Garret's Hole

sad...

2005-12-02T11:51:00.000-05:00

Yup, I know this has been inactive for about a month...(okay, okay, a month and a HALF). but, there is hope!!! after the new year, I should be finished with college applications (and most scholarship applications) and huge amounts of school work. There is a good chance I'll frequent blogging again at that point. In the meantime, we'll see. I'll probably post a few times.

Happy Advent season!!!!!!!!

This is NOT suggestive.... (*winkwink*): 1590594673

Tracking dots.... ugh

2005-10-18T23:19:00.002-04:00

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/46787.html
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/list.php

2005-10-11T10:21:00.000-04:00

Warning!

Webcam

2005-10-06T09:58:00.000-04:00

Hmm, today I got the brillant idea that I could set up this little cheapo webcam that my dad purchaced a while ago and use it as a secutiry camera to monitor our front door. Gandhi, my faithful 'ole 400 MHz server is situated within sight of the front door thus location was not a problem. The problem arose when I tried to make the webcam work with my favorite operating system, Linux. The webcam chipset was obscure and of course the driver CD that came with it was written for Micro$oft Windoze. After a few google searches, I found a driver that would supposedly run the webcam. Many thanks to the great guys who wrote the opensource webcam driver SPCA5xx, I soon had it compiled as a kernel module using my little (or rather big) set of kernel headers. After depmod finished integrating the module into my system linux kernel, I plugged the webcam in and presto! /var/log/messages reported the following:

Oct 5 15:43:26 gandhi kernel: drivers/usb/spca5xx.c: USB SPCA5XX camera found. Type MicroInnovation IC200 (SPCA508+PB100)

*wild cheers* I quickly set up motion server to complete my security system. Yes, that really is the name of the server: "motion". It monitors a webcam to detect motion. When motion is detected, it records a video of everything it picks up and if in activated mode, it sends an SMS (text message) to my cell phone! Yay! Considering the fact that I live the philly 'burbs, you may find my little project somewhat silly but hey! It was fun. It's always cool to have a webcam to play around with, even if I never bother to activate it as a security system when everyone leaves the house (and hmm, what happens when the dog walks across the camera's line of vision while we're gone.......). Oh well.
Oops, so you're thinking I'm gonna set it up as a broadcasting webcam on the Internet? Of course not you nozy creep! ;-) It is available on our LAN (local area network) though so if you poke around with a wireless sniffer near the house, you might be able to pick up its address, connect to it, and watch it. Have fun! As a general rule though, if you decide to mess with my servers, FIRST make SURE that you can run faster than my dog. I really hate having to clean up bloody, mangled human limbs that have been strewn across the yard.

ugh

2005-10-05T22:34:00.000-04:00

SATs this Saturday....help! Not cool........

Shame

2005-10-04T18:26:00.000-04:00

Shame on all of you for not getting the "Dihydrogen Monoxide" scam/joke that I posted a few days ago. People, it's just water.... fancy name perhaps but.... still it's only water.....water water water water water. Mmmm, water. I'm addicted.

Did you notice?

2005-10-03T22:37:00.000-04:00

As my faithful readers may have noticed, I changed my display name. "The Count" does sound better, believe me. The whole doberman thing was a little flawed.....and weird. :-D

More Patriot Act ranting

2005-10-02T01:45:00.000-04:00

For all of you who have a massive amount of time on your hands, here is a pretty moving statement made by Senator Russell Feingold on the Senate floor during the debate for the USA PATRIOT Act which, unfortunately, was soon thereafter passed and signed into law.

