Rubénerd!

For someone who's been building home networks since primary school and when 10BaseT hubs were cheaper enough than switches to be worthwhile, I have a shocking lack of formal training. At UTS this semester, I finally find myself working towards my CCNA2 prerequisite (so I can do computer forensics), and this tool has helped me tremendously!

According to the site, "GNS3 is a graphical network simulator that allows simulation of complex networks." An amalgamation of various different tools and projects such as dynamips, dynagen and the Qt framework, the developers have even taken it upon themselves to maintain their own current fork of the former.

Using a Visio-esque drag-and-drop interface, you can configure your network topology, start routers and other hardware, connect virtual machines and monitor traffic. It's as close as having your very own Cisco lab running on your local machine, which is invaluable for study and gaining experience outside the labs.

The only caveat: you'll need to provide your own Cisco IOS images for use in the Edit → IOS Images and Hypervisors screen. Ahem.

So far I've just been messing around with dynamic routing protocols like RIP between routers, but the next step is to attach some VirtualBox VMs and check out some more complex topologies. Unfortunately, QEMU 1.3.1 and 1.4.0 have both decided to stop working on OS X 10.8.2, which is a right royal pain.

A quote from a Deutsche Welle article I added to my beloved Instapaper queue ages, ago but only just got around to reading. Use the original and best, people!

"The common goal of all the states in the region is, one day, to be part of the European Union, where we have freedom of movement for everybody," [German Foreign Minister] Westerwelle said. "That is why a redrawing of national boundaries is out of the question, including the Balkans. In Europe, borders are losing their significance."

If they're losing their significance, what's the harm in redrawing them then?

While checking some replies to my Rubenerd_blog account, I noticed I got some feedback from Gizmodo Australia for their inflammatory blog post that included a photo of me under the headline saying I'm willing to look stupid.

@Giz_au: Hey mate. I haven't deleted your comment. If we had, we'd see it there as deleted.

I'm interested how people saw my comment, but then it disappeared.

@Giz_au: Second, your image is CCBYSA2.0 and if you don't want it used you should change that

Yes, and if you want to use share-alike images, you need to change Gizmodo Australia to use that same (or equivalent) licence. Otherwise, "you should change that".

But that's beside the point. My objection was the tasteless, inflammatory article itself. Arguing over a technicality (which you even got wrong) when the issue is calling someone stupid is even less classy.

@Giz_au: Third, I own an iPod Nano watch myself, and love it, I get the attraction. It was a chatroom post

You shot who in the what now?

@Giz_au We don't think you're stupid at all.

Could have fooled us with that headline.

Anyway, I'm done with this and moving on. It's my fault for expecting more from Gizmodo.

Probably wouldn't offer equivalent protection as a tank. I really need to watch that series XD

Via http://blog.livedoor.jp/teaoevo/.

Without any touch of irony, Google have announced on their Official Google Reader blog that the service will be shutting down:

We have just announced on the Official Google Blog that we will soon retire Google Reader (the actual date is July 1, 2013). We know Reader has a devoted following who will be very sad to see it go. We’re sad too.

Uh huh.

There are two simple reasons for this: usage of Google Reader has declined

Because you actively made it less useful.

and as a company we’re pouring all of our energy into fewer products. We think that kind of focus will make for a better user experience.

In other words, you want us using Google+ instead. How many failed social networks does this make for Google now... seven?

Google Reader was my Twitter

In 2007 (or maybe 2006?) I made the shift from Bloglines to Google Reader, largely because all my Whole Wheat Radio friends had done so already. The initial early-AJAX interface seemed more cumbersome than the relatively simple frame-based design of Bloglines, but I liked that I could star and share posts and view my friends' comments.

Now that I think of it, Google Reader was my Twitter from back in the day. Rather than being a single user blog reader desktop application, the key was you were sharing thoughts and stories with people you trusted, as well as just pulling feeds. I discovered so much stuff from Jim and Sparx and Atuuschaaw and the whole gang.

Google tweaked the UI several times during the service's history, rendering the interface gradually uglier and more difficult to use, but with some simple Greasemonkey scripts you could be back to the old goodness again without too much trouble.

The beginning of the end

The wheels started to come off for me when Google+ launched, and all those social features were stripped out in favour of a +1 button. It was obvious at this stage that Google saw no future in the service, and that they wanted everyone using Google+ to share and comment on stories. Like so many applications throughout tech history, it had become an awkward stepping stone we were all expected to accept and move off from.

(To be fair, I also jumped ship at this stage because they said my name wasn't real. Stay classy, Google).

As with so many terminated sites, I'll miss Google Reader for the community of people we had there. They're probably mostly on Google+ now anyway given The J-Walk has abandoned blogging.

