Oliver Hansen

Move Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance Menu To Left Side

Finally!!!!! I found the method to move the in-game menu to the left and back to the bottom of the screen in Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance. I had done this accidentally and had no idea how it happened. I searched and searched online and didn’t find anything so I just had to make due for a few months til I finally decided to search again today. I found an obscure reference to it on this page talking about the game in general. I couldn’t even find how to do this in the manual.

How to do it: While in the game, press Alt + Up Arrow to switch the menu between the bottom of the screen (default) and left of the screen.

Cops Shoot a Man in Public and On Video — Claim Accident

This is just absurd. Yet how does it keep happening? I won’t bother to go into all the details. If you care, you can check the link at http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Video_shows_police_shooting_man_laying_0105.html

Update: Another story with more details and a better video that shows the actual shooting. Don’t worry, it’s not bloody but it shows it was clearly unnecessary.

Washington State Snowstorm December 2008

It’s been quite a week with all the snow. The buses have done an admirable job mostly so I’m not having to be out there driving. Definitely one to remember though. Quite cold for Washington state as it’s been several days last week that didn’t get above freezing. I thought I’d share some pics from around my area. I’m in Snohomish County so it’s not the same as Seattle but the whole region got snow at some point or another.

Moving and Organizing My Home Server Closet

I actually did this back in August but I didn’t get around to uploading the photos til today so here it is!

Some wise person suggested that since I had a free room that I move my servers to the closet in that room instead of keeping them in my own closet. I’ve gotten used to closing the door to the walk-in closet each night to lessen the noise of the fans but having them in another room would be even better! I decided if I was going to do this that I should do it a little better than last time. I now have three servers: One acting as my router and running IPCop, a second running a web server for local development and testing, and a third running Samba and acting as my main file server. It started as just one and grew to more.

Instead of taking up more floor space, I decided to stop by the local thrift store and find some sort of small desk. I found a pretty beat up rolling desk and paid $10 for it. One wheel fell off while I was rolling it out to the car but oh well. haha. Anyways, it fit in the closet and had two levels for my computers to sit on.

I had some zip ties and cable running hardware from when I planned to re-run my grandma’s phone line a while back so I used those to run the cable along the wall instead of the gaff tape I used previously. I couldn’t mount the switch on the wall but I did put it up above on the top shelf of the closet. I used zip ties as cable management to run the permanent cables up to the switch. As I get more or have temporary cables I won’t worry about the neatness so much but at least the existing cables are managed nicely. It’s not perfect by any standards but I think it’s a step up and not bad for an amateur with a couple hours.

Photos below:
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The Visitor – A Look at American Immigration

The Visitor had a bit of personal meaning to me while watching it which I didn’t fully realize until I began. The movie hit me from two different angles. The first and most obvious to me was that main character Walter Vale (played by Richard Jenkins) was not happy and not at all comfortable in his life. I’ve felt this way from time to time and have often thought of how terrible it would be to go on like that indefinitely. The second angle is that of the American Immigration system. Having recently attempted to bring a long distance relationship closer by having her stay with me for a few months from another country, I know (almost) first hand how rude, disrespectful, and unhelpful the Immigration officers at the airport can be. The Visitor is not about airport immigration at all but it shows the same calloused view and methods taken by our system. I hesitate to even say “our” system because I’m ashamed to admit it is ours as Americans.

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