Help a Linux Brother Out …

Soooo … anyone have a good recommendation for an open-source application I can use (RPM package in a perfect world) to rip a DVD (.vob files) into .avi and perhaps take that .avi and splice and dice it into sections?

I have a Sony Handycam which doesn’t have “chapters” on the DVD, it’s more like one big DVD blob of 30-minute length that I need to pull some parts and pieces out of.

I’ve been using a particular application that seems to work well on movies, but of course I would NEVER download and install an open-source application from somewhere like oh, I don’t know, a server in some chain-smoking, wanted-on-human-slave-trafficking-charges Czechoslovakian’s basement to circumvent United States Federal Regulations in order to rip an encrypted movie like Raiders of the Lost Ark or a few episodes from a Firefly DVD by essentially stealing intellectual property through the use of illegal software compiled by a team of criminals in a foreign country so I could store it on my hard drive so I can watch it whenever I wish without waiting for the post office to - I believe deliberately - mangle some infernal Netflix red envelope each time I get a hankering to watch Jaynestown …

Uhhh … anyway …

I’m no video expert by a longshot, but trying to get this thing ripped into .AVI or .MPEG is just not happening. I’ve tried using nearly every combination of codec (ffmpeg, divx, h264, SVCD, SXVCD, SXVECDESSCDED, whatever), and no matter what the audio comes out waaaaaaay out of sync.

Any smurt open-source x-poyt (I’m looking at you, Ted), care to chime in?

I’ve tried quite a few different applications with very little luck. I should just suck it up and switch to Ubuntu already - I hear after installing Ubuntu you experience less technical issues, your teeth get whiter, and a magical unicorn follows you around, crapping steamin’ hot gold bricks.

No Comments »

Liberty on January 5th 2009 in General Crap

If Money Were No Object …

… and in the Shangri-La of your imagination, you could have any single firearm of any obscure (ie: don’t pick 9mm) caliber, what weapon would it be, and what caliber would it be?

As for moi, probably one of these:

20mm Vulcan

That’s an M61 20mm Vulcan*. Kind of makes a .22 round look like … er … small, don’t it:

20mm Vulcan Round

And I’d mount it on top of my Wrangler YJ*. Like this:

YJ

Traffic? No problem.

And you? What ridiculous weapon would you want? And would you mount it on your car or your house (providing you’d not carry it around - though in the case of 20mm vulcan, I can’t imagine how I’d stuff more than 20 or so rounds into a backpack and my pockets - though open carry at a soccer game would be a shitload of fun).

*Note: That is not my YJ.

*Note2: Regrettably, that is also not my M61.

*Note3: If it WAS my Vulcan and it WAS my YJ, I’d at least have the good sense not to mount it on a soft top.

2 Comments »

Liberty on January 5th 2009 in Boomsticks!

Friday Random iPod - New Year ’60s Throwback Edition

The confetti has fallen, the ball has dropped, the fireworks have made their way down to the ground - about the only thing that’s gone up in the past week is our collective weight and cholesterol level! DAMN YOU EGG NOG!!!

Now that we can turn off “holiday music”, put the obnoxious lights away and resume our normal living again, it’s time to review what random iPod gifts have been bequeathed upon you, dear readers - from my infernal little audio device:

Week 2: Inva Mula and Isle of Q
Week 1: Amy Winehouse and Billy Idol

The first selection this week happens to be one of the Great Guitar Gods of Rock.

There are precious few “Great Guitar Gods of Rock” that have ever existed, and no, I’m not talking Yngwie Malmsteen. I’m talking ROCK Gods, not operatic electric guitar Chromatic Scale Experts - that’s a whole ‘nother category.

What classifies one as a Great Guitar God of Rock? The ability to create a legendary “hook” in their music. And the ability to create a legendary solo. Basically, to create something that decades down the line young pimply teenagers re-discover and attempt with complete and utter futility to emulate. Think Angus Young. Think Slash. Think Eddie Van Halen. Think …

… Jimi Hendrix.

