Fiddler on the ferry by maessive on Flickr.

Stacked by Waseem Sayegh from Flickr.

wall of banks by Dystopos from Flickr.

Diane Varner - Bloom
from her excellent photoblog Daily Walks.

Since I first wrote this article in May 2007, many things are changing in the automotive industry in the South:

• Honda recently announced that it will be building an new exhaust system factory to supply it's main Alabama plant.
  
• Hyundai has added a second engine plant (doubling their engine assembly footprint) in Montgomery, AL.
  
• Hyundai's sister company Kia, has built a
  very large plant just across the AL-GA border in West Point, Georgia. As of 3/2011 they haven't started tours yet, but it looks like they are planning to.
  
• Volkswagen is building their first US factory in Chattanooga, TN where they will be producing the 2012 Passat, amongst other models.
  
• Toyota will be operating a factory near Tupelo, Mississippi to build Corollas (3rd best selling car currently and highest selling car model of all time.)

A great feature of these factories (along with their local and regional economic impact) is that most are available for the public to tour them. I've gathered the relevant information about each tour for the factories in Alabama. (updated 03/2011)

This information was gleaned from the manufacturers' websites at the time I wrote this entry. Please verify any information by contacting the factories at their website or by phone before embarking on your trip. You should wear shoes with closed toes and heels as well as long pants (some tours don't allow shorts, dresses, skirts.)

To give you an idea the size of these operations, the Hyundai plant in Montgomery produces in excess of 1,000 vehicles per day (sometimes several hundred more per day depending on demand.)

These tours are great for kids (see "Minimum Age") and adults alike and offer a portal into modern automobile manufacturing processes. The Mercedes-Benz plant has stopped tours while they produce the first examples of they new model year vehicles. I will including relevant information for that factory when it is available.

Preparing your Fuze
First, update your firmware to the latest version and be sure you set your Fuze to connect in MSC mode.
From Fuze menu: Settings -> System Settings -> USB Mode -> MSC
(everytime you upgrade your Fuze you'll have to re-set the USB Mode.)

Re-labeling your Fuze
The VFAT label of your Fuze controls the name of the mountpoint when your Fuze is automounted at. It will be mounted in /media/VFAT_LABELNAME/ (/media/SANSA FUZE/ by default.) You can re-label the VFAT filesystem of your Fuze to eliminate the space character (an inconvenience), give your Fuze a more meaningful name, or give your Fuze a differentiating name if you use multiple Fuzes.

1. You need to have the 'mtools' package installed and configure a .mtoolsrc file in your home directory.
   sudo apt-get install mtools

2. run 'mount' and note the /dev/ name of your mounted Fuze (default will look something like "/dev/sdc on /media/SANSA FUZE type vfat") in this case "/dev/sdc" is the value to note, your device name may vary.

3. Create a .mtoolsrc file in your home directory:
   gedit .mtoolsrc

   with the following contents:
   drive f: file="/dev/sdc"
   mtools_skip_check=1
   (please substitute your device name from step 2 above for "/dev/sdc" above when you type it in...)

4. Then run the 'mlabel' command as root to re-label your Fuze:
   sudo mlabel f:

   You'll be prompted to create a new label, choose one without spaces, perhaps choose a unique label for if you use multiple Fuzes.
   

Content Management
I've configured scripts to replicate all (MSC) files from the Fuze (and microSD card on-board the Fuze) to my home directory on my primary computer. This creates a complete backup of all content on the Fuze (and microSD) and allows me to manage files either on the Fuze or to the local directory in my home directory. I can add songs into the directory on the computer when the Fuze is absent (left at work, etc.) and re-sync the files onto the Fuze when it is back at home...

This is done using a set of simple scripts calling the Unix rsync command to mirror two sets of files. It is very efficient and only transfers files that have changed, so even a large dataset transfers quickly if you've only changed a couple files. I

Example rsync script:
script goes here in the near future

Music
Not a lot to note here, the Fuze supports a wide range of music files from MP3, AAC, FLAC, OGG and seems to be fairly tolerant (I haven't seen any "Unsupported Media Format" errors for music files.)

