My Rambling Random Thoughts

The Battle So Far

2007-02-28T22:02:00.000-05:00

Piracy Is Liberation

2007-01-26T05:26:00.000-05:00

Information wants to be free. Brainwaves can not be copyrighted. The pursuit of knowledge is a basic human right. Your time has value. Art is a transmission medium. Cooperation breeds progress. You can't steal things you can't touch. Property belongs to the community. Sharing is charitable.

Sources:

Images - Images can be downloaded directly to your computer and re-purposed for your projects or just archived for your later enjoyment. Things disappear from the web often so archive the stuff you like.

Music - There are a lot of MP3's to be had on newsgroups. Use Pan (linux), Agent (win) or Grabit and make your way to the binary newsgroups.

Movies - The Pirate Bay or Mininova. Need I say more?

Slightly more questionable material - Need porn, warez, bomb diagrams? Get em' on IRC. Use Tor if you need to hide your tracks.

Ethics:

Pay the man at the door... go see live events.

Buy media from producers you like... if you can afford it. If you can't afford it, promote the producer in trade.

Share as much as possible. Give stuff to your friends and family. Burn CDs and DVDs and leave them in public for people to find.

Don't feed the ego monster. If the media producer is already rich, don't give them more. Rich people don't need more money.

Be a producer. Make stuff. Give it away.

Us Versus Them, Part II

2007-01-22T21:47:00.000-05:00

World Social Forum

World Economic Forum

Us Versus Them

2007-01-22T21:34:00.000-05:00

United States Government Decapitates Prisoner

2007-01-16T23:00:00.000-05:00

So that there would be no doubt about who responsible, The United States Government executed Iraqi Citizen Al Tikriti in true Guantanamo fashion. The condemned man, once a powerful Iraqi government official, clad in orange jump suit and black hood, was taken to the gallows where he was consequentially decapitated.

Several days ago, in his prime-time presedential addresses to his nation, George Bush declared that the gloves were off. On that night at the gallows, he proved it. It has become apparent that insurgent Iraqis have been dealt the death card and that the whole Iraqi nation, will become the sacrificial lambs in service to the Empire.

Oaxaca Explota

2007-01-13T00:12:00.000-05:00

Battles continue in Oaxaca. What started as a confrontation between the Teacher's Union and the Oaxaca State Government has transformed into a pivitol moment in the current Latin American war.

Meanwhile, Mara Salvatrucha vanguard platoons take territory within Mexico City and throughout the United North American States. Rebels in Chiapas hold the south. Narcotribes enrich the resistance with funds collected via control of profitable trade routes.

Mexico City is in the sights. Ulisis Primero, Despues Calderon.

American Citizen

2007-01-11T23:20:00.000-05:00

U S Administration gives post-mortem citizenship to military personnel who are killed in combat, a reward that allows for the prestigious burial at Arlington National Cementary. Another benefit is that the wife and offspring of the fallen warriors are allowed to apply for U S citizenship and are granted sanctuary and financial support. Twenty virgins for the fallen warriors. Glory be to the martyrs. May each man's sins be forgotten.

So spoketh Saddam

Beef More Important Than Blacks

2007-01-05T00:35:00.000-05:00

Colorado Local New Lamar Daily reports:

Officer Dan Hatlestad of the Southeast Area Emergency Operation Command Center, Hatlestad confirmed the National Guard is continuing its livestock feeding operations today and into the foreseeable future. link

I remember that other time when the National Guard came right to the rescue of a bunch of New Orleans alligators right after Katrina. The mission was so effective, that the gators gorged upon floating human cadavers for months.

The militias are busy with cows. The Minute Mean jerk off at the southern border. The communities of color are left to fend for themselves as the Western World incurs God's wrath.

Somali Warriors Secure Victory for United States

2007-01-03T19:40:00.000-05:00

Imperial troopers en route to assist Somali militia. Warrior nation generously rewarded for handing United States first military victory in years. Propagandist David Gollust, Spokeman for the military funded Voice of America reports:

"The United States is patrolling Somalia's coast and consulting with its neighbors to try to prevent the escape of terrorist suspects after Ethiopia's military rout of Islamist militias there. A top State Department official is in Addis Ababa to discuss the Somali situation" link

Cultural Martyr

2007-01-03T19:19:00.000-05:00

Man or a machine. Ghost Personality Da Gudfudder a'Sol . What's the difference between Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

Betty Ford Taken To The Gallows

2007-01-03T19:07:00.000-05:00

President ford was sacrificed to appease Bandar. Blood money was refused by Saddam's family. There was enough stashed away in the coffers. Spanish doubloons! His wife and daughter are inprisoned in Jordan where they are routinely raped. Oh, honored guests.

American Queda Executes Saddam Hussain

2006-12-30T13:53:00.000-05:00

Clash of Civilizations.

2006-12-13T21:47:00.000-05:00

Westerners Castrate African Youth.

Western doctors have been mutilating the sexual organs of young Kenyan men in an effort to spread Christianity under the guise of disease prevention. link

Winston Smith

2006-12-04T23:46:00.000-05:00

Coming to theatres near your... Jose Padilla as Winston Smith circa 1984.

Hagan Guerra Contra Aquellos Que Hacen Maquinas Para Guerra Contra El Hombre (Part III)

2006-11-19T20:43:00.000-05:00

Part III. Drones On The Border.

The federal government has unveiled a new multimillion-dollar gadget to patrol and protect the U.S.-Mexican border.It's an unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV. The high-tech plane, typically used in military combat, has become an important tool in the border war. -- link

Choose Player Two.
Human or Computer?

Make War On Those Who Make Machines To Make War On Men (Part II)

2006-11-19T20:37:00.000-05:00

Part II. Drones in America

Global Hawk is scheduled to land at Beale Air Force Base in northern California -- link via The Drudge Report

Time to start building those EMP weapons.