Jimi had to grow on me a little bit, I’ll admit that at first I didn’t “get it” with him. His play sounded a little sloppy to me. A little ho-hum. But if you really listen to him you get the sense that his guitar play is really an extension of singing. It’s really remarkable how guitar play can mimic emotion and I don’t know that anybody has ever done that better than he has. Forget the drugs, crazy hair, playing with the teeth, setting the guitar on fire and all that gimmicky crap you see. Really listen to Jimi Hendrix and how he gives that instrument it’s voice and know that he’s a very rare breed indeed. Forget the image and all that’s left is a virtuoso with a very unique sound who left us very early. I give you, Hey Joe:

Man, lots of the good ones die young, don’t they?

Our next random selection is one of my all-time favorite songs from one of my all-time favorite albums.

Artist? The Beatles. Album? Abbey Road.

First, and just so we don’t have to spend any time arguing here - Abbey Road is the greatest fucking Beatles album ever and if you disagree with me you’re a moron and deserve to have a rabid and enthusiastically bloodthirsty porcupine shoved into the front of your boxer shorts. Don’t you even try to start any of that Sgt. Pepper bullshit, I’m not hearing it.

Abbey Road is Chuck Norris to Sgt. Pepper’s Jean Claude Van Damme.

I’m glad we could get that out of the way.

Secondly, the greatest song on Abbey Road just came up on my iPod.

This song features it all … sloooow bluesy riffs, some complicated guitar and drum play, and the Moog. Ooooooh how I love me some Moog. What’s more is it has the greatest sweeping, intense “rock symphonic” portions in Rock history, IMHO, climaxing toward the end of the track. It’s definitely a heavyweight song - particularly for it’s time, coming in at more than 7 minutes. If you ask me to peg for you the perfect Beatles song, this is it.

Reading a bit about it online, it turns out that this song was the last time all four Beatles worked together in the studio. It’s a true masterpiece …

I Want You (She’s So Heavy). There’s no video, so just give it a good listen and enjoy:

That is all for week #3 of random iPod. Look for a more regular non-holiday level of blogging to resume in the next week or so.

1 Comment »

Liberty on January 2nd 2009 in Random Friday iPod Joy

A Revolver and One Round …

could have saved this woman.

A 20-year-old Drexel Hill radio dispatcher for the Pennsylvania State Police was killed by her estranged boyfriend last night as her 13-year-old sister hid in a closet frantically calling their father and police.

When seconds count …

Upper Darby police superintendent Michael Chitwood said the woman had broken off her relationship with the boyfriend on Sunday and moved back in with her parents on the 400 block of Foss Avenue in Drexel Hill. She arrived home at 5:30 p.m. last night the ex-boyfriend was outside the house. “He was laying in wait for her,” Chitwood said.

Taken by surprise, she still had a chance. Multiple chances. Sure, this woman made a few mistakes trying to get away, but still, if she was responsible and able to carry a firearm, she’d be alive today.

The former lovers argued on the front steps. She managed to slip inside and locked a plate glass door behind her.

That bought her a few seconds. More than enough time to draw, point, and demand that this psycho stops.

The ex-boyfriend kicked it in, and followed her into the house.

Most likely, they were arguing through the glass door. Glass doors are made of glass, they won’t hold back a determined killer.

The woman ordered her 13-year-old sister to hide in a closet as the man chased her up the stairs to a second floor bathroom.
With a knife in his hand, he repeatedly attacked his former girlfriend.
“There were so many stab wounds that our people lost count,” Chitwood said.

Tragic. Tragic because of what happened, because there’s a traumatized teenager now without a sister, and because it could’ve been prevented.

Police arrived minutes later and found her dead at the scene.

I don’t want to seem like I’m constantly knocking the police, most of them are good individuals and they have a hard job. But let’s not pull any punches here …

ARRIVING “MINUTES LATER” IS EXACTLY WHAT POLICE DO.

Unless you live with one, it’s up to you to find a way to survive. You can’t do that with a glass door, but you can with a little training and dedication.

The boyfriend, a sanitation worker for Lansdowne Borough, was discovered unconscious in the kitchen with at least one stab wound to his chest.

Not enough wounds for this scumbag.

Taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, he was reportedly in critical condition this morning but expected to live, Chitwood said.

Hopefully he lives to make it to the chair some day.

No Comments »

Liberty on December 31st 2008 in Boomsticks!

