Usual Nonsense

What happened?!!

Submitted by HongPong on Mon, 2008-04-07 00:51

Sorry everyone, I got swamped with stuff going on and haven't had the time to knock out some blog posts. Sunday's big project during the April showers was to get ready to erase my main hard drive and get it ready for OS X 10.5.

I managed to consolidate my iTunes library by getting rid of a lot of duplicates, and 'consolidate' it onto one hard drive, which has never been done before. I fear that a few old free-floating Mp3s got chucked, but them's the breaks.

A lot of stuff got chucked, and I am pretty close to fitting everything on the main drive to where the music used to be. It was certainly an all-day project. Probably about 70% of the junk work is over with! I'm really looking forward to getting this beast onto 10.5, it'll be like a new machine!

*******

Other than that, well in the world it's been one series of grim news after another.

And I don't feel like talking about it. It's finally getting nice outside and things are working out pretty well for me right now. As long as I get enough sleep and have a bit of luck, everything'll be fine?

City of St. Paul opens RNC park permit lottery process - for a few days!

Submitted by HongPong on Sun, 2008-02-24 08:55

Hey everyone, I caught some important news late Friday afternoon (And I've got a cold right now and nothin' better to do!).

The big news is that the City of St. Paul would take all applications for demonstrations and space in parks on March 3rd. Naturally the City put out the news very late on Friday to keep it off the news radar. There are only a few days to offer some kinds of finalized plans for the permitted use of public space during the Republican National Convention. http://www.stpaul.gov/convention/rncpermits.html
Since the process apparently involves a drawing/lottery, it may be a good idea for many groups of people (bands?) to enter into the lottery system and win space/time in a park.
There was a brief story about it in the Star Tribune: http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/15883057.html

Protesting at the RNC? Forms due March 3

St. Paul outlines its process for getting permits for demonstrations or large-group park space during the Republican National Convention.

By CHRIS HAVENS, Star Tribune

Last update: February 22, 2008 - 11:06 PM

Protesters, parkgoers and parade organizers, put March 3 on your calendar.

That's the day permit applications will be accepted for demonstrating or getting park space for groups of 25 or more during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Applications are available now.

The permits would cover the time between Aug. 30 and Sept. 4. The convention will be held Sept. 1-4 at the Xcel Energy Center. More than 45,000 delegates, members of the news media and protesters are expected.

"We hope to accommodate as many people as logistically possible," said Erin Dady, the city's marketing director and convention planner.

Demonstration applications are available at the city website or at the Police Community Services Office, 1169 Rice St. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Some people want a protest area within sight and sound of the Xcel, and that space hasn't been determined yet, Dady said. "By no means will free speech be limited to one area," she said.

Applications will be reviewed by police and decisions made in a timely manner. More specific guidelines might be forthcoming, Dady said. Approvals could be delayed if more clarification or information is needed.

For more information on the city's rules regarding demonstration permits, go to www.ci.stpaul.mn.us/code/lc366a.html.

Applications to use space, pavilions and boat slips in the city's parks system for parties of 25 or more people are available at the city website and at the Parks and Recreation Permit Office, 1100 Hamline Av.

Parks permit applications will be accepted until 2 p.m. March 3, and a public lottery drawing will happen at 3 p.m. Applications received later will be handled on a first-come, first-serve basis.

A limited number of parks have been held for security reasons or convention activities.

Applications are online at www.stpaul.gov.

********

This was posted on the City of St. Paul website and I think matched the initial press release:

http://www.stpaul.gov/convention/rncpermits.html

Applications for City Parks, Demonstration Permits during Republican National Convention Now Available

Permit applications to use space, pavilions, and boat slips in Saint Paul 's parks system for parties and gatherings of 25 or more people during the Republican National Convention Aug. 30 to Sept. 4 are now available online and from the Saint Paul Parks & Recreation Permit Office, 1100 Hamline Ave. North.

In addition, permit applications for demonstrations during the same period are also available online and through the Saint Paul Police Community Services Office, 1169 Rice Street .

