AG's Blog

Tales of the Darkside

I had stated that I was very disgusted with the main stream media coverage of the Katrina debacle in an earlier post. As I suspected, the bitter tales of misdeeds, as described by the media have been dispelled. It appears that some of the evacuees, and guardsmen unknowingly aided the media in perpetuating these unsubstantiated myths of raping and murder within the Superdome and Convention center.

Know the truth.
More Katrina follow up:Malik Rahim Part I || Malik Rahim Part II

For more info on grassroots NOLA rebuilding efforts see Common Ground

The Colorblind Society: Blame and Criminalize the Victims: A Katrina Retrospect

Rosa Parks remembered

We lost one of our great matriarchs of the Civil Rights era. I'm reminded of her contributions quite frequently, as she was a resident of Detroit. Rosa Parks also became a powderkeg for boycotts and other measures of economic pressure, which helped dismantle segregationist practices.

There were other Civil Rights matriarchs (ie. Shirley Chisholm, thanks Biz), but Parks was recognized as a leader of change for everyone.

Biodiesel innovation

I discussed biodiesel in an earlier post. The application has great potential, however, it would appear for the moment that it would be hard pressed to get traction in the US auto industry. Perhaps if oil prices do not stabilize in the forseeable future, the utility of this alternative could be realized. The truth is that consumers drive the market paradigm, not the manufacturers.

Vegetable oil Benz

Wireless for all

If you're a frequent business traveller, I would imagine that you've been faced with the daunting task of gaining internet access in airports and other public areas. Yes, I know that you can use your cell phone as a wireless modem, but the average user is likely ill-equipped, and unaware of how to get it working correctly.

Many airports have adopted a pay-for-use Wi-Fi, through partnerships with larger companies. Everyone wants a piece of the action for a service that really costs little to maintain. Airports aren't the only places that are charging for Wi-Fi, the local bookstores(ie Borders, Barnes&Nobles, etc).

So, I'm estatic to learn that some municipalities are lobbying for freee Wi-Fi. In fact, many politicians have made it point to place it on their campaign agenda.

Universal Internet Access“ Not Just A Campaign Theme (Gotham Gazette. October, 2005)

Houston we have a problem

My beloved and once proud Knickerbockers have become perennial losers in the NBA. In the past several years I've watched the Nets(soon to be B'klyn Nets) catch and surpass them. Although, Houston did play with some the Knicks' more notable players, Ewing, Starks, Oakley, and Mason. He only experienced one trip to the NBA Finals in 1999. In fact, he was the last such member from that team which was defeated by the Spurs in five games. I suppose the fact of the matter is clear.. After Ewing's departure, the Knicks never again were a real threat to compete for a championship.

Nonetheless, I did appreciate Alan's talents and professionalism on and off the court. Although, I never really thought he had the ferocity required to play on the very physical, yesteryear Knicks. Alan's game was all about finesse, and he could score points in bunches. Perhaps, the bigger picture is that his exit will free some salary cap room, which the Knicks sorely need.

Gosh, I must be getting old. See Goodbye Alan

Gothamist: Allan Houston Retires

Comic relief

I always wondered how talented one must be to have been a leading politician and also an accomplished athlete. In fact, there have only been a handful (ie. Bill Bradley, Arnold Schwartzenagger, etc). Well, what if former president, Bill Clinton was an accomplished athelete? What would be his sport of choice? Funny stuff.

Blogcritics.org: If Sports Figures Were In Politics

Short films for the third eye

I came across two short films which captured events that had a profound affect on me.
Just wanted to share them with you.

Some of you hip-hop headz will recognize Mos Def and Jadakiss vocals in Tell the Truth about the Towers. The extended track also includes KRS1 and Chuck D.
Of course, this particular Katrina segment should be familiar,Kanye.

Don't Drink the Water

Harvard University has the dubious distinction of having lost its president due to some ill-advised remarks. In contrast it has also been recognized for socio-economic research.

