I did it
I broke 50,000 words in 30 days. I did it. I won nano.

What the fuck do I do now???

Holy shit. Yes, I'm tripping. I won. I fucking won. I won. It just keeps going around in my head. I won. I won.

This is the third year that I've done nano. Year one I reached about 8K words before I crapped out. Year two I got up to almost half, 22K words, and then had to call Peaches and get really drunk to celebrate my failure as a writer.

This year--this year, I not only won, but wrote a good number of Episodes that I was really happy with. In fact, I'd say almost all of them (except for the last one, Episode 21, which is total shite), I'm pretty happy with as first drafts. Some of them I'd have to completely overhaul to keep for the novel (e.g. Episode 1), and some are just rants that I would pull out (e.g. Episode 3), but that sill leaves me with about 70-80% decent material to work with.

Holy shit. I won.

I'd like to thank the following people: Peaches, for support; KJ, for being such a good reader; Charlotte, for giving me harsh criticism when I didn't think I needed it; Al, for providing inspiration; and all the other readers and contributors. I'd also like to thank The Cunning Linguist for guest blogging on Daily Traversal.

Holy shit. I won.
- posted by frank crist @ 8:04 PM 1 comments

 
Neural Implants
From the article:

A team of neuroscientists have successfully implanted a chip into the brain of a quadriplegic man, allowing him to control a computer.

Says Todd: "Oh yeah... I can't wait!"

Neither can I, my friend, neither can I.

Link [via todd!]
- posted by frank crist @ 11:52 PM 0 comments

 
Query Letters I Love
Rejected query letters are hillarious, especially when they exemplify the kind of total and complete regurgitation that happens in hollywood, and even better when they're bagged on by a knowledgable insider. Now, get everything you could hope for when reading the worst of the worst sent to hollywood!

Link [via mefi]
- posted by frank crist @ 9:33 PM 0 comments

 
Give Dubya A Brain
An interesting game. But as always, I fail. I only could get 5 brains inside of George W.

But somehow I don't think even those 5 extra were of much help...

And so now, I present to you a mindless-brain-game. Give Bush a Brain Game

- posted by Anonymous @ 6:02 PM 1 comments

 
Gentoo Installation Stuff Part 2
Another error message:

VFS: cannot open root device "sda7" or unknown-block (0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option

OK, so I built a kernel, tried to get everything working, but when I started, I got a kernel panic from this line in grub.conf:

kernel /bzImage root=/dev/sda7

where "/dev/sda7" is "/"

aic7xxx is built into the kernel, so first let's try to build it as a module (as per some random googling) and see how it goes.

Aha. Turns out I hadn't built the aic7xxx driver at all. I was using some weird IBM thing. I'm also not sure which RAID configuration I'm using (3 drives, 9gb ea, total 18gb, so one striping drive?) As per this RAID primer, I'm pretty sure I'm using RAID 3. I go to select the proper bit in "menuconfig", but, as it turns out, I can ignore the various RAID specifics since I'm using an adapter. Ok. Built aic7xxx into the kernel. Time to recompile the kernel for round 2..

Wow. less than 2 minutes to compile!

And failure.

Dicking around for another two hours, install /devfs, all that, I finally decide to build aic7xxx as a module.

fucking swell. I biffed my "emerge" somehow. Fuck it. Reinstalling everything :^S

No! There will be no reinstalling! Turns out I hadn't been properly mounting my /var partition, just lumping it all into "/"

OK, used "genkernel --menuconfig all", tweaked it a bit, and came back to this error:

Block device /dev/sdax is not a valid root device

Hopping into the shell from there (which they thoughtfully provided for me), I found that only my scsi host0 is being detected (that being the cdrom drive), and only after i "modprobe aic7xxx."

Sigh, back to the drawing board.



- posted by frank crist @ 1:34 PM 0 comments

 
Gentoo Installation Stuff
OK, so I'm installing Gentoo linux on a box with a lot of foibles: Dual pIII-800mHz processors, AIC-7892 RAID controller, SCSI everything (including CDROM), two network cards, and, believe it or not, I've been getting some errors. Ha ha.