Sucks!

All the cool kids get to hang out and drink beer. And I don’t. That’s okay, I made up for it by personally hoarking down enough sugar cookies and egg nog to make any mortal man turn to stone. Looks like a grand time had by all. I think bloggers should be doing more of these kinds of get-togethers. It’s important to know your fellow gun bloggers in cases of nuclear war and radioactive zombie attacks. And it’s fun to hang out, of course.

5 Comments »

Liberty on December 29th 2008 in General Crap

Random Friday iPod Joy!

Well! Christmas is over, Hannukah is in full swing, and as if the joy of the holidays isn’t enough, you now have a SECOND Friday iPod Joy post to enjoy! Lucky bastiches!

It’s week #2 for Random iPod! I figure I’ll start these posts listing prior weeks. So here’s the short history of Harmonic Joy:

Week 1: Amy Winehouse and Billy Idol

If you missed week 1, you’re a damn loser! The link is right there. You should’ve clicked on it by now? All the work I go through and this is the thanks I get? I hope your blog readers grow up to be just like you! Now go see it before you make me even more upset. Since I MUST explain this to you again because you’re either too lazy or too stupid to make one leeeeetle mouse click and read a post … basically, with a fairly eclectic taste in music, I’ve decided to shuffle the whole damn iPod playlist and stick up a once-weekly post about the harmonic miasma that oozes forth from my buds and into my aural orifices! I hart muzik!

Now that I’ve insulted you and ruined your appetite, week two shall commence!

First up is a clip from a soundtrack. Now … I’m not a big soundtrack guy - I don’t generally watch a movie and think, “OMG GODDAHAVIT!” with the notable exceptions of South Park, Maximum Overdrive (come on … it’s AC/DC!) and two others, one of which will be revealed in just a moment!

Most of this soundtrack, quite honestly, is complete crap. The movie is complete kick-ass, however, so I give it a pass and once in awhile some of this noise qualifies for decent programming audio - meaning it isn’t difficult to listen to, and it’s largely instrumental which is most excellent when you’re in the midst of getting syntax right during some object-oriented nightmare for a client you’d rather slaughter-and-serve-time-for instead of work-and-get-paid-by.

The artist I’m featuring here is an Albanian opera singer named Inva Mula.

Huh?

OPERA!? Boring, screechy, and filled with boring and screechy fat ladies with braids, iron corsets, and viking helmets! Liberty! Are you MAD!?

Not so much. I’ve always enjoyed the cold steel of iron corsets pressing against my bosom. But I digress. Anyway, go have a look at Inva’s official site and then come back and I’ll tell you about the song that just came up.

Well shoot! If you knew opera looked like that you’d pay closer attention, wouldn’t you? Yeah, sure.

The soundtrack is from the movie “The Fifth Element”. This aria (that’s essentially fancy opera-speak for “song”) is from an opera called Lucia Di Lammermoor. Like any self-respecting operatic piece, it’s horribly tragic, involves love, politics and murder, and doesn’t have a happy ending. Yay teh Opera!

Fortunately for you, you don’t have to sit through any of that stupid crap! All you need to do is watch an awesome blue alien with Inva Mula’s voice, and then observe as Milla Jovovich beats the everloving shit out of some ugly-ass creatures! The slow beginning is my favorite part of this audio, Milla Jovovich acrobatically kicking the everloving shit out of some ugly-ass creatures notwithstanding. (Tertiary thought … if your average night at the Metropolitan Opera House involved singing blue aliens and former models busting out kung-fu on ugly ass aliens I’d be a MUCH bigger fan of opera)

Damnit I love that scene.

On to Number Two!

Now, we go from glitzy, shiny, colorful Milla Jovovich beating the crap out of aliens to a nice, angry one-hit wonder!

The band is called Isle of Q. “Isle of Who?” You say? Exactly. They made a public appearance a few years back and had a semi-hit in a song called “Little Scene”. I’ve never heard any other song they’ve done, I just really like this one because it’s sarcastic and pissed off. Observe le lyrique:

I’m not part of your little scene
I’m not buying what you sell to me
You’re so damn good, you’ve got it all down to a T, baby
I’m not part of your little clique
Your spaced-out friends are gonna make me sick

Tell me you’ve never felt that way at a party. Heh. It’s an anthem for those who are annoyed with narcissistic, self-important assholes in a circle jerk.

