A list of facts, not in order of importance (so you may want to skim them all if you care)

1. ATI's binary drivers seem to suck lots of cock. I understand they have a really refined development process and a commitment to making useful drivers for linux, but commitments don't make the 3D accelerator work right under the binary drivers.

2. The open source ATI drivers lack support for composite extensions and a few other things that I'd really like, like GPU power management. I liked that under the binary drivers, even though they looked pretty fucked every time they rendered 3d, it at least saved more power. Meh. I just wanted to use google earth so I went back to the open source ones despite the loss of a useful feature.

3. I made some really cool telcodata stuff for google earth that shows tandem homing arrangements graphically. It's really cool. If you have the KML stuff keep it to yourself because it's still very much a work in progress and I don't want a bunch of people pounding on it until I have it *just so*.

4. A majority of services provided as part of my clark kent duties are now used by my personal stuff. I now finally eat my own dog food which has been a personal goal of mine since I've had the necessary parts.
If you use my (defined as "voip service provided by timmins technologies") E911 and rely on it, please test it to make sure it works the way you expect. Please note that only people in the detroit area are loaded at this time. If you have a number from me, and are not in detroit, and would like E911, let me know in a formal manner. It's not a matter of it only working in detroit, but all the users I've loaded are in the detroit area because I don't know of anyone else using my 911.

"Hi, this is XXYY, I am making a test call. Can you verify the information on your screen matches? My number is xxxx and address is xxxyyy. Okay, thanks!".

This is actually a useful script for those who need to rely on their E911 for some sort of critical purpose. If you are going to be housing an ailing relative, or see yourself needing to make a life or death 911 call, there's nothing wrong with making a test call like that, especially if you use VoIP. Of course, avoid busy hours, which are rush hour, hours when people eat food (breakfast/lunch/dinner) and between 12a-6a when there is a lot of car accidents, and domestic incidents, and not a lot of people on staff to answer. Remember to identify immediately that it is a test call. If the dispatcher asks you to free up the line at that time, do so. Ask when a better time is.to perform a test. And never, ever, make a hangup call to 911 or hang up before the dispatcher is done with you. Most (if not all) municipalities have a must dispatch policy on hangup calls!. But I digress.

5. 6 months ago I had 3 grandfathers and 4 grandmothers. Today, I have 1 grandfather and 3 grandmothers. My grandfather on my dad's side lost his battle with emphysema either last night or today, I was unclear. I'm sure he would object to the use of the word "lost", though. πŸ™‚ My dad managed to rush down to texas and get to spend some time by his side before he died though which is really good. I am worried for my aunt though. She didn't handle grandma's death well a few months ago (she had to be drugged (she has developmental issues, she's not a drama queen or anything)), and with grandpa dying this close I hope she'll be able to even cope.

6. My sister gets married in 8 days.

7. I do not, in fact, want to enlarge my penis. Spammers, are you reading this? I just wanted to make sure you knew you could stop sending me stuff now.

8. I don't care what my friends might think, but I think an apple air would be cool to have. I don't have the budget for it, but having a lightweight laptop that runs for hours that could remain in my laptop bag so I always have intarwebs when I needs em would be excellent. Expect to see me with one if I win the lottery. That and an ipod touch.

9. Got a new computer at work. It pleases me.

10. If you post something and are thinking "I wonder why Paul didn't comment on it" consider the idea that I haven't seen it. I've been, as usual, incredibly busy at work and rarely at home for anything more than tv/eating/sleeping. Sorry! And I have absolutely no plans on abandoning livejournal for any reason whatsoever so don't think I've left because I'm not posting.

5 thoughts on “A list of facts, not in order of importance (so you may want to skim them all if you care)”

  1. I had to click on the 'eating my dog food' link. Sorry to hear about your grandfather. Congratulations to your sister. Oh, and I receive those spam e-mails too. I DEFINITELY don't need to enlarge my penis! πŸ™‚

  2. "but having a lightweight laptop that runs for hours that could remain in my laptop bag so I always have intarwebs when I needs em would be excellent"

    …and you mocked my X1, which is exactly what you desire?

    I give props to Apple for the idea, but 1 USB, no Ethernet, no expandability (dock), no (easily) replaceable battery, Mini-DVI, *optional* DVD (Otherwise load CD/DVD over Wireless w/ Apples proprietary software)…. It can fit in a manila envelope, but thats about it.

    My X1's a bit better on expandability, it at least uses eSATA for DVD, 2 usb ports, SD, CF, and a user-replaceable battery with a standard VGA out… And still gets around 4.5 hours battery life (on a heavily cycled battery)

      1. Until it gets crushed by your butt-set! πŸ™‚

        BTW, I got the ATI to work Wonders in Linux. Full 3D Rendering w/o a hitch (Radeon V5200 on newest Ubuntu)

        1. Yea, I installed the stuff, and the 3d was all scrambled to hell. I don't know why. The framerates were excellent, but like glxgears had the teeth all toward the center (like cut the gear into 4 parts, and put them toward the center). Google earth, tux racer, etc, all had this problem.

          Open source driver runs good for google earth and tuxracer, so I'm set for now.

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