My slice of the globe

Last Post

2006-06-08T23:25:00.000-05:00

It's been great, but I am going to be concentrating on my primary blog http://www.netfarious.net, so please check that for my current ramblings. If crossposting becomes a little easier in the future, I may ressurect this one.

Thanks for all the fish!
-luis

Thank You for Smoking

2006-05-27T23:09:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

Finally went to see “Thank you for Smoking” which presents us with the life of Big Tobacco lobbyist Nick Nailor. Here is a trailer :

The movie was very funny, entertaining, and smart. The movie had the potential to get preachy due to its subject matter but it never did and was very intelligiently irreverent. It got applause from everyone in the theater at the end of the show.

This is a thumbs up in a “go see it in a theater, rent it, or buy it, but find some way to see it” kinda way.

Write a Story and get asked for you fingerprints and DNA by UF police

2006-05-24T10:21:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

According to this article on Boing Boing, a University of Florida English graduate students was asked to provide fingerprints and DNA after publishing a story involving a murder on his blog where he publishes his stories. The murder as well as his stories are fiction. To make the story even weirder, apparently this seems to be some kind a backlash for his use of his admin blocking priveleges on Wikipedia.

AT&T NSA Spying Evidence

2006-05-22T07:30:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

Wired has acquired and decided to publish the evidence that is currently under Seal in the EFF vs AT&T lawsuit.

To see why they did it, please go here :

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70947-0.html?tw=wn_technology_2

To see the evidence itself, please go here :

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70944-0.html

Google Notebook

2006-05-16T23:59:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

Today Google launched, Google Notebook. It is essentially an extension to Firefox/IE that allows you to highlight text, images, etc on a website and add it to a “notebook”. You can then create notebooks on different subjects, annotate your snippets, and also make these notebooks publicly viewable if you choose. The best part is that the notebook is stored on google so you can access it from anywhere. Suddenly, research, at least for me, has gotten a whole lot easier to manage.

You can try notebook out by going to :

http://www.google.com/notebook

I have already sent in a suggestion, for them to add a feature so that you can automatically generate a bibliography based on your snippet URLs. Try it out and enjoy, although, I think I am officially becoming a Google fanboy. (Although Google desktop search still makes me a little queasy.)

The Davinci Code : The Movie (Pre-Show)

2006-05-14T18:59:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

Well “The Davinci Code” opens on Friday and I plan on seeing the movie sometime next weekend, you can take a look at the latest trailer here :

And of course you can take a look (or another look) at my review of the book here. But, before anyone gets in a tizzy about this movie, please take a breath and remember that it is very much a work of fiction meant to entertain, not meant to convey any hidden truth, even if the author gets a little antagonistic at points (remember Dan Brown is a writer who wants to sell books and movies and controversy generates buzz). That being said, if you are still a “believer”, please take a look at the inaccuracies in the book (and presumably the movie based upon it) :

Time : The Ways of Opus Dei

How Stuff Works : How the Davinci Code Doesn’t Work

US Conference of Catholic Bishops : Jesus Decoded

Opus Dei : Theological issues raised in the Davinci Code

So you may be wondering if I think the book (and maybe movie) are so wrong, why am I going to see it? Two reason, it should be an entertaining and well-acted movie (Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, and Hans Zimmer score, come on, the score itself will probably be worth it), and if it is bound to get people’s feathers ruffled across the world, I would like to be knowledgeable so that I can know what I am talking about.

Etc : May 5 -12

2006-05-13T09:48:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

It’s been about a week since I’ve updated my blog, so here are a bunch of things I’ve been thinking about this week, that didn’t quite make a blog entry of their own :

The RIAA/MPAA broadcast flags are once again making their rounds through congress. If you think that these flags will actually stop piracy and not just stifle innovation, you may want to read up on them or if you would like to take action, write you senators here.

The NSA is apparently going fishing, through your phone records, that is, with voluntary cooperation from some phone companies, You can read all about it here :

Washington Post

ABC News

CNN

There is also the story of a Ohio priest convicted of a 1980, Holy Saturday, murder of a Sister. Just generally sad all round. You can read about it here :

CNN

Reuters

And finally, something a little less severe, I meant to put a link to the Stephen Colbert Roast of President Bush at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner at Google Video but didn’t get around to it either, until now.

Feliz Weekend!

ODF Plugin for MSOffice

2006-05-04T09:02:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

Massachusetts (MA) made a request yesterday for a plugin that would allow for seamless integration of ODF (Open Document Format) into Office. You can see that request here. A day later the The OpenDocument Foundation responds that they have a plugin that is compatible with current versions of Word, and going back to Word97. You can read more about that on Groklaw here. So for the first time, you will be able to completely seamlessly share and develop a document between Word, OpenOffice, AbiWord, and other programs.

The MS Office vs MA showdown been like watching a software soap opera and apparently Office has just developed an inoperable brain tumor so that it can be written out of the script. Ok, I don’t watch Soaps but I imagine that is what would happen if Office were in one.

But I digress, the plugin is apparently not yet available for general consumption but is available to the state of Massachussetts so that they can begin their testing.

BTW, you can download a completely free office suite that supports ODF as well as Office formats here.

Superman Returns - Trailer 2

2006-05-03T06:20:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

There is a new trailer for Superman Returns up on the Apple site :

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/supermanreturns/trailer2/

Coming to Theaters on June 30th.

Silent Hill - The Movie

2006-05-01T08:27:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

I went to see Silent Hill on Saturday evening and I have to say that I thought it was a good movie. Of course the two other people I saw it with completely disagree with me on that point, so your mileage may vary. I must have made up my own movie as I went along, at least according to them. That being said, I don’t think I will be adding this one to my video collection, even though it was good, it wasn’t great.

The good :

The movie looked great (very good cinematography and special effects)

The basics of the storyline were good (but see below)

The bad :

Very poor dialogue for the main character and no quotables

Non-existant use of exposition, when the movie contains a “featurette” almost at the end in order to attempt explain most of the movie, you know the writers, directors, and producers, dropped the ball along the way. If the information in the “featurette” had been dished out as we went along, it would have significantly improved the movie.

