Month: May 2012

Categories
Computers

Linux Printing- An Important Detail

A long time ago, right here in this galaxy I wrote a post detailing how to setup a CUPS client for printing through a CUPS server. For the post in question, it dealt with a USB printer connected to a CUPS server. I’ve had exactly zero problems with the setup since I figured it out.

We also have a network based printer that the Wife uses in her office. In order to ease setup issues(oh the irony of those words), I also setup the CUPS server to work with her printer. So now, from the server, I could print to either printer.

But for the longest time I have not been able to get a client to work with this printer using the CUPS server. It’s made no sense to me in all this time because I’ve been following the above mentioned post, double checking everything along the way.

I’ve taken shots at making it work off and on for many months now. It was always been a thorn in my side because it made no sense that I couldn’t make it work. I’ve always ended up walking away from the problem in disgust, unable to figure it out.

Finally today, I figured out the problem. And it just hits home a little debugging heuristic that I always seem to forget: the more baffling the problem, the more likely it’s the result of missing something simple. In other words, rather than having some strange imagined problem involving the network, the problem was a rather simple configuration setting.

Turns out, the printer has to be shared on the CUPS server. This is a simple checkbox option that appears during the printer setup process in CUPS. How I missed something that basic for so long, I just don’t know.

Categories
Misc

Is This Really Surprising?

From Wired Science comes news of a study that shows that living in rural areas boosts immunity to allergies. Or, in other words, kids are less likely to develop allergies if they are exposed to a lot of biodiversity, er, plants and stuff.

I guess the idea is another demonstration of a counter-conventional wisdom. In this case, the conventional wisdom is to isolate kids from all that nasty pollen and dirt and Nature so they won’t develop allergies. If they aren’t exposed, they won’t get it! The only problem is I’m not so sure this is conventional wisdom.

We’ve seen a pretty steady stream of studies demonstrating that exposing kids to environmental stresses like dirt and pollen actually boost the immune system, ultimately making the child healthier, not less so. Seems to me this is just another example of that trend.

Categories
Misc

Where the Wild Things Were

In case you haven’t been on the internet at all today, Maurice Sendak, author and illustrator of *Where The Wild Things Are” has died. He was 83.

Until today, I had no idea who wrote the book, let alone illustrated it. Judging by the number of blurbs about his passing that I’ve seen during my own surfing today, he’d certainly attained to a fair amount of fandom. Looking at his Wikipedia entry, I see that’s the only book of his I know. Or at least recognize. He seems to have been a more prolific illustrator than writer, and managed to stir up some controversy with the illustrations in one of his books.

Aside from that, I skimmed through an interview with him and he struck me as pretty curmudgeonly. Perhaps he was having a bad day, although the article’s author indicated Sendak’s behavior was pretty typical for him.

The wild rumpus will continue without him.

Categories
Politics

What’s That About?

Via Ann Althouse, Bank of America is forgiving mortgages for certain “qualified” borrowers. The program, or whatever, is the result of a settlement over abuses in dealing with foreclosures. There isn’t a whole heckuva lot of detail at the source article either.

I’ll admit my initial reaction was outrage. Another round of helping out people who got in over their heads making people like myself and the Wife sucker’s. But then, after seeing that it’s a settlement, I started wondering if there isn’t some angle that BoA is playing here that makes this much less than it appears. For instance, perhaps not that many people will ultimately qualify. Or perhaps those that qualify are also likely to end up losing the deal because they can’t meet some other conditions. I’m not a banker, so I can’t imagine all the ways this could be to a bank’s advantage.

On the flip side, there will undoubtedly be some people who make out, getting tens-of-thousands of dollars forgiven from their debt load. Having their bad behavior rewarded.

Seems hard to escape the fact that, no matter what side you choose, those of us who pay our debts get screwed. We pay the bank so they can go and abuse trust. And we also foot the bill for the delinquents.

The kids lament their lot in life as being unfair. Wait until they’re old enough to grasp this idea.

Categories
Family

Sourpatch Bread

I’d starting making up the dough for another loaf of the family favorite, white bread. Actually, it’s my own version of Wonder Bread and it really is quite good.

The lass came up and took a look at the dough and wanted to know what kind of bread I was making. After I told her she asked “When are you going to make the sourpatch bread?”

Technically speaking, I’ve never made sourpatch bread. Googling also reveals that no such bread exists. None the less, I’m pretty sure I know what she’s talking about, but rather than correct her I rolled with the punch. “Because I don’t have any sourpatch starter,” I explained.

“You don’t have any sourpatch?” she asked. I guess she wanted confirmation.

“In order to make sourpatch bread you need to make sourpatch starter. I don’t have any of the starter,” I explained in more detail.

“What’s a sourpatch starter?”

Oh boy.

“It’s just some flour and water that’s been allowed to sit around for awhile. It gets a sour taste. That’s why it’s called sourpatch.” No mention of yeast or it would have to become a full blown chemistry course. Or biology.

