Jake's Weblog

Review of Alternate ROMs for Motorola Droid

2010-03-11T15:59:00.002-05:00

So, about a week ago I rooted my phone. Initially, I was baffled - rooting my phone did very little for me in the way of unlocked functionality. Luckily, I scoured the Internet and learned what I suspected - it was possible to install alternate roms onto my droid complete with gorgeous themes and various new features. It was an epic moment. I've identified what seem to be the leading four (in order of my estimate of their popularity based on forum traffic (counting the number of messages in the section for each ROM on multiple forums):

If you know of other ROMs that I've missed here, please let me know (jacob@gadikian.com) and I will add them to the list and try to do a review. For this very moment, this page will be a placeholder until I finish my reviews. If you are the author of one of these roms, please send screenshots if you've got them, and please get ahold of me at jacob@gadikian.com .

It's amazing, truly astounding, astonishing, et cetera.... HOW MUCH BING SUCKS!

2009-11-23T04:32:00.002-05:00

This is one of the easiest blog entries I've ever wrote: It's 4AM and I'm working on a customer's machine - just trying to get Microsoft Security Essentials installed on the machine, but I've forgotten the name of Microsoft's new Antivirus Product. Since I'm using a brand new installation of windows 7, the default search engine in the default browser (IE 8) is bing. Just to make things clear, I just want to note that I misspelled the Google query by mistake, not because I was TRYING to show just how much cooler Google is.

Bing Query: microsoft antivirus
Google Query: microsoft antivurs

Bing doesn't even get Microsoft Security Essentials on the front page. Google has it on the first link. So here's the deal: M$ has made what might very well be the best desktop operating system ever (Windows 7.) Coming from a linux zealot like me, that's a big statement, but hey - I've got to give credit where it's due, even if I don't really want to. M$ HAS ALSO WASTED EVERY PENNY IT INVESTED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF BING.

Jake's List of Essential Free and Open Source Software for a Windows-based PC

2009-10-14T02:40:00.007-04:00

Problem: Most people don't know how much their computers can do. Related problem: most people are aware of some high-power closed applications, but are not familiar with their open alternatives because all the open applications have for marketing is one, plain web site. While for many applications the sheer utility of the app is enough to promote it, in the case of many applications (say, office suites.) Most users grudgingly pay for MS office each 2 years because they think it is the only tool that can do what they need. Most MS Office users don't use it because it's the best, or because it's affordable. Instead, the majority of PC users use MS office because 1) they aren't aware of free, high-quality alternatives 2) everyone else uses MS Office 3) they're being effected by some piece of FUD 4) they really LIKE MS Office

Jake's PC Toolkit will solve this problem by addressing these issues. Here's How:

they aren't aware of free, high-quality alternatives
a) Jake's PC Toolkit will raise awareness of the tools included in it
b) Jake's PC Toolkit will only include 100% FREE software, and will give preference to Open Source tools, but will include both Open Source software and Freeware
c) Jake's PC Toolkit will include only the highest quality alternatives to commercial software. Crap, even Free crap, will be excluded. In situations where there is more than one good free program to accomplish a task, users will have the choice of installing one, some, or all of the competing applications. Jake's PC Toolkit will also give users a pro/con comparison in this situation to help users to make the best choice.
everyone else uses MS Office
Well, there's only one way to change that: actively promote quality alternatives.
they're being effected by some MS piece of FUD.
1) By providing information to users, Jake's PC Toolkit will fight FUD.
2) By exposing users to high-quality free software, Jake's PC toolkit will kill FUD.

Solution:
Create an all-free installer tool that takes a PC from Naked to pimped out in the time it takes to install these programs. After that, the Installer will take care of making sure that you're always use the very latest and greatest tool by checking at a user-defined interval for software updates. When the installer is updating a program, it'll present a 1-5 star rating system to see what the user's experience has been so far, and a comment box. This should let us give feedback to the developers as well as address programs' strengths and weaknesses. It will also tell us how best to describe the function of individual applications.

With no further ado, I present our application list:

Google Pack

Chrome Web Browser

Google Apps

Gmail

Google Docs

Adobe Reader>

Google Talk

RealPlayer

Google Earth

Picasa

Firefox with Google Toolbar

Skype

Adobe AIR

DVD Flick

Boxee

GOM Player

VLC Media Player

GIMP

Lifehacker Pack

AVG Anti Virus

ClamWin AntiVirus
Boxee
Hulu Desktop
Joost
Foobar2000
Songbird
Buddi
TrueCrypt

And more and more and more. This thing is going to be pimp, I am going to make it, I am going to open-source it, and I am going to promote it. Imagine if many of these applications asked the user if they'd like to install Jake's Free Software Toolkit.

To be updated ad infinitum....

How to make Froogle rock

2009-10-09T02:42:00.003-04:00

I've got to admit it. I'm a froogle user. Even though there are only two of us in the world, the two people who do use it (me and my imaginary friend) think that it's a great way to comparison-shop, even though it's got serious spam issues, and some pretty serious issues with accuracy, too.

BUT THE SOLUTION IS SO AMAZINGLY SIMPLE!

By each item, place the question "Is this what you were looking for?" with buttons to click for yes and no. This way, Google will be able to optimize results for your particular search session, and use the data over time in order to make their engine more accurate.

In other news today, I do wish that Google would give me $10 for every welog entry I write about Google.

What Pandora Needs

2009-10-01T21:33:00.004-04:00

1) Paid accounts should be avaialable outside of the United States.

