Not the definition of “Insanity”

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There is a popular saying that the definition of “insanity” is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. This saying has been variously attributed, including to Einstein.

The problem is that the expression is patently false, otherwise there would be no point in practicing anything. If you were not to do something simply because you did not get the desired results after doing it once, then how would you improve? No, the whole purpose of practice is to do something over and over, each time getting incrementally better (and presumably getting different results), until you get good enough at it to attain the results you want.

In fact, there is no way to do something over and over and not get different results. For example, on The Simpsons, Bart kept trying over and over again to grab a cupcake that Lisa had connect to a battery. She used that as evidence of his being dumber than a hamster, and while continually grabbing at it may not be the best method of getting it, it does give different results: the battery will eventually drain and/or he will eventually gain a tolerance for the shock.

Even doing something that seems to be completely ineffectual like banging your head against the wall is in fact not so; eventually (given enough time), the wall will wear down just like water erodes solid rock over many years.

So ignore the so-called definition of insanity because it is throughly incorrect, lest everyone who ever got good at something by practicing be declared insane.

Zombies are Real

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On the Discovery Channel, Ziya Tong concluded a segment of Ziyology about zombies by stating that it is unlikely for humans to become ‘zombified’. That is not correct. The truth is that by standard definitions of the term “zombie”, there are already plenty of zombies in our society and more and more people are becoming zombified all the time (in fact Maria Shriver was part of a Larry King special in which it was called a full on epidemic). The infecting agent in this case: beta-amyloid plaque.

A person with Alzheimer’s disease is in every way a zombie. In fact, the only missing aspect of the traditional monster is the aggressiveness, which can easily be filled in by the addition of rabies (witness Cujo).

So there you have it; a zombie is nothing more than a person who is afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease (progressive) who contracts rabies. Since a zombie is a mindless, uncommunicative creature who is violent and driven by nothing more than the basest instincts, these two diseases can (and probably have somewhere, sometime) create real-life zombies.

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Disable Logging in an Apache VirtualHost

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VirtualHosts and logs are invaluable features of a web server. However, you may not always want to log things for every VirtualHost. If you simply comment out the logging commands of a VirtualHost, then transfers to and from the VH will be logged to the main (ie, parent) log file; commenting them does not disable logging for a VirtualHost.

If you want to disable logging for a VirtualHost, one option is to log to a file in a temporary directory that gets flushed regularly, but a better solution is instead to have it log to a non-existent file (nul in Windows, /dev/null in *nix/Mac), such as in the following—mixed example—commands:

<VirtualHost …>
…
ErrorLog nul
CustomLog "nul" common
CustomLog dev/nul referer
CustomLog "dev/nul" agent
…
</VirtualHost>

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Windows Installer Error 2203

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After much testing, I have determined that the reason that I was experiencing problems installing drivers, software, or updates in Windows recently was because I had removed the user-level environment variables for TEMP and TMP even though they were still available via the system-level environment. Creating copies for the user environment fixed the problem (at least the installation problem, now there is the issue of redundant environment variables, but that’s not so bad).

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Pet-Fur Usage: Circle of Life

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When the spring comes and the temperatures start to rise, cats and dogs start shedding their winter fur. To avoid having the fur come off little by little and stick everywhere, it’s more effective to brush them properly. This way not only do you get more of their shed hair off, but it is quality time spent with the pet as well; and it can be done while watching TV or something for people who are too impatient.

When you brush your pets, you’ll collect fair-sized chunks of fur from the brush. Instead of throwing these in the garbage, split them up into smaller lumps and toss them around the yard for birds to pick up and line their new nests for when they start having baby birds.

It seems strange that birds would bring cat fur into their homes since cats are supposed to be their natural predators, but they do, and it’s much softer than twigs and such. (It makes sense in a way: predators help their prey to survive and reproduce so that they’ll have something to prey on). Either way, it’s nature and the circle of life.

Perfect Game of Jeopardy!

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What is the maximum amount of money that can be won on a single episode of Jeopardy!?

Show solution… ▼

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id Games on Windows Vista/7

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Some of the id Tech 3 (aka Quake 3)-engine based games won’t run correctly on Windows Vista, 7, etc. due to the UAC. Some people suggest turning UAC off or running the game as an administrator, but that is ill advised; turning off security or running it in a higher privilege to play a game is foolhardy at best, especially when a better, more secure solution is readily available.