What’s real nice about the band’s sound (at least in this song), is that lead singer David Ringler sings and does not scream. Now, I love a good screamer in a hard rock band, but when someone busts out a bit of melodic shiznit with hard guitars going it brings me back to the good ol’ days of Queensryche (note to self - get some Silent Lucidity on the iPod).

I think Isle of Q just got lost in the shuffle of a bunch of late-90s hard rock at a time where everything was evolving all bitchez and hos. It’s a shame that talent gets steamrolled by the likes of pop-tarts and regurgitated-recycled-regurgitated-recycled-regurgitated-recycled rhythms and subject matter. So without any further commentary, I hope you enjoy this song by Isle of Q as much as I do. Embedding is disabled, so …

Go here and give Isle of Q a listen

And that’s all for another week of iPod joy. Tune in next time for your weekly dose of something suitably random!

2 Comments »

Liberty on December 26th 2008 in Random Friday iPod Joy

Evil is evil. Period.

While you’re out doing some last minute shopping, sitting at home with a hot cup of coffee watching the snow fall, or even hanging out with friends for lunch and enjoying the festive holiday atmosphere, remember that evil can and does happen regardless of the time, the day, or the location.

SAN FRANCISCO — A woman in the San Francisco Bay area was jumped by four men, taunted for being a lesbian, repeatedly raped and left naked outside an abandoned apartment building, authorities said Monday.

In California one’s chances of being educated and equipped to fight back in such circumstances is far less than in other states who don’t look upon their citizens as, perhaps, untrustworthy of making more adult decisions when it comes to their own protection. Lesbianism aside, this woman was attacked by four men and raped in broad daylight.

Detectives say the 28-year-old victim was attacked Dec. 13 after she got out of her car, which bore a rainbow gay pride sticker. The men, who ranged from their late teens to their 30s, made comments indicating they knew her sexual orientation, said Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan.

California. Land of complete equality. Politicians and social justice screamers concurrently plugging their ears and screaming aloud that there is no difference between man and woman even though evidence to the contrary is pretty clear that a 28-year-old woman is generally at a significant disadvantage against one 28-year-old man, let alone four. Maybe she just should have held her car keys tighter.

What’s really sad is that there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in place preventing those men from grabbing a woman, raping her as violently as they like and taking their time doing it. Nothing.

Street cameras? Are the cameras going to jump off poles and ride to the rescue? No.

Cell phone? No. She can’t whip out the phone and dial a number while four men are gang-raping her.

Police? Unless she’s carrying one on her back, I don’t think so.

Rape whistle? Car keys? Screaming? No, no, and no. That’s a great way to make noise or scratch someone, but it’s not going to prevent anything.

All of those feel-good safety measures can either easily be ignored, or force you to depend on luck that you’ll be heard and someone will help. Of course, this took place in California. Where no good deed goes unpunished and any good deed can land you in Court and paying damages. For helping.

There is no better set of tools than awareness and a loaded .45 when it comes to protecting yourself from evil people who want to do you harm.

“It just pushes it beyond fathomable,” he said. “The level of trauma — physical and emotional — this victim has suffered is extreme.”

Authorities are characterizing the attack as a hate crime but declined to reveal why they think the woman was singled out because of her sexual orientation. Gagan would say only that the victim lived openly with a female partner and had a rainbow flag sticker on her car.

Honestly, I think hate crime legislation is more misdirected blame than legitimately necessary. You’re telling me that because of someone’s sexual orientation, a crime against them is more heinous than if it was against a heterosexual woman? Try telling some straight woman who’s just been gang-raped, “Well, at least you’re not a lesbian, WHOO! Could you imagine the trauma you’d be going through then?” Bullshit. Crime is crime and the sub-human cretins responsible are the ones who make this heinous - not the victim’s orientation, race, favorite soap opera, or otherwise. I loathe those who would tell me that something is “more bad” for one reason or another. No. It’s bad. Period.

