automaticable

Have you ever wanted to set up a subversion repository on your home computer? Whether it be for a new software project, versioning your personal documents, or any other reason, there are many benefits to using version control. Some free websites that will host your project for you, such as SourceForge or Google Code, but it’s often necessary to have a little bit more control.

I set up a subversion repository for a new project the other day, and the process was relatively painless. I’m using a standard Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 desktop setup, with OpenDNS and DD-WRT for port-forwarding, and without an Apache web server. Keep reading to host your own subversion repository server.

Continue reading “How To: Host a Subversion Repository in Ubuntu Hardy”

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To help me in my search for inspiration, Stacy recommended I write something on this story that talks about improved portable shelters for the homeless. It is hard to be against something that raises the standard of living of anyone, especially those at the bottom of the social and economic ladder.  I would like to take a fairly objective view on this subject, the well being of the homeless living in the streets, and look at the economic and social impacts of something like free, comfortably designed portable shelters.

Healthcare for the homeless

Probably one of the most positive aspects of having free, high quality shelter for the homeless are the health benefits of staying dry and warm.  Not only does staying well improve the standard of living for the homeless, but it also decreases a huge social and economic burden from cities who have to treat the uninsured homeless population.  With fewer uninsured people getting sick, this will not only decrease the cost of healthcare for those that can and do pay for it, but it will lighten the already overfilled load of patients that hospital emergency rooms have to take care of.  The healthcare aspect is a win-win for the homeless population and the surrounding society.

An increasing homeless population

This will be a hard point for many people to agree with, but as the lifestyle of the homeless becomes better, the homeless population will increase.  I am not saying more people will choose to be homeless.  Nobody really ever willingly makes that choice.  What will happen, though, as the standard of living increases, is that less people will make the choice to stop being homeless.  If the main motivation for people to look for work and get out of their rut is a terrible lifestyle, having comfortable, attractive, and portable shelter will not provide as much of this motivation. This is a hard concept to swallow, that certain homeless people will not move into a more productive lifestyle if they are given suitable shelter, but I believe it to be 100% true. My following points will rely on this fact, so if you cannot agree with this, then you probably will not agree with the rest of my post either.

An increase in the homeless population is an increase in crime

Because of the deprived lifestyle many homeless people lead, there is a natural increase in crime rates where there is high homeless population density.  This is not to say that all homeless people are criminals, just that there are enough that are desparate enough within the homeless communities to raise crime rates.  This increase in crime not only costs cities more for policing the crimes committed, but increased crime rates lower property values, decreases the social welfare of the surrounding population, and attracts additional negative externalities such as drugs and prostitution.

Unavoidable publicity

With an increase in the homeless population and larger, brighter portable shelters being used, the homeless will be impossible to ignore. This can have 2 different effects, and I haven’t yet decided whether this will have a net positive or negative. First the positive: the more the homeless population stands out, the more people will be aware of and want to fix the problem.  Philanthropy will increase out of pity, concern, and also out of selfishness.  The selfishness stems from the negativity surrounding the homeless population.  Nobody wants to see their streets filled with homeless people for many reasons, and this increased publicity from the homeless will make it that much worse.  With the homeless population standing out more, this could drive down housing prices and social welfare even further than the current homeless population does.

There are a number of other externalities that increase the social and economic costs associated with a well-kept homeless population, but I think these cover the main points I have been thinking about.  The positives related to improved portable shelters for the homeless are extremely positive: an increased standard of living, lower healthcare costs for society as a whole, and cleaner looking streets. At what cost do these come, though?  It is never easy to put a pricetag on happiness, but there will always be economic elements that are taken into consideration.  In the end, without hard numbers, it is a hard call to make. The well-being of the homeless increases substantially, but the economic costs of an increased homeless population are also significant.

What do you think? Does it matter that there will be more homeless if they are better taken care of? Will the benefits outweigh the costs? There is a lot to think about here, and I think we can have a good discussion about this in the comments.  I’m sure there is a ton I haven’t thought about, so leave your opinions below.

Alternative title: Summer is here.