Make War On Those Who Make Machines To Make War On Men

2006-11-19T20:30:00.000-05:00

From Reuters -- Israel developing anti-militant "bionic hornet" link via the The Angry Arab News Service.

Homeless

2006-11-18T00:32:00.000-05:00

Every day after work I drive under he downtown connector in Atlanta right near Grady Hospital. Every day I see homeless men and woman huddled together for heat. Today I saw a mean laying down next to his wheelchair. He was probably just discharged from Grady with rotting diabetic feet. Its a sad situation that I bear witness to every day. The following picture is not a picture of the homeless under the freeway, rather, its a picture of people camped outside a Best Buy waiting to purchase a Play Station 3.

Now What

2006-11-13T19:25:00.000-05:00

I didn't vote in the last election because the Republicans are assholes and the Democrats are cowards. Now that the Democrats have won, I'm left wondering what will happen next, which is why the lead into an article in the Revolution Paper seemed poignant.

Yet the question of the day remains: what is actual significance of these elections? What changes are—and aren’t—likely to result? What will—and won’t—they mean for the overall Bush agenda and the Iraq war? And what challenges and responsibilities confront those who oppose everything Bush and his regime stand for, and understand the need to reverse the whole direction they’ve been taking the world? link

Nancy Pelosi says that the impeachment of Bush is off the table. What cowardice -- Bush should not only be impeached, but hung alongside Saddam.

Feel Like Ota Benga

2006-09-14T20:20:00.000-04:00

Oakland Cemetery

2006-08-30T23:44:00.000-04:00

Been feeling a little couped-up lately. Last night I had to get the fuck out of my apt and walk around the neighborhood. A few blocks from my home I met a homeless guy who offered me a drink of his beer then later asked for 60 cents. Why is it that homeless people always ask for fractions of a dollar?

After walking for a few blocks with my homeless buddy, he left me to chat with some guys at the community garden down the way. I continued on towards Oakland Cemetery.

I get strange notions sometimes. For some reason, I really wanted to jump the fence to the cemetery and take a nap next to a grave.

I cased the entrances a while and found a good spot to jump the fence but I thought better of it and instead just stood next to one of the gate and watched the cars go by. As each car went by, I took a good look at the drivers faces. Nobody noticed me. I felt invisible.

I stood there for five or ten minutes watching cars go by and worrying that a pedestrian might walk by and be spooked by a man hiding in the shadows of a cemetery gate but I myself was surprised when I guard drove up to me in a golf cart.

"You all right?" he asked.

"Yeah man, you scared me tough. Thought you were a ghost" I replied.

He said, "Alright then, have a good night" and drove off.

another semi random posting

2006-06-06T20:51:00.000-04:00

My computer has been fucked for about a month now. Dunno why... everything just seemed to break at the same time. Sound card is acting shitty. Dead hard drive. Random bios problems... ugg. I'll need a new computer soon. This one has been handy for a while but I think its time for a major upgrade. I'll prob send scavange some parts off this machine (ram and hard drives) and then gift the rest of it to somebody.

Part of the reason why the computer has been down for such a long time is that I've been waiting for the newest version of ubuntu before rebuilding it. I installed it a few days ago and its working pretty well.I still have some minor problems here and there but things are pretty good. I can hardly believe I've been running linux pretty much exlusively for almost a year now. Theres some shitty aspects to linux but I'm so happy that I no longer have to crack all my software to have a half way usable system.

Thats all for now. Yay ubuntu!!

Everybody Loves Dead Plants

2006-03-29T22:10:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I'm really fucking lazy. Last Thursday I laid in bed after work watching TV... Watching Bad TV... Watching Everybody Loves Raymond. I laid in bed thinking that i was really cold and that I should probably bring in my tomato seedling or at least cover them... but I kept watching Everybody Loves Raymond. During the commercial breaks I switched to the Weather Channel or CNN. Overnight lows in the mid-thirtys in Atlanta... but I kept watching Everybody Loves Raymond. I laid in bed thinking about my poor little plants - that I raised them from seeds under a small flourecant light in the corner of my room - that I had one month's time invested in them - that I would have so many of them that I would have to give some of them away to friends and the community garden in my town... but I kept watching Everybody Loves Raymond.

First thing next morning, I jumped out of bed and peeked out the kitchen window to the garden in the back yard. No surprise - all the plants were drooped over frozen and dead.

Fucked Up Haircut

2006-03-14T22:45:00.000-05:00

A few days ago I went to a chain hair salon in search of a bit of a trim. I tried a new place because I've been having trouble finding a place to get a decent haircut in Georgia -- I guess people are just not used to cutting a Mexican's hair. The woman who cut my hair was about 40 and sexy as hell. She was a wonderful conversationalist and as it turns out she's from my hometown. Unfortunately, she fucked my hair up good. I had to go home and basically shave my head.

I was so embarrased to go in to public this way. My co-workers (mostly women) were nice about it but I know they are just being kind. I remember the last time I saw someone with a fucked up haircut I told them it looked good too. The one guy who was honest with asked me if I was going to join the GI-rines.

Shit, it sucks to get your hair fucked up. I feel like a dumbass. Never go to Fantastic Sams!! Ugg.. I look like shit.

Back-up and Syncronize

2006-02-19T23:40:00.000-05:00

I've recently come up some rocking sofware that I want to write about. It's called SyncBack. It's a syncronization and backup software that I'm using to syncronize my documents on my laptop and my server. The current version of SyncBack as of this writing is v4.0.6. I'm using the older freeware version v3.2.9 which works fine for me.

I'd previously used rsync. rsync works fine and I would probably use it if I was trying to mirror or sync some multiple servers on a schedule. I also recently used lftp with the mirror option to back up my web host too. I also tried using some software called Unison but I couldnt get it to work on my windows laptop.

SyncBack is working out pretty well for me now and I'll keep using to sync my laptop although ltp and rsync are still good and I'll use it for specific purposes.

