2006-11-26
Posted in Geek Stuff
at 10:53
dnsmasq site
So, you’ve got that old dust-covered computer set up with a UNIX clone, got it to work as a router, figured out the syntax for the packet filter (firewall), and maybe even got a DHCP server working. What next?
How about a DNS setup that works perfectly with any version of Windows (not Multicast DNS), doesn’t take a paid sysadmin to set up and maintain, and works as both a forwarding proxy and a local DNS server?
For those who don’t get out much, I’m talking about dnsmasq. Since the page is a little verbose, I’ll highlight the (apparently) unique things it does:
- Automatically reads your ISP’s DNS servers out of /etc/resolv.conf when functioning as a DNS cache.
- Setting up custom DNS entries for inside your LAN is as simple as adding them to the /etc/hosts file
- You can specify more than one /etc/hosts file so that it’s easy to drop in new versions of the ad-blocking hosts file. Heck, if you trust the site, you could make it automatic using a simple wget cronjob.
- DNS and DHCP in one tool, and all the associated features. Most notably, it can automatically add DNS entries for machines as they arrive. Optionally, using whatever name the machines ask for.
- If you’re on dial-up and the connection is down, DNS lookups time out immediately.
There are more features, but they’re things other DNS or DHCP servers can do. I just wish I’d found this thing sooner.
As a side-note, if your My Network Places isn’t working properly, chances are you don’t have a proper WINS setup. Just run a copy of Samba and set it’s WINS server up as the domain master browser. Then you’ll really have a network where you just plug things in and they work.
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2006-11-12
Posted in Manga
at 3:35
Don’t be fooled by the title. This romantic comedy is no shallow hormone fest but, because I made that mistake, it took me over a year to get around to reading it. Sure, it’s a shonen manga with a lot of fanservice, but the characters and events are quite good.
Among other things, I find it very rare to see a female character who is as realistically assertive as Nobuko Nizaki. (as opposed to comically assertive like the girls in Ranma 1/2 and the Tenchi Muyo OAVs) It also helps that the manga’s namesake, Ai the Video Girl is “defective”. As one review described her, trash-talking, assertive, and determined to help the main character find love even if she has to drag him all the way.
As for events, when was the last time you saw a manga where a boy and a girl are watching a movie, they both simultaneously prepare to “make the next move”, and it’s the movie that ruins the chance?
It also happens to be the first series I can think of where I can actually see that the characters are Japanese just from their body proportions. (they look their height, whereas many authors do that too subtly for me to really notice)
Finally, the last two volumes provide a refreshingly uncommon epilogue which deserved special mention. Enjoy. 
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2006-11-09
Posted in Fanfiction
at 23:34
How about some excellent Ranma short stories about the loss of something vital?
First, Elegy to a Golden Youth by Reid Carson. As the author explains it,
I was re-reading Dunsany’s The King of Elfand’s Daughter one day, and was struck anew by the image of Lirazel walking toward the meeting with her son, bringing the boundaries of Elfland with her. It occurred to me that Ranma’s arrival in Nerima had a similar impact on the lives of the people there, carrying them into another world, and, even more, revealing that the world they had lived in was not the hum-drum place they had taken it for. What would happen
then, when Ranma left?
It’s amazing.
Second, let’s try a loss that is in some ways different, but in some ways the same. The Touch of Cold Water by Sebastian Weinberg is a story about a future Ranma who is reminiscing on something. I don’t want to give away anything else.
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2006-11-07
Posted in Web Wandering & Opinion
at 23:46
‘39 by Queen at Last.fm
I just ran across one of the most amazing (and ironically, least known) Queen songs I’ve ever heard. Last I checked, it was a free MP3 download from it’s Last.fm page, so give it a listen.
To save you time, here’s an explanation of what the lyrics mean: Simply put, it’s about space travel and time dilation. More specifically, it’s about a bunch of volunteers who leave earth behind at speeds near the speed of light in search of a new place to colonize and, after being gone a year (from their perspective), return at least a hundred years later (left “in the year of ‘39″, gone a year, returned “in the year of ‘39″) to bring the happy news to a bittersweet meeting with their descendants. Hence the lines
Oh, so many years have gone though I’m older but a year
Your mother’s eyes in your eyes cry to me.
and the last verse, “For my life still ahead, pity me.”
It’s one of the most amazing songs I’ve ever heard. Definitely in the top 10.
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