Terrified America

2005-09-27T22:42:00.000-04:00

Fear has become a major part of the present America. And to a certain degree, understandably so. Is is the irrational, silly fear that bothers me to no end. Everyone knows about the September 11th terrorist attacks on America. Everyone also knows about the subsequent bombings in Madrid, Spain, and London, England. To a certain extent, it is reasonable to be more careful in the future and to improve security after such events occur. In fact, it would be stupid not to. Yet there is such a thing as too much security. When laws are passed and regulations made that do almost nothing to improve security. Even further, when these new laws and regulations also cause harm or major inconvenience to certain groups of people. This is where the line should be drawn. Such laws are created in fear. They are drafted by fearful people, they are revised by fearful people, they are approved by fearful people and finally, they are signed by a fearful person. People saw what happened to the twin towers in New York. They see a new law (or article within a law) and the rational thoughts start out... "Wow that's a really stupid law. It does almost nothing to improve security and it costs way too much." Then the irrational, scared-silly thoughts take over! "Hmm, well this law MIGHT stop a terrorist attack from happening..." There might be only one chance in a million that this law might even begin to stop a terrorist attack from happening, yet due to fear filling the minds of everybody, the bill gets signed into law anyway. "Just in case," remember? Also, a fearful people drives a fearful government to make laws that are irrational and create problems. People need to buck up and face terrorism for what it is: acts meant to terrify. If we stand up unterrified and live life normally, we will have taken the first step towards beating the terrorists. If we cower in fear and create silly laws, we are letting them take advantage of us.

Laws and regulations that I have in mind include (but are not limited to) the following:

USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 (Allows certain searches to be conducted without a warrent being issued by a court of law. Many people say that this is a violation of our fourth amendment rights. In my opinion, there may be some validity to their argument.)
No-fly list (Prevents people who are remotely suspected of being terrorists from flying on planes. Note that these are the people that are suspect enough to be kept off planes but not suspect enough to be searched under the Patriot Act.)
Fingerprinting and collecting information from people as they enter the USA (A very pitiful violation of basic privacy, in my opinion. Your opinion may vary.)
Britain's shoot-to-kill policy (Involving terrorist suspects. While not in the USA, this basically allows police to shoot anyone who they think might be a suicide bomber.)

Dihydrogen Monoxide

2005-09-23T23:46:00.000-04:00

Here is an interesting website that brings up some facinating issues surrounding a chemical known as Dihydrogen Monoxide. Their FAQ (frequently asked questions) page provides many perhaps surprising facts about the substance (there is a section in the FAQ about the different things that Dihydrogen Monoxide is used for). Hmm, what do you think? Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide? Some groups such as this one say NO. Others say it's got to go... hmm, if you ask me, this stuff sounds pretty nasty.

Hurricane Katrina response

2005-09-19T01:34:00.000-04:00

Crazy monkey wrote an excellent article about hurricane Katrina. I am writing this as a response:

Yeah, it always bothers me when people just sit around trying to figure out who to blame for bad things that happen. People need to understand that sometimes bad things just happen. All there is left to do is help recovery efforts in every way possible.

I recently read an article detailing how the emergency response (e.g. the Guard troops and evacuation team) for hurricane Katrina was actually around twice as fast as it was for hurricane Andrew back in 1992. Katrina was worse than Andrew so it was probably even more difficult. It takes a lot of time to gather, organize and send the guard into a hurricane ridden area in an organized fashion. Remember that a lot of bridges were partly or fully destroyed and that a lot of roads were not even drivable due to fallen trees and scattered debris. These are just a few of the things that slowed help from arriving. Why do people blame the government when they have no clue how long it takes to do such a huge operation? I don't know.

In my mind, all those who helped get help into the hurricane affected areas are heros.

Sure, people may call Bush racist or blame the large number of deaths on Bush. Doing that is not helping anything though. There is no previous situation to compare the current Katrina response to (due to the fact that Katrina was the first hurricane that had such a destructive affect upon a large area). Anyone who says it could have been much faster is probably just speculating. I don't believe it is wise to regard such people's speculations as fact. Give me solid proof (yes, SOLID proof) that any government official purposely delayed response because he or she didn't care and I might listen. Don't just say silly things, for instance: "Bush doesn't care about black people". (A quote from rapper Kanye West.)