SO, in an effort to help those who come after me to fix these problems that I've wasted so much fugging time on, here is an annotated list of my problems and their solutions.

1) "/bin/ash - can't access tty; job control turned off"

When I first started up the installation disc (i.e. first time EVER), I ran both the "gentoo" and "smp" kernels, only to receive the error message above.

Quickly: The problem was the SCSI CDROM. The solution is to use "smp doscsi" instead, but that may produce another problem (#2 below)

2) SCSI detect hangs on "sym53c8xx"

"smp doscsi" fixes problem #1, but creates problem #2. Apparantly, the "sym53c8xx" module behaves poorly, as does the "aic7xxx" module.

Quickly: Use "gentoo doscsi" instead of "smp doscsi" even though it's a multi-processor environment. Since I'm building my own kernel this time around (yay!) I should be able to put the smp environment back in place afterwards.

3) "Missing kernel or user mode driver aic79xx"

It repeats 3 times after "successfully" booting into gentoo environment. Most of the gentoo forums posts just say to ignore this. I'm gonna try fdisk first and just see what I can do.

Quickly: It doesn't seem to matter, so no worries

4) Drive partitioning

So, I partitioned my drive thusly:

/dev/sda1==64MB /boot [[ext2]]
/dev/sda2==1024MB swap (512M of actual RAM)
/dev/sda3==16,000MB extended partition
/dev/sda5==512MB /var [[reiserFS]]
/dev/sda6==512MB /tmp [[reiserFS]]
/dev/sda7==15,000MB / [[reiserFS]]

5) Cannot umount SCSI CD during installation

So I put my preferred stage (yes, I'm a stage3 weenie) onto a separate CD for installation, owever, when I try to umount my drive, I get a "Drive Busy" error

Quickly: Luckily, my network is just fine, so I decide to just kill twenty minutes downloading the stage3 tarball.

OK.. now I'm compiling the kernel. I'll write a part 2 if anything weird happens from here on out.


- posted by frank crist @ 9:42 PM 0 comments

 
The Real Dubya, circa 1789
I've been slacking lately. But since Frank insists, and I'm being barraged with email from screaming fans (yeah, right), I'm back to post again. Enjoy!




Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

-- George Washington


Yppah Yekrut Yad!




- posted by Anonymous @ 11:02 AM 0 comments

 
Not an error
Well, this might be a little late in circulation, but still annoyingly clever. Read carefully. This is not an error message.

- posted by Anonymous @ 1:05 AM 0 comments

 
New Guest Blogger
Everybody welcome KJ as our new, and additional, guest blogger! And send TCL an email telling him to post something!

f.
- posted by frank crist @ 9:36 PM 0 comments

 
Naked Confessions
Half-Naked Man Walks Into Station, Confesses Murder

I like the last bit especially:

"Neighbors said Zimmerman worked part time at security jobs but was facing eviction. They said his second-floor apartment reeked of drugs and he regularly had women in his apartment."

It rather reminds me of any respectable college student attending an art school.


- posted by Anonymous @ 9:01 PM 0 comments

 
PixelField
Probably a duplicate postfrom FlashWhore, but neat anyway. It's a flash game where you have to guide your little guy with the three weird arm thingies around a screen and collect stuff without touching the bad pixels. Look, just go try it...

Link [via matty]
- posted by frank crist @ 6:13 PM 0 comments

 
NYBB -- Shipping Information
Yes, they're instructions, from Columbia University, on how to pack a human brain for shipment.

Link [Thanks KJ!]
- posted by frank crist @ 11:59 PM 0 comments

 
Ghost in a car commercial
This is one of the most controversial links on the internet: the ghost in the car commercial. In this tranquil scene, you can clearly see a ghost walking around in the background. Is this a hoax, or is this real evidence of ghosts? Some also claim that they can hear the ghost speaking, but it is very faint. Be sure to have your audio on and turned up. Truly one of the spookiest things I've ever scene.

