Sam's Journal of Stuff

Sam's Journal of Stuff

Sam

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Senate diversion	[Mar. 27th, 2009\|01:12 am]
I was listening to Russ Feingold's speech during the debate on S.J. Res. 12 during the 109th Congress on my way to work this morning. As I'm sure all my readers know, this was the flag burning amendment that missed being sent to the states by a single vote in the Senate in June 2006. It had squeaked by the House five days prior. Something that popped into my head was a curiosity about where things stood with the individual Senators two Congresses later. How did those who voted for or against this fare over the next few years? I'm sure we've all wondered this from time to time. No need to be curious anymore. The stats are: Republicans voting yes replaced by a Republican: 5 Republicans voting yes replaced by a Democrat: 13 Republicans voting no replaced by a Democrat: 1 Democrats voting yes replaced by a Democrat: 2 Democrats voting no replaced by a Democrat: 4 Independents voting no replaced by an Independent: 1 Here's the specifics: R(Y) -> R ID: Craig -> Risch MS: Lott -> Wicker NE: Hagel -> Johanns TN: Frist -> Corker WY: Thomas -> Barrasso R(Y) -> D AK: Stevens -> Begich CO: Allard -> Udall MN: Coleman -> Franken MO: Talent -> McCaskill MT: Burns -> Tester NH: Sununu -> Shaheen NM: Domenici -> Udall NC: Dole -> Hagan OH: DeWine -> Brown OR: Smith -> Merkley PA: Santorum -> Casey, Jr. VA: Allen -> Webb, Jr. VA: Warner, J. -> Warner, M. R(N) -> D RI: Chafee -> Whitehouse D(Y) -> D CO: Salazar -> Bennet MN: Dayton -> Klobuchar D(N) -> D DE: Biden -> Kaufman IL: Obama -> Burris MD: Sarbanes -> Cardin NY: Clinton -> Gillibrand I(N) -> I VT: Jeffords -> Sanders I only provide these as data points of interest to me. Not trying to make any statements here. I'd look through the House but that's really painful.
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New coins	[Dec. 25th, 2008\|03:47 pm]
One of the last bills signed into law from the 110th Congress is America's Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008. [1] Taking after the 50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act, [2] it directs the Secretaries of the Treasury and the Interior, in consultation with the executive of each state and territory, to select a "national site" [3] to be placed on the reverse of quarter dollar coins starting in 2010. [4] Like the 50 States Act, there will be one for each state and territory. [5] National sites can be a variety of things including National Parks, National Monuments, National Battlefields, National Military Parks, National Historical Parks, National Historic Sites, National Lakeshores, Seashores, Recreation Areas, Parkways, Scenic Rivers, Trails, and any sites in the National Wildlife Refuge System. [6] The coins will be released five per year in the order that the national sites were designated. [7] Interestingly, after the initial release of coins is completed, the Secretary of the Treasury can decide to do it all over again with another site selected from each state. [8] Once the entire program is finished, the reverse of the quarter dollar will change to an image of General Washington crossing the Delaware River prior to the Battle of Trenton. [9] The last paragraph of the new subsection is also interesting. It states in full: (10) APPLICATION IN EVENT OF INDEPENDENCE.—If any territory becomes independent or otherwise ceases to be a terri- tory or possession of the United States before quarter dollars bearing designs which are emblematic of such territory are minted pursuant to this subsection, this subsection shall cease to apply with respect to such territory. [10] Finally, the Act also creates a program for Silver Bullion Investments. [11] The Secretary will strike exact duplicates of each coin created by this act in .999 fine silver, each with a diameter of 3 inches and a weight of 5 ounces. [12] I have to say I think this is a really cool idea. From a purely economical point of view it stands to make a decent amount of money for the government in seigniorage. The 50 States Quarter Program is estimated to have generated about $3.5 billion of seigniorage since 1999. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this program would generate about $785 million over 10 years. [13] More important though, I think it's a great idea to celebrate our National Parks and other resources. This is a wonderful way to do it, and there's a good chance that the public will learn about some of the lesser known national sites around the country. I'm looking forward to the final list of sites when it gets published. [1] Pub. L. 110-456, 122 Stat. 5038 (Dec. 23, 2008) [2] Pub. L. 105-124, 111 Stat. 2534 (Dec. 1, 1997), as amended [3] 31 U.S.C. 5112(t)(3)(A)(i) [4] 31 U.S.C. 5112(t)(1)(A) [5] 31 U.S.C. 5112(t)(1)(C) [6] 31 U.S.C. 5112(t)(9) [7] 31 U.S.C. 5112(t)(4) [8] 31 U.S.C. 5112(t)(7)(B) [9] 31 U.S.C. 5112(t)(8)(B) [10] 31 U.S.C. 5112(t)(10) [11] 31 U.S.C. 5112(u) [12] 31 U.S.C. 5112(u)(1) [13] H. Rept. 110-748, 7 (Jul. 8. 2008)
