Macbook Air in-hand (or, more appropriately, surgically fused to my hands!) and pursuing Lisp (and Scheme) as a new programming language (dialect), I needed to install MIT/GNU Scheme on my constant companion — more specifically, I wanted to install it in such a way that I can run Scheme / Lisp programs from the shell without having to fire-up the X-Windows application that is installed by the package by default (“Edwin”). A relatively straightforward process, although not particularly well-documented.

Steps to complete are below:

• Download the OS X binary for MIT/GNU Scheme from the GNU site here.
• Mount the binary disk image and copy the appropriate files from the disk image to /usr/local/lib

It is worth pausing here to note that one may have to create this path, as I did.  Commands to create and then copy the files are below:

$ sudo mkdir /usr/local/lib/mit-scheme-x86-64
$ sudo cp -R /Volumes/MIT\:GNU\ Scheme/MIT\:GNU\ Scheme.app/Contents/Resources/ /usr/local/lib/mit-scheme-x86-64/

• Create a symbolic link — scheme – to the newly installed mit-scheme binary

$ sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/mit-scheme-x86-64/mit-scheme /usr/bin/scheme

This last step is critical in fully integrating Scheme into the shell, as one would expect it to be after installing it in a Unix environment.

Onward to Lisp hacking greatness!

Postscript:  I’m using the Lisp-in-a-Box IDE distributed by the Common Lisp software repository in OS X as my platform for development in Common Lisp in parallel … learn both dialects simultaneously — seems prudent!

syntax on
filetype indent plugin on
set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
set softtabstop=4
set expandtab
set autoindent
" a useful addition to Python source files is the following:
" vim: tabstop=8 expandtab shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4
" this requires the 'set modeline' option in vimrc
" abbreviated commands -- :set ts=8 et sw=4 sts=4
"
" Python configuration below
" Thanks to http://www.vex.net/~x/python_and_vim.html
" Configure vim to smart indent based on the following Python keywords
autocmd BufRead *.py set smartindent cinwords=if,elif,else,for,while,try,except,finally,def,class
" Configure vim to trim trailing white space
autocmd BufWritePre *.py normal m':%s/\s\+$//e''

If I may digress, briefly, I find it particularly insidious that the campaigns of local and elected officials deliberately mask their efforts to telemarket the electorate in this manner. This is the most recent in a series of similarly obfuscated phone calls we have received — despite our private number and listing on the DNC registry. (It seems, however, that the DNC registry is only aimed at stopping for-profit telemarketing and provides a massive loophole for campaign calls from non-profit organizations.)

</tangent>

The caller identified herself as phoning from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan‘s office. What followed was a surprisingly rude line of responses culminating in an insultingly xenophobic hang-up. I am shocked that the reelection campaign an accomplished politician like Lisa Madigan would have succumbed to such shoddy staff work. Lisa — whomever is running your campaign should be summarily flogged.

The content of the discussion is best relayed in conversational format.

CG: “Good evening?”
LM: <Protracted pause as the auto-dialer routes the answered call> “Uh … yes, may I speak with [my wife]?”
CG: “May I ask who is calling?”
LM: “Uh … this is from Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office.”
CG: “Is this a campaign call?”
LM: “Umm … not really. We were just calling to see if she was going to vote this year.”
CG: “That sounds like something we’d probably classify as a campaign call and decline to receive it …”
LM: <Before I can complete my polite closure to the conversation> “Well, I’d need to hear that from her.”
CG: “No, you don’t. You’ve phoned my home, my phone number. I’m telling you that we are not interested in receiving campaign calls on this number.”
LM: “Well, she signed up to receive them.”
CG: <Growing vexed>”No, she certainly did not!”
LM: “Well, I’m looking at the details right here on her voter registration.”
CG: “Right — she registered to vote. She didn’t sign-up to be campaigned to.”
LM: “Well, I don’t know how this works, but …”
CG: <Interrupting>”I’m telling you that this is how this works.”
LM: “… And you’re from this country, and you know how this works?”
CG: <Stunned speechless for a moment> “Are you kidding me? This is Lisa Madigan’s office phoning, you say?”

<My question was met by the silence of a dead line>

Troubling, indeed, to endure rudeness and ignorance of this magnitude from a woman who interrupted my evening by phoning my home. Hopefully Steve Kim has a more enlightened view on immigration, given his parents’ Korean background.

The Ubuntu Global Jam is an incredible opportunity for the Ubuntu community to unite together around the weekend of 2nd – 4th Oct 2009 to work together to improve Ubuntu. Everyone is able to contribute to the Jam, and everyone is welcome and encouraged to get involved. Curious about how to make a real difference to Ubuntu? This is a great chance to make that difference.

The Ubuntu Global Jam incorporates events that have been organized over the world to get Ubuntu contributors and fans together to have a great time and improve Ubuntu. Each event has one or more of our four themes:

* Bugs – finding, triaging and fixing bugs.
* Testing – testing the new release and reporting your feedback.
* Documentation – writing documentation about how to use Ubuntu and how to join the community.
* Translations – translating Ubuntu and helping to make it available in everyone’s local language.
* Packaging – work on Ubuntu packages and improve them
* Other – other types of contribution such as marketing, packaging, advocacy etc.

The Schaumburg Library is located on the southwest corner of Schaumburg and Roselle Roads.