2) Paid accounts should get a graphic equalizer

3) Non-paid accounts should have access to the desktop app

4) The "secret sauce" of station making should be loosened up. I have a great station that is somehow so trained that it seemingly can't play a song that I haven't already heard. I thought all the thumbing down and up was so that people could be exposed to new music? I don't get anything new at all on my station "superpower"

A New Way of Funding Pre-K to PhD Education

2009-09-20T02:10:00.005-04:00

Everyone knows that American students aren't being as well-served by their public schools as they could be, but no one has offered a concise, market-driven way to fix them and backed it up with any political muscle. I want to see that changed.

The United States is largely credited with creating the postindustrial economy, but it has largely failed to teach its children how to be competitive in it. The exception to this "largely" happens to be private schools that typically cost less per-student, per-year to deliver a supeieror education. This certainly is not to say that there are no excellent public schools, or that there couldn't be excellent public schools. Indeed, what is meant by this is that all students should have the highest level of access to education as one another, within the reasonable constraints of the market and the funding mechanism. The solution I propose relies on two controversial solutions that have been debated ad nauseam in the united states: Mandatory School Vouchers and the un-linking of property taxes to school districting. Currently, property taxes are set at a small-municipal level, instead of at a statewide level. Because of this, and because of the simple percentage method of levying them, the current level of funding provided on a per-student basis has to do with the per-student net value of property in their home municipality and on the actual property tax rate set. Because of the choice enherent to this scheme, religious schools do not need to fear being excluded from these measures, nor do homeschooling parents whose children consistently score within a certain level of the national average on standardized tests. In fact, homeschooling parents will benefit from recieving the full sum of the voucher in return for educating their child. Schools may choose to opt out of the standardized testing, but in doing so exclude themselves from the voucher system. Busing should be provided to any school within a fifty-mile radius of the student's home, and funding for this busing should be provided by the federal government.

I am proposing that the United States Federal Government begin to levy a property tax, nationally, for the sole purpose of funding education or simply set a mandatory minimum per-student level of funding that is to be provided by voucher to each family with children while simultaneously challenging municipalities to cut their property tax down to zero, and providing incentives to municipalities who have zero property tax. Families will be free to choose the school that their child attends at the primary level, and free to choose any school at the secondary level, with the exception of students who do not meet the minimum academic requirements of their chosen secondary schools. It is the student who should have the main power to choose their secondary school, while parents should be able to choose a student's primary school, in order to promote children's engagment in their own vocational development.

There is NO REASON that American pupils should not be offered the opportunity to be trained in any number of high-paying, high-skill trades as opposed to a college preperatory curriculum. Students are more engaged in classes they like, and fourteen year olds usually have some idea of what their ideal carreer is, and should be encouraged to chase their dream for themselves, not their parent's. If they want to change careers later in life, the reformed American educational system will be there to back them up then, as well.

Changing to my proposed system could have other benefits that are not directly written into the bill. Instead, these benefits come from the implementation of the bill and cannot yet be accurately imagined, though we can predict that the likelihood of their existance under my proposed system is nearly 100%. Suddenly, education at the K-14 level

Some Juicy Data

I know cooks who should be philosophy professors, working professionals dissatisfied in the field they invested years acquiring a mastery of, and many, many innately intelligent individuals who never got the opportunity to have a good education. I have a great plan for what I want to do with my life, and I am scared that I won't be able to fund the very last leg of my education, a PhD in Informatics. And let me tell you: I'm one of the lucky ones.

If I'm so worried about funding the last leg of my education, then what makes me lucky?

I'm being frank here: I was born to a family with an above-average affinity for knowledge, and (possibly consequently) I was born to a family of above average financial means to pay for education than the average American household. As a child, I hated the disadvantage of being taught in a poorly performing catholic school, St. Mary of The Lake, in Hamburg, NY. To this day, I still staunchly believe that the students would be better off if the place were shuttered immediately. This is because it is simply not possible to retain quality educators on a pittance of a tuition and donations at the attached church. Priests are not usually trained academic administrators. Our current system gives the great teachers recruited by this school every incentive to move on to a higher-paying position, and gives the bad teachers a huge incentive to stay and not make a fuss. In fact, the bad teachers had an incentive to get the good teachers (who would outperform the bad teachers) out of the school as quickly as possible. I saw it happen, even though I was only 12. Today, I understand why it happened. Standardized test scores would quickly identify chronically under performing institutions like St. Mary of the Lake, the system I propose would not have trapped me in that school for two reasons. First, parents would quickly see that their child was attending an under performing school. Second, the government could see these trends on a longer scale and mandate reforms proven to improve a school's performance on a per-school basis, with the penalty for continued under performance being a discontinuation of voucher payments for that school.

At the secondary level, I was much luckier. My high performance at St. Mary's and on the Catholic Secondary School Examination allowed me to gain admission to three of Buffalo's Catholic Secondary Schools: Canisius High School, (my choice) St. Francis High School, and Bishop Timon-St. Jude High School. I chose the quantitatively best school. That is, students who attended Canisius had higher SAT scores and higher rates of admission to selective universities, as well as a higher rate of tertiary-school attendance in the overall graduating classes. The fact of the matter is that there's no boot-strapping a Canisius High School education. Their current tuition is $8,850 per year. For many families in Buffalo, NY, that is simply not an option. Intelligent kids are turned away through no fault of their own, or simply do not apply because either they're aware that they can't afford it, or their parents are put through the indignity of explaining that it's just not in the family budget.

That's not right, morally or economically.

