osama i. al-dosary

When I moved my blog to WordPress I read some best practices that said I should not require users to register to in order to post comments, claiming that I didn’t need to worry about spam. So I left it open for anyone to anonymously post. It worked out fine for the first year or so. Then about a month ago I got over 4′000 spam comments within a few days.

I stopped the open policy, but now I’m stuck with all these spam comments that I’m not sure how I’m going to get rid of.

I wonder why the sudden rise of the spam comments. I’m guessing that spammers have been able to get around the text guessing game that WordPress uses, somehow.

I upgraded my desktop to Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 when it first came. Ubuntu 7.10/Feisty was running fine before that.

Immediately after the upgrade things worked great. The Compiz effects were cool. The new NetworkManager seemed nice.

A week or two later I started to notice that random application would stop responding and at other times the gui would hang. Then one, I noticed the when I booted up the machine I would get an error at first “Internal error, failed to initialize HAL!” accompanied by the NetworkManager showing the network disconnected, even though the network was up and running fine — I could browse, ping and everything normally.

I did some googling to figure out if anybody is having this. The answer is: yes. The solution: no clear solution. At least I couldn’t find one that really applied to me. Also, I kept hitting old bugs from old versions of Ubuntu for both problems.

I ignored these problems for a few weeks, but it seemed the hanging was increasing in frequency — or it could’ve been that my patience running thin.

Finally, my machine froze up and did not recover during a reboot. It would freeze up right after icecast2 then mysql started. So I autoremoved both icecast2 and mysql hoping that would fix. No luck. … No its time to get dirty and look at the logs. …

I will keep you posted.

A friend of mine was traveling to LA as part of larger trip he has planned for himself and his wife. When he told me that he was going to LA for tourism, my immediate response was “why? there not much there worth visiting”. But I agreed to email him a few pointers, and below is my original email. Let me know what you think or if there is anyway I can improve this guide: …

Before writing this I didn’t think that there was much to see in LA, by the time I got half way through this, I was amazed. I feel like visiting LA again.

Warning

I would like to warn you with following about Los Angeles so you don’t get shocked:

1) Parking is hell. Very difficult to find and very expensive. This is part of LA culture: If you are going to shopping centers they will usually have parking, but remember to read the signs. Parking can be 10$/hour. Often the parking is just for one free hour, also take the ticket that’s issued during entry into the parking area, you usually can validate your parking for an additional 2 to 3 hours. Validating parking can simply be a stamp by a store clerk or can be a little magnetic machine you stick the ticket in — always ask “where can I validate my parking?” Also there are some malls like Westfield where some parking exit lanes are fully automated, so if you are leaving and you haven’t validated your parking, then you will be stuck in the lane. You don’t want that to happen to you, read the signs carefully.

2) A lot of homeless people, they usually reek of alcohol and other non-pleasantries. Get used to seeing them around. Especially in city areas, and Venice beach.

3) Traffic can be very bad if you are caught during rush hours (so its good to include traffic in your plans.)

4) Don’t even think of public transportation. Buses are a mess, late and don’t go everywhere. Car rental is the only way to go.

Fast Food Must Eat

Before I get in to the details, I have to mention that there are two LA must visit fast food joints:

1) “In & Out” (Get the number 2, or 3)

2) Fat Burger (Get the King burger on the char, w/char grilled Onions)

Jack in the Box is also good. All these above three are good for drive through. There not the best restaurants for dining in — especially Fat Burger.

I will not forgive you if you come back and have not eaten from In & Out.

Beaches in General

If you would like to spend time at the beach in general, then the cleanest beaches are Redondo, Manhattan, Laguna and Zuma Beach. Santa Monica and Venice don’t have the cleanest beaches, but they are near other attractions. The Santa Monica area (especially 3rd St.) brings in people for the street shop/walk area and the vast amount of restaurants. Whereas Venice, the attraction there is the strange shops at the beach with its associated strange people. At my time, Venice beach had an amazing amount of homeless people, with a bit of thieves here and there. I’m sure its much better now.

