Well that kinda sucked ...

Yeah so ..., nice birthday present. An hour in a dentists chair while he tries to cause pain repeatedly - to isolate what the problem was. Apparently my pain threshold is lower than it should be because I don't go to the dentist regularly (somehow I don't follow that logic; and/or just as well I never fucking went to the dentist if getting used to sharp pain is one side-effect; fucking a hurt a lot more than a broken arm that's for sure). And after all that the original dentist had the correct diagnosis - the specialist just kept saying how unusual it all was. Just what one wants to hear ... Just as well humans can't actually remember pain.

Apparently the sleep apneoa device can't be a cause of problems, and otherwise I have rather robust cavity-free teeth (which i'm pretty pleased with given how long it's been since i've been to a dentist).

Anyway, now queued up for an hour long operation later in the week to do some pretty nasty drilling which basically kills the inside of the tooth. What can you do eh ...

Then I did a bit of a pub crawl on the way home. Probably should do that more often if only to perve on the hot pretty things walking past.

I no longer have a mobile so I had no way to ping my friends (yes i do have some) to catch up for a birthday drink; so it just turned into a pretty depressing and isolated few hours in the end. I wasn't sure how I was going to end up after the appointment so I didn't organise anything in advance and I haven't been out for ages either.

slackware update oops

So I decided to update one of my old laptops the other day (IBM Thinkpad T40), I only use it for web browsing and it's running slackware 14.0.

It's CPU is quite old and doesn't support PAE kernels ...

But for some reason slackpkg decided to change to the PAE kernel when it ran lilo. Actually it's kind of funny it still uses lilo; I thought that died a decade ago. By luck I found the install DVD relatively easily and managed to boot into single-user mode against the on-board HDD and point lilo to the correct kernel. Although booting off dvd was a bit flakey - i had to power down and disconnect the mains beteen reboots otherwise the screen stayed black.

It's only got 512MB RAM which sadly isn't really enough to do much these days. I looked into buying some more SODIMMs but it looks like it isn't worth it (around here, if you can even find PC2100 SODIMMs). For a 10 year old machine it still functions pretty well otherwise. Not sure it's worth upgrading the memory on my X61 thinkpad either, and the fan seems to be getting worse - I don't want to have have to pull the whole thing apart to see if i can fix that.

I've been contining to look into getting a small-as-possible ITX Kaveri machine going to replace my day-today use of the X61. At first I was initially dissapointed in the sizes of case available but there are one or two that will probably suffice - with psu, heatsink, hdds and air-flow you just can't make it too small. Unless gigabyte come out with a Kaveri based BRIX anyway. Or I get keen enough to make my own case using a low-profile PSU. Most PC shops around here are all intel so the AMD stuff isn't that common, although it's still possible to get it. The fanless heatsink cases (can't remember the brand) looked interesting, until I realised they needed an external power brick and cost a bit too much. Not particularly attractive either. I have another workstation but that's in a less convenient room; and is pretty much relegated to a shitty/unreliable mythtv server atm so that can stay there (not sure why i bother, i haven't watched any recordings from it for months).

But for now i'm more pre-occupied with a dental issues. After some fuckups when I got braces back in my youth I don't have much enthusiasm for dentists but after having a problem that wasn't fixing itself I finally went to a dentist (after, err, 25 years or something) and found out I need root canal work done; well whatever, so long as it just gets fixed. Seeing a specialist in a couple of hours. My shitty teeth have always been a pita since I was a kid and i have a feeling this wont be the last of it (and looking back, i'm sure it affected my life trajectory somewhat. There's a reason i only smile when i'm drunk), and i'm pretty sure that the sleep apnoea device didn't help. At least the local dentist was quite good.

javafx + internet radio = sigh

I thought i'd look at porting the android internet radio player I have over to JavaFX; although jjmpeg is an option I thought i would first try with the JavaFX MediaPlayer. Thought it might be a simple distraction on a hot day.

Unfortunately it's a no go so far.

Firstly it just doesn't accept the protocol from the shoutcast server that i'm using: it sends a response with ICY 200 OK rather than HTTP/1.1 200 OK. Because mpeg is a streaming protocol normally players just ignore that and keep going even if they aren't aware of the streaming protocol (which they normally are).

Then I realised it requires ffmpeg 0.10 libraries to function (the same version jjmpeg/head uses, oddly enough - which seems pretty odd for such a new product) - so I pointed to my local build of those and at least got it playing local mp3 files ...

So since I had that going I hacked up a quick proxy server (it's something i wanted to look at anyway wrt android; so the player can extract the current song info from the stream) and after mucking about with some silly bugs I managed to get it to the point of segfaulting. If I save the content of the stream it will play that ok it just seems to have trouble with loading from a network. The proxy server just rewrites the ICY header response to say HTTP/1.1 instead.