There were no really scary moments, the movie mostly consisted of some gory moments. (i.e. It doesn’t stick with you like “The Grudge” does. That is definitely a good scare, BTW, and really well executed.)

All in all, I give it a thumbs up in a, “if you haven’t seen it, I would wait and rent it”, way.

The Ultimate Showdown

2006-04-28T14:38:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

It’s Friday, my work computer’s hard drive has crashed, and so it’s time for a little levity. A friend emailed this out earlier this week, I had never heard of the group before and the song is catchy as well as the flash animation to go with it. So Happy Friday (Be sure to use headphones if you are at work) :

The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny

Davinci Code Lawsuit Judgement Contains Secret Code

2006-04-27T05:33:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

Apparently the judge who presided over the Dan Brown plagiarism trial decided to have a little fun in the wording of his judgement. The Judge decided to embed a secret code in it. An article concerning this can be found at :

CNN

If you would like to take a crack at decrypting the code embedded in the 71 page ruling, you may find it at :

Her Majesty’s Courts Service

Help take a stand against the RIAA madness

2006-04-26T13:03:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

The EFF is putting together a petition to take to Congress that will hopefully help stem the RIAA lawsuit rampage. If you are interested in taking a look at the Petition and/or signing it, please go to :

https://www.eff.org/share/petition/

If you are concerned about having your name shown on the internet, just check the “Do not display on website” box and your name will not be shown online but still available in the actual printed copy to be delivered to congress.

BTW, if you are interested, the latest person to be sued by RIAA was a dead Grandmother:

The Register Article

Smithsonian sells U.S. History to Showtime

2006-04-20T11:26:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

In an attempt to make money from its archives, the Smithsonian has signed an exclusive deal with Showtime Networks. This deals gives Showtime exclusive access to the Smithsonian film archives. All filmmakers wishing to use this “public domain” material must get the material through Showtime and create it through them or not use the material. The deal also restricts access to Smithsonian personnel for filmmakers. Yes this does look as bad as it sounds.

Read more here :

Washington Post

EFF

ABC News

Google : Calendar

2006-04-12T23:00:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

Looks like Google launched their online calendar program this evening. Seems pretty spiffy. You can find it at :

http://calendar.google.com

Quick Feature Rundown :

Imports from:

Microsoft Outlook

Yahoo! Calendar

Apple iCal

Notifications :

Pop-up, if app is open

SMS, text message

General :

You can create multiple calendars

You can share a calendar

You can make a calendar private or public

You can create invites (Evite competition, anyone?)

Will revisit in a few days after I have played with it some.

2006-04-09T08:56:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

So while attempting to finish far cry last night apparently somehow my directx 9.0c installation got somewhat borked. It was failing to find d3dx9_26.dll (apparently looking around the files d3dx9_24.dll, d3dx9_25.dll, d3dx9_27.dll,d3dx9_28.dll also seem to disappear randomly). Doing a quick google search I found somebody who had the dll available to download but being a little wary of installing random but hopefully helpful DLLs and also figuring that there might be more than one missng file, I went to the source, Microsoft. I dutifully went and downloaded the directx installer but since I have already installed directx that didn’t seem to help as the installer didn’t do much of anything. Fishing around some more I found the easiest way to correct this mess is to go to the microsoft web site and look for the DirectX End User Runtimes, the full version, as the web installer wasn’t all that helpful. At this time you can find this at :

http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/sdk/default.aspx

After installation your computer should be in a much happier DirectX place (at least until the next time the dlls mysteriously disappear) Hope this helps!

Edit : If you find this information useful. Please leave a comment, if it solved your issue.

50 Greatest Independant films

2006-04-08T11:41:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

It’s the weekend and if you’re looking for a movie perhaps this list may help you setup your netflix queue, blockbuster visit, Tivo, or even next possible purchase. Empire online put together this list of the 50 greatest indie films, which I originally noticed sometime this week on digg.com. I’ve only seen a handful of these movies on the list but haven’t been disappointed in the ones I have seen. Movies on the list that I can very much vouch for :

The Usual Suspects

The Terminator

Donnie Darko

Lost In Translation

El Mariachi

Mad Max

Evil Dead

Movies that I keep meaning to see :

Being John Malkovich

THX-1138

The Blair Witch Project

City Of God

Reservoir Dogs

I’ve been told so many times that I should see Reservoir Dogs, that I’ve lost count. And yes I know I need to see it, and yes I know apparently it would be a movie I would be “totally in to”. The opportunity just hasn’t presented itself. And a warning on “Lost in Translation”, you have to be in the right mood to enjoy it.

See you at the Movies!

On a "Dark Miracle"

2006-04-07T20:20:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

As seen on WilWheaton.net, Joshua Ellis, who is an independant journalist, went to the Trinity Test Site (the site of the first nuclear bomb test), this year to go take a look. The site is open to the public 2 days of every year. He describes what he saw in pictures and words, and has also given some historical context for it all. It is a good read and his article can be found here :

http://www.zenarchery.com/trinity/

Please go take a look and feel free to leave some feedback.

Davinci Code Lawsuit has no merit

2006-04-07T09:21:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

A British court has thrown out the lawsuit against Dan Brown. Here is more info from the LA Times.

</center>

Zombie Scenario Survival Test

2006-04-06T08:39:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

Time for another quiz. Are you ready? Here is my result :

Official Survivor

Congratulations! You scored 78%!

Whether through ferocity or quickness, you made it out. You made the right choice most of the time, but you probably screwed up somewhere. Nobody’s perfect, at least you’re alive.