The 45-minute attack began when one of the men approached the woman as she crossed the street, struck her with a blunt object, ordered her to disrobe and sexually assaulted her on the spot with the help of the other men.

This is where “awareness” comes in. Be aware always. See everyone and everything and if someone is approaching you from behind, turn and confront. Don’t wait for something to happen.

When the group saw another person approaching, they forced the victim back into her car and took her to a burned-out apartment building, where she was raped again inside and outside the vehicle. The assailants took her wallet and drove off in her car. Officers found the car abandoned two days later.

She had no chance against four young men. Under better circumstances with more of a chance perhaps she could’ve prevented getting into the car - that right there is a very bad situation.

The woman sought help from a nearby resident, and she was examined at a hospital. Although the victim said she did not know her attackers, detectives hope someone in the community knows them. One of the men went by the nickname “Blue” and another was called “Pato,” according to authorities.

Here’s hoping they’re found and castrated.

Now … on to the bullshit “I-am-more-important-than-you-are” angle of the story.

Gay rights advocates note that hate crimes based on sexual orientation have increased nationwide as of late. There were 1,415 such crimes in 2006 and 1,460 in 2007, both times making up about 16 percent of the total, according to the FBI.

Avy Skolnik, a coordinator with the New York-based National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, noted that gay, lesbian and transgender crime victims may be more reluctant than heterosexual victims to contact police.

Soooooo … both times making up 16% of total hate crimes which means that all “hate crimes” have increased, not just hate crimes based on sexual orientation.

As for a reluctance to speak up? Well, the speaking up should be done when that same “authority” that you don’t want to report to actually prevents you from doing something to protect yourself like oh, say, carry a firearm. Speak up after it’s done? Whatever. Speak up while your rights have been eroded under the guise of equality and “public safety”. That’s what you should be pissed off about, after all it’s the exact thing that makes this kind of crime both increasingly possible and successful for the attackers.

“Assailants target LGBT people of all gender identities with sexual assault,” he said. “Such targeting is one of the most cruel, dehumanizing and violent forms of hate violence that our communities experience.”

That’s where you’re fucking wrong and this kind of statement really pisses me off. Just because a victim is gay, lesbian, bisexual, cross-dressing or trans-gendered does not mean that crimes against that victim are somehow “extra bad”.

Newsflash asshole, rape IS traumatic. It’s not “one of the most” anything. It sucks. It’s an evil act. By propping up a rapist who targets gays or lesbians as “extra bad” committing an “extra evil” crime, you’re immediately putting those who are not gay or lesbian into a group where crimes against them are less bad and the attacker is somehow less evil for raping someone who isn’t a sexual minority.

Complete bullshit of the first order. Either we’re equal, or we’re not. Clearly we’re not if crimes against a minority are somehow evil-er than crimes against anyone who isn’t “special” in some way. How about we just throw the fucking book at the criminal regardless of who they decide to rape, instead of a) making the victim seem like less of a victim since they don’t have a minority sexual orientation or b) making the criminal seem not-so-bad because he just raped a woman and was kind enough to not rape a lesbian.

Skolnik said the group plans to analyze hate crime data to see whether fluctuations may be related to the gay marriage bans that appeared on ballots this year in California, Arizona and Florida.

And I’m sure they’ll come up with some statistic that blames Bush and the Mormons. That’s what an advocacy group “analyzing hate crime data” does. Like they’re going to come back and say, “Nope, didn’t really have anything to do with Prop 8! Our bad!” Not good for PR.

“Anytime there is an anti-LGBT initiative, we tend to see spikes both in the numbers and the severity of attacks,” he said. “People feel this extra entitlement to act out their prejudice.”

And in turn the politicians feel their extra entitlement to enable the attackers at the expense of their citizen’s ability to protect and defend themselves.

3 Comments »

Liberty on December 24th 2008 in General Crap

Cold That Will Make Your Ass Fall Off

I’ve got JayG beat by about 30 degrees. Hell, I’d be in shorts, in MA right now. Pour me a Pina Colada, it’s above zero! I’m hittin’ the pool, bitchez!

No, this is most certainly not a camera trick.

Global Warming My Ass

2 Comments »

Liberty on December 23rd 2008 in Global Warming Hysteria