As you may have noticed, I haven’t posted in over a week, because I’ve been so busy with other things. But summer is finally here, so now I’ll (maybe) have some more time. But a quick recap of the last week, in bullet-list form:

• Finals are over. They were way-stressful, but I think they went well. In fact, I know at least one went very well.
• Today was my first full day of work. It’s nice to have a whole day to really sit down and concentrate on something. Bonus points for being interesting too.
• It was also the first day of summer workout. 20 minute run, and I didn’t die.
• Most of my roommates moved out yesterday. It’ll be quiet and lonely here for a while–come visit me!
• I’m starting a new project. Joe and Kyle are going to help me with it, so I’m excited. More to come later.
• I have a long list of other projects I need to do. But it’s ok, because most of them are things like reading outside, going fishing, barbecuing, and the such.
• I’m am in a wonderful mood. For no other reason than because summer is here.

With Finals just around the corner, I look back at my college career thus far and I see all the good decisions that I’ve made. I switched from Medical Science with a hopes for Orthotics and Prosthesis to Recreation Management and I couldn’t be happier. I came back home from SIU to finish up my general education classes and receive my AA from College of DuPage and I love every minute of being home. I’ve switched around from a couple jobs and finally found something that I enjoy doing and that gives me hope for a brighter future. The relationship aspect of my life couldn’t be better. I have a steady girlfriend of over two years now, and we’re always talking about what the future brings, planning little trips with each other, and we can never stop smiling when we’re with each other.

With the weather turning nice I’m becoming more and more optimistic and becoming less stressed. Finals should be pretty much a breeze this year due to the classes and the requirements that they have for me. I gave two huge project presentations yesterday that I worked for 6 hours straight on over the weekend, and I found out immediately afterwards that I had aced both of them. I feel a sense of accomplishment this semester through all the trouble and stress that my classes brought me. I feel I did the best I could in all my classes and I’m not afraid of anything that future classes throw at me.

I used to sit in my room with the blinds closed to keep the heat in my room so it doesn’t get too cold, but I came home the other day and my mom had opened them, and I realized how beautiful of a view out my window I have. There’s a beautiful backyard with trees lining the perimeter of the half acre backyard, thick green grass, a flower island in the middle of the yard, and horseshoe pits in the back. I could probably sit and look out my window all day and watch the birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and the neighbors cats run through our yard all day and be content.

Basically what I’m getting at here is that through all the stress and hard work that have been hitting me this entire semester, I’m glad that it’s finally over and I have a bright, relaxing summer to look forward to. The warm afternoons, the stormy nights, the bonfires, the hookah parties, or just relaxing on the screen porch, falling asleep in the chase lounge are all things that I have to look forward to. So all you college students out there fretting over finals and worrying about grades and their futures, take a step back and look at all the good things you’ve done so far and all the great things in the future that lie ahead of you. Realize that ultimately they’re just grades and a beige piece of paper, and that what you should be worrying about is how many times your going to ride Superman at Six Flags this summer.

A friend and I were talking the other day and she started telling me about a trip her and some friends took to a haunted house. Not the kind on Halloween, but the tourist attraction type. While they were in the house, one of the people there started talking about how they could feel the presence of the spirits and that she may have physically been touched by something while she was in there. My friend commented about how ridiculous that was and how silly her friend was for saying anything like that. At that point an interesting sequence of thoughts ran through my head, in this order:

1. Why was this ridiculous? It is just someone’s thoughts and feelings about the paranormal. They could be just as real as anything else, we just don’t know.
2. Wait, my friend thinks this is ridiculous because her religious beliefs tell her it is ridiculous. For ghosts and spirits to exist that can physically touch you, Christianity would have to be false, and therefore any beliefs in the paranormal are obviously ridiculous.
3. Doesn’t she realize that non-believers consider her devout faith in God, Jesus, and the Bible equally ridiculous, since it is based on the same amount of fact as ghosts and other paranormal beings?
4. How would I be treated if I laughed about my close friends who have faith in Christianity and called them ridiculous in public. Why is it OK for people to mock minority belief systems, but it is blasphemous (and nearly criminal in the South) to do the same about Christianity?