The fear of the alleged health hazard of chromium 6 or hex chrome, has caused of panic within local government. In fact, many automotive companies have also been forced to remove the material from all subcomponents, to be totally compliant by 2007CY. The article raises the question that Harvard is mixing politics with science and the outcome is not favorable. Has anyone ever tested for traces of chromium 6 ? If so, what are the hazards to humans?

OpinionJournal - Don't Taste the Water

Budgeting

From the wealth accumulation department. Some fairly good tips that could help you put a thumb in the proverbial dike.

Fix the Leaks in your Budget - Lifehacker

D.O.S attacks probable for SMS

Don't be surprised that some day very soon, you will be unable to use your cherished SMS service due to Denial of Service(DOS) attack.

As customary with any network, security and access is a very delicate balance. Unfortunately, most wireless carriers opt to disregard the former to accomodate customers. The article below describes the threat.

Bonus: For those who are interested, my buddy Ejovi also weighs in on this issue in an interesting podcast

Text Hackers Could Jam Cellphones, a Paper Says - New York Times

Technorati kung-fu

Lately, I have cleaned up my blog and fixed a few items which have been broken far too long(ie. style-sheets, Type-key identity, trackbacks). Even decided to poka-yoke the commenting process(hold the applause). Those of you who visit my site frequently will notice the differences immediately.
I've also added some new pics to my external photo journal. Once I reclaim some disk space on the server, I'll add a few new pics to the gallery.

I have also been playing around with Technorati tags: Auto discovery. I believe this is the next wave of coolness for finding relevant content on blogs. For those of you who are familiar with flickr, tags should be old hat. Don't worryMTisn't the only publishing engine that utilizes this great feature, there are plugins for all the major blog publishing engines.

Update: What's all this tagging stuff anyway?

90% Crud: TechnoratiTags

M$ DRM debacle

As many of you know, I'm a devout Yankee fan. So, I purchased the video from MLB.com. The Yanks vs Bosox (Sept 4)Yanks defeated Bosox 1-0 behind a stellar pitching performance by Randy Johnson. So, I promptly purchased the previously recorded game and downloaded for later viewing. Once I copied the windows media video file to the fileserver(Beast), I then fired up mplayer, and to my chagrin, I get bunch of pixels.

I immediately began cursing Gates, Balmer and MLB. What idiots, I thought. I paid for the damn video, and now you guys are telling me that I can only play in our shyty OS. How repulsive and criminal. Well, after I finished brooding, I did what every motivated engineer would do I decided to S.T.E.A.L. (Seek Technical Expertise and Learn).

Actually, I realized that many other people have been faced with same situation. Moreover, I remembered the much publicized DeCSScase. A young European student, was faced with a similar ridiculous circumstance while attempting to play an encrypted DVD media which he'd purchased on his Linux box. So, as I suspected there were many people who have reversed engineered the stupid DRM that M$ have sold to its licensing partners. I will never understand why people use technology to incumber people. IMHO, most end-users are honest, but they are forced to violate silly laws, because extremely aggressive vendors seek to dictate what is right and exact computer use. Hell, I own the bandwidth which comes into my home, I also own the hardware which plays this media. How dare you tell me how I must use the technology.

This is why Open Source is so important. It levels the playing field for people who are willing to cut the umbilical cord. I refuse to suck the nipples of the Redmond gorilla..

Mtools and Parted save the day

I've been struggling with a weird computer problem, so I've not had the time to post anything lately. Besides the other distractions (Pinstripes || Tang Soo Do). Suffice to say, that I have it under control now. I think it might be instructive to discuss it here, as some of you might find it helpful. Additionally, there are still pieces of the problem which have me baffled. That is I'm still having issues with my dual CPU setup. I've had this box for since 2003, and the dual CPU setup worked fine using the earlier 2.6.5 kernel. Once I decided to add another 512MB DIMM (unbuffered), and upgrade the kernel to 2.6.11, all hell broke loose. I've posted my question to LKML, but to no avail. It really seems that I have a hardware issue and not a kernel bug.