The problem is that when these id Tech 3-engine games start up, they try to extract a DLL from one of the PK* files into the program directory. Since the Program Files directory is protected, and especially since the file being dropped into it is a DLL which as a security threat is second only to EXE files, and finally because it’s being put in the folder by a non-privileged program—the game itself—as opposed to a privileged program like the original setup program that installed the game in the first place. This all leads the system to blocking the extraction, which causes the game to terminate with an error that includes the following snippet.

found DLL in pak file: C:\Program Files\Prey\base\game03.pk4/gamex86.dll
copy gamex86.dll to C:\Program Files\Prey\base\gamex86.dll
could not create destination file
********************
ERROR: DLL extraction to fs_savepath failed

(Windows Vista/7 already have a system in place for this sort of thing and it usually works for games (eg for games that store screenshots or save games in the Program Files directory); such files are put in the VirtualStore directory in the user’s profile instead of in the actual Windows or Program Files directories, but for some reason it does not seem to work for these older id games.)

Instead of resorting to turning UAC off or running it with administrator privileges, a much more ideal solution is simply to manually extract the DLL file in question and place it into the program folder. Open the PK* file mentioned in the error (in the above example it is game03.pk4) with a ZIP compatible program (7-Zip is great). Then simply extract the file gamex86.dll into the game’s base folder (or other, possibly different folder as specified in the error).

Note: You probably won’t be able to simply extract the file directly to the program folder because of the permissions/UAC, you’ll likely need to either run the archiver as administrator or just take an intermediary step by extracting it to somewhere else like the desktop, then moving the file to the program folder (and saying yes/OK to the UAC prompt).

Done. Now launch the game, see how it runs as expected without requiring a security feature to be turned off or running it as administrator, and enjoy!

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Billy Ray Cyrus: It’s the Show’s Fault

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CNN recently reported that Billy Ray Cyrus is blaming the show (Hannah Montana) for destroying his family. It is well known that his daughter Miley has been involved in numerous scandals in the past couple of years including highly-sexualized performances, leaked underwear photos, and a video of doing drugs with a group of people. Dr. Drew Pinskey agrees that the show is partly responsible in a way; he claims that the problem is in Billy’s role as co-star on the show as opposed to full-time father.

While Dr. Pinskey’s point seems logical, it is actually quite specious. Most parents of young actors tend to spend less personal time with their children (standing on the sides of the set does not count) due to schedules and such than parents of non-working children do. As a result, young actors do not have the benefit of as much parenting and family life as “regular” kids, and invariably end up with all kinds of issues. The Cyruses however are not like that; in fact they are the opposite. Because Billy played Miley’s father on the show, he spent more direct time with her than even non-acting families do. In addition to any family time together while not working, they spent hours and hours together on set each day. That’s why it is almost astounding that Miley ended up with so many problems.

One could argue that because they spent so much time together normally, she felt it necessary to break away as much as possible in her off-time, and the fact that her older, heavily tattooed, rock-n-roll brother is off doing his own thing apart from the family probably doesn’t help, but regardless, eventually one has to point the finger at least in part at Miley herself.

While a parent is crucial and highly influential for the upbringing and resulting behavior of child, the fact is that their influence is nonetheless limited. The same parent could have two kids, even twins who turn out quite differently. No matter how well or badly a parent raises their children, eventually some of the blame/responsibility must get put on the child themselves, especially as the get older.

Billy Ray seems pretty genuine and like a good father, so it is kind of sad that he is in the far-too-common situation of having an out-of-control child and being in fear of losing them altogether. However he is placing the blame incorrectly, it is not the show’s fault, and not even entirely his or his wife’s faults. Inevitably Miley is responsible for her own choices.

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Technology Breeds “Patience”

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Last night, CBS news did an article about the recent increase in airport security due to the attempted Christmas bombing. The anchor went to on to say how people have been okay with the extra wait times and delays that the increased security checks have created because passengers are more patient and understanding; that they are willing to put up with the extra wait times because they know that it is for their own good and safety, and that they are cheerful because it is the holidays, so they are in better, less rushed moods. Unfortunately the news team got it completely wrong.

The reason that people are more willing to put up with down time and delays these days, not just at airports, but everywhere: on the bus, at work, at the the DMV, in coffee-shop lines, etc. is because of technology. In the past, people disliked having to stand around and wait because it was such a waste of time. Having to stand or sit around and twiddle your thumbs, or at best read a book was really frustrating. Now however, with iPods, iPhones, PSPs, laptops, netbooks, Kindles, and so on, wait-time is no longer down-time, but break-time. Thanks to all of the varied gadgets and devices, we can now spend those two minutes here, 10 minutes there actually doing something useful, be it work or play, instead of waiting around, bored out of our minds.

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Laptop Screen Going Blank

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I was helping another person in the Windows newsgroup who was complaining that their laptop’s screen goes blank after 30-60 minutes and they have to open and close the lid and press the power button to get it back. My advice:

It could be caused by overheating, dust, or maybe a loose connection. Try holding the laptop up, with the display’s screen facing the ground. Gently shake it a bit and see if the screen goes blank. If it does, then that’s your problem; it’s not a laptop, it’s an Etch-a-Sketch.

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