A limited number of Parks have been held for security purposes and convention activities, but the vast majority of Saint Paul Parks are available for permits. The City of Saint Paul Division of Parks and Recreation manages over 160 parks and open spaces, the Como Park Zoo and Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, 41 recreation centers, a 9 hole and three 18 hole golf courses, over 100 miles of trails, indoor and outdoor pools, a public beach, sports and aquatics facilities, and wonderful rental facilities for public and private gatherings.

“Hosting the Republican National Convention gives us an incredible opportunity to showcase the city's world-class parks system to visitors from around the globe,” said Bob Bierscheid, director of Saint Paul Parks & Recreation. “Park space will be in high demand, and we want to make sure that everyone has equal opportunity to access our parks and enjoy themselves during this exciting event.”

Similar to the process in which the city awards permits for park use through a lottery at the beginning of the year, permits during the RNC convention period will be accepted up to 2 p.m. March 3 at the permit office.

A lottery drawing from permit applications will then follow at 3 p.m. The drawing is open to the public and will be broadcast through the city's cable channel soon after the drawing. The permit office will notify people of the status of their application by mail.

Based on park availability, permit applications received after March 3 will be considered on a first-come, first-served basis.

Demonstration permit applications will be accepted starting March 3, at which time applications received through the mail also will be opened. Community Services Office hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Applications will be reviewed and decisions made in a timely manner. However, if there are more questions or clarification is needed, the application approval can be delayed until the information is gathered.

More information on the city's rules regarding demonstration permits can be found in the City Charter and Codes section on the city's Web site at www.stpaul.gov/code . Reference Chapter 366A, which describes the procedures for applications as well as the rules, regulations, and fees.

“The City of Saint Paul is committed to accommodating as many people as logistically possible while ensuring a safe and enjoyable convention for residents and visitors,” said Erin Dady, Saint Paul marketing director. “Hosting a national event of this magnitude takes a lot of coordination from many city departments and outside groups. This permitting process facilitates the necessary planning for a successful event.”


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That's all. Thanks for reading through! (hopefully not spam to ya!)

--Dan Feidt - dan.feidt@gmail.com

Winter Solstice: Time to pivot!

Submitted by HongPong on Fri, 2007-12-21 03:53

A hearty welcome to Zuma, a fellow Agonist.org contributor with a background in aviation and stuff. Zuma was at Miami International during Iran Contra, and anyone with this in their life story can frankly post whatever they want (within the Bluehost usage policy):

Rex Wheeler was the head of security [at TAMPA Aviation]. I noted the autographed framed picture on his wall -of George Bush. I noted the confusing mystery of it all even though privy to much private documentary activity, even officially as I was the consulate courier among other duties. Ostensibly TAMPA, like dear ol Dad, was on the side of the good guys. I still believe that, but do know there were those within not playing by the rules or on 'our' side. These were the Iran-Contra era circumstances...
I'll tell you now, there is for me no index of suspicion. The CIA is in the drug business completely. -Down there. All of us in Cockroach Corner at Miami International Airport knew who Southern Air Transport was. That may have blown their 'cover' but they could not so quickly suspend activity. Their activity was twofold and quite contradictatory. Interdiction *and* facilitation. In short, manage those who were allowed and disallow those who were unmanaged. Not just any pirate could run drugs. Who was to decide? That was the prize and question.

I am planning to launch a few new websites very soon, and it's just this kind of story we are going to be looking for. More on that 'pretty soon'.

*******

Tonight, I finally got around to fixing all off Drupal's version update woes, and that alone makes me feel better about putting effort into this site. I also finally fixed the Blog URL pathauto problem that was making dumb brackets whenever anyone made a blog entry.

I have to admit that I have not been entirely honest with the readership of this weird old website. I have been posting rather goofy posts that are intended to obfuscate more than enlighten, skimming over many stories in the usual haphazard way, kind of devoid of the usual structure I used to put into it.

Basically I have been putting more chaff than wheat into my posts @ hongpong.com. For the last couple weeks I have been working on a really major, off-the-radar story in Minnesota, and I haven't even crossposted it here because I am trying to focus the energies of the Google on where the story is posted @ my day job, PIM. So I put up goofy posts that drifted into collections of goofy alien stories, which are of course one of the Internet's old school goofball themes.

