Many first midterms of the semester were held this week at Stony Brook. I had a Math midterm on Monday and a Sociology midterm I just took 30 minutes ago and everything went smoothly. However, I heard that people pulled the fire alarms that canceled tests twice, once yesterday and one this morning. I’m sure the university is taking this matter seriously and is investigating.

Some people got lucky and had their midterms postponed.

I was passing by the SAC with my friend to get something to eat and there was this booth setup, what caught my eye was the Firefox stickers they were giving out. So I stopped by and discovered that Stony Brook has a Linux user fan club. I immediately asked about it and it seems awesome. I will check out their future meetings. The next general meeting is on February 27, 2007 7:00PM at Computer Science Building Room 2129.

However, today they are hosting a Firefox Install Fest where they will offer free food and software. I really wish I can attend but I have a math midterm later on and I need to study for it. Anyway, if anyone is interested, please give them a visit, they seem very geeky and are all Linux guru’s.

Check them out at http://lugsb.cs.sunysb.edu.

Woke up for class, I couldn’t even make it out of my quad without almost falling 5 times. All the roads were iced up. Stony Brook was so unprepared for this storm. Everywhere was iced up. Main roads were blocked and it sucked, I had to make so many detours to get to class. However, the trees looked hot, it was all covered in clear ice.

Some more pics from my Camera Phone:

I’m still trying to slide down Tabler Steps!! Heehehe!

WOW!, I remember back in the day of Elementary School – High School. You would never find a snow day if you go to school in New York City because subway would be our way of transportation and since Subways ran underground, there was no excuse for not going to school but out here, we had only 1 inch of snow and the school announced “classes canceled after 2PM”. Here’s the email I got shortly after 1PM:

To All Students, Faculty, and Staff:

Due to the weather conditions, classes scheduled to start after 2 PM
today, Wednesday, February 14, have been canceled.

Please be aware that only Governor Spitzer can order State offices
and facilities to be closed. When classes are canceled, University
offices are still open and employees are expected to report to work.
If individual employees choose not to report to work because of
weather conditions, they must call in and charge their absence to
appropriate accruals with supervisory approval.

In the case of rapidly deteriorating weather conditions, which can
occur during the work day, an employee who wishes to leave early must
secure supervisory approval, and charge this time to appropriate
accruals.

Lynn M. Johnson
Director, Human Resource Services
Stony Brook University

God damn I was happy! I hope the same for tomorrow, especially when the snow gets all icy. Muhahaha!

Picture Update

All pictures were taken by my Motorola E815 Camera Phone. Sweet!

I woke up late for math class and cut it today as if that wasn’t already bad enough, I had to cut all my classes today. Why? Because of the long awaited winter weather. I was getting dressed and I took a glance out the window, all I saw was white slush. It had snowed overnight and suddenly started raining. [Snow + Rain = Slush -> Ice Overnight] Anyhow, I was walking to Sociology and a friend told me not to go. I didn’t listen but I soon came to realize that I should have taken his advice. By the time I got to ZebraPath, my feet was soaking wet with the feeling of ice cold needles poke every inch of my foot, c’mon y’all know that pain LOL!

Anyway, ths was the first time it snowed and stuck on the ground this winter at Stony Brook. Too bad it wasn’t that fluffy snow where we could have snow ball fights and stuff, that would have been fun especially with all the big open space we have in H-Quad. Sliding down Tabler Hills would be awsome but hopefully winter doesn’t end without that happening.

Last but not least, have a Happy Valentines Day!

DC++ announces the freedom to share! DC++ is an open source client for the Direct Connect network. Direct Connect allows you to share files over the Internet without restrictions or limits. The client is completely free of advertisements and has a nice, easy to use interface. Firewall and router support is integrated and it is easy and convenient to use functionality like multi-hub connections, auto-connections and resuming of downloads.

Step 1: Download DC++ at SourceForge here.

Step 2: Install DC++ – This should be easy and self explanatory.

Step 3: Run the setup file to begin installation. The installation consists of three main screens.

1. License Agreement. Read the license, select the “I accept …” box and then click on Next.
   
2. Installation Options. This shows the components to be installed. It is highly recommended that you leave all the items selected. Click on “Next” to continue.
   
3. Installation Folder: The location where DC++ is to be installed. This can be left at the default. Click on “Install” to begin the installation.
   

Once the installation has completed, you may now run DC++ from the Start menu.

Step 4: There are a few basic settings that need to be entered before you can use DC++. Some are essential whereas others are not, but in my opinion make things easier in the long run.

Personal Information

Location: Settings → Personal Information.

The only piece of information that is required here is Nick. This is the username you will use on DC++. This can be anything you want but avoid using characters that would be illegal in filenames, such as ‘*’ or ‘/’.