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 68% on survivalpoints

Link: The Zombie Scenario Survivor Test written by ci8db4uok on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Phosphor : A FPS In your browser

2006-04-06T07:42:00.000-05:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

As seen on HardOCP.com, ever want to play a first person shooter, in your browser. Well some one has coded up a 7MB shockwave execcutable and yes it does include multiplayer among other features. Take a look over at :

http://www.rasterwerks.com/game/phosphor/beta1.asp

Google : Romance

2006-04-01T09:30:00.000-06:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

Just when you thought your contextual relationship needs were not being met, Google comes to the rescue :

http://www.google.com/romance/

Slings & Arrows

2006-03-29T23:14:00.000-06:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

Coming from the Great White North,a.k.a. Canada, is this wonderful program that is now being shown on the Sundance Channel. Info on the show can be found :

http://www.sundancechannel.com/feature/index.php?ixContent=8105

and

http://www.sundancechannel.com/feature/index.php?ixContent=8728

The show basically follows the cast & crew of a theater group and is pretty darn funny and very well acted, in fact the tagline for the series is : “The real show is backstage.” So far I have only managed to see one episode but that epsiode was enough so that it is now officially on my Season Pass list. If you get Sundance, you may definitely want to check it out.

A must read : Dan Brown's Statement for Lawsuit

2006-03-26T23:22:00.000-06:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

You may or may not have heard of the lawsuit concerning possible “plagiarism” for for “The Davinci Code”. Here is a USA Today article on the suit (no pie charts included) :

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2006-03-26-da-vinci-main_x.htm

What is really cool is that as part of this case Dan Brown went through and has written up how he puts together a novel as his witness statement. I think it’s very interesting to see the thought process and methods that he goes through. Dan Brown’s witness statement can be found at the London Times website here :

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-2085827_1,00.html

I’m pretty sure that this is not a publicity stunt. But coincidentally, “The Davinci Code” goes for sale in paperback form on Tuesday, and it is also the same day that the new book by Michael Baigent, the author suing Brown, comes out with a sequel to “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” (the allegedly plagiarised book), titled the “The Jesus Papers”.

Publicity stunt or not, read the “witness statement” if you’ve read Dan Brown’s books or are at all interested in writing.

Lord of the Rings - The Musical

2006-03-24T11:42:00.000-06:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

A musical adaptation based on the J.R.R Tolkien trilogy just openned in Toronto :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4840278.stm

Reviews have not been very good so far.

Primetime : Racist Cabbie

2006-03-23T22:20:00.000-06:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

Primetime rigged up a cab with cameras and hired two actors to play cab drivers. The “cab drivers” made racist remarks and the cameras recorded the passenger’s diverse reactions to the situation. It was a pretty good news show. An excerpt of the broadcast can be found on the ABC News site :

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=1757271

Good Job ABC!

This is a test. This is only a test

2006-03-23T00:23:00.000-06:00

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

I’m still adding features/content to http://www.netfarious.net, for example if all is working OK this post should also show up in my blogger account. This way I get to have the best of both worlds or at least more exposure for my latest ramblings.

-The Management

Edit : Ok, that didn’t quite work as expected. If at first you don’t succeed, try again tomorrow when you’re less tired.

Edit2 : Last ditch effort for tonight, I definitely think it helps if I have the correct blogger hostname.

Oh Brave New World that has such things in it

2006-03-20T22:40:00.000-06:00

Well I went and got myself a domain , two, actually so please start looking for new posts over at http://www.netfarious.net/ and http://www.netfarious.com/, they are mirrored for now. Right now my new blog is up and running and other content is still TBD but with lots of space and bandwidth, who knows where it will go. It is still very much a work in progress, though, but it will be looking alot spiffier as work and life allow.

See you on the flip side!

Must be Friday

2006-03-10T09:12:00.000-06:00

Please help those who cannot help themselves :
http://www.cowabduction.com

(Don't worry, I too am even more confused after visiting the site)

I think it might be snowing somewhere right now

2006-03-07T20:05:00.000-06:00

I'm recommending you read an article about Tulane from Fox News.

Contact the Tulane Board

2006-03-02T20:14:00.000-06:00

The March 15th-17th vote on the Tulane's Bold University Renewal Plan (BURP) is coming up fast. If you are interested in contacting the Board about your thoughts on the plan to eliminate the School of Engineering please feel free to use their contact information here.

If you think New Orleans might need a few engineers now, please drop them a line.

Missing directx dlls - like d3dx9_26.dll

2006-02-18T13:22:00.000-06:00

So while attempting to finish far cry last night apparently somehow my directx 9.0c installation got somewhat borked. It was failing to find d3dx9_26.dll (apparently looking around the files d3dx9_24.dll, d3dx9_25.dll, d3dx9_27.dll,d3dx9_28.dll also seem to disappear randomly). Doing a quick google search I found somebody who had the dll available to download but being a little wary of installing random but hopefully helpful DLLs and also figuring that there might be more than one missng file, I went to the source, Microsoft. I dutifully went and downloaded the directx installer but since I have already installed directx that didn't seem to help as the installer didn't do much of anything. Fishing around some more I found the easiest way to correct this mess is to go to the microsoft web site and look for the DirectX End User Runtimes, the full version, as the web installer wasn't all that helpful. At this time you can find this at :
http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/sdk/default.aspx

After installation your computer should be in a much happier DirectX place (at least until the next time the dlls mysteriously disappear) Hope this helps!

Which Superhero are you?

2006-02-10T14:47:00.000-06:00

A little Friday Fluff (as see on Thoughts Thunk Too Hard) :

Your results:
You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern		75%
Spider-Man		75%
Superman		60%
Robin		60%
The Flash		55%
Hulk		55%
Iron Man		50%
Supergirl		45%
Batman		45%
Wonder Woman		40%
Catwoman		35%

Hot-headed. You have strong
will power and a good imagination.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Tulane Students Strive to Save Engineering

2006-01-19T12:02:00.000-06:00

From the New York Times & The Tech (MIT Newspaper) :
Tulane Students Strive to Save Engineering Majors - The Tech

Backpedal, quickly

2006-01-13T06:53:00.000-06:00

Robertson acknowledges the harshness of his Sharon statements (after Israel threatens to exclude him from a Christian heritage site). Here is the CNN Article.