The right to nice and cool air conditioning

2005-09-14T21:40:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the corny title. I just got back from American National Government class. When I began to debate with myself about whether or not I should turn on my air conditioner, "the right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, free and fair elections, a fair and speedy trial...e.t.c." was on my mind. That being said, I must warn you that this post has nothing to do with air conditioning rights. :-)

I found it rather ironic that, a little over a month ago, my family finally decided to buy three tiny window air conditioner units for the three children's rooms in our house (yes, they were on sale). At that time the issue was "can we afford to buy the units." The issue now is "can we afford to run the units." As you might know, air conditioners take up a huge amount of electricity. I have now decided to run the air conditioner for an hour (while I am getting ready for bed) and then turn it off for the night to conserve electricity. A reasonable compromise to running it all night, I hope!

Relient K

2005-09-11T21:04:00.000-04:00

I just bought Relient K's album "Mmhmm" a couple of days ago. Definitely not what I expected from the "Gospel Music" section. I was a bit surprised. Loud.... several real good songs and a sound much like that of Yellow Card. I must say, I was not disappointed. It is definitely a hard, punk rock style so if you're the type for softer rock, you might not enjoy it. Otherwise, give it a try. The lyrics are pretty cool and most of them are easy for teenagers to relate to. I must say that I was both surprised and impressed to read that all the songs on "MmHmm" were written by one person: the lead vocalist Matthew Thiessen. Many of the tunes are very catchy and just awesome to listen to. My favorites are "Be my escape", "High of 75", and "I So Hate Consequences". We'll see which ones pass the ultimate test; the grand 'ole test of .... time .....

P.S. If anyone knows how Relient K got their name, plz drop me a note; I'm interested. thanks!

Precalc

2005-09-10T15:06:00.000-04:00

I have been utterly swamped with precalculus work to catch up on over the past few days. It's pretty fun though. So far, it's stuff that I'm familar with but never really practiced. Quiz on Tuesday.... wish me luck. ;-) Will post more later!

US poverty?

2005-09-07T23:48:00.000-04:00

Yep, for those of you who have entirely forgotten, there is poverty in the United States of America. For those of you who do not believe me (or need help refreshing the memory) try reading "Nickle and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich. Even for those of you who do believe me, it is still a great read! It is a very entertaining and funny book, and it really demonstrates how hard-working US citizens can work all their life and still end up only making enough to barely live off of. Are we talking only about druggies and lazy types of people? Not necessarily!

I will not go into the details from the book nor will I review it (yet) but I recommend that everyone read it. You will not be disappointed. It isn't very long and it will make you think. "Captivating . . . Just promise that you will read this explosive little book cover to cover and pass it on to all your friends and relatives." -- Diana Henriques, The New York Times

But back to my original topic. Personally, I have witnessed poverty in several of it's many possible stages. You have anything from the recovering-drug-addict, to the homeless man who is in and out of shelters, to the man (or woman) who has a home but after paying the rent cannot afford food, even to the single mother who works insanely hard just to give her child (or children) a bed to sleep on and food to eat. Poverty has more forms than most of us would ever imagine.

The vast majority of such situations spur from no direct fault of the victim. Most were born into it or have fallen into it due to parents who were for some reason not fit to raise and support a child. Some have fallen into poverty somehow and become so pulled down that they turn around and blame the government. Many of us -- members of at least middle-class families -- take this opportunity to jump up and point out how ungrateful our lower-class brothers and sisters are. "Why, he is just a lazy half-wit druggie blaming the government for a situation that he got himself into." Ha! I beg to differ.

While I hesitate to immediately vouch for the legitimacy of every single case in the US, I do believe that many poor people have a valid point in their often-criticized blames. Because the US maintains an ecomony where a hard-working poor person is hard-pressed to succeed while a lazy rich person is on easy street, the US government has some work to do. Or if not the US government, the American people as a whole do. Do I have a solution right here? No I don't. I could discourse on how US funds are horribly misguided and misused but due to my lack of a plan to actually straighten things out, I should probably stop here. Obviously, cheaper education could be included in such a plan but things like that always require much money (which, I might add, the US government is not entirely overwhelmed with).