Website and Blog Updates

2006-02-16T23:39:00.000-05:00

I finally fixed my template for this blog. and things are a bit prettier now. It's been a long time coming but I finally dusted off the cobwebs and figured out how to use css a little better. Those damn boxes were fucking with me. Along the way, I found a couple of useful websites that probably everybody knows about but I have to plug anyway 'cause they helped me. One is simplebits.com and the other is alistapart.com.

Also, I finally paid to host my website so my meager little webpages are up in case anybody cares. Its linked there on the left somewhere... have at it. I did change the site design a bit. I looks the same mostly but its now using css for the layout. Again, the damn boxes were fucking with me but now I got it all figured out. I removed some stuff. I removed a section I had for collaborative writing 'cause I only got a couple of people interested in it and nobody really cared about it... not even me. I removed the playlist section 'cause now I'm using last.fm I also got rid of some other stuff I wasn't updating.

That it for now. I'll be tweaking things here and there and posting here occasionally. I hope to put more content here and on the website as inspiration strikes me.

A little more Sereno

2006-02-13T00:58:00.000-05:00

During a particularly rough third shift in the Emergency Room, as I examined the patient, board, I ran across a familiar name, Mrs. Sereno. I just wrote about the Serenos a few days before because they've been in my thoughts lately, as I see them two or three times a week to help the deal with some silly issues they have with Social Security. In fact, I had just spoken to Mr. Sereno in my office earlier that day and we were both surprised to run into each other again at three in the morning (I normaly wouldn't be there are that time, but I was in the ER covering someone else's shift that day). Mrs. Sereno looked rought that night. He're hoping she made it through.

My Old Friend Mr. Sereno

2006-02-06T00:14:00.000-05:00

Mr. Sereno is an 89 year old Italian man who comes to my office every week. I help him with his bills, sort out his mail, make appointments and phone calls for him. Its not really part of my job to help him do all those things, but I do it anyway because he asks nicely.

Last week I sent Mr. Sereno to the library to get help with him income tax return and he returned with his completed form, a big smile, and the good news that he is getting a forty two dollar check.

Until that moment, I didn't realize how much of a difference fifty dollars can make in somebody's life. When you are on a fixed income, that small amount can be the difference between getting your medicine or not.

It felt really good to be able to help Mr. Sereno out.

Dustruction in Waveland

2005-11-27T03:00:00.000-05:00

I drove from Atlanta to Houston and back again a few weeks ago. The main purpose of the trip was to take my grandma to Houston and send her off a 'pesera' (a van that transports mexicans) to Matamoros. I also needed to get away from my boring routine in Georgia. It was smooth sailing on the way there except fo the extended rest stops where my gradma needed to walk around for about 30 minutes before we could go again. On the way there she kept asking me when we were going to pass the destruction that Katrina had left. She wanted to see New Orleans but I alway take the 12 instead of the 10 when I travel down that corridor ans so we missed it all together. She was dissapointed.

On my way back, decided to take a small detour in Waveland, Mississippi in gas up. I've stopped in Waveland a couple of times before because I liked the name of the place and so I thought I'd do the same. I pushed my car until it was out of gas, passing up Slidel, a largish town where the 10 and the 12 meet. I passsed the Lousiana-Mississippi state line. I passed up the nice restop on the first exit in Misissippi. I kept driving some 30 miles until I got to the Waveland exit.

Upon reaching the exit, I too a right towards waveland. I was still five miles away but I figured I'd have enough gas since my gas light had just turned on. It didn't take me too long to realize that waveland was fucked. All the buildins were torn to shreds, just piles or rubble. A bit further down the the road I saw a humvee guarding a power station. I had to turn around quit if I was to get any gas. There wasn't shit in Waveland excpet destruction.

I turned back and decided to keep going east and take the next exit. The whole had been reduced to a Wendys, a Subway, a BP Amaco that didn't take credit cards and a Chevron that was out of gas. The Cheron was especially earie because it has a loudspeaker at full volume talking about how great it store was and what deals you could get there... except that it was closed. Everything was closed. I drove to the south side of the freeway. Again, Destruction. I returned to the Chevron andI decided to stay until morning so that I could try to get gas because I was almost out. As I sat in my car eating some cold bean tacos I'd brought from Houston, I saw car after car doing the same exact thing I had done. They drove up the the Chevron because it ws big and brightly lit. The read the sign that it was out of gas. They drove across the street to the BP. Tried the credit card machine and kicked the gas pump when they discovered it didn't work. They all drove off frustrated.

After about 30 minutes of watching the same routine over and over, I young couple noticed that I was sitting in my car and drove up to me and asked where they could get gas. I told them I was out of gas too and that I was going to wait until morning and try to get gas at the BP with some cash. They drove off frustrated but then ten minutes later they were back. They had gone to the next town and it was out of gas too. They parked next to me to wait until morning.

After about an hour I got tired of waiting. I got out my car and walked over to the couple in the car.

I asked them, 'Do you guys remember Slidel? Was there gas there?'

They said that Slidel probably had gas. It was a big town. I told them that I was going to try to drive back to Lousiana and try to get gas at Slidel. I told them that I'd get some gas in a small gas tank and bring it back to them. We exchanged cell phone numbers and I was on my way.

It was a tense ride back to Slidel. I drove with they yellow gas light on all the way. On my way back to Slidel I rememberd that my car was rated at about 25 miles per gallon. I really started sweating when the trip odometer read 30 miles. After about 32 miles I reached Slidel and a gas station. I called the couple on the cell phone and they told me that they had decided to make the trip back to Slidel too. I wished them luck and told them to call me if they ran out of gas on the way.

The gas station in Slidel was wierd. It was pretty barren but they did have gas. Outside, the sign was bent over from the winds. Also a giant moutain of black trash bags leaned against the building. Apparently, there was no trash service there yet. I gassed up, bought some nasty coffee, and an old stale donut. Inside the store were two young black men. They were decked out in gold chains and baggy clothes. They were buying nachos. It was about three AM. They were stoned.