Not down with 700

2006-01-06T07:38:00.000-06:00

I just don't have the words, or rather I guess I do but it would probably get my blogged censored. I can say that the Jesus I grew up with and believe in would not be happy about anyone in pain. Meanwhile we have folks like this :
Pat Robertson on Sharon

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-25T15:42:00.000-06:00

Feliz Navidad!

The end times

2005-12-21T08:21:00.000-06:00

What happens when a world is about to be destroyed. This article over at Wired takes a look at the virtual world of Asheron's Call 2 whose servers will be shut down on Dec 30th. Take a look at the article here.

Which Tarot Card are you?

2005-12-18T19:52:00.000-06:00

As seen on "Written While Riding the Train". Another one of those quizzes, here are my results :

You are The Magician

Skill, wisdom, adaptation. Craft, cunning, depending on dignity.

Eloquent and charismatic both verbally and in writing,
you are clever, witty, inventive and persuasive.

The Magician is the male power of creation, creation by willpower and desire. In that ancient sense, it is the ability to make things so just by speaking them aloud. Reflecting this is the fact that the Magician is represented by Mercury. He represents the gift of tongues, a smooth talker, a salesman. Also clever with the slight of hand and a medicine man - either a real doctor or someone trying to sell you snake oil.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

A musician to check out - Luthea Salom

2005-12-17T22:02:00.000-06:00

You may want to check out "Luthea Salom", no relation, at least that I know of at this time. Salom is the equivalent of Smith on Mallorca. Stumbled onto her site as I was looking at some of the statistics for this blog. You can check out her music on her site : www.lutheasalom.com Can't hurt to refer to her even if not related, its not bad, pretty good in fact.

Nintendo ... gone wild

2005-12-17T07:52:00.000-06:00

As seen on digg. Here is a link for a Nintendo micro ad that for some reason isn't being shown in the US.

Enjoy!

By the way ...

2005-12-11T21:57:00.000-06:00

Yes, I'm officially back and no longer jet-lagged from my honeymoon.

Saving Tulane Engineering

2005-12-11T21:40:00.000-06:00

I just attempted to post this on Slashdot. I figured I would reproduce it here as another place to publicize this information. Below is my post :

------------------

A few day ago a story was posted about the Tulane School of Engineering becoming the latest victim of Hurricane Katrina. As an alum I was greatly saddenned by this but now a group of current students, faculty, and alums are attempting to bring the school back from the edge. The website they put together is savetulaneengineering.org and there is a also a petition available here.

If your are a Tulane Engineering Alum or an interested party, please go ahead and take a look. If this is the first you are hearing about this, you can take a look at Tulane's drastic restructuring plan here. I figured I would post on /. because if it wasn't for that previous article I would still be in the dark.

Which book of the bible are you?

2005-11-03T23:16:00.000-06:00

Yes, it's quiz time, once again, on ex-tempore :

You are Romans.

Which book of the Bible are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

How the Death Star Works

2005-11-02T17:10:00.000-06:00

Saw this link on digg.com :

A nice article by the "HowStuffWorks" gang on the workings of your favorite planet detroying space station :
How the Death Star Works

On it use, Obi-Wan Kenobi a former member of the Jedi Council says :
"A great disturbance in the Force. It was like a million voices crying out in unison, then suddenly silenced."

In completely unrelated news, it appears that "Star Wars : Revenge of the Sith" is now available on DVD.

And in other completely unrelated news, it also appears that "Star Wars: Battlefront II" is also available.

Harry Potter's Car has been stolen

2005-10-31T11:25:00.000-06:00

The "Flying" Ford Anglia from the Harry Potter movies has been stolen off of the studio lot. Here is the article :
Reuters

BTW, Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire opens on 11/18.

Noooooooooooo!

2005-10-27T07:41:00.000-05:00

Seen on digg.com :
If rumors are to be believed the new Star Wars : Revenge of the Sith DVD contains a hidden Easter egg of Yoda getting funky to "The Roots - Don't Say Nuthin". (Lyrics)

The Easter egg, if real, has leaked onto the internet and can be found :
Here and Here

I still haven't gone out to buy this DVD and I'm not sure if this is a motivator. (Although Episode III was definately better than The Phantom Menace and The Clone Wars as a whole.)

Stargate SG-1 & Atlantis are renewed

2005-10-25T11:42:00.000-05:00

Yay! Here is the article :
GateWorld - News

Mind your W's and Q's

2005-10-25T07:44:00.000-05:00

In Turkey, 20 Kurds were fined for carrying signs (written in Kurdish) that contained the letters W & Q at a Kurdish New Year celebration. Those letters are not part of the Turkish alphabet and their use is illegal. The Turkish alphabet has all of the letters in the English alphabet except "q", "w", and "x" and in addition, it has six other characters that won't show up correctly unless you have a Turkish font installed on your computer. Go here to have a look.

More on :
CNN
MSNBC

Which Sci-fi Character are you?

2005-10-20T07:21:00.000-05:00

Found this one on digg.com. I got Aragorn :

Putting your appointed path ahead of any inner conflicts, you make your own rules for the benefit of all.

If my life or death I can protect you, I will.

Aragorn is a character in the Middle-Earth universe. There is a description of him at TheOneRing.net.

NANOWRIMO - I'ld like to buy a vowel

2005-10-18T22:59:00.000-05:00

It's almost that time of year again, yes in 13 days it will be November. November is a time for Turkey, at least one wedding I know of, and of course lots of inspiration and perspiration from writers. Novemeber is of course, National Novel Writing Month or NANOWRIMO for short. The goal of NANOWRIMO is to get people writing and also to get them to write a 50,000 word novel by the stroke of midnight on Novermber 30th. It does not have to be an awe inspiring, prize winning novel, it just needs to be complete. And a deadline is a great motivator.