Podcasts
Choose your favorite Podcatcher and point it at your /

FM Radio

Voice Recording

Slot Radio
I haven't sprung for a Slot Radio card yet (and I don't want to displace my microSDHC card) but I'm wondering what sort of DRM has been implemented on them. The marketing materials say you get 1,000 songs, but they play in a random (or at least randomized) order, you can skip forward but not backwards. Apparently you can add more media to the Slot Radio card if it has free space remaining.

Images
The Fuze will downsize your JPGs if you, but there's not much point in putting large .JPG files on your Fuze just to eat up storage. I prefer resizing the images appropriately before putting them on the Fuze. video4fuze is the easiest option for properly resizing images for display on the Fuze. (Note this is the same tool as the "Video" section below.)

Video
The Fuze is very strict about video. Deviating from the standard will result in "Unsupported Media Format".

The easiest general solution for Video currently is video4fuze which provides you a easy GUI interface to video transcoding (using mencoder). You can combine this tool with the rsync technique mentioned above to transcode videos offline, then sync onto your Fuze later.

Miscellaneous Useful Specs
From the owner's manual:
Screen resolution: 220x176

Notes:
3:2 aspect ratio = 219x146 or 171x114
4:3 aspect ratio = 220x165 or 176x132
16:9 aspect ratio = 208x117 or 176x99

Shortfalls:
There doesn't seem to be anyway to sort or arrange files using subdirectories (especially photos and videos.) You can create subdirectories, but the Fuze flattens the filespace out and sorts them all alphabetically.

I'm considering some different approaches to organizing my MP3s to make them easier to browse through. Sansa has a lot of room for improvement in this area.

As these came from the factory, I had significant problems with duplicate directory names /foo/bar/DCIM/JLCAM1/) that could not be properly accessed. Despite the fact the you could browse photos on the camera itself, no files showed up when connected via USB to Ubuntu (the filesystem mounted fine, but no files showed up below that directory.) I was able to use photorec to successfully 'recover' the files that were not visible to the system successfully from the camera.

Here's some output with some basic system commands:
# ls -l /media
drwx------ 3 speed speed 4096 1969-12-31 18:00 RIAN2GBUSD
drwx------ 3 speed speed 16384 1969-12-31 18:00 RIANCAM

# find /media/RIAN2GBUSD -exec ls -li {} \;
227491 drwx------ 2 speed speed 4096 2010-01-01 12:01 DCIM
227494 drwx------ 0 speed speed 0 2011-01-03 12:59 100JLCAM
227494 drwx------ 0 speed speed 0 2011-01-03 12:59 100JLCAM
(note duplicate directories with identical inodes)

# find /media/RIANCAM -exec ls -li {} \;
227496 drwx------ 2 speed speed 2048 2010-01-01 12:01 DCIM
227499 drwx------ 0 speed speed 0 2011-03-07 22:09 100JLCAM
227499 drwx------ 0 speed speed 0 2011-03-07 22:09 100JLCAM

# ls -la /media/RIANCAM/DCIM/100JLCAM/
total 0
# ls -la /media/RIAN2GBUSD/DCIM/100JLCAM/
total 0
(note apparently empty directories)

Despite these obvious indications to the contrary (remember, I can see the photos on the camera itself) I was able to extract all 251 photos successfully. The biggest catch is photorec takes quite a while (30 minutes) to process a little over 2GB of storage (much of it unused space.)

I re-formatted the filesystem on the camera and re-created, labeled, and formatted a new FAT16 (<32M) partition. Now pictures appear to show up as normal in the Nautilus File Browser when the camera is connected via USB.

