Griffin AirClick USB + Linux?

I just purchased a Griffin AirClick USB. The application that powers it is a .NET application, so it should run under Mono, right? Well, not quite. Let's look at what I found.

The application itself doesn't do much- it delegates from a USB driver (I'll come back to this) to one of a set of plugins (these are .NET DLLs renamed with the extension "acp". They can be manipulated just like DLLs). The plugins then do something based on the button pushes. The Windows version comes with Interop.PowerPoint.dll and Interop.iTunesLib.dll, which the PowerPoint and iTunes plugins use to delegate to the applications. Thus, the flow of information seems to be: USB to delegate application to plugin to target application. The problem in porting this to Linux is the USB part. The application includes, compiled into the AirClick.exe assembly, the USBSharp class found here, which in turn makes explicit reference to kernel32.dll. Specifically, the file handle and HID device APIs seem to be used. I'm not too good at .NET hacking, so I can't go too much further on this front.

Assuming I can find some way of getting AirClick.exe to recognize the Linux USB stack, what next? Well, in order to be useful, you have to control something. If, for instance, you use it for controlling music, could you control a Mono music player like Banshee? If you want presentation control, use the CLI-UNO bindings to control OpenOffice.org. I now just have to find the API for the plugins...

Too Idiotic to Ignore

There are those articles that I run across that are simply too idiotic to ignore. Before responding to the article, however, I must summarize it for those with too weak a stomach to read it. The basic contention of the article, itself an extract from Dick Morris' book in which he advocates for a 2008 presidental run by Condoleeza Rice, is that an electoral showdown between Rice and Clinton is inevitable because Rice is a sort of "anti-Clinton." The article states in no uncertian terms that the two are somehow "destined" to fight each other:

Hillary Clinton does not want any other woman to take what she regards as her just place in history. Yet, ironically, it is Hillary's candidacy that makes Condi's necessary and, therefore, likely. The first woman nominated by the Democrats can only be defeated by the first woman nominated by the Republicans. Were Condi and Hillary to face one another, it would be the next great American presidential race and one of the classic bouts in history: Hector vs Achilles; Wellington vs Bonaparte; Lee vs Grant; Mary, Queen of Scots vs Elizabeth; Ali vs Frasier. And now, Condi vs Hillary.

These potential combatants are as different as, well, black and white. In many ways, they are mirror images of each other: not only white/black but north/south; Democrat/Republican; married/single; suburban/urban; and, in policy interests, domestic/foreign.

Saying that Condoleezza Rice is black, though, is similar to saying that Colin Powell is black, that Jennifer Lopez is Hispanic, or that Ann Coulter is a woman. In each case, the statement is in fact true, but it doesn't help to explain the person in question. All of them have disregarded their racial, sexual or ethnic identies in favor of the pursuit of money and political power. Thus, portraying this as a "white/black" battle is deceptive in many ways: Clinton would be much more likely to support racial and ethnic equality and civil rights. Rice is far too busy being beholden to the oil corporations that love her so much as to name an oil tanker after her to ever care about such human issues as civil rights. Make no mistake: Rice is a neoconservative, and as such has not ideological basis for upholding the Constitution. To her, and to the rest of the Bush cronies, the "law of the land" is merly an obstacle to greater levels of power. The Bill of Rights is thus made into a pesky thorn in the side of neoconservative campaigns.

That there is even one person who has even a passing familiarity with politics and yet can still hold on to the idea that Rice has any qualifications or capacity for President is a disturbing thing indeed. Her qualifications are no greater than the only President in history to ascend to office without winning any kind of a national vote whatsoever. For her to ally herself with one who blatently steals elections, who commissions and condones the murder of nearly 30,000 Iraqi civilians, who has led the most concerted assult on the Bill of Rights in US history, and who has made a complete mockery of the nation's diplomatic relations, what does that indicate about her? What sort of person willingly and knowingly supports a war criminal, serial electioneer, and a neofascist? The portrayal of this supposed struggle between Clinton and Rice as being "preordained," just or otherwise anything other than a battle of Rice's propaganda machines against the power of the independant media to expose her for what she is would be laughable were it not for the fact that there are those among us who seem to think that she could serve this nation well in any sense of the phrase.

politics 2008 bush clinton rice

Stop praying, start doing.