When I went to my car the young men had pulled up next to me in a shiny new Cadillac with gold rims. They were going to gas up there car. I decided to talk to them.

'You guys from around here,' I asked.

The guy without the nachos responded, 'yeah baby, what you need?'

I thought that maybe I should ask to smoke some weed with them but instead I responded, 'Nothing, I was just really surprised that things are still in such bad shape around here. I figured so long after the storm, things would be back to normal. I was also surprised at the amount of damage to everything'

He replied, 'Them hurricanes really tore shit up 'round here'.

They did.

Layout Updates

2005-11-27T02:16:00.000-05:00

Fixed the layout of the blog a little bit. It's still a bit retarded but I'll be fixing it up with some CSS goodness pretty soon. Just got tired of the default blogger template.

AnArcazzoo came

2005-11-07T17:27:00.000-05:00

From Argentina:

AnArcazzoo came! By one of great fisico contribution! - Monday, Nov. 07, 2005 AT 5:40 p.m. SEA Of the SILVER (Of a special envoy). - It was an urban war. Announced. Groups identified with the anarchism devastated with businesses in an air line of 16 blocks, in a violence raid that the police delayed forty minutes in beginning to contain. During that time, the activists had an empty zone of control to break, to sack and to burn commerce before the terror of the neighbors. More than the thirty premises they were broken and at the end of the day, when no longer confrontations took place, they were lengthy fifty greater people and ten minors, according to informed the minister into the Interior, Aníbal Fernandez. DyN agency indicated that two of the arrested ones are a journalist of Brazil and another one of France. The marplatenses made hear their complaints at dusk, pronouncing themselves by tens in the places of the din. Their complaints aimed at the police passivity while the vandals attacked against their premises. Minister Fernandez defended the armed control system to which he described again last night "like optimal". He also announced a reinforcement outside anticipated safety rings for the presidents. The incidents began to 17,30, when the piqueteros movements dispersed in fence of the avenue Columbus and Corrientes, situation that was taken advantage of by Quebracho and the denominated groups Atahualpa and Partido the Liberation to have the free field for the vandalism. They attacked with mortars sends explosives, incendiary pumps, stones and gomeras to the squad of the Buenosairean police that was behind the first safety ring of IV the Summit of the Américas. Uncontrol The first answer with tear gases and rubber bullets increased the uncontrol. The Galicia Bank, of Columbus and Santa Fe, to a block of the fence one, was the first target of the fury of the activists, black dresses and hood that raised flags anarchists. To be against to North American president George W. Bush was the excuse chosen for its actions. When the protest march started in the neighborhoods of the Mundialista Stage, passed the 16, it was clear that incidents would take place. Several of those violent international dresses to usanza of the Black Block, antiglobalización, distributed barbijos, as forecast to the possible gas use to repress them. It is more, that sector of the manifestation, made up of 200 people of important physical bearing, showed to be prepared for everything, with masks antigases and antiparras by hand. Their backs seemed to become broken then by the weight of the knapsacks. Four blocks ahead, in the head of the march, were the referring ones of the piqueteros groups. They made the decision to arrive at the fences and to retire fifteen minutes later because they doubted the intentions of the activists who added themselves to the manifestation. Delayed answer The march was put in way towards the preannounced incidents without a single police saw itself during the route of 34 blocks. Retired the piqueteros after pronouncing itself the fences in front of, they appeared the anarchists. The violence was extraordinary. The Infantry of the Buenosairean police held her position behind the fence one. The outer streets were no-man's land. Soon they flew stones on the commerce. The reinforced large windows of the Galicia Bank held those attacks, but with time to act, the strangers anarchists used signals of transit like rams until breaking glasses. With homemade pumps and molotov they managed to set afire it, untying a smoke column whose density prevented to see a meter in a block. The tear gas increased the confusion without stopping the violence, rather stimulated it. Barricades with furniture taken from the assaulted premises began to form. To 18,10, the police forces appeared of the outer side of the fence one. And it was the Federal Police with his groups antitumults those that took care of the first shock, instead of the Buenosairean police that had to control the external perimeter. Outside all ran between gases and rubber bullets. Within the "other city", the minister of Buenosairean security, Leon Arslanian, and the Fernandez stuck to the cellular ones. President Néstor Kirchner gave the inaugural speech then. To six blocks of the safe zone very many neighbors crossed the destruction scene facing the intendant Daniel Katz, who also walked by the place. It lacked little so that the day of fury was completed with pueblada by the rage of the marplatenses, that the police applauded ironic, that now yes arrived in mass. It was late. The violence noticed weeks ago finally had arrived.

DO NOT HOPE ANY MORE TO HANDLE US

2005-11-07T17:17:00.000-05:00

From Paris:

DO NOT HOPE ANY MORE TO HANDLE US The revolt makes rage, the urban guerrilla warfare settled in all our districts. The social injustice and daily violence, are the causes: discrimination, marginalisation, unbearable living conditions. It is today too late for the large dukes, to adopt new measures, to establish bearable living conditions in our districts, which in any event were never livable and will be it never. We do not want any more a dialogue with the government, our fathers, our families, were sufficiently deceived by the speeches. The dialogue is definitively broken, do not plan more to deaden us. DO NOT HOPE ANY MORE TO HANDLE US, this even in spite of the use of Imam and doors words that you instrumentalisez, which you push to diffuse of the calls with calms. We do not have aucunes weapons of destruction massive, just some explosive quills, not of bombers, right our pockets, but tremble small barons de Neuilly, today we are in our districts, a few days with your doors. The fight which begins will be long, and our combat right. The company created us, that proves that this civilization court with its loss. We do not have anything any more to lose, we prefer to die in blood, but in the "excrement"

some changes

2005-11-01T00:14:00.000-05:00

I've moved the hosting for this blog from my website onto the blogger.com server. Address is now firebrowse.blogspot.com. I will be updating this soon. Things are quite broken at the moment.

late night on ubuntu

2005-10-25T02:30:00.000-04:00

I've been spending the last few weeks tweaking my computer after installing Ubuntu 5.10. Previously I had run Fedora Core 4, but I've had a lot of problems after a Fedora Core 3 to Fedora Core 4 upgrade. Ubuntu works really well and I'm really happy with the available selection of packages although its a bit strange to me to have no updates available on a daily basis like Fedora. I can't figure out if its a good thing or a bad thing

So far, the things I like the most about Ubunu are:

1) Ubuntu has an overall better desktop experience than other distros I've tried. For example, my mulimedia keys work.
2) Better packaging system. Apt is faster than yum. Synaptic is a much better application than yumex.
3) A wider selection of applications. Less compiling is a good thing.
4) Gnome 2.12. Includes menu editing (finally). Also provides some file manager improvements.