Use this as an opportunity to write the "Great American Novel".
(or at least an opportunity to write, even if you're not American)

Some Obligatory links :
NANOWRIMO FAQ
SIGN UP NOW

And my personal FAQ about NANOWRIMO :

Will you be participating this year?
Unfortunately, NO. Due to my wedding and Honeymoon I will be gone for a little over 50% of November and as wacky as 50,000 words in 30 days sounds, 50,000 in less than 15 days sounds like asking for a world of hurt. That being said, I will be writing the days I can. And you may think it is a lame excuse but it's what I've got.

Have you ever participated?
No. The first time I found out about NANOWRIMO was the middle of last November. I found out about it through a friend's blog as he was participating. I did use it as an opportunity to get off my butt and start writing and one of those writing outlets is this Blog (created mid November 2004, November 13th to be exact).

How about in 2006?
That is the plan.

Why should I participate?
- To say you did
- To have fun writing
- To potentially meet other people in your area writing their 50K words.
- To go to the "Thank God It's Over" Party
- Why not participate?

It's Tai Shan

2005-10-18T09:03:00.000-05:00

The panda cub born to Mei Xiang at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. was finally named, Tai Shan, which translates to "peaceful mountain". As a chinese tradition panda cubs are not named for the first 100 days because of their high mortality rate in captivity, delaying the naming of the cub is a way to "trick the fates" into letting the cub live longer. Anyways, here are the related CNN & MSNBC articles :

CNN
MSNBC

Mosquito

2005-10-17T08:14:00.000-05:00

Mosquito is a fan based (Browncoat) parody of Firefly. I personally cannot vouch if it is any good as they have exceeded their download limit until sometime Wednesday. But apparently it is supposed to be.

Here is a link to the Mosquito site :
http://www.mosquitoverse.com/

And Here is a link to an interview with Mosquito's creator :
http://s13.invisionfree.com/Browncoat_Alliance/index.php?showtopic=61

Insomnia strikes

2005-10-16T01:40:00.000-05:00

It's about 1:30am. I should be in bed but I'm not.

We are officially at 34 days until the Wedding.

Here are some useful tips for grooms out there :
1. Come to terms with the fact that weddings are expensive.
2. Freaking out about wedding expenses will not make them inexpensive (but it may give you some insomnia).

Which Serenity character are you?

2005-10-13T18:06:00.000-05:00

Go see Serenity. But in the mean time take the test. My results :

You scored as Simon Tam. The Doctor. You have a gift for healing that goes beyond education. You took an oath to do no harm, even when your patients have tried to kill you. You are out of place where you are, being used to refined society. However, if you take that stick out of your arse you should be fine.

Which Serenity character are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

Wicked - The review

2005-10-13T14:20:00.000-05:00

Well I made my way to Music Hall at Fair Park in Dallas to see Wicked - The Musical last night. The musical is based on the book "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire who also happens to be releasing a sequel to the book, "Son of a Witch".

Review for the fiance who was out of town on business and missed the performance : It was OK. Lots of hype, but still good, we'll just catch it together next time.

Review for everybody else : It was really good. It deserves all the hype it is getting. The energy in the room was pretty high for a Wednesday night, as soon as the theatre lights started to dim the audience started to applaud enthusiastically. The singing, costumes, and sets were amazing. The plot was solid and not as loosely stitched together as some musicals where there is just enough plot to tie together the musical numbers. Think of the musical as watching deleted scenes from the "Wizard of Oz" strung together into their own storyline and whether or not you think such a thing would be good, it is. Definitely get a thumbs up.

Helpful tip : If it the traveling company is coming to your town, buy tickets very early. The entire stay is very sold out here in Dallas and so I looked in Houston to possibly give my fiance a chance to see it and it is also very sold out there as well. My guess is if you want to see it in New York, the same would apply there.

In summary, go find some tickets to Wicked, and have a good time.

Good thing, Bad thing

2005-10-11T22:01:00.000-05:00

Sometimes planning a wedding can be stressful so today :

Good Thing : I surprised my fiance by finding tickets to take her to go see Wicked - The Musical!

Bad Thing : She is leaving town a few hours before the show is scheduled to start for buisiness and the tickets are not refundable. And she had apparently just recently reminded me of that fact.

The doghouse can be such a cold place ...

Buy one game, get one free

2005-10-10T11:13:00.000-05:00

According to slickdeals.net, Amazon / Toys R Us has a buy 1 get 1 free coupon for Hasbro, Milton Bradley, and Parker Brothers games.

Here is the link :
http://www.slickdeals.net/#p6593

Fight for your right to ...

2005-10-05T14:33:00.000-05:00

The quick and easy way to write your congressional representatives.
1. Pick an issue.
2. Click.
3. FIll in your info and edit the letter as you see fit.
4. Click to submit the letter to your Senators/Representative.

And you can do it here :
EFF: Take Action

Serenity

2005-10-05T10:03:00.000-05:00

It's a great movie. If you are a fan of the Firefly series you have probably already seen it. If you haven't seen the movie, do yourself a favor and go. It's just like the last couple of star wars movies except it is actually good, and has no aliens or jedi.

Sold out to the man!

2005-09-30T09:56:00.000-05:00

I added Google Adsense to this blog (and its rss feed) today. If it is annoying, troublesome, etc. Please comment here.

Thanks!
-The guy who sold out

This product really sucks

2005-09-30T08:09:00.000-05:00

But in this case that is a good thing. My vacuum has given up the ghost, thrown in the towel, etc, etc. So I went to amazon to start looking for a new one and found the Dyson DC07 which is a refurb model but is also $300 less than the "new" model. Since all the reviewers were practically giving up their first born to get one and since the refurb was actually in my new vacuum price range, I figured maybe I'll try it and see if this thing actually lives up to the hype. I received mine on Wednesday and you know what it completely lives up to the hype. Let's just say we recently steamed our carpets and this vacuum still managed to pull up lots of stuff up. I won't go into the gory details but I did have to empty it 8 times. And if I weren't this impressed I definitely wouldn't be blogging about it. (Either that or the wedding stress has finally gotten to me and this is the only little thing I can control.)

So Dyson rocks! Next time, listen to the British guy babble about not losing suction. And if you need a new vac definitely take a look at the Dysons.

