I just spent much longer on this than I care to admit. Hopefully this post will save someone else the time, until the dudes working on the grub2 project fill their documentation out.

Trying to PXEboot a recent FreeBSD environment using grub2pxe? All the docs out there for PXE+FreeBSD from early 2000 (or worse) and using BSD's 'pxeboot' binary? Can't find anything on the 'kfreebsd' magic of grub2?

Here's the magic sauce. Note that I compressed the kernel, so it'll be much faster under tftp.

menuentry "FreeBSD 8.0 x86" {
   echo "Fetching the kernel and UFS root."
   echo "This could take a few minutes, so hang tight... "

   kfreebsd /freebsd/x86_8.0/kernel/kernel.gz Dh
   kfreebsd_loadenv /freebsd/x86_8.0/device.hints
   kfreebsd_module /freebsd/x86_8.0/mfsroot.gz type=mfs_root
   set kFreeBSD.vfs.root.mountfrom=ufs:/dev/md0c

   echo "Aaaiiight!"
   sleep 2
}

So far, so good.

As I'm sitting here listening to a co-worker complain about how much his new phone "sucks" compared to his old one, and remembering the stream of issues he had with that one at the time, it slowly dawns on me how radically we've lost our sense of perspective.

You've got a device that talks to satellites in space. It can talk to your computer network. You can communicate either via voice or text with anyone in the world, without wires. You can access the entirety of human knowledge (or at least what made it to the Internet) from your pocket. Take pictures. Videos. Share them with your family. Schedule meetings. Get directions, traffic status, and transit times from where you are standing to anywhere. Listen to a large pile of high quality music. Shop. Play video games. Track packages. Order movies to your house. Detect and tell you what constellation you're looking at (really.) It even (gasp) has an address book. The craziest thing though? The entire thing cost you about 200 dollars.

This sort of miracle device was nonexistent 5 short years ago, and frankly, it is FUCKING MAGICAL.

Have we always been like this? Or is it just as technology keeps improving by leaps and bounds our expectations rise in step? Did our sense of entitlement suddenly just skyrocket past what vendors can deliver in a pocket sized widget?

If it doesn't respond instantaneously every time you swipe a finger across the screen, don't complain. Instead, take a moment and remember what age you're living in. We didn't have light bulbs 130 years ago. How is it that you can be so lucky?!

Now shut up.

Nadine and I trade each other a night a week for doing whatever. She usually uses it for getting her craft on, or having a cocktail with a pal. I use it to load up on happy hour margaritas and a movie with Michael. We've been going to the same theater eve...

Continue reading "I must just have a bootleggy face"

I've been having a lot of door-to-door salespeople visit my house lately, and they are exhibiting some rather disturbing tactics. The following is a very short guide that should help a prospective sales dude not get punched in the teeth while visiting my house.

1) Don't use the "shave and a haircut" knock pattern

That's a knock of familiarity. We're not buddies. I'm not going to welcome you to my porch with a warm hug. In fact, if you start out with a knock like that, you're immediately making me feel as if I'm being tricked into opening the door.

2) Don't just say your first name when I ask who's there

So, now you've knocked, and I ask you through the door: "Who is it?" Please, say the name of your company -and- what you're doing on my porch. Don't respond with "David." Inevitably, you'll just be asked "David who?", and then "What do you want, David?"

Again, it seems as if you're trying to trick me into opening the door, and worse, you're wasting my time while we play 20 questions.

3) Don't say you're doing "word of mouth" advertising

It's not word of mouth if you're going door to door. For the record, that's called 'door to door'. Word of mouth means that your customers are doing your advertising for you. If you're not getting paid by a company, and you've discovered an AWESOME product that you just MUST go walking around the neighborhood to tell everyone you see about... okay then. You're allowed to call it word of mouth.

4) Don't say you aren't selling anything

If I tell you "I'm not interested", don't reply indignantly with "Wait, but I'm not selling anything!!" If you're advertising on my doorstep, you're selling something, even if I'm not directly giving you money at the moment. That's the definition of advertising. You or your employer has a product that they want me to have, in exchange for my money. If that indeed is the case and you really don't have anything to sell me, that just means you are a transient and have even less reason to be hanging out at my house. Please leave.

5) Don't compliment me on my children

Telling me how beautiful my little girls are does NOT endear me to you. It instantly brings forth a feeling of parental terror that cascades over me, as I realize a stranger (that knows where I live) finds my children attractive. This makes you appear to be predatory in a really bad way, no matter how innocent the comment actually might be. In any event, I certainly won't be overcome with an intense impulse purchasing desire.

Eh, maybe it's just time to invest in a tacky little 'no soliciting' sign. Or a big dog.

Way more crowded than I was expecting. Total sausage fest. I think I saw one girl, and she was being mobbed by droves of adoring programmers.