Link
- posted by frank crist @ 5:54 PM 1 comments

 
Nuremberg Trials
Ever wonder what happens when the war is over and the eviL leaders have been captured and put on trial? The Nizkor Project documents the entirety of the Nuremberg Trials, including every motion,and every bit of evidence.

Link
- posted by frank crist @ 11:44 AM 0 comments

 
nano breaking down
agh. ack. gurgh.

Nano self is breaking down. Getting stuck. Weaving self into plots and threads that I care about, then violate.

Warning. Imminant immolation imminent.

Gugh.

- posted by frank crist @ 8:36 PM 0 comments

 
ODB RIP
Tha Ol' Dirty is fucking up heaven as of today. He collapsed in a recording studio in NYC after complaining of chest pains. He was dead before paramedics could reach him.

ODB was the entropy and discord of the Wu, the guy with the style so whack it was frightening. See for yourself:

I'm diplomatic playing pen and pad
Ratatat you're a scaredy-cat
Cause I have a tat put you up like that
You can't stand that, cause you gotta scat
You couldn't even move
Don't know how to groove
BITCH TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES
Take up the brew
Motherfucker you knew!
Fucking with the doo
Dirt Dog don't make any room

Big Baby Jesus
I can't wait
Nigga fuck that!
I can't wait!

Link
- posted by frank crist @ 7:30 PM 0 comments

 
Rusti Sprokit -- SPACE BABE
Rusti Sprokit has a problem--many of them, in fact. She's a babe, out in space, and, you know, gets into all that trouble a space babe gets into, all while taking voluptuous and steamy showers. Poorly drawn, immaturely plotted, yet, somehow, wonderous.

Link [via the equally entertaining, Anders Mad Scientist Page]
- posted by frank crist @ 10:42 AM 0 comments

 
Falluja fighters dig in to make their last stand
That's the title of the NYT piece in the Marin Independent Journal, of Marin County, California. As soon as I read that, I thought, "Yeah, right."

Link
- posted by frank crist @ 9:05 AM 0 comments

 
International Orangutan Awareness Week
We're at the tail end of it, but it's still not too late to think of the Orangutan.

Link [via mefi]

- posted by frank crist @ 4:42 PM 0 comments

 
Feel like a man now?


Nothing says "RESPECT MY AUTHORATAH!!" like tazing a 6 year old. Thank God it didn't happen in New York, otherwise he would have been shot 42 times.


- posted by Anonymous @ 11:39 AM 1 comments

 
Prohibitive Posters
This site is full of awesome posters you can print out and use to jam your office. For example:

Using the toilet facilities more than twice a day is forbidden. Further use has to be previously approved by the management.

Very Hagbard Celine.

Link [via mefi]
- posted by frank crist @ 10:36 AM 0 comments

 
Japanese Smileys
Much more creative than their western counterparts. Of course, they also have about a bazillion more chars to work with.

Link
- posted by frank crist @ 7:14 PM 0 comments

 
Fuck the South
Mildly humorous and widely propagated, like most of what is on the internet. My final words on the matter: people, get over it.

Link
- posted by frank crist @ 4:07 PM 0 comments

 
MS Word Dictionary
An interesting thing I found today regarding the dictionary supplied with Microsoft Word: "appraisingly" is not included in the word list, but "Rockefeller" is.

Hm.
- posted by frank crist @ 12:55 PM 0 comments

 
The Dirty Punk Fuckin' Anarchy Machine !!
OK, now this is fun.

Link
- posted by frank crist @ 9:25 PM 0 comments

 
Murderess X update
New update today, Episode 7. It's the longest one yet. It's weird.. the more I work on it, the more effortless a long entry becomes. Sometimes, however, I forget the as-yet-unnamed MC's voice, so I have to remember how he speaks. I think I got off to a clumsy start today, but, meh, who cares. It's Nano!

Link

- posted by frank crist @ 9:14 PM 0 comments

 
The Evil Overlord List
Ah, an internet classic, and also the subject of a NaNoWriMo dare: add something from the Evil Overlord List to your story.

