Solid Block of Ise

Today I learned to respect LVM. LVM stands for Logical Volume Management and is a very powerful way of linking harddrives together in groups and treating them like one.

One of my main frustrations with LVM is that it’s very easy to add drives and extend a volume group, but it’s very difficult to remove drives from the same without somehow messing things up. Today I almost messed up enough to wipe my entire root-LVM on my main machine.

Had I not somehow (don’t ask me how, I’m fuzzy on the details) managed to restore it I would’ve lost my entire digital life. My pictures I’ve created, stuff I’ve written, my email - all the lovely cruft I’ve collected over the years in front of the computer.

So, note to self: next time read the goddamn instructions. Don’t jump to conclusions. Don’t read lame-ass howto’s that do stuff in the wrong order. Don’t do this while slow-headed after a big meal.

Last night before falling asleep I started thinking about how far things have come in computer storage, and how even though we’re working on alternative storage methods there’s still nothing that beats the old harddrive when it comes to bang for the buck.

I remember back in 1995 or thereabouts when I had bought my then new-computer. It was a Pentium 120 Mhz (if I remember right) and had a whopping 1.6 gigabyte harddrive. I remember partitioning it in three slices approximating some 520 megabytes or so, since the filesystem Windows 95 ran lost a lot of space with larger partitions. This was FAT16, which had a ludicrious cluster-size, and also had problems with large partitions since it was only 16-bit adressing. Thus, three partitions made sense.

I remember when Quantum (a company that has long since been swallowed by Seagate) introduced the Bigfoot-harddrives. The Bigfoot was obviously named, since it was a 5 1/4″ drive rather than the usual 3½” footprint of most computer harddrives. According to Wikipedia this was done for a variety of reasons.

The main rationale behind the design change was that the typical PC user already owns cases that made provision for a 5.25″ drive, and by using lower data densities and a larger physical size, Quantum was able to deliver the products at lower prices, thus more competitively.

Well, they were a funky bunch of drives and I haven’t seen anything similar since then. Today we have the standard format of 3½” drives, but they can store so much more. One of the drives in my computer is a 640GB Western Digital, and if I’d had heard back in ‘95 that drives would store such an amount of data I would’ve laughed myself silly.

And speaking of silly, here’s a photo of my history of USB flash drives:

There’s another excellent example of how rapid the evolution in computer products is. Farthest to the left is my first thumbdrive, a 128 Megabyte drive given to me as a christmaspresent by my father back in 2004 or sometime. I can’t remember. The two blue drives to the right of it are identical - they’re both 512 Megabyte units. The one missing the cap has a bent connector and the one with the cap was purchased to replace the damaged one. The grey one next to it is a one gigabyte unit, and it’s successor is the black one farthest to the right. That thing can hold 4 Gigabytes of stuff and costed less than any of the other ones.

Quite scary. Back in 1995 I had a hard time imagining what I would fill a 1.6 Gigabyte harddrive with and now I carry 2,5 times as much space in my pocket - and paid a fraction of the price for it.

Times, they are a-changing.

Remember my bike, the one I bought back in April of 2004? Well, it’s been providing loyal service for all this time and a few days ago I felt that some investments were required.

Generally I’m very un-kind with my bikes. I expect them to simply work, and put very little maintenance into making them work. About the only maintenance I’ve done to this bike has been to fill upp the tires when the pressure got low and oil the chain. Oh, and two years ago I replaced the rear tire and tube since the former was all dried up and had a big hole in it which led to the latter simply falling apart.

A few days ago I got fed up with how warped the rear rim had become and decided to replace it. A contributing fact to this decision was that several spokes had come lose and regularly poked holes in the inner-tube, as well as not really helping keep the rim non-warped.

Quick call to the bike-shop (Intersport in Umeå, same place I bought the bike from) confirmed that the rim actually cost less than half of what I expected it to cost. This meant there was a budget for two new tires. I went with very fat, low-profile tires. Excellent for the type of riding I tend to do, which is 99% on paved roads or similar surfaces. They ride smooth, have excellent grip and roll easier than the typical rough mountainbike-tires I had before.

I also bought degreaser and cleaned away the years of filth from the gear-assembly and derailer as well as adjusted brakes and gears. Gears proved quite a challenge since I didn’t know how to do it, but thanks to Google and my general stubbornness I prevailed.

Also, I need to give props to Intersport. They tolerated all my questions, moved the hub-ring assembly thingamajig (the gears on the old rim, I don’t know the proper vernacular) without cost to the new rim, and when I messed something up and blew the new innertube they just winked and replaced it for free - despite it being their policy to never replace blown innertubes. Really swell of them.

The ride is incredibly smooth. These tires just roll easily over any cracks in the pavement and swallows any minor bumps. Also, since they have such a low thread-profile they make less noise and provide less friction which means you’ll roll farther than with typical mountainbike-tires. Quite nice.

Some pics:

… and I completely forgot about this blog turning four years old on the 26th.

Usually I write some pompous and self-gratulating post about the year past, but this time I forgot. It was just as well, since my mind isn’t in the mood for it either. I’ve been too low and too busy to bother with such trivial matter.

In fact, for a few months I nurtured the idea of simply shutting down this blog on that day. But I decided against it.

So, four years eh? Seems you’re stuck with me for at least some time longer.

Oh, there are so many ways to start this posting. I should also probably warn by now that there’s some rather disgusting pictures attached towards the end of this. If you’ve got a weak stomach, don’t scroll down. Also in advance, allow me to apologize for what a slob I am - at least when it comes to my former keyboard.

I could start by telling about how many independent reports all agree that among the most unsanitary and unhygienic things in a persons office or home usually is the computer keyboard. In fact, in most cases a persons toilet is cleaner and contains less bacteria than a persons keyboard.

