mikal – Page 82 – Made by Mikal

I, Robot

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 12, 2008
Post category:Book

The 1950s must have been a great time to be a science fiction author. WW2 was finally over, and seemingly massively stupid ideas like mutually assured destruction, nuclear rifles so powerful that they were as much a danger to those firing them as those who were on the receiving end, and Brylcreem were all the rage. Into this atmosphere of run away idiocy comes Asimov's I, Robot, the book which defined the three laws of robotics, and some how managed to not suggest that humanity should nuke each other all into submission. This book is still an excellent read almost 60 years later, and I think still shows us some of the future. Its a little depressing to think how little we've achieved towards Asimov's proposed future world, given the time line laid out in this book. One of the interesting aspects of this book is Asimov's failure to predict things which seem so mundane now, but must have not been obvious to an observer in 1950. For example: The commonness of computers now. One of the short stories revolves around a secret batch of robots, and the need to debug them. The protagonists can't use a computer though, because…

Bill The Galactic Hero

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 11, 2008
Post category:Book

This book is an interesting read, but for unusual reasons. Its as if Harrison sets out to write a terrible book, and learns new techniques to achieve this terrible along the way. An example of his mastery of the art: A hundred bucks a month was good money, though, and Bill saved every bit of it. Easy, lazy months rolled by, and he regularly went to meetings and reported regularly to the G.B.I., and on the first of every month he would find his money baked into the egg roll he invariably had for lunch. He kept the greasy bills in a toy rubber cat he found on the rubbish heap, and bit by bit the kitty grew. It seems to me that this book is so terrible it has to be deliberate, and its good to see that Wikipedia agrees: Bill, the Galactic Hero is a satirical science fiction novel by Harry Harrison, first published in 1965. It is a response to Heinlein's controversially militaristic Starship Troopers. The overall plot is similar, the details rather less so; and Harrison makes the most of an opportunity to spoof the work of other authors including Isaac Asimov, "Doc" Smith, and Joseph…

Estimating the progress of queries on MySQL

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 8, 2008
Post category:Mysql

I've been doing a lot of batch updates on one of my databases at home recently. show processlist says something like this: mysql> show processlist; +-------+------+---------------+--------------+---------+-------+----------+------------------------------------------+ | Id | User | Host | db | Command | Time | State | Info | +-------+------+---------------+--------------+---------+-------+----------+------------------------------------------| | 18354 | root | maui:37403 | smtp_servers | Query | 57234 | Updating | update ips_218 set reverse_lookup = null | | 22286 | root | maui:37348 | smtp_servers | Query | 38103 | Updating | update ips_80 set reverse_lookup = null, | | 22851 | root | maui:54982 | smtp_servers | Query | 34091 | Updating | update ips_19 set reverse_lookup = null, | | 23351 | root | molokai:58232 | smtp_servers | Sleep | 57 | | NULL | | 23496 | root | maui:40923 | smtp_servers | Query | 29973 | Updating | update ips_62 set reverse_lookup = null, | | 23906 | root | maui:38068 | smtp_servers | Query | 26794 | Updating | update ips_83 set reverse_lookup = null, | | 25675 | root | maui:56438 | smtp_servers | Query | 12505 | Updating | update ips_82 set reverse_lookup = null, | | 25846 | root | maui:41334 | smtp_servers…

The Complete Hammer’s Slammers Volume 2

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 7, 2008
Post category:Book

This book is as good as The first volume. This book comes highly recommended. Stories included: At Any Price Counting the Cost Rolling Hot The Warrior The Day of Glory [isbn: 1892389738]

