tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74558402024-03-12T17:41:09.858-05:00CoachDANNY's BlogThanks for coming to my blog. I'm Danny Thompson, a Computer Information Technology student and a writer. I live in Winter Park, Florida with my wonderful girlfriend, Nancy Deutsch. We have three dogs, lots of hot sunshine, and a few hurricanes.Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.comBlogger474125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-81702942919825143512009-03-10T09:27:00.006-05:002009-04-07T08:12:08.420-05:00Netbook Distraction<div>I'm a bit perplexed by the whole 'netbook' thing (sorry Psion). A nine to 12 inch screen, compact keyboard -or worse, rearranged keyboard, and if it comes with Windows XP you get limited functionality. At the very least, the Dell Mini 9 below comes with Ubuntu <div><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3090/3081965583_5f9835fd56.jpg?v=0" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" border="0" alt="" /><div>This eeePC below is running Ubuntu. You can get a good idea of how small it is</div><div><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3040/2538461633_2e3efdccae.jpg?v=0" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 432px; height: 500px;" border="0" alt="" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I just don't get the whole netbook thing. Ever since the first Windows CE Handheld computers came out (mine first was the Casio Cassiopia), I had one. I got pretty good at three finger typing, and wrote an entire operations manual on one. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZNJz7GAkULk/SdtOGsMoCAI/AAAAAAAAAQY/ecNaqTMXFeA/s1600-h/hpc_a_11a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 198px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZNJz7GAkULk/SdtOGsMoCAI/AAAAAAAAAQY/ecNaqTMXFeA/s200/hpc_a_11a.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321933261518669826" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">When the HP version came out, I was in HPC heaven. The keyboard was a great improvement:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZNJz7GAkULk/SdtNWEVSQJI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/Uhp5ISTUvNs/s1600-h/70015949.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZNJz7GAkULk/SdtNWEVSQJI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/Uhp5ISTUvNs/s200/70015949.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321932426183852178" /></a>But those handhelds were compact, easy to carry around. I could keep mine in my pocket, or a little belt pouch. My <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Toy</span>, as it came to be known, was always with me. These netbook things are almost big enough to be a regular laptop. Big enough to be just slighly too big to be portable.<div><br /></div><div>I think people see the price tags on these things (usually under $400, and some close to $200), and think they can get by just fine with it. Some people like them, some return them -Linux or not.</div><div><br /></div><div>Besides price, I think the other thing people like about these netbooks is battery life. I have a P3 Acer Travelmate with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS on it. I consider that my 'netbook' because it has a 4 hour battery life. My 2.8 Ghz HP is more powerful, but with the battery hold a 40 minute charge at best, it's more a desktop replacement. The travelmate is pretty light and thin enough, and the HP is heavy and bulky. Guess which one I use more?</div><div><br /></div><div>As laptops come down in price, increase in battery life, and cellphones like the G1 and the iPhone increase functionality, these netbooks are not going to last.</div>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-30569300308691466172009-01-05T09:05:00.002-05:002009-01-05T11:52:34.845-05:002009 PredictionsLet's start with the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Tech Predictions:</span><div><ul><li>Linux will just slightly overtake Mac OSX- Many people are choosing to keep their existing hardware. At the same time, many geeks are promoting Linux -especially Ubuntu- to help keep malware off the average users system. By the end of this year, Linux will just barely, even arguable, beat OSX.</li><li>Steve Jobs will quit Apple, sort of- He will leave his current position, but will remain on the board. This will cause a slight dip in Apple shares. But, when the announcement comes, so will a significant technology from Apple. Within less than 3 days, Apple shares will recover and increase slightly.</li><li>OSX will have a significant security problem. </li><li>Oracle will buy or form some sort of partnership with Red Hat. The shares of both will rise.</li><li>There will be a major security breach in the credit industry. One or more of the credit data sources will be greatly compromised. </li><li>Windows 7, if it comes out this year, will be a hit. Like Windows XP, there will probably be fewer choices, maybe even just one version. It will be the cheapest version of Windows so far. </li></ul><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">National Predictions</span></div><div><br /></div><div>I think most of us realize things are not going to be that good in the USA for awhile. It's easy to predict that mortgages will fail, foreclosures will happen, jobs will be lost, etc. I'll let the financial people deal with those. My national predictions will have to do with trends I see that we don't hear much about.