I still think that Fedora has better user forums although I think Ubuntu has better documenation with it's wiki.

I'm getting closer everyday to finally leaving Windows behind. In fact, I just formatted my last ntfs partition and my system is completely Windows free.

Overall, I'm happy with my switch to Ubuntu. We're getting pretty close to Linux on the Desktop.

Sad Eyes for Afghanistan

2005-08-24T01:35:00.000-04:00

A mother asked me to fix up a computer for her so that she could communicate wit her son in Afghanistan. Her son is an Air Force medic and I feel a bit apprehensive about helping the US military machine. If I help him communicate, it will help his morale, and if his morale is up, then he can cure more soldiers, and if more soldiers are in fighting shape, then the war machine continues to churn.

That mother worries about the danger he son is in. He's not in the military because he loves America, rather, he is in the military because he wants a career and lacks the funds and background to get training and experience in the civilian world.

The mother asked for my help and I can help her if I choose. My reasoning mind tells me that I should not cooperate, but that mother's sad eyes convinced me to help her communicate with her son.

Today I had to accept that I am an integral part of the war machine. Not only am I helping increase the morale of the American soldiers, I also I earn a salary and the taxes I pay are used for bullets, bombs, and body armor. I don't want to participate in this criminal scheme but a mother's sad eyes have drawn me in.

Vigils for Cindy

2005-08-18T16:37:00.000-04:00

I was looking at some photos of a vigil for Cindy Sheehan in Houston . The linked picture was interesting because it shows that the vigil was held on the Dunlavy Bridge, where I used to sit late at night by myself to think.

Audioscrobbler

2005-08-18T05:38:00.000-04:00

Looks like audioscrobbler.com changed its name to www.last.fm. I like the improvements they have made. Here is a link to my profile there http://www.last.fm/user/iramhernandez/.

Sleeping with Borges

2005-08-18T05:14:00.000-04:00

I've spent the last week reading an anthology of Borges' work in the sleepless hours of night, working towards the short story Man On A Threshold which was the story that Pheobe instinctively turned to when we met outside a library in Oakland. It has a chance meeting; she had asked me for a cigarette and as I fished around my bag for a box of American Spirits she saw two bottles of wine, endless wires and coins, and Borges book, which she took interest in.

She took the book and opened it up randomly and started reading. I told her, "I am a Man On A Threshold today. I've just been released from jail and my story is on the front page. I am on the verge of something new. I am reborn and today. I'm starting a new phase of my life where I will be happy and fulfilled. And it starts in six days when I leave California for good." We read the first few chapters together and after a beautiful moment we parted ways.

That was six months ago. That beautiful woman is now only a faded memory. I had almost forgotten how I felt that day, but tonight, with Borges' help, I remember. Now having reread Man On A Threshhold and as I continue on to The Aleph I vow to reconnect with that moment in time.

Technorati Blog Entry

2005-08-18T04:40:00.000-04:00

Technorati Profile

New York Shutdown, Atlanta Georgia Bite Down

2005-08-09T01:02:00.000-04:00

I spent some in New York last month and while there I was trying to figure out what the hell attracts so many people to that place. At times I felt like I was amongst a herd of cattle being poked and prodded on the way to slaughter. I was all very dehumanizing.

A few friends were there with me and I tried to enjoy myself while I was there but my mind was preoccupied and I just sort of shutdown. I've been recovering for a week or so but things are still strange for me and I just can't shake the feeling that the world around me is tilted about five degrees off center.

I'm back in Georgia now and I just want to keep on moving. Everything just seems futile and senseless here. I'm dreaming of that other place.... that sacred place that only exists in my mind's eye.

I'm bleeding. For now I must bite down hard and endure the pain until I see better days.

Fedora Audio Player Goodness

2005-07-19T00:41:00.000-04:00

I've been running pure Linux on my home PC for about four months now and I'm finally getting to the point where I'm feeling comfortable with this thing. I've found some pretty good applications that put my XP install to shame.

Today I want to write about music players on LInux. My primary player is Amarok. It's a great program because of it's neat features. My favorite is that it builds dynamic playlists from you music collection by using data from on the MusicBrainz website to find songs that are similar to the one currently playing. Also, the program has good controls and nice desktop integration including Notification Area Controls and On Screen Display. It also has a built-in audioscrobbler plugin, which I really dig because it's been a pain to install the plugins for some of the other players.

Besides, Amarok, I've also been using Muine, a really fast and easy music player. I use it when I want to play an individual song or individual album and I don't want to wait for Amarok to load. A neat feature of Muine is that it automatically downloads album covers from Amazon. One potentially negative aspect of using Muine is that it is a Mono application and you have to install the Mono stack in order to get the program to work.

Other audio players include XMMS and BMP. Both are WinAMP clones. BMP is a more modern version of XMMS. Finally, there is Rythmbox, the default music player that comes with Fedora. Its simple fast and it works.

Suicide CEO

2005-07-16T01:42:00.000-04:00

Ubermensch, Strap on Chapter 11 explosives and blow your bank account to shit! Yesterday Bernard Ebbers was given a 25 year sentence for his role in the WorldCom failure. Shall he be remembered as a millionaire down-on-his-luck or Suicide CEO?