Steaming Poo.

I'm using the latest jdk 1.8.0 release candidate as of 12/2/14. I suspect it's a version compatability issue with my ffmpeg build or it could just be a bug in the media code - given it works with local files and particularly since it's using gstreamer: the second would be no surprise to me at all because gstreamer is a pile of shit.

   Stack: [0x84dad000,0x855ae000],  sp=0x855ad1e4,  free space=8192k
   Native frames: (J=compiled Java code, j=interpreted, Vv=VM code, C=native code)
   C  [libfxplugins.so+0x8d28]  cache_has_enough_data+0xc
   C  [libfxplugins.so+0x74b8]  progress_buffer_loop+0xbd
   C  [libgstreamer-lite.so+0x6bdd5]  gst_task_func+0x203
   C  [libgstreamer-lite.so+0x6cebd]  default_func+0x29
   C  [libglib-2.0.so.0+0x6c3a1]  fileno+0x6c3a1
   C  [libglib-2.0.so.0+0x69bd0]  fileno+0x69bd0
   C  [libpthread.so.0+0x5e99]  abort@@GLIBC_2.0+0x5e99

My proxy code is also totally shit so that's always a possible cause but it shouldn't cause a crash regardless.

Update: The above was on an x86 machine, also tried on an amd64 isa and it did the same. So probably version incompatabilities. Unfortunately those versions (at least) of ffmpeg can be compiled in binary incompatible ways even if the library is the same revision, and if it's been built against ubuntu or debian, well they like to mess around with their packages.

Update 28/2/14: So I thought perhaps it was something to do with the debian mess of using libav instead of ffmpeg. But trying that results in the same crash. I also tried the libavcodec.so.53 that comes with the gst-ffmpeg-0.10.13 package ... but that doesn't include avcodec_open2(). Hmm, so much for version numbers eh.

Also tried ffmpeg 0.8.x and 0.9.x. But they all just crash in the same place.

On my new pc I also tried using the version of 'libavcodec.so.53' that comes with gst-ffmpeg-0.10.13 ... but that 'version 53' of ffmpeg doesn't include libavcodec_open2(). Actually it looks like that is also using libav for fucks sake. Oh, so it seems that it's actually using ffmpeg 0.7.2 instead. How odd.

What were oracle thinking if it is built against libav - a buggy and insecure fork of another project and a version that is well beyond maintenance at that.

I guess I will keep trying different versions and see if one sticks. Pretty fucked up though - libraries have a version for a reason and so what's the point if they don't actually mean anything. Possibly the situation was compounded by the whole libav fork. Or it might just be a bug with gstreamer-lite.

Time passes ...

Ok, so 0.8.x and 0.9.x also provide 'libavcodec.so.53' ... and they all crash in the same place, so quite probably it's just the code in libfxplugins.

Shit, I even tried building openjfx ... but even though it has the source-code for libfxplugins.so ... it doesn't seem to build it and just copies it from the installed jre. It doesn't help that it uses gradle which is both slow and opaque.

See follow-up post.

Habanero + Lime Cordial

So I finally got off my arse and made it to the beach on a week-day today. 1/2 hour easy ride (it's 41 today, too hot to rush) although I left it a bit late and caught some of the after-school traffic on the way home. Water was clear and cool and there more people down there than I would have expected - not that any went into water deeper than their chest and some people were sun-baking (the sun is so friggan hot wtf would you want to sit right out in it for? In it??). Saw a couple of dolphins swim past slowly about 40m further out.

Anyway 1/2 hour ride home is enough to get pretty warm so I went for a cool drink (reehydration before I start on some beer) and I only had an experimental bottle of lime cordial I made last time - I dropped half a large ripe red habanero chilli into the bottle when I sealed it. I wasn't sure if it would really be what I was after.

It's ... certainly ... interesting.

As you're drinking it it is a typical cool refreshing tangy lime flavoured drink. And then you stop. Your mouth, lips, and throat instantly starts to gently and delicately burn.

So it makes you want to have more ...

... Ahh, nice cool refreshing tangy drink. And then you stop. The burning just intensifies.

Which makes you want even more.

Wow I said. Definitely something I'll do again next time I get some limes.

And as with most habanero based heat the burning just keeps increasing the more you have, I guess the capsaicin must get stuck in your soft-tissues for a long time. I know after cutting a lot up i've had burning fingers for a few days despite aggressive soapy scrubbing - your fingertips burn quite notably (to the point of pain) when you press your fingers together and the harder you press the hotter they feel. And it hasn't affected the flavour as sometimes chillies add a capsicum note although habaneros have thier unique sweet flavour so it is probably just complementing the sugar.

verious.com is not authorised to copy this article?