Final random thoughts

In looking for Google Reader replacements, it continued to baffle me that so many third party services relied on Google Reader to sync. I wonder how they'll be dealing with this?

Also, I find it ironic that Bloglines, the original web-based blog reader that's now owned by the tiny Merchant Circle, was able to outlive Reader, the service released by the Google Behemoth. The lesson here, backing from a huge company doesn't always (in fact often doesn't) buy security.

It's the built in excuse every Sydneysider has heard a million times: I was late because of CityRail. Today an alleged "twisted wire" overhead caused delays or total outages across two of the lines, including the ones my girlfriend Clara and I take to commute to town. Over all, a 37 minute express trip turned into a two hour ordeal with packed replacement buses and a skipped connecting train because of overcrowding.

Where to begin!?

The problems with the CityRail system (or "network" as they refer to it as) are too numerous and complex to detail here. From what I've seen as an outsider moving back to Sydney, most of these issues stem from the system's age, the lack of foresight and planning that went into various line extensions, chronic lack of investment, and the bizarre convolution of CBD metro and suburban rail into one tangled, brittle, fragile mess.

Numerous politicians have proposed to fix the system. Our latest transport minister talked a big game as she entered her seat in state parliament, but unsurprisingly has failed to deliver. The problem is all these issues will take planning and foresight that will last longer than an election cycle to implement, and no politician wants future leaders taking credit for their work. Democracy in a nutshell.

What we need is for the City Circle to be severed from the rest of the network (ah they have me calling it that no!), expanded and turned into a true metro system. The suburban trains should be expanded with more lines and stations, and their electrical systems completely re-engineered. The result would be a more reliable, efficient system more people would use.

Of course the chances of those happening are slim to absolutely-friggen-nothing, so I propose a shorter term band-aid solution that's so simple even our current Premier will understand.

Image by Kishi Nisen on Pixiv!

More communication

Most times when something bad happens, the poor staff at CityRail stations seem to know little more than we do as commuters. Automated announcements regularly contradict themselves. The CityRail website offers terse explanations.

It's akin to going to a doctor and having he or she tell us that condition isn't anything to worry about, but that we need a ton of tests and we should prepare a will just in case.

We just want to know what's going on, and how we can get to where we're going. You have all those wonderful LCD monitors everywhere, why not use them more effectively during such problems? Whichever system you're using to inform your staff, it's not enough. I can't imagine how much grief they must get when another piece of your failing network falls off, and they're the public face of the corporation that irate passengers have to deal with.

I'd love for the system to be fixed, but for now I'd just appreciate more information. Be kept in the loop, as it were. That's not too much to ask for, is it?

When I first got my MacBook Air, naturally the first things I took care of were desktop backgrounds. I mean, these things won't resolve themselves. Which is to say, they will, but I wanted something more fitting for a machine that would be used for coding, writing posts such as these, and watching anime.

I opted for this image of Nagato Yuki with Hatsune Miku for the main desktop, and on a whim an image of Yuki in her trademark blue mizugi as my Terminal.

Unbeknownst to me, my lovely girlfriend Clara tirelessly tracked down a mini-fig of Yuki wearing that exact outfit, and gave it to me as a present yesterday! In an ocean of packing boxes, tape, paper and other nonsense from our move still littering our house, her attire seemed oddly fitting XD.

Photo is by KawaiiKiri on Flickr, who lives up to her handle ^_^.

@risuchiin on The Twitters:

I must've spent 3 hours already just reading @Rubenerd's blog. It's incredibly interesting.

It's readers like you that make blogging worthwhile, thank you ^_^

Now that I think of it, it's all you readers. I blog partly so I don't forget stuff, but also in the small hope that what I write may be fun dash useful dash interesting dash mildly amusing to someone else in the future. There were more reasons, but I forgot.

Remember the orgasmic furore we had to endure when Apple didn't include NFC in the iPhone 5? The Gruber links to this Verge article:

When we asked why Samsung did not include NFC tap-to-pay features in Wallet, the company said that retailers prefer barcodes over NFC because they don’t have to install any new infrastructure to support it.

Good thing I'm not one of those people who says "told you so". Filing under It's Not Apple, So It's Okay™

I was all excited to see this new art of my beloved Senjougahara Hitagi, still the best character from the *monogratari franchise. If you believe otherwise, You Are Wrong.™ Well, Nadeko Sengoku is cute too.

Unfortunately, I was wrong, for a very different reason. This is someone (who?) from Grisaia no Kajitsu, a visual novel about an academy for socially awkward people. At least, as far as I can tell. It runs on the SOMY PSP, some obscure portable gaming device thing that doesn't run iOS or Android.

It's understandable why they'd want to take visual cues from one of the greatest modern anime characters ever, but still.