Bob Inglis wrote me today. I decided to respond.
by Jeremy on Feb.26, 2010, under Politics
Apparently his three previous mailings which all got no response wasn’t enough of a clue.
Click the title of this entry to view the full page containing pics of the letter, and my response.
(continue reading…)
How to convert video recorded with a Panasonic Lumix FZ35 (AVCHD, 720p) for playback in Linux
by Jeremy on Feb.11, 2010, under Linux
You will need:
- Recent ffmpeg
- Panasonic Lumix FZ35 (duh)
ffmpeg -i INPUT-FILE-FROM-CAMERA.MTS -vcodec libxvid -b 7000k -acodec libmp3lame -ac 2 -ab 192k -deinterlace -s 1280x720 output-file.avi
How to convert video for playback on your Motorola Droid
by Jeremy on Jan.28, 2010, under Linux
Things you will need:
- Linux
- ffmpeg
- A Droid, dummy
Warning: I do have all the freedom hating codecs installed. You will have to output to H.264, and depending on your inputs, you may need to hate freedom even more than that.
ffmpeg -i filein.mp4 -y -subq 6 -deinterlace -level 30 -f mp4 -acodec libfaac -ab 160k -ar 48000 -ac 2 -vcodec libx264 -b 2000k -maxrate 2000k -bufsize 2000kb -rc_eq 'blurCplx^(1-qComp)' -qcomp 0.6 -qmin 10 -qmax 51 -qdiff 4 -coder 0 -refs 2 -flags +loop -vol 256 -trellis 1 -me_method umh -async 1 -s wvga fileout.mp4
New Windows 7 FUD: Faking User Delight
by Jeremy on Oct.07, 2009, under Linux
For those who aren’t aware, Microsoft started a program through House Party to encourage people to throw Windows 7 House Parties … by giving them a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate Signature Edition … and a bunch of surplus stuff from Party City. Being a big Linux and open source advocate, I immediately saw this for what it really was: a great chance to show people Linux!
Here’s a look at what comes in a Windows 7 Party Pack….
The Lost Art of the Friday Work Whistle
by Jeremy on Aug.14, 2009, under Uncategorized
Call it the 5 o’clock whistle. The 5 o’clock send off. The weekend blastoff. The weekend work whistle. The Friday work whistle. Whatever. The point is, hardly anybody does this anymore, and it’s a shame. Below are the ONLY specimens I can find that aren’t some lame DJ blowing a referee’s whistle… but REAL Friday work whistles. Enjoy!
1) WMXT 102.1 The Fox — Florence, SC — Better start, more music.
Rapidshare Link
2) WROQ Rock 101.1 — Greenville, SC — Longer, more mixed in clips.
Rapidshare Link
3) WKLS 96Rock — Atlanta, GA — The predecessor to 102.1’s version.
Rapidshare Link
4) WHTZ Z-100 — New York City, NY — The version they did in 1984!
Rapidshare Link
Audit The Fed
by Jeremy on Jul.16, 2009, under Politics
Enjoy this epic video. HR1207 (“Audit The Fed”) now has 271 co-sponsors, including all House Republicans and nearly half of the House Democrats.
The Real US Tax Burden – Revised
by Jeremy on Jul.02, 2009, under Politics
The following is a fairly comprehensive paper on the total tax burden to the average US taxpayer. This includes federal, state, local, and excise taxes. This is, in effect, a best case scenario for taxation. Bare that in mind when the numbers and figures start to hit you.
Please note this work is licensed under the following:

The Real US Tax Burden by Jeremy Sands is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at www.jeremysands.com. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.jeremysands.com.
Download the PDF HERE
Pics from the 2009 Southeast Linuxfest
by Jeremy on Jun.14, 2009, under Linux

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0.
For those who do Facebook and tagging … go HERE
Alternatively ….
Campaign for Liberty at SC GOP Convention
by Jeremy on May.19, 2009, under Politics
First and foremost … a big thanks for the C4L members who setup and manned our booth at the event. There was a huge (42″?) TV/monitor with a Campaign for Liberty logo loop on it that really grabbed attention. The booth members ended up with a stack of signed HR1207 petitions probably 4″ thick.
We are already making an impact. The new SC GOP Chair, Karen Floyd, specifically mentioned making organizations like the Campaign for Liberty feel welcome in the party in her literature. Several candidates are asking us for our help and support. We even have C4L members running for major office, including Christina Jeffrey who is running against Bob Inglis for US House SC-4, and Mike Vasovski who is running against Gresham Barret for US House SC-3. Inglis and Barret both voted for the bailout. In addition, we had several other organizations represented from within the C4L, including the Patriotic Resistance, ROAR, the Libertarian Party, and the Constitution Party. It was great seeing the LP and CP cooperate with us and not field candidates against strong liberty Republicans like Jim DeMint and Mark Sanford. Thanks to Talbert Black and his band of helpers, we’re also pushing to pass H3047 at the state level, which for force SC House and Senate members to have their vote recorded in nearly all important matters. Currently, they can have a voice vote and we are thus unable to hold them accountable. Talbert has made sure that along every stage of the way, there has been LOTS of people present to watch exactly how everybody votes on H3047, so we can hold them accountable to their constituents. H3047, by the way, was introduced by Nikki Haley, a SC House representative running for governor. Her campaign looks very promising and liberty minded. Her speech at the convention was superb.
Now onto the controversy of the evening: Lindsey Graham. A few months ago, Lindsey Graham shot his mouth off at the Greenville County Convention, saying that Ron Paul was not the leader of the party. Well Lindsey one-upped himself this time, also railing against libertarian principles in general…. you know, because apparently Liberty is a bad thing in his warped world. Here is a YouTube of Lindsey’s speech. Notice that a sizeable amount of the delegates already don’t like Lindsey Graham, either because they’re C4L members, or they think immigration is important, or they hate bailouts, or, or, or ….
The full speech … if you can stand it … is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14xKzja8KtE
Well, things were far from over after that speech. There were several resolutions to be voted on, including one commending Lindsey Graham. That didn’t go over well. A battle ensued over that resolution. The chairwoman of the rules committee suspended the rules, and convention chair claimed this was not up for debate. Somebody pointed out that you have to have a 2/3 vote to do that, and so begrudgingly they put it to a vote. It was VERY close. I don’t think they had the 2/3. But without a tally, without a count, the chair decided that they had 2/3. So in order to defeat the Graham resolution, we needed to vote down the ENTIRE platform. Then we needed to vote down the ENTIRE resolution set. THEN we would have voted on each resolution one by one. Most people did not understand that. I think unquestionably if they did, we would have had the 1/3+ necessary to prevent rule suspension. But that’s OK, we made the point clear:
And for bonus points, the REAL leader of the South Carolina Republican Party spoke and gave his two cents on Senator Graham putting his foot in his mouth:
Earlier this year the Spartanburg C4L was successful in helping Rick “Ron Paul is not welcome here, the door is closed for him” Beltram get thrown out of the party. One down, Bog Inglis and Lindsey Graham to go.
[This entry is being simul-post on my C4L blog]
New episode of DistroCast ; ArchLinux updates
by Jeremy on Apr.27, 2009, under Linux
Finally! I’ve released a long overdue new episode of DistroCast, a podcast that is a humorous but honest look at Linux distros. This was a .5 episode, so we reviewed the T-Mobile G1, and let you know just what happened to SourceCast.
Also, I’ve pushed tons of updates to ArchLinux out through AUR (ArchLinux User Repository). Updated packages include:
- Google Earth (32-bit only)
- initscripts-splashy
- opera-adblock
- opera-adblock-complete (includes stat/tracking filters)