</div><div><ul><li>The publishing industry as we know it will falter- We're already seeing agents taking fewer submissions, and most don't even take fiction submissions at all anymore. Like Realtors, some have even changed jobs. One of the major brick-and-mortar stores, Borders and Barnes and Noble, or both, will go belly-up.</li><li>The discussion of the legalization of marijuana will greatly increase -anytime there is a downturn in the economy, there is an increase in crime and drug/alcohol use. As long as drugs are illegal, more crimes will be drug related, and they will be violent crimes. Usually the talk of crime in an economic downturn is toward gun control. I don't think the Obama administration is going to touch that discussion. The legalization of marijuana will be dicussed as a possible measure to prevent violent drug crime.</li><li>More people will began to suspect the 'bailout' money is not going toward any bailout for the businesses, banks, or people. </li><li>The security breech to the credit system will start a major change in the credit structure.</li></ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">International:</span></div><div><ul><li>China will start to speak up on some of the problems in the middle east and Islamic terrorists. Their problems with internal Islamic terrorism will become a major topic of discussion in the US.</li><li>The US and Mexico will enter into talks on a major economic transition between the two countries.</li><li>Toward the end of the year, a few people will find out where all the bailout money is actually going.</li></ul>So, those are my predictions. At the end of the year, I'll review this post and see what came to pass.</div>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-65868371003302323012008-12-31T01:36:00.001-05:002008-12-31T13:49:13.036-05:00Now is the time<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_Time_of_Your_Life">Now is the time,<br />Now is the best time,<br />Now is the best time of your life!<br />Life is a prize,<br />Live every minute<br />Open your eyes and watch how you win it<br /></a></p> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_Time_of_Your_Life">Yesterday's mem'ries may sparkle and gleam,<br />Tomorrow is still but a dream<br />Right here and now,<br />You've got it made,<br />The world's forward marching and you're in the parade!<br /></a></p> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_Time_of_Your_Life">Now is the time,<br />Now is the best time,<br />Be it a time of joy or strife,<br />There's so much to cheer for,<br />Be glad you're here for it's the best time of your life!</a><br /><br />Sorry. Got a bit carried away with pre-1994 Carousel of Progress song lyrics.<br /><br />While it may not seem like <span style="font-style: italic;">the best time</span> to many, for 30 and younger there will be a lot of new opportunities ahead. I highly agree with consumer advocate <a href="http://clarkhoward.com">Clark Howard</a>; hard times and economic strife tend to push the creative flow and innovative abilities of Americans. If we can adapt to the changes to come, we can be in <span style="font-style: italic;">the best times of our lives.</span><br /><br />Now, on with the show.<br /><br />This post is about <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Now is the time for Free and Open Source Software</span></span>. I know that's been said many times, and many people are saying that now. I'll give my reasons why now is the time, and how it can happen.<br /><ul><li>The popularity and use of Open Source solutions is gaining momentum in the non-geek market. <a href="http://openoffice.org">OpenOffice.org</a> is probably the primary path.</li><li>Most people did not know there were alternatives to Windows or OSX. With very usable Linux distro's out, even the almost-but-not-quite geek types are installing <a href="http://ubuntu.com">Ubuntu</a>, <a href="http://fedoraproject.org/">Fedora</a>, and <a href="http://www.opensuse.org/en/">OpenSuSE</a> for people. </li><li>Windows XP isn't exactly easy to install, or re-install. Ubuntu is very easy to install from a LiveCD.</li><li>Windows Vista's horrible public reception. Whether or not it really deserved the bad publicity, it did happen. Apple's marketing campain against Vista worked. Vista itself was a turn-off, even for many geeks.</li><li>Windows XP, while it's still preferred by most consumers, is pretty much a sponge for malware. XP gets infected within three months. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scareware">scareware</a> popups can get a new machine infected in one day.</li></ul>There are two paths that can will bring Linux to the forefront<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Re-Install XP and install <a href="http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/installing">Ubuntu for a Dual Boot Machine</a></span><br />IT people, in their spare time, will do a complete reinstallation for a very low price. The standard price for this service is $50. Don't over pay Geek Squad, so they can buy more VW Beetles and helicopters. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Once a system has been compromised, it can't be trusted. </span>Anti-virus and anti-spyware programs can tell you if you've been infected. Some malware can't be detected. If your machine is just getting too slow, it's time to do a reinstall.