LarsonsWorld -- just another persons /dev/null

So, let's talk about pro and con. They are opposites. Pro is for and con is against.
Thus, what is the opposite of progress?
Congress!

All beings tremble before violence. All fear death. All love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?

- Dhammapada 129-130

Have to say, wish I would have tried XBMC a long time ago, it makes watching video so much easier / pleasant. The SnapSteam Firefly Mini remote is working great. As this was my motivation for checking out XBMC, hey, I am a very happy camper. I am also loving how XBMC has a weather display. I commute by bike and the weather is always a step or two back from the front of my mind.

Overall, I am psyched with XBMC , but there are a couple issues I am experiencing and want to figure out.

1) Sound. I am using my Dell laptop with its audio-out fed to a Sony receiver. Even with the volume level around 80% in XBMC, I am having to turn up the receivers volume to 50%. Prior, when in the Linux Mint 13 Xfce environment, I only had to turn up the receiver to 20% for the same audio output. It makes my nervous having the volume turned up this high in case I forget to turn it down before switching to another audio source.

2) For some reason, the automated scan doesn't recognize a few TV shows. For example, Once Upon a Time episodes are skipped during the automated scan. The Once Upon a Time folder is recorded but none of the episodes. If you look in the 'Files' section, they are all there. Stange

One thing I need to learn in XBMC is file management. Right now, I log out of XBMC and into Xfce for file management. No biggie, but I should figure out the file manager in XBMC.

Many moons ago -- circa 2007, I had a DIY PVR. I built the PVR with parts from my DIY desktop along with BeyondTV and a Happauge TV tuner card. With either the BeyondTV or card, I received a SnapStream Firefly Mini remote.

These days, my Dell 6000 laptop, which replaced the desktop, is replaced by my Acer Aspire One. The Dell is mainly used for watching video. This can be a pain in the ass though. Once a video ends, I have to venture to the Dell and select my next video whim.

Hmmm, a remote would come in handy for this.

Thus, on a whim, I added XBMC to the Dell's Linux Mint 13 installation to see if the remote worked. And once again, Linux put me in my place.

I had read the XBMC wiki pages about remotes. I read about how you had to edit this and that config file to set up a remote. I, on the other hand, just plugged in the remote receiver and started pressing buttons. Wow, I can navigate the XBMC screen with my Firefly Mini. Awesome.

Now, I haven't played to much with it yet. I am currently cleaning out the home folder to create plenty of room for storing video. I had used an external drive for video, but with a remote, I use the 250 GB drive the Dell has from now on. That should have enough room for a while.

As I play with this, I'll post more.

Man, what a beautiful day here in Denver, Sunny and 68.

Took a ride down Cherry Creek to Wash Park and back after work. Great day to ride, and the riders where out today. Body was hurting a bit, but it felt good to go out spinning for 90 minutes.

And I have to say, the scenery was awesome! ( hee, hee, hee)

What Is the Answer to That Stupid Math Problem on Facebook? -- Slate

Perhaps you’ve seen the problem on Facebook or another forum:

6 ÷ 2(1+2) = ?

It’s one of several similar math problems popping up on social networks recently. Perhaps you, too, thought, “Duh! That’s easy,” and then, as I did, became embroiled in an epically long comment thread while your blood pressure steadily rose because you could not possibly understand why the others doing this problem could not get the right answer.

Perhaps, if you’re a nerd like me, or you teach math as I do, you even fell asleep thinking about this problem, baffled and frustrated about why you were unable to convince intelligent, educated friends that your calculation of this deceptively simple problem was accurate.

So, did you get 1 or 9? We’ll get to the “correct” answer in a moment.

Read on ...

My math came up with 1 while Google calculator comes up with 9.

Spy Chief Says Little Danger of Cyber ‘Pearl Harbor’ in Next Two Years via Wired

The U.S. is not ready for a cyberwar via Washington Post

Well, which is it?

A bad pun, but it is being reported that Luke, Leia and Han are all coming back for the next Star Wars movie.

Volvo unveils cyclist alert-and-brake car system -- BBC

Volvo has announced it is releasing a cyclist detection facility which should prevent fatal accidents.

The auto firm says vehicles fitted with the system will be able to detect threats including a cyclist suddenly swerving out into a car's path.

Read on ...

Next they will need to come up with a system for when a car suddenly swerves into a bicyclists path.

Not that these Pearl Izumi's don't still pull their weight,

but Petey is ready for new ones.

With close to 10 years and 25,000 miles, those Pearl Izumi's up top have set a high bar for the new ones.

We'll check back in another ten years and see how the new ones are doing.

~~ Update -- 6 March, 2013 - 10:30 ~~
It was strange riding to work with the new shoes this AM. Hell, even walking in them is so different.