I don’t think I would necessarily call my friend’s judgements (which aren’t isolated to just her) hypocrisies, I think of it more as ignorance. Although ignorance has a negative connotation, what else do you call it when someone doesn’t realize their own shortcomings? Anyway, moving past that, this actually helped me realize something about myself. Because I am 1) non-religious, and 2) socially liberal, I feel like I have fostered a highly non-judgmental character, and am very proud of that. My first instinct when I hear about someone’s beliefs is not to ridicule or stereotype them, but to accept their beliefs as just another facet of their character. While Christianity (and most other religions) preach about acceptance of others, I am much happier actually living that acceptance instead of merely preaching it.

The trash on the ground, the gum under the desk, the empty toilet paper roll in the bathroom, and the smudges on the windows of the doors all are cleaned up or taken care of by type of person in public areas: the Janitor.  When you think of a Janitor, do you think of the guy with the raggity old clothing that has a faded name patch on the side?  Maybe the loveable gray cart with the yellow trash bag on the back?  There’s many things that come to mind when you think of a janitor, but the sad thing is, none of it is positive.  When ever someone thinks of a janitor they always think of them as a nothing, not a person.  People don’t realize that they are people too, just like you and me.  Most of the people in this position are NOT high school drop outs that took that sort of job because they have nothing going for them, or ever will.  Some of them have graduated from either a two year or four year technical school or university with a major in engineering or something of that sort, and decided that an easier job like this best sooted their needs.  Then there’s also the younger kids and young adults you see doing this job.  Most parents look at these kids as worthless individuals who wasted away their lives and have to resort to doing shit jobs because they can’t make anything of their lives.  This is false.  I currently hold position where some of my duties require me to take care of custodial tasks, and I haven’t wasted away my life, I’m not going nowhere, I haven’t dropped out of school.  I’m working my way up from the very bottom in hopes to make it to the very top, so that way I can see what it really takes to run a business where all the employees are happy and treated equally.

The workplace is no different.  You would think your fellow employees would treat you with more respect because they work with you and know how bad of a job it is, but this is entirely false.  I receive radio call after radio call from people at the front desk for the smallest little tasks that we have 5 different people on staff that could do the job, but they always call me because no one else wants to do it.  The most ridiculous call I ever got was someone had dropped a piece of paper on the floor and they wanted me to come pick it up.  Now, let me just set the scene here.  It was a Saturday afternoon, so there was a Building Supervisor, two Open Gym Supervisors, a person running Registration, a Fit Desk worker, and me working that day.  I was busy downstairs cleaning a fitness studio when I get this call, and when I go upstairs to find this piece of paper, I find it on the opposite side of the desk where the Registration lady sits, and behind the desk are the Open Gym Supervisors, and the Building supervisor, all talking, doing nothing. One of them is actually on the computer checking their facebook.  Even though these people were sitting right there, doing nothing, the registration lady thought it would be best to pull me from what I was busy doing to come pick up this piece of paper for her.

This is the type of ignorance that I’m talking about. The simple tasks that they can take two seconds out of their time to do themselves, they decide to just pawn it off onto someone else, they pawn it off to someone else, until finally it gets down to the lowest guy on the food chain who has no one to pawn it off to, so he has to do it himself.  I have multiple examples of this sort of stuff but it’d just turn into me ranting about how people become so much lazier once there’s a janitor employed at their workplace.

I want to change the stereotype of janitors, especially the ones that are younger individuals like myself.  They’re not worthless individuals, and they shouldn’t be looked over.  These people work hard and are good at what they do.  They’re the reason why when you walk into a building and you think “Wow, this place looks awesome!”  They’re the ones that make it look awesome.  Next time you see a janitor, young or old, take a look around and realize that the place they’re in charge of looks the way it does because of the hard work and commitment they put into their job.  Don’t overlook them, appreciate them.

I know correlation does not imply causation, but I still want to apply fuzzy logic to this post I found on clusterflock. Excerpt below:

How Some Bloggers Feel About Talking on the Phone

Yglesias: “I couldn’t be more thrilled with the phone’s decline. I used to be painfully shy as a person, and while I’ve largely gotten over that IRL I still find it incredibly stressful to talk to people on the phone.”

Atrios: “I think I enjoyed chatting with girls when I was 13 or so, but since then I’ve pretty much hated the phone.”

Alan Jacobs: “This is a loathing I share, and have for a long time.”

