Here are some of the ones I found useful.

map | http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=es&q=%s
gl | http://www.google.com/search?q=%s&btnI=I’m+Feeling+Lucky

That’s it so far.

Update: I don’t know when i’ll use it but i know I use it quite a bit when i watch foreign films. It allows for easy translation. You can do more

en2fr | http://translate.google.com/?hl=en&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=en&tl=fr&q=%s
en2es | http://translate.google.com/?hl=en&layout=1&eotf=1&sl=en&tl=es&q=%s

There is even this whole community of people who seek out such music and that makes me happy because I’m not a freak. AdTunes and @adtunes are the people who find the music and then share it with the rest of us. I’ve even contributed a few times. Once erroneously in a bad way too.

Here is a list of all my “adtunes”. Yes I made a genre called “adtunes” in iTunes so that I could have them when I felt the need. It’s not wrong. It’s just right! It also mentions the commercial in which I heard the song.

Vermillion    The Album Leaf    One day I’ll be on time    Adtunes (HUMMER H2)
Why Should I Cry?    Avia    Zen 3    Adtunes (Lee Jeans)
Montserrat    Bajo Fondo Tango Club    Cafe Mundo    Adtunes (don’t remember)
The Model    Balanescu Quartet    Possessed    Adtunes (Similar to the Mercedes commercial at the bottom of the list. I was wrong but it stayed on the list)
Pocket Calculator    Balanescu Quartet    Possessed    Adtunes (Same story as the previous one)
Green Onions    Booker T & The MG’s    Green Onions    Adtunes (very popular song but this was in another car commercial)
Hyped Up Plus Tax    Dabrye    One/Three    Adtunes (VW I think)
Happiness Runs    Donovan    Barabajagal    Adtunes (Some sort of cereal. Like froot loops maybe)
Ooh La La    Faces    Ooh La La    Adtunes (VW)
On Board    Friendly Fires        Adtunes (Wii Fit)
The Writz    Gift of Gab    Fourth Dimensional Rocketships    Adtunes (Mitsubishi. SUV of some kind)
Strict Machine    Goldfrapp    Black Cherry-ADVANCE    Adtunes (LG Chocolate)
Hey Mrs    I Monster    Hey Mrs    Adtunes (Absolut Vodka)
The Way I am    Ingrid Michaelson    Boys and Girls    Adtunes (Old Navy Sweaters)
One Million Miles Away    J Ralph    The Illusionary movements of Geraldine and Nazu    Adtunes (VW Van like automobile commercial)
Molly’s Chambers    Kings of Leon    Kings of Leon EP    Adtunes (VW Jetta)
Colors    Kira Willey    Dance for the Sun    Adtunes (duh Dell laptops)
The Honey Tree     The Mostar Diving Club        Adtunes (Honda Insight)
Otto’s Journey    Mylo    Destroy Rock & Roll    Adtunes (Kraft Dressing)
Horndog    Overseer    Wreckage    Adtunes (Mitsubishi again)
Struggle    Ringside    Ringside    Adtunes (Pontiac?)
Clubbed to Death    Rob Dougan    The Matrix Soundtrack    Adtunes (Matrix commercial and many others)
Remind Me    Royksopp    Melody A.M.    Adtunes (Geico caveman)
Battle without Honor or Humanity    Tomoyasu Hotei    Kill Bill Vol 1.    Adtunes (Blade Trinity i think)
New Soul    Yael Naim    Yael Naim    Adtunes (Macbook Air)
Bo Mambo    Yma Sumac        Adtunes (Kahlua?)
Kodo [Inside the Sun Remix]    Yoshida Brothers    Best of Yoshida Brothers – Tsugaru Shamisen    Adtunes (Nintendo Wii of course)
Mercedes_M_Class_Commercial            Adtunes (The original commercial from Mercedes Benz for the M Class)

That last one is only 30 seconds but I think I’ve played it probably like 3000 times. Sick isn’t it?

Don’t judge me! You don’t know me!

I don’t understand why people put up with eggs that are over boiled. If you watch people, you’ll see that the smell (in the absence of eggs) results in a swift move to cover the nose and breath safe air.

How can people screw it up? I’ll accept absentmindedness as an excuse but come on man! You’ve got eggs boiling!

I only recently took this up as a challenge as Peggy, my lovely girlfriend, manages to over boil eggs all the time and frankly it’s annoying.

First egg!

Here is an example of a perfect egg. Note how the yellow has no GREEN or BLUE! It’s because I didn’t overcook it and when I was done cooking it, I shocked it in ice water to stop the cooking. It also helps a bit with peeling them.

You can also make this happen in your kitchen as I have documented all the instructions you will ever need. The altitude of your location will have some effect on this process but I’ll rely on your intelligence to guide you through it.

1. Select the number of eggs you wish to boil. I usually go with 3 or 4. I’ve seen people do them in batches of 12 or more. I don’t want to put all my eggs in that basket so to speak.
2. Select a pot in which you will be boiling the eggs you selected in Step 1. Select another pot where you can setup an ice bath (ice + water)
3. Place eggs in said pot.
4. Add water to said pot until eggs are fully submersed. Water temperature can be room or a bit cooler.
5. Place pot on source of immense heat and set a timer for 10-12 minutes. I set it for 10.
6. Here is the crucial part. In 10 minutes, when the timer goes off, go back to the pot and check on it.
7. If it’s about to begin boiling, then let it continue for about 1-2 minutes. I stick to 1 minute exactly.
8. Turn off the heat and let cool for 1-2 minutes. I stick to 1 minute again.
9. Pull out one egg, place it in the ice bath and let it stop cooking.
10. Peel it to see if it’s fully cooked. If so, repeat step 9 for every egg you have placed in the pot.

