TrueCrypt for Mac OS X

I made an interesting discovery today regarding the cross-platform use of the TrueCrypt software package. I created an encrypted partition on a thumb drive on a Windows box. This partition used the NTFS file system. But when I mounted this partition in Mac OS X as a non-root user I didn't have write privileges. However, if I created a partition under Windows using the FAT32 file system then I would have write permissions under Mac OS X. My guess is that because FAT32 lacks the extended file attributes needed for per-user permissions.

Eigenbreeding

I've come up with a new, math-based system for breeding the world's cutest cats.

Begin with a breeding set of cats. Rank each cat's cuteness based on a fixed set of criteria. This data is formatted into a matrix. The set of matrices is then calculated for their Eigenvalue.

Now select cats whose cuteness measurements most closely match the Eigencuteness values. From their kittens calculate new Eigencuteness values, a new Eigenvalue overall, and repeat. Eventually you'll have a cat that approaches optimal cuteness!

This approach also accommodates for changes in taste because the Eigenvalue can shift over time.

Find Your MAC Address: Nintendo DS

I was going to do another one of these mini-tutorials on how to find your MAC address for the Nintendo DS. Turns out there's no way to do this with the firmware that ships on the DS. Only certain games that allow you to play across the Internet will give you the MAC address. If time permits I'll try to find a list of those games and post it here.

Replacing Your Verizon Router

I recently made the switch from Comcast cable to Verizon's FiOS service for my home Internet needs. For Comcast my Linksys BEFCMU10 cable modem worked fine for seven years. I don't think you can even buy one of those new anymore. However, Verizon foisted a different wireless router off onto me, the ActionTec MI424WR.

A generic home network router will have five Ethernet ports on it. One port will be for the WAN while the other four are for the LAN. In this case we'll have two such routers. We want our router to be the main one with the ActionTec behind it. Because routers are layer 3 devices we'll need to set up two different IP networks. These network addresses can be anything not publicly routable. For this example our two networks are 192.168.0.0/24 and 192.168.1.0/24.

We'll call our two routers A and B. Router A will be the one that connects to the ISP. The WAN address on A is determined by the ISP (usually via DHCP) so we can ignore that. The LAN addresses on A will be given the 192.168.0.0/24 range. Router B's WAN port will connect to one of the LAN ports on A so it will have to be something like 192.168.0.3. The LAN ports on B belong to the second network so their range is 192.168.1.0/24.

In this example our settop box only talks to router B. So the box will likely have an address like 192.168.1.73. This way you can use your own, better router while keeping basic TV functionality with Verizon FiOS.

New Year: New Game

I've been playing a game I made up. You know how every store with a credit card payment option now has those electronic pen signy things? You know how your signature never looks like your signature? Well, my game is that every time I have to sign own of those I sign it in a completely different way. Sometimes I hold the pen likes its a giant novelty Crayon. Other times I use it to paint my signature on like a great artist. This is all because its totally irrelevant. No one looks at the signatures and they aren't digitally checked. So what's the point? Have fun!

Finding Your MAC Address: Nintendo Wii

First, start off in the Wii's Main Menu where all the various channels are displayed. In the lower left-hand corner is a round button labeled Wii. When you hover over it the tooltip is "Wii Options". Start by clicking that button.

Now you have two big options to choose from. Select the one on the right, Wii Settings.

In this next menu you'll start out with a tab at the top labeled Wii System Settings 1. There's also a series of three rounded rectangles numbered 1 through 3 at the bottom right-hand corner. You'll need to press a right-pointing arrow button that's on the right-hand center side of the screen. Now you're in the aptly named Wii System Settings 2 tab. Choose the Internet option.

At this point you only have three choices. Pick the middle one, Console Information. And there is you MAC Address. Its just a series of twelve hexidecimal characters where pairs of characters are seperated by dashes (unlike the colon seperators for the iPod Touch). You can safely ignore the LAN Adapter MAC Address so long as you're only interested in the Wi-Fi networking for the Wii. The first half of your MAC address should be "00-21-47".

Finding Your MAC Address: Apple iPod Touch

If your wireless network hub is set up with a MAC address filter/white list then you'll need to collect all the MAC addresses from your new toys in order to get them connected.

First up in this series on finding MAC addresses is the Apple iPod Touch because its near and dear to my heart.