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YouTube	[Oct. 26th, 2008\|02:08 am]
Best YouTube comment ever (seriously why do I ever read them?): (¯`'•.¸(¯`'•.¸♥♥♥♥¸.•'´¯)¸.•'´¯) ♥(¯`'•.¸(¯`'•.¸♥♥¸.•'´¯)¸.•'´¯)♥ ♥♥(¯`'•.¸(¯`'•.¸*¸.•'´¯)¸.•'´¯)♥♥ ----==--McCain~Palin!!---==---- (_¸.•'´(_¸.•'´♥♥♥♥`'•.¸_)`'•.¸_) ♥(_¸.•'´(_¸.•'´♥♥`'•.¸_)`'•.¸_)♥ ♥♥(_¸.•'´(_¸.•'´*`'•.¸_)`'•.¸_)♥♥
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Filter	[Sep. 17th, 2008\|01:07 am]
Apparently, to the TSA employee working the X-ray machine, this: looks a lot like this: One is a ceramic water filter, the other.. well. I think you can figure that one out. The TSA inspector did too. But if you're a hiker / backpacker, it's worth keeping in mind. Luckily the Billings, MT security check point is pretty quiet at 2pm on a Tuesday, and Montanans are pretty laid back.
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Flags	[Aug. 16th, 2008\|02:44 am]
I've been watching a lot of the Olympics recently. The Track and Field events started within the last day or so. And while I love the events, it also brings with it something that annoys the hell out of me: improper use of the flag. For some time now it's been standard practice for American medal winners to grab a flag out of the audience and run around the track with it. This isn't entirely a US phenomenon as I've seen athletes from other countries do it. If this is a show of patriotism, I wonder if these athletes realize they're doing the exact opposite. I fail to see how wrapping your sweaty body in the flag is patriotic. I fail to see how dragging it or throwing it onto the ground and sometimes walking on it is patriotic. And I fail to see how wearing it around like a shawl is patriotic. I'll readily admit I'm being something of a curmudgeon here, but then again, these athletes are representing their country on a world platform. If there's any time for patriotism, it's during participation in the Olympics. I wish more people would pay attention to the United States Flag Code which sums up a lot of these long understood rules. They'd find such pointers as... 4 U.S.C. §8(b) The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise. 4 U.S.C. §(d) The flag should never be used as wearing apparel [...] 4 U.S.C. §(e) The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way. 4 U.S.C. §(j) No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform. Now of course these aren't really enforceable other than perhaps stern looks by the 1% of the population who cares. Well I guess if you're a post office or something they are. But post offices aren't running the 100 meter hurdles yet. Maybe there should be an amendment to the section: 4 U.S.C. §(l) Don't wrap the flag around your sweaty body. We know you're patriotic. It says USA in big letters on your chest and you're dressed in red, white and blue. Don't worry, no one's going to confuse you for the French (who can't run to save their lives anyway). As an aside, it annoyed the hell out of me when one of the fraternal organizations in Mountain View (whose members I'm sure consider themselves very patriotic) placed a flag pole on their roof and left the flag flying 24 hours a day with no illumination at night. They finally fixed this, but I sort of wish I'd sent them a letter asking them why they were ignoring 4 U.S.C. §6(a). I'm sure it was an oversight. I guess in the end I'm just annoyed by the hypocrisy of the whole thing.
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Engaged	[Apr. 12th, 2008\|10:30 pm]
I never really talk about personal stuff here but figured I'd make an exception. I went on a hike today with my lovely girlfriend Liz and ended it with my lovely fiancée Liz. FTW!
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Hmph	[Mar. 4th, 2008\|07:42 am]
Here's to 16 years of awesome. And hopefully not 16 years of suck. But it is the Packers. Spoken like a true Wisconsin fan I guess.
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110th Congress, 1st Session scorecard	[Feb. 7th, 2008\|04:24 pm]