Coastal Fun

Catalina Island

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Catalina_Island,_California#Tourism_and_attractions

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=33.479563&lon=-118.437424&z=11&l=0&m=a&v=2

Paradise Cove, Malibu

This is the cove I mentioned to you, where I was the only one there. It looks like it haze become more popular, since my time.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=l&hl=en&geocode=&q= restaurant&near=paradise+cove+malibu&ie= UTF8&ll=34.021755,-118.785145&spn= 0.013232,0.025427&z=16&om=1

It is worth a visit, at least to have a meal at the Beach Cafe.

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=34.019577&lon=-118.786395&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2 (The houses are above the cliffs, so you don’t see them when you are in the cove)

Marina Del Ray

There are couple of nice parks there, and you might like seeing all the parked boats. From the satellite image it looks like the canal boats of Venice, Italy.

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=33.976214&lon=-118.445234&z=15&l=0&m=a&v=2

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=l&hl=en&geocode=&q= Burton+Chase+Park&near=marina+del+rey,+Los+Angeles,+California,+United+States&ie= UTF8&ll=33.979141,-118.441876&spn=0.013754,0.025706&z= 16&om=1&layer=c&cbll=33.987657,-118.453055

Venice Beach

It right south of Santa Monica Beach and north of Marina Del Ray.

Venice beach has a walk way that is famous for it funky atmosphere and wired people. I don’t know if you would be comfortable with your wife there.

You can rent roller blades, two seater bikes, swim gear, bongs, weed and hookers

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=33.989675&lon=-118.476123&z=17&l=0&m=a&v=2

Day trip to Santa Barbara

You can also a day drive up the coast on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). Have Breakfast in Malibu on your way to Santa Barbara. Spend half the day in Santa Barbara, then drive back and catch the Sunset at Malibu (maybe Zuma beach.) There is a lot of sandy coast, and very easy to get reasonable privacy. (So take a blanket with you, maybe even picnic on the beach.)

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=34.145908&lon=-118.954468&z=10&l=0&m=a&v=2

The best view of the sunset is facing West or South West — Keep the map in mind.

Recreation/Shopping Villages

(Shop, dine, coffee and/or watch movies)

3rd Street Promenade, Santa Monica

3rd street is the most active, but the entire area is full of restraints and funky shops, and about 3 movie theaters.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q= 3rd+St+Prom,+Santa+Monica,+Los+Angeles,+California,+United+States&sll= 34.008985,-118.488193&sspn=0.027499,0.051413&ie=UTF8&cd=1&z=17&om=1

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=34.016349&lon=-118.496861&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2

Century City Westfield Mall (Remember to validate, ask where)

Its one of LA best malls. Also has a new movie theaters. This place used to be where all the Saudi tourist would gather during the day, but no longer after 911.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=l&hl=en&geocode=&q=westfield+mall&near= century+city,+Los+Angeles,+California,+United+States&ie= UTF8&cd=1&z=14&om=1

Beverly Center — Shopping Center (Remember to validate, ask where)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q= beverly+center,+Los+Angeles,+California,+United+States&sll= 34.07719,-118.373051&sspn=0.027477,0.051413&ie=UTF8&ll= 34.073884,-118.377299&spn=0.027478,0.051413&z=15&iwloc=addr&om=1

Westside Pavilion (Remember to validate, ask where)

This shopping center is near Westwood, and has a Barns&Noble books store. The area around the shopping center has some nice restaurants.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q= westside+pavillion,+Los+Angeles,+California,+United+States&ie=UTF8&ll= 34.040143,-118.426094&spn=0.027489,0.051413&z=15&om=1

The Grove (Shopping Center) at the Farmers Market

Another nice shopping village area to shop, dine and have coffee. It also has a large book store (B&N) and movie theater. Keep in mind that is location is not obvious from the outside.

http://www.farmersmarketla.com/newsandevents/index.asp

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=l&hl=en&geocode=&q= shopping&near=gilmore+ln+and+farmers+market+pl,+Los+Angeles, +California,+United+States&layer=c&ie= UTF8&z=17&iwloc=A&om=1&cbll=34.073,-118.35958

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=34.072284&lon=-118.357859&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2

(Pasadena and Burbank are nice suburb cities (about 30 minutes away. I used to often visit on Saturdays.) Very nice to drive through, and have pretty village shopping areas.)

