The One And Only Matt Parnell.com

FREE McDonald's 2009 Monopoly Codes

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 07:49:22 PDT

I just discovered 3 free codes. One requires facebook. All of this is sourced from this blog (http://sweetiessweeps.com/2009/10/2009-monopoly-game-at-mcdonalds-free.html). It has other good info about rare codes and pieces, too.How to Enter Online: Visit monopoly.promotions.com/monopoly09/front.do (http://monopoly.promotions.com/monopoly09/front.do) and setup an account. Then input your codes. Free McDonald's Monopoly Codes: I6L6V4N4T09 (From Rules) UONLYRICHER (From Facebook) ONLYPLYRSWN How to use the McDonald's Facebook code: 1. You must have a Facebook account. Sign up free or login. 2. Go here to access the McDonald's page on Facebook. 3. Click Go. 4. Click Allow. 5. Click Let's Play. 6. Click Publish or Okay (pick one). 7. Click Okay. 8. You will be taken to the McDonald's Monopoly page. 9. Click Let's Play. 10. Sign in. 11. Click to Roll. The FREE Code can be used only once per person and/or email address or mobile phone and will not count against your daily play limit of ten (10) Codes per day. FREE Codes can be used by multiple participants.

My Current Boot Time in Linux - 12s after Post

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:04:32 PDT

Using 2.6.31-zen2 with the BTRFS filesystem, as well as running without an initrd and having all of my modules compiled in with a kernel size of 630kb uncompressed, I can say my machine is good in latency, speed, and efficiency...It's an HP DV9205US, and if you'd like to see my .config sometime (it works on many different HP laptops, though you may have to tweak it or use different drivers), and produces a beauty of a kernel.Here's my bootchart:

In Honor of the Current WootOff: Bag of Crap Alarm Version 0.02

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:58:27 PDT

WOOTOFF!Ever since woot changed their design, my script has been broken. Since we have a wootoff going on now, I've refined and updated it so that once more it works.I've removed a feature in the public version that runs your browser of choice with the buy now link in order to quash the competition, and so that you can learn a little bit if you desire this feature...add it yourself! It's just one line of code.To use this, you need a UNIX style shellscript interpreter, sed, grep, curl, and play, though you could use any equivalent program for these to mod the script to work on other OS'es than Mac and Linux.Download by clicking here (http://www.mattparnell.com/down/woot_alarm_bash_script.tar.gz), and see the below for the code, should you want to look it over.#!/bin/bash#Wootwatch Alarm v0.02#Written by Matt Parnell/ilikenwf http://www.mattparnell.com (http://www.mattparnell.com)#This is totally free, take it and mod it however you wish, under the GNU GPLv3.#This script goes every 3 sec to woot and checks for a bag of crap. If found, it sounds an alarm.clear i=0r=0while [ $i -lt 1 ] do r=`expr $r + 1` WOOT=`curl -s -f http://www.woot.com` (http://www.woot.com`) ITEM=`echo $WOOT | /bin/sed 's/.*<h2 class= fn [^>]*>$[^>]*$<\/h2>.*/\1/'` BUY=`echo $WOOT | grep -o WantOne.aspx?id=.[[:alnum:]]*-[[:alnum:]]*-[[:alnum:]]*-[[:alnum:]]*-[[:alnum:]]*` echo if echo $ITEM | grep Random\ Crap ; then play -q alarm.mp3 echo echo BOC FOUND after $r runs. i=1 exit else AVAIL=`echo $WOOT | grep -o width:[[:alnum:]]*\%'>< | grep -o [[:alnum:]]*\% ` echo Current item: echo $ITEM echo echo Price: $`echo $WOOT | /bin/sed 's/.*<span class= amount [^>]*>$[^>]*$<\/span>.*/\1/'` if echo $AVAIL |grep [[:alnum:]] > /dev/null; then echo Available:...

