I inherited an old iBook from a coworker a vew weeks back and finally got around to trying to install Linux on it. In my many trials however I discovered how to reset the passwords on an existing OSX install (10.3+) and I thought that I should log it here for my own records:

1. Hold command-S when booting
2. /sbin/fsck -y
3. /sbin/mount -uw /
4. /usr/libexec/register_mach_bootstrap_servers /etc/mach_init.d
5. cd /var/db/netinfo; netinfod -s local
6. /sbin/SystemStarter

I'll append to this post as I work my way further through the mac-cruft ;-)

DEFAULT CATCH

One fun problem I ran into immediately following the boot was that just hitting "enter" at the boot: prompt resulted in a DEFAULT CATCH! code=300 error. Attempting to manually launch the 3 available kernels all failed as well, the first two (labeled G5) dumped the aforementioned error, and the last one (labeled ppc32) just made the screen go blank. So I did what any good geek would do: I trolled the intarwebs for that error message.

Unfortunately most of the information you find on that error pertains to a very old mac problem regarding the size of hard drive partitions and a whole bunch more suggested I upgrade the firmware to make it work. However to do that I'd need to install OS9 (the iBook was running 10.3) just to run the update. That, my friends is Apple "support" :-(

Well downloading a torrent of os9 just to install it for a 20min firmware upgrade seemed a bit crazy, even for me, so I went back to the attempted Gentoo install and lo-and-behold, I had a brainwave: the ppc32 kernel was working, but the video signal (being pushed over a proprietary Apple dongle to my old monitor) was freaking out at the default drivers being used. The following command worked:

boot: ppc32 video=ofonly

And then it was 3am. I shall continue this post later :-)

Dear Joss,

I'm hoping you can help me with an ethical problem I'm having: I'm about to download the premiere of Dollhouse by way of bittorrent free of charge, but I'd still like to have a way to thank you and the rest of the cast & crew financially.

You see, I don't have cable. I stopped subscribing when they cancelled your last show because frankly, there wasn't anything good on TV anymore. Turns out you can get all the shows you want for free online anyway and then only watch the stuff you want, when you want. It all kinda makes cable look... well pointless really.

But now that you're about to release your new (undoubtably brilliant) show, I find myself wanting to support you all in your quest to make good stories and you know, eat. However my desire to re-sign with a cable company for one show that only runs at an inconvenient fixed time feels just as silly as it did months ago so I'd like to find a way to just flat-out give you money.

I'll mail you a cheque, or I can use PayPal, or some other e-friendly payment method it doesn't matter -- I'm happy to jump through that hoop for you guys. I just wanna say "thank you" and I'm sorry, but I'm busy Friday night so I can't say thank you by paying $40 to a cable company, skipping my plans and enduring all of those insipid commercials. How 'bout I just give you some cash? Sound good? How much do you think my fractional portion of the advertising revenues is worth? Whatever it is, I'm sure I can afford to pay double that.

I eagerly await your reply with directions to your tip jar.

Thanks so much,

Daniel Quinn
Vancouver, Canada

I want to send this to him, but apparently, Joss doesn't have a fan mail address (who can blame him, it'd probably be rammed in a few hours). Fox's Dollhouse site seems to be a collection of one-way communication aside from a pretty useless login-protected forum. I may just have to wait until the show's cancelled so I can buy it on DVD... just like Buffy, Angel and Firefly. How sad.

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

The Torah, Book of Numbers 6:24-26.

I know that it's all just mythology, but it's still damned pretty. Especially when read by Leonard Nimoy.

My mother sent me this personality test today asking me to use it to learn more about myself. Based loosly on the Myers-Briggs test, it was pretty short so I did it as a break from my day. As it turns out, I did a similar test years ago where I scored INFJ, but this time through though I scored differently:

INTJ
Introverted (I) 75%	Extraverted (E) 25%
Intuitive (N) 64%	Sensing (S) 36%
Thinking (T) 65%	Feeling (F) 35%
Judging (J) 59%	Perceiving (P) 41%

Looks like I've gotten colder with age :-)

People have been sending these my way for days now and the activity seemed so very contrary to my usual behaviour, that I thought that I'd give it a shot. I'm not going to "tag" anyone to do this though since this is my blog and not bloody Facebook, but if you want to share your own, you can post it or link to your own post here in the comments.

Here's the deal. This is a list of 25 random things about me. They're personal, so if you want to know more about me, this might be a scary place to start, but it's your call:

