Inconvenienced Electrons

I am just posting this in order to preempt anyone being concerned. I am optimizing my SQL server settings and so the server may be down over the next few days. Probably the WordPress engine will display some kind of ugly error message. Chill.

Why is it that I always: have work to do, have started, aren’t lying, have a deadline which as some portion due within sixty (60) minutes of now(), I ‘really’ have to do it, and can’t get out of it.

Well, today’s d&d campaign went well. With the one exception being that it was just Ben, Jake, and me. Next session will feature an epic confrontation with the evil mistress responsible for the all of our troubles up to this point. It will take place Friday, November 16, 2007 18:30 CST @ Ben’s place (and over skype.) Please have your character sheets ready.

Just a quick reminder, the next session in Jake’s D&D campaign will be this Friday, November 9, 2007 18:30 CST. For anyone who has lost the link, the whiteboard that we are using can be accessed here: http://vyew.com/room#/080610/DnD_at_AM We will be meeting over Skype. I finally got a real Plantronics headset so I should sound much clearer and drop less often.

I have finished setting up a new Mac Mini. I have dubed this new server Lunar Eclipse since it is replacing my old G3 Tower Server named Moonlight. Frequent visitors to my site should see that it is *much* more responsive now.

In addition to moving to newer hardware, I also upgraded from Tiger to Leopard. I am still setting up some of the more advanced Leopard features like Time Machine Serving.

My server and network core is now battery backed up. In the event of a power failure I could remain online for up to 66 minutes (1.1 hrs). I was surprised and impressed that the Apple Tiger server recognizes my UPS and the interface in the preference pane is very similar to my PowerBook’s battery interface. No third-party software required. I am pleased that the cheapest New Egg shipping option was so speedy.

Another one of my UPS’s failed. I ordered a new CyberPower 1500VA UPS. They do seem to get a fair bit of use out here. And out of the three low end UPS that I used to have, two have failed in the last 6 months. So now I am trying for a medium grade in the hopes that it will last a little longer.

I just got this invite to join the new AggieSat program. I worked on BalloonSat and had a lot of fun (while working very hard.) I encourage anyone with some free time (and in College Station) to show up and see if you are interested. I have attached the original email below:

From: Richard Margulieux <spacetrvler@gmail.com>
Date: Sep 3, 2007 6:36 AM
Subject: AggieSat Lab is recruitting

For all students interested in space,

AggieSat Lab is looking for new members.  AggieSat Lab is a student run organization whose main goals are to design, build, and fly student satellites and help it’s members develop academically and professionally.  AggieSat Lab is currently in the design phase for AggieSat3 and is beginning the build phase for AggieSat2. 

AggieSat2 is the first satellite in a campaign of four missions hosted by Johnson Space Center and in conjunction with students at t.u. with the end goal of Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking. AggieSat2 is scheduled to fly on the Space Shuttle Endeavor on STS-127 in early 2009.

AggieSat3 is a student satellite being developed for the Air Force Research Lab’s Nanosat 5 competition.  The Nanosat 5 competition is a 2 year program with 11 competitors from universities around the nation. AggieSat3 will be testing technologies for Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking.

If you are interested, there are 3 orientation meetings in the coming weeks. 

-Tuesday, Sept. 4th at 700PM
-Thursday, Sept. 6th at 700PM
-Monday, Sept. 10th at 700PM
All meetings are in H.B. Bright Building RM124.

Due to International Trade and Arms Regulations (ITAR) only US and “good list” citizens may be members.

If you are unable to attend a meeting, and are still interested you may contact us

Richard Margulieux
rmargulieux@gmail.com

John Graves- AggieSat3 Program Manager
johntgraves@gmail.com

Devin Stancliffe- AggieSat2 Program Manager
dastancliffe@gmail.com

–
Richard Margulieux
AggieSat Lab
www.aggiesat.org
Lab Phone (979) 845-2826

I just installed Pidgin. Previously I was using an old version of the official AIM client. I was using AIM’s secure certificate mechanism. Unfortunately no one I know still uses the official aim client and so the cryptography was never used. It used to work very well. I became a certificate authority to all my friends. Then I issued everyone a key and it was great.

Now that all my friends are using Pidgin, GAim, or other smaller/older aim clients. I chose Pidgin because it is still undergoing active development but it is still trusted and mature. I installed the Pidgin-encrypt and off-the-record. Pidgin-encrypt provides nice cryptography. Off-the-record isn’t as secure, but it doesn’t stop message injection. I have both because some friends have one or the other.