Sure, it's easy to see the moral side of this situation. No child should be denied a quality education at the secondary level simply because their family cannot afford it. The Buffalo, NY public schools are in a shambles. It's embarassing. My friends who attended public school often told me stories of textbooks chained to desks, where homework can't be assigned - at least certainly not if it's based on the book, because the book is still in school, chained to the desk. The reason for this is simple: my hometown is just about broke. X% of people live below the poverty line, and the situation is getting worse. Just because I'm from Hamburg, NY and from a upper middle class family of working professionals doesn't mean that I should be entitled to a better education. All of my peers are MORALLY entitled to the best education that can be given to them within certain reasonable limits (say... 50 miles from your house at a school you qualify for.) That will never change. Despite widespread recognition of this moral entitlement of all students, neither republicans or democrats have really tried to solve this problem. We have failed in the very worst way.

There is, however, a solution to my great city's decline: education. Sure, it takes a generation to for the return on investment to kick in, but it has been conclusively shown that better education means that a person's labor is worth more, because that person can do more advanced things than the very same person who was not well-educated. Buffalo's economy could easily stand strong again, and for the first time, whites and blacks could enjoy a level playing field in their preparation to enter the economy (read: education). Buffalo's current system does precious little to gurantee equal access to education because (generally) whites who live in the suburbs of Buffalo send their kids to good public schools, or to private schools in the city. If they can afford to, whites, blacks, browns, yellows, and everyone in between who reside in the city of Buffalo send their kids to private schools, or to the much-praised City Honors School and the rest of the residents of the city of Buffalo (those who cannot afford to or cannot be bothered to) send their kids to Buffalo public schools. Inside the Buffalo Public Schools, students fail. They lose, almost universally. While there are certainly cases of children receiving an excellent education at public schools in the City of Buffalo, those same high performing children would quite likely have had much more room to develop into brighter students at one of Buffalo's private secondary schools. They don't, because their parents cannot afford tuition.

In the United States, there is compulsory education until the age of 16, when a student can legally withdraw from classes. For students trapped in the scrap-heap of schools that make up much of the Buffalo Public School system, this means that they are by and large wasting their time. THIS IS NOT THE FAULT OF THE VAST MAJORITY OF TEACHERS. IT IS A SYSTEMATIC FAILURE WITH ITS ROOTS IN RACISM AND THE ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION FUNDING IN THE UNITED STATES.

In city centers all across the United States, the situation is much the same. Wealthy urban families send their kids to private schools, because they've seen the reports about the school's public schools. All other urban families are stuck. Here's what happens:

1) Either the kid's sights have been set so low by the public educational system that they don't consider the possiblity of anything better. (You got that Johnny? Thanks to the lack of creativity and drive currently possessed by the people of the United States of America, you don't even consider education as a way of bettering your conditions)

OR

2) The child's parents must explain that it is not possible for them to attend school X for financial reasons. (OUCH! Doesn't that hurt, Johnny? Now you KNOW that you may very well not be reaching your full potential, ever, while the entire time this is happening you hear stories of great Americans bootsrapping themselves to great wealth. Most of our famed bootsrappers were QUITE well educated, even if that education was unconventional.)

It makes me both outraged and depressed that a child should have to think in such a realpolitik fashion!)

It gets much, much worse at the tertiary level.

Here's my experience, in a nutshell:

Please view this rundown of the costs of attending Loyola University Chicago in 2010.

I would get a total of $37,850 per year in aid to attend Loyola, a nubmer which includes $2625 provided to me in a government-backed student loan. On top of that, I needed to pay for books, which cost me $1000 per semester and often drove me to call my mother to ask for help and cry from frustration afterward. I wanted to be the person who bought my books, but I simply could not afford them and I had already commited a great deal of personal resources to the project of attending University. Loyola's current annual cost of full-time attendance including room and board is $46,412.

After all this, I still came up short for my housing and meal plan. Of course, if I had been allowed to enter the free market to find my housing I would have been much better off, but in the end, my Loyola bill was 31,000 per year.

Some young adults find out that they simply will not be able to pay for school at all. More adults find out that they can attend university at serious cost to themselves and to their families. In the case of the majority of American families, it is not possible for the progeny to attend university without serious financial commitment in the here and now and in the years to come on the part of both the student and their parents. There is a good deal of assistance out there, but it is largely misallocated, and in the best-case scenario a student can support himself and pay tuition at a public undergraduate program while they eke out a living.

When it comes to finances, education most clearly qualifies as an investment, and a very reliable one, at that. Essentially, the higher one progresses in the educational system, all the way on up to the PhD level, the more money a person is likely to make. Not to get too philosophical, however, it must be noted that people are better compensated to perform jobs that are significant (police), profitable (CEO), essential (Doctor), etc.... basically, people are more likely to earn more money in proportion to the length of time study was required for completion. The free market has proven to be valid with respect to employee compensation: it is clear that generally, people who make more money in a given field do so because they excel in it. That is: it is a GOOD THING to be a nation of higher-earners, and not simply because Americans will have more money.

Xtimeline: so close, yet so far away

2009-08-14T23:00:00.002-04:00

The folks over at xtimeline.com really did perceive a need quite well - it's much too difficult to generate a timeline using standard office software and templates, and there's nothing else on the web that can generate a timeline as pretty as the ones that come from xtimeline.com. There's just one thing missing: when I use xtimeline.com, I can't *see* date ranges, even if I specify them. They've done such a good job of visualizing information over at xtimeline, it's a pity that that the dots for an event can't stretch out into lines to represent the length of an event.

