Jack Hardcastle

Today closes with huge news out of several states across the country, as Barack Obama defeated Hillary Clinton two-to-one in all three states holding Democratic nomination contests today. Obama’s momentum looks as though it will carry him through the big-win states next week (including my own dear Maryland) and on to the DNC in Denver in August. True, Obama has always done better in caucus states (which perhaps suggests to a smart analyst that he is the stronger candidate, with a more devoted following and more sound logical arguments) than in primary states, but the tide has absolutely turned for the erstwhile runner-up. With superdelegates changing their minds and political pressure on many of them to back the candidate with the most popular support (and thus succeed in not creating division in the Democratic party) I am confident that the huge groundswell of support may actually push the Senator from Illinois over the top.

Across the fence, the GOP looks as though it will continue to splinter itself down incredibly stark ideological lines. Huckabee, who I must admit I thought would have been knocked out of the race a month ago, is showing strong support among the “anyone but McCain” crowd. If it ends up coming down to the wire with the Republicans, the in-fighting and public backstabbing will rise to the extreme. Arch-conservatives cannot stand McCain’s liberal stance on a majority of issues, nor can they stand his vague position on just about any topic that matters. The Flip-Flopper needs to get his story straight before his handlers let him out on stage. I must also admit that I thought his campaign was over a year ago, but I was wrong there too.

I only pray I’m not wrong where it counts.

Don’t ever select “case-sensitive” HFS+ on your Macintosh.

This is one of those rare cases where it becomes obvious that OS X is actually a compromised form of UNIX/BSD.

Some major applications (e.g. Photoshop/Adobe products) were built with case-insensitivity as a requirement.

I wish, like this guy, that I had done more homework before I selected the more rigorous option.

I’ve never really had any basis for my belief that actor Johnny Depp is a genuinely nice guy. Perhaps I heard it in a news story once, or someone suggested it based on something they had heard. I’ve just always had this feeling that he’s the kind of guy who generally does the Right Thing.

Turns out, he is that kind of guy.

So guess what doesn’t work with anything! The answer is Ruby 1.9. Breaks Rails, rake, mongrel, Shoes, etc.

Hooray for the one-click installer, savior of my CLI!

I’m hoping to teach myself some more Ruby during our family trip down south over the next 7 days. With a running start, and some help, I’m up to the latest latest. Yay!

ruby 1.9.0 (2007-12-25 revision 14709) [i686-darwin8.10.1]

I saw a sneak preview of a movie based upon one of my favorite books last night. Apparently there is some controversy about it.

Religious groups gain political advantage and rally their followers by presenting themselves as embattled. Actually listening to the other side is tantamount to admitting you’re not really being persecuted.

What’s great, and Erin pointed this out, is what the religious groups are upset about. They’re not worried about the movie, because Hollywood has stripped all the controversy out of it. They’re worried that the movie will make kids go out and read the book.

This is in the same category as all of those other things that, as far as I am concerned, flow directly against the Constitution and the principles upon which this nation was founded. Free speech, open discussion, and ernest inquiry are principles, without which, we would still be in the middle ages. I’m disappointed that some groups of people, every time they are confronted by something they don’t like, shun it and avoid debate altogether. That’s not progress. That’s burying your head in the sand.

There’s an interesting (if cheesy) video on YouTube where a guy applies what is essentially Pascal’s Wager to global warming. Or human-induced climate destabilization, as “they” would have us call it.

A fantastic article forwarded to me from Ms. Weigand on the perils of ignoring the natural circadian rhythm can be found in the Johns Hopkins Magazine.

Someone want to disable my melanopsin receptors for me?

I have not spent two consecutive winters in the same bedroom in nine years — not since the eighth grade. In that time, I’ve lived in Derwood, Columbia, Glenwood, McDonogh, Wiess (4th floor), Kerby Place, Wiess (different 4th floor), Wiess (1st floor), Snow Meadow, and Bonnie Ridge.

I’d love to say this is the end of the great migration, but that’s what I said last summer.

The only other person out there who might be close is Erin, but the last I heard her list stopped at seven.

I think I may have solved an issue I was having with my Myth DVR where two of the three cards would record jittery, bad sync video and audio. They were dropping frames, or the tracking was off, or something.

As recommended somewhere out on the web, all I did was disable PNP in the BIOS. This seems to have locked down the IRQs for all the cards, and at least as far as I can tell for now, might just have fixed the issue.