Another more humorous (humerus) approach would be to tell the story of the Dust Puppy. Dust Puppy is a regular character on one of my favorite webcomics, and has been along for the ride almost from the start. He was spontaneously created from the dust and filth gathered inside a server cabinet.

Now, with that in mind we get to the whole point of this post.

I recently acquired a new keyboard. It’s a Logitech Wave (corded) which is quite neat and a good recommendation for anyone needing a quality keyboard. This meant that I could retire my old keyboard which has served me loyally for more than eight years. The manufacture date on the bottom says it was manufactured in April 2000.

One of the main reasons for me wanting a new keyboard was that the old one was filled with filth. I made a few half-hearted attempts at cleaning it (which never worked), and it wasn’t until earlier tonight I realized had (as I often do) over-analyzed the situation and tried to shoot a fly with a cannon. Since it’s a rubber-dome keyboard the keys can easily be popped off and the area underneath can be cleaned.

This first picture I snapped with my phone moments after popping off the first key. Note the horror that lurks below. You can click on the pictures for full-size, although why you’d want to do that is beyond my comprehension.

Popping off the keys takes but a few minutes, and suddenly you feel as if you’ve been visited by a naked Russian mobster that looks nothing like Viggo Mortensen. Suddenly you feel a need for a bleach-shower and a thorough scrubdown by a motivated bosnian lady.

Behold the horror that lies within:

Yup. That’s eight years of crud collected inside my keyboard. I feel so proud of myself. Please excuse me while I go cower in shame.

Here’s two sexy closeups of each side for all of you in need of some hot greasy action:

Makes me all worked up just looking at it. So please, everyone, don’t let this happen to your keyboard. Follow this handy little guide for keyboard-cleaning and keep your ‘boards somewhat hygienic. I know I will with my new Wave. I know I’m not going to put that old keyboard back together, I’m just gonna go shove it in the garbage tomorrow morning and hope the images of it eventually fade from my mind.

Yes, sometimes I feel like Edward.

Tecknaren bakom Samir, en serie jag aldrig hört talas om förrän nu, har FRA-tema. Han tillåter alla att kopiera serien fritt mot att man länkar tillbaka. Tycker jag låter rimligt.

Nedanstående tyckte jag var kusligt insiktsfullt. Klicka för original.

In one week my blog turns four years old. Four years!

This means that I’m also going to change some things around. For a while I was thinking about doing a big dramatic thing and shutting this down on that day. I’ve become a bit frustrated with my lack of blogging-progress and for a while I was disillusioned with the whole thing.

But instead I’m going to change stuff. First off I’m going to make this into a bilingual blog. I switched languages from Swedish to English a while ago, and while this affords me to write to an international audience it also makes me a little weird, because some things work best in Swedish. Thus, two languages. So if you’re a non-Swede who all of a sudden can’t understand stuff, then tough luck. If I find something worthy to comment on in english I will do so. I have no idea how much blogging I will do in either language - I like writing in english too.

Another thing is that I’m tired of my own self-censorship. This is my blog, dammit! I can write whatever the hell I want here, and using whatever wording I want. Even though I might throw in a rough word here and there it doesn’t mean I’m some kind of neanderthal incapable of intelligent speech. I was brought up to not use curse-words, but sometimes when I’m angry I will use them anyway. That’s just life. If you’re easily offended by harsh language I suggest you steer your little ship somewhere else.

The third thing is that I’ve come to realize that I’m a big coward and hypocrite in some cases. I said about a year ago that the only one in charge of my life was me, yet I’m still worried what other people think, and I still subconsciously prioritize my own will and opinions lower to not upset anyone else. No more of this. I will be more brutally honest with both myself and my surroundings. I hope this will help boost my confidence, which has taken a lot of beatings lately - a lot of it my own doing, unfortunately.

And finally, I want to apologize for not always being consistent in my personality. I’m struggling with who I am and what goes on in my head. Some days are easier, some are more difficult. Sometimes I don’t make much sense at all, even to myself. I also know that a lot of the time it’s difficult to like me, much less love me. I’m sorry for this, I’m trying to do the best I can but I have weak days as well as strong days.

Snapped this photo earlier today at the bus-station.

Translated from Swedish the display says:

THIS IS A PAUSE-IMAGE

There is no information to show

Really? Is that so?

Anyone remember Jerry Fletcher? He was the main character of Conspiracy Theory, a surprisingly good movie that was released back in 1997. Jerry was extremely paranoid, obsessed with Cather in the Rye, and every day he scanned the news trying to figure out the ways we were all being screwed.

I realized a few minutes ago that in a way, I’ve become just like Jerry.

Instead of reading the news and accepting what’s written there as truth, I’ve become so distrustful of both our fearless leaders as well as media in general that I no longer read the news. Instead, I scan through it trying to figure out what’s really going on, and in what way are we being lied to and cheated today.

See, most people live under the illusion that media is there to expose injustice and call out the politicians when they try to pull a fast one on us the people. I sadly realized a few years back that this was simply a naive illusion. Instead, media had slowly morphed into a mouthpiece for politicians, and that it was much more profitable to simply report everything at face value. Even worse, a lot of our beloved media today are more interested in simply pushing the latest celebrity-gossip or having us worry about a thousand different useless things, rather than actually doing what media traditionally does.

And this scares the Jerry Fletcher inside of me. Because I want to be able to trust the people elected to lead me. I want to trust the media that prints news. I want to believe that I live in the best possible world, created by people interested in creating a great place to be a human.

But there isn’t a single shred of evidence indicating this to be truth. Instead, I have less faith than ever before in my leaders, and what little trust I had in the media has dwindled and disappeared the last three-four years or so.