Basically, if I enable the MP table within the BIOS, I get all of these weird IRQ vector (AB, AC,AD) trapping errors. I've tried passing 'noapic' 'noirqdebug' and of host of other workarounds to the kernel at boot time, but none of them have worked. I even removed the additional DIMM and I still get these problems. I also ran 'memtest86' and the test did not reveal any problems that would indicate bad memory. So for now, I'm stuck with a crippled uniprocessor box.

Anyway, while trying to deal with these problems, I stumbled into another mess. Apparently, while playing around with different kernel images, I exhausted the space in my /boot partition. I suppose it was poor planning on my part, as I'd only allotted 7.5mb for that partition. So, I was in a bit of quagmire.

Enter GNU/Parted. It was truly a godsend. Those of you who use M$, GNU/Parted is the equivalent of Partition Magic. Of course the obvious difference is that GNU/Parted is totally free software. The interesting part about this whole exercise, is that I had not backed up the /boot partition. My plan was to shrink the /swap or /dev/hda2 partition and increase the space in /boot to 20mb. Conventional wisdom always suggests that you back up your data, before doing anything to your partitions. Nonetheless, I threw caution to the wind and just ran the application. Besides, I could always download another kernel.

So, I grabbed bootable GNU/Parted image and copied it to a floppy. Another rule of thumb, _never_ repair a partition that is mounted to running filesystem. This is why Parted manpage recommends that you use a boot floppy. Essentially, the system boots into single user mode.
Alas, there is yet another hurdle to leap. Somehow, my latest kernel image became corrupted due to the lack of space on the /boot partition. So I really didn't have a functional system. I couldn't boot into the 2.6.13 kernel, and utilize various filesystem modules (ie. vfat, reiserfs, etc). So, copying the Parted boot image from the floppy to hard disk would be a challenge.

Enter GNU/mtools. I had first been exposed to the virtues of mtools while working as an undergrad, at a facility that was then called SCRI. I used an old IBM RS/6000 which had a 1.44mb floppy drive that could read DOS floppies because the AIX system had mtools installed by default. Gotta love GNU :)

After reading the mtools manpage, I realised that running the following: 'mread a:\ .' (note the '.') would copy the image to hard disk. The next task would be to write the bootable image back to floppy.

As root, I ran 'dd if=partroot-1.6.6.gz of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k' to create the root floppy disk
and 'dd if=partboot.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k' to create the boot floppy disk.
Yes, the 'disk duplicate - (dd) is also a GNU tool. According to the Parted docs, you need a root disk and boot disk, I repeated the steps for boot disk too. Once completed, with writing both images to floppy, I simply rebooted the system.

Once the system had finished reading the rootdisk into RAM, I then was requested to insert the Parted bootdisk. After the bootdisk image was read into RAM, I then ran 'fdisk -l' so that I could read the partition table and write down some critical values.

My before table was as follows:
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 1 24066 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 2 124 971932+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/hda3 125 9729 77152162+ 83 Linux

Later the table would appear as follows:
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 3 24066 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 4 124 971932+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/hda3 125 9729 77152162+ 83 Linux

To increase /dev/hda1 (/boot) to a larger size, by reclaiming a portion of /dev/hda2 (Linux swap)...
I ran the following Parted commands in interactive mode:

# parted /dev/hda

# Remove partition 2 (the swap partition). Normally, you wouldn't want to delete a partition with data on it. However, a swap partition doesn't contain data when it isn't "swapped on" (mounted), so you can remove it, and create a replacement swap partition later. Additionally, swap space isn't being used since we booted with the Parted boot disks into single-user mode.

(parted) rm 2

# Create the new swap partition at the end of the disk:

(parted) mkpartfs primary linux-swap 971 999.9
(parted) print
Disk geometry for /dev/hda: 0.000-77152162.000 megabytes
Disk label type: ext3
Minor Start End Type Filesystem Flags
1 0.063 20.000 primary ext2
2 20.000 971.000 primary linux-swap

# Grow partition 1, into the adjacent free space:

(parted) resize 1 0.063 20.5

All done!

