Obligatory Windows Rant #0
As I reboot my WIndows machine, I had a sudden feeling of rage, so I wanted to quickly write a rant about WIndows, one in a series hopefully. I just cannot conceive how people can use WIndows to do any serious work. I want to do music production, and I have begun asking myself more and more why I don’t just find a Linux-based solution. Eventually, it will happen, but right now I have some software on WIndows, including Quick WIndows Sequencer, which I like. I also use vsthost, against which I have fought several valient battles to various ends. It does the job when it works. I use midiyoke to connect the two.
Oh look what happened. It didn’t even reboot, because it had to wait for me to “click” “End Now” to end a program. Of course I want you to end the program, I wouldn’t have told you to reboot otherwise. Duh! Stupid! Getting WIndows to do anything serious seems oxymoronic to me, and I shudder at the knowledge that many top government computers use it, as well as computers to control nuclear reactors. Good Goddess protect us!
I just entered my administrator password. Speaking of, remember the lesson that Gary McKinnon taught us. Always have an administrator password! Just go to the control panel via Start | Settings or “My Computer”, then user Accounts, then find the administrator account, probably the only one, and assign a password. You will then have to enter the password when you boot, plus it makes it a tiny bit harder for hackers to break in. It at least adds a locked screen door, so to speak. That proved enough for many top military computers, however. Sometimes the little simple things make all the difference. And I don’t care that the system has started in selective startup, and I sware that I check the stupid box every time not to run the system configuration utility, but to little avail it seems.
Well well, it seems that VSThost has loaded, so now I will TRY to play an electric piano. I have a song to write which uses a sample from George Carlin. Now I will never have the opportunity to present it to him, but I can still make it. I wrote it during a heinous time, when I let two people who consider me their best friend live in my house, and …. well I’ll have more to say about that at the right time. WIndows sucks!
Windows makes easy tasks difficult, and difficult tasks impossible.
MiKrosoft = Mind Kontrol
How to Break the Calcified Matrix Surrounding your Pineal Gland
I wrote this important article for breakthematrix, hence the reference. It describes a wodnerful meditation technique, one which will get you through anything – a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.
How to Break the Calcified Matrix Surrounding your Pineal Gland
Breaking the Matrix starts within. At birth, we reside in an ecstatic state. Our breath and energy flow freely. As we age, we forget to treat life as a game with self-modifying rules, and our breathing patterns and energy flow reflect this. The following simple meditation reawakens and activates the third eye, restarting the generation of Elixir, a psychoactive superconductive endogenous fluid.
For this to work, you have to meditate daily, returning again and again. Content yourself with the results you get, allowing them to accumulate. To receive light, you must first become receptive. The first three steps prepare you, and the last two steps describe the meditation. After the Tricycle it comes always the bicycle.
1. Sit in a posture that allows you to have a straight spine. The half or full lotus positions work well if you can do them. You could also sit on the edge of a chair, or prop up some firm pillows. I like to put my hands in the classic Zen mudra, with upturned palms, overlapping fingers, and thumbs touching, as if holding an egg.
2. Relax your gaze. Allow the eyelids to lower, but not close. This relaxes the heart so that it may fully open. It also keeps the third eye from freaking out.
3. Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, directly behind your top front teeth, as if saying the letter L. This closes the front energy channel. The main energy circuit of the body runs up the spine, over the head, and down the front. These three steps connect the circuit optimally, so that energy and breath may flow most freely.
4. Throughout the meditation, keep your breath silent. This soothes the heart and helps quiet the mind. If you notice things getting choppy, it probably means you’ve stopped paying attention to your breath. Count the breaths to give your left brain something to do. Start again if you go astray. Don’t think of it as a contest to see how high you can get, instead think of it as just a fun little device to keep your chattering brain occupied. Once you’ve gotten into the meditation, the counting will effortlessly fall away.