<br /><br />When I do a reinstall for someone, I also <a href="http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/installing">setup a Dual Boot with Ubuntu</a>. With<a href="http://ubuntusoftware.info/sum.html"> StartUp-Manager</a> (SUM) on Ubuntu, the preferred OS can be set to default boot. If I setup a computer for somone prone to malware infestation (porn sites, gambling sites, travel sites, and hair care sites), I make Ubuntu the default boot OS. I'll teach them how to use Ubuntu if needed, but most people take to it quickly -even without my help. I encourage them to use Ubuntu whenever they're surfing the internet, and to use Windows <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">ONLY</span></span> when they are doing something that just isn't available on Linux: Some sites that require Internet Explorer, people who use Quicken or another Windows only financial product, or they use other software that won't work on Linux. Some students need software for school that only works on Windows.<br /><br />Over time, most of those people use Ubuntu far more than Windows. There are the occasional few that have difficulty with any change, and will stick to Windows only, and will need a reinstall every three to six months. I need to meet more of those people.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Trickle-Up tech<br /></span>For the past thirty years, we've been in a trickle down economy. It has been argued that we need to move to (or back to) a <a href="http://www.dilbert.com/blog/entry/trickle_up_economics/">trickle up economy</a>. Linux has a chance to be a part of trickle up.<br /><br />As a Free Geek volunteer, I know know how many thousands, if not millions, of usable computers are sitting unused in closets, attics, and garages. Most often, there was nothing wrong with those computer other than a malware problem. Or the person got a newer, faster system, and never bother to get rid of the older one. Getting hold of those computer, installing Linux on them, and giving them out to people who can't afford a new computer is part of what Free Geek is about. Those computers can be used by millions of people.<br /><br />Small businesses can take advantage on second tier market too. The can greatly lower that IT and tech costs, and possible improve their security and up-time in the process.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Vendors Will Notice</span><br />As more computers are being used with Linux installed, hardware and software vendors will have to take notice. They already make hardware and software for Mac and OSX, and that is only a little more than 5% of the market. If we can get Linux to even 10%, vendors will have to respond.<br /><br />While I prefer my OS to be Free and Open Source Software, I don't really care if a program I use is free or open source. If a program is good enough, like a movie or book, I don't mind pay for it at all. I'd feel a bit more secure with an Open Source package, but I'm not opposed to closed source programs. I'm <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">GREATLY OPPOSED</span></span> to closed source systems and programs being used in government -especially education and law enforcement. Let just say when it comes to that, my opposition borders on the extreme. <br /><br />This can be done. Other than vacuuming lots of dust from older computers, it wouldn't really take much effort.Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-23705125195037389242008-11-18T08:54:00.004-05:002008-11-18T08:58:32.090-05:00If the Matrix Ran on WindowsWatch all the way to the end:<br /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.collegehumor.com/moogaloop/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1886349&fullscreen=1" width="640" height="360" ><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="AllowScriptAccess" value="true" /><param name="movie" quality="best" value="http://www.collegehumor.com/moogaloop/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1886349&fullscreen=1" /></object><div style="padding:5px 0; text-align:center; width:640px;">See more <a href="http://www.collegehumor.com/videos">funny videos</a> and <a href="http://www.collegehumor.com/pictures">funny pictures</a> at <a href="http://www.collegehumor.com/">CollegeHumor</a>.</div>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-82750616164625575422008-10-24T08:06:00.006-05:002008-10-24T12:28:54.119-05:00Personal Responsibility<div style="text-align: justify;">"Whatever happened to <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Personal Responsibility</span></span>"? This is a term and question that gets thrown around a lot these days. People who accuse others of abdicating personal responsibility seem to avoid looking at their own life, and examining their own abdications.<br /></div><br />So what did happen to <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Personal Responsibility</span></span>?<br /><br />In one word: <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">CONVENIENCE</span></span>. We now actually have a choice in the matter.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Physics and Personal Responsibility</span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">One hundred years ago -or even just eighty years ago- we had no choice in personal responsibility. Just getting through daily life was a struggle. Very few, only the super rich, had a choice in how they went about daily life. I'm not talking about he major life decisions here. I mean simply tasks of living; waking up, getting to work, getting food, acquiring clothing, all that stuff. Those tasks are so freaking simply for us today, we don't give them much thought or consideration.