1. I am a very private person. This may come as a surprise to someone who doesn't know me, as I do after all maintain a blog and all kinds of online profiles. Look carefully though and you'll realise that there's nothing all that personal about me anywhere. I don't share. I'm going to try to make this post an exception.
2. I'm happy to listen to others though. People like to talk to me -- gods know why. I like to think that I'm a pretty good listener and that my lectures are often helpful.
3. I never used to care about the environment. In fact, when I moved to Ontario, it was the furthest thing from my mind. It wasn't until I realised that so many people still burned coal to make electricity that I got involved.
4. As part of a seventh grade public speaking exercise, I wrote a speech titled "Why Does Everyone Talk About Saving the Environment, but No One Does Anything About It?" (or something to that effect). I was then voted as the one to give the speech in front of the whole school. I was so terrified that I skipped a complete paragraph from my cue cards.
5. I was, and still am, terrified at the prospect of public speaking. In recent years, I've actively combated this fear by repeatedly putting myself in situations where I must speak publicly in one form or another. It's working.
6. I don't try to save the world out of guilt, or a feeling of responsibility. I do what I do purely out of a sense of principle: I honestly believe that there is a Right way and Wrong way to interact with this planet, and I fight to ensure the former. As Mark Twain said: "Always do right. This will gratify some and astonish the rest".
7. I am seriously afraid that I will waste away here in Vancouver. Most days I feel as if any ambition I had was left behind in Toronto.
8. It is because of this fear that I've avoided doing things "for me" in the past like joining a choir. I've always felt like I have a responsibility to act on the aforementioned principles and forgo my own wants until those goals are achieved, but the hollowness and lack of purpose I've felt since returning have caused me to consider some selfish options. I still feel that this is a mistake, but I don't know what else to do.
9. I love my job. I love the work, the fact that it's constantly challenging and that I'm being given the power/responsibility to write some really fucking awesome code.
10. I often burn 90% of my work day spinning my mental wheels trying to get my brain out of its funk. I believe this to be related to my poor diet and sleeping schedule... at least I hope that's the case.
11. I'm so afraid of what it might be if it's not diet or rest that I won't talk to a doctor about it.
12. I'm constantly concerning myself with others' impressions of me. Alone, at home working on my computer, walking down the street, writing a blog, or deputing at City Hall, the question of how my words may be construed 20years from now is a serious concern to me.
13. I often catch myself reliving or daydreaming about past or potential future conversations. What was / could've been said, or what will be / should be said, and the rebuttals for each. These conversations sometimes cross over from the mental space into real out-loud annunciations for my part of the exchange -- though this is usually only at home as I'm getting ready for work.
14. I've developed deep emotional attachments to a number of people scattered around the world. These feelings aren't romantic, but rather almost familial and definitely protective.
15. I think that my unwillingness to share is likely directly connected to my inability to commit emotionally to someone. Either that or I just haven't met the right girl yet.
16. My childhood was really quite horrible. My family was wonderful, but my school life in Langley has probably damaged me permanently. Don't raise your kids in the suburbs folks, it doesn't do anyone any good.
17. My single bastion of sanity in high school was choir practise with Mr. Thompson and Mr. Rahn. They gave me something into which I could pour myself at a time when all I wanted was shut the whole world out. Had it not been for Thompson Tran, the guy who dragged me into choir in the first place, I think that I would be a very different person today.
18. My parents actively discouraged me from taking music, art, shop, or drama classes in high school. I was told that such activities were for the dumb kids and that I, as a smart person shouldn't waste my time with them. I'm not bitter about this, it's just unfortunate that I missed such an opportunity for a creative outlet for so many years.
19. I honestly do think that I'm really fucking smart about a lot of things. I don't care if this makes me appear arrogant, condescending or superior. The way I figure it, so long as I'm open to the possibility that someone out there is smarter than I am and I embrace their opinions when I meet them, then it's all good.
20. I'm attracted to people who are smarter than I am, or have an understanding of the universe drastically different from my own.
21. I have an image in my head of the girl I'm supposed to be with. I've had dreams about her for years. In these dreams she has long, straight, brown hair and wears a long, stretchy, cotton grey dress. She sings and plays guitar. I am aware that harbouring a fantasy image of a non-existent mate is counter-productive and I don't care.
22. I'm sometimes frustrated by the maintenance a friendship requires. My feelings toward people don't change with the distance between us or the time between our visits, yet many of my friends seem to think otherwise and try to reconnect repeatedly. I don't begrudge them this, but it's also really hard to make time for everyone as well as myself.
23. I vividly remember dozens of instances where I've been wrong about something. In all of these cases, I've been sure and was later proven ignorant. This is a serious concern for me so I usually use non-committal fragments in my sentences to assure my position as a non-authority on a topic... Unless I think that I am an authority, at which point any mistakes haunt me permanently.
24. I cannot tolerate being called "stupid". It's a trigger word for me. I'm alright with naive or ignorant, though these words do flare me up a bit -- usually enough to get me to ask question after question until I'm no longer worthy of either word.
25. I use the regret model for my decision making: I imagine how I would feel looking back on a situation 20years later and then decide to go with the option that I would likely lead to the least regret.

Just to keep you all up on how things are going since my face-shifting altercation a couple weeks ago, I thought that I might mention my trip to the doctor today.

You see, there's an odd little mass forming under the skin just beneath my left eye. It's not obstructing my vision, hell it doesn't even affect my outward appearance, but it's creepy, and I can move it around over the surface of my skull by sliding my fingers over my face... Frankly, it's creepy.

So I went to the doc to ask him what was going on. He explained that it was likely the result of a migrating bruise or a pooling of the blood from the face-pounding that has since coagulated and hardened in it's own happy place. While the risk to my health is nill he says, it can be a bit annoying and creepifying (my word), so I can opt to remove it, but it's not covered by Medicare.

It is however likely covered by my company's medical plan.

So I'm going to try to book some time this week or next to get it removed. The procedure apparently involves bombardment by sonic waves which sounds so cool it almost makes the whole thing worth it :-) I'll try to remember post when it's all over.