Once you’re done shocking all the boiled eggs, you can store them in the fridge for days to weeks. Mine don’t last that long.

It’s a fairly long process but it’s not difficult. All the hard work is based on timing. If you time it right, you will always get perfectly boiled eggs and believe me that a perfectly boiled egg is actually quite delicious.

My favorite way to eat them is to devil them the poor mans way.

Sprinke of salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper or chili powder (maybe some cumin)

Hope you get to enjoy them. Please let me know if you find something better, easier and reliable.

To be certain that we would be able to have someone go in and take a look at the box, I tried to call the bank directly. Believe it or not, there is NO way for me to call someone at that bank directly. I have to call some bullshit TCF bank call center that then takes a message and will have someone call me within 24 to 48 hours. So I have to wait two days for a call back? I can’t get transferred to a personal banker. I can’t even get transferred to someone who manages the safe deposit boxes. It’s fucking brilliant!

You’re a fucking bank! I’ve been there and from the looks of it, you’re not going to last very long TCF! There was no one there except me, two tellers, and a security guard because the bank managers are gone too!

The person who picks up the phone at the call center (no, it’s not in India) has absolutely no information about the kind of documents that I need.

Customer Service Rep: “You need to get a document from the state.”
Me: Fine, what is the document called?
Customer Service Rep: Oh I don’t know. It’s from the state.
Me: Where can I go to get this document? Do you maybe know a website or a number I can call?
Customer Service Rep: No you have to contact the state.

Well thanks a fucking bunch for the shit ton of information lady. If you don’t have the fucking information then how about you get off your ass and get a hold of someone who definitively has the answer. Believe me, you won’t look like a fool for asking a proper question.

What world do we live in where it’s becoming more and more common to simply drop the guy on the phone so you can fuck over the next caller?

We are a service based economy. We provide services mainly as opposed to manufacturing which went offshore to other nations that do it cheaper (and maybe better). If we’re giving up that last value then there is no hope for Change.

My point is simple. I’m not banking with anyone if I don’t have a direct line to the folks that took my money in the first place. If Chase can do it, any one can!

You should know that I only recommend doing this on systems that you ABSOLUTELY trust. If you have any doubt what so ever, do NOT continue.

I never thought i’d actually need this but i ended up actually providing it as a solution for securing database accounts.

To get this working on CentOS 5, I had to do the following

# yum install xinetd authd

authd is an xinetd service and authd is the RFC 1413 identd service

Out of the box, authd comes a little more secure than I expected. It’s not bad but it’s definitely a hindrance for other systems when they don’t know what to send.

/etc/xinetd.d/auth will come by default with

server_args = -t60 --xerror --os -E


This tells inetd to expect the ‘uname’ instead of ‘UNIX’ as the OS name. It’s great that it offers this option but I don’t know if all identd clients need to know what OS it is. You can leave it in if you like. Lastly, it tells identd to encrypt the username and then send it. I’m not sure how many identd clients can handle that.

I changed it to


server_args = -t60 --xerror


start or restart xinetd and you should see 113 listening.

I’m a lazy guy so I can’t be bothered to open more than one connection to a server. You can open two if you prefer.

I login and start tcpdump


tcpdump -i lo -nn "port 113" &
telnet localhost 113


It should show you distinctly what port two ports are involved in the connection you just made.

IP 127.0.0.1.SOURCE_PORT_NUM > 127.0.0.1.113

Next type in “SOURCE_PORT_NUM,113″ and hit Enter. Note that “SOURCE_PORT” here is a NUMBER not actually “SOURCE_PORT”

Amidst all the messy tcpdump output, you should see a line

SOURCE_PORT_NUM , 113 : USERID : UNIX :root

That shows you that identd is working properly. At least locally.

So if you ever find any of this useless knowledge helpful, let me know.

Unix/Linux admins are taught to hate identd because it’s pretty much the least secure protocol but I have to believe that it has a place in an environment that is completely trusted. You don’t have random users logging in or random accounts being created.

I think the overall advantage here is that you can use this to provide an additional layer of security across your trusted enterprise.

Little known fact about Good Eats is that the Pilot episode first aired in Chicago’s very own WTTW. I was very excited to hear that because I love PBS and I love WTTW. Food Network now owns the rights to the show since it was picked up in 1999. That’s unfortunate but at least it explains the one show I love on that network.

The only other thing that I enjoy on Food Network is Giada De Laurentiis’ giant smile.

I watched the show last night (because I gave up cable recently) and I was thoroughly entertained while being just a little miffed about the message that the Van Impes send across.

The premise of the show, hosted by Jack and his wife Rexella, is basically to spread bunk about the end of the world and a new world order. They use recent events and headlines that Jack then reinterprets with some bible babble to signify how that event will lead to the end of the world. Several times during the show, they peddle some DVD at you for a donation that will help bring light to all the confusion that has been happening.

Now the good part. I’m thoroughly entertained by this show but it bothers me to no end that people blindly push Jesus Christ as the lord, savior etc. Is the rest of the planet just doomed because we don’t believe in Jesus? Seems like it sucks to be a non-christian. Freedom of religion is ok so long as it’s Christian based.

Why not spread the message of God as opposed to the message of Jesus Christ?

Additionally, regardless of how clear your message is and how much you really want to save people, having your message on TV after 2 AM is just plain tacky.

Save people when they’re awake instead of copping out and doing it at night when bad TV is abundant.

Of course, I’ve also never been first to post anything.

That being said. I know that this is the one place where I will be First!