Comment online about your doctor ... and get sued

2005-09-14T13:35:00.000-05:00

Apparently some doctors are suing patients for posting negative comments about them online. You can see the Wall Street Journal article here.

That first amendment thing is probably overrated anyway.

Just down the road and on the right

2005-09-09T12:13:00.000-05:00

And so it begins, US going to take Iran's WMD info to UN. See here.

Well, we already have all the equipment over there anyway...

Katrina & The Media

2005-09-06T13:31:00.000-05:00

Is it just me or does it seem that the media has actually re-grown a spine? It just seems that even the normally "softball" reporters are taking out bats when they are interviewing government officials.

What does it mean to lose New Orleans?

2005-09-06T07:53:00.000-05:00

One of my brothers emailed this to me. It's a pretty good op-ed piece by Anne Rice in the New York Times :

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/opinion/04rice.html?pagewanted=1

(BTW, www.bugmenot.com is your friend)

Katrina

2005-09-02T11:21:00.000-05:00

My thoughts & prayers go to the people of Louisiana & Mississippi.

My money goes to :
http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/news/katrina.cfm

My anger goes toward the ineptness of the government to respond in a timely manner to this crisis.

-----------
Related
-----------
FYI, Info on Tulane University :
http://emergency.tulane.edu/

Charlie & The Chocolate Factory

2005-08-12T06:37:00.000-05:00

Wow.

I thought this movie was going to be good, I was wrong, it's great! Johnny Depp made an awesome Willy Wonka. Tim Burton's touch was all over this movie so it was a tad darker than the original movie but it's also allegedly more faithful to the book than the original movie. It had several laugh out loud moments. All in all a very high thumbs up!

My rec is to go see it if you haven't already!

Computer Geek Test

2005-08-10T11:34:00.000-05:00

Konnichiwa

2005-07-18T15:00:00.000-05:00

Well I made it to Tokyo! It's huge. There are skyscrapers as far as the eye can see. (Similar to New York City, in theory, but it has a completely different feel)
So far not too much culture shock other than the several hours of sumo wrestling on TV and the inadvertent bowing contest I had with room service. Only 4 hours till I head into the office, and hopefully, that will be smooth sailing or at least I hope I don't dishonor anyone in the process.

More Wright is wrong

2005-06-15T08:02:00.000-05:00

Southwest brings Maryland One to Love field.

Harry Potter Sparks gunfire

2005-06-15T07:20:00.000-05:00

The BBC reports on the Potter craze gone awry.

The Wright Amendment

2005-05-27T12:01:00.000-05:00

Just a quick political rant. I'm not sure if you are aware but there is a Federal law called the Wright amendment(see Shelby act as well) that prevents Love Field in Dallas from having flights to any states that do not touch TX. In theory this helps the economy, in reality it makes us pay artificially inflated rates for airlines since competition is stifled (read as: AA is afraid of competing directly
with Southwest and other low-cost carriers).

For more info :
http://www.setlovefree.com/
http://www.fightwright.org/

For the opposing view :
http://www.keepdfwstrong.com/

My favorite quote concerning DFW airport's "impartial" review of opening Love field up is :
"What we got was a 15 page PowerPoint presentation with no concrete examples or explanation of the modeling scenario that was used that rambled on about how Southwest would devastate the International Flights (ahem.... SWA is a domestic airline). Each scenario seemed to lead to a 31-square mile smoking crater between Irving and Hurst. It focuses on worst-case scenarios and regrettably does not have a "best case" scenario. When reading it, note one important thing: The word
AIRFARE does not appear in the report. Not even once. Since it was a report to study the economic effects of repealing the Wright Amendment, not mentioning airfare is truly a smoking gun result. It either means that SH&E is incompetent or DFW micromanaged that report from day one."

The good news is that TX Rep Sam Johnson announced yesterday that he and TX Rep. Hensarling are going to work towards repealing this. If they are your reps then write and thank them and if they're not poke your Rep with a stick, while you are at it you may want to poke the TX Senators with a stick to get them on the bandwagon as well. If your Rep is Rep. Joe Barton, find a bigger stick as Barton said he will "vigorously fight any effort to repeal that measure."

As always you can reach your congressional peeps at :
www.house.gov
www.senate.gov

Of course, since it is a Federal law, anyone in any state can get their Reps and Senators looking at this as well.

I want one

2005-05-27T07:43:00.000-05:00

I want to hook my DVD player up to this.

If you can't fix your problems ... blame television

2005-05-27T07:13:00.000-05:00

Seems that Tom Delay is attempting to get his own show "Law & Order : Wag the Dog" :
Take a look at this CNN article.

My Linguistic profile

2005-05-26T13:46:00.000-05:00

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

25% Dixie

15% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

How to get hired, or at the very least, how to get me to take a 2nd look at your resume

2005-05-25T20:47:00.000-05:00

I was taking a look at some resumes this week and I was taken aback at the state of most of resumes that were submitted. So here are some basic rules for anyone who cares to listen :

1. Use spell check.

2. Use punctuation, at the very least use an occasional sentence and end it with a period.

3. If you use an Objective section, make sure the objective somehow applies to the position for which you are sending in your resume.

4. In your work history/class description(for a new grad) make sure you actually describe what you did not just that you did it. For example :

I worked on a group project where we wrote a program that did X.

VS

I worked on a group project where I wrote the network code for a program that did X in C++ and used a CVS repository to store the code. The code was developed in a Solaris environment using the GNU compiler.

Which one of those two comes off better? In the first you would probably end up with a list of buzzwords somewhere on your resume with no context, in the second you can forego the list since your buzzwords are there and in context. OK, the example was a bit contrived but you get the idea.

5. If your GPA is below a 3.0 don't put it on your resume. GPA's are optional on a resume and a verbal 2.7 comes off alot better after you have wowed them in an interview.

6. The truth will set you free. If you worked part/full-time to pay your way through school, say so, don't just say you waited tables. It will make that 2.7 or even that 3.9 look alot better.

