Author: lhl

Posted on by lhl
Posted on by lhl

So I’ve been meaning to mention this before, but wow, Drupal’s default posting interface is stupendously bad. Here’s an example of how it looks. That’s right. Posting to the body starts 3 screens down. (You can sneak a peak at my code release taxonomy I’m building while you’re at it).

OK, now, if you’re done laughing, here’s a quick redesign on the plate.

Posted on by lhl

This seems to still be climbing up Popdex and Blogdex (up to number #2!). Even at a peak 36GB/hr, I should be ok until tomorrow. After which I’ll be clamping down w/ some mod_bandwidth and some dynamic redirects I think.

From Propaganda and the Public Mind, and worth contemplating:

You make yourself available for various groups all over the country. You made that choice early on. Why don’t other intellectuals, other privileged people in your position, get engaged politically?

Individuals have their own reasons. Presumably the reason most don’t is because they think they’re doing the right thing. That is, I’m sure that overwhelmingly people who are supportive of atrocious acts of power and privilege do believe and convince themselves that it was the right thing to do, which is extremely easy.

In fact, a standard technique of belief formation is to do something in your own interest and then to construct a framework in which that’s the right thing to do. We all know this from our own experience. Nobobdy’s saintly enough that they haven’t illegiitimately done that any number of times, from when you stole a toy from your younger brother when you were seven years old until the present.

We always manage to construct our own framework that says, Yes, that was the right thing to do and it’s going to be good. Sometimes the conclusions are accurate. It’s not always self-deception. But it’s very easy to fall into self-deception when it’s advantageous. It’s not surprising. (167-168)

Crossfire Downloads Exceed Broadcast Audience – glad to do my part. Will be interesting to try to total up the aggregate stats. (Does anyone have actual viewership numbers for that Crossfire show? Anyone from CNN reading?

Some observations:

  • Bittorrent is still too hard. A lot of people still can’t get it to work
  • Freecache (RIP) and Coral still suck too much for general purpose use. There are features that should be implemented that I’ve written out before, but this would be a fun project to do, so I won’t spoil it too much. At least not until I switch to something with a commenting system so a discussion can get going.
  • Legitimate torrent/media aggregators have a lot of untapped potential. Hmm, should contact Media Matters or some of these guys…
  • Doing Good™ doesn’t require all that much funding. Isn’t it time we reclaimed the Internet?
Posted on by lhl

Real Time with Bill Maher talks about Mary Cheney

But my question about that whole flap, this this the Republicans are very angry. Dick Cheney said, “I’m an angry father.” If it’s not shameful to be gay, why are their panties in a bunch about this? I mean, they talk about her like she’s some retarded monster they have chained in the attic, you know.

…

And it is an issue. They made it an issue. It’s an issue in this election. Don’t talk about my daughter who we are trying to discriminate against in a constitutional amendment.

Posted on by lhl
  • The empires strike back – “Governments perceive the Internet as damage, and gang up on it.”
  • THE HOLE HAWG OF OPERATING SYSTEMS – classic
  • Worldkit Map of Part of Today’s Trip – jluster’s been doing neat things w/ geoblogging
  • Without a Doubt – NYTimes writeup on Bush

    The aide said that guys like me were ”in what we call the reality-based community,” which he defined as people who ”believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ”That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” he continued. ”We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors … and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”

  • About UTS – a bunch of U of T undergrads are creating a neat little collaborative space
  • Structured Procrastination – this seems to mirror my personal experience

    I have been intending to write this essay for months. Why am I finally doing it? Because I finally found some uncommitted time? Wrong. I have papers to grade, textbook orders to fill out, an NSF proposal to referee, dissertation drafts to read. I am working on this essay as a way of not doing all of those things.

  • [drupal-devel] Successes with a large ‘single sign on’ implementation (and one small stumbling block) – University of Vienna SSO w/ Drupal
  • Motime and Splinder launch v.2.0 – Drupal installation running w/ 180K+ users
  • Drupal Contributor’s Guide
Posted on by lhl

For your viewing pleasure (this calls for a permalink):

BTW, the WMV is fine quality-wise, but the AVI is there for completeness (I’ve taken the AVI down for the time being, see below for mirrors). Also, if this starts getting slow, be sure to check out the bittorrent (also, check suprnova). It’s been /.’d so there are 4K+ seeds.

10/16 NOTE: at this point, the torrents will likely be faster than a direct d/l (Apache is handling 100+ simultaneous connections and avg’ing 7.0MB/s right now, 25GB/hr)

10/18 NOTE: Wow, this is crazy. I’ve updated the link to a redirector script as I’m going to pass the 1TB mark soon but want to keep this post accessible. If anyone has mirrors that they want to contribute bandwidth, drop me a line. I have a PHP script set up to do weighted round-robin redirection. Also, another pitch to try Phil’s bittorrent. You’ve heard all about this P2P thing, why not give it a try? There are over a thousand active seeders, so it’s going to be fast. Also, see this Daily Kos thread for some more links.

10/22 NOTE:

Oh, back to the files you’re looking for:

10/19 Update – Followup:

  • Daily_Show-Crossfire_Fallout.mov – boogah’s iFilm’s hosting the daily show followup
  • Jon Stewart, Again in the Crossfire – oh, back to absurd (or is that wickid retarded?), watch how Crossfire spin’s Stewarts appearance AND TOTALLY FUCKIN MISSES THE POINT
  • No Jokes or Spin. It’s Time (Gasp) to Talk. – NYTimes Television section gives Jon Stewart a big thumbs up

    Mr. Stewart is very funny, but it is the vein of “a plague on both your houses” indignation that has made his show a cult favorite: many younger voters are turning to the “The Daily Show” for their news analysis, and are better served there than on much of what purports to be real news on cable.

    And of course it was fun just to see television pundits who think they are part of the same media version of the Algonquin Round Table as Mr. Stewart lose their cool when he tore off the tablecloth and shattered the plates. “Wait,” Mr. Carlson said querulously. “I thought you were going to be funny. Come on. Be funny.” Mr. Stewart was funny. And it was at their expense.

See also, the CNN transcript:

CARLSON: I do think you’re more fun on your show. Just my opinion.

(CROSSTALK)

CARLSON: OK, up next, Jon Stewart goes one on one with his fans…

(CROSSTALK)

STEWART: You know what’s interesting, though? You’re as big a dick on your show as you are on any show.

(LAUGHTER)

CARLSON: Now, you’re getting into it. I like that.

STEWART: Yes.

Fun lasts until I hit 1TB or I get a takedown notice. 🙂