PSPP: An Opensource Clone of SPSS

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:23:19 PDT

SPSS is way too expensive for a student in Intro to Statistics (me). Most of the class remains a confusion to me despite my previous successes in math classes. Furthermore, I really don't want to have to use the public computer labs here on campus with the dirty keyboards and mice, as well as the small screen resolution, and of course, Windows (nobody in their right mind really wants to use Windows). In an effort to prevent having to take my work to the lab, I went seeking a solution. I could have illegally cracked the SPSS demo, but I really don't like to do such things, and don't encourage it...

Wow, SEO Is Time Intensive Sometimes

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 12:42:05 PDT

I've been working on a large array of projects lately, and all seem to take up time. I'm back in school, but that really doesn't hinder me that much except for the time I spend in class...furthermore, I make good use of the 30 Megabit Down / 7 Megabit up internet connection.Wordpress updates and plugin updates were first on the docket. That took plenty of time across my sites, and then I proceeded to play with some new plugins like CosHTMLCache (which broke RSS on a couple of the sites so I reverted to WP-Super-Cache), and I also have started using twitterposter to promote my posts, which has made a good increase in traffic and AdSense clicks.After that I have just been tinkering and considering whether I should put up more sites, or try to start working on my all in one blackhat SEO command center in an effort to automate as much as I can from site creation, to promotion, to maintenance and tracking, as well as ad placement and management (probably integrate OpenX in some way for that one....).All in all, I feel I'm on the upswing, though I still stink at getting many CPA conversions...I just don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I'd say the techniques I hear of are often so old that they are saturated or dead, so I guess I need to find a place that doesn't have a bunch of whining n00bs, and enough activity to actually warrant me joining and discussing techniques that work.In the end, it's all more of a playground than anything...I still have tons of unused domains to do something with...I'll never run out of things to do.

Pinecone Research Working Signup Link

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:21:04 PDT

I know people who do this, and it is legitimate and pays fast.What you do is fill out surveys, and get paid $3 ( or $5?) per survey you do for market research. The great thing is, you just keep doing them, and keep getting paid. They payout via paypal and checks.Sign up here, and hope you get accepted! (http://link2there.com/00)Good luck!

Senior in College Now

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:06:26 PDT

As I prepare to go back to school, I can only wonder what's next and hope that God reveals His divine plan for my life...I am ready to go back, things get boring the 3rd or 4th month of summer with no job, little chance of getting a job, and being in front of my laptop the majority of the time, attempting to make more money though my websites and various SEO related ventures.Alas, the economy is making advertisers pay less, which stinks...I still get some coin though, people are always willing to buy stuff, whether they need it or not.I hope I can not only get a sustainable and scalable SEO business going, but I also want to automate it so that I can have time for other things, but those other things I have yet to find or figure out yet...though I would like to find a girlfriend...and be more social.I'm alive and I guess I should post some hacker-ish or SEO related article here sometime...I will...

Digsby - A New IM/Email/Social Network Client

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:58:56 PDT

Digsby is a neat little app I just stumbled across, and it integrates many cool features, which includes all of the usual IM networks, email, and social networking sites. What sets it apart is that it is multi platform, running on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. I may have just found something better than pidgin, eh?Give it a try and post here what you think in the comments section, I want to hear what you think about it. I personally am attracted by the features and the multi-platform support...click the image below to go and download Digsby.Give Digsby a Try - Download it Here (http://even-answers.com/digsby)

Timless Words That Speak A Great Deal

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:47:51 PDT

The Declaration of IndependenceAlas, we are far from independent as citizens anymore.When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such...