7. A lie will damn you. Don't pad your resume, even if you're a very smooth talker padding may ruin an otherwise great interview if you happen to get caught.

A Star Wars Diversion

2005-05-21T08:53:00.000-05:00

Why don't you try this little game and let me know if you find it a little disturbing.

Revenge of the Sith

2005-05-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

It gets a Thumbs up!

I think it is the best of Star Wars first three episodes. I won't say more for fear of giving anything away. What the heck, I'll give away the ending :

Anakin Skywalker = Darth Vader

Broadcast flag struck down

2005-05-06T12:13:00.000-05:00

Link from Cnet

Egads ...

2005-05-04T10:50:00.000-05:00

Just took this quiz, (un)fortunately seems to hit pretty close to the mark.

I am:
54%
Republican.

"Congratulations, you're a swing voter. When they say 'Nascar Dad', they mean you. Every Republican ad on the TV set was made just for your viewing pleasure. Don't you feel special?"

Are You A Republican?

RIP : Turbolink Switching Power Supply

2005-04-21T21:21:00.000-05:00

Well to make a long story short. If you add a new spare drive (for backing up other systems on the network, for example) to an older system you may want to be sure that the power supply has enough enough wattage (which it did), unfortunately that didn't stop my linux box's power supply from giving up the ghost. I guess it was manufactured 12/2001 and probably adding a new energy sucking hard drive did not help it in its golden years but it did make for some drama before going in to work this morning. ...

Such is life.

Well before it gave up the ghost I also heard the system drive starting to sing ... a trip to FRY's for a new main system drive and power supply later everything is up and running. For replicating a drive the "dd" utility has become my newest favorite *nux tool. Here is the link I found really useful in this endeavor if you ever find yourself in the same situation.

Habemus Papam : Pope Benedict XVI

2005-04-19T18:00:00.000-05:00

Viva il papa!

How evil is this site?

2005-04-10T12:34:00.000-05:00

Well according the "Gematriculator" this blog is :

Apparently "Gematria" is essentially numerology based on hebrew letters in the bible.

High school robotics team beats college students but still wants to go to college

2005-04-07T08:57:00.000-05:00

Might be old news, but maybe not. Check out this Wired article. These kids from a high school beat out several colleges, including MIT, at an underwater robotics competition.

Its a story about underdogs, college, and Hooters.

One other side of the story is that since they are undocumented, they have little chance of going to college in this or any other country but there is a scholarship fund if you would like to help.

How a new Pope is elected

2005-04-04T20:42:00.000-05:00

Cum - Latin for "with"
Clavis - Latin for "key"

Conclave - a place that can be securely locked

Information on Conclave from the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Napoleon Dynamite

2005-03-28T13:56:00.000-06:00

See the movie, which is great and has no sex or foul language. Then take the quiz, here are my results :

You are Tater Tots. Go get your own!!

Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Living in a DRM land ...

2005-03-08T18:38:00.000-06:00

Well my computer hard disk died and among other things that I didn't have backups for was my mp3 music collection. Luckily my music was on my iPod so I thought cool ... I won't have to re-feed my CDs to my computer. After installing XP and iTunes I learned the truth, there is no Apple sanctioned way to get the music back off of the Ipod. So if you re-associate it with your new iTunes install it will basically take over the iPod and load the new library ... erasing the "foreign" library in the process.

Luckily by harnessing the power of my search engine I was soon able to find a neat utility called iPod Agent that helped me copy my music library back onto my harddrive (among other neat things it does). Although it was slow to pull off the several Gigs of MP3s via USB it was able to do so without me having to intervene, unlike I would have if I had to manually feed it CDs to re-create the library.

So this leads me to wonder about the not so distant future where the "DRM bit" would have been set on the usb connection and I would have been out of luck, cursing the record labels, and the hardware manufacturers for the better part of a weekend.

Well, here's to hoping that my pessimism is just that ...

Waving the Flag

2005-02-23T20:00:00.000-06:00

As I'm sure you are aware the FCC is mandating that all new TV receivers process a Broadcast flag starting on July 1, 2005 (just 3 days before Independence day).

Why should you care?
The broadcast flag, as a side-effect, limits what you can or can't record, or if interpreted "nicely" will let you record a low-quality version of the TV program but only on a flag compliant piece of hardware/software.

So this is affecting only cable and satellite right?
Actually, no, this is affecting what you receive over the airwaves via your rabbit ears. Satellite and cable use their own proprietary mechanisms for transmission which may or may not incorporate a broadcast flag-like "feature".

Why did we need this?
The government wants the transition to digital tv broadcasts to happen sooner rather than later but until 85% of the country is able to receive digital broadcasts it can't happen. And once the transition happens, the government will be able to auction off the newly available spectrum and make $$$. In order to help our government, several motion picture studios "selflessly" offered to provide "exclusive" digital tv content to woo us to go out and buy new TVs but, they would only do this if their transmissions were not able to be copied and thus, the broadcast flag was born.

Well, if the FCC is mandating it, they must have a mandate from an act of congress because they cannot unilaterally do such a thing, right?
You would think that but you would be wrong. Although the FCC does not technically have the power to force this on electronic manufacturers without a congressional mandate, it seems to think it does... which is what makes this whole deal kinda shaky.

Who proposed the broadcast flag? A standards body?
No, it was Fox and was subsequently ratified by the ATSC as an "optional" part of the ATSC digital TV standard.

Does the MPAA support this?
Yes.

Does the EFF support this?
No.

Does HDNET the only 100% digital broadcaster support this?
No.

But it is in court right now and the judges don't seem to like it, case closed right?
Not quite. Although the judges believe the FCC overstepped its bound, the court is also not sure that the case was brought up by the right people, i.e. the library groups and EFF do not neccessarily represent the people potentially affected by the broadcast flag. So although the FCC is wrong it may be allowed to continue on its merry way.

