I ported my first Linux application to the Zaurus tonight. The app is SBaGen, a tool for creating binaural beats. These beats can be used to synchronize one’s brain hemispheres, allowing the sound to lead the mind into various levels of awareness.

I have long been interested in the effects of binaural beats, having played around with the ones that Cool Edit can create. As yet, I’ve gotten nothing from them other than a good buzz once I was done. The problem with using Cool Edit is that I’m chained to my desktop computer, which is forever etched into my mind as being associated with work. Needless to say, this is not the frame of mind I want to be in if I’m trying to relax!

Thus, having something portable that generates beats is a great leap forward. Now I can carry it around anywhere I go and customize the frequency, too. I’m no longer stuck in front of a keyboard.

I’m pleased that the app works well on the Z, seeing how the Z doesn’t come with a floating-point processor and the app uses sine waves. Now the only thing left to do is to package it up in an ipkg (the Zaurus package format). Maybe later I’ll try my hand at adding a pretty Qt-based GUI.

The latest news says the White House is claiming the CIA signed off on Bush’s claim that Iraq was attempting to buy enriched uranium, a claim which was later proven false.

Now, by their very nature, intelligence analysts know which way the wind blows. It doesn’t take a genius among them to see that questioning the Boss’s reasoning isn’t likely to help their career chances. Back in the service, we called such questioning a “CLM,” a career-limiting move.

It likewise shouldn’t take a genius to realize that intelligence is supposed to flow from the bottom up – not the other way around. The Emperor insisted on wearing his new clothes, and there was no one bold enough to call him on them.

I find it kind of sad that the office where the Buck once stopped has now taken up the game of shifting the blame. What I would do to see some accountability in public office.

That the intelligence regarding Iraq buying uranium from Nigeria was forged brings to mind all those Nigerian Bank Account scams that constantly fill my inbox. I think I’ll doctor up one of those Nigerian scams to include Uranium, just for fun.

The local Triangle Linux Users Group, of which I am a member, had a keysigning party last night after our meeting. I traded paper with dozens of members in an effort to build a GPG web of trust.

Even with my cryptography background, I feel utterly clueless as to all the ways GPG and PGP can be used. Keyservers, keysigning, and webs-of-trust are all foreign to me. Perhaps that’s why I had difficulty explaining it to Kelly last night.

I think we’re doing something right, though, since our efforts have placed us at the top of the list at Biglumber.com, one website that keeps up with this sort of thing. How to take advantage of this fact is anyone’s guess. I’m still clueless. 🙂

By the way, an effort to find Doc Searl’s GPG key in Google produced interesting results. Our of 318 pages returned, my humble website is result number two. Google works in mysterious ways.

I haven’t had much time to post lately – and that’s a good thing. I am quite happy with where I am in my life right now.

Work couldn’t be better. I work with a great team of people who appreciate what I do and vice-versa. I am really doing well with my customer calls, each one getting more comfortable for me. And I am learning a lot!

Life outside of work is going wonderfully, too. Every day, Hallie finds some new way to capture my adoration. Swimming lessons have been a real treat: Hallie absolutely loves being in the pool. She is also growing more attentive to the things we show her – usually giving me a laugh when she realizes I’m trying to teach her something. What a joy to be a father!

While we could be making more money (and who couldn’t), we certainly are happy, and that goes a long way.

Just returned from a wonderfully relaxing trip to visit our friends the Naylors at their Lake Gaston lakehouse. It marked the first time in a week I had seen my girls, I spent time with in-laws I don’t see too often, and like always, Ralph and Suzzanne were truly incredible hosts.

The weather was nice, too, which meant hours of sailing, both alone in the Sunfish as well as with two crewmembers in the Oday. During the times the roar of Jet-Skis wasn’t present, you could’ve heard me making that sailboat freakin’ purr, baby! (I can’t knock the Jet-Skis too much though. They looked like the best way to beat the oppressive, 95-degree heat.)

During a late-afternoon sail with me at the helm, I was really feeling it. “This sucks!” I gloated to Ralph and Neil. “I’d much rather be sitting in front of a computer screen right now!” I swear if I had the opportunity to sail every day, I could live to be 150.

Saturday night brought fireworks right to our doorstep, with a professional show from the island a few hundred yards off the dock. When things got popping, Hallie woke from her sleep, bringing me back inside console her. With a wide-eyed girl staring at the booming coming from the window, I conceded defeat and took her to the kitchen window to watch her first fireworks show.

The Fourth is, obviously, the celebration of our nation’s birth, and I took time to reflect on our country. Though I’m often at odds as to how it’s currently being run, I keep in mind that its the people like those around me who make this country great. Lurking at a place the present terrorist paranoia can’t reach, a current of freedom still runs strong. Friendship and kindness are still extended to strangers. I am hopeful that this country which owes so much to the huddled masses landing on its shores will once again remember its role as leader in this world.

At my new job there is a tradition of putting up movie quotes on the whiteboard for people to identify. For the past week, the following quote has attracted my attention:

‘You should see the toast! I couldn’t get it through the kitchen door!’

It is, of course, John Candy’s line from Uncle Buck, a John Hughes film from the late ’80’s. Seeing it every day has reminded me how talented John Candy really was.

I loved the scene where his character and Macaulay Culkin bantered back in forth in rapid-fire, one-word responses. You could tell he got along well with kids.

Then there’s his movie Cool Runnings, where he played a down-on-his-luck coach trying to get his team to the Olympics. His skills as an actor were at their peak then. He brought so much humanity to the role that you couldn’t help but want to cheer him on.

John is gone now. He has been for almost ten years now. But his work lives on; he continues to make people laugh. I’m sure that puts a smile on his face, whereever he may be.

Thanks for the laughs, John. We truly did hardly knew ye.

—
A Tribute To John Candy
Internet Movie Database: John Candy
The Best of John Candy on SCTV
John Candy quotes

I just downloaded the latest 1.4 build of Mozilla and it kicks ass! I’m using the Linux version (naturally) and I still think it’s the fastest web browser I’ve ever seen. I think it even beats IE on Windows.

If you haven’t upgraded to Mozilla 1.4, you’re missing out. Wooooooooo!

Looks like someone wants to see how many bad pictures of him I can post on my website. 🙂

I love my Sharp Zaurus. I do. Love it so much that I broke the stylus a few weeks ago. Since then, I’ve been getting by with a broken stylus, which works okay but gets annoying fast.

In search of a stylus, I checked the Z’s website. It lists Office Depot as a retailer of replacement styluses. Someone didn’t tell Office Depot, apparently, since they no longer carry them.

Finally ready to deal with this problem, I called Sharp today to buy a new stylus. A helpful Sharp employee by the name of Joe looked one up in the Sharp catalog.

“Seven dollars,” he said.

“Uh, seven for one, or two?”

“Seven for one. And that doesn’t include taxes or shipping.”

“Okay, ” I said. “How much is shipping on one stylus?” They weigh a few ounces at most. Surely a first-class stamp could get it mailed to me.

“Damn,” Joe blurted out. “Shipping is four dollars, twenty-five cents.” The ridiculous cost actually made him laugh. “And that still doesn’t include the taxes.”

I decided I could live with a broken stylus a bit longer!

After I passed on a $7 stylus, Joe suggested I try the the ones at the office supply stores. That may be my only choice.

Sharp has a great product in the Z, but its obvious they are wishy-washy on supporting it: finding major retailers is a bitch, it’s a Linux PDA with no working Linux desktop software, and they charge you seven bucks for a damn stylus.

Way to win the hearts and minds of the geek elite, Sharp. Maybe its time for you to change the company name, eh?