Afterwards, I printed the disk table again as a confirmation. All looked as expected. I removed the boot disk and rebooted the machine.

Lord of War

I figured I would treat myself to rare mid-week flick. Took in Nicholas Cage, starring in Lord of War. A compelling tale that will certainly open your eyes to corruption and manipulation of so-called third world nations. Although, the film was morbid and surreal, it clearly painted of vivid picture of how private wars are fought and financed. Have you ever wondered how the 'war on drugs' was carried out? How about Afghanistan's defeat of the Soviet Union? Don't misunderstand me, the film was not a documentary, but it did reveal some of the aspects of how assault rifles and ammunition are used to encourage unrest and stifle advancement in developing countries.

I would also venture to guess, that these same tactics are used here on US soil. I believe the term is coined 'counterintelligence'. I believe the FBI used this same method to severely cripple the NOI. Lastly, the film reminds of a classic KRS1 joint. I believe the chorus was "I've got a hundred or two hundred clips, goin to NY, NY." Hmmm. I think that was off the "Blueprint" album. If I gave away anymore details, it would spoil the film. Suffice to say, it is well worth loot and time.

Battle for new DVD standard

Yeah, I know it's old news. Nonetheless, it smells like lock-in, but I'll have to take a closer look. By default, I typically side with the underdog camp. In this case it's Sony.

DVD Fight Intensifies: Microsoft and Intel to Back Toshiba Format - New York Times

Game of inches

2005-6 Yankee Season Over - Postmortem:
While I'm pleased by the grit the Yanks showed in their pursuit of postseason and the AL East title. Especially, considering the 11-19 (9.5 games behind the O's) start. Nonetheless, NY sports and expectations are quite different than say Atlanta, DC, Chicago, and Detroit (just to name a few). Our teams and fans expect to win championships. Our teams are equipped to compete at a very high level. Obviously, I'm not very pleased by an early ALDS exit. The Halos defeated us 5-3 in a contest which was full of various subplots. I'm still suffering from sleep deprivation and the ridiculous TV schedule.

Hmmm. There is much to critique and second guess. Let's start with the positives.
I described the necessity of infusing youth into Yankee squad. We have a number of veterans that have earned their pinstripes (ie Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, and Derek Jeter). I don't list Tino Martinez because he didn't come from our farm system, but he still contributed greatly to several championships. These guys were the core of our dynasty 1996-2001. For whatever reason, management began to opt for quick fixes via free agency to address certain needs. The loss of Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemons, and David Wells to free agency, really set the club back. However, the positive is that we've discovered farm hands Ching-Meng Wang, Aaron(Biggie) Small, and Robinson Cano. All of these guys played a very large role in the playoff push, that was practically a miracle. The Yankee organization usually does not rely on rookies to produce, and it is very rare that any of them receive any significant playing time. This year was different, as our high priced free agent acquisitions, either produced below expectations or simply ineffective. Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright were huge disappointments, as they were supposed to replace the holes vacated by Pettitte et al. When it became apparent that our pitching was not going to improve, management was forced to make choices. Some good and some not-so-good. We showcased a Texas cattle rancher turned starting pitcher in one laugher at Fenway. At certain points of the season it appeared that our sacred pinstripes could be worn by anyone. Very despicable.

Randy Johnson (aka Big Unit) looked his age during stretches of this season. I suppose the most damaging outing of his 2005 resume, was his first Yankee postseason start (Game 3 ALDS). He got hammered and left after 3 1/3 innings. Certainly, not vintage Randy. He redeemed himself somewhat last night. FWIW, I believe our pitching did well enough for a victory last night. Our defense and clutch hitting let us down.

The most notable play that resulted in two arguably unearned runs, was the collision between rookie center fielder, Bubba Crosby and veteran left-fielder Gary Sheffield. If I were to 2nd guess Yankee skipper, Joe Torre. Why not have Bernie Williams play center in decisive game 5? Yes, I know that Bernie has lost a step, but why not show confidence in his ability to manage traffic in a considerably noisy outfield. I don't believe that the collision would have occured if Bernie was in the outfield. Some would even say that Crosby should have deferred to the veteran to avoid the collision. The Halo's margin of victory was 2-runs. It was awful.

