August 2008 – Steve Dougherty's Blog

Amusing

This one is for the Linux geeks. Save the following file:

#!/bin/cat

Heh.

Then:

$ chmod u+x myscript #adds executable flag for the user that owns the file

$ ./myscript

Comcast

They’ve found another way to piss me off… somehow. You have to admire their persistence.

Prohibited Uses of HSI. [High-Speed Internet service] You agree not to use HSI for operation as an Internet service provider, a server site for ftp, telnet, rlogin, e-mail hosting, “Web hosting” or other similar applications, for any business enterprise, or as an end-point on a non-Comcast local area network or wide area network. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Comcast and its affiliates, suppliers, and agents against all claims and expenses (including reasonable attorney fees) arising out of any breach of this Section including, but not limited to, any claims based on or arising out of any material violation of any applicable law.

Their TOS is available here. I’d call their tech support and ask if I can opt-out and have them stop blocking port 80, but their call center says they’re closed. The robot suggests that I call back during normal business hours, but then helpfully neglects to mention what those hours may be. I’m going to renew my push to switch to C2.

EDIT: Turns out they’re not blocking port 80. I had forwarded the port on my router, but I was forgetting to add port 80 to my firewall. I feel silly now. That would explain why it would show up as closed, then when I forwarded it, it was filtered. Oops.

EDIT 2: Also turns out I was misunderstanding this section. The limitation is only for businesses?

Biodiesel

It looks like some people figured out how to make biodiesel with a much more practical and efficient process!

Death Note

Brad introduced me to this amazing anime: Death Note. It’s about a guy who finds a notebook that causes the death of those whose names are written in it. He uses it to create a new world order. It’s superb. Availible dubbed or subbed.

Also, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a horrible movie.

Oblivion

My love for Oblivion has found new life, thanks largely to Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul. The main feature of this mod, other than adding some new items and NPCs, is to disable change level scaling. In vanilla Oblivion, NPCs will be, at most, your level. Making their levels closer to static does not allow you to go anywhere and beat anything, but it does allow for a feeling of gaining power, something that level scaling does not.

I’ve been ignoring the main quest, and just exploring caves and forts, looting what I can manage. I’ve run into a share of amusing glitches on the way. Not only have I heard the hilariously inconsistent voice acting of the beggars, but once I ran into an NPC that had, for some reason, fallen inside a set of stairs. She was jittering back and forth. I could still talk to her. After leaving the building and spending some time elsewhere, I found her standing at the foot of the stairs, unstuck.

I haven’t been able to replicate this, but I was crouched on a roof in Bruma and, on a whim, I shot a guard with my bow. He ran past me, up a staircase and onto a higher level, ran into a small raised barrier for a bit, then fell off the ledge, and climbed back up. Another guard joined him. I really should have saved then. The next time I tried, the guard just ran around in circles below me. Why not let them jump? I shot another arrow at a random passerby, who turned out to be a powerful wizard, and threw powerful bolts of lightning in my general direction. That’s more like it. Then there are the amusing times when AI will get stuck on a fence, or in a rocky outcropping, at which point they become much easier to take out.

I was in Fallen Rock Cave and there was this huge Mud Golem that could take me down to a sliver of my health bar with a single hit. I slipped in and out a few times (while sneaking) first to get a journal for a quest, and later to try to empty a chest full of shineys. When I got a gigantic battle axe, I thought I might be able to take him. (This is the part where I found out how much damage the guy did.) I ran to the start of the corridor leading into his room, and started bombarding him with arrows. It turned out the corridor was too small – he couldn’t get to me!

That being said, it’s still an enjoyable experience. I’m willing to forgive the occasional outdoor framerate chugging, which may be due to both an environment mod I’m running and my aging hardware, and the lackluster story, which is a canned tale of the entire world in danger. I find myself wondering why if many of my enemies can make short work of my health bar, I’m the only one that can save Tamriel.

EDIT: Feel free to check out my screenshots.

EDIT 2: Realized the OOO link I had was old. It is now updated.

EDIT 3: There’a also an excellent unofficial wiki.

EDIT 4: It doesn’t make them completely static, but more static.

Ubuntu UTF

I was having trouble getting my Grandma’s Ubuntu Hardy box to read a CD that my uncle gave her. It was complaining about being unable to mount a UTF volume. Google to the rescue. After a page full of ultimately unsuccessful Ubuntu forum posts, I came across this post. It said largely the same thing as a post on the Ubuntu forums that I found, but it included a crucial patch. Following these directions, the CD mounted – first try. Hooray!

Stupid Vista. According to the post, it doesn’t follow UTF standards. Well, that problem’s over with now.