I Like Guns, And Should Be Able to Own and Carry Anywhere I Wish

Sat, 23 May 2009 16:15:19 PDT

When the government stops fearing the people, something has gone wrong. I forget who said something to that effect...was it John Adams? Anyways, the Federal Government always misreads the Second Amendment. It has no if , and , or but anywhere within it that allows for restrictions that keep us from carrying openly or concealed in public, or from owning fully automatic weapons all without license or permit, Federally, at least. Yes, the states are (supposedly) delegated (well, not so much anymore) any other powers to regulate not mentioned in the US Constitution. Even so, We The People own the right to be able to defend ourselves without a license to carry concealed or not within our Nation, our states, our districts, our counties, our cities, our neighborhoods, and our homes. Why should we have to be on a government list (state or federal) if we want to own or carry a particular weapon? I see this as preparation by the elites that rule the country and corporate world taking note of possible usurpers as a precaution against any people who may try to rise up as implied by the second amendment, in the event the government oppresses the people. It seems this oppression will eventually come. Let them try to take away our guns, our rights, our possessions, our wealth, and our lives. I for one won't stand for it. There do need to be exceptions of course, for courtrooms, schools, and other such cases, and for mentally ill and felons, as well as age, but our rights are being trampled on. the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed Pretty freaking clear.

Current Goings On, Updating Some Things

Thu, 21 May 2009 13:30:59 PDT

This is a general post that I'm doing to just keep my site alive and hopefully make sure that all 2 of you who read this are still with me.Items of interest include the following: I need to update the satellite TV article. Lots of changes in the methods of using it have happened, and soon, DishNetwork will be switching to a new encryption algorithm called Nagra3. You can read about this in more detail by clicking here (http://nagravision3.org/). I'll go ahead and update things. You can get current keys (http://www.livekeyz.com/) and plugins (http://currentbins.com/dvb-pci/) here...instead of vPlug, I suggest using EmuNation. In the political realm, lots of things have rubbed me wrong. It starts with the Rightwing Extremism Report, (http://www.mattparnell.com/politics/rightwing.pdf) (PDF) which implicates everyone who believes in Yahweh and has a gun in the Midwest and classifies them as terrorists. Apparently it's been revised since then and updated to profile even more white groups. Think about it, racial and religious profiling is frowned upon, except in this case where the feds are profiling innocent white churchgoers. How nice. Further is a house bill that gives the attorney general to take the right of anyone it deems a �possible terrorist� to purchase or own weapons. (HR 2159 (http://www.mattparnell.com/politics/HR2159.pdf)...PDF) This is bad if you combine it with the previously mentioned right wing extremism report. This is horrible. Our rights are slowly melting away. Those of you who would argue that it's ok, because it's just targeting terrorists are ignorant. People wanting to do bad and illegal things will always find a way to get weapons, regardless of laws. I could further say against this sort of thing is that the whole difference between long and short rifles and pistols as per the rules governing people building their own firearms...it's all really stupid, convoluted, and infringes upon our constitutional rights. Oh, and don't get me started talking about the Builderburgs...firstly, those members of the US government who go to such a meeting are violating the Logan Act by meeting with foreign leaders on an unsanctioned basis in order to plan the fate of the world. They should be imprisoned on a felony. Whether or not they have this �New World Order� in store for the world or not, they still are the same rich elite globalists who control everything by means of dumbing down the population with television, buy out the politicians, and make sure that the majority of the people of the world are passive dumb animals that they can herd around... That said, I have things a brewing...looking for a job, fixing on my project car, and maintaining my pickup. Other than that, I'm bored and on a bad sleep schedule.

McRoll'd

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:58:28 PDT

This has to be a combination of the most scary, but yet cool and captivating things I've seen in a while.

Still Chugging Along!

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 03:31:24 PDT

Despite the lack of new projects and posts, I'm still here, and still plan on doing fun posts in the future, I just have been weighted down lately with the next 4 weeks being the last weeks of this semester...class projects, finals, and more all are contributing to the lack of anything knowledgeable or fun being posted lately.Until I come back, look at failblog (http://www.failblog.org) daily...it's hilarious.