Now that we're in the 2nd session of the 110th Congress I figured I'd do a scorecard of sorts for the 1st session. And for kicks I'll compare it to the 1st session of the 109th Congress. Bills passed into Public Law: 180 (170) Bills vetoed by President: 7 (0) Number of laws for the single purpose of naming a post office, courthouse, or other federal property: 73 (29) Percentage of total: 40.5% (17%) Pages of public laws passed: 2569 (3617) Largest number of pages: 613 (835) (In the 1st session of the 110th Congress this was the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008) Number of Public Laws one page long: 110 (62) Number of Public Laws ten pages or shorter: 162 (136) When I think of the 40.5% of Public Laws that are just there to name a public building I can't help but picture Congress sitting there twiddling their thumbs. I'm not a fan of piles of legislation, but seriously, 40%?
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Drinking etiquette	[Dec. 27th, 2007\|12:45 am]
Apparently this isn't taught in school so I'd like to bring it to light here. Scenario: You are at a party. You are drinking fine spirits out of a crystal glass. Do you: A. Finish the drink, thank the host, and give the glass to him/her. B. Finish the drink, wash the glass carefully, dry it, and place it back in the cabinet it came from. C. A or B but instead of relinquishing the glass, fill it with more fine spirits. D. Finish the drink, place the glass back in the cabinet, never bothering to even rinse it out. For extra points, place it in the back of the cabinet where the host will be sure to miss discovering it for months. If you answered D you're the asshole who did that at some party I had. Don't come back.
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By the numbers	[Nov. 30th, 2007\|01:42 pm]
I follow Congress pretty closely. I keep a tab on public laws each year. One of the things that cracks me up is the sheer number of bills that pass solely for the purpose of naming a building after someone. I realize maybe there's not a lot of effort involved, but the sheer volume of them amuses me. For instance, during the 109th Congress there were 116 such bills passed. This is out of a total of 482. So almost 25% of bills passed. Now, I'm not trying to insinuate that Congress doesn't do much these days. But, I find it interesting that as of today, there's been 131 bills passed into law, and 60 of these name buildings. That's about 45%. Around this time in the 1st Session of the 109th Congress there'd been 29 passed. These are, of course, preliminary numbers. I don't track bills in progress for the most part. So we'll find out the final numbers for the 1st Session of the 110th Congress in a month or so. Still. 60. I suppose it's better than actually debating real issues.
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Giggle	[Nov. 26th, 2007\|06:03 pm]
Closing price of Google, Inc. common stock (NASDAQ: GOOG) on 11/26/2007. Retrieved from Yahoo! Finance.
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Defense, FY08	[Nov. 13th, 2007\|04:36 pm]
Today Public Law 110-116 was signed and enacted. This is, in part, the FY08 Defense Appropriations bill. For those who don't want to read it all, here's the summary of appropriations in Division A. Division B covers some other continuing appropriations worth several billions, but it doesn't provide a complete picture of those things. So I won't cover that. Personnel $105,292,237,000 Operations and Maintenance $140,062,158,000 Procurement $98,201,598,000 Research, Development, Test and Evaluation $77,271,482,000 Revolving and Management Funds $2,701,840,000 Other DoD Programs $26,316,190,000 Related Agencies $988,026,000 Other (Including recissions and reductions) $10,013,300,000 Grand Total $460,846,831,000 For details see Pub. L. 110-116. Or 110 H.R. 3222 ENR since the GPO won't post the Public Law for a while. You can find that here: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h3222enr.txt.pdf
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Shake shake shake	[Oct. 31st, 2007\|06:33 pm]
Note to all: I didn't post here after the earthquake because everyone else did for me. I was not injured or killed by said earthquake. No bottles of alcohol were lost. It's funny how some people are like "oh it was a small one" while people who were right near it are like wow! that was huge! The USGS shake maps make it look like the stronger shaking went south into the Santa Clara Valley. Sorry peninsula and further north East Bay folk. It was by far the strongest I've felt and was pretty exciting. But to those who didn't feel it, do not despair. Your time will come!
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Hero	[Sep. 30th, 2007\|10:32 am]
421. Hell yeah!
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iPhone Proxy Auto-config

