Some call it a vacation, these next two months, but I call it adventure and rejuvenation. I'm off to help some Burmese children learn about another world they hardly know exists. This has been planned for months. But recent events, as described in the following article, have overshadowed what I had envisioned as a chance to change a small piece of the world. I may be headed into a refugee tsunami, if the Burmese dictatorship totally fails it's population and the only route to survival lies in exodus. 

I've found it ironic that the current US President has been critical of the lack of response to the cyclone by the Burmese government. I was in Mississippi following Katrina, and can easily identify a kettle when it calls the pot black. But this article points out not only the lack of governmental response to disaster in Burma, but the fear of government held by not only the Burmese, but also outsiders already in Burma. Would you be willing, or able, to work for the common good under circumstances like these? I can only hope if the opportunity arises, that I can.

Apart from the sound of children crying, the town of Laputta is strangely silent.

Traumatized by the ordeal of surviving Cyclone Nargis, few people have anything to say. But it is also fear bred by 46 years of repression by military regimes that keeps them quiet.

A Cyclone Nargis survivor sits at a damaged school which has been turned into a makeshift refugee centre in Laputta, on May 10. (Photo: Reuters)

Although overwhelmed by the worst disaster in Burma's recent history, the junta has turned down foreign help and insists on using its ragtag infrastructure and poorly equipped military to conduct a grossly mismanaged relief operation for some 2 million people in distress.

And no one dares to protest. Even aid agencies are cautious.

"There are certainly parameters around whatever we do. It is very sensitive politically, but within those parameters we are getting through," said Tim Costello, CEO of World Vision Australia, one of the few foreign aid workers allowed into Rangoon.

Aid workers said critical supplies were reaching Laputta, a town of 20,000 people whose population swelled with 30,000 refugees streaming in from dozens of surrounding villages devastated in the May 3 cyclone.

Laputta is located near the coast of the Irrawaddy delta some 120 kilometers (75 miles) southwest of Rangoon.

But efforts to rush food and medicine from Laputta to lower-lying parts of the delta that were hardest hit have been slowed by the military's intense micromanaging.

"The government wants total control of the situation although they can't provide much and they have no experience in relief efforts," said a leading aid worker for an international aid organization. "We have to report to them every step of the way, every decision we make."

"Their eyes are everywhere, monitoring what we do, who we talk to, what we bring in and how much," the aid worker said in a soft voice, constantly looking around nervously as his assistant turned off all the lights except one dim lamp.

He agreed to the interview at night after being assured he wouldn't be named or identified in any way.

"Sorry, sorry. We don't want them to see you here. They don't trust us, as it is," he told a foreign reporter in Laputta.

The town, about 200 meters (600 feet) inland, is littered with flattened thatch-roofed homes and fallen trees. But it fared better than most neighboring villages, with several structures withstanding the cyclone's 190-kilometer (120-mile) per hour winds and the tidal surge it whipped up.

Schools, large houses and monasteries have become temporary shelters. Hundreds of survivors crowd the floor of a monastery's open-air hall, which is lit by dim kerosene lamps and candles. Only a few houses, mostly those belonging to people connected with officials, have generators.

People quietly eat whatever food is available while others try to sleep. Most people have to sit up because there is no space to lie down.

Few survivors wanted to speak to an outsider, as military trucks drove constantly through the town. Most cowered in corners.

Survivors take shelter while waiting for first aid treatment in Laputta on May 10. (Photo: Reuters)

On the outskirts of Laputta, 12 people were crammed into one tent pitched on a rice field. They were the only survivors from the village of Pain Na Kon and had fruitlessly searched Laputta for family members.

"We are family now. We are from the same place. We are together," said U Nyo, one of the survivors, his eyes red from tears and fatigue. "We need food. There isn't enough space in the town so we decided to stay here."

What lies beyond Laputta is the worst of the devastation, an area that remains difficult to access.

Fishing boats along the coast have helped ferry survivors to safety but can't make enough rounds a day to rescue everyone and the trip is a stomach-wrenching journey, said Maung U, the 36-year-old driver of a rescue boat.

"Each trip takes five or six hours through a narrow waterway littered with dead bodies," he said. "Every few meters, you see another dead body, human or animal."

He said every family has at least two or three persons missing or dead, and many people had to leave the bodies of their family members behind in the water or in the fields.

