No sound Epox motherboard Ubuntu 8.10

I've been fooling around with my Linux box trying to get the sound working. As a practical matter it's basically a waste of time. I could go down to the local computer shop, buy a new sound board for $10, plug it in and it would probably work. But learning the in's and out's of Linux might be a useful skill, so I have taken to investigating the problem, and this means being assimilated into the Linux culture. If I keep it down to an hour or two a day, it is not too bad. I learn a little bit, I make a little progress, I get disgusted with the convoluted way this, that or the other was implemented. Then I stop for the day, and let the disgust dissipate, and the next day I am ready to try a little more. What I wouldn't give for a design document that explains how this all supposed to work. There probably is one somewhere in the thousands (3,715 to be exact) of files in the ASLA subsystem, but I'll be durned if I know where it is. Meanwhile I am sorting it out by stepping through the code for aplay with gdb (Gnu Debugger).

Most of the code looks like it is involved in setting things up, opening the file, figuring out what format it is, what device is going to get this data. Then at some point it flips a switch, something magic happens, and sound comes out of the speakers. Or, as in my case, not.

Sugar, Speed & Fat

Glucose Metabolism

I have a new theory on why so many people in America are so fat. It's the complexity of modern life, combined with the pressure cooker environment of working for living, and then you add in the brains' glucose requirement and the ready availability of high-fructose corn syrup and you have all the ingredients for a massive weight increase. People enjoy being smart, they like figuring things out on their own. Thinking requires brain power, and the brain runs on sugar. Often when I am working on a difficult problem I will get hungry and there is nothing better than donuts. Mmmm, nice big fat sugary donuts. And since I only walk a mile or two each day instead of the five I should be walking, I have gained weight. I stopped gaining weight some years ago and have been stuck at my current 235 pounds for I don't know how long. Ten years, maybe? More? Whatever.

Because of the culture we live in, people's brains are working overtime creating a demand for sugar. Eating and drinking provides some relief, but often more food is taken in to satisfy the disproportionate demands of the brain than the body really needs, and that extra food goes to fat.

Some people like speed. I think most people would like it if they tried it. Fortunately, most people know enough to refrain from taking something that could potentially ruin their lives. Interesting thing about speed freaks is they like to work. Go, go, go, get things done, don't stop to eat, too much to do. I suspect speed somehow is freeing up glucose to feed the brain, or maybe it's an indirect effect that just raises the demand for sugar and the some other autonomic system gets triggered to boost the blood sugar level.

In any case, both sugar and speed are feeding the same urge to get or keep the brain revved up. Even if you aren't doing anything, it gets the brain going which can keep you entertained all by itself. After all, can't have people being bored. Idle hands are the devil's workshop and all that.

Update February 2016. Replaced missing picture of 'pavement cells' from Korea with Glucose Metabolism from Wikipedia. Why did I have a picture of pavement cells (assuming that's what it was, that's what the file name said)? Pavement cells are only found in plants, and plants don't get fat, do they? Maybe it was just a cool picture. Too bad it vanished.

Math

From Iowa. It took four attempts to get a decent copy of this image into this blog. Uploading it from my disk caused it to be shrunk. Editing the html to restore it's size made it fuzzy. Used MSPAINT to change it from JPEG to PNG format, didn't help. Uploaded it to Picasa and then tried to embed it. Came out tiny. Got the url from Picasa and used Blogger's insert image function and that seemed to work. It is still not as big as the original, but at least it's not fuzzy.

Update November 2016 replaced missing picture.

Idiot Sightings

• We had to have the garage door repaired. The Sears repairman told us that one of our problems was that we did not have a 'large' enough motor on the opener. I thought for a minute, and said that we had the largest one Sears made at that time, a 1/2 horsepower. He shook his head and said, 'Lady, you need a 1/4 horsepower.' I responded that 1/2 was larger than 1/4. He said, 'NO, it's not.' Four is larger than two..'
  
  We haven't used Sears repair since.


• My daughter and I went through the McDonald's take-out window and I gave the clerk a $5 bill. Our total was $4.25, so I also handed her a quarter. She said, 'you gave me too much money.' I said, 'Yes I know, but this way you can just give me a dollar bill back.' She sighed and went to get the manager who asked me to repeat my request. I did so, and he handed me back the quarter, and said we are sorry but they could not do that kind of thing' The clerk then proceeded to give me back $1 and 75 cents in change.
  