“How do you make it?”

“With flour and water,” I deadpanned.

“No, I mean…how do you make the sourpatch stuff?”

“With flour and water,” I repeated.

She thought about that for a couple seconds.

“Are you going to make some?”

“I’ve been trying to but haven’t been able to make a batch that works well,” I told her.

“After you make the starter you’ll be able to make the sourpatch bread?”

Back to where we started. I think that’s good because it probably means this line of questioning has just about run it’s course.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Daddy, I like sourpatch bread.”

This is news to me. Since it’s been awhile since I’ve been able to make it, I have my doubts she knows what she’s talking about. But that’s OK.

Now I just have to make up some Sourpatch bread.

Categories
Misc

Raw Nature

Well, we had a ten minute mini-drama in the garden this afternoon. Don’t worry, I captured it all on, uh, film. Memory. SD card. You get the idea.

It started with the Wife, noticing that one of the dogs was in a pointing position. So she turned to look at what he was fixated on, and jumped from the garden all the way into the house uttering some kind of noise that communicated disgust, revulsion and other rather strong, emotions. As I went outside she simply said “A snake caught a toad in the garden.”

My initial reaction was “Really?!?” I’m pretty sure she was heading for the shower.

So the kids and I were treated to a little bit of Nature at her rawest. Well, maybe not rawest, but how often do you get to watch a snake eat a toad in your backyard?

When I got there initially, the snake had the toad by one of it’s rear legs. It looked like the toad should have been able to make a good jump and escape. But when it did that, it was unsuccessful. Only escaping up to its foot. The snake quickly recaptured its lost ground.

And that’s where the pictures pick up from. If you are a snake-o-phobe or bear any of Indiana Jones’ attitude toward snakes, do not click on the jump link.

You have been warned.

Continue reading “Raw Nature”
Categories
Misc

Admit It

After seeing this, you want one.

The ad is unintentionally hilarious. They show off the device and explain that the laser is the real deal. They show two Jedi wannabes duking it out with a couple of “lasersabres” (at least, it looks like it), and then quickly go into an explanation about how dangerous the lasers are and that no one should use them as a sword or for dueling and blah, blah, blah.

Still, it’s very cool. If we could slice the Thanksgiving turkey with it, it would be hard to turn down.

Categories
Family

You Never Know

So a couple of weeks ago, I noted that I was disappointed with the math the boy had learned this year. Mainly, I felt he hadn’t learned some fundamentals like borrowing and carrying for his addition and subtraction. I got a couple of suggestions that I should just show him myself, which is so obvious that I’d ruled it out.

More seriously, I’d refrained from doing it because the boy is typically pretty touchy about that stuff. I didn’t want him to get frustrated, shutdown and turn the thing into a nightmare.

But yesterday, an opportunity presented itself and I decided to roll the dice. Right after dinner, the boy was sitting around so I grabbed a pencil and paper and wrote a problem down for him that involved carrying. But I presented it that I’d reward him for his efforts. He wanted to know if as long as he tried that meant he’d get rewarded. I opted to put the screws to him and told him it was all or nothing.

Of course, he didn’t get it quite right. But he was close and I showed him what he did wrong. Then I gave him another one. Mind you, I was having him add 3 and 4-digit numbers to try and maximize the practice while minimizing the number of problems. Once he seemed to get it, I told him “Double-or-nothing on this one.” Even though, technically, he still had nothing. But his curiosity had been piqued and I kept going with it.

After a bit more, he asked about borrowing. So I showed him how that worked and gave him a few practice problems there as well. When we were done, I informed him that he could now add and subtract any numbers together. Which isn’t quite true, strictly speaking. But it was close enough for my purposes.

I even rewarded him with a little ice cream when it was all done.

So then when he came home today, he asked for a few more problems to practice with and told me he’d informed his teacher that he’d learned how to carry in addition. He even got her to give him a couple of problems.

So I guess it worked out OK.

Categories
Football

On the End of Football

It appears that Junior Seau’s suicide has sparked a rash of renewed interest on the topic of “The End of Football.” John Gruber links to an article at Grantland and an older piece in the New Yorker. Of the two, the New Yorker piece is by far the more interesting, talking about incidents of head trauma in boxing and football. Mainly football. The Grantland piece basically says the that football will eventually be sued into oblivion. I’ve also seen other blog posts discussing the general topic of football eventually becoming extinct.

Certainly it’s plausible. As a parent, reading the above linked article about head trauma, it certainly gives me pause. The boy had become much more interested in football this past year. Really, the first time he’d shown any interest in it. He’s asked a lot of questions about playing football and, if I were to guess right now, he expects the opportunity to play some day. Assuming there’s a program available, he’ll get his chance.