Drat! Off to template-land I go...

xtimeline.com: if you want to be the web 2.0 provider of timelines, then please, please do a respectable job of it. If you're accepting data, make sure that it can be visualized! Isn't that the whole point of a timeline?

Single-Price Healthcare

2009-07-25T02:57:00.002-04:00

I'm sure this has already been thought of, but I thought that I'd toss it out there. Recently I've had several important people in my life need urgent care and not know what to do - not because of a lack of options, but because of a lack of money.

Hospitals should not be able to charge patients without insurance more than they charge insured patients insurance companies + The patient's copay. This would make healthcare much more affordable for the uninsured while going great lengths to remove a huge injustice in our current system.

I just had a nightmare thought about the obama health plan. As you all know, under his plan, health insurance is compulsory - you must have it. Will I, as an evil business owner be forced to buy health insurance under his plan, since I am my own employer? Doesn't he realize that the options out there for guys like me are rather grim, especially because of my back problems.

Well, that's just my thought. SInce I know that the insurance companies pay far less for an ER visit than an individual, I thought I would share my $.02.

Windows 7 Running for more than a week

2008-12-12T17:00:00.002-05:00

Just an interesting little thought. Somehow a bird came to me and he had a copy of windows 7. I chatted with the bird and he got me a key.

Anyway, it's been running for more than a week now with nary a reboot. I only post this because this never, ever happened for me with Vista, not even a single time.

Smash away, M$....

Financial Darwinism

2008-12-05T14:53:00.002-05:00

Capitalism has the amazing ability to promote excellence and destroy "suckiness." It's one of the best things (in my opinion) about capitalism. Good products and services succeed, while bad ones fall by the wayside. The market (essentially, the will of the people) decides wheather a product or service is good enough to succeed.

The "financial bailout" and the "autobailout" and the disturbingly regular "airline bailouts" destroy this "financial darwinism." These mediocre companies are given the ability to live on through our tax dollars. This actually promotes mediocrity across the entire spectrum of the market. Bailing out a dying airline stops an excellent airline from buying up the assets and contracts of a mediocre (or terrible) airline. Bailing out a bank that's going bust sets the precedent that the government's role is to bail out dying banks, and encourages fiscal irresponsiblity in the banking sector overall.

To me, this seems particularly clear in the auto industry. All Americans know that the American auto industry is in trouble - it can be seen clearly on the streets of the United States on the "Hyundai" "Honda" "Kia" "Volkswagen" "Mini" "Lexus" "Suzuki" "Subaru" and "Toyota" badges on cars all across the country. These companies are very profitable and produce innovative, environmentally-friendly cars. This is not to say that the us "Big 3" don't produce some great cars. For me, one in particular comes to mind: The Chevrolet Caviler and its replacement, the Chevy Cobalt. They're both fuel-efficent and reliable vehicles.

I drive a Chevy Metro, a cheap, efficent, and remarkably reliable (it has NEVER needed major maintenance, even a clutch, despite the fact that it's got 145,500 miles on it and both my fiancee and I learned to drive a manual on it.) Oh, wait! When you open up the hood, you see writing in Japanese, and when you dig into the facts, you find that the Chevy Metro used to be the Geo Metro, and that it all started off as the Suzuki Swift. It's not an American car at all. It's a rebadged Japanese car with some American styling thrown on in the interieor. My metro is by no means innovative. It's a model that's nearly 20 years old, with only minor updates. It's also cheap, reliable, and surprisingly roomy (on more than one occasion I have moved a COUCH inside of it.) It's not comfortable, but for $2500 (used) It sure did the trick for me. It even largely survived a major accident, and has been driving GREAT with no front (plastic only - the actual bumper is still there) bumper piece of molded plastic.

GM, the maker of my metro and my buddy's caviler and cobalt, is headed to the crapper because of bad financial management and a focus on boring, boxy six, eight, ten and twelve cylinder models. Given the state of the economy and of the environment, how about a three or even a TWO cylinder car!? How about a teeny little car that focuses only on what cars are supposed to do: get a person from point A to point B, while costing only $2500!?

Seriously, folks, if "they" can do better, than we can do better. Capitalism can help us to do better by allowing crap to fall to the bottom and cream to rise to the top. I'm not saying that there's no role for even the most audacious of the USA's SUV's: the Hummer, the Escalade. There's no reason that a wealthy person shouldn't be able to buy a really, really nice, large car and burn all the gas they want to in the process. I don't have a problem with that, and I don't see why, in a free nation, anyone should.

Tesla motors is likely the only US-based car company doing something really new. They've made an all electric sports car that beats the hell out of ferraris, maseratis, and lamborghinis. It's cheaper, too. They're also looking into producing more wallet-friendly and less super-zoomy cars. Kudos to them. We might even want to award their innovation by buying their cars and maybe even providing them with grant money to do more research.

Based on the upcoming product lineup that Ford, GM and Chrysler have proposed, I see no reason to bail them out or prop them up. Instead, I think that we should do what's best for our national budget mess and for our economy as a whole: let them die, and free their talented workers and engineers. Americans are not (as they are often potrayed) lazy idiots. The people who become unemployed in a "Big three explosion" won't stay that way for long. They'll form their own car companies that work hard to create cars that serve the needs of Americans today. They have my pity with respect to the fact that they might very well end up unemployed for a while, and they have my support because I support the idea of grants for companies trying to come up with new, innovative transportation solutions and hiring Americans to manufacture those solutions, automotive or otherwise.