*******

In any case, that kind of stuff does not really have an 'axis of action.' It's just random sentences, linking out to somewhere, for some poorly articulated reason. Not a great use of anyone's time. I'm developing a Whole New Theory of Action; implementing this plan would be the point of the new websites.

Also, the last months, years (?) have not exactly been salad days* for my ability to communicate clearly with my regular circles of friends. Part of this is the typical breaking-the-ice social anxiety, which I usually can dispel with after the second beer.

But, also, (you'll laugh at me) a good chunk of my anxiety came from the fact that my old cell phone had really fuzzy sound. It was hard to have a good conversation when it was that fuzzy. That, combined with the deceptive horrors of Sprint billing, seriously curtailed the whole 'talking' thing for me. Fortunately, I have just gotten a spiffy Helio Ocean for Christmas from my folks, and so far I am very happy with it. With a little luck, I will actually begin to *call people* again.

*******

Of course, the dark winter days are always the worst for me. I am glad I got an apartment with good West-facing sunlight this fall. My mental state isn't 'horrible' at all; I'm not feeling agitated. It's mostly the usual winter blues.

The winter solstice is here. Only two years ago, I was at a funeral for my friend on the very day of the winter solstice, and it was not a coincidence. People look for stuff to kill the pain in Minnesota at this time of year, and it is possible to go too far.

Do not let your friends and family abuse painkillers at the darkest time of year.

*******

This post went a bit grim. I have to stop on the solstice milepost. And I am not trying to freak anyone out. It's more that there has been a morose drift to my general lifestyle, and an accordant silly half-assed blogging counterpart. I feel like I have really pretty much hit the bottom and I am drifting back to a better frame.

I definitely feel like there is a good pivot opportunity right now. I have to clean the hell out of my apartment. I washed the bird poop off my car today. I can do the dirty dishes. I can expose the fake War on Drugs and bring down the Man.

This has been a great week, really. Over at work, we are locking in new advertisers and finally rolling in some revenue. I have exposed the NAFTA Superhighway conspiracy to the Minnesota political establishment (politicians, Capitol staff, the PR firms, Big Labor, etc.). They've been exposed to the crazy documents I stumbled across, and that will probably help when the Democrats start their huge fight with MnDOT soon (they just launched a new $500K investigation this week).

So thanks again for stopping by. Better things are really close to paying off. (If anyone wants to give me an Xmas present, just sign up for Bluehost and I get an impressive $65 referral. These guys rule.)

*mordred told us to lay off the lazy metaphors. shit

A dubious away message

Submitted by HongPong on Sun, 2007-11-18 18:23

I wondered what "res ipsa loquitur" meant. HS Thompson used it a lot. Now I see why: it means "the thing speaks for itself."

So behold this Scalia joke:

Not all of the justices admit to being so nervous, however. Asked to assess his prospects for losing his virginity within the next two months, a confident Scalia lifted his judicial robe and quipped, "Res ipsa loquitur."

Other funny stuff for today: Cracked.com has actually got a pretty good deal going for good humor stuff. Consider the actually quite disconcerting 10 Ways Online Gaming Will Change the Future.

Also, The 8 Least-Threatening Comic Book Villains, The Ultimate War Simulation Game, The Best (Worst) Fantasy & Science Fiction Book Covers.

Some more really good stuff included: The Next 9 Children's Characters That Should Come Out of the Closet, The 25 Most Baffling Toys From Around the World, and finally, The 9 Most Racist Disney Characters. Great!

Eh that's all for now. I finally got the heat fixed in my apartment. Turned out the radiator pipes were full of air. Now it's hot as hell in here. The door to my barely-insulated porch can even be left open with no ill effect!

Halo Hangover

Submitted by HongPong on Sun, 2007-10-28 23:27

Ok, so finally yesterday Zacharias demanded that I bring the Xbox 360 back to their house because they purchased some used games for it. I - and more skilled visitors over here - accumulated a whopping 50 Xp (xperience points) on his Xbox user name. We are at about 123 XP, which is 27 short of the threshold to become an 'officer' on the bungie.net system. It has military ranks to encourage social structure, or mark competence, or whatever.