So what is it? Well, aren't we all tired of watching the villains in movies (especially SF movies) make the same mistakes over and over again? This is a list of "The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord."

My favs:
12. One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation.
40. I will be neither chivalrous nor sporting. If I have an unstoppable superweapon, I will use it as early and as often as possible instead of keeping it in reserve.
81. If I am fighting with the hero atop a moving platform, have disarmed him, and am about to finish him off and he glances behind me and drops flat, I too will drop flat instead of quizzically turning around to find out what he saw.

Link

- posted by frank crist @ 2:43 PM 0 comments

 
Ecstacy and Kangaroos
Ecstacy Pills to be Tested at Rave

QUEENSLAND authorities are closely monitoring a national drug agency's plan to test the quality of illegal ecstasy pills at a dance party.

The Australian Drug Foundation is seeking the permission of Victorian police to perform the testing.

Queensland Police Minister Judy Spence said she had not been approached by the drug foundation with regard to legalising testing of ecstasy pills in Queensland.

"Ecstasy is an illegal drug and the Beattie Government has zero tolerance of illicit substances," she said.

Alcohol and Drug Foundation Queensland chief executive Bob Aldred said he would be interested in seeing the outcome of any scientific testing in Victoria.

"Queensland should study this with an open mind," Mr Aldred said.

"If it's an effective way of reducing the use and abuse of ecstasy it should be considered."

A spokeswoman for Health Minister Gordon Nuttall said Queensland Health was not aware of any proposal for legal ecstasy testing here, but it would monitor any interstate programs.

ADF hopes to test ecstasy at the Earthcore dance party which is expected to attract 20,000 ravers to Shepparton from November 26 to 28.

Moving Down Under sounds like a LOT of fun, now.





- posted by Anonymous @ 11:18 AM 0 comments

 
Murderess X
Two more entries for "Murderess X" tonight, bringing the total to five, and I'm slightly ahead of my word count. I wouldn't ordinarily post updates here--regular readers can always just check the other blog every other day for updates--but I'm pretty happy with the last two installments, and would very much like to have some readers. They are "Episode 4: Removing Hela", which, for a first draft, I give it a B. But then there's "Episode 5: Bitter Pill", which, all the while I was writing it, I kept saying, "Holy fuck," over and over to myself, with some loud-ass ChroniX Aggression blasting over iTunes radio, and I'm quite happy with it. Unfortunately, to really understand Episode 5, you have to read Episode 4. Please do, and please comment. Today I'm a lonely blogger in search of some attention.

Link

- posted by frank crist @ 1:29 AM 0 comments

 
The Wal-Mart! It Lives!!
One more reason to hate Wal-Mart. But did you REALLY need another reason?


- posted by Anonymous @ 8:13 PM 0 comments

 
Tastes kinda nutty
Cat-turd Coffee?

A Dutch online shop is selling coffee made from cat droppings - for £14 an ounce.

Kopi Luwak, or civet cat coffee, is produced by the civet cat in Sumatra, reports Dagblad van het Noorden.

It eats ripe coffee beans which are then hand-picked from its droppings by local people.

The beans are of the highest quality but the work is so intensive that only 500kg is made each year.

Dutch connoisseur Bob Dam, from Groningen, said the coffee has a fine chocolate aroma which tastes delicious at the back of the throat.

"The taste is exquiste but it is too expensive to really enjoy the coffee," he added.


Now correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't civet cats responsible for that huge outbreak of SARS we saw in China?

Mmmm.. tasty. Cream and 2 sugars in mine, please.


- posted by Anonymous @ 7:35 PM 0 comments

 
Skin to Skinles
Uh. Hm. Beautiful and disturbing. Strangely interactive. Peel it all away, and discover something much older, much deeper.

Link
- posted by frank crist @ 2:46 PM 0 comments

 
The Tomb of the Father
This is the final resting place of the father of us all: Dr. Philo T. Farnsworth, Inventor of the Television.