From the Main Menu of the iPod you want to choose the Settings option. By default this will be in the bottom right-hand corner. The icon is a series of metal gears.

Choose the General option, which is the third from the top and at the top of a contiguous list of options.

Now, choose the About option. Scroll to the very bottom. The second to last item in the list is Wi-Fi Address, which is just the MAC address for the 802.11 network device. The value itself is a string of twelve hexidecimal characters with colons between each pair of characters. It looks something like: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx where "xx" are two hexidecimal characters. The first half of the string should actually be "00:22:41" because all Apple devices should start with the same substring!

Holiday Techno Toys

I'm sure a lot of people got some cool gear for the holidays. My personal experience over the past couple days has consisted of updating network configurations to allow these boxes out onto the Net. So I thought I'd publish a quick series of articles giving little pointers on how to speed things along. Enjoy!

Business Plan

I'm waiting at home for an installation and the questions occurs to me: how do service industries get away with only doing installations during normal business hours? Normal business hours are when everybody is doing business! If you're a service company that requires installations then you need to offer that service when its convenient to your customers. How hard would it be to require you installers to work second shift instead of first?

The Future of Libraries

I've become a big fan of my local public library despite its lack of selection. But whenever I walk in there I see all the dozen or so computers occupied and few people browsing the books. This brings up a conversation that I don't claim to be the originator of: What will the mission of libraries be in a world of changing media?

Libraries are no stranger to changing media. The only constant has been the printed book. But even that is starting to slip. The last twenty years has introduced changes in media that can only be described as revolutionary. Who now can remember micrographs?

Its not the mission of a library to keep printed books in vogue. Certainly they're aesthetically pleasing. But a library is there to disseminate knowledge. But they also can't be glorified, free Internet cafes. So the challenge of the modern library is how to balance these various factors while remaining flexible and open to new developments.

Calling All Nerds

I've picked up a recent fascination with name spaces, specifically constrained name spaces like country codes, language codes, XML and other programming languages. But I always wondered why all four-letter TV and radio station identifiers started with either a "W" or a "K" like WKRP or KQED. Turns out that broadcast stations could begin with any letter of the alphabet but certain ranges were allocated to certain countries. For instance, the U.S. gets all sequences starting with "W" but only a subset of all sequences beginning with "K".

Trailerpark Training

Last night at a BW3's I saw a couple of kids playing one of this touch screen video consoles at their table. This wouldn't be remarkable but the game they were playing was beer pong against cartoon pirates. I mean, really? Is this something that 7 year-olds need to be practicing?

До свидания, Америка

Apparently a learned Russian scholar was quoted as saying that the current financial turmoil will cause the United States to split into several pieces. I can't say I'm terribly worried. This is after all coming from someone who has a degree in political science in a country that can't let its people actually vote. Russia seems to excel in the area of the Potemkin vote.

Art Deco-Inspired

Recently I've develop a strong interest in art deco architecture and style. Specifically I dig the streamline moderne style. One weekend I spent in New York I hoofed dozens of blocks to see some of the classic architecture.

• Road to Perdition - Depression-era gangster flick set in the Midwest around the Chicago area.
  
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow - An alternate history direct from a pulp magazine full of 1940s style.
  
• The Thirteenth Floor - Half the movie is set in "modern" times and half of it in a simulation of 1930s Los Angeles.
  
• Indiana Jones - Set in the 30s and 40s it features a lot of iconic objects like the Boeing 314 Clipper.
• Gattaca - Actually set in the future but with a retro styling completely reminiscent of art deco.
  
• Bioshock - Not really a movie but this video game is almost one in its own right. Set in a 1960s submarine city that was straight out of the 1940s.
  
• Crimson Skies - Also not a movie, but this game exists in a dystopian alternate history where rigid airships ply the skies with other 1940s aircraft.
  

A Born Leader

I've never understood the saying, "To lead a good life." As if somehow life is something that can be lead around by the nose. It seems to me that life is something that is inflicted upon us.

I'm going for "deep" here and not "emo".

Ballot Time

It's almost election time in the United States! But even some people in the USA don't realize that you're voting on more than just a couple of offices. Usually you have several ballot items concerning state, county, or local referendums. Some states just put on the ballot helpful bits like: "Do you vote for or against proposition 427?" What does that mean?! Well now you can find out using Ballotopedia! Its a great site and now I know all about the ballot items I'll be seeing. Granted, I'm still going to vote no on all of them, but at least I know!