New Internet Money Method

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:55:26 PST

I talk about SEO, Internet Marketing, and other such tactics around here all the time, but purposely never offer all the pieces to the plan so that you develop strategies and techniques on your own for better success. If you'd rather just have a system that's set out for you that works, I suggest the Google Money Tree (http://linktohere.com//26). They'll tell you all about it before you actually buy it, but you have to request the info. Upon request, you'll get a nice kit that tells you everything you need to know about making big bank off of Google.This setup will help you go from poor to rich with a lot less effort than climbing up the corporate ladder or flipping burgers.Click here to give it a try. (http://linktohere.com//26)

An Analysis of MattParnell.com

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:22:46 PST

I was recently notified that an analysis paper was written about my site here, which honors me. I think this is the second one, as someone also cited this crazy place for the thermite article, which guides the reader on making it. Anyway, this was written by a nice guy named Brennon, and you can see his blog by clicking here (http://lulzisacorruptionoflol.blogspot.com/).And yes, I am slightly OCD. Thesis: I don't directly state a thesis but it is How Matt Parnell is appealing and why his blog is good. Today, there are hundreds upon thousands of blogs taking up space on the internet. If it exists, more than likely is it blogged about. Topics range from technology to personal information, music to cooking, science to religion, and whatever else you can think of. I, myself, tend to be into all things technology and, when searching for a blog to do my analysis, I came across a web-blog that seemed rather interesting. It was named �Matt Parnell�s Brain: Plugged In!� and after careful analysis, I can concur that this truly is a good blog for internet techies everywhere. First things first, the moment you go to the website you are greeted with a welcome message towards the top of the webpage. The welcome message gets right to the point and says this, �Welcome to my site. I usually write about technology, such as>satellite television descrambling, comparing Linux and Windows, and I also talk about other things when they fit my fancy. I currently have two past articles in 2600, regarding Internet Archeology, as well as Blackhat SEO. I also am interested in collecting SURGE merchandise, and enjoy all things Power Rangers and Super Sentai� (Parnell). The statement alone defines him, what he usually writes about, and what his whole purpose is for running that website. However, he defines himself even more by the style he has setup for the website. It all looks very neat and organized, as well as the color scheme seems to make everything look perfect, which could give off the impression that maybe he is a bit OCD or is just a perfectionist. Next, is how does he appeal to a certain demographic? He does it in a few ways. The first is with his welcome statement. By already stating what he usually talks about, he is getting rid of all people who are either not interest in technology, or just do not care what his website has to say. The second is by reading his about section. In it he states, �I am a devout Evangelical Christian, first, and foremost. I enjoy anything to do with hacking, cracking, modding, cooking, technical stuff, music, dumpster diving, etc. I may post some vocal music samples sometime, just for kicks�(Parnell) By showing all the things that enjoys, the reader can then compare that to their own likes and dislikes, then decide if they want to continue to browse the website or not. The final thing that gets a certain demographic in is the fact that he is some what knowledgeable in internet culture. In his about section there is a picture of him wearing a Guy Fawkes mask and you can link that to a certain internet group whom will not be...

4 Great Alternatives To Google

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 07:42:51 PST

Google is the generally accepted king of the search engines, followed by Yahoo and MSN. Other smaller engines exist, which aren't quite as useful, but some new Ajax-y alternatives (excluding Scroogle) exist. This article attempts to showcase some of the cooler and more useful engines.Scroogle (http://scroogle.org) isn't an ajax based engine, but I feel it deserves an honorable mention. Scroogle is a scraper that displays Google results to you, as a service to keep you anonymous. There is even an https feature for added security.Searchme (http://www.searchme.com) is a nice ajax engine which shows screenshots of the results, and they rotate as you drag a slider bar. It offers images, video, music, and shopping results with the shuffled results. It is really good looking, and works very well.Gigablast (http://www.gigablast.com/) is a powerful new search engine that does real time indexing. I think that means that it indexes the sites that refer visitors to it. That said, it currently has 4,822,055,863 pages indexed. Another one to try if you're sick of Google. RedZee (http://redzee.com), the coolest of these engines has a really great logo. It's animated and flashy. Outside of that, it displays the results in a carousel, with snapshots of the pages to be viewed, and it has an easy link back to the results that is displayed at the top of the pages discretely in the corner. The result pages look somewhat like a ferris wheel, and in general, this search, like Searchme is very cool functionally.

