elephant cat butt

I just found out about the conference and its hackerspace element via Reddit. How did I miss this up until now?

The hackerspace idea is obviously one I’m interested in. I have my own proposal for one, but tailored less of a 24-hour space for random hacking encounters, and more as an un-office to give remote-working people an in-person community of peers.

Definitely we have all realized that as great as online interaction can be, being in a room still cannot be duplicated.

Why bother saying that, instead of “btw we like weed”? Does this thinnest-of-euphemisms make a difference in some way? Does it throw off law enforcement??? I guess maybe it just sounds cooler, although to me that phrase is pretty worn out by now.

C’mon, stoners. Time to come up with a new phrase!

He’s probably not going to get to see Hell’s heart, though:

“What you saw on the screen and on television and on talk shows, this very courtly, modest, dignified individual, that’s exactly who he was”

And of course there’s the quote he’s most famous for:

Corinthian leather? Of course! Why not the best?

Face it, Bush isn’t going to be held accountable for what he’s done. Most likely, neither is Cheney or Yoo or anyone else who should be. As soon as a newly-elected Obama tries to start investigating the old administration, the GOP will start howling and saying things like “we need to focus on the future and move on” (i.e. the huge task of fixing the mess the Bush presidency has left us.)

And it’s true, Obama needs to focus on fixing the economy and the host of other important issues, and not distract the media and the country with an epic investigation. But why pardon Bush?

Because realistically the alternative is to do nothing. Because it’s a quick, sure way to move on, yet still acknowledging that crimes were committed and that Bush’s actions were (in an ideal, apolitical world where we had the luxury of justice) egregious enough to require either a pardon — or prosecution. After all, why would Obama pardon Bush unless he felt Bush needed pardoning?

It would be a stain to Bush’s legacy only, but that would allow a bipartisan investigation of the particulars of the Bush administration’s actions to take place, and it’s important that happens. It would allow the country to move forward on other issues, while noting for posterity that trying to achieve an Imperial Presidency, as exemplified by Bush and Nixon, always results in offenses needing a pardon.

Please add MythTV frontend support to your digital video player and I will buy one.

Love — Andy

PS SoundBridge still working great!

Quite a pain to set up but once set up, very nice.

Lesson 1: Get hardware that is supported.

I heartily recommend the HD Homerun. It is extremely well-supported on MythTV, and the fact that it is a separate device from the MythTV box means that you can make sure it’s all working before diving into the so-flexible-it’s-a-pain MythTV setup.

Lesson 2: Get hardware that is supported

I am using a $15 Streamzap remote, after I could not get the Remote Wonder Plus to work. I tried so hard to get that blasted thing to work, but I just couldn’t. The Streamzap worked straight off.

If you have a fancy remote you want to use but no IR receiver, see above, the HDHR has one.

Lesson 3: Get hardware that is supported

Nvidia graphics seem to work best. I’ve had no problems with my 6150, but apparently Geforce 8+ supports VDPAU, which enables HD video with very little CPU, so that would probably be worth getting if one was buying a card now.

Some cool things about Mythbuntu once it’s working

• If you have an iphone, you can use it as a remote control for a Frontend. Install the free MyMote or RRgh apps.
• Commercial skip
• Other machines in your house can run the Mythtv frontend, so you can watch recorded shows anywhere. On Linux, just install the mythtv-frontend package; on MacOSX, look here. Note some config is necessary on the backend machine to allow other machines to connect, and new frontends will need to be set with backend parameters and password as well.
• The Myth box is also a PC of course, so it can export DAAP/iTunes music shares and other server-y stuff, if you want.

I finally finished getting our Myth box set up — the last thing I had to do was assign some additional buttons on my remote. Now I’m looking forward to not touching it again for a long, long time.