Weird, looks like this blog has been put onto a site that sounds like 'various' and the posts are made to look like I write for them.

Never heard of them, nor are they permitted to re-post any of my posts.

Lets see if this one makes it on there ...

Internode Freezone Internet Radio Player v2.2

I decided to update the Android Internode Radio Player today. I kept putting it off because I needed to fix up the web page and build a source-code distribution. Fortunately i'd done most of the GPLv3 work already.

More over on the project page @ internode.

This version is GPLv3 and includes the source-code.

Update: I moved the home page.

The tech / enthusiast 'press' - if you're not paying, you're the product.

Just a short thought for the day - if you're not paying for it, you're not the customer but the product. So what does that make the tech and enthusiest 'press' - toms hardware, anandtech, ign, youtube, etc?

The tech and enthusiast press is just another big arm of the PR industry.

Unlike the ABC's charter, they do not exist to entertain and inform their readership; they're there to sell the products which provide the advertising dollars which pay for them to exist in the first place.

Their customers are the advertisers, not the readers.

I used to have some respect for technical articles on anandtech and the like but some recent technical articles lead me to drop this completely. These convinced me that they don't have the technical competency to write these articles in the first place which leads to the obvious conclusion that they were effectively written by the PR firms of the companies that make the products in question. And what's worse is that the trend toward access journalism means that they'll bend over backward (or is that forward) to accomondate PR agendas just to get that next exclusive.

I'm sure some would label such an idea a 'tin-foil hat conspiracy' but that in itself is a typical fud tactic used to silence such dissenting thoughts. It's such a fiendishly clever one too: first people are treated as idiots for believing such nonsense, and if the truth really does come out (such as with the recent youtube m$/ea payola indicents) they're just dismissed as idiots again because 'everybody knew that'.

Some keywords to help you navigate this minefield:

'exclusive'

Basically means the entire article is direct from the PR firm or may as well be. It will only follow set talking-points and wont be overly critical of the product.

Apparently attaching conditions to this type of article is a wide-spread industry practice which at best leads to selection bias. Sites which don't mind litterally prostituting themselves out in this way are going to get more money and crowd out any with ethics (in short, there's no room for ethics in publishing).

I'd rather just have the raw PR material so I can make up my own mind. At least you know where the PR starts and stops.

'preview'

Here the press has access to information before the general public. It is possible the preview is in a controlled environment and possibly not even hands-on, so even if there were no other influence the previewer may not be getting a complete and accurate picture of the product themselves.

When did you last see a scathing preview? They are just part of the PR path and should be treated as such; nothing wrong with being interested about it but they must be treated with a good dose of scepticism. Always.

'review'

In general the review copy will be supplied by the vendor: this already introduces a conflict of interest. But reviews may also impact the ability to secure exclusives or previews - which allows advertiser interest to go beyond the supposed chinese walls between the advertising and editorial sections of a reporting business.

Some sites even bizarrely take pride in having their reviewers use inconsistent scoring across all reviews which is utterly baffling. The job of the review editor should be there to ensure the score at the end of the article actually means something and isn't unduly affected by the tastes, biases, or bribes of the reviewer.

You definitely can't trust 'user' reviews: apart from widespread fraud there may be other mechanisms such as filtering screens on 'apps' which only direct positive reviewers to the rating mechanism (e.g. dungeonkeeper) or even use bribery of virtual junk to encourage distorted scores. And something about the immediacy of the mobile internet has created a 'great hysterical age' well beyond anything in previous human history: so you can't use popularity as any sort of reliable guide either.

This kind of sucks: it means you basically can't trust anything on the internet. There is no way to form an objective opinion when all of the information sources are poisoned. At best if you are an expert in the field you can form your own opinion but that will also be biased based on your own life experiences (although it probably doesn't matter). The layman has no hope.

I don't think the 'mainstream' press is any better tbh. Sure there are some journalistic ethics that might prevent the most egregious examples but papers either exist at the whim of their advertisers (their real customers) or to push the political agenda of the insanely rich (literal meaning) arsehole who owns it for that purpose. And the ethics only cover news reporting anyway which is only a part of any paper's content.

Motivation

Well, lack thereof.

I guess i'm on holidays but i've mostly been too lazy to even sit in the yard drinking cold beer on a hot day ... (it's kind of boring without something to do, and reading tends to put me to sleep).

