furiousBlog

I have wanted to build a MythTV computer for a long time. Now you very well may be asking "what is MythTV?", to which I would say "here, read this from the MythTV documentation:

MythTV is a GPL licensed suite of programs that allow you to build the mythical home media convergence box on your own using Open Source software and operating systems.

You would then smack me.

MythTV is basically a computer program that, in addition to some specialized hardware, turns a normal Linux computer into a Tivo. I'll probably post a entry at some point explaining why I want to build one instead of just buying a Tivo, but for now suffice it to say that I want to, and have wanted to for a long time.

And now it has begun. For today, most wonderful of all days, I have taken the first step. I have just ordered a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-350, which is the computer card that connects to the cable TV line and captures the video.

I'm giddy.

My plan is to install this card into a machine I already have to mess around with and learn how MythTV works and how to configure it. Then, I'll build a machine that will actually be the MythTV system. That machine will be a real beefy machine with a lot of storage. I'll probably do another entry where I talk about my planned specs for this machine.

I've got a lot of plans for this system, and I plan to document the whole process here, so I've created a new category under the Tech category specifically for entries pertaining to this. So, uh, woo hoo!

(I think I've mentioned this to someone before, so if it's you, ignore this post. Everyone else, please continue reading.)

O'Reilly (awesome publisher of tech books) has a cool feature on all of their online content. Each article, blog entry, etc. has a link to bookmark the current article with del.icio.us. For an example, see this article. The link is in the upper-right corner beneath the print and email links.

So, when you click it, it opens your del.icio.us posting page and prefills the title for you. Very handy. I love this kind of little nothing feature that just makes the web that much easier.

My first Trail is about the current Bill Frist potential stock sale scandal.

WP: Senator Sold Stock Before Price Dropped (9/21/05)

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a potential presidential candidate in 2008, sold all his stock in his family's hospital corporation about two weeks before it issued a disappointing earnings report and the price fell nearly 15 percent.

WP: SEC, Justice Investigate Frist's Sale of Stock (9/24/05)

A spokesman said Frist's office has been contacted by both the SEC and the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan about his divestiture of the stock. HCA disclosed separately that it was subpoenaed by the same U.S. attorney's office for documents that were related to Frist's sale. Frist and HCA said they are cooperating.

Jonah Goldberg (9/24/05)

My guess is that this stock sale stuff will ultimately fizzle out, mostly because I doubt Frist is so stupid as to do what some allege. But I see nothing wrong with the appropriate agencies investigating Frist's blind-trust stock sale.

WP: Frist Issue Adds to GOP's Ethics Troubles (9/25/05)

...said Nicholas E. Calio, a former aide to both Presidents Bush. "To me, it's inconceivable that he [Frist] would sell stock based on inside information. He doesn't need the money."

...

Frist, asked in a January 2003 TV interview whether he should sell his HCA stock, replied that his assets were in a blind trust and, "as far as I know, I own no HCA stock." Referring to his trust and those of his family, he added: "It is illegal right now for me to know what the composition of those trusts are. So I have no idea."

Democrats.org (9/26/05?)

Frist has claimed he sold the stock in HCA Inc., founded by his father and brother (who still sits on the company's board), to avoid any conflict of interest. He has not identified what new conflict has arisen that did not exist for his previous 10 years in the Senate.

Statement by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (9/26/05)

An examination of the facts will demonstrate that I acted properly. I will cooperate with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York to provide the information they need as quickly as possible. My only objective in selling the stock was to eliminate the appearance of a conflict of interest. I had no information about HCA or its performance that was not publicly available when I directed the trustees to sell the stock.

Documents: Frist knew contents of blind trust (9/27/05)

Blind trusts are designed to keep an arm's-length distance between federal officials and their investments, to avoid conflicts of interest. But documents show that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist knew quite a bit about his accounts from nearly two dozen letters from the trust administrators.

If I read anything else that adds anything interesting to the discussion, I'll update this post with it.

Update: I just found this: Frist Stock Timeline. It's a lot more thorough than what I've presented above, so it may be a better resource. I'm not really shooting for a comprehensive review with these trails, though. I'm more shooting for a thorough overview of a subject. In that respect, I think I've delved a little too deep into the details with this first one. It's the first trail, though, so I expect that this feature will evolve as I post more.

Linux Magazine recently introduced the idea of trails on their website:

Linux Magazine introduces trails. A trail is a series of links that deeply explores a topic or technique, drawing on a combination of new material, existing content from the Linux Magazine archive, and pointers to examples and additional articles on the Web.

I've decided to blatantly steal that idea and introduce trails here on furiousBlog. Their trails look to just be links to old articles on their site (a clever way to drive ad views, but not necessarily to better inform or educate). Mine will be links to articles that I've read about a particular topic that will hopefully explain the topic thouroughly. I see it as an easy way to link to articles that I find interesting, but about which I don't have much to add (due to either stupidity or laziness).

I've added a Trails category, so that you can see all of the trails I post. All trails will be posted under this category, as well as the appropriate category for the topic discussed.

I'm working on the first one, so look for it soon.

...shall not certainly perish from the earth.

(apologies to Abraham Lincoln)

Gary saw this flag at the anti-war rally this past weekend:

What a great symbol of what I consider to be one of, if not the, main problem with the U.S. government today: the influence of corporations through campaign donations and other such legalized bribes on our congress and president. The flag is made by the unbrand America campaign, which I hadn't heard about previously, but will definitely keep an eye on from now on.

I will definitely be buying one.