Where can I find more information on this :
MPAA FAQ with EFF Commentary

G4 TECH TV Broadcast Flag FAQ

Broadcast Flag in the News (and currently in Court)

To Hell and Back

2005-02-23T18:37:00.000-06:00

If you haven't seen the movie Constantine, I highly recommend it. After being let down by several comic based movies recently, it was nice to see one that proved to be fun and have a plot. It was something that I haven't quite gotten since the Spiderman movies ... mind you it is not as good as Spiderman but still worth seeing in the theaters.

Without giving out the plot too much, think of it as Sam Spade goes to hell and back. And not once in the movie did I expect a Keanu "Whoa" ...

Constantine get a Thumbs up!

A very weird one

2005-02-11T22:21:00.000-06:00

I had an extremely weird dream last night. It did have a neat setting setting: Victorian England. And did seem to have a pretty good "soundtrack" a la Gladiator.

But a few words of advice to those of you out there :
- Don't extensively read CNN before going to bed.
- Don't watch German power drink ads before going to bed either.

Luckily Johanna has promised me that she will not become Queen of England and that our son will not try to usurp her throne.

Psychoanalyze that one!

Cheers all!

Which Website are you?

2005-02-01T13:35:00.000-06:00

Just took the "Which website are you?" quiz. And I got the following :

Which Website are You?

If its a slow day, or need a diversion while trying to think of ways to make an algorithm nicer without resorting to maintenance unfriendly nested if ... else clauses you might as well go take a look.

Elektra and The Phantom

2005-01-16T10:45:00.000-06:00

Two movies, but very different reviews :

After Daredevil I was hoping that they would have learned. So I had hope going into the movie that maybe this time it would be different and at the very beginning of Elektra it was very strong and I thought "Cool! They are doing something right!" Unfortunately that sentiment wasn't very long lived. The movie had "Batman syndrome", it had too many bad guys, in fact one of them gets introduced in one scene and about 30 seconds into another is wiped out. I'm sure some comic writers are off crying somewhere. Basically the movie is alot of scenes looking for a coherent plot.

Pros
Jennifer Garner in her red suit

Cons
Too many bad guys
Forced "romance"
Tries to do too many things
And who names the bad guys that lamely? I kept having Fantasy Island flashbacks whenever they mentioned one of them ...

Elektra gets a thumbs down. Wait for the Video release on this one ... or maybe late night tv if you are having trouble sleeping.

On different note, I also went to go see Phantom of the Opera (we're a select city). If you have seen the musical, the story and music won't be much of a surprise, what will be is the fact that they are able to give the characters a little more depth than they were able to in the broadway version. Minnie Driver is great as Carlotta. The Phantom, Christine and Vicount are also very good. The only thing that doesn't seem to be going for this movie is the reviews by the mainstream critics.

Pros
The movie

Cons
If you don' like musicals ... maybe this one isn't for you.

Phantom of the Opera get a thumbs up. You will also probably get some bonus points if you bring a date.

Darth Tater

2005-01-16T10:31:00.000-06:00

Just in time for "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith". Hasbro is releasing Darth Tater(scooped by HardOCP). Darth Tater is a Mr. Potatohead with mask, helmet, cape and lightsaber. You can see the High Carb Sith Lord in all of its glory on Hasbro's site.

It's actually distubingly cute.

Mini Mac

2005-01-11T14:02:00.000-06:00

A $499 "Mac mini" was announced by Steve Jobs today (officially). Its 256MB ram, 1.25 GHz G4, 40GB drive, 32MB video, DVD/CD-R and is 6" x 6" x 2.5 but you need to bring your own monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Still not bad. A 1.42GHz, 80GB drive version for
$599 is also available.

I think one of these may be in my future.

No traction Monday ...

2005-01-10T15:15:00.000-06:00

Having a hard time staying focussed today at work. I think I need today to be Friday ... unfortunately its Monday.

Today I found out that President Bush is also an IPOD user (scooped by engadget.com). Take a look at the picture right before he gets on his bike.

On a different note it also appears that there is an effort underway to weaken the "Endangered Species Act".

Enough randomness ... time to get back to trying to focus at work.

It's Friday

2005-01-07T15:36:00.000-06:00

TGIF

I think I need to figure out how to de-stress this whole marriage preparation thing. We should hear back from the church in Miami next week. We're tentatively looking at Nov 19, 2005. This is turning into more of a ramble than post but maybe there'll be gold in here somewhere.

On a side note I keep running into nice places in Dallas to have wedding functions ...

I go a "skin-tight" case from Speck Products for my IPOD. Seems to work pretty well especially since the bottom flips up so you don't have to remove it from the case in order to dock.

Nah ... no gold but it is still Friday. So TGIF one more time with feeling!

IPods Rock

2005-01-05T09:27:00.000-06:00

I got an IPod for Chrstmas and so far I must say that it lives up to the hype. I've been using it religiously at work and what can I say ... Apple has a very good product. The interface is easy, the capacity is obscene and it just plain looks cool. Did I mention its a whole lot easier move around than a CD binder ...

Thunbs up, wholeheartedly.

Feliz Ano Nuevo

2005-01-02T22:52:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year even if it is a day late!

I had a New Year's Eve party which lasted into the wee afternoon of New Years day ... it's the first party I've thrown that has lasted 22 hours so I'm hoping it was a hit. Johanna and I had a great time, although I am glad that New Year's only comes once a year because although there was sleep had during that time period it was still pretty exhausting. My dog was even thrown off by the whole thing and spent most of yesterday sleeping as she couldn't bring herself to sleep until everyone at the party crashed.

But enough about that, to ring in the New Year one my friends, Jerone, has unveiled his blog to the rest of us, it is the "Thoughts Thunk too hard" Blog. Apparently this blogging adventure is somewhat viral. So go ahead and check it out.

Finally, the wedding adventure continues. The wedding is now in Miami and no longer in Rome. Miami got the best 2 out of 3 in the coin toss this afternoon. My fiance also has her first wedding meltdown today but she has recovered. Only 11 months to go ... God helps us.

Merry Christmas

2004-12-25T20:09:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas everybody!!!

It was a white christmas .. in Houston, which hasn't happenned since 1986.
A good time was had by all.