Good Things Ahead

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 19:14:08 PST

Another year, another semester of college class, and I have to do my taxes for the first or second time. That does not mean I won't have plenty of downtime for doing geeky things, including updating this site. I have several things planned for the future to write about, and hope that they will be useful to my readers. Here is a list of what you can expect of me in the coming weeks:A Guide to Linux on HP Laptops (This will be based on my experiences with my dv9205us, and includes the Zen Kernel).Several SEO Related Posts, including ethics, and content scrapingHopefully at least one joint article with Ask The Admin.com, and perhaps one with I-Hacked.comRandom postings that I may from time to time add about my life (usually ranting about something)Many link additions, as I plan to update my link collection here on the site, and add moreI have a new Samsung Delve. As an Alltel user, I can guarantee that I will be writing on my hack attempts to customize this phone.Tales of my staying up for marathon amounts of hours...like 36 or more hours (probably not, too boring...)I can't think of much more to mention right now, although there should be much more. I will post many new things in the days ahead, not just for this semester, but also for the entire new year.Until we meet again, why not torrent jPod (http://isohunt.com/torrents.php?ihq=jpod), and if you find it geeky and fun enough, find a copy of the book by the same name. Both are great, and if you are a true geek, I suspect you will thouroughly enjoy them.

Stop Leeching Me!

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:48:08 PST

Well, in an effort to have some fun with the sites who have recently been leeching pictures of my Surge Soda collection (see them in the left side menu) without giving a link back with a citation to me being the original picture taker/owner/source, I have replaced the originals with a citation of my own.See it in action at this bandwidth leeching jerk's site (http://thegreatblogofketo.blogspot.com/2008/10/dear-john-mccain-surge-is-working.html), or just scroll down a bit to see it.

Pirates of the Amazon Firefox Extension

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:03:55 PST

The Pirates of the Amazon Firefox Extension was taken down as a result of Amazon wielding the DMCA hammer. It will display images with a link to a torrent on the piratebay that says Download 4 Free if the product is up for torrenting.Here's the original site for documentation. (http://pirates-of-the-amazon.com/)Here's a backup link, for archival purposes only. (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BXUPEFK5)Here's another (Local, in a zip for obfuscation) (http://www.mattparnell.com/archivalpurposesonly/pirates-of-the-amazon.zip)And another (TorrentFreak) (http://torrentfreak.com/files/piratesoftheamazon.xpi)For any DMCA concerns, please email parwok (at) gmail dot com. I do not endorse piracy or the use of this extension; however it is a useful example of Firefox code.