[Sep. 1st, 2007|03:27 pm]

[ETA: I noticed that after a couple days this is at the top of Google's hits for "iPhone proxy auto config". I really wonder how many people care about this. If you do, maybe leave a comment so I can get some idea. Thanks!]

[ETA2: Please note, I've only tried this with a first generation iPhone running the 1.0.2 firmware. I have no idea if this works on any later firmware up to and including the 2.0 releases. I also have no idea if this works on the iPhone 3G. At some point I'll get one and then I guess I'll find out.]

I use Proxy Auto-config (PAC) functionality daily. When I recently got an iPhone I was a bit disappointed to find out that it doesn't have the robust network configuration tools that OS X has. There isn't any way through the UI to tell the system to use a PAC file. However, the iPhone is running OS X, just with a lot of the front end removed.

Here's instructions on how to set this up. I'm not a coder, so you don't get any pretty installer. I'm also not a sysadmin or an OS X expert so it's possible there's a better way to do this. I'm happy to get feedback. Also, disclaimer, this works for me, but I've only had it working for a day. If this breaks your iPhone, I am in no way responsible. I assume you have some knowledge of Unix and Unix tools before attempting this.

To do this you'll need to hack your iPhone to have things like ssh and scp, and preferably a terminal application. To do this, I've had pretty good luck with Installer.app from Nullriver: http://iphone.nullriver.com/beta/ You'll also want a wifi connection. It's not necessary, but these instructions are written assuming you can ssh to your iPhone from your local LAN.

Get that installed (really easy) and then use it to install things like Term-vt100, OpenSSH, and BSD Subsystem. I believe you'll have what you need. You might need DNS Tools as well.

Once this is all installed you're ready to go. Run your terminal app and determine your iPhone's IP address with ifconfig. You're interested in your wifi address, which is interface en0. From the terminal, run the command

ifconfig -a

Look for the en0 line. There should be an IP address next to inet. If you're doing NAT it'll probably be something like 10.0.32.5.

Since you'll be copying files off of your iPhone, I suggest using scp. You'll want to change the root password first which has to be done on the iPhone. You're automatically logged in as root, so at the shell prompt, just type

passwd

and set it to something you won't forget. I forget what the default is.

On a normal OS X install PAC configuration is contained in

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist

On the iPhone however it's all in

/private/var/root/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist

You'll need to copy this file to your computer unless you feel like using a text editor on the iPhone. I suggest against this right now.

The best way I know of is to use scp. From a shell on your computer run:

scp root@10.0.32.5:/private/var/root/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist .

I highly suggest making a backup of this file. Call it preferences.plist.iphone or something. Now you need to edit the plist file. It's a plain text XML file so I suggest vi.

Now I'm the first to admit I don't fully understand this file. There's entries for all the network interfaces, but on mine at least, there's three sections for en0, almost exactly the same except for the <key> tag. You can find these by looking for "Interface" sections and a "DeviceName" key followed by the "en0" string. Right below these sections you should see a "Proxies" key with the first subkey "ExceptionsList". When you find these sections add the following lines before the </dict> tag:

<key>ProxyAutoConfigEnable</key>
<integer>1</integer>
<key>ProxyAutoConfigURLString</key>
<string>http://location.of.proxy.pac</string>

Replace location.of.proxy.pac with wherever your proxy.pac file is. Alternately, you can put it in root's home directory (or anywhere else really) and use something like file://var/root/proxy.pac. You may only have to add it to the first en0 entry, but to be safe I'd do it for all of them.

To enable PAC for EDGE you'll need to find the entry for interface ip1. In this case there isn't a pre-existing Proxies section. Do the same as above but before the four lines put:

<key>Proxies</key>
<dict>

And then after:

</dict>

Now that the file is edited, you need to copy it back. You might want to ssh into the iPhone and copy the existing preferences.plist to preferences.plist.bak or something. Just in case. Backups are always good. In any case do something like:

scp preferences.plist root@10.0.32.5:/private/var/root/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration

Once you've done this you should be pretty much good to go. There's some sort of file reload timer in the OS that reloads the preferences.plist file from time to time. The new file won't take affect until this happens. I've found that this usually takes anywhere from 5-15 minutes.

And that's about it. I suggest keeping copies of any files you've modified backed up somewhere other than the iPhone. My understanding is any hacks you've done will get wiped out when Apple releases new Firmware updates. Luckily once you understand what's going on it's pretty easy to revert to your hacks.