I seriously can't believe these users who have already logged 400 games (or more!) since the game was released a couple weeks ago. Although of course, it could be several people using the same User to build up points - a heavily used account for a whole frat, or whatever.

When I got it unhooked and out of here, it dawned on me that very little has been accomplished lately, my apartment is a complete mess (mostly papers and such though, not too much groady rotting foodstuffs). I moved in a month and a half ago, and really a lot of things are still in their original boxes and locations. My bedroom is a complete afterthought. The dirty dishes have been rotting away for more than two weeks.

So when you play Halo 3 to the exclusion of virtually everything else, then yes, everything does screech to a halt. That's why I'm calling today the day of the Halo Hangover.

On the upside, I spent about 90 minutes setting up a new website for a friend of mine using my hosting account. For now, the site is secret since the whole concept is under development, but it is a good progressive kind of thing, and I pointed him towards trying Drupal as a platform.

These days I am quite the Drupal advocate, but that's all right since it is open source and extremely versatile for content presentation. When updates come out for Drupal and its modules, i can do a kind of roundhouse kick across numerous sites to update all of them at once. It is easier to build up expertise for one Content Management System then get splintered among Wordpress, Mambo/Joomla and the others, although I have enough working knowledge of them to customize their look without a huge amount of hassle.

Impressive Japanese Rube Goldberg device

Submitted by HongPong on Mon, 2007-09-10 14:37

Yes folks it's been quite a while since I checked in at this marvelous website. In a nutshell.... Ugh, i use that nutshell cliche too much.

In the big picture... outside the box, in a whole new paradigm, rightsized... Eh. I am moving into Minneapolis tomorrow on the ominous date of September 11. Fortunately I have scored a nifty 1BR in Stevens Square, which is an obscure neighborhood around Franklin Avenue, near Nicollet. Basically between Uptown, Downtown and Phillips. It's pretty close to the center of my various clusters of friends that I don't adequately stay in touch with.

In Stevens Square, there is a strong wave of condo-conversion happening, a key indicator the area is gentrifying and experiencing some kind of spike in land values as professionals want to live near downtown.

It is not the most practical for my job, since the office is in St. Paul, though I do a lot of work from home as well.

For the most part, during August I have been living on friends' couches, emerging reeking of cigarettes and lacking regular showers. Really attractive. This translates to 'any kind of blogging is a big hassle, and I really don't care that much right now.'

In other news, Ron Paul has thus far won an impressive 70% of the HongPoll, as he often does. However the media blackout plan remains in full effect. Huzzah: The number-two vote getter at 6% was "Someone not on my list (A subtle censoring to consolidate establishment power)". Teh Sweet.

I have been in a tricky spot lately, as my illustrious boss at Politics in Minnesota has been on a vacation for the last couple weeks, so I got to mastermind the last issue of the Weekly Report, and this upcoming one, as well. Not too bad!!

Happy Independence Day + CityPages blog o' the day!

Submitted by HongPong on Wed, 2007-07-04 20:44

Just wishing everyone a happy national holiday. Yesterday they made HongPong.com the City Pages blog of the day! Too bad I haven't written in a couple weeks. This operation got characterized as:

Dan Feidt blogs on presidential candidate Ron Paul, the Lone Gunmen, Middle East foreign policy, and Rosie O'Donnell as 9/11 conspiracy theorist at Hong Pong.

Hilarious!

Over the last weekend I moved out of my apartment in St. Paul, basically into my friends' basement in Nordeast Minneapolis for a couple weeks. I am going on a family trip to France and England on July 14 until the end of the month.

I got promoted at work (Politics in Minnesota) and I have been extremely busy working on the new Drupal-powered website there, as well as contributing writing. Between the moving and the craziness at work, there's been no time to get much new stuff up here. No matter, there's plenty in the archives to go look at.

City Pages visitors, thanks for stopping by! I would say something more useful, but it's really time to go BBQ over by Lake Calhoun.