My question to you: What do you think about US poverty? Is it acceptable? Is the crisis largely concealed by the media? (I think this is an obvious, yes.) Should the US government pitch in more? Is the US government pitching in too much for their own good? Should we play Robin Hood and take money from the rich and give to the poor? (hah, just kidding :-D) Should the citizens take it upon themselves to help out? (This may be a rather obvious solution. Unfortunately, the percentage of middle/upper-class people who consistently fail to take any responsibility is pretty disgracefully high, to say the least. After all, Jesus told the people to give to the poor. He didn't tell the governments of the world to give to the poor. . .)

Comments and/or criticisms are welcome. :-D No, I did not do heavy research before writing this. This was written mainly for discussion and perhaps to increase awareness.

Yo

2005-09-06T23:58:00.000-04:00

Hey all, I'm going to try blogging again. Yes, you may laugh. :-) Hopefully, I can get something cool and fun going here without becoming too boring. Obviously I'm doing it for fun in MY spare time *growl* (unless someone is willing to pay me to blog *wink*). I also heard that blogging makes a person a better writer so I though, hey why not. Even those who barely know me, know that I'm not exactly the most talented writer around. Anyway, welcome to Garret's thoughts, opinion on music/books/movies, and last but hopefully not most boring, my comments on life. This is the reviving of Garret's Forgotten Hole. Good night...

Series of unfortunate events

2005-05-05T20:01:00.000-04:00

Has anyone here seen or read the series of unfortunate events? As you probably know, it came out on DVD a little while ago so of course, our family got it. My parents and a few of my siblings saw it in the theatres but my first time seeing it was a couple nights ago. I have read all his books and I love them. If you take them seriously AT ALL, you're in trouble. You gotta read the books with the mindset of one watching a comedy flick. Otherwise, it can get sad and you start feeling sorry for the characters. For those of you who haven't read the books or seen the movie, I will try to keep spoiler-free on here. I wouldn't reccomend them for just anybody but if you're the type who can find comedy in things pretty easily, you would probably like them. One warning though... the books are SAD! Sad and TOTALLY hilarious. :-) If you can imagine such a thing. Don't hold out hope for something happy to happen 'cause it definitely won't. Every book ends with the worst possible situations with at least one person in mortal danger. I think I can safely say that the movie is a little easier to stomach as they try to add some brightness toward the end. If you plan on reading the books though, I would definitely reccomend reading them before you see the movie. I really wish they had stuck with the books better but obviously, there's a certain amount that just doesn't work in movies. The books are truly unique though and personally, I don't think anyone could find them boring. Try reading the first one and if it's not too sad for ya, go on. The second and third have a little brightness that is not to be found again until the eleventh or so. There are eleven books written currently and I think Lemony Snicket (author) is working on the twelfth now. I've heard rumors that there are going to be 13 books total but I'm not sure. Note to those who have seen the movie but haven't read the books: The books capture the comedy of the ridiculousness MUCH better than the movie does. Watching the movie, you might see the leeches eating the boats and think, "How stupid..." So anyway, READ the books first! :-) At first glance this whole thing might seem a little kiddy and dumb but I gaureentee that after reading a book or two, your new-found respect will drive you to keep reading. I'm 16 and did not find the books too shallow nor kiddish. I found the books to be funny, disagreeable, clever, oh and did I mention hilarious? The movie on the other hand, I merely found interesting, I guess. It kept tearing me up when they deviated from the main story. Ugh, who's idea was the spyglass?!? The acting was wonderful though. I love how half of Jim Carrey's lines were done improv! He was quite good in the movie. The kids were.... cool. I guess they could have been hotter but of course they had to play orphan characters so I can't really blame the casting. Overall, I must say, good movie. Fantastic books! :-)