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Modern conveniences have made life much easier. The clothes washer, dishwasher, microwave oven are examples of things in our home that make life easier. One hundred years ago, when we didn't have those things, getting those tasks done -washing clothes, washing dishes, cooking meals- required much more labor.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">For example, in the USA we can go to the supermarket, pickup some chicken, get the shake n' bake pack, a box of rice, and have dinner done very quickly. To be absolutely convenient -we can go through drive through and pick it up. Sometimes buying food that way is actually cheaper!<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">In other parts of the world, if you want chicken for dinner, you get it two ways; go out in the backyard and catch one, or buy one at the street market. In <span style="font-style: italic;">both</span> these instances, the chicken is still alive. Before you can cook chicken, you have to kill it. Cut it's head off, gut and pluck it, skin it if you like it that way, then cook it. Rice can be a wee bit easier to get, but not much.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">In the modern world, especially in the USA, we've become addicted to convenience. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy">conservation of energy</a> -and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momentum#Conservation_of_momentum">conservation of momentum</a>- are laws of physics that greatly apply to all areas of life. Basically, an object as rest will tend to say at rest, unless an outside force is place on it. In the past, daily life was that outside force. Any organism will produce as little energy as possible to get a task done. This is a universal in all living organisms. We will produce only the required energy to get a task done. If we have the option to produce less energy, that is exactly what will happen. Every animal, every creature follows that law.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Ron Paul made an excellent point about health care: "<span style="font-style: italic;">We don't have a health care problem in America. We have a health problem."</span> He is right. Humans are not made to move a little as we do. Our bodies are adapted for locomotion, for movement. But our cars do our moving for us. Our buses, planes, elevators, escalators. I'm convinced part of the rash of anxiety issues in our society is directly related to our lack of movement. That speculation probably comes from my observation of the effect in dogs. Just watch The Dog Whisperer, and you'll see what I mean.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">In today's world, especially in the USA, you actually have to <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">make a concerted effort</span></span> to produce more energy than is required. This goes against the law of <span style="font-style: italic;">Conservation of Energy</span>. We actually have go against the laws of nature and animal instinct to produce more effort than we have to! We actually have to <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">try</span></span> to lose excess body weight!! We actually have to go out of our way to walk more, bike to work, take the stairs, or almost any other daily movement decision.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">This addiction to convenience extends to all areas of modern life. You see it in our daily impatience. I speculate that people were much more patient, out of necessity, before one hundred years ago. Because we have the ability to produce almost-instant results, we expect it. We live with convenience so much so, that we sometimes forget there is another choice. We actually forget to 'take personal responsibility'. The use of convenience is the abdication of Personal Responsibility. You've done it. You know you have. We all have, simply because the convenience is there.<br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Trial Lawyer, and Personal Responsibility<br /></span><a href="http://coachdanny.blogspot.com/2006/02/cause-of-stupidity.html">I've said it before</a>, and I'll say it again:<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />"<span style="font-style: italic;">Trial Lawyers are the cause of idiocy in America!"</span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">It works like this:<br />Part of what's kept us alive as humans are critical thinking skills. Living off the land creates very well developed critical thinking skills -everything you do is critical. In today's world, you don't have to think anymore. Someone else has done it for you.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Someone stands too close to Niagara falls, and falls in. That's a completely natural event. No violence, just poor judgement skills. But, the Trial Lawyer was on his visit to Niagara too. Rushed over and immediately assumed representation, and made the surviving family wealthy. The Niagara park was sue beyond wits end, and new policies and procedures where put in place -along with taller rails. Since then, no one has gone over the falls.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Now, that story is fake, of course, but it kind of makes the point. People don't get to exercise the critical thinking skills of, "<span style="font-style: italic;">Don't get so friggin near that drop."