Lastly, where the hell was the clutch hitting? Matsui, A-Rod and Sheffield were not very productive the entire series. Like Denzell said in Training Day, "Man the fuck up." Our lineup is stacked with big sticks from 1-6. A true murderous row, Giambino, A-Rod, Matsui, and Sheffield. Only Jeter, Giambi and Sheffield hit the ball hard against Halo pitching last night.

A-Rod was especially disappointing, as he was brought to NY for these situations. If he wins the AL MVP, it should be a hollow victory to say the least.

In the final analysis.. We need middle relief pitching, and we need utility players with pop off the bench. An aging Ruben Sierra won't cut it. Basically, we've desperately got to get younger and fast. Our core is much older and really doesn't have very many years left.

If Dantrell Willis wants to wear pinstripes, I so go out and get him. He's a young talented pitcher and seems to be unflappable in the clutch. More later..

Why study engineering?

I found the article below to be very insightful. Before I begin to dissect the article and apply my uniquely qualified opinion, allow me to digress for a moment.

It occured to me that there are not enough commercial entities which offer encouragement, much less romanticize the field of engineering. Instead, you're more likely to find shows which emphasize the high drama of the doctors or lawyers. Why is that?

Actually, some of you may recall the show called MacGyver, it depicted a guy who was a great problem solver. I have no idea if he was an engineer but he clearly was resourceful and inquisitive, both of which are attributes of many engineers. The show aired for about seven years and was pulled off the air. I don't believe it has received much syndication. In fact, it was the only show of its type. In contrast, there have been a never ending deluge of court, hospital and lately business shows. To reiterate my point, it was the only show which glamourized what I consider 'engineer-like' traits. Don't misunderstand, I do believe that law and medicine are admirable professions, and both require a certain amount of discipline, but it is clearly not engineering.

I suppose the stereotypical stigmas associated with engineering (ie. taped glasses, exaggerated overbite, etc) are partly responsible. Yeah, just like the popular sitcom Family MattersUrkel. I'm sure everyone remembers Animal House too. It has been said that most engineers are anti-social and lack essential communication skills. While I do know some that fit that description, I would argue that these are largely myths. The problem I have with all of these misguided perceptions, is that it has become a deterent to aspiring scientists and engineers. These days the term nerd or geek isn't nearly as offensive to some. However, a youngster may not understand and begin to develop self hatred and a disdain for fascinations that really describe their interests and ultimately define their personality. The sad truth is there aren't enough high schools that foster excellence. Fortunately, I attend BTHS, and it did have its share of very talented, err shall I say nerdy teenagers.

Speaking from experience, I was one of those children. I was the guy who used to catch insects (praying mantis were my favorite), take apart any appliance in the home. Yeah, I even bread a few cockroaches in my day too.
Anyway, now that I've gone off on my tangent, let's get back to the point of this essay. Why aren't more people choosing engineering as a field of study?

Where are all of the role models? How many people have parents who were involved in technical areas interest? Not very many. I assert that this contributes to the mystique of engineering as a field of study. In fact, studies show that we have more foreign nationals attaining engineering doctorates than Americans. Many of these foreign speaking people find their way into teaching positions in our universities. To the dismay of many (much like the author) the language barriers can be problematic. From personal experience, there are indeed many professors from India and elsewhere where English is a second language. So it isn't bad enough that the subject matter is challenging, but couple that with an inability to articulate the subject matter... You have a very volatile situation. I clearly recall a adjunct professor who taught Heat Transfer. He was from Bopal, India. The man had an accent that was so profound, I had to insist that he annunciate each syllable. As the semester progressed, I made trips to speak with him during office hours, so that I could ask questions and get comfortable with the accent.