Bright week

2005-05-05T09:11:00.000-04:00

Bright week in the orthodox church is great... ya get to eat all that stuff that you couldn't have for 6 weeks! woo hoo! Of course, some of us have to be careful that we don't eat too much.... lol but hey it's great. The whole pascha season is great! Our church has almost a dozen different nationality versions of the "Christ is Risen" song. (all sung in english though) I think my favorite melody is the romainian one. They're all so nice though! :-) The only thing about it though is that.... I don't feel like sitting at home! I spent all last week going to church and being out and around but this week I'm stuck back at home and perhaps getting a little bored. I do have a couple finals to study for though.... *grrrrr* don't remind me, *sigh*. Fun times though. Not sure if I'm looking forward to summer or not. lol. Maybe I'll write more about this later.
Until next time,
Your currently rather bored poster. :-D IM me!

Hair

2005-05-03T23:10:00.000-04:00

I'm currently debating how I should go about getting my hair cut. Besides the fact that I've never done any research on hair styles and which ones work best for my type, I also have never paid much attention to my hair in general. Thus, 90% of the time, it ends up falling into a state in which I'm positive must be officially known as "hobo style". So anyway. The question is, let mom cut it (like I often do) or get it professionally done... There are obvious price issues, so if I'm gonna pay someone to do it, I want to at least know what I want, so I can describe to the guy, how I want it done. Anyone care to give opinion on what might look decent? It would be fantastic if suggestions did not happen to include the words "crew cut", "buzz cut", or "cue-ball". ;-) But I'm looking for honest opinion so hang my expectations. You are also entitled to say "No need to make a big deal out of it, just tell them you just want it cut."

Welcome to the area in which I live...

2005-05-03T20:14:00.000-04:00

There are two different types of people who would take their their child, who is riding a bike with training wheels, for a run down the middle of the road that goes by our house. Crazy or.... completely insane. (or perhaps they're just *that* desperate to get rid of the kid. heh, just kidding but this isn't even my point) The road has a speed limit of 35mph but often, it seems that people think it is twice that. And it sure doesn't help that our house was built 200 years ago when it must have been stylish to have a house that's 10-20 feet from the road. Yes, from *that* road. We either need to buy a used police car and park it by the road or perhaps invest in a few dozen of those "temporary" speed bumps and drop one every half mile, on the road. I'm not usually one to be worried about speeding (hah, ask my siblings or dad for details on how I drive) but c'mon people, this is in a residential neighborhood where people live. Little kids, for heaven's sake. As a side note, I must affirm that we did in fact pass the aforementioned kid riding a bike with dad walking at his side the other day. (he was not a made-up character) Luckily though, all I have seen on the side of the road are deer and other small creatures such as squirrels and the like. Also most of our kids are old enough to stay out of the road but there were those years mom was always paranoid about the two year old...

Friendly

2005-03-30T22:23:00.000-05:00

I've been asked to make this place more friendly. But my question to all my readers today is, why should a private hole be friendly? It's a place to go crawl into when you wanna be alone. THAT'S why monsters roam here. To keep people AWAY! If you want happiness, perhaps you could try http://www.thehappyguy.com/ or something like that. Well......heh, I will try to be friendly myself, even if my hole isn't. Don't worry. Muwahahaha! And I need site facelift suggestions... hmmm. *runs off to look over all the cute little premade templates*

Hmmm

2005-03-30T22:10:00.000-05:00

I have been strictly ordered by several respected entities to begin publishing this blog again. We shall see how this goes. Beware of the hole! And read with caution. Posts on here may scare you. I also reserve the right to have my own opinion. If you don't agree with me, please write constructive comments to my posts. Hey thanks everybody and I'll see you a little later for my first "real" post!

Too true.

2004-12-17T01:21:00.000-05:00

Ethan rocks. Welcome back to the internet, dude!

We shall all go peacefully with the little men...! *singsong voice*

Yay!

2004-12-17T00:41:00.000-05:00

Oooohhh a blog... I feel soooo special!