Good luck!

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Michael Jackson RIP	[Aug. 30th, 2007\|05:58 pm]
Michael Jackson of whiskey fame died yesterday. Definitely a major loss to the community. Raise a drink for him tonight if you will. http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/whatsontap/archives/120913.asp?from=blog_last3
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Geek	[Aug. 26th, 2007\|04:17 pm]
I'm posting this from my iPhone, in the retro gaming room at PAX, while playing Kickle Cubical with a bunch of dudes. This is the geekiest thing i've done in quite some time.
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Congress	[Aug. 13th, 2007\|09:18 am]
An amusing exchange from the Congressional Record (153 CR S6968): Mr. Reid: I now ask for a second reading, en bloc, and object to my own request, en bloc. The Presiding Officer: Objection having been heard, the bills will receive their second reading on the next legislative day. Mr. Reid: Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum. The Presiding Officer: The clerk will call the roll. (The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.) Mr. Reid: Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The Presiding Officer: Without objection, it is so ordered. Mr. Reid: Madam President, I also wish you a happy birthday. The Presiding Officer: Without objection, it is so ordered.
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6	[Aug. 6th, 2007\|09:25 am]
I've always sort of obsessed about codes that track things and their organization. For instance, radio and TV call signs, telephone numbering plans, CAS RNs, LCC numbers, licesnse plates, etc. The list could go on and on. In California the serially issued license plates for passenger vehicles are in the format NAAANNN where N is a number and A is a letter. I noticed a while back that we were getting towards the end of the 5 range. I started seeing a lot of new cars with plates like 5VRZ123 and eventually 5ZER123. Of course I was excited becase this meant that the 6 series was on the way. And sure enough, today I saw 6AMYxxx! I can't imagine there's many people who really care about this or find it interesting. But it's a fun game on the way to work. Commercial plates are in the format NANNNNN. The most recent I've seen on some trucks has been in the 8J range. These seem to increase slower than passenger vehicles. However, it looks like they'll be in the 9 series fairly soon. I wonder what the plans are for post-9Z. I sure love edge cases.
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Contumacious	[Jul. 11th, 2007\|10:47 pm]
Word of the day: Contumacious, a. - Wilfully disobedient to the summons or order of a court. Or perhaps in this case, Congress. The Congress has two methods for finding someone in contempt of Congress. The first, which has its roots in the early 19th Century is often referred to as the "inherent contempt authority". This was first approved by the Supreme Court in Anderson v. Dunn, 19 U.S. 204 (1821). There have been a few cases over the years that have further defined this authority: Marshall v. Gordon, 243 U.S. 521 (1917), McGrain v. Daugherty, 273 U.S. 135 (1927), Jurney v. MacCracken, 294 U.S. 125 (1934). See also Groppi v. Leslie, 404 U.S. 496 (1972) (applied to a state legislature but would likely apply to the Congress). One of the limitations of this authority as it was described in Anderson is that any inherent contempt proceedings and punishments must take place during the current session of Congress. Because of this, the Act of January 24, 1857 (11 Stat. 155) was passed into law which allowed the federal court system to prosecute contempts of Congress. This law is essentially preserved in 2 U.S.C. §192. However, there is an additional section, codified at 2 U.S.C. §194 that requires the request for charges be brought to the "appropriate United States attorney" whose duty would be to bring the case before a grand jury. This could of course be very difficult given the current state of affairs. Additionally, there's no reason to think that a presidential pardon wouldn't be forthcoming if any charges were brought under this statute. So then the question arises (and has been asked on a few forums so far), is violation of the inherent contempt authority pardonable? Could Congress itself start proceedings in this relatively new session and punish by imprisonment or fine those who refuse to testify after being subpoenaed? It would likely be a quick decision to make, though I don't know the specific rules of the House that define the procedures. But is it worth it to Harriet Miers to potentially spend the next year and half behind bars for her friend the president? Could be. Given the current state of everything my guess is this will just peter out and go nowhere. However, it's an interesting question and I'd love to see what would start happening if the United States Capitol Police (or maybe the US Marshalls?) started detaining people. Actually who would do this? Does the USCP have jurisdiction outside of Congressional property? I suppose I'll have to read up on this. Anyway, the real point of this post was to bring up the question of a presidential pardon of the Congressional contempt authority and to provide references to the legal basis for the various methods of punishment for contempt of Congress.
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