Tomorrow I'll go into detail on why it's best to let banks die so that new, better banks can rise up and take their place. On Monday I'll go into detail on why the same thing is true for airlines, too.

Windows 7

2008-11-03T22:07:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to toss up my $.02 on Windows 7. I acquired the pre-beta and I've got to say.... WOW. Basically, Windows 7 is what Vista should have been. It doesn't add much at all, except a general feeling of "smoothness." Also, after I installed it, everything worked. Even though I didn't have a CD key (lost mine) windows update worked.

Every application that I've installed has worked, and faster than Vista, too. I stopped running linux on my desktop because of Korean-language compatibility for my fiancee. I liked Windows because I could just install nearly anything and it would "just work." That said, it sure wasn't as sleek or fast as the Ubuntu linux distribution that I used previously.

Windows 7 seems to change that. Everything is faster and more logical. My system finally feels like it has 6 gigabytes of RAM, instead of strangely chugging along like Vista did. Windows 7's installer hasn't fixed the annoying MBR problem that I've been having where my comptuer doesn't boot unless I've got a CD in the drive to "bootstrap" from, like a Linux or Windows install CD.

Other than that, Windows 7 just rocks. Even the Control Panel is more usable and sensible. Options that were previously hidden under layers of crud and obfsucation are now clear and usable. It's neat... this "beta" runs MUCH better than the "final" copy of Vista that I was running before. Vista.... WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!?!?!

Personally, I think that MS should release Windows 7 as it is now free to all Vista users, just to clear the air of the stank that Vista left behind it. Of course, they won't, because Windows 7 is clearly worth paying money for if you're stuck with that crap-pile Vista on your machine.

Miguk

2008-09-02T15:37:00.002-04:00

Hello all.... I'm back in the USA and things are going swimmingly. I'm here in Buffalo with Min Kyoung. She's studying English, and I'm studying Korean.

I've got a job working for Hotcake Computers, designing a laptop computer for the elderly. It's challenging and rewarding-- if I do well, then maybe people's lives can be made more plesant because of it, and that's the greatest part of this gig.

I'm also passively looking for nerd-work to supplement my Hotcake stipend. So, if your computer's broke, network's down, whatever, give me a call. I'll be happy to try and figure out the best way to attack your information or computer related problem.

Sept. 2, 2008 - We miss you Vicky! Min Kyoung so wants to meet you, I so want to rant to you about politics..... Love you Vick!

More Photos

2008-03-25T14:13:00.000-04:00

Here's some more photos. That's really all I've got to say :)!

-Jake

Still ignoring my blog

2008-03-23T06:52:00.001-04:00

Hello world! You can call me at 716-989-4815. That's my skypein number, that points to my cell phone in Korea. Umm.... I had a great trip to Namwon with Min Kyoung..... here are some photos:

http://picasaweb.google.co.kr/minkyoungworld/NamwonKorea/

Basically, I'm having a really great time. I am still held back by a ludicrous number of doctor's appointments, but I think I am actually making progress-- how cool is that?!?!

-Jake

Tech Post

2008-01-17T06:48:00.000-05:00

Well well well, I'm running Vista 64 now, because of the Korean activeX addiction. Oh, well-- Linux is really cool, and windows with 6 gigs of RAM is okay, too. Only trouble right now is that mp3 playback in WMP and Songbird has died for no apparent reason. Well, there was a trigger-- I installed the creative x64 driver.... if anyone's got a fix to this, please let me know....

Anyway windows Vista is a total pig, but if you feed the pig well (6 gigs of RAM) it's pretty decent. I haven't had any stability trouble. Ubuntu is better, but not if you live in Korea. I probably won't go back to linux, though just because of the difficulty of reinstalling... that's going to have to wait till 1 computer in the future. I've decided that I'll upgrade every year.

Things are pretty good!

2008-01-17T06:46:00.000-05:00

I just thought that I would put up a mostly personal post. Things are going pretty well for me over here in Korea. I've got stuff all set up at my house, and I'm moving along. I'm seeing this absolutley amazing girl, and work is going pretty well now. I realize that I've been neglecting this weblog, but that is because of well... I'd rather not explain actually. But there's a reason and of course it's weird.

So anyways, that's my update.... things are decent. I've still got some troubles, but things are pretty decent. Tech post coming up next.

I think that I should also mention that I was accepted to the University Of New England in australia for a master's in applied linguistics. I will begin classes on Feb. 14-- good wishes and prayers and stuff are totally accepted-- it's going to be a really tough program. Well, maybe not that tough-- I don't know, but I am a little worried about working alongiside of it. Sure should be interesting, though, and it puts me on a 3 year track to work in a Korean university. I am going to work for Jackie's for another contract, I hope, because it's just a great school and I'm totally happy there. It's a good school and I have a good community around me.

I sure do miss all of you US-people, though-- I can't wait to come back home for a while, hit up Chicago, Denver, Portland..... basically repeat my summer trip, that was SO MUCH FUN! My girlfriend is coming to the US with me, she's going to study at Fredonia, and I'm buying a house in Dunkirk..... Bascially, I'm making things work. I'm hoping to work on a PHD while working in a Korean university.

Wow, long post. To sum up: Things are pretty decent.

Pathetic

2007-08-24T21:35:00.000-04:00

Sirs and ladies at TreeHugger:

"We'll need to accept pay-as-you go!?!"

Inventing good solutions to difficult problems is what this here Internet is based on, and something that nerds are good at doing. So, instead of rolling over and accepting 3% sewage in your drinking water instead of 0%, why don't you step up and call for something to be done? Start selling bulk bandwith. Lay fiber. Or, as tends to happen every few years or so, reinvent the whole darn thing.