  Do not confuse the clerks at McD's.


• I live in a semi rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the DEER CROSSING sign on our road. The reason: 'Too many deer are being hit by cars out here! I don't think this is a good place for them to be crossing anymore.'
  
  From Kingman , KS ..


• My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco. She asked the person behind the counter for 'minimal lettuce..' He said he was sorry, but they only had iceburg lettuce.
  
  From Kansas City


• I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked , 'Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?' To which I replied, 'If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?' He smiled knowingly and nodded, 'That's why we ask.'
  
  Happened in Birmingham , Ala.


• The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it's safe to cross the street. I was crossing with an intellectually challenged coworker of mine. She asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signals blind people when the light is red. Appalled, she responded, 'What on earth are blind people doing driving?!'
  
  She was a probation officer in Wichita , KS


• At a good-bye luncheon for an old and dear coworker. She was leaving the company due to 'downsizing.' Our manager commented cheerfully, 'This is fun We should do this more often.' Not another word was spoken. We all just looked at each other with that deer-in-the-headlights stare.
  
  This was a lunch at Texas Instruments.


• I work with an individual who plugged her power strip back into itself and for the sake of her life, couldn't understand why her system would not turn on.
  
  A deputy with the Dallas County Sheriffs office, no less.


• When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it.. We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the drivers side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. 'Hey,' I announced to the technician, 'it's open!' His reply, 'I know. I already got that side.'
  
  This was at the Ford dealership in Canton, Mississippi

STAY ALERT!

They walk and drive among us... And the scary part is that they VOTE and they REPRODUCE


Via la femme.

Hot Bread

My wife brought home a loaf of bread, hot from the oven, from the bakery yesterday. They gave it to her in a paper bag, and also gave her a plastic bag to store in it AFTER it had cooled off. Well, evidently we didn't wait long enough because this morning I went to get a couple of slices and they were all stuck together. I pulled out the entire loaf and resliced it, which made a real mess because the slices had gotten warped and it was not a straight anymore. But the bread still tasted great.

Too smart for my own good

Or, if you're so smart, why ain't you rich? I noticed a little picture on Stu Savory's blog that announced that the reading level for his blog was "College (Undergraduate)". I thought cool, so I tried it myself. It came back genius. At first I thought that's pretty cool, someone (more like something) acknowledges how smart I am. But then I thought maybe that's not so good. Only geniuses can understand what I right? Not too many of them around, might explain why I have so few readers. But then I got to wondering about what this evaluation was based on. The default page of my blog? All the blog entries? The number of big words I use? What?

I try to be clear "to even the meanest understanding"*, but an evaluation like that indicates that perhaps I am not succeeding. I know I am not the greatest writer. I can put together sentences that can convey some meaning, but I don't think anyone will ever mistake it for elegance. Numbers are more my cup of tea. I think all my kids write better than I do.

I saw the word cloud widget on someone else's blog and I thought it was pretty cool, so I thought I would add it to my blog. I did and one word stood out in bold in the middle of the cloud: REALLY. I think my high school English teacher would have grimaced at that. Shoot, I grimaced. I didn't post the word cloud widget on my blog.

And why aren't I rich? Well, relative to some people I am, but then any American is rich compared to most of the third world. But the real answer is that money is just not that interesting. I suspect I could make a living day trading (buying and selling stocks). The trick would be to find some stocks that are actively traded, but don't really change much. They might go up or down a few points but basically they stay in the same range. Of course it takes nerves, especially if you using very much of your capital. But it's work, you have to stay on top of it constantly, and you really have no control over what's going on. You are like a seagull following a ship. You know there are going to be scraps coming over the side, all you have to do is hang out and wait for them. I'm not very good at waiting, I get bored. I want something to do.

*this phrase comes from reading too much Patrick O'Brian.

Update December 2016 replaced missing image. Old readability test has vanished, new one claims this blog has a 5th grade reading level, but the results are liable to be skewed by the large number of navigation items in the right hand column.

Police dash cam of Meteor over Edmonton, Canada

via Robot Wisdom auxilary.