Luckily, I attended a FAMU which shares an engineering school, recently received an influx of American profs, so this particular experience was not the norm (circa 1997). In fact, the formative courses Calculus, Physics, and Chemistry were all taught by English speaking instructors(Aside: I took eleven math courses before I began any engineering coursework). So, my experience was a healthy one. I'm not sure if the author of the article below had the same experiences in his formative courses.

Well, I've discussed how children could be wrongly discouraged from studying engineering by some stereotypical folklore. So, I suppose one might ask, "What happens to people that actually earn engineering degrees?"

I surmise that many of those people become disenchanted with the field because most are not doing technical work.
Gary Cornell, editor in chief at Apress Publishing and doctorate in Mathematics, indicates that too many engineers are pushing paper around. Not enough engineers doing crtical analysis or highly innovative tasks. I'd tend to agree. In most engineering companies(Automotive companies included), we're told that in order to climb the proverbial ladder, you must have several people under your supervision. You must manage multi-billion dollar accounts, etc. However, once engineers start running after the MBA, the landscape changes, we are then told, "Where is your technical depth?" The model suddenly changes, and the rug is pulled out from under you. Management doesn't seem to understand that you can't have both. Either foster a true environment of technical excellence, by empowering engineers at all levels to study technical issues or run the risk of falling further behind our foreign neighbors.

So, if our American companies are looking for the best and brightest engineers, where are they going to find them? It certainly appears as though they may have to setup foreign incubators in countries like China and India. This would be a calamity of epic proportions.

Clearly, I don't have all of the answers, but I will continue to be that geek or nerd. Although, I have become disenchanted with business aspect of engineering. I still have a great desire to do technical work. Perhaps one day I will have an opportunity to develop a patent or deliver a beneficial artifact to society. According to the late Napoleon Hill, author of critically acclaimed and best seller "Think and Grow Rich." Men typically are most productive at age 50. So, I suppose that I still have time.

TCS: Tech Central Station - Confessions of an Engineering Washout

Countdown to 2nd Dan - Revisited

Yesterday, I completed testing for the 2nd Dan requirements. In our system, whenever a Dan test is given. Our federation president typically offers a seminar to help sharpen the skills of the senior instructors and also introduce any nuiances or subtle changes that he may have introduced to some of the hyungs or forms. The day started off in an odd fashion, only because I arrived to the seminar approximately 30min late. This is not good thing for a Dan member, as we usually occupy the first two rows when we line up. Additionally, it also a sign of disrespect to interrupt class once it has begun. Because our school is merciful, and perhaps less militant than others, I wasn't subjected to much embarassment or additional push-ups. I quietly spoke with Saul, bowed me into class and I assumed my position in the last row. Once there was a break in class Grandmaster Kim(GMK) seemed to make it point to walk the back row, and growled,"Why you back here?" He then slapped me on my rump and told me to fall into my proper position, amongst the othe other 1st Dans(prounounced Don like Don Juan). I would later apologize to him in private for arriving to seminar late.

So, now we now begin to perform basics. These are various movements that comprise most of our forms. Essentially, seminar is a 2hr class taught by the President of our Federation and his son, Saul. Seminar is always interesting because you get a chance to meet other members from our Federation who are dispersed throughout the region. Yesterday, I met to practiontioners that came in from Kentucky. I didn't even know that we had affiliated schools in that area. As much as I'm ashamed to say it, I actually spent alot of time in Ky. All job related time of course. The gentleman was actually testing for 8th Dan and he also happened be a person of color, so we naturally were quite pleased to see one another. He openly gave me an invitation to train at his dojang the next time I come to Ky. I will certainly take him up on the invite when I head south again.

We did many focus drills, that is controlled, targeted kicks to the hand of your partner. As an added twist we also did take downs on the concrete floor. That was cool. Obviously, we weren't doing hip throws. We also spent a fair amount of time going through our forms in a very deliberate methodical way. As you progress in our system, it becomes very essential to slow down movements and emphasize power and focus. Once this is point is well understood, you can do your hyungs backwards without hesitation. Yes, we did several forms backwards in previous seminars. Not very easy, I can tell you from experience.

