Posted on by lhl

The check engine light has been plaguing my GTI recently. I was getting a recurring 16795 - Secondary Air Inj. System Incorrect Flow Detected code and since I needed to get rid of it to pass emissions, I took it in to get it checked out (Renner Motor Sport, whom I’ve had previously good experiences with).

The fan unit itself seemed to check out ok, but after a couple of days, the light came back. So, I took it to the VW dealer down the street from work and apparently the combi valves are leaking… boo-urns.

It cost $92 for the checkup, but the $400+ for the part and $300+ for labor seemed a bit excessive. So, I’m going to be bringing it back to Renner (and run through the tests on my VAG-COM) to see if it might be something cheap to fix, to see for sure what’s leaking ) either with the vacuum lines, sealing the plastic, or replacing the valve itself w/o paying for a complete brand new fan unit. Also perhaps the air filter, although the ’96 and ’97 models had service bulletins on the combi-valve vacuum hose seating so it’s not all the surprising perhaps…

Posted on by lhl

Weblogs, Wikis, and Comments – apparently some people thinking on the same track as I am. I’m trying to juggle a bunch of balls, but am angling away towards some implementation. Let me ruminate/reiterate on some issues:

  • Nodes – similar to Drupal’s conception of data data elements/types – this has the possibility of leading down very long rabbit holes, however
    • Attributes/Values – nodes should have attachable arbitrary attributes and values, and sets based on type; now, are these attributes/values also nodes? What should first class entities be?
    • Relationships – can this be abstracted to relationships? (is a, has a, parent of, child of) — hey, did we create an RDF triple store?

    At the very least however we can understand nodes as either a single piece of microcontent, or subdivide into arbitrary transcludable elements (in HTML, block-level elements work well), and also links (hyperlinks, internal links) as first class types

  • Versioning – ok, yeah, this is really straightforward. I wrote some SQL for it earlier (w/ self joins since MySQL doesn’t support subselects). This is a no-brainer — now, exploring versioning interfaces, that’s interesting (see also version-control w/ changesets etc [subversion, arch, etc.])
  • Annotations – comments are a type of annotation, these are nodes that have a relationship to other nodes/collections, attached at a point, rendered separately. Lets de-abstractify: Aanotations apply to certain nodes or collections (another type of node?) and should be threadable (can be stored in classic linked list format, or more efficiently as PTT/MPTT)
  • Transclusion – ahh, this is where current blikis seem to fall down. How do you give blog posts multiple contexts? — Using collection nodes is one way, or straight out rulesets/property queries for faceting. It’s one thing to discuss theoretics and another to code, however
  • Identity – a requirement (and what’s most notably missing from wikis) are explicit authX, profiles, author sorting, trusts. You can’t have collaboration w/o a strong sense of the personalities interacting

Central to these issues are interfaces/methods of interacting w/ pages, and the ability for effective web-based multi-user locking and presence. I’m trying very hard right now to cut down my simultaneous activities so that I can effectively work on these.

My hopeful short-term goal is to clear off as much dead wood as possible and make a schedule to work on:

  • KB/KM/Collab env, basic notepad/task manager
  • specific JS widgets, comm protocol
  • blog overhaul, code distribution setup
  • Event-related/organization code
  • possibly: network level DigID/DSS code

Work seems to currently tie in closely with my current interests: Portal/CLE dev, KM/KB development, Events

Hopefully, the first of my deliverables will make it out in time for the MT contest deadline. I think that once I figure out my code distribution setup, things will be easier. I’ve been writing lots of random things over the past while, some of which is worth writing up and/or packaging.

Posted on by lhl

The Bush campaign has been running a bizarre web video entitled Kerry’s Coalition of the Wild-eyed [4.7MiB QT] (local mirror). It really is a strange mess with a very muddled message (and a very strange ending coda – very propecia). The campaign manager explains its about Democrat fear-mongering. There’s some irony to this negative ad attacking a much less negative campaign for being negative. Also, an attack on fear-mongering from an administration who has mastered and whose entire strategy the past four years has been exactly that.

Hey Bush Campaign, while you’re having a mental meltdown, why not try this campaign slogan on for size: Vote Bush! Don’t change horsemen in the middle of an apocalypse

  • Re: ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ is casting a wide net at theaters by by RevMudd

    This movie blasts them and they are in full defensive mode. People come out wondering why the holy fuck haven’t they been told what’s in this movie. Bush’s dad was with a member of the bin Laden family on the morning of 9/11? Bush and his family have taken 1.4 billion dollars in Saudi money? Bush spent 7 minutes reading “My Pet Goat” after he was told “America is under attack?” Planes took bin Ladens and other Saudis out of the country while other Arabs were being held for months as material witnesses? And on and on. It’s no news to us, but it sure is to lots of other people who get their news from TV. You’d think stories like that would command some investigation and attention. You’d be wrong if thought so, apparently the news directors think you don’t need to know this or you’d be too fucking dumb to understand the complex world of international finance that makes it OK for ex-presidents to get rich serving the interests of a foreign government that teaches its citizens to hate us.

  • “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” — George Orwell