5. Place your awareness on the space between your eyes, and keep it focused there. The combination of placing your awareness within this spot, combined with keeping your breath silent, defines the meditation.
As said, the third eye or pineal gland resides here. The third eye generates awareness. When you look and look hard at something, you activate your third eye. Placing your awareness in this spot generates a positive feedback loop – a feedforward loop if you like. This causes the awareness to build on itself, and this restarts the system.
Over time, you will begin generating the True Light. The matrix of stubborn inactivity will gradually dissolve. Happy times! Great success!
A Question of Liability
I posted this after the event in question. I repost it now because of the referenced bout with godaddy, who I can now tell to SUCK IT!
Recently, Wesley Snipes received a three-year jail sentence for not filing a tax return. The accountants who he hired received stiffer sentences, but the question remains: should Wesley Snipes go to jail based on the bad advice of others? This brings up the issue of liability.
It reminds me of a recent bout I had with GoDaddy technical support. You see, I have to use a screen-reader, so javascript mouseclick events tend to not work as optimally. In this case, I refer to activating various functions within the GoDaddy control panels menu, a rather essential feature. I told the well-meaning tech this, and he first asked if I could get a sighted person to help me with my account. It royally angers me when people suggest this, as if a blind person has an army of sighted servants at all times. It doesn’t work that way, just so you know. He then told me that he could not alter my account, for “liability reasons.” This took the cake for me, as I just spent a respectable amount of money transferring my domains to them.
This started me thinking about liability. If I have to get a friend to help me modify my account, and his machine gets compromised without his knowledge, and some cracker gets my administrator information and uses it for ill, whom would I hold liable? Some would say the friend, or ultimately the cracker, but a closer look reveals the true culprit: GoDaddy, for not making reasonable changes to my account, and forcing me to go to a potentially insecure third party in the first place.
To apply this situation to the Wesley Snipes case, GoDaddy represents the accountants, my hypothetical friend represents Wesley Snipes, the cracker represents the IRS, and I represent the universe, randomly doling out self-modifications as I see fit. Consider this, and the answer to the Snipes’ case will become clear. Speaking of, while writing the first draft of this article, Windows abruptly closed for no discernible reason, and I lost the article. What does GoDaddy know?
Epilogue: When I finally canceled godaddy, they told me I had to do it online. I mentioned my situation, why I canceled, and they said, “Oh, well we can get someone to help you with that.” They wouldn’t go out of their way to help me modify my account when I needed, but they would go out of their way to help me cancel it. To me, this smacks of bad management. Shame on them!
A Pennsylvania Voter’s Experience
A Pennsylvania Voter’s Experience
Democratic Arrogance Combined with Republican Bias and the SNAFU
Principle Causes Unhappy Voter
By Austin Seraphin
I began supporting Ron Paul as soon as he announced his campaign last
year. Pennsylvania has had some remarkable efforts to get out Ron
Paul’s name, and a general good feeling of expectation prevailed as we
neared voting day. I could hardly wait to go cast my vote for Ron Paul.
I became blind at birth, so my Mom offered to go with me to Borough
Hall, and to help fill out my ballot. The weather has finally become
vernal, so we quickly walked there. As we approached, I heard
good-natured talking. “Good,” I thought, “some friendly activity around
the voting booth.”
“Hello! Would you care for a sample democratic ballot?” a man asked
with forced cheer. Now that I replay his voice in my head, I recognize
it as belonging to the same guy who accosted me in my home at 10:50
this last Saturday, campaigning for Obama. “I’m voting republican.” I
informed him. “Well, I don’t really see that there’s a contest for the
nomination there, but if you really want to vote republican, you can.”
he chortled. I wanted to strangle him with my belt. By this point we
stood at the democratic table. “That’s the Other table.” he said,
saying the word “Other” contemptuously. We walked over to the “Other
table” only to find it completely unmanned. On the table, we saw
“Sample Republican Ballots,” created by the Delaware County republican
chapter. Mom picked one up and looked at it. “I hate to tell you this,
but it doesn’t even have Ron Paul on it.” I went nuts. Not only did it
not have Ron Paul’s name, it also did not have any of his three regular
and three alternate delegates. I smelled a rat….. a big hairy
mainstream Delaware County republican rat!