But to be defeated this easily illustrates clearly the lack of understanding most people have of this issue, and the lack of appreciation for how rare it is in human history to have a forum for ideas as free as the Internet, served with a side dish of AYCE access. The day we let them put us on "Pay as you go" plans is the day that gov'ts start putting a $5,000 /kb tax on information they don't like, or banning it outright. "Pay as you go" is the day that you allow the government and the media companies to once again control what you watch and how you watch it. What you read and how you read it, et cetera, ad nauseam.

Basically, I'm saying you suck at thinking. We all do this from time to time, I've done and wrote some really stupid things in my day, but with this here Internet, it's easier for other people to remind me that those things were stupid and to help me to see the error in my ways.

Internal Investigation Clears Joliet Cop

2007-08-22T01:09:00.000-04:00

I want to end this charade once and for all. Apparently "Mr. Nag" was not a US Iraq war veteran. A "Internal Investigation" cleared the police officer of all wrongdoing. Here's the thing: internal investigations clear police officers nationwide of abuses when they actually did occur. I remain suspicious based on the Joliet Police's reaction. I'd like to publish a comment that I received today:

Cop cleared. Sikh lying. Another "Duke Rape case" or Tawanna Brawly incident where minorities try to garner sympathy and money. They are the true racists.

Oh, come on! Let's chill out here. The "Duke Rape case" also involved a white prosecutor who went way beyond what was intelligent in prosecuting the case, and minority groups surely aren't the "true racists." Ugh. The comments that I've recieved and subsequently sequestered on my weblog are so hateful as to be unfit for publication on any body with a connection to me without being able to admonish their posters, as I am doing here. My summary: Mr. Nag seems to have lied about his military service, and may have lied about the event itself. Since I am not aware of any disinterested eyewitnesses, I've got to conclude that something shady probably happened, and that an "internal investigation" is about as level-headed, open-minded and fair as oh, I don't know.... maybe a censorship board in China when it censors its censors?

Please. I don't want to twist this and say that the folks sending me these comments are "the true racists"-- I'll let the folks who read the comments decide, just not in a forum where I can't clearly say that I disagree with them like the comment section of my weblog.

When will AI reach human capabilities

2007-08-18T20:21:00.000-04:00

Bruce Klein

Sat, Aug 18, 2007 at 5:51 PM

To: faddat@gmail.com

Jacob, quick question... when do you think
AI will surpass human-level intelligence?

[ ] 2010-20
[ ] 2020-30
[ ] 2030-50
[ ] 2050-70
[ ] 2070-2100
[ ] Beyond 2100
[ ] Prefer not to make predictions
[ ] Other: __

Survey sent to a few friends to gain a better
perspective on time-frame... results posted:
www.novamente.net/bruce_blog

Thanks!
Bruce

Jacob Gadikian

Sun, Aug 19, 2007 at 9:21 AM

To: Bruce Klein

Good question sir!

Other:

The Easy part:
With respect to math, science, large datasets, relationships between
things and large datasets, I'd say that "AI" (I think you know why
I've got the quotes) is getting near to surpassing humans. Of course,
it's just a matter of seeding and training the existing models well
and you'll have something that outwits mere humans quite quickly. If
not already, then by 2015. I would expect that by 2015 computers will
be performing many associative functions that are only slowly
beginning to show up on the horizon.

The tough part: understanding human requests perfectly,
interpretation. (I don't think this requires emotion, creativity,
passion) "Hard AI," which I would allow to call itself "I" like
presently only humans can do in the English language. At this stage,
AI will have evolved to the point where it can do some amazing feats,
and is being used in many common environments with or without the
knowledge of the humans using it.

The toughest part:
art, creativity, emotion, passion:
2100 if ever. I'm really torn on the issue of if emulating humans
really really well counts for these things. Maybe? I guess you need
self-awareness, but does that imply emotion? Human-level, I suppose
does. if us humans haven't stopped innovating in order to kill one
another, or focused all of our attentions on new and innovative ways
to kill one another (see: most governments' and many corporations'
current direction) we might get there by 2100 and it'll make the world
a more interesting place, that's for sure.

However, is creativity a trait of the organic? Maybe? Then again,
are "evolved" computer applications themselves organic? Gosh, this
one goes so deep. I'll tell you what: I'm going to take what I've
written, send it to you and post it on my blog. I'll also instruct
people who read my blog to answer your question, if that's okay with
you. It is a very difficult question that I have a very hard time
giving a *GOOD* answer, and it's certainly worth pondering, given the
huge implications of the third kind of AI, which in my mind would
require rights of its own, which would need to be protected and
somehow *gasp* balanced against "human rights".

So, I guess I fall soundly in the "other" category. Thanks for the
good brain-fodder.

-Jake

[Quoted text hidden]

--
Jacob Gadikian
MSN Messenger: faddat@gmail.com
AIM: faddat
SKYPE: faddat
716-912-8357
Homepage: faddat.blogspot.com

Housekeeping an a rant about E-money

2007-07-21T03:05:00.000-04:00

Kari and Ed will remember my T-money card well, as it was going to be given to a certain colorful individual named "T-money". However, the card never made it to its new owner, and so I took it back to Korea with me, since I'd put about 20,000 ($20) won on the card before I left Korea. I went on the subway yesterday to use it and discovered that it magically no longer worked. Where did my $20 go?!?!! The card is dead, so my money is gone. This is yet another reason why I think digital cash is just a bad idea. I want my $20 back!