</span> Now imagine something like that, put in place everywhere you go. Our society <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">does not get to</span> exercise critical thinking skills. The necessary external force (from the law of conservation of momentum) is simply not there for us anymore. Natural selection simply isn't happening.<br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">All because of trial lawyers.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">In the Discovery Channel movie, "<a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3106679767514635043">Alien Planet</a>", <a href="http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/alienplanet/video/video.html">biologist and animal behaviorist discussed the concept that the <span style="font-style: italic;">predatory instinct</span> enables intelligence</a>. No, I'm not talking about the lawyers. I'm talking about us. Our predatory instinct drives us to observe, plan, consider options, and take risks. Like muscle, that ability must be utilized and practiced, or it atrophies. We are no longer, as a society, using our predatory instinct or critical thinking skills <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">because we aren't force to do so</span></span>. The external forces that push us to use those skills are far less, to be virtually non-existent.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Now, the problem gets worse. We're currently in our second or third generation of people who haven't needed to use critical thinking skills. How can we expect someone to learn and use critical thinking skills if the necessary environment does not exist? How can we expect these people to teach their children those skills? How can we expect teachers who grew up in that environment to teach what they have never learned? Is it their fault they haven't acquired critical thinking skills? Remember the laws of the conversation of energy and momentum? People who expect personal responsibility to just arise out of nowhere in our society are doing the same as expecting a Dolphin to just flop up on land, and suddenly start walking. A Dolphin is able to use its innate abilities in the water, but not on land.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Until we live in a society where we have no choice but to learn and practice critical thinking skills, Personal Responsibility will not occur. To expect Personal Responsibility to be learned or practiced in an environment where it's not required, is futile. When the option exists where we don't have to use it, we won't. When we have to produce more effort, when we are forced to make more critical decisions, Personal Responsibility is the natural result of that environment.<br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Social Responsibility</span><br />The problem is compounded further by our current practice of Social Responsibility.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">We're at such a population density that what happens in one part of the world has ripple effect, and we're all affected. Even small decisions can have a world wide impact. <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"A Computer on Every Desktop</span></span>" started off as a small idea. That idea has literally changed the face of the earth.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">When people are at a point where they cannot or will not take care of themselves, that effects us all. 'Cannot' and 'will not' are two very different occurrences, but the social effects are the same. If that occurrence increases, the effects can be disastrous. We are one of the few animals that have the ability to be <a href="http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/altruism">altruistic</a>. I've witness dogs and dolphins doing so, but for the same reasons we do; what benefits the pack (or society) benefits me.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">We have a desire, even responsibility, to help our fellow man. We even do it with the knowledge that doing so helps ourselves. But has that intent created a society that produces sicker people, with less intelligence? Have the lawyers that got the big business to do our thinking for us created a society leading towards <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0yQunhOaU0"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Idiocracy</span></span></a>?<br /></div><br />When you make a purchase, do you consider the entire chain that created that item? Take a stick of gum:<br /><ul><li>Where did the raw materials come from? How are those workers treated?</li><li>Where did the packaging materials come from? How are those chemicals going to affect the area?</li><li>How did the transportation of that item affect us? Is the truck driver paid well enough? How is that transportation decision affecting us all?</li><li>Do the ingredients in the gum compromise your health? Are you even aware if they do?</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;">Entire books can and have been written on the chain of effect. But, to make a conscious decision, you have to be aware of the effects. Then again, who has time for that? It's far more convenient to just grab the stick of gum, and let others make those decisions for us. As consumers, we make social compromises everyday, especially where convenience is concerned. Those compromises also affect our Personal Responsibility.