Mom suggested we go inside, and see what we find. I felt so angry, and
wanted to confront someone right there, but going inside sounded like a
good idea. We went into the main voting area, and there we saw the real
ballots, with Ron Paul’s name prominently on top, followed by John
McCain, and….mike Huckabee? Didn’t the Huckster drop out? Apparently,
he actually suspended his campaign. What a dork. I happily told my mom
the names of the delegates and alternates, and she filled out the
ballot. She knew who I wanted to vote for as president, of course.
We walked over to the table to submit the ballot. The lady asked me for
some ID, which I presented. She then consulted her book. “Ok, Austin
Seraphin, democrat.” My heart dropped through the floor. “Don’t you
mean Austin Seraphin, republican?” “It says democrat here.” The little
vision I do have began to take on a red hue. She called the courthouse.
They claimed to have my original registration, listing me as a
democrat.
At this point I need to tell a quick aside. When I turned eighteen in
1995, my Mom really wanted me to register to vote. I originally wanted
to register as an independent. My mom explained that when she and my
Dad first moved to our area, they couldn’t find a mortgage. “It’s too
bad you’re not a registered republican,” said their realtor, “or I
could get you a mortgage.” She suggested I register as a republican in
case I ever wanted to buy a house in this area. This sounded like
pretty good logic. Because of that amazing story, I definitely remember
that I absolutely registered as a republican, way back when I turned
eighteen. I don’t know what went wrong. I felt disgusted.
“Well, you could always vote democrat.” the lady cheerfully proclaimed.
“I don’t WANT to vote democrat.” I said between my teeth. They gave me
a provisional ballot, but admitted that it probably wouldn’t get
counted. “Should I include a long letter, explaining my position?”
“Uhh, I included a short note, explaining your position.” They also
gave me a change of party card, not that it would do any good then. I
felt like such a duface: all those times they had registration cards at
meetups, people offered to fill one out for me, and I just said that I
didn’t need to, over and over again.
I felt so enraged, and did fill out the ballot, but doubt it will
matter. In my bitterness, I wondered if maybe these people deserve
their fate, but the nice weather caused me to abandon that thought. I
also reminded myself that Pennsylvania uses electronic voting machines,
so how does anyone know their vote got counted? I tried not to dwell on
such negativity as I left the stupid voting area. We concluded our trip
to Borough hall with my mom ordering a bag of mulch delivered to her
house. This seemed fitting. Never assume anything, especially when
dealing with bureaucracies.
An Open Letter to Tori Amos
I will repost a series of articles I wrote for my old blog, as well as on my blog at breakthematrix. I will start with this classic. Unfortunately, toribootlegs.com no longer exists, but my complaints remain justified.
An Open Letter to Tori Amos
From Austin Seraphin – au@sunbeem.net
Dear Tori,
I write this letter to express both my joy and concern. Your music brings me inspiration and solace. As someone blind since birth, I feel overjoyed that you have begun offering your concerts for digital download. As an audiophile, I feel overjoyed that you offer them in FLAC, giving a CD-quality file with lossless compression. My concern began as soon as I saw that you used an exclusively Java-based download manager. Doing this makes your site inaccessible to the blind, and limits your customer base in general. I would like to suggest that you offer an accessible version of your site.
I first discovered your music as I began college, in 1995, shortly before the release of Boys for Pele. Your emotional insight helped me get through that turbulent time. More recently, I rediscovered you after hearing American Doll Posse. I feel a renewed connection to your music and to a part of myself. I really wanted to attend the Philadelphia concert, but only found out about it two days beforehand, making it impossible – or at the least, highly improbable. When I read that you would begin releasing your concerts for download, I could hardly believe my apparent good fortune. When I saw that you offer them in FLAC, I felt like Goddess herself had blessed me. Your music has such breadth and depth. Offering your concerts in CD quality shows that you know and care about your audio and your fans.