Okay, now I'm done with that little rant. Onto some blog housekeeping. Later today, I should post my first videos to this weblog. Nothing fancy, just a couple of videos that I've taken while zigging around. I'm also going to start a google picasa thingey. I can't use the album thing properly with LInux, but hopefully Google will work that out soon.

Now, onto the Mr. Nag story. I want to say, once and for all, that I was not an eyewitness to the incident involving Mr. Nag. I do think that it is most likely that the Joliet police acted improperly, but I have no evidence of that. I have recieved numerous e-mails criticizing me for taking Mr. Nag's side in the argument so quickly. I will now explain why: when I called the Joliet Police, the same Chief that appeared later in the day on Television explaining the incident told me that he wasn't even sure that there had been an incident, and basically treated me like a damn fool for calling him up and asking questions. Had he provided an explaination or given some sort of reasonable excuse to me, I would not have the level of suspicion that I still retain with respect to the Police's story in this case.

Because the cop I called acted like a dirty cop, I assumed that he (and the office that arrested Mr. Nag) were both dirty cops. Had he treated me like a citizen with legitimate concerns, I would not have assumed that the police were in the wrong. The way that he acted toward me colored my judgment in this case, and I must say that my judgment remains (and wil remain) colored.

Government and Truth

2007-04-23T22:13:00.000-04:00

God I hope I can travel to China after I write this article. I want to see the new, developed, advanced, amazing, successful, burgeoning, beautiful China. However, I'm now writing an article that questions the motives of China's government, as well as my own. Governments should tell the truth. That way, the people who run the Government (in theory, the people as a whole, with no exclusions other than age) can make the best and most informed decisions.

This decision to subtly insert propaganda all around the Chinese Internet reeks of recent Bush Administration moves on sex (Abstinence-Only Education), Iraq (Remember the party line on WMD's? ), and even Educational Policy. The "party line" is rarely truth, and usually a distortion if it. An advanced socialist country like China does not need to lie to its people. It does not need to subtly shape their opinions. I strongly feel that an advanced socialist society should have progressed to a point where it can tell the truth to its people at all times.

Now, the reason for my comparison with the Bush Admin. in the USA is that there is a distortion of truth promoted by government here as well. We need not trumpet our "freedom." In the United Sates, the government uses the same tactics to shape our public opinion about its polices as the Chinese do. Carefully implanting the right information into the media. I would fully support any government that had truth as a grounded tenet. Sadly, I do not see that government anywhere in the world.

Censorship and lying need to die in order for the human race to advance. The free exchange of ideas leads to great things, and stifling such exchanges only postpones the inevitable: the structural changes that new ideas produce in society. To be frank, I believe that we do need to adopt a government/society that is laid out in terms of new economics. The Zero-sum game is hurting humanity, and the blind search for profit will soon prove fruitless as consumption necessairly increases to increase the size of the overall economy. This is not to say that I do not believe in a free market-- I do. I believe in a free, totally egalitarian market where certain buyers and sellers are not favored. I believe in a market where distortions of truth are not used to cover up the ethical quandaries that come with doing business.

The best description of this more ideal system is found here: http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

Personally, I would be more impressed if one of the world superpowers were to go about creating a government / economic system that works like the one in this short story. I think that it describes a more ideal system.

And that's just the thing: If we all strive for the ideal, at the very least, we'll end up with something better than we have.

It's when we make compromises of ethics for a quick fix that we begin to fail. We can do better.

Action on the "Joliet cop beats the snot out of US Veteran for no reason" Story

2007-04-12T12:01:00.000-04:00

The original story is right here: http://www.saldef.org/content.aspx?a=1682

Excellent ABC7Chicago story on the beating with an informative video segment: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=5204526

The contact info page for the city of Joilet is here: http://www.cityofjoliet.info/contact.htm

That is the most descriptive story on the event that I could find. Here's the gist of it: Iraq I Veteran Mr. Kuldip Singh Nag mercilessly beaten by a Joilet police officer in front of his own home because he had a van in his driveway with expired tags. After pepper-spraying Mr. Nag, the police officer is quoted as saying, "You f****** Arab! You f***** immigrant, go back to you f****** country before I kill you!"

1. I just called the Joliet Police ((815) 724-3201) and spoke to a person who identified himself only as "a commander in the joliet police force". Before speaking to him I spoke to the Police Secretary who could not make any comment whatsoever on the allegations. She did, however, kindly transfer me to the police commander. The commander said that he could neither confirm nor deny the allegations. When I asked how he thought Mr. Nag was beaten so severely he had to spend five days in hospital, he repeated that he could neither confirm nor deny the allegations. When I asked what he thought should happen to the police officer in question, he again said that he could not confirm any allegations against the officer or the Joilet police department. After this, the Police Commander said that he was not going to debate this with me over the phone, and began to end the call. Not wanting to expose myself to the ill-will of the Joliet Police Department, I ended the call and thanked the Commander for his time.

2. Now, onto my views on this.

This makes me want to puke. Not only did the Joliet Police make a really, really big screw-up, they will not take any responsibility for it in any way. This wouldn't be like Don Imus not apologizing-- this is many times worse. While using the racist language, the police officer was pepper spraying and beating Mr. Nag. The City of Joilet needs to fess up and pay up. One of their cops, empowered by the City of Joilet Beat the snot out of an innocent man and have nothing to say about it. Please, call the Joilet police at 815-724-3201. Ensure that this event is investigated, that the man responsible is fired, and that the attitude of the Joilet Police toward Americans of all colors, ideologies, and perspectives on life changes to an attitude that the American people as a whole can accept.