McMegan: “Weird fact: every single (successful) blogger I know hates talking on the phone. I’m gregarious face to face, and I’m an inveterate user of various kinds of textual messaging, but I would rather scrub my floors with a toothbrush than get on the phone.”

The logic I want to apply is this: I am a blogger by definition since you are reading this post. I also very much dislike talking on the phone, but consider myself socially competent both in face to face interactions and through text. These facts combined imply (fuzzy logic incoming) that I am a soon-to-be successful blogger.

I know, I know. This makes no sense. But if successful bloggers hate the phone, and I blog and hate the phone, there is at least potential, right? I wonder what the real reasoning behind the correlation between bloggers and their hatred of the telephone, if there even is one. Anyone want to do an in depth study on this? I’m sure there is a psychology major out there that needs a thesis or term paper topic.

We have all read the news stories: students kicked off of sports teams for incriminating pictures on Facebook or recent graduates not getting jobs because the employer Googled their name and found controversial discussions on message boards. These kinds of stories are generally met with frustration, but are ultimately accepted as OK since it was the individuals decision to incriminate themselves on the internet. But what happens when activities that happen often offline, such as student study groups, start moving online? According to TheStar.com (via Slashdot), Ryerson University believes these actions should end in expulsion.

I’ll give you a quick overview, but for a full understanding of the story check out the link above. One student set up a Facebook group where he and other students would ask questions and provide tips, not solutions, to homework problems. Over 100 students had joined the group and have treated it as a virtual “study group.” They even named the Facebook group the same as the popular group study hall on campus.

Because the actions of the students are nearly identical to how students have been studying in groups for decades, this issue is a slippery slope. What if the students were to bring a tape recorder to their offline study sessions so they could refer back to the conversations? What if copies of this tape were made for all the students that participated in the study group? What if this tape were then shared online for other students wishing to participate in virtual study groups? Where is the line drawn here. Because this started as an offline medium, is it ok? Or do these faculty members think students should only be working independently in the first place? I can’t imagine what college would have been like without guidance from my peers.

What this comes down to, in my mind, is a lack of understanding on the part of the faculty. If precedence is set here, then I don’t know a single student that has not “cheated” his or her way through college. Everyone relies on their peers for help, and any university that tries to quash this is in serious denial.

Jokingly, I told my girlfriend Stacy to write an article for the blog instead of study for her big test on Wednesday. She’s been really stressing out about it lately, and I knew she wouldn’t have time to take a break. However,  she did have time to write this short article…

So my boyfriend asked me to write a little something to post on his new blog. After reading all of the computer science/tech savvy articles by him and his brothers, I felt a like anything I would write would be out of place. Instead, I decided to do the opposite of their trends and move a little closer to the stone age, away from computers - where I technologically fit.

I guess I should add a bit of history about me first. I am a junior in college at UIUC. I am studying psychology, but pursuing a career as a physician’s assistant. I hardly have a background in computers, although I’ve always been considered good at fixing electronics since I was young. Currently, my boyfriend is helping me fix up a web page for a club I am in. Other than that, when it comes to computers I know how to write a paper and play freecell and I wouldn’t give myself much credit for anything else. Back to the point I started making, moving back to the stone age makes me feel more comfortable that I don’t rely on technology everyday. Even though the medical field is increasing their reliance on technology, I’d rather rely on what has been around for a long time and what I know works.
For example, I volunteer at the local hospital in the ER. Just the other day I got to watch a guy’s head be sutured. This is a pretty good experience for a volunteer because most of our experience is restocking shelves or changing linens. When the nurse began to suture his head, the patient’s hair kept getting in the way of the knot. If she continued, this would have led to a very irritating healing process with hair stuck under the knot in the scab. So how did she solve this problem? A paper clip. When she first asked me to fetch a paper clip, I was surprised that the suture kit didn’t come with some kind of sterile clip that can hold back anything that will get in the way. But I guess you can always rely on paper clips.