Diesel supplies are running low and rescuers fear that time is running out to help the people stranded in remote delta villages.

"Some have been living on coconuts," he said. "But even those are running out."

Updating all the timezone stuff one needs on a LAMP environment: (necessary in Australia because they changed the daylight savings start date once again). I haven't yet been able to convince my hosting provider to go through all this hassle; and the tables are outdated - so Aussie visitors may see an incorrect time on some of my websites for the next week. 

Test:

# zdump -c 2009 -v Australia/Sydney | grep 2008
Australia/Sydney  Sat Apr  5 15:59:59 2008 UTC = Sun Apr  6 02:59:59 2008 EST isdst=1 gmtoff=39600
Australia/Sydney  Sat Apr  5 16:00:00 2008 UTC = Sun Apr  6 02:00:00 2008 EST isdst=0 gmtoff=36000
Australia/Sydney  Sat Oct  4 15:59:59 2008 UTC = Sun Oct  5 01:59:59 2008 EST isdst=0 gmtoff=36000
Australia/Sydney  Sat Oct  4 16:00:00 2008 UTC = Sun Oct  5 03:00:00 2008 EST isdst=1 gmtoff=39600

(If the first two lines contain 'Mar' instead of 'Apr' you've got old tables). e.g. this is what an unpatched system would report:

# zdump -c 2009 -v Australia/Sydney | grep 2008
Australia/Sydney  Sat Mar 29 15:59:59 2008 UTC = Sun Mar 30 02:59:59 2008 EST isdst=1 gmtoff=39600
Australia/Sydney  Sat Mar 29 16:00:00 2008 UTC = Sun Mar 30 02:00:00 2008 EST isdst=0 gmtoff=36000
Australia/Sydney  Sat Oct 25 15:59:59 2008 UTC = Sun Oct 26 01:59:59 2008 EST isdst=0 gmtoff=36000
Australia/Sydney  Sat Oct 25 16:00:00 2008 UTC = Sun Oct 26 03:00:00 2008 EST isdst=1 gmtoff=39600

Debian:

# apt-get update 

# apt-get install tzdata

PHP5.x

# apt-get install php5-dev 

[fetch and save] http://pecl.php.net/get/timezonedb

# tar zxvf timezonedb-xxxxxxx.tgz

# cd timezonedb-xxxxxxx

# phpize

# ./configure

# make

# make install

# echo "extension=timezonedb.so"  > /etc/php5/conf.d/timezonedb.ini

# /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

MySQL:

# mysql_tzinfo_to_sql /usr/share/zoneinfo | mysql -u root mysql -p

(ignore all the errors from Riyadh{NN}, iso3166.tab, and zone.tab) 

Those two or three people who actually visit this website may have noticed that I haven't done much with it lately. I think it's time to declare it over and done with - though I'll leave the archives here indefinitely should anybody wish to see the timeline of happenings. 

Blogging is so 2002. Social nets are so 2004. I'm tired of it all. Seems the world has tired of my writings as well (or more accurately it's just another channel of stuff amongst the 200+ million channels of stuff to choose from on the web). Thanks to the RSS fiasco and a host of other factors (e.g. search behaviour, PageRank changes, my use of a 'non-standard' community platform, etc.), traffic has plummeted way beyond rock bottom. We're now down to 3 visitors a day on average, down from 100,000 back in October and even the 20-30,000 around Christmas.

There's no point anymore writing into space - as I mentioned a few weeks back. The photo albums for friends and family are largely unseen. Except for two of you, friends and family are too intimidated by online spaces to touch the place.

The community site has been a dismal failure - a lot of hard work wasted. 

It's coming up on one year since I arrived in Australia, and so much has changed. Work and family consumes my time, as it should (at least family). Work is what it is. Blogging and social nets are a thing of the past, and tremendous time-wasters at that.

It was fun. Now onto the next chapter - of a book which probably won't be written online.

I'm pretty much ranted out.

17 days and a wake-up until the wedding. So many last minute details to deal with. At least I found shoes to wear under my wedding dress. I'm working on the veil - good thing it's a very basic veil.