Pasadena

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=l&hl=en&geocode=&q=restaurant&near= pasadena,+Los+Angeles,+California,+United+States&ie=UTF8&cd= 1&ll=34.14723,-118.14422&spn=0.105698,0.20565&z=13&om=1

Burbank

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=34.185607&lon=-118.32593&z=14&l=0&m=a&v=2

(Town Center) http://wikimapia.org/#lat=34.183619&lon=-118.312798&z=16&l=0&m=a&v=2

Other Very Important Interests

Beverly hills

You should definitely visit Rodeo Dr.. Do some Window Shopping, walk around and you can then stop at one of the many cafes in the area. Also remember to drive past the police station.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=l&hl=en&geocode=&q=cafe&near= n+rodeo+dr.+and+dayton+way,+Los+Angeles,+California,+United+States&ie= UTF8&ll=34.06782,-118.40159&spn=0.013225,0.025706&z=16&om=1

Hollywood Chinese Mann Theater

Take a look at the hand, food and face prints of some famous Hollywood movie actors.

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2812879-mann_s_chinese_theatre_los_angeles-i

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q= 6925+Hollywood+Boulevard,+Los+Angeles,+California,+United+States&sll= 34.09833,-118.32583&sspn=0.01322,0.025706&ie=UTF8&ll=34.102322,-118.339673&spn= 0.013219,0.025706&z=16&om=1&layer=c&cbll=34.101542,-118.340935

La Brea Tar Pits

There is a museum and park. Nice for a two to three hour visit. There is also LACMA (LA County Museum, right near.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q= la+brea+tar+pit,+Los+Angeles,+California,+United+States&ie=UTF8&ll= 34.062615,-118.354822&spn=0.003306,0.006427&z=18&iwloc=A&om=1

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=34.063368&lon=-118.355858&z=19&l=0&m=a&v=2

Exposition Park

Right near USC (my school), it has several nice museums, a rose garden, IMAX theater and a Science Center.

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=34.016518&lon=-118.286952&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q= kinsey+dr+and+exposition+blvd,+Los+Angeles,+California,+United+States&sll= 34.01529,-118.284763&sspn=0.006616,0.012853&layer=c&ie= UTF8&ll=34.015433,-118.284763&spn=0.006616,0.012853&z= 17&iwloc=addr&om=1&cbll=34.01436,-118.284741

Amusement parks

And of course you have you amusement parks: Universal Studios, MGM Studios, Disney. After visiting Universal Studios, you can visit Universal City walk http://wikimapia.org/#lat=34.136518&lon=-118.353224&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2, where can also play games, dine, shop, etc.

Griffith Observatory

Nice drive up the mountain, and not too far. The best thing about it, is that it has a beautiful view of LA. So I would recommend going there near sunset, and get a view before and after sunset.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q= griffith+observatory,+Los+Angeles,+California,+United+States&sll= 34.140651,-118.277435&sspn=0.105706,0.20565&ie= UTF8&ll=34.119479,-118.30061&spn=0.105732,0.20565&z=13&iwloc=addr&om=1

LA Driving

Some good streets to do some cruising on are: Sunset Blvd (around West Hollywood), Santa Monica Blvd (all the way from Santa Monica to West Hollywood), Wilshire, PCH.

I would also recommend taking a drive through the sky-scrapers of Downtown LA (http://wikimapia.org/#lat=34.050259&lon=-118.253253&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2).

LA Walking

There are a lot of nice places to walk, I don’t know where to start. I like to walk around UCLA campus, its very beautiful, you might like it too. You can park in Westwood Village, then walk north into UCLA, then come back into the Village for food and coffee.

Another nice area is in Santa Monica at the cliffs overlooking the beach and PCH.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=l&hl=en&geocode=&q= restaurant&near=paradise+cove+malibu&ie= UTF8&om=1&ll=34.013983,-118.498063&spn= 0.013233,0.025706&z=16

There are also some good trails in Santa Monica Mountains.

One last thing, during the weekends, entertainment areas get much more crowded. So you might want to plan on visiting amusement parks and beaches during weekdays, and maybe during the weekends you can do more driving activities, since less cars are on the roads (especially Sundays.) There are some sights you can visit on the same day since they are near each other, like La Brea Tar Pits & The Grove/Farmers Market; Hollywood & Griffith Observatory; 3rd St. Promenade & Venice Beach; etc.