The Complete Hammer’s Slammers Volume 1

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 7, 2008
Post category:Book

It occurred to me over the weekend that it was odd that I was updating books I had recently read on a book site like goodreads, given that all I'm doing by entering data on their site is blogging someplace that not even I remember to read. I'm therefore going to move all of that stuff over to here, and then try to remember to blog about books I've read recently in the future. Don't worry though, I don't get much time to read in between work, study and kids, so it wont be too many posts. Dad got me this and the second volume for my birthday last year, and they were awesome. The books are about a future tank squadron which takes on mercenary jobs, none of which ever seem to be clean or simple. Along the way you end up learning that they're all just misfits who haven't managed to find any other job which is a better fit for them. Worse than that, I'm left with the impression that in the back of their minds they all realize that they're running on borrowed time. David Drake has a unique position to comment on what its like…

A Stainless Steel Rat is Born

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 7, 2008
Post category:Book

This was another book I read as a kid and had fond memories of. When I found it at Powell's books for under $4 I just had to pick it up. Harrison seems to focus on "pulp science fiction" -- all of the stuff I have seen from him has been short and easy reading, as is the case with this book. What do you do if you're stuck on a farming planet, smart, and bored out of your brain? Apparently the answer is to turn to a life of crime for entertainment. That's what James DeGriz does, and he is a great anti-hero while he's at it. Great book. [isbn: 0553279424]

init script

Post author:mikal
Post published:April 13, 2008
Post category:Mythtv

Jake Graft pointed out in a comment that I had forgotten to put the init script from the MythTV book online. My apologies. #! /bin/sh # # mythbackend # PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin BACKEND=/usr/local/bin/mythbackend BACKEND_NAME=mythbackend MYTHUSER="myth" test -x $BACKEND || exit 0 set -e case "$1" in start) echo -n "Starting MythTV: $BACKEND_NAME" su ${MYTHUSER} -c "$BACKEND -v all -d -l ${MBE_LOGFILE}" & echo "." ;; stop) echo -n "Stopping MythTV: $BACKEND_NAME" killall $BACKEND echo "." ;; *) echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop}" >&2 exit 1 ;; esac exit 0

In Australia, alive

Post author:mikal
Post published:January 27, 2008
Post category:Travel

So, after a somewhat traumatic 30 hour journey from America, I am now in Australia happy and well. I'm surprised by how not-jetlagged I feel, which is nice as well. Qantas in Melbourne were actually much better than Qantas in LAX about the missing bag. They were friendly, sympathetic, efficient and gave me $100 AUD cash to buy new clothes. So, I'm here and I'm alive.

“Other than the fact our child will be bright, text-based and sarcastic, we will otherwise be a normal family.”

Post author:mikal
Post published:January 15, 2008
Post category:Link

Because there are fewer and fewer of us, I must help keep our lineage alive. I am looking for someone to help me do this. I need a woman (obviously) who is willing to raise a child with me in the method of Unix. Our child will be introduced to computers at a young age, and will be setting emacs mode before any other child can even read. I earn a sufficient income to support a family in modest comfort. Other than the fact our child will be bright, text-based and sarcastic, we will otherwise be a normal family. We will even go to Disney World and see Mickey Mouse. http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/nyc/485967082.html Via IRC.

More nuclear bunkers

Post author:mikal
Post published:January 5, 2008
Post category:Travel

Its clear from my past posts that I am interested in cold war bunkers. I just watched "Lost Worlds: US Nuclear Bunkers". That's re-ignited my interest in US nuclear bunkers (as well as cold war history in general). I like the idea of the Lorton Bunker (under a correctional facility 20 miles form Washington DC, and abandoned in only 2001), and I've talked about the Greenbrier bunker before. It's a pity its four hours drive from Arlington, VA: View Larger Map The Greenbrier was secret for 30 years, and kept constantly stocked will all the supplies needed for three weeks of sealed living for 1,100 people. Finally it was leaked by one article in the Washington Post. After the article, the site had to be decommissioned. Next, they talked about the Palm Beach Florida bunker built for JFK. Tours of that bunker are cheap too -- only $10 each. This bunker is only a decontamination shower, and a single room, but I guess you wouldn't complain if you'd just been nuked. Finally, there is Cheyenne Mountainwhich used to offer tours, but apparently doesn't any more.