God did not ordain that Katrina kill so many. This was- and is- a human drama. It falls to humanity to save its own that it so willingly left in harm's way. The drama of Lake George is an outrage. The poor are left to die, as racism and rape run rampant. Look well, America! This is the face of Bush's America; his America is one in ruins as he vacations. Praying didn't stop this from happening, and prayer will not reverse it. The final chapter of this human tragedy must be written, and the climax must be the removal of George W. Bush from the seat of U. S. President. Our very survival may even be at stake, as the direct loss of life in NOLA is likely to be the least of our worries. Rather, this may be indicitive of the consequences of ignoring global warming, wetland devestation, etc., as well as the more immediate issue of providing strong leadership during times of crisis. What would happen if another hurricane hit? With the stunning lack of effort that Bush has displayed, how can we expect any better? Bush sees fit to link 9/11 and Katrina, using the same tactic that he has used for every crisis before. What he doesn't say, though, is that there is actually some merit to this comparison, as Bush was warned of both in 2001. As Paul Krugman documents:

Before 9/11 the Federal Emergency Management Agency listed the three most likely catastrophic disasters facing America: a terrorist attack on New York, a major earthquake in San Francisco and a hurricane strike on New Orleans.

Looks like FEMA was two for three, whilst Bush was batting a straight .000. The time for prayer is long past, and now we have a simple mission ahead of us: defeat Bush.

katrina disaster politics bush

Update: This is really too much.

Websites that should exist, but don't.

I have ideas. Lots of ideas. Time? Not so much. Perhaps more if I wasn't so bloody lazy. That, however, is for another time. For now, let me document two of these ideas.

HateTagger

People hate people, companies and things... wouldn't it be nice to document these various hatreds? In light of the recent fad of social tagging sites, I propose the following: allow users to create "objects," tag them, and associate them with "reasons," and tag those.

SiteGrant

Ever see a bug on a site that you want fixed, but don't have any control over it? Well, offer the site money for it! Problem is, that'd be expensive if you are the only one offering a bounty. Thus, allow users to log bugs and attach PayPal payments to them. When the site fixes the problem, or if the bounties expire, the money is either given to the site's owner, or back to the grantee. Let the taking back of the web begin!

Tags: web , design , ideas

Things I Hate: Part 1

I listen to George Carlin. A lot. He spends a lot of time speaking about things he hates, and this inspires me. Carlin isn't like O'Reilly, Coulter or Malkin in that he is doing it for the humor value, and backs up his statements with logic. Not being a comedian myself, however, I shall be content to write a list that is at least logical if not at all humorous. With that, here are some things that I hate. Expect this list to get longer.

Anti-Intellectualism

Why is it that we, the American populus, seem to shun those willing to develop their intellect? Why is it that Dubya's apparant lack of brains serves as a benefit to him on the campaign trail? What sort of a society disgraces those most willing and able to tackle its problems? As a nation, it makes no sense to elect someone to office because he is stupid. This should, if anything at all, be a great deterrant to his or her being elected. Thus, this irrational distain for all things mental is something I hate.

Cars Made by Ford

Henry Ford was, let's face it, an asshole. "My customers can have any color car they want as long as its black," he said. His contribution to American capitalism and to the automobile industry? The dehumanizing assembly line process. Upon a legacy of deep seated disrespect for the human condition, and in particular, for his customers, Ford built an auto company that would eventually work to prevent the seatbelt from seeing the light of day. The company's reaction to quality control issues? Use public relations to cover up the issue and let the buyers die.
To be perfectly fair, GM does many of these same things, but for some irrational reason, Ford pisses me off much more.

Wanted

What a stupid waste of electromagnetic waves. Police departments are in an ongoing struggle against fugitives- they don't all of a sudden decide that 100 of them are going down, then relax when they're done. The advertisements for this insipid waste of bandwidth represent the level of intellectual stimulation that the show itself is expected to provide, in that the same couple of lines are repeated ad nauseum. I swear, if I hear that "the next loud noise you hear is me" again, someone will be hurt.

Knee-Jerk Counter-Protesters

Recently, MoveOn helped to organize vigils around the nation to show support for Cindy Sheehan. One of these vigils was hosted by my parents, and was held here in Fort Worth, TX. Towards the end, two counter-protesters arrived with badly scrawled signs reading "God Bless President Bush." Before arriving, however, they saw fit to file a noise complaint with the police. When the police arrived to find only a silent candlelight vigil, it became clear that the counter-protesters were being vindictive and underhanded. If they expect such crass behavior to reflect well upon their Fearless Leader, they are dreadfully mistaken. Of course, to hold it against Shrub would be a gross error of Guilt By Association. We have enough reasons to hate Bush without having to resort to logical fallacy.

Tags: hate , politics , society , rants , lists

Pro-Life - Anti-War

Pro-Life - Anti-War
Originally uploaded by GammaBlaBlog.

Wow. Good to see that someone stands up for what they believe in. Finally, pro-life does mean anti-war.