowner’s association, and I’ll dry my clothes on a clothesline and put my plastic pink flamingos in the front lawn. I own my home and my property, and I should be able to do what I want with it.

Some great interviews to be had at Halcyon Days, a collection of interviews with some of the original video game designers of the early 80’s. After reading a few of them, I really have a desire to play some of those old Infocom text adventures or Seven Cities of Gold (yeah!)

The news that Wal-Mart will soon be selling machines pre-installed with Linux Mandrake all but certifies that I’ll be buying my next computer from Wal-Mart. Personally, I prefer Debian, but I’m using Mandrake at work and like it enough to use it as well.

My Salon subscription expired yesterday, but when I view the site, I notice I still get the “premium” content. Apparently, as long as I don’t clear the cookies from my browser, it continues to identify me as a premium subscriber. Why they don’t reset this cookie each time I view the site (or at least the homepage) I don’t know.

Today’s Salon is carrying an 80’s nostalgia piece on the phenomenon that was Pac-Man. According to the article, Pac-Man was originally named “Puckman”, except that the Namco executives felt it would be too easily vandalized. Also: the inspiration for Pac-Man was a pizza pie with a slice missing.