Entering a line speed is recommended. This value is the maximum upload speed of your Internet connection. For example, if you had a maximum of of 256kbps upload, you would pick 0.2 from the dropdown list, as this is the closest.

The other two fields, E-Mail and Description, are optional.

Connection Settings

Location: Settings → Connection Settings.

I highly recommend reading the Help file as it briefly explains what each of these settings means.

If you are behind a router or gateway, select “Firewall (passive, last resort)” initially. You can switch to a more appropriate setting later by referring to the “Configuring Active Mode” section.

If you are directly connected to the Internet then leave “Direct connection” selected.

If you are behind a SOCKS proxy, select SOCKS5 and enter the appropriate information.

If you unsure which applies to you, select “Firewall (passive, last resort)”.

Download Directories

Location: Settings → Downloads → Directories.

Default Download Directory: Enter a folder where finished downloads should go. If left blank, it will default to a folder called Downloads in the main DC++ folder.

Unfinished Downloads Directory: Enter a folder where downloads should go while they are downloading. Once they have completed downloading, they will be moved to the folder specified above. If no folder is given here, it will default to a folder called Incomplete in the main DC++ folder.

Upload Slots

Location: Settings → Sharing → Upload Slots

File transfers in DC++ are based on slots. Each file being transferred takes up one slot. You need to open up a number of upload slots to gain access to hubs. The minimum needed will depend on the number of hubs you are connected to. Usually it is two slots per hub, though it will vary from hub to hub. Set it to 2 for the moment and remember to adjust it as you connect to more hubs.

Step 5: Connect to the Stony Brook DC++ server. (sbushare.no-ip.info)

Manual Address Entry

If you know the address of a hub (either an IP address or a domain name) then this can be manually entered by going to File → Quick Connect. Type the address and click OK to connect.

YOUR DONE!! AGAIN, NOT RECOMMENDED AND ILLEGAL. I DO NOT USE IT!

via [B Ali DC++ Guide]

My friends and I were tired of the boring weekends here at Stony Brook, many people go home for the weekends because the city is so close by. This really sucks for the people who are staying because theres really nothing to do on this cold campus. Since I found out that tickets to the city via LIRR are only $6 – $9. We decided to go on a little getaway to New York City, my hometown. Both of my friends had never been to the city before so it was almost like a tour guide experience for me. We got off at Penn Station, went around Herald Square, my friend bought some things off the streets, then we went all the way up to the heights to my friends Oscars to get haircuts. We finally finished our day having dinner in Chinatown. Real chinese food isn’t like nasty Jasmines or CampusDelivery!

On our way back, we jacked some MTA advertisements for our dorm rooms! Sweet!

So if you’re bored on the weekends like most people are, take a inexpensive trip to the city and have FUN! For more information on the tickets, refer to my previous post.

[audio:http://litstudies.org/throw.mp3]

My friend just told me about this incredible deal that the SAC (Student Activity Center) has for traveling to New York City on the LIRR. A off-peak train ticket from Stony Brook to Penn Station usually cost $19 and more for peak hours but the school has then for only $6! The only restriction is that you can only purchase it once a week.

Want to get a ticket? Go to the SAC Box Office during their operating hours with your Student ID. I got mine today, this sure beats $19 for a round trip! A lot of people say I don’t go home much, well this is definatly an incentive for me to go home more often. Doesn’t mean I will , I don’t promise anything but this will push me a little more.

Coldest day by far here at Stony Brook! Imagine if the annual Super Bowl Polar Bear Club event was today? The annual Polar Bear Club visits the cold frigid waters every year for fun on Super Bowl day. That would have been crazy! My friend went to the Polar Bear event where 10,000+ people charged into the freezing waters of south-shore Long Island. Getting in naked wasn’t the bad part, getting out was the worst. Your body would feel even colder because it’s wet, then add the wind chill to that! HYPOTHERMIA!

Don’t worry, there were hovering medics available. Chances of you dying isn’t high at all! LOL! BTW, want to know what tomorrows morning temperatures are? Well it’s 5 degrees with a wind chill of -5 to -15. Dress warmly – New York!

I went to Walmart with a couple of my friends from the floor, I came back with a new speaker system, some cheap Walmart shit they had on sale but they look pretty hot!

I practically got them for free! Hehehe! Ok, it was a BUY 1 Get One FREE! The sound gets cracky when you max the volume but other then that, no complaints.

So, we bought 3 speaker systems, 2 Phillips ones and 1 Durabrand one, some generic 5.1 speakers that are DUMB Loud! OMG, now almost everyone on our floor has a crazy speaker system that we’ll blast. Screw the noise complaints! Bring it on RA’s!

Hit em up!!
[audio:http://litstudies.org/contender.mp3]