A few months ago, one of my fellow performers in The King & I asked me to give an overview of the applications I use, and explain the jailbreaking process. Weeks and weeks have past since this was requested of me, and now that the theatre season is finally over, I can grant his request. This is for you Ray.
In order to jailbreak an iPod (in this instance, an 8GB 2nd Generation Touch) you must have, among other things: a working knowledge of the bittorrent protocol (wiki), a passing familiarity with torrent applications (wiki), knowledge about what exactly it is you are doing (wiki), access to a firmware dump (click), and a spare half hour or so. I’m performing these operations on a custom Windows XP SP2 build. The process will vary to a degree with OS X and *nix machines.
//.Disclaimer: I am not responsibile for human stupidity. Perform this and other operations at your own risk.//
Now, onto the process:
- Identify your current firmware version (Settings > General > About > version). Once armed with that, consult the Lords of Kobal (click) and download a raw dump of said firmware.
- When that is completed, use the all-powerful Bittorrent protocol and download redsn0w (click). When the download is complete, read the readme.txt that accompanies it.
- Read, read, keep reading! Turn off your iPod Touch, backup everything that you want to save (contacts, bookmarks, todo lists, game saves, blah blah blah…), and turn the device off completely. Not sleep mode: off. Launch redsn0w from the top level and follow the instructions — make sure you only install Cydia, not Icy.
- The process will eventually complete, and cydia.app will be installed. You now have access to the black market.
Part two — an overview of what apps and hacks I am using — will come later.
Filed under: Uncategorized
So. I’ve discovered an application called Zen Jar (iTunes), in which you release random messages to the world, and other people receive them. The person on the receiving end can respond, et cetra….
I had this delightful conversation with a person from Missouri:
It’s nice to talk to the world.
Filed under: Uncategorized
It took nearly a month, but I’ve finally recieved both canned responses from the Illinois Senate Delegation. The message from Senate Majority Whip Durbin was received 20090724, and was canned.
Dear Mr. Krenzer:
Thank you for your message regarding hate crimes. I appreciate hearing from you and share your concerns.
Fair and equal treatment of all Americans is a cornerstone of our society and our political system. Unfortunately, despite great progress, the struggle for civil rights and equal treatment under the law continues today for many citizens, and hate crimes continue to tear the fabric of communities throughout our country.
I am a cosponsor of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S. 909). This bill would expand current federal protections against hate crimes based on race, religion, and national origin. It also would add provisions to the criminal code to permit the prosecution of hate crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, and disability. In addition, the measure would enable the federal government to assist state and local law enforcement agencies in their own investigation and prosecution of hate crimes.
In the 110th Congress, the Senate approved the hate crimes measure as an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2008 Department of Defense Authorization Bill. Unfortunately, the amendment was removed after President Bush threatened to veto the bill if it came to his desk with the hate crimes provision.
We need to enact the hate crimes bill as an important step toward the goal of preventing discrimination and violence based on factors such as race, religion, national origin, disability, gender, and sexual orientation. I will continue to keep your concerns in mind as the hate crimes bill is considered further in Congress.
Thank you again for your message. Please feel free to stay in touch.
Richard J. Durbin
The response from Senator Burris was received on 20090622. Being unknown has an advantage for your fellow citizens, it seems.
Dear Michael:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. I appreciate your correspondence on such an important issue.
Current law defines hate crime as any crime against either person or property in which the offender intentionally selects the victim because of the victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, or disability. Currently, hate crimes are notseparate or distinct offenses under federal law; rather, they are traditional crimes that are committed by individuals who are motivated by one or more biases that are considered to be damaging to society as a whole.
I believe that hate crimes are fundamentally different from other offenses. Hate crimes are often not limited to the specific victim, but are committed with the intention of inspiring fear in a larger group. For this reason, I feel it is appropriate to enact federal legislation that deals separately with hate crimes. While I understand the concern over federal hate crime legislation infringing on freedom of speech, I believe that this legislation will not obstruct citizens from expressing their religious or political views unless such expression involves acts of physical violence.
The Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act would add “sexual orientation” to existing Federal hate crimes statutes. This bill supports existing local efforts to combat discrimination while preserving our nation’s strong heritage of religious expression and racial diversity. In short, those who seek to intimidate or threaten a specific social group with acts of violence will be held responsible under Federal law.
Again, thank you for writing. Please be assured that I will keep your views in mind when this legislation comes to the Senate.
Sincerely,
Roland W. Burris
United States Senator
While the Matthew Shepard Act has passed the US Senate as an attachment to a defence spending bill, I would have liked it to be its own stand-alone bill. Oh well…
So. 2009-JUL-19, eleven minutes past seven. The final performance of Evita’s 2009 rendition will begin in…forty eight minutes. … And as I sit here in the AV booth, I find myself at a relative loss for words. Unusual, but not unpresidented. It seems crazy, but I’ve seen this production fifteen? times now, and I haven’t written about it. I would consider writing a long essay now, but I find the iPod touch keyboard to be very…confining.
One more Evita, seven more King & I, and seven more Producers — at which point I will start a new lifetime.