Link
- posted by frank crist @ 11:45 AM 0 comments

 
Are supermarkets tracking you with "Club Cards?
Learn more about RFID chips and who uses them by clicking here. And find out how the stores are tracking you and selling your information, just so you can get $.35 off a bag of frozen peas.

Here's a way to generate your own barcode chaos. Or you can barcode yourself (I'm worth $9.51. Buy me, I'm cheap!!)




- posted by Anonymous @ 11:22 AM 0 comments

 
Boing Boing: Save Canada's Internet from WIPO
Wow, this must be the Glorious Leaders' Rant on the Issues Day or something. Cory Doctrow, glorious leader of bOINGbOING has a lengthy and enlightening article on IP, Copyright, and the Web, in the guise of helping Canada stay away from the WIPO Internet Treaties.

From the Article:

The Internet has one overarching feature that makes it superior to the technologies that preceded it: it can copy arbitrary blobs of data from one place to another at virtually no cost, in virutally no time, with virtually no control. This is not a bug. This is what the Internet is supposed to do. [italics his]

Link
- posted by frank crist @ 9:12 AM 0 comments

 
OMG! Gay Marriage! The horror! | Metafilter
Metafilter is running a very nice thread about gay marriage, started by the glorious leader himself, mathowie. It's no surprise that the majority of the people are pro-, and that all of the con- people get smacked down (hey, it's mefi, after all...), but it's an interesting read on "why it's ok" and, for at least the first fifth or so that I've read so far (100+ comments!), things have remained *relatively* civil.

mr_crash_davis wins the thread by a longshot, however:
Metafilter: they put their thingy where poop comes out.

Link
- posted by frank crist @ 8:42 AM 0 comments

 
Facts and Horror. Horrible facts?
The tallest mountain on Earth is "Hawaii's Mauna Kea, 31,800 feet from the ocean floor."

Uncle John's All-Purpose Extra Strength Bathroom Reader 13th Edition, pp. 247


**

The way to identify which chocolates to to eat, and which ones to save for your unlucky relatives:

Squiggle Code

**

How to pick Kryptonite brand bike locks with a Bic pen.

Clicky for Picky

**

Your "Official Twisted Picture of the Day":




Cheers!

- posted by Anonymous @ 3:46 PM 1 comments

 
Arafat: Dead or comatose, take your pick
Well, this article has Arafat in a coma, but this one has him clinically dead. Both are from Reuters, and I appreciate how both use the same, graven photo.

Personally, I've always admired Arafat. He wasn't the best negotiator in the world, but he did win a Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for his efforts with Shimon Peres and Yutzhak Rabin, and he always held out for the disenfranchised Palestinians, especially those displaced in '67. No matter how you view the policies of Israel, Palestine, and the Mid-East in general, Arafat was a tough old fucker who will be remembered throughout history.
- posted by frank crist @ 7:59 PM 0 comments

 
Finding the humor in the tragedy.



"The major problem - one of the major problems, for there are several - one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.

To summarize: it is a well known fact, that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.

To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."


The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe
-Douglas Adams


Cheers!

- posted by Anonymous @ 5:46 PM 1 comments

 
Guest Blogger
Welcome The Cunning Linguist, my guest blogger for the month of November. TCL is one of those random people you meet on the internet who turns out to be a pretty cool person, and so he'll help with the Traversing while I'm buried up to my chin in ten pages a day for NaNoWriMo. Everyone say hi (both of you!), and welcome!

- posted by frank crist @ 3:24 PM 1 comments

 
When Hot Lezbo Erotica is Outlawed
This is so fucking harsh. OMG.

Link
- posted by frank crist @ 9:53 PM 0 comments

 
NaNoWriMo Update
I've created a new blog for NaNoWriMo, and will be posting updates to the story there. It's pretty saucy, and definitely NSFW (not safe for work). It's called Murderess X, and its home is at http://murderessx.blogspot.com. Should be an update every day (if I want to win), but please go check it out!

- posted by frank crist @ 4:59 PM 0 comments