Still need to get a small guest book and gifts for the maid of honor and the best man. 2 more details to take care of before heading for Vegas. Looking at the cost to take a shuttle to the Oakland Airport - it works out cheaper to park in one of the park-n-fly lots. At least we'll know where the car is and not have to worry if the shuttle will get us to the airport on time and be there to pick us up. Can't ask anyone in the family to transport us - they're going to Vegas too.

Packing is going to fun - at least the airline won't start charging for checking a second bag until after we come back. 1 suitcase if going to be for wedding clothes only and I hope it doesn't weigh more than 50 lbs. We'll have to fit everything else in the other bags and my carryon bag. We won't talk about what's in Fred's carryon bag.

Looks like it's going to be a small wedding - 18 people including my better half & myself. Can't complain, last wedding only had 2 guests. Can't remember how many at the first one - way too long ago. My oldest brother, his son and daughter-in-law and their kids aren't going to make it though. The rest of the family is. A few friends are making the trip too so it should be fun for all.

and so here's two posts in one day. And Holy Cow, are you kidding me? This is not on any news agency that most Americans receive.....

Indonesia Intensifies Security for Terror Fugitive after Singapore Escape

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Security forces continued to comb Singapore on Saturday for a suspected terrorist leader after he escaped last week from a high security prison.

Singapore Armed Forces military policemen are seen keeping watch under a major highway close to a wooded area. Interpol said Friday it has issued a worldwide security alert following the escape of an alleged Islamic terror leader from a jail in Singapore. (Photo:AP)

Mas Selamat is accused of plotting to hijack a plane and crash it into Singapore's international airport. The Singapore government said he escaped Wednesday because of a "security lapse" at the high security detention center.

Dozens of community leaders, including members of Parliament, fanned out to distribute posters of the fugitive to the public.

Security breaches are virtually unheard of in Singapore. Among its security services' biggest successes were pre-empting alleged plots to bomb the US Embassy, the American Club and government buildings in 2001—schemes in which Mas Selamat allegedly had a hand.

link 

I won’t harangue you now or later during the election year. But I do want to make my opinion known, hence today’s scribbling. Most of my friends who have made their own feelings known, have chosen Hillary Clinton as their candidate. I have chosen Barack Obama, and want to tell you why.

There are many reasons, today I will write about three. I believe his anti-war position is stronger than any candidate other than (perhaps) Ron Paul. Mr. Paul however, has leadership issues in my eyes that make him less attractive. A strong anti-war position is important to me. I don’t believe that war makes anyone safer. In a world where ‘war on terror’ is a buzzword that implies that Americans are in mortal danger every moment from radical extremists, and as such must sacrifice the freedoms and liberties we claim to believe in, those of us who disagree need a standard bearer to lead us into a new way of governing on the world stage. We need to reach out to all, not just our ‘friends’ or allies. The war in Iraq is misguided, and we have yet to see or comprehend the ultimate price we will pay for our folly. It will disrupt our culture, destroy our economy, and undermine any chance we have as a nation of contributing to world solutions to global problems. It has already destroyed our image around the world. We are beginning to see the results in the rising price of gas and the falling value of the dollar in overseas markets. But these effects are just the tip of the iceberg that is in our path. The war must be ended sooner rather than later. I believe it will happen sooner with Mr. Obama than any other candidate.

The second reason I came to support Mr. Obama is his goal of inclusiveness. He, more than any other candidate, espouses the belief that we are all one. His is not a politics of divisiveness, of us v. them, of looking down our collective noses at the rest of the world. First of all, anyone who is awake and has lived outside the US understands one thing: no country is perfect. But likewise, no country is entirely evil, either (neither Burma nor Afghanistan). There is good, and the drive for good, in all people, races and countries. Conflict happens when the door to discussion, to understanding, is closed. Mr. Obama has received criticism from all in the Washington culture, Ms. Clinton included, about his stand on negotiating with anyone. I agree with him, that you cannot shut the door to discussion with even your enemy if you have a hope to resolve conflict through peaceful means. I have loved the quote from John Kennedy that Obama often refers to: “Do not negotiate from fear, but also do not fear to negotiate” from the first time I heard it. Seeing good in even your own enemy is the first step in conflict resolution, and that requires dialogue and an open mind (both appealing qualities in a leader).