Crayola Camera:
Serial Number: JL2007BV2000
Firmware Version: 1.0
lsusb output:
ID 0979:0371 Jeilin Technology Corp., Ltd

Storage capacity: 26 MB (25,935,872 bytes) Internal
Partitioning: Master Boot Record
Partition Type: FAT16 (<32M) (0x04)
Photo size: 1600x1200 24bit JPEG (~128KB filesize)
Focal length: 28.8mm (35 mm equivalent: 194.3 mm) (as reported by exiftool)
Aperture: f/2.8

Hard drive storage: $0.04/GB
(Seagate Barracuda LP 2TB (2000GB) 5900RPM/32MB for $79.99 via TigerDirect on February 23, 2011)

Solid-state hard drive storage: $2.41/GB
(OCZ 120GB SATA II Solid State Drive for $289.99 via ZipZoomFly on February 23, 2011)

Flash memory: $2.43/GB
(Patriot 16GB Class 10 SDHC Card for $38.99 via ZipZoomFly on February 23, 2011)

Highest interest rate savings with minimal deposit requirements: 1.11%
(Zions Bank via money-rates.com on February 23, 2011)

Gallon of (regular) gas: $3.189
(US National Average, pulled from US Energy Information Administration on February 21, 2011)

Gallon of diesel: $3.573
(US National Average, pulled from US Energy Information Administration on February 21, 2011)

Compare other "Cost of Living" articles on this blog.

I averaged 48.1 miles per gallon(!) over 446 miles, heading for a 750+ mile tank (15 gallon tank.) Did a giant loop, Prattville, Montgomery, Atlanta, Birmingham, Prattville. Almost kept going, but thought better of it.

Got great, prompt, and efficient service for the 6k mile courtesy check at Heritage Volkswagen of South Atlanta (Union City, just outside 285), an excellent dealership. Took about 45 minutes like they estimated and they got the car right in at the appointment time. Also tried a highly-recommended Mexican restaurant in Atlanta, Bone Garden Cantina. It is located in a lumberyard converted into mixed office/commercial space just northeast of downtown Atlanta. Damn good Mexican food (don't even compare it to Montgomery-Mex, it's a world apart.) Many good choices, but if you go, be sure to try the Elote!

Where I got mine: Midwest Fuel Injection
Item: Case of 12 x 16 oz containers (192 oz to treat 1440 gallons)
Cost, shipped to me: $73.78
Cost per tank (@2 oz to a 15 gallon tank):~$0.77

I'll be starting this treatment at about 5400 miles on the engine. My goals are to minimize maintenance (esp. wear and repair/replacement) costs and also increase (if slightly) fuel efficiency of this engine. Before I started, I'm averaging 34.35 mpg overall. I'll post my fuel efficiency history online shortly as well.

This bike has found a great home with new stablemates and is getting a donor 916 engine transplant. Enjoy, Gary!

2001 Ducati 748 Superbike monoposto (single seat) in Fly Yellow

Spun rod bearing. The crankshaft, bearings, piston rods, and pistons need to be replaced and the engine needs to be re-assembled. The bike is otherwise in normal operating order, light wear. Less than 10,000 miles on the bike. Bike was used as a weekend, sunny day vehicle only and is in otherwise great condition. This bike is being sold as-is with its engine disassembled.

I'm interested in selling the complete bike if possible. The bike will be parted out in about a month if there are no takers for the whole package.

Photos of assembled bike here.

Recent photos of the disassembled bike here.

One owner. Clean title.
Lived in CO and AL, always garaged.
(bike has been sold, no longer available.)

In Australia, Nabisco offers Vegemite in a Biskit.

libicu38
libboost-filesystem1.34.1
libboost-regex1.34.1
libboost-thread1.34.1
libboost-iostreams1.34.1
libboost-signals1.34.1
libboost-date-time1.34.1

Click the above links, choose your architecture, choose a mirror, then download and open with GDebi.

Then install the Amazon MP3 downloader as normal.

World's Best Optical Illusion

Remember change is a whole lot different that the change you wanted.

Press Stop-Stop-Play

I looked at them funny (as I'm prone to do), tried it and now I use it every time. It will start playing the main feature without all the junk they packed in before it. Depending on the player, you may want to wait a second between presses. One player I have says "Pre-Stop" on the first Stop, "Stop" on the second Stop, then "Seq. Play" on the Play. Don't know if this always works, but it works on almost every DVD I've tried.