The solution to my predicament? Sun’s brilliant VirtualBox open source virtualization package running the latest Ubuntu release — currently 9.04 (or “Jaunty Jackelope,” as they call it). The installation of VirtualBox took a bit on my lappy, but it went fairly seamlessly. The only hitch was that the installation of the VirtualBox Host-Only Network adapter in Windows XP SP3 broke my wireless networking. (It may well have broken all networking, but I didn’t try plugging a cable in to check.) The solution to this was fairly simple — disable the newly installed adapter! It seems that VirtualBox doesn’t need this adapter enabled in order to provide the virtual OS networking. (I’ve no idea what this adapter is used for at the moment. Perhaps I’ll figure this out as I work with VBox a bit more.)

The only Ubuntu image I had lying around was a Hardy (8.04) disc I burned some time ago. I added a new machine to VBox, installed Ubuntu from the disc, updated to Jaunty using apt, and installed Skype from the Medibuntu repository. So, I’ve got a virtual Jaunty up and running and, I must say, it is bloody fantastic! Good show, Sun!

I read the knowledgebase article at HostGator Support on setting up addon domains which warns at the top of the article:

“Before you can add an addon domain you must change the name servers for the domain name to the ones provided for your hosting account. You cannot create an addon domain if your DNS for the site you are trying to add hasn’t propagated yet.”

I was exact in following these instructions and waited 3 days for the DNS changes I had made at GoDaddy (where I purchased and manage the domains) to propagate. Ultimately, they did not.

The solution to the problem was to setup the addon domain at HostGator, via the cPanel, immediately after making the DNS changes to the domain. I’m not sure if this is an issue unique to GoDaddy domains — I imagine it is not. It seems that the documentation provided by HostGator is inaccurate in this regard.

I typically wash scratched or otherwise unreadable DVDs or CDs in warm, soapy water and then dry them with a soft, non-abrasive cloth. Discs which are not readable after this washing can be repaired in another manner. Scratched — even significantly scratched — DVDs and CDs can be “repaired” by rubbing conditioner into the surface of the data-side of the disc. I met success in this endeavor by pouring conditioner liberally onto the surface of the DVD — I used a blob roughly the size of a quarter — and then rubbing it all over the surface until most of it disappeared. There was some residual conditioner left on the disc so I wiped it off with a tissue, being careful to not leave tissue particles behind.

The DVD was really in bad shape when I got it — the movie hardly played at all — but I managed to play through the entire movie with only a few skips after the conditioner-fix.

I’m certainly open to hearing other methods of fixing scratches on optical discs!

[flv]http://files.shift8.net/uploads/videos/Flight_Of_The_Conchords-HBO_One_Night_Stand.flv[/flv]

It would certainly be worth the time spent searching YouTube and Google Video (why the two sites still exist exclusive of each other, in light of the recent purchase by Google, remains to be explained) for other videos of the hilarious, self-proclaimed inventors of rap music.

It’s business time!

TournamentLadder (TL) is currently being redesigned from the ground-up. Brendon (my partner) and I are intent on re-releasing TournamentLadder as a new, innovative approach to online gaming. The planned features are, as of the present moment, being kept at a close-hold to maintain the integrity of our intellectual property. Needless to say, we are confident that the newly released TL will generate a great deal of buzz in the gaming community, as it did in the small community it was tested in during its initial release period.

The former TL TeamSpeak, and future TL IRC, server is still down. I physically removed it from the colocation site several months ago, but have not yet taken the time to complete the OS upgrades and IRC server installation. Chalk this one up to procrastination/laziness on my part! (D’Oh!) This is still temporary (I swear) and I hope to remedy this soon. It is, unfortunately, not high on my list of priorities at this time.

Tentative New Project
I am presently considering another project to add to this chaotic mix. I feel it would be rather interesting to analyze the price movements of Jim Cramer’s “Mad Money” stock picks. There are other sites which currently perform similar, but not identical analysis to that which I have in mind.

I am interested in this largely due to my ongoing research on the Efficient Market Hypothesis — a tenet of modern financial theory. I wrote my honors thesis on the subject during my senior year at Loyola University Chicago. (I will make this paper available at some point in the near future.) The efficiency of financial markets is a fascinating subject which has generated it’s fair share of controversy within academic circles for decades. Analysis of the price movements of Jim Cramer’s stock picks would provide valuable, contemporary insight on this topic.

I haven’t the time — or, quite honestly, the patience requisite to endure Jim’s on-screen antics — to watch the show daily. This means that the data will have to be compiled from third-party sources. I have not yet identified this source. Without some sort of data-sharing agreement with one of the sites that publish this information, automated data compilation would require a fair bit of coding on my part. This, then, clearly has implications on my already-limited time. This is the major factor keeping this project in the planning phase.

Epilogue
This projects are, as ever, works-in-progress. More information will be disseminated as it becomes available.

The brother of a friend of mine — Mark Bellio (aka “Belly-HO”) — has filmed himself in a spoof of the closing credits to that old-school “Super Mario Brothers Super Show” program. It is absolutely hillarious!

The video can be found here. (NOTE: If this video gains momentum and robs me of too much of my bandwidth allotment, I will move it and publish the new location here.)

Enjoy!

[video]http://files.shift8.net/public/Mario_Dance.wmv[/video]

Word to your uncle!