And so to the third reason. Please ask yourself what it is that you expect from a President. Myself, I expect someone who will express a vision and inspire all to join the effort to make it real. A President cannot, alone, change the economy, nor balance a budget, nor start a war. A President must be a leader, and having been a leader myself, I understand what it requires: breaking up the project into pieces that each person can lift and carry themselves, and directing those pieces into a coherent whole that makes the future your vision requires. At it’s most fundamental, leadership is the art of negotiation and communication.

And so I ask myself: do I believe Ms. Clinton has the ability to inspire others? To reach out around the world to all the people, races and cultures that America has wronged in the last few decades? I have to say no. She has spent her whole career trying to fit into the Washington political scene, and now campaigns claiming her ‘experience’ will let her hit the ground running. First of all, what experience? First Lady? As Senator, just like Mr. Obama? Whitewater? As a lawyer, just like Mr. Obama? To my taste, she’s too much like what got us here, when what I want is someone to lead America out of the swamp. I also appreciate that Mr. Obama has more sense of his international roots. Until you’ve spent significant time outside the US, it’s difficult to assess America’s role in the global situation, and leads to faulty (insular) thinking. As the world grows smaller, new leadership must look beyond the borders of America to find what makes everyone safe, safe from others, from environmental degradation, from bad water or disease, from economic ruin. That may require an end to nationalism, and I ask you today: are you prepared to think globally, universally? Or will you continue to think American?

Please join me in voting for a new vision that includes all in dialogue to solve our problems, to let every spirit flourish, to fill every soul with joy.

The school start of session turned out to be a non-event thanks to all the preparatory work we've done in the last few weeks. Yawn. Whew!

Gas prices in San Francisco hit $3.35/gallon. Which infers that peninsula prices are probably closing in on $3.50. Whatever. Don't whine. We pay a bit over $5 here. 

The U.S. shoots down its errant Keyhole satellite. Seems that a load of hydrazine fuel may or may not be the hazardous substance they were warning us about - if indeed there was one. Likely this had something to do with posturing vis-a-vis China who shot a satellite to smithereens (actually large chunks) recently. If the thing smashed up over a major city it wouldn't really matter if it had a full tank or not. The death toll would be about the same either way. The real motive is probably that it was headed for a crash somewhere that the US couldn't get to and lock down the site. 

Nader jumps into the presidential race. Why now?  OK, better question - why at all?  The media never took him seriously enough to do their routine mudslinging probes. Let's quickly figure out what skeletons are in his closet and get rid of him before he screws up yet another election. 

Yesterday around lunchtime an entire subnet at the school went 'dark'. This is not good. The session ('semester' for my  friends in the northern hemisphere) starts on Monday. This is the absolute busiest time of year for faculty and staff because we've got a lot of stuff to prepare for next week when the hammer falls.

The curious thing is that the subnet that went 'dark' was only one subnet, and another subnet which traverses the same wire continues to work fine. So only a random smattering of machines was affected. This made it very difficult to even track down what happened because it appeared as a random cluster of machines that suddenly could not route packets. As it turns out they're all related by having an equal third byte of the IP address. What made it even more difficult to troubleshoot is that two of these machines which went dark are the primary DNS servers, so when they vanished, nobody could see anything 'by name' until we patched a couple of machines over to an alternate.

Trying to get anything done by IP number is a minefield, because even if you don't use any hostnames directly, you might accidentally touch a server or service which does - and you're screwed; waiting for it to time out (if you're lucky).  Some services just hang until you get tired of looking at the hourglass icon and then you have to go find another already logged-in session somewhere else to work. Can't start any new sessions because they mount home directories, which touch name servers and will hang.  

So I'm chugging the morning coffee and heading off to work an hour early this morning to try and recover from this disaster. Spent half the night awake formulating a plan after spending the entire evening determining for certain where the problem was. The problem is a router that's locked in a closet, and only the main campus IT folks have keys. Coincidentally, they made some configuration changes in that closet yesterday. Around lunchtime.

Gentlemen, get over here right now and unlock that door.

Unfortunately it isn't that easy, as there are layers of bureaucracy to contend with. My backup plan is to move two of our absolutely critical machines out of the darkness and into the light. One of them I can unplug and carry away. The other is a virtual machine living on two networks (which can run elsewhere) but I've got to find a wire in another room/building that can talk to both subnets. Oh and a cooperative host with enough disk and memory, that won't mind being loaded up with an alien machine.   