Bottoms up.
mlk
So. Thursday, 20090716. 715 in the evening. The Evita cast is warming up, while Andrew, Oz and myself are in the A/V lair upstairs…waiting and chatting. Andrew picks up my lipstick, and asks “You really keep this in your bag?” (nods in affirmation). “Ya’ know, I never really took you for a normal guy.” I snort, asking “how many gay, autistic bipolar people do you know?” “You’re autistic?” “Yep: high functioning autistic.” “Are you one of those crazy bipolar people?” “On occasion.” “Ha! That’d be great, to see quiet Krenzer flip out & kick (evita/proxucers person)’s ass.” (smirks) “Sometimes I want to…”
Which begs the question: what is normal, what is truth? I generally believe in the archtypes: thief, rogue, battlemage, seeker, blah blah blah. Who defines them? Who decides which types are and are not permitted? What happens to those of us that fall outside the “normal” range?
I’ve not died — just sleeping, working and thinking — a lot. Tomorrow, July 5, I intend to post a bunch of stuff that I’ve been needing to write about…Transformers, Producers, ZenJar, iPod touch apps, Battlestar Galactica, desktops, and my travels within Cyrodiil….
…2009-June-17. 457 in the evening. The new, Broadway symphonic orchestra recording fail safe-just in case-emergency backup-plan is here and playing wonderfully well. … The King & I has its hard opening tonight — people are paying to see us.
…552. We just finished Springtime for Hitler with the prerecorded OSV — and it worked!! For the first time ever The entire number worked! We are all back stage, high fiving each other while in a general state of euphoric shock. OMG!
…752. Webb has given us his deck speech, talking about the fact that, in this current economic situation, people are still willing to do this. They have cut many things out of their lives, but this is not one of them…theatre remains a part of the open cultural identity of these people.
Time to go.
1019. About 75% done with Act II. “Shall we dance” plays in the background, as I mentally prepare myself for the torture sequence by thinking of an old love…
1100. Show is over, and people are streaming into Nippons. Maggie. Shane. Chris. Miranda. Jill. There is a cute guy, employee, at the bar — but my headache and own fears prevent me from talking to him. I finish my green tea, thank Webb for a lovely evening and flee…cursing myself on the way out the bloody door. Argh!
2009, June 14. 106 in the afternoon, the sun is shining and the weather is a wonderfully perfect 67 degrees. The first Producers rehearsal with a full stage to play with should have started eight minutes ago, but we don’t have the full cast yet. Webb is talking, discussing todays order of battle. … Go from opening to Whitehall, and then go back and spike everything. … There will be ten crew people on deck for today’s run through today alone. In the end, we will have thirty crew people… !
In a five hour run through, Webb will be “thrilled” if we get through the first act. Today will be a first tech — one in which the full set isn’t hung and with no spotlights…
…running the opening number / king of old broadway… massive spacing / timing / synchronicity issues … this lasts for over an hour — its now 237. On the final spinning circle thing, I trip over Josh Raether’s shows and am literally thrown out of line and smash into the floor due to momentum.
Josh helped me up, and continued the number without stopping to see if I’m okay… The number ends on a low note, and Chris Brady & John Chance begin the first office scene. As we wait for Whitehall to begin, John Hill, Jr and the rest of the people on stage left listen to the Greudo Valley theme (link) while Josh and I listen ans laugh while John reads from Cloten (Josh’s) horribly delivered song from Cymbeline Act 2 Scene 3…
Whitehall begins, ans it takes nearly twenty five minutes to setup. … 357. We are now in Rodger’s apartment. My lipstick — Maybelline e440 go currant — is on, I have my walker, and I await Little Old Lady Land…
… Rodger is done, and I ask Josh if my lipstick works well for LOLL. “Speak truth.” “Truth? Honest, brutal truth?” “Yes.” “… You’re gay!” (immediately, catty) “Yes, we established that already!”
… Little Old Lady land comes and goes thrice over. Springtime for Hitler comes and does, twice.
It is now 600 in the evening. The cast is quite rowdy, and Webb just yelled at is to “Be quiet. QUIET!” … King and I has been in setup for an hour…
820. King and I has started. Gods, let this work. ….. 901. John Hill has ripped his costume so badly that I have had to put about 16 pins on him just to keep it together…
1130… We are all out of costume–but not out of makeup–and taking notes. We have one more dress rehersal, and then we open…
My Gods. I mean…wow. I arrived at Starlight Theatre at 744 Saturday morning. I left Starlight Theatre at 219 Sunday morning. Let me provide a brief overview of the events of the past two days, and where we as a cast are heading before Tuesday.
- King and I ran began lecture at 800am. We spent an hour in dress in makeup, places were called at 905. We ran until 1150am, and had notes until 1230pm.
- Evita tech/setup lasted an hour, or so, from 1245 to 145. The show began promptly at 200, and ran until 403. We then had a light lunch, and your hero took a nap from 500 to 600. Evita was then resetup, tweaked and “made betterer” util the show opened at 800pm. It closed at 1005pm.
- At 1010, we began breaking down the Evita set. That. Was. A bastard. Two and a half hours later, we had a pizza/coffee/talking break.
- From 0055am to 219, we setup King & I, broke down King & I, and cleared the stage for Producers rehersal, which will begin in… Gods. Seven hours.
I’m off to bed.
- MK
Well. That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be — though that doesn’t necessarily make it “good” either. This morning’s run-through, including intermission, ran at 165 minutes.
>_<
Collectively, it was a step forward — not a step to the side as I feared it would be. Now, if we can continue that momentum and avoid moments of cognitive flatulence… I agree with the director in his theory that “half our problems would go away if you just stayed in the play.” I also find it horribly ironic that, as Webb said those words, the little girl sitting in front of me was looking around at the birds.
Perhaps the play isn’t as lost as I feared it would be.