Audioscrobbler Vs. Playlists

2005-07-08T02:57:00.000-04:00

A while ago I had written some PHP scripts to interact with a WinAMP plug-in to create a rudimentary log of what I'd been listening to. It worked pretty good but one day I switched to Linux no longer ran the plug-in. I toyed with the idea of finding a similar plug-in for XMMS but I finally got tired of the WinAMP style interface and just gave up on the idea of having a playlist section on my site. Then one day I found Audioscrobbler and decided to ditch my scripts and use it instead since it does everything my own scripts do and then some. Consequently, the playlist link the main page no longer links to my own section but rather http://www.audioscrobbler.com/user/iramhernandez.

So what? Well, now you can see some interesting statistics about the music I've been listening to and I can use it to find people with similar music tastes and new music to listen to.

Panic on the Streets of London

2005-07-08T02:48:00.000-04:00

I can't resist writing about the London bombings because today I was a victim of Media Overload. I work at a hospital and there is a TV outside my office that the patients watch while they wait. The television was tuned to a twenty four hour cable news station and there was non-stop coverage of the events in London. It was really wild to hear the newscasters try to cast this event as London's 9-11, along with the obligatory Muslim/Christian holy war implications. All the while, I couldn't help but remember some of the lines from the song Panic by The Smiths...

Panic on the streets of London
Panic on the streets of Birmingham
I wonder to myself
Could life ever be sane again ?

The going consensus on television was that the the attacks were timed to coincide with the G8 meeting in Scotland where the wonderful rock and roll superheroes of western wold were meeting to cure AIDS, stop hunger, end third world debt and just all-around save the planet. And whilst our do-good leaders stood in circle holding hands with Mandela-like peaceful intentions, the evil no good Arabs blew some shit up. And its all been wrapped up in a gelatin coated twenty four hour news format. Open wide and swallow. This pill is getting too big.

Burn down the disco
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music that they constantly play
IT SAYS NOTHING TO ME ABOUT MY LIFE.

If the talking heads of CNN can present their story, then so shall I. So there is my version of events.

Inside the Gleneagles, seven men stood in circle jerk formation around another, ready to unleash misery upon the world. It was the time for the unmasking, when the alpha reptilian sheds his human form and devours the world. In a moment it would be done, just as a light bulb flashes brightly before it burns out, so is the world consumed. And onwards to digest.

Finally Updating Again

2005-07-08T00:50:00.000-04:00

I'm finally awake and rested enough to start blogging again. I haven't updated anything up here in quite a while. Sometimes the things immediately in front of me get so intense that I don't get a chance to work develop my online presence/persona.

more wampter

2005-01-22T00:48:00.000-05:00

I've been working on http://www.firebrowse.com/wampeter for the last week or so. Getting to be pretty good at hacking up the php scripts that run the site. I've added a lot of functionality and have started posting some of my writing. I'm almost done implementing all the ideas that I had when I first started with it so it's going to be crutial to get some input from people. I think there's a couple of people interested in it. We'll see how that goes.

One of the things that I'm most exited about is the inline flash stuff. I usually hate flash stuff but I think that maybe it will be a useful feature for this site. It would be ince to provide some way some way to extend the website to handle short stories, poems, and maybe music or performance art type of stuff. Right now the most crucial thing is to get some readers and contributors so I can work out some of the user interface bugs.

wampeter

2005-01-12T21:27:00.000-05:00

I've been working on the collaborative fiction wiki all day (yes, I have not job) and things are coming along nicely. The site is almost fully usable now. I decided to name it wampeter, after a concept in a Kurt Vonnegut book. So now the site is almost functional and has a title. Now I have to try to get some people to contribute. I guess I should start posting my own writing soon too before I ask other people to put up thier goods but I've been busy trying to get the wiki together and haven't done a lick or writing in a while. I'll probably start by posting some old writing although its probably a bit too personal and demented.

japaneno & vodka

2005-01-10T23:48:00.000-05:00

I just read Nowhere Man, a book about about a man from Sarajevo moving around the world living and traveling in from Kiev, Bosnia, and Chicago and he was inspired by the big tall glasses of Vodka everybody was drinking.

Today I decided to drink a big glass of Vodka and eat a raw jalapeno at the same time. God damn, that a potent combination. Try it some time. Its a crazy fucking experience.. like a kick in the balls.

Needless to say I'm a bit drunk right now. Ugg..

I've been working on this damn Wiki and trying to figure out how to make it kick ass. I showed it to my friend but I'm so bad a graphical design that he wasn't very impressed. Well I'm going to keep working on it and see how it turns out. I really would like to create a webspace for collaborative fiction that kicks a lot off ass. Hopefully something good is on the way.

I had written a few short snippets but accidently deleted them when I was cleaning up some of my experimentation . Damn, I shouldn't have given myself root privileges on the webserver. Bad Iram.

Last week I was in Fremont neighborhood of Seattle and was strolling under a big statue of Lenin pointing foward, seemingly towards the future. He was covered in Christmas lights. I was eating at Del Taco. It was all a bit too ironic. What am I doing paying for people to cook my food. I'm perfectly capable of cooking my own tacos.

I dedicate this jalapeno to comrade V Lenin.

more site updates

2004-12-30T17:01:00.000-05:00

I've obviously have had too much time on my hands because I've been updating my website a lot lately. Mostly, I've been wanting to get my hands dirty with a little web development.

Well, I've spiced up a couple of the sections. I've made the software section dynamically updated with php and msyql. I've made it in such a way that anyone can add, or edit items. There's still some things to work out, like people can wipe out an existing item's data... and other things but I guess I shouldn't be giving out all my secrets. I'm trying to set it up as a kind of wiki, and just see where it goes.