I've got this Minarik Goddess Special Edition guitar that I picked up to sell a few years back, and it never sold. So I kept it. It's really an awesome guitar, but I could never quite figure out why I didn't like it. It's 'meaty' (the best way to describe it). Not a speed demon. Should be great for jazz, rhythm, or chordings like heavy metal or ACDC. Beautiful to look at, exceptional tone quality. But it sounded like shit. I didn't do anything with it until recently because of this, and the fact that it was best left as-is as a collectible to hopefully sell some day. (Serial # 000025).

But finally I figured that it wasn't much good to anybody if it sat in the case year after year. So I put some decent strings on it, changed the neckstrap button to play it backward, and then did a setup (to match the new strings to the scale length). That improved things quite a bit. It no longer sounded horrible. But it was still lacking sustain. Curious because being so meaty you'd think that is where it would shine. The problem was the frets - big meaty badass frets that had been hand shaped. And therein lies the problem. The hand shaping left them a bit rough. It took a few weeks of playing for the strings to 'polish' both the frets and the intricate inlays and smooth them out. Now it sings like a bird. I can add it to the list of 'perfect' guitars that I've acquired over a lifetime of searching. It doesn't matter that it's 'meaty' because that's a quality that makes it suited for particular uses. No guitar is perfect for all uses. They all have their special qualities which makes them best suited for one thing or another.

Looks pretty much like this one,  except hers is left-handed. Mine is right-handed but I play it backward (left-handed). Don't ask. The answer will make your brain hurt. 

Coincidentally, my Phoenix acoustic (which is currently showing in the main macgirvin.com website banner) also has improved recently - although it was already near perfect. This was from a batch of guitars I bought a few years back that were all awesome except they all cracked and split. I've spoken about this previously. This one didn't actually split, but developed two hairline cracks on the backside (that didn't affect the sound or beauty). Anyway, I'm pleased to report that with relocating to a more humid environment,  the hairline cracks completely vanished! It's perfect once again, and as far as I know, the only surviving specimen of this incredible line of guitars.

Getting ready for the start of session next week so my postings have been and may be irregular for a while. Imaging lab machines, importing accounts, installing software for lecturers, that kind of thing. As soon as the students hit it'll be flat out for another few weeks as they all need to know how to set proxies and set up their mail accounts and every other system question that they come up with. 

But just so y'all don't feel totally neglected, here's a public service announcement from the anti-fur society. 

Remember folks, wearing animal fur is bad and makes you look ugly. See what I mean?   

Some notes to save somebody some grief:

Installing the Oracle libraries and access module into an existing PHP5 installation on Debian...

First grab the Linux instantclient from oracle.com - you'll also need the client SDK kit. Here I'm using instantclient 11.1

create a directory for these such as /home/oracle and unpack both of them to that directory.

Go into the oracle directory (and into the instantclient_11_1 directory) and create a symlink:

$ ln -s libclntsh.so.11.1 libclntsh.so

Grab the oci8 PECL package and unpack it somewhere (~/oci).

Make sure you have the following packages (in addition to php5, php5-cli, apache2, etc).

  php5-dev

  libaio1

Go to the oci8 directory (~/oci/oci8-1.3.0). Forget about 'pecl build' - which won't work. Well it will, but it will quietly and quickly remove all the built packages before you can save them or install them. Yargghh. I wasted half a day trying to fix this one. 

Better to just build by hand:

$ ./configure --with-oci8=instantclient,/home/oracle/instantclient_11_1 

$ make

Fix any errors/warnings before continuing

Don't make install, which won't work.

$ cp ./modules/oci8.so /usr/lib/php5/20060613+lfs

Replace 20060613+lfs with whatever module directory has been setup for you in /usr/lib/php5

Create /etc/php5/conf.d/oci8.ini:

----

extension=oci8.so

----

Now run the php cmdline in verbose mode (php -v) and see if everything loaded. Fix it if it didn't.

You may need some env variables setup in your /etc/init.d/apache2 file to make everything work and actually execute queries, but a phpinfo() at this point should show your oci8 extension. See the php.net Oracle pages if you need help with the env variables.

Today the Australian government officially apologized to the aborigines for taking their children away a few decades back 'to give them better lives'. 

However I don't think we're going to hear an apology any time soon for taking their continent away... 

via itnews: 

Terrorists may be using virtual worlds such as Second Life to meet and exchange ideas, security experts warned today..