Maybe it’s just the psych major in me, but this reminds me of a term — functional fixedness. It means that if you ’suffer’ from functional fixedness, you can only see an object for its intended use. So for people like this, a paper clip is only an object to hold papers together. When I say ’suffer’, maybe it’s a stretch, but I mean that these people lack the creativity and find a hard time deviating from norms, making their life less efficient. I learned this term in my first psychology class about four years ago. This was around the time that I also found another use for a paper clip. As much as I hate to reflect upon it, I worked at Subway for what seems like a lifetime. But I actually learned a lot from that place. Anyway, in our less than classy store, the toilet in the men’s room broke very often. However, a coworker of mine replaced the rusty/corroded part with a paper clip. I probably wouldn’t have thought of this idea myself, but needless to say, for the following four years that I worked there, we never had a problem with the toilet again.

Maybe these are just two examples of other uses of paper clips, but my point is that if you look around, there are a lot of things that have multiple purposes. And not all of these things are new. They are reliable tools that have been around for a long time. As I slowly pull myself out of the stone age and transition to a new era, I want to not only learn about computers and new electronics, but also how to use our past tools more efficiently. As a last thought, I leave you with the famous problem of fixing a candle to the wall and lighting it given only matches, a candle, and a matchbox filled with thumbtacks. Solve that and maybe you’ll see things a bit more in my light.

Well, I guess I can take ahold of this new place in line as the “New Guy.” Let me introduce myself, My name is Doctor Fraiser Kraine, professional radio psychologist. No, actually, I kid. My name is Brian Wegner, brother to all three of these other crazy bloggers that you have met so far. I reside in a cold cabin that I like to call, a bedroom in my parents house located in Downers Grove, IL. I’m currently attending College of DuPage, the local community college going for a general AA (Associates of Arts) degree and hopefully transferring off to one of the cardinal colleges to obtain a bachelors degree in Recreation Management. I, much like Scott (because he is my twin), am 21 years old. Let me talk about this a little bit actually.

Warning ahead of time, there are mention of underage indulgences ahead, so if you disagree with this, then stop reading now and please visit www.disney.com they’ve been waiting for you.

When I turned 21, I feel as if I changed a full deal more than I ever have before. When I first started college, attending Southern Illinois University Carbondale, I did as most freshmen did on their first weekend of college; I went out to find the best party in town and drink the night away. Needless to say I succeeded and was glad that I picked the college that I did. As time went on, and the weekends kept coming up quicker and quicker, and the parties got rowdier and rowdier; I realized that I loved the party atmosphere, but I didn’t like the skunk beer. So I started to have my friends buy me my own beer. I would make sure that I indulged in enough of my better, non-skunk beer to where when we went to a party, I was unable to taste the bitter beer. This went on for about two semesters, and when I came back in the fall of my sophomore year, I had my own apartment, my own fridge, and my own beer crisper (vegi-tray). I had also turned 20 that semester and decided I was against the house parties, and more for the bars, so that’s what I did. I frequented more bars than house parties. I enjoyed this new setting, it gave me a new sense of belonging and the atmosphere was amazing, but best of all, I didn’t have to drink skunk beer if I didn’t want to. I kept frequenting bars, and enjoyed every minute of it. After my sophomore year, I moved back home to finish up my AA. I turned 21 on a weekend and spent the majority of it with my girlfriend (Lindsay), my twin (Scott), his girlfriend (Stacy), and the rest of his roommates down at UIUC (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign). The rest of the weekend is obviously a blur, but it was definitely one of the most memorable weekends of my life (ironic huh?). Now that you have the background and lead-up story, I can now explain the change.

Since turning 21, I’ve noticed that drinking just to get drunk is really immature. The parties, the beer bongs, the drinking games, they all seem so…childish. Yeah, it’s fun to indulge in your young side every once in a while and do these things, but I have no real motivation or wanting to do this on a regular basis anymore. Instead of drinking every weekend of the semester, like I did freshman and sophomore year, I now only indulge in a tasty beverage every once in a while and haven’t been to a bar since my 21st (which was in October). I don’t drink to get drunk, I drink to socialize. Basically what I’m trying to say is I’ve lost my desire to be a “party animal” and now love just drinking on occasion, and this is by no means, a bad thing.

I hope this first blog doesn’t make me seem out to be an alcoholic, because I’m not. I’m just another 21 year old, living life day by day, and changing with the world around me. Enjoy the rest of your day, because I know I will.

-Brian