As said, I became blind at birth. I started using computers around age seven, and quickly began to teach myself to program. I use a speech synthesizer to access my computers. It reads everything on the screen, and everything I type. This describes the ideal situation, such as under a text-based environment like Linux. Windows however presents a challenge to a blind user, since the crappy screen readers made for Windows can only do their best to interpret a visual environment. Think of the difficulty, confusion, and rage you have likely felt when trying to use windows. Now imagine doing that on a monochrome monitor with a shaky vertical hold and which goes blank from time to time for no reason forcing you to reset the computer. That approximates how it feels for a blind person to use Windows.
As though Windows did not present enough of a barrier, Java adds a whole other layer of complexity. Web sites can do things in real time either by running a program on the web server itself, or by running a program on the user’s computer. Running programs on the server does not inconvenience the user at all – they don’t even know it happens. Running a program on the user’s computer presents many issues not just to the blind, but also to the sighted. Something like Java actually runs a virtual machine – a program that emulates a separate computer. To the blind, it means that the screen reader has great difficulty, since the Java machine runs outside of Windows in a sense. Java also presents security risks which obviously effect both the blind and the sighted. Many users have Java disabled, and refuse to use sites which employ it extensively. Additionally, both the blind and the sighted feel confused while using such sites. It just effects the blind more rapidly and obviously, like many things in life. Either
way you look at it, you have limited your customer base, and I highly doubt anyone took the time to explain this to you. “Yes ma’am, they can download your tours. Now go announce it to the world!”
I tried going through the proper chain of command, in other words a single email address. I explained my problem and they wrote back a form letter. I replied again and they responded and apologized. They promised they would help me get the FLAC version of the Philadelphia concert. They did not know what to do and asked if I had any suggestions. Since they manage a download server, I figured they could just put the file on a private server for me to download, then remove it. They couldn’t do that, and suggested I get someone sighted to do it. This kind of suggestion always pisses me off! Blind people do not have an army of sighted people, waiting on them hand and foot. Additionally, I knew that the solution did not actually solve the underlying problem. I mentioned I have a server to which they could upload it. They agreed, and I created them a private account with a private directory. It felt wild to see the user “tori” logged in. I checked the directory during the transfer, and to my shock, saw the mp3
version of the concert. I quickly sent them email, since I know you have the excellent policy of offering the mp3 version until the FLAC version becomes available. I promptly received the following reply:
Hi Austin,
We will be unable to do the FLAC as an FTP upload from the support offices.
Just too large of a file.
Considering the amount of effort we are putting into getting you your
concert, we are hoping you will enjoy the MP3 version instead.
Support
I could hardly believe it. Frankly, this explanation seemed ludicrous. I also did not care for the brusque tone. They run a download manager! If I ran this thing, I could have done what I requested in a matter of minutes. Two hours later, I received the final email, the one that did it, the insult to the injury:
Hi Austin,
This upload has completed. Sorry the system has been giving you so much
trouble, but we wanted to make sure you got the show you purchased. Enjoy!
Support
So there you have it. I couldn’t get anywhere. As a Philadelphian, I knew I had to do something real, as you so elegantly and humorously stated during the concert. As a Discordian, I believe that a Crazy Woman runs the material universe, and I knew that change would have to come from the top down – from a crazy woman! As a programmer, I knew what I had to do. I published this letter on my blog, in hopes that readers will use the social bookmarks to bring it to your attention. I hope it finds you. I also hope you consider instituting some changes to your download manager. They could even keep their fancy Java-based solution, I simply request a solution accessible to the blind, as well as to the security-conscious sighted. I know you will do the right thing. Kick some ass! Contact me if you need some help.