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Cloud Politics (or, Social Disobediance)

2011-10-07T00:00:00-05:00

I’ve dubbed the events going on this last month and right now, the shutdown of Wall Street, as “Cloud Politics.”

I’m borrowing the term from Cloud Computing. Here’s why I think this specific movement is a very cool way to go about getting things done.

In cloud computing, there is no single point of failure. There are multiples of every component. If a component fails, another takes its place seamlessly.

In Cloud Politics, there is no single point of failure. If someone is arrested, silenced, or otherwise removed from participation in the protest, another can take its place. Without a formal leader or a formal set of demands, there is no single point of failure.

In cloud computing, you don’t know where the resources you are using actually exist. They may and usually are geographically diverse.

In Cloud Politics, resources are spread around the country. Sure, things started in one location, but have spread. Silencing one area will just cause others to gain attention and attendance.

In cloud computing, there are many different types of components, working with each other, to make the whole system work.

In Cloud Politics, there are many different people stepping up to serve many different roles. Some see their contribution as aiding those with minor injuries, others with transportation, others with food or other donations. Without a strong ego, or a strong leader, this sort of cooperation can only occur from the lowest levels up, not the other way around.

In cloud computing, the system gets stronger and more resilient to failure the more components are added.

In Cloud Politics, the more people, the stronger the movement.

Feeding a cat through an e-tube with Hills z/d food

2011-07-30T00:00:00-05:00

My cat, Inara, has recently found herself in need of some pretty major medical help. Without going into the details, she has developed a severe food aversion due to a kidney injury. Cats are often times picky eaters, and with a food aversion it’s far worse – she won’t even eat on her own, although she is starting to after many weeks.

When the feeding esophagostomy tube was first placed, she had to be fed once every 4 hours, and water provided between each feeding. Yes, we love her enough to lose a lot of sleep. Luckily, at this point, she’s on a four hour schedule without the water requirement (she gets enough water with her food) so life is better.

Her food source is a 1:1 mixture of prescription canned cat food and water, to make it possible to feed through a syringe. At first, we used Hills a/d, which is a pretty standard item for this sort of use. However, Inara tended to vomit a lot. Our vet then switched us over to Hills z/d, which I feel is much harder to work with.

I thought perhaps sharing some experiences would make it easier for anyone else finding themselves in this situation, with Hills z/d.

While Hills a/d is basically a finely minced pate-like consistency, it does have chunks. To properly mix the water in a blender is used. After it is throughly mixed, I pour it into a “jelly” size mason jar for easy use later. Once mixed, the food is good for about 48 hours when properly refrigerated.

I once mixed two cans at once, but later found it easier to just do it twice a day. It was better for all of us; Inara got fresher food, and the smaller quantity fit into a smaller jar for easier retrieval. Remember that you are adding a lot of air into a high potency food, which is a very bacteria-friendly environment. You are also putting the tip of a mostly-clean syringe into this jar multiple times. Food safety applies to cats, too, so err on the side of caution.

After switching to Hills z/d, however, things got trickier. With Hills a/d, I found I could reduce the added water down to about 2:1 food:water ratio and still feed it through a syringe. It came out thicker, but still quite liquid enough. Hills z/d has a gelatinous consistency in the can, and when mixed with water in 1:1 proportions, maintains a very thick gel-like consistency. Reducing the water by only a small amount caused it to be too thick to feed without causing Inara to vomit. I chose to maintain the 1:1 ratio and not experiment further.

Another problem with using Hills z/d is that its gel-like consistency caused the blending process to add a lot of air into the mixture. While warm, the air bubbles would join with other bubbles and eventually get large enough to float to the top. When put in the ‘fridge, they would stay put. The first time I mixed up a can I estimate it was 50% air in the syringe! Not good.

One tactic to remove the air bubbles was to let a room-temperature syringe sit upright for about 10 minutes, when a large bubble would form at the top. I would then slowly rotate the syringe, and this large bubble would pop the smaller ones. Eventually I could squeeze out the large bubble and get to the feeding part. This took quite a bit of time with the food at room temp, and I really didn’t like this approach much.

What I found that seems to work well is to pour the food from the blender through a small kitchen strainer. Not only will this remove the larger chunks that might escape the pounding, but it tends to remove a lot of the air. It won’t get all of it to be sure, but I’ve found it helps a lot.

If you find yourself needing to syringe-feed Hills z/d, I hope this helps make it easier on you and your cat.

IPv4 is Empty

2011-02-03T00:00:00-06:00

It’s official. The last of the IPv4 address space has been allocated to the RIRs. This means there are effectively no more IPv4 addresses available.

Since around 1995, we’ve had the option of IPv6, but it’s deployment has been quite slow. Why, one asks? It’s probably easier to ignore the problem than work on it too soon.

Comcast is one of the few ISPs using IPv6 in places customers can see. Cox, my ISP, doesn’t seem to even know what IPv6 is. I assume they’re going to continue to use NAT until hell freezes over. Which isn’t bad, I think hell has IPv6.

Named MOB tracking in EverQuest II

2011-01-18T00:00:00-06:00

In the spirit of having yet another tool that no one but I use, and in the true spirit of learning things… I have started on a tracking system for various tidbits of info I used to keep in a spreadsheet, or not at all.

The system is open to the public, and is on http://eq2mission.flame.org/.

Once there, sign up with either twitter or facebook, or both so you can use both in the future and not end up with multiple accounts on accident. You can also use a local username and password if you prefer.

You can add characters manually, but there is no way to manually track which named you have killed. However, you can upload a log file and it will try to find which ones you have already gotten AA from.

While you can upload directly to the site, please use the log file upload client which makes this faster and easier. The client strips out all group, guild, and personal chat before uploading, compresses the result, and optionally renames the file.

Dumtek, my first released iPhone app!

2010-08-20T00:00:00-05:00

Some of you may know I’m quite interested in Middle Eastern music, and I consider myself a Middle Eastern drummer. It’s just a hobby – nothing professional or anything, but I do really enjoy it.

I also teach drumming when I can, and really enjoy it. Along those lines, for those who have an iPhone, iTouch, or iPad, I have written a drumming application called DumTek that will teach the basic and some filled-in rhythms. The sound is crappy unless you use a headset, and then it is still somewhat crappy, just less so.

I hope to get better samples of my drum, and even let people upload drums later on. For now, though, you’ll have to handle just mine. Sorry :)

Get DumTek from the Application Store!