Speaking of wikis, I've set up a pmwiki on firebrowse.com/wiki for collaborative fiction. I haven't had too much time to write in it or finish setting it up because I've been busy with the other sections. I might try a couple of the other wiki's out there to determine which one of the many out there will suit my needs.

I think I might have already mentioned this but the playlist section has has a few upgrades as well. Again, I'm using php and mysql and a win-amp plugin called "now playing". I'm still tweaking the way it all works but it's mostly set up. I'd like to add a "playlist search" page and a "most often played"

Well, I'm heading off to the Bay Area today for New Year's celebrations... I think. I'm not too exited but my roommate wants to go so what the hell. There's worst things in the world than spending New Year's in the Bay Area.

Bullshit Holidays

2004-12-26T04:57:00.000-05:00

Well, I've been wasting time with the computer shit over the last couple of days. I guess I should have been doing Christmasy type stuff instead of burning my eyes out on the computer but my family and friends are far away and so I have nothing better to do. I did talk on the phone with my family and my brother and so that made my happy. I was especially happy to talk to my Uncle and Aunt in Mexico and hear that they are doing fine. They told me that it snowed in Matamoros for the first time since 1925. I wish I had been there.

I spent Christmas day alone today. First time since I was born, I think. The downstairs neighbor came up earlier and invited me to have dinner with his family. He said they had Turky and Ham but I decided to decline the invitation, partly because I am vegitarian (he didn't know), but also because I wanted to be alone. -- I've been staying to myself alot lately. It's probably not the best thing to do but fuck it. I did appreciate the invitation but I guess I decided to just say screw the holidays completely since I've made it a point to stay away from Christmas songs, gifts, etc. It took a lot of doing. It got to the point where I had to stay away from the grocery store because I was being oppressed by the Christmas music. Well, it will be over soon. I can't wait for next year to start.

site updates

2004-12-26T04:48:00.000-05:00

I've been busy revamping this website over the last couple of days. I've revamped the playlist section. Now logging everything to a mySQL database and dynamically generating the playlist using some simple PHP. I'll be making that section a bit more "full featured" but I'm happy with it now. The infrastructure is in place to make it pretty neat but I'm just not in the mood right now to play around with making it pretty. I've also made some headway into to software section. I've created a database backend and some content management tools for myself with which to make more entries. I've been kind of lazy about updating that section becaues previously, I had to create all the webpages manually and that is just too time consuming. Also, the data gets muddled up with the HTML and so it's hard to troubleshoot.

update

2004-12-21T04:19:00.000-05:00

I finally got the firebrowse.com domain under my control again and I moved the website to my own computers. What happened is that I hadn't paid yahoo hosting for the last couple of months and they stopped serving out my pages. I got it all worked out now, though. I was able to get them to give up the goods without having to pay them any money. Yay.

Well, some of the things on this site are broken right now. I'll be fixing them up soon. Also, now I can run a mysql database and so some things with the site that I've been wanting to do for a long time. Most notably, I'll convert the software listing here to dynamically generated pages and create a little front end for myself so that I can enter the data without having to create all the web pages manually. I need get the playlist working again too.

It's been a while since I've updated this site. Hopefully I'll put some stuff up on here that's worthwhile soon.

microshaft

2004-08-30T23:07:00.000-04:00

So I retook the 70-291 test a couple of weeks ago and passed it with flying colors. It took about two weeks to 'straighten' up the mess with Pearson VUE and with Microsoft. In the end I got a 50% voucher for my next test from Microsoft. I got no admission of guilt from any of the parties involved even though I am positive that they gave me a screwed up test. My main point of contention is that the objectives against which I was graded on the failed test are not the ones listed on the Microsoft site. Well, even though it was a nightmare to get this all behind me, I take solace in the fact that at least I know that Microsoft is full of shit and I proved it to them, even though they wouldn't admit it. At least I know I'm right. I wish I would have gotten a free test out of them but I'm going to have to settle for 50% off.

Well, I got one more test before I get MCSA certification and then I'm going to try to get the CCNA certification. Hopefully with those certs under my belt I can get a good job. I'm getting pretty tired of the job search. It's sapping all my energy. I don't have any other option but to continue so I just have to tough it out and hope for the best.

mcse shenanigans

2004-07-27T23:20:00.000-04:00

I'm so angry right now about stupid MCSE certifications...

I've been working toward getting and MCSE 2003 certification for the last couple of months and I'm so damn tired. I'm learning how to do things 'the microsoft way' just so that I can get a certification and improve my chances of landing a good job. It's been going OK until yesterdays experience at Unitek Information Systems in Fremont, CA. I had chosen the Unitek site as my testing center because they gave Pearson VUE tests, an VUE has a deal right now that if you take a certification test and fail it, they will let you retest for free.

Here the deal. I was taking the 70-291, "Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure Implementation, Management, and Maintainance" test for the second time. I had failed the test with a 693/700 a week prior and I'd spend the week preparing and practacing and I felt pretty confident. I don't understan how they grade these tests and everyone who asks is told that it is a Microsoft secret. Sheesh. But I digress.

I showed up at this Pearson VUE testing center and the staff was pretty confused. Aparently the are a 'career training' center and are not used to people just studying at home and taking the tests instead of giving them thousands of dollars for training. After they finally figure it out they take me to testing room with about twelve stations and nobody else taking tests besides me and they sit me in front of a computer. Except that it doesn't work. After trying all the workstations the test 'proctor' gets one of the tech support guys to jump start one of the computers and I am left in the room by myself to take the test.