When people outside the USA read about Mr. Nag, I am sure that they are seeing the image of America that we don't want them to believe in. Not that America is a beautiful melting pot, but that America has become a place where you can have the snot beaten out of you in front of your own home because your skin is the wrong color. As an American, I'm sickened by what happened to Mr. Nag. The Joliet Police don't seem to be sickened in the least bit by all of this, and that truly does make me wonder what business they have in policing Americans.

3: International Press Coverage:
This story has been picked up by the International Press. The Joilet cop that did this is now responsible for Americans "Losing face" around the world. Not like we need any help with that with our current president in power. Anyway, here are some links to stories describing Americans as xenophobic (read: racist scum) in the post-9/11 environment that wouldn't exist without a little help from a Joilet police officer, his pepper spray, and his baton:

Times of India

4: Domestic Press Coverage:

5: Other Bloggers' Coverage:

GeneExpression

6: Mr. Nag's Attorneys
The Chawla Group will be representing Mr. Nag in his suit against the police who beat the snot out of him while yelling racist epithets. Good luck to Mr. Nag and his attorneys in this matter. Incidents like this are an embarrassment to our nation and the people behind them should be made to pay dearly.

Windows Vista SUCKS!

2007-03-19T21:52:00.000-04:00

A client of mine called me a while ago because his computer was beginning to get slow and cranky. It was quite old-- a P3 800MHz with 256 MB of RAM. It ran Windows 2000, and I could clearly see that it was on its last legs. He'd recently upgraded to AVG Internet Security, which in and of itself is a problem. Those combined security apps just kill machines-- Norton, Mcafee, AVG, whatever-- from my experience, they all do.

He felt that his computer was going too slow and called me in to give my ideas. I suggested it might be time to upgrade, and given the age of his machine, he agreed. He likes to do these things quickly, so we called up Dell and bought a $700 computer on the spot. A gig of RAM, an AMD dual-core processor, this thing was ready to go.

First off, Vista crashed three times while I was simply moving his data. Once was a blue screen of death (!) during Windows Update, the second time was the sidebar application, and the third was the sidebar app again. MS, if you're going to spend 5+ years making an OS with a sidebar, you'd better make darn well sure that it works!

Second, Vista's Internet connection system seemed very cumbersome for his DSL line. I just didn't like it. I got it going though, and brought the computer up in the time honored tradition of getting the latest updates to the Operating System and Office Suite from the Internet. I moved his data and applications over, with the exception of Quickbooks 2004, which could not seem to tolerate its new Vista environment. Shame on both Microsoft and the publishers of Quickbooks for letting this one slip. No one should have to re-buy $500 in software because they upgraded their operating system. Never. Not in this day and age!

Finally, I get a call from my customer at around 10:00 and he's sure not sounding too pleased. Vista has lost the connections settings for his DSL line. *POOF!* They're gone! I helped him to set it up again over the phone. During that conversation, he mentioned that his old computer actually felt faster to him.

Now, a word about my future dealings and perspectives on Vista. NEVER AGAIN. BillG, you and I are through. Windows XP owns Windows Vista, and that's sad. I will no longer recommend Microsoft products under any circumstances. I will cite this case in the future when I am counseling customers against the status quo. Windows Vista is a HONKING PIECE OF SHIT!

Lastly, I'd like to say how sad that makes me. Now, I'm a Linux user, and I do think it's the better operating system, with better development techniques. But today I saw Microsoft, a great American enterprise, going down in flames. I sincerely believe that Vista will be their last major desktop OS. I feel that too many people will feel soured by Vista's instability and lack of performance for Microsoft to get another go at things. I am sad to see that another American business is going down. I'd love to say that Microsoft, the greatest code house in the world, is from my country. However, it's now clear that Microsoft no longer has a stake to any claim on that throne.

I need SecondLIfe Help!

2007-02-24T10:11:00.000-05:00

Well, I also need RealLife help.... but-- here's the thing. I've been playing with SecondLife in my spare time for about two weeks now. I don't think that I'm all that interested in it, but something keeps me coming back: the fact remains that two million people other than me have found something very interesting about this product. I remain thoroughly unimpressed. From the fact that LindenDollars are exchanged unevenly with the real thing, to the fact that I just haven't found any interesting activities, to the fact that I have only met one interesting person on SecondLife and he was dressed like a gigantic squirrel.

So, here's the challenge. I'm offering a bounty of $25 to anyone who can show me what makes SecondLife so interesting. I am sick of showing up in the main square in SecondLife and just wondering what on earth all these furries find so interesting. And I sincerely hope that it is not just that SL is a place for furries to get together. Otherwise the folks out at Linden have actually created the greatest abomination mankind has ever known.

So, for all the readers of my weblog that I'm unaware of (though I am more and more aware that there are more and more of you), if you or someone you know can show me what on earth is cool about SecondLife, I can send you $25 by PayPal.

Two things on my reading list

2007-02-13T13:29:00.000-05:00

http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm - a short story about the future..... robot-style

EDIT:

I just read this story and it is truly amazing. It is at once dystopic and utopic, both utterly terrifying and inspiring. This story also lays out a novel economic framework that could power a cashless future. Truly, a work of art that I will reccomend to all right along with Orwell's classic Animal Farm.

http://www.abelard.org/e-f-russell.htm - a short story about the future.... 1950's anarchist style...

-Jake