Laying low

Submitted by HongPong on Sat, 2007-06-16 01:09

Go visit my friend's websites instead. Alison has Twin Cities Photo updates. Nick has promised China updates soon. David & Jarod have been working on DeadBlonde.com and it's quite a mysterious art project kind of site. Kevin has had a few updates as well.

It's been a couple weeks since I've checked in. May and June are certainly the worst times for blogging because Real Life is a hell of a lot nicer.

In any case I needed to lay low for a bit because of some secret operations at work, which have now been completed. I can't say more right now, but everything went perfectly! LOL! 'LOL' in every sense... seriously, I've just gained the last laugh against some real bullshit.

I have to get moved out in two weeks, then I'm going to go sans apartment for a couple weeks before I go to France with my dad and my brother for a little bit. Not bad. I've really enjoyed living in this building, but I have to get away from the Macalester area very badly. Then I will move somewhere in Minneapolis: Nordeast, Uptown, Longfellow or Seward I think. Not a big uptown fan, but I was down around 36th and Emerson last night and that looks like a nice area within a couple blocks of Lake Calhoun.

Everything has taken a turn for the better, and since this website mainly charts 'Doom, the apocalypse &etc' it's a bit harder to write on it when life is good.

Also I have been doing some video experiments that turned out really well. As I've told quite a few people this year, one of those goals I've been batting around my head would be to make a very sweet conspiracy and drug corruption-oriented video. I already have much of the material I would want to use, and basically I just need a camera, a bit of traveling and about six interviews, and I think that would probably cover the whole thing.

This is quite likely not a realistic plan for the moment, but it's also not incredibly difficult to contemplate. I think the whole thing could easily be done for less than $3,000. Essentially the video clips I've created recently would fit into this project, and they were quite easy to make.

With how things went today, I can tell that good fortune and real accomplishments are finally within reach. This website has certainly been a worthwhile pursuit (most of the time) but right now I'm fortunate that lots of other things (and people) demand my attention instead.

Please stand by. Probably by about Wednesday next week things will be much more clear.

Too busy for this!

Submitted by HongPong on Tue, 2007-05-15 20:42

I am not going to be able to post for a while as I'm really busy with work, trying to deal with several separate projects & pay the rent. You know how it goes.

But I'm 24 now, and less in debt then a year ago. I got good professional experience over the last year, and while it was not always a satisfying time, there were still good accomplishments.

My lil bro & sis have just finished their freshman years of college and it seems like they handled the transition pretty well. I'm impressed.

Best of luck to everyone in the coming year, and thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday!

We'll be back on the air in a while... don't expect a lot of stuff for a while though.

Stressin on some damn annoying profiles

Submitted by HongPong on Sun, 2007-02-18 21:25

Yeah no updates in a while. Fortunately I got the spam problem under control again. When I updated to Drupal 5 i didn't have the spam module turned on. It's on now. A ton of shit got spammed and the spammers still think the site is unlocked.

I am impressed with how Drupal 5 is a lot faster than the old one. I still have to fix the node URL alias addressing (they are coming up as /node/506 instead of /archives/theheadline ).

I am going to switch out of this theme pretty soon, as it's the Drupal 5 default and there's nothing more square on the internets than having the default theme. How many wordpress sites with the ugly blue bubble are there? Thousands I bet.

Also the image plug has to go back in. And for some reason the cron won't run. And the lines of text are spaced apart way too much vertically. I tried to fix that and I don't know quite where to fix it. In any case a new theme will probably be more reasonable with that.

So actually that's a bit of stuff to fix, but I'm impressed how the backend of Drupal has been streamlined with a better architecture. it's going to stay nice.

Over the longer term I'm going to get up some customized sections, and reorganize major chunks to provide the kind of cool shit we used to have more of.

I have recently learned that my site is also banned by the great Chinese Firewall and at some U.S. military installations as well (although there are a lot of .mil hits), so we got all sides covered.

In any case, in the day job sphere I have to write more than a dozen profiles for the Directory, but now I have to go out to Hudson for my bro's b-day when i ought to just be writing on this gloomy but warm Sunday afternoon.

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