For some reason I’m loosing interest in blogging. Its been while that I actually thought of sharing my opinions on my blog. Actually, when I think about it, I’m getting used to not sharing my opinions, in general — unless someone really really wants to hear it. I don’t recall that I was always like this, though. I think I can attribute my disinterest in sharing my opinions mostly to my current job, (which is in a technical sales environment.) I interact a lot with experienced and more importantly very opinionated people. I often struggle to answer a question that I was asked directly, sometimes this is because there are so many people around ready to share their uninvited thoughts. Other times its because the one who asked the question is uncomfortable being seen as a non-expert in something and starts interrupting me with “I already know this” or preemptive guesses as to what I’m about to say.

The latter character type can be difficult to work with, but I’m mostly used to it and used to working in an environment where overblown egos are plentiful.

I don’t think that I was like that, though. Well, maybe I was when I first started work life. Eager to impress. I don’t think I am now, though — please feel free to correct me!

Actually, I’m at a stage where I’m very comfortable looking like I lack much knowledge. This usually works to my advantage in many ways. I often ask questions that I know the answer to, either as a segue or to get indirect information. Behaving in such a manner also helps to strengthen ties with people you hope to build a relationship with or work with. Also, the more you listen, the more likely people are willing to listen to you with greater care, if your turn finally comes around.

Listening is very powerful … in my opinion.

I was having lunch with friends the other day at Fudrucker’s and decided to order a burger, while highlighting that I’m trying to do a survey of the best hamburgers in Riyadh (that I know of.) I was immediately reprimanded that I didn’t blog about this topic.

I started apprehensively talking about my hamburger experience, and quickly faced disagreement. This made me question blogging about it all together. But I will do so some time later in another entry.

I thought I’d list my favorite Firefox extensions for easy access:

• del.icio.us
• googlebar
• flashblock
• autocopy
• IE Tab
• FasterFox
• SwitchProxy

And if you don’t have Firefox yet, you can download it from: http://getfirefox.com/

Trigen: An Efficient Method for Building Utility

I just learned about this technology/technique, and I thought it quite interesting. Basically, its making use of the  by-products of Building Power/Electricity Generation to generate heat and cooling in a factory pre-built system. The goal of Trigen is also called cogeneration, which is making using of one generation system to drive another generation system. In the past power, heating and cooling was often designed, purchased and implemented independently. Then to do cogenration some engineering was needed to integrate these separate parts together was engineered and integrated through custom work.

The power generation produces much heat as byproduct. This heat can be used to heat the building, or for cooling by using absorption chillers.

With Trigeneration the integration of Cooling, Heating and Power is done by design, resulting in many benefits such as:

- Reduced cost of custom integration, since integration of the functions are done at the factory
- Improved ROI from Greater system efficiency, since the components were designed to work together
- Reduced size of CHP unit because of unified design

Good news (BBC NEWS | Technology | Q&A: Googles Android.) I’m relieved that the rumours of a Google Phone (GPhone), were not true. This initiative is much more beneficial to the market and end-users in the long run.

Open Source/Linux has been on mobile handsets for a while, but no great successes yet. Hopefully this alliance can help push free software into the middle of where things are happening. Once an open source product has feature parity with existing mainstream products, this will fuel market acceptance, which can then unleash further creativity of open source developers. A great example of this transition is what happened with Mozilla’s Firefox.

I’m surprised that other Linux Mobile firms did not get on the bandwagon. It might make sense for ACCESS (owner of PalmSource) to join the club, as the have GNU/Linux based Mobile Operating System ALP (ACCESS Linux Platform.) We’ve been hearing about ALP for the past few years, yet I haven’t seen show up on any phones.  Since PalmOne/Palm Inc. doesn’t seem to want it (See nice Wikipedia page on this,) that might make a good partnership with this alliance.

FreeMind is a free mind mapping software and Open Source clone of the cool Mindmapper.

Mind mapping software is very useful for organization of information. It can be very useful for Brainstrooming sessions, organizing thoughts and priorities, and even for simply remembering things.

Funny clip from “The Colbert Report” (The DailyShow”) on telecom deregulation in the US … Cingular At&t merger.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8272904305020506182

I remember seeing it a while back, and wanted to look it up for some friends. It took me a while to find it though. Most of the links on YouTube or Google Video didn’t work for some reason. So I hope this one continues to work for some time.