I've been playing a good bit of Ni No Kuni over the last few days after buying it on PSN - some of it is a bit cringe inducing and childish but enough of it is quite charming to keep going. The hand-holding never seems to stop (yes snot-nose, I do know that i should cast such and such here, you don't need to step me through it every single time), the whole pure hearted help-everyone mend hearts stuff is a bit vomit inducing, and sometimes it seems there are just a few too many short battles every few seconds. But yeah you don't play jrpg's for the story. Technically it is excellent - short loading times (just 30 seconds to the main screen from xmb, 5 seconds to load a saved game), very pretty and clean graphics almost always a solid 25fps (only a bit of tearing sometimes when you're starting on the dragon). I haven't played a decent RPG since Rogue Galaxy and I keep forgetting Level 5 make much better games technically than square enix (the stories are usually a bit better too if only because you can work out what they are). The only final fantasy I really liked was 12 but the loading times for each tiny area sucked. I'm more of the lazy 'grind until the battle is winnable' type so I found FF-13 a pain since it was easy to get stuck with no way to back-track in order to build up capabilities. It doesn't help that you hate most of the characters. I actually don't mind Lightning - if i was in her situation I would hate all the wankers around me too and just focus on getting shit done (not sure she deserves her own dress-up game though, and seems completely out of character). I thought Vanille was a cutsy bit of fluff until I found out the back story of her coping with something bad in her past - and then I hated her with a passion. Reminds me of someone I knew once; pretty and fakely shallow but ultimately a complete fuck-up living in a detatched reality who would simply make shit up to try to please/impress those around her. I didn't get very far in 10 so maybe I should try again, although the loading times there suck even more. Given how much time they take as it is the loading just kills it.

I've been to the beach a couple of times on a weekend but although i always 'fully intend' to go during the week I never seem to get out of the house. Either too hot or too cold or too windy but really i'm just too lazy. Today? hmm naah.

Although i'm not a complete lazy arse. I finally built a shaded frame over some of the garden - a couple of months too late, 45 degrees in the shade is enough to do some real damage when there isn't any shade. The garden in general has been pretty dissapointing this year. Tomatoes should be nearly over by now but i'm only just getting fruit now from the most developed plants (well, I had one ripe fruit). And even then there hasn't been many bees around so lots of the flowers just aren't setting. I have some basil flowering now so that should help. I think I can count on one hand the number of chillies i've picked from last years plants - the ones I planted this year are about 5cm high after 3 months. I thought i'd be inundated with beans this year as I was last but even they aren't producing very well although a lot of that has been the heat. I've got two cucumbers so far and only one plant (of 3) looks like ever fruiting. I got a few sweet corn but I think i'm down to the last one and some I picked too late. It takes too much space and water to be worth it. No fruit set on the peach tree at all this year which was a bummer weather was wrong at that time of year.

And I somehow completely killed my mandarine tree ;-(. My best guess is a tiny bit of stray glyphosate killed it but i'm not sure how plausible it is for that to kill a whole tree - either that or something stressed it to death. Had nice juicy and tart fruit too. Maybe i'll drop in a valencia to replace it, or leave it bare for a while. I also killed the rosemary I had in a pot - I got sick of just keeping it alive watering it constantly and it was root-bound anyway so it always grew poorly. I had one come up by seed in another pot though so all is not lost (i had a couple come up in the paving too, for such a tough plant it seems easy to kill). About the only things doing any good has been the annual herbs so i've been using handfulls of mint/basil/lemon basil/parsely with pretty much every meal (particularly sandwiches, noodles/soups/pasta or curries). Sage is going well too.

It's been too hot to do much interesting cooking although I baked a cake a few days ago to try to use up some stewed apricots I froze when I had a tree (before that one died - about 5 years ago!). A bit heavy but passable. It's been too hot to brew beer. I did a couple of batches last month but due to the high temperature at the time they're not going to be beating any personal bests (sat around 28-30 most of the time which fucks up the flavour). Still, I might go put some in the fridge for something to do later today.

I haven't turned on my parallella for a few weeks. I thought I was going to get into the FFT hacking there for a bit before I went off on a tangent on the GA + OD stuff but I can't muster enthusiasm for any coding right now. Since i've been playing games a bit lately I also thought about some game stuff, dusk, or a shoot-em-up; but that's as far as that went. My laptop is a bit of a pain to code on because it needs more memory and the fan rumbles loudly sometimes (thinkpad fault) and the hand rest gets hot, so i'm keeping an eye out for a small (micro/mini itx?) machine with one of the just released HSA-capable APUs but there isn't much of them around here yet.

I guess I just need a break anyway so I shouldn't be too hard on myself. But I think being tired all the time from sleep apnoea has to be a contributing factor. And unfortunately there's not much you can do about it. Losing weight or just exercising is supposed to help but I had it even when i was a skinny-arsed cunt back in uni riding every day and it's hard to lose weight when the sleepiness fucks with your appetite and ability to exercise. Makes one a bit fumbly and accident prone at it's worst too. Even something purportedly relaxing such as sitting under a tree on a warm day drinking a cold beer and reading a book can become a bit of a struggle and ends up being not particularly enjoyable.