Of all the scenarios discussed, the liability angle seems the most likely to bring about the end of football as we know it. In particular, I can see a concerted effort backed by medical research that results in high school football slowly being eliminated. Followed by the college game. At that point, assuming football maintains it’s current form, the NFL will have to sink money into some kind of farm system. When that happens, the quality of play will drop off because the money will be drying up and the top athletes will no longer want to play football. Perhaps it swings back to baseball. Or maybe US soccer gets a big shot in the arm.

Mind you, I’m not predicting that end. I’m just saying it won’t surprise me. As a society, we’ve become extremely risk averse. In particular, our intellectual leaders (aka: pundits of all stripes) don’t have much tolerance for it. The safe thing to do is not play football. And really, who could argue?

But if that day were to come to pass, it will be a sorry day. What football players do, at the college and especially the pro level, is not something that just anyone can do. Sure, hitting is a part of the game (BTW- I refuse to use the word “violent’ regarding football. Violence is senseless, chaotic and brutal. Violence is getting beaten on the street, or worse. Football is not violent.) But it’s only part of the game. Watch a running back follow his blockers down the field reading the blocks and seeing his lanes; watch a quarterback throw a 35 yard laser on a deep crossing pattern to a receiver perfectly in stride; watch a defensive lineman charge full speed 10 yards upfield, and then turn around and spring in the other direction and still make a tackle, all in less than 4 seconds. That stuff isn’t just luck. It isn’t something that can be duplicated by a bunch of guys playing touch football.

Football players aren’t just ordinary people. They’re men who have committed themselves to something and made themselves the very best at what they do. Sure, a bunch of guys can go out on a Saturday and play flag football. Someone might even do something noteworthy, like make a long run or catch a pass. Maybe that guy gets bragging rights for the weekend. But he pales in comparison to the guys we watch on Saturday and Sunday. That weekend hero can’t even get on the same field as those guys.

There’s glory waiting for the athlete that chooses to go there, where lesser beings fear to tread. As long as they continue to do so, people will watch them if only to see how far he can make it, to be amazed at what can be. They’ll watch just based on the slimmest of hopes that they’ll see something they’ve never seen before, be it a big hit, a one handed grab, or a winning touchdown as time expires.

Yes, there’s a price to be paid. But it’s the athlete’s choice, not the pundits and their medical studies.

Categories
Football

Junior Seau- RIP

This bit of football news is everywhere, so no links, but the reports are that Junior Seau committed suicide earlier today. By all accounts, he was a great locker room guy, player and teammate. He was also divorced, so he obviously had some family issues, and I was also reminded of his strange incident a few years back where he supposedly fell asleep while driving and drove off the road. So while he was by all accounts a great NFL player, his life after football was somewhat more muddled.

It’s certainly a sad day for his family, friends and fans. It’s also a waste that someone with so much energy and capability couldn’t find a worthy pursuit to channel his personal resources towards. So while he can certainly be held up as a model for how to play football, he falls short of the mark when it comes to how to live a life. That’s a shame.

Categories
Family

Finally- The Boy Handles a Little Adversity

Lost in the shuffle a bit last week was that the boy had belt testing at his Martial Arts school. In particular, this one was significant for the boy because it was to advancie to the red belt level- the final one prior to becoming an apprentice black belt.

The school takes the testing seriously at this stage of the kid’s development. A point that was made apparent by the fact that when he went on Monday expecting to test, he was told he could only be tested by one of the 2 head instructors for the school and neither was scheduled to be there that night. So he had to wait until Wednesday to do his testing.

He ultimately ended up failing his testing that day. He was unable to perform a couple of the self-defense techniques requested of him and the instructor also felt his forms needed a little more work. The boy was a bit confused initially because he thought he could test again the next night to earn his advancement. In reality, he has to train and test again next month to earn his next belt.

When reality finally sunk in to him, he was upset. Partly because he gets things in his mind that “this is how it will be” and he doesn’t always deal well when things don’t go as he intended. He was also upset because he wants to earn his black belt before I do and now he thinks I’m going to get there “first.”

So I sat him down and did my best to explain a little more of the reality he was in. Namely, that there is no competition between him and myself. Also, that it was OK to fail- because all it meant was that he had to work another month to earn his red belt. In the scheme of things, another month means nothing; after all, he’s already been at this for 3 years. I also tried to reassure him that as long as he kept at it, we would eventually earn his black belt.

Usually, when he’s upset about his sort of thing, the boy is nearly inconsolable and refuses to hear, listen or comprehend anything. This time was different. While he was clearly upset, he seemed to be willing to listen and understand that his space-time continuum was not going to collapse.

The proof of the pudding came last night when one of the instructors came up to the Wife and asked what had happened with stripe testing. The instructor had already spoken to the boy and told her the basics, and impressed her with the fact that he was handling the “setback” well. After a quick discussion, the instructor said she’d look into what happened so she could help him our for the next testing cycle.

So for those of you out there with similar “ability to handle failure” issues in their kids, wondering when things will start to improve- I have a completely non-scientific answer. About 8 years. That’s all. And mind you, this was only a single instance of coping well.

Hooray for progress.