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:47:13 PST

What is Guy Fawkes day? Check Wikipedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes) Join the Guy Fawkes Day celebration here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=33799790962 We shouldn't be bitter about the elections. We should be happy about the turnout, and should rejoice in knowing that God uses all things for good, and that He puts all leaders in power, good or bad, in order to fulfill his Divine plan. If you want something to be concerned with, be concerned with the fact that OUR congress, our supposed representatives may do the same as they have for the last few decades, and not really represent us to the point they should be. It is very possible that these mostly careerist politicians will simply try to keep the right people happy in order to keep their cushy jobs and their lobbyist brib---erm I mean gifts. What can you do? Be a revolutionary. It doesn't require violence as Guy Fawkes attempted. In reality, it requires you to voice your concerns, convictions, thoughts, and oppositions to your representatives and senators, both state and national. Write letters/emails or make phonecalls on a daily basis. Tell likeminded others to do the same. Only when the populous does this will the majority truly have representation. No taxation without representation! When was the last time your reps accurately performed their duty according to their constiutents'? If it wasn't recently, we shouldn't have to pay our tax dollars in for their $160k a year + free health for life + pension benefits. Either kick them out in election, or try something bold and Guy Fawkes-like, like the following: Petition to have the person(s) removed from office, or go all out and call for a constitutional convention (this would require a petition and a gigantic public outcry). When called, a constitutional convention can totally reshape the country through removing people office (even the president), amendment the constitution, totally rewrite a new constitution from scratch, or simply fire congress. Then, the states all have to vote. A 3/4 or more vote by the states in favor of any action makes it law, and it thus happens. Fired the bad representation one way or another? Time for an emergency election. Make sure to choose the right person for the job! Happy Guy Fawkes Day! Be a revolutionary in your own right! God Bless the USA!

Blackhat SEO: Exploiting The Dumb Masses to Make A Profit (As Seen in 2600)

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:40:45 PDT

If you are coming here from Stumbleupon, Digg, or Slashdot, please give me a comment, vote, and a good review if you like this article/howto!This is an article I had in the latest Dreamhost (https://signup.dreamhost.com/) for a hosting account, and use the code ILIKENWF, you'll get 1 Free Domain Registration ($15 value!). Pay monthly, and get another $15 discount, sign up for one or more years and get a $30 discount! Assuming you have a good webhost, the first step is to set up your content system on a domain. Pick a domain that fits the niche you want to aim your site at. You can use subdomains, as well as folders within a domain to serve as multiple sites, although one site per domain will keep your sites indexed for a longer period of time. Investigate keywords related to your site topic ,and try to find those that are searched for many times, with no to few results. Insert keywords into the content areas and meta tags on all of the site's pages. Once complete, totally tweak the look of your blackhat site. Modify an existing free template, or create one of your own. Photoshop together some semi-good graphics and slap them up there, while you're at it. Assuming you are using Wordpress, you should make sure to install WP-O-Matic (http://devthought.com/wp-o-matic-the-wordpress-rss-agreggator/), a plugin that converts RSS feeds into posts, and allows keyword rewriting. Other wordpress plugins are geared specifically toward SEO, such as the automatic meta tag generators, which are highly recomended. Automatic Content When your site is running live and looking good, find several RSS feeds off of sites related to your niche, and plug them into WP-O-Matic. Use the replace function on all of them as a precaution to swap out common keywords, so that your content appears to be unique. Make sure to set up a cron job to use one of the many free PHP ping scripts hourly, to publicize your pages, and get them indexed. Make sure to use a ping script that is on your server, that sends the RPC requests from your server. This keeps your site from being reported as spam to the search engines by services like Pingoat (do not ever use Pingoat!). Try to get backlinks to your sites by either outsourcing or manually submitting to a few hundred to a few thousand link directories. Be gradual when building links to make the accumulation of linking power appear natural. The more links to your site, the higher in the search engine rankings your pages will appear. If you feel like being extremely evil, you can find and use tools to mass spam links on forums, comments, or by using cross site scripting (be careful!). These programs and scripts are easy to find, and I assume that by reading 2600, you are quite capable of finding them on your own. Get Indexed, Monetize The only step left is to wait. There will always be a few of your sites that don't get indexed...