As I click through the initial screen with the NDA and test rules I notice that one of the screens mentions something about beta questions. I didn't give it much thought at the time but I did notice that it said that ungraded questions would be inserted randomly with the regular questions. I proceeded to take the test and since I am given a whole notepad instead of a dry 6 inch by 6 inch dry erase board that I'd been given at the Prometric testing center where I had taken the previous tests, I made sure that I made little notes for myself on each quesion, in case I had to go back and recheck my answers. I was also using it to keep pace since I had not had not found the question number in the right top portion of the screen like my previous exams. And so I went along merrily on my way and then I noticed that I was on question 30 of the 35 that I expected and I had not yet seen any questions about DNS, unlike my first time. I continued answering the questions until I got to question 35. As soon as I clicked the button to confirm my last answers I leaned back after a long grueling ordeal.... Exept that I was presented with another question. At that point I thought that maybe I had miscounted the questions and so I answerd question number 36. And then I was presented with another question. When I got to question number 38 I began to realize that it was not my inability to count that was the problem, but that something else was going on. I scanned the screen carefully until I found at the bottem left corner in small type: 38 of 55 questions answerd. Holy shit. 38 of 55 questions and only 20 minutes left to go. I sped through the rest of the exam and wound up taking the last five minutes to randomly choose the answers for the last five of six questions, I barely had enough time to read the answers, let alone the questions and so I was sure that I had missed many of the last questions. When I finally 'completed' the exam I was confronted with a score of 612 out of 700. I got up from the my chair and walked up the hall to the front desk.

When I got to the desk I had to flag somebody down because the lady who was supposed to be my 'proctor' was no where in sight. I told them that I had just completed the test. The lady walked up to the printer and said, "Oh, he failed" to somebody else in the office. She handed me the paper and sent me on my way. I went to my truck and sat ther fuming and just punched the dashboard and grunted and cursed. What the hell had just happend.

As I drove back to my home I had plent of time to think about it. I kept wondering, why did I get 55 questions instead of 35? Why did I get beta questions? Why was I not at least warned that this was going on? Why, after preparing better for this test than any other test, was I done in not by the content of the questions, but by the delivery of the test?

When I got home I jumped on my computer and searched the web for "MCSE beta exam". On the microsoft website I found that beta exams were given free of charge to specific certified professionals so that Microsoft could take tweak their tests. More questions popped into my mind. Why did I get a beta exam anyway? Why did they charge me for it? What the hell just happened to me?

I decided to confront the Microsoft's MCP department and Pearson VUE but I had to wait until the next day because their offices were closed.

The next morning I called 1-800-636-7544, the MCP Program Info line. I told the guy my story and he listened respectfully and talked to his manager a couple of times as I told him my story. He asked me if the questions were appropriate to the test, and wether or not I thought any of the questions were too hard. I answered his question and consulted his manager again. He told me that there was nothing he could do, that they would investigate the incident, but that I was pretty much on my own because the test that I had taken was the right test. He told me that they offer three different tests. A 'standard' test. A 'long' test. And an 'adaptive' test. He told me that the test itself would have anywhere from 30 to 70 questions. That was not what I expected to hear. I asked him if it was standard practive to give regular MCP candidates beta questions and he conceeded that it was not. Armed with the information I decided to confront VUE next.

I called VUE and the guy was pretty attentive and receptive to my situation. That's one thing I can say both the Microsoft guy and the Pearson VUE guy were very good at handing the situation. I've been on the other end of the Customer Support line and I know how hard it can be to handle irate customers. And I was irate. After I expained the situation to the VUE customer support representative, he informed me that he was going to pass the information to his manger for her review. He said that he was going to recommend that I get to take the test again for free. He told me that they were going to pull my test and review it and that I would be called back within a week. Now I wait.

After I hung up I reviewed my exam report. I compared it with my previous exam report and I noticed something else that shocked me. The objectives were different on each report. Both reports had the objectives:

Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining IP Addressing

Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining Name Resolutions

Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining Network Security

Maintaining a Network Infrastructure

The 35 question version had Implementing, Managing, and Maitaning Routing and Remote Access, and the 55 question version had Managing and Maintaining Physical and Logical Devices.

So what was going on? Had the Microsoft objectives changed in the last two weeks. And if so, why did my books not list the 'Managing and Maintaining Physical and Logical Devices' objective and why had Microsoft not updated it website?

Obviously, I had been screwed of my time and my money. If it wasn't for the fact that 50% of the sys admin out there wont even look at your resume without MCSE certification and that I need to find a good job soon, I would give up on this quest for MCSE certs.

And so now I wait patiently, but still angry. I don't expect to hear back from Microsoft but I will keep on Pearson VUE so that the very least they let me take the test again. Hopefully they can get it right next time.

a tale of heros

2004-07-01T22:49:00.000-04:00

I was just verifying that all the pages looked alright and remembered that the header image on the a tale of heros section is a little thing that I put together in photoshop and it has a funny story behind it. The three silhouettes in that picture were made from two separate pictures, one of some black panthers and another of Jesus Christ. In the header i tried to make them look like a wizard and two warriors... go figure. You can look at the picture by clicking here.

new site

2004-07-01T22:30:00.000-04:00

So I finally registered a domain name and have a place to put my files and random junk up on the web for the world to see. It feels a little bit like hanging your clothes out to dry in a clothesline. Yeah, you think they are clean but maybe your neighbors or random strangers will see them as they wander by and condemn you for the brand of clothes, or your sense of style, or maybe how many holes you have in your socks. So I guess what I'm saying is that can't put out your S&M outfit out to dry on the clothesline... unless you are looking for some down and dirty action.

I started putting up some content on this site. I figure if I'm going to be paying a montly hosting fee, I should put some stuff that's useful here instead of just using the space for narcisistic purposes. So far, I've got a little software review section and a posting of my friend Tim's write-up of a long D&D game that we played. Yeah, it sounds nerdy but it was a pretty neat time playing the game and since he wrote up all the sections, I figured I'd put it up here and share it with people.

I plan on adding another section with some useful links to websites, a book review section, and possibly use some of this space as a collaborative journal where me and some friends can post some of our writing and poetry. Also, I like to create just random little webpages and maybe I'll just put up some stupid little things here and there.

I guess the other thing that I want to do here is is just learn a bit more about putting web pages together so I will probably be hand-coding all these pages and they may look a little crazy at times but hey... whatever.