...

The CIA already has a presence in Second Life which it uses it for meetings and training.

-----

Careful, the person you have virtual sex with might be either a terrorist or spook. Maybe they'll implant you with a virtual bug. Maybe they'll blow up your virtual house or suicide bomb your virtual store front. The mind reels....

I mentioned in an earlier rant that CNN is now figuring out where you are in the world, and expressed some concern that they would eventually use this to limit or control what news you view based on where you came from.

That day arrived. If you're outside the U.S. and now go to CNN.com you are now redirected to 'edition.cnn.com', which is titled 'CNN.com international'. You see something totally different from the default U.S. page - which if you're looking for it, can now be found at 'us.cnn.com'.

...Though one could legitimately question whether either site will have newsworthy content, regardless of where you're at. 

I put my cat down this morning. Weasel was at least 17 years old, though I don't remember the exact date we got him in 1990. He was still a kitten at the time, and I'd not had a Siamese cat before. I came to love the quirks of that breed. What makes his old age even more amazing, are the facts that a) he only came in the house to eat and, b) he was still able to move around well until just this last week. I noticed he was having a bit of trouble with his left side late last week, and we found him last night, under a bush in the front yard, not only unable to stand but barely able to try. We brought him inside and endured a night of listening to his crying in discomfort before taking him in this morning.

If I sat at the computer while he was eating, he would climb into my lap when he finished and purr contentedly. As soon as I got up, he would ask to go back outside. When I would come home, no matter the time of day or mode of transportation, bike or car, he would meet me in the driveway and come inside for a bite to eat. He was no trouble at all. And he lived with me almost as long as my three wives all put together.

So long my friend. 

Some website questions that have been asked recently -

Q: I can't see my profile! Do I have one?

Make sure you're logged in first of all. Next check your profile settings to see if you checked "I'm shy. Please make me invisible". If this is checked your profile will not be seen by anybody - including you. There is also a related checkbox to only show your profile to registered members. If you change any of these and still can't see your profile, logout and back in again.

Q: Where's my new weblog? My postings aren't showing up!

The 'Site Subscriptions' are only updated once an hour, so your weblog will  be visible by everybody an hour after you first create it. To see your posts right now, go to the 'Weblogs' page and make sure you are subscribed to your weblog (which should happen by default). Then click 'Use My Subscriptions'. 

Q: I want to remove a photo or photo album. How?

To remove a photo, visit 'Photos', and navigate to your album. Click on the photo you want to remove. If you are the owner, you'll see 'Edit Photo' in the 'Actions' menu above the photo. Click on that and you'll find a link to remove the photo.

Currently there is no easy way to nuke an entire album. Send me an email with the name of the album and I can get rid of it for you. You might want to check that you aren't using any of the images from that album in articles or profile photos, which could cause undesired results.

So it appears the gentleman in France who lost USD 7.3B had, as recently as 2006, been responsible for a third of the bank's annual profit..... to the tune of about USD 3B. The way he had found to accomplish this mad swing in fortune, both good and bad? 

His job was designated as a 'small profit' desk. He was to both buy and sell the same position, creating a small profit when the position actually moved in either direction. That was the job description. But initially, it appears his luck was good, and he began to take only one side of the position, immensely enhancing his profits. But as any trader will tell you, eventually your picks go south.....hence the huge losses. His excuse? His bosses "had to know" what he was doing and "said nothing to stop him" and so he continued.....

But I agree with Mike. You don't have losses until you sell. But that reminds me of a tax client of mine....he was the last person in 2001 to buy Worldcom. His daytrading consisted of buying 1 - 2 million dollars worth of stock, wait for the first 1/8 tick up, and sell. At that volume, the penny profit is large enough to make it worthwhile. He bought Worldcom at about $125/share, and waited for the uptick that never came. He rode that stock down to $2 a share, convinced the price would return to even greater heights. Wiped out the profit from 64 other profitable trades in one bad one.

Greed. That's the only word for it.

Or stupid. 

We went to the city today (Sydney) to visit the Viking furniture warehouse. You know the place. Large warehouse, all the products have Nordic names.

I started thinking about the modern Vikings and their contributions to the world. Ikea, Linux, Nokia. They're pretty impressive warriors in the modern world just as they were in the past.