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It seems that my posts have somehow looped and the post below is now #1. For those that haven’t figured it out yet, the link up above that says “read my blog” takes you to the archives.

Listening to: Leahy. Very nice.

It seems that my posts have somehow looped and the post below is now #1. For those that haven’t figured it out yet, the link up above that says “read my blog” takes you to the archives.

Listening to: Leahy. Very nice.

It seems that my posts have somehow looped and the post below is now #1. For those that haven’t figured it out yet, the link up above that says “read my blog” takes you to the archives.

Listening to: Leahy. Very nice.

I’m a big fan of open source software. In fact, most anything I need to do on the computer can be accomplished with open source (free) software. The lousy economy for programmers only aids this lovelyness. So, today I’m listing some of my favorites.

One of the best places to start looking for OS stuff is on Sourceforge (sourceforge.net).

First off, I don’t get SPAM anymore. Well, I get tons of it, but I never see it. That’s because I use POPFile (POPfile.sourceforge.net). Basically it creates a mail server on your computer and your e-mail client connects to it, it connects to the external mail server. It uses smart filters that you teach how to work. It may take week or so for it to become effective. Mine is almost 99% effective now. Every now and then I check my deleted box for incorrectly identified mail. Spammers should be castrated – this is close as I can get.

Second, if you like music you should definately check out iRATE Radio (irate.sourceforge.net). It too learns about you and picks (free) music for you. It randomly downloads a play list and you rate all the songs and it starts picking music that other people rated the same as you. Kind of a collaborative music selection process. So far it’s found some decent stuff for me.

Though not open source, music lovers should also check out epitonic. Loads of free music without the aggravation of MP3.com.

For those of you that hate Microsoft I’d highly recommend downloading OpenOffice (openoffice.org). It’s a complete office suite with full Office XP compatability but it’s open source, free, and not M$. I use it for a lot stuff, since I don’t have powerpoint or excel, and it’s worked great.

You cheap java coders might want to check out Eclipse (eclipse.org) for a great IDE. Sure beats using Notepad.

After using lousy FTP clients for so long, I was thrilled to find FileZilla (filezilla.sourceforge.net) an awesome FTP program that does everything and more for free.

Again, the M$ haters should all be using Mozilla (Mozilla.org) for their browsing needs. It also has an e-mail client that has built in spam filtering.

For all your CD ripping needs I recommend CDex (aside from iTunes … (cdexos.sourceforge.net). Works quite well and extracts to lots of formats.

That’s some of the gravy I can think of off the top of my head. Check them out.

Referring to The Bureaucracy of course. Been one of those days. Fight the minions of the Evil Bureaucracy. First off I got my “workout” problems from my (super lame) physics test. It’s a sorry excuse for a test and only has 3 problems where you take steps to solve something. The grader marked points off because I did a KVL (Kirchoff’s Voltage Law) loop a different direction than his key. It’s a loop. The whole point is that no matter the direction the voltages all add up to zero. The other mistake was that his key was apparently wrong by a factor of 10 on one answer. Consequently a large number of students with correct answers got marked down. I went to the prof. expecting a fight but was plesantly surprised to find she was suprised as I, and simply said, “Beats the hell out of me.”

My second battle was with my TA for my ECE200 lab (Indian, go figure). I noticed that my lab report had 10pts subtracted in each of the sections, but there wasn’t anything marked wrong. The dialog went like this:

Me: “My lab report has 10pts off each section. There’s nothing marked wrong. Was it done out of spite or am I supposed to use ESP to figure out what’s wrong?”
Her: “All the other sections have much lower grades for their labs. I’ve been lenient so I marked them down.”
Me: “So you gave us lower grades just because other sections aren’t as smart as us?”
Her: “No, I’ve just been lenient and other sections have been harder.”
Me: “But there’s nothing actually wrong with it?”
Her: “Correct, the highest you get is a 90.”
Me: “So, If I write a perfect lab report I’ll still get a 90?”
Her: “Umm … I’ll have to ask the head of the labs.”

(At this point another guy comes up and asks the same thing, so I say … )

Me: “They’re taking off ‘Mystery Points’ man.”

Ghardfhghs!!! Rather frustrated.

… to quote one of the boys on my team. He’s that that asked, “Would you like some non-alcoholic alcohol?” Referring to apple juice. So I’m coaching a FIRST LEGO League robotics team this semester. www.firstlegoleague.org. We meet twice a week for 2 hrs each. That’s 5 hours of my week. I’m also helping teach an impromptu apologetics class for several homeschoolers. Joe Wirtz is leading it. Crazy man. The Raleigh group meets ever other week. Me ‘n’ Cally are also helping coordinate the two other groups. One in Goldborough and one in … er … don’t remember now. It’s going to be an insane job. It’s a competition where they get a topic and have 4 min to prepare a speech then 6 to deliver it. That’s at least 3 hours. More as the year progresses. I got to at least one Bible Study every week and usually to the Campus Crusade big group meetings. I’m taking 17 hours. Three labs. One doesn’t have lab reports though. PY lab only meets ever other week. It just occured to me last night that I really don’t get out much.

We got a 12″x24″ outbuilding. I’m wiring it. Long story short, I’m running 240V 100Amp lines. That’s 24kW folks. TWENTY FOUR KILOWATTS. Good news is that I went to the recycling place with another guy and bought the wire. $35. Retail it would have easily been $800. They had a 1000″ roll of Plenum Category5 cable. Mmmm … got 200″ of that for about $4. I’ve spent my Fall Break wiring and such.

I did “hang” a bit though. Watched a movie (Oceans 11) with Justin (Dewell) last night. Went to see Luther with Jamie today. That was an excellent film. Well done. Thursday night me, Dan, and Jamie went to see Rachel Ann in a show. Not a very good show, but she was excellent as always.

I finally got a window in my case. It’s “ocean blue” with a window. Like I told Heather Friday, “there’s nothing sexier than a computer case with a nice window.”

So, I’ve got enough friends with issues to make life interesting. I’m not totally secluded from life … just mostly. It’s late. I’m going to bed. Sleepage.