Mike Hicks

The Tick vs. The Tick

I was distracted and didn't look at my watch at midnight. I don't think it counted the leap—it's now off from my computer by one second. Apparently, my computer did it's leap second jump earlier in the evening, which is also rather disappointing:

Dec 31 19:08:13 3po ntpd[5675]: no servers reachable
Dec 31 19:19:30 3po ntpd[5675]: synchronized to 128.101.101.101, stratum 2
Dec 31 19:19:30 3po ntpd[5675]: time reset -1.000308 s
Dec 31 19:23:47 3po ntpd[5675]: synchronized to 128.101.101.101, stratum 2

I didn't think that was supposed to happen, but I guess the leap second actually occurred at midnight UTC rather than midnight local time. Of course, midnight UTC was at 18:00 local time, so I wonder why it took over an hour for the reset to happen...

Update: Aha! It's a bug (maybe).

Lettermanesque

Hmm. My favorite 2005 discs (which I actually purchased) were a bit heavy on the Brit-rock. In no particular order:

• Bloc Party: Silent Alarm
• Cloud Cult: Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus
• Sufjan Stevens: Illinois (though I prefer the extended title of Sufjan Stevens Invites You to Come on Feel the Illinoise!)
• Fischerspooner: Odyssey
• Kasabian: Kasabian
• Out Hud: Let Us Never Speak of It Again
• Fiona Apple: Extraordinary Machine
• Louis XIV: The Best Little Secrets Are Kept

Some notables produced in 2004 that I purchased in 2005:

• The Futureheads: The Futureheads
• Radio 4: Stealing of a Nation
• M83: Before the Dawn Heals Us

Terminate

My governor will suck the blood of your governor.

I finally got my new headphones yesterday, through a crazy route (with the DHL/USPS "alliance"):

• Dec 31, 2005 – Fernley, NV – SHIPPED
• Jan 02, 2006 – Fresno, CA – TRANSIT THROUGH SORT FACILITY.
• Jan 04, 2006 – Wilmington, OH – TRANSIT THROUGH SORT FACILITY.
• Jan 06, 2006 – St. Cloud, MN – ARRIVED AT DHL FACILITY.
• Jan 06, 2006 – St. Cloud, MN – SHIPMENT HAS ARRIVED AT A DHL FACILITY AND IS TRANSFERRING TO ITS FINAL DESTINATION.
• Jan 06, 2006 – Minneapolis, MN – TRANSIT THROUGH SORT FACILITY.
• Jan 09, 2006 – Plymouth, MN – ARRIVED AT USPS.
• Jan 10, 2006 – Minneapolis, MN – ATTEMPTED DELIVERY.

I Have a Dreamsicle

The Colbert Report was good tonight. So was the other night's episode of The Boondocks (though I don't think MLK would have used the word "niggas" even if he'd awoken from a coma after 30+ years).

Ride

It's still January (barely). It's been raining since sometime this afternoon. I was out in it for quite a while, mostly trying to find a place with a copier. Since Snyders moved to their temporary location, they've cut back hours (closing at 1 PM on Saturday, closed Sunday).

Ross Raihala at the Pioneer Press has an interesting article comparing 89.3 The Current, Drive 105, and Cities 97. Among the findings: Over a period of one afternoon drive-time hour for each of three days, 89.3 didn't play music by one artist more than once. Also, I'm not sure if this math is right, but apparently KCMP had about 7 minutes 30 seconds of non-music time per hour (DJ banter, promors, news), while Drive came it at around 13:15, and Cities 97 at almost 14 minutes.

Hmm. A moment ago I turned on Drive 105 for the first time in a while (since 89.3 was doing their weekly installment of Redefinition Radio), and caught Bloc Party's "Helicopter"—which was promptly described as a "Drive Exclusive". Sheeya right! That's a big reason I'm sick of commercial radio—everyone has to be "Number 1!" or "Today's Best Music!" or something else that is just total marketing bunk.

Anyway, on to other things. Last night, I set up a system for responding to SSH attacks using syslog-ng, SEC, and a small script I wrote up. I described my setup in an e-mail to TCLUG. I've gotten some responses, and it seems that most people have decided that different approaches suit their needs. I just set it up in a way that made the most sense to me.