Wootoff Bag of Crap Alarm - A bash Script

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 04:21:08 PDT

I wrote this little puppy to wake me up if I'm asleep and the Bag of Crap comes up during a Wootoff (like the one going on now) at Woot. It's simple to use, it keeps looping, just outputting the current item. Feel free to mod it as you wish...I've really been meaning to make it look nice with color, but I figured it would'nt matter anyway.That being the case, you can grab the tarball below. Otherwise, the source is below that. Just make sure to have an alarm.mp3 in the same directory as the script before your run it.Download Site Two (Local) (http://www.mattparnell.com/down/woot_alarm_bash_script.tar.gz) (this is a new and updated version. see the post here (http://www.mattparnell.com/projects/in-honor-of-the-current-wootoff-bag-of-crap-alarm-version-0.02.html))Source: #!/bin/bash #Wootwatch Alarm #Written by Matt Parnell/ilikenwf http://www.mattparnell.com (http://www.mattparnell.com) #This is totally free, take it and mod it however you wish, under the GNU. #This script goes every 5 sec to woot and checks for a bag of crap. If found, it sounds an alarm. clear i=0 r=0 while [ $i -lt 1 ] do r=`expr $r + 1` ITEM=`/usr/bin/curl -s -f http://www.woot.com/DefaultMicrosummary.ashx` (http://www.woot.com/DefaultMicrosummary.ashx`) echo if echo $ITEM | grep Crap ; then play -q alarm.mp3 echo echo BOC FOUND after $r runs. else echo No BOC found yet... echo echo Current item: echo $ITEM echo echo This script has run $r Times. sleep 3 clear fi done exit

School - After the Basics, What's The Point?

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:31:13 PDT

I am a lifetime student of Christ, as well as the knowledge of man, but I want it all to be on my terms. I'm starting to become more and more frustrated with the ridiculous nature of the education system. If a person learns to read, write, do basic math, and depending on future job choice take more specialized classes, should any more classes be required of them? College and highschool in these ways are somewhat follies of society. If one learns these things and can think abstractly, should they really be forced through extra steps in order to achieve their dream career? Anything over and above should be their choice, and not compulsory. In my case, independent study is much more conducive than having information forced down my throat at a specific rate decided by an expert. What amount of the knowledge I've learned will I actually use in my future? Let's talk about secondary/college education. Although I attend a liberal arts college, I find it ridiculous to pay what I have to in order to get a magic piece of paper that says I am qualified to do whatever task I major in. I don't really need such a thing to succeed, yet in a world filled with people who forgo any education at all, whether it be through the education system or independent study, some form of verification of skill and knowledge has to be there. Why not have a single test to allow one to show their skills in any given field and skill in order to speed things along? I don't like putting effort into what I see as a nearly fruitless venture (college), as I feel I have better things to do with my time, such as learn about things that I actually care about, acquire vocational skills I want to know, and do it all my way. I would rather learn from mistakes of my own than be tested over what I have memorized in short term memory, soon lost a semester later, only for that magic piece of paper that makes people want to hire you. Life experience seems to me to provide better education in some circumstances than secondary education. If you can read, write, do math, and think abstractly, learning from your cohorts in life and from your own experiences, life is easier, yet more productive and satisfying. For example, Why does somebody like me need to take 18+ credit hours of Bible classes if they aren't planning on being a minister. I learn what I really use in small groups, Bible studies, church, and discussion with those I look up to and am friends with. Specific terms like exegesis, hermanuetics, and pericope may be important if you plan on being in a theological field, but why do I need to know them in order to be a servant of Christ, sharing Him with those the Holy Spirit leads me to? Why do I need to take an English class full...

Me for President

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:54:35 PDT

My Bootchart Record: 12 Seconds to Boot, 7 Seconds to X

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:47:43 PDT

I may have to write how I did this at some point. I use Archlinux x86_64, with a custom kernel from Zen. It's got most of the stuff I need built in, and all other crap is thrown out. I further have added concurrency in rc.conf using @ before all but a couple of my daemons, and am using ReiserFS, with noatime notail nodiratime. I have further speed things along by editing rc.sysinit, and removed hundreds of lines of unneeded crap as well. One trick I found was that it is actually faster to mount an NTFS partition I have via rc.local, rather than fstab. That said, I can't think of anything else to make this faster!Really, I make it to the KDM login screen in 8 or so seconds but this is total start time.