ACORN Voter Fraud

Recently there were revelations of voter registration fraud by a group called Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). The irony is that just in the last year I got a home mortgage for low-income families through an ACORN program.

While sitting in one of the ACORN office, waiting to do our financial review, I noticed a lot of different things posted on the walls. One was a piece of paper identifying the daily voter registration quotas. Now, I didn't see anything that said to fake registrations if you can't get them otherwise, but it does occur to me that setting hard quotas for something like voter registration does put a lot of pressure on the actual workers who are pounding the streets. This doesn't spell out impropriety, but it does concern me.

More Mail Scams

I got a nice postcard in the mail today. It came from:

Dealership Warranties
12131 Dorsett Rd., #106
Maryland Heights, MO 63043

It had "VEHICLE SERVICE NOTIFICATION" splashed across the top in bold, capitalized text. Below it informed me:

This notification is to inform you that your factory warranty has expired or is about to expire. To avoid the high cost of automobile repairs, call us immediately with your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and exact miles to renew.

Now this isn't exactly a scam. But it is certainly deceptive. The last sentence suggests that I can "renew" my warranty. But they want my VIN and mileage. An actual warranty holder would already know the first part, and any service appointments with a dealership would record the second part.

The phone number included with this mail is: 1-866-533-9966. A Google search for this number shows quite a few more instances of this dubious sales practice.

Maryland Slots

This coming November there will be a referendum on the ballot about whether or not to allow slots machines at horse racing tracks around the state of Maryland. I'll just state from the beginning that I'm opposed to the idea. It seems like there are a couple of arguments one might use against slots.

Social Cost Argument

There are all kinds of studies about what gambling does to a community. Gambling addiction overwhelmingly affects the lower income brackets. In other words, those who can least afford to gamble do it the most, and do it to excess. Apparently there are provisions in the Maryland proposal to use some of the income for increased policing around the slots areas. Its like they're admitting that it'll create problems.

I'm also annoyed by the "stupidity tax" argument for slots. If its true that those who can't afford to gamble do it more then that just increases the future costs for unemployment, food stamps, and any number of other social programs to support those people. So the tax is actually on those who advocate letting poor people gamble their money away. In a way I guess it is a "stupidity tax", but on who?

Money for Education

The way a lot of slots proponents advocate their goal is to sell it as income for education. Well, that's obviously ignoring the fact that a lot of companies are going to first turn a profit on the gambling before turning over some of the money to the state.

The fact of the matter is that if we really do need more money for education, which usually seems to be the case, then the cheaper and more equitable solution is to increase taxes. Taxes can be tailored to spread the financial cost across the economic spectrum. Creating companies that are creating profits for themselves first doesn't seem to be the most efficient solution.

Save the Horsies

Apparently the horse racing industry is falling on hard times. Allowing slot machines on the premises will increase the income to these establishments and allow racing to continue.

So, let me get this straight... There's a failing industry, and we're all supposed to chip in to help it survive? That smacks more of socialism than capitalism. Ayn Rand would give a big, "I told you so," to that.

Losing Money to Those "Other" States

There are slot machines in neighboring West Virginia and Delaware. Some people think that we're "losing" money to these states, and that somehow by having our own slot machines we'll be able to keep it local.

This goes back to the social cost argument. The richest people are playing slot machines, so really how much money are we losing out on? And the, "everyone else is doing it argument," is morally dubious at best, and flat out juvenile at worst.

Digg A Hole, Then Crap in It

The meta-news site, Digg, garnered a lot of attention a while ago. It was hailed as the second coming of the Internet. The concept was that you, citizen journalist, can "Digg" up news stories and post them online to be democratically voted up or down. The steam turd of a buzzword for this is, "user-generated content". Well, having "yes" or "no" buttons on a web site hardly equates to democracy. I haven't visited Digg very often anymore. Maybe twice a year. But every time I'm astounded by the fact that the site is so blatantly slanted to the liberal bent. I'm talking like beyond Marx himself here! It's so bad that I find the site to be completely irrelevant anymore aside from being a soapbox for every blowhard and political pundit wannabe.