After the seminar ended, the Dan exam commenced after a roughly 15min intermission. All test participants took their written exams, and then lined up according to rank. Luckily for me, there was only one other person testing for 2nd Dan. Actually, I remembered him from my 1st Dan exam last year. Oddly, there were no 1st Gups testing for 1st Dan. Usually, there are at least 4-5 gups testing for their black belts, not so this time. In many cases, these gups require correction and frequent interruptions by the GMK are common place. So, that makes for a very long day. If I may humbly state, my 1st and 2nd Dan testing went well, and I didn't have to receive any additional instruction from GMK. In fact, my testing mate also did equally as well. I believe we got through the exam in record time. We did 1-step and free sparring with good control. I executed my usual flying side kick. It seems that I am asked to execute this technique at every testing, but I have yet to do it perfectly. I suppose this is why we train. The last break was a reverse ridge-hand(Korean -yuk so). No problem with this one either. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some stills and video footage and post it my site in the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately, the batteries for my digital camera died and I didn't pack an extra set. So, my guest only one shot that I'll add to my photo journal.

Regarding extra instruction by GMK, we had one student who was testing for 3rd Dan, who had to be told of proper etiquette. In fact, he nearly got thrown out of the dojang and had his testing voided. This student asked to be excused because he was feeling nauseus. This occured immediately after free-sparring. So, he ran out, did his business and returned. For whatever, reason he didn't feel the need to recognize GMK, as 'sir'. It was, 'yeah' this and 'yep' that. I've never seen anything quite like it. I believe it may have something to do with the fact that this students' pops is a senior Dan member. I've never seen GMK so angry. He was allowed to complete the test.

Later all of the Dans were reminded of proper etiquette. Never patronize anyone senior to you when sparring, (ie 1st Dan stating to 3rd Dan, "Good kick").

Overall, it was a very satisfying effort. I'm very passionate about the arts, perhaps even more so than technology. That's a tough call. I love them both.

Countdown to 2nd Dan

My regular posts will return, I promise. In fact, I've got a few entries cued up, but I have just been quite busy with coursework and training. Stuff should settle down by the weekend. I had a great class this evening. You may recall that I mentioned that I was preparing for my promotional exam, which takes place this weekend. It's hard to believe that it has been 18months since I earned my 1st degree black belt. The enthusiasm and focus has returned, I am really amped about my training. Still, the excitement does pale in comparison to the preparation and coronation of the 1st Dan. I spoke with one of my instructors regarding the more subdued approach to the 2nd Dan testing.

Essentially, he made the following analogy: He compared two shallow streams of water, which from a distance appear to be equal in depth. However, you really don't know how deep the water is until you wade in it. I imagine that I'm doing a pretty poor job of paraphrasing and articulating his point. Basically, he was explaining the fact that the martial arts are a continuous life experience. Thus, it is natural to go through periods shallowness and depth. The desire for higher learning will usually create a balance during these times of uncertainty.

Well, after last night I feel invigorated and very prepared for the Saturday exam. As is customary, I do plan to capture the experience, and share it with you at a later date.

Cure for spam

I've been using Spamassassin for quite awhile on my server, but never really understood its true power until I began playing with the Bayesian classifier. SA uses the 'sa-learn' utility which deploys a Bayesian algorithm. You need not be a mathematician harness the power of the Bayesian classifier, but for those interested in an explanation of the mathematics I've included it here.

Essentially, you simply have to make sure that you're running SA on your mailserver. If you don't have access to your server, ask your ISP to install it. IMHO, it is far better than the crap that some of the commercial packages that are in use today.

On my server, I simply run the 'sa-learn' script in this fashion;

sa-learn --showdots --mbox --spam ~/mail/bkaeg.org/xxx/spam (Learns about the bad stuff)
sa-learn --showdots --mbox --ham ~/mail/bkaeg.org/xxx/inbox (Learns about the 'real' mail)

I get virtually zero junk, as I run a cron routinely to improve the learning. Basically, the algorithm learns about the behavior of good email versus the hated spam.