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">We're not going to be able to wipe the social slate over, and start clean. That's impractical. It's also impractical to promote the idea of "going back to" anything. We don't travel back in time, yet. Our human experience is always forward in time. But how can we create a social environment the enables and increases critical thinking skills? How can we create a health system that helps created stronger, more disease resistant humans? Is it our social responsibility to produce a society that actually challenges, and even probably endangers, our posterity to make sure they retain and increase critical thinking skills?<br /></div><br />As for me - I'm going to keep being a <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/lazy;_ylt=AiHnyeQobQY5eGS.pevAvJOsgMMF">Personal Energy Conservationist</a>.</span></span>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-28220947524725871792008-10-21T20:52:00.002-05:002008-10-21T21:16:35.389-05:00Ginny Agility<div>Ginny and I practicing agility. Actually, Ginny is the agile one:</div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3169/2955634044_a775060a20_b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3169/2955634044_a775060a20_b.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3198/2954775353_3f28a53863_b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3198/2954775353_3f28a53863_b.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3207/2955617574_e5f366f0c1_b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3207/2955617574_e5f366f0c1_b.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/2954781369_3f23812757_b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/2954781369_3f23812757_b.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3187/2955624880_879d756d88_b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3187/2955624880_879d756d88_b.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3276/2955630416_08d53eaf69_b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3276/2955630416_08d53eaf69_b.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3157/2955727344_7d559963fb_b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3157/2955727344_7d559963fb_b.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/2954884649_eef44ea26c_b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/2954884649_eef44ea26c_b.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2013/2954876157_f15159f988_b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2013/2954876157_f15159f988_b.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-62346316827900947342008-10-01T15:16:00.000-05:002008-10-01T22:32:14.441-05:00Nice Little Laptop<div style="text-align: justify;">I recently acquired an Acer TravelMate 260 (really a 261xc) laptop. It's a Pentium III, came with 256 MB ram, and a 30 GB 4200rpm hard drive. The battery was shot. It didn't work at all. As I usually do when I acquire a piece of equipment, I did a few searches on it to find out what the perks and quirks were. There was some good news - it was reported to have a 4 hour battery life.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I installed <a href="http://www.xubuntu.org/">Xubuntu</a> on it. It worked okay, but not to the level of what I thought <a href="http://www.xubuntu.org/">Xubuntu</a> should give me. Speed wasn't very good at all. I wiped <a href="http://www.xubuntu.org/">Xubuntu</a>, and installed stock <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu</a>, just to see what would happen. Weirdly enough, stock <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu</a> ran faster. Much faster. I'm not sure what didn't work with <a href="http://www.xubuntu.org/">Xubuntu</a>, but I'm glad <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu</a> worked well. I'm now encouraged to make stock <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu</a> the regular Free Geek Central Florida install, no matter what the machine (except a Pentium II -those get <a href="http://ubuntulite.tuxfamily.org/">UbuntuLite</a>).<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Battery life has always been more important that speed for me. I'm not a gamer, and if I was I'd use a desktop for my gaming. I use my laptop for internet, writing, and various wireless security practices. This laptop actually matched my needs better than my current laptop.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I purchased a faster 80 GB 5400 RPM, added 512 MB ram to it, and reinstalled <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu</a>. Processor throttling is there, not heavy command line work to get that going. Suspend and Hybernate just work. And, the battery life is crazy good. I've been on it for 3 hours, and yet to have it drop below 60%.<br /><br />The computer has only two issues:<br /><ol><li>Occasionally, I have to eject and push the battery back in for the computer to start -without being plugged in. Not a big issue at all.</li><li>Full screen Youtube videos are choppy and jitter. Regular boxsize work fine. DVD's play good too. Just large screen Flash isn't that good. Might be because of the 8 MB video ram.<br /></li></ol></div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3083/2903114961_a0eb108763_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3083/2903114961_a0eb108763_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-12961496605962421052008-09-09T08:43:00.007-05:002009-01-05T11:58:14.906-05:00Tech Comparison: iPod Shuffle, HP iPAQ, and iPod Touch<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://regmedia.co.uk/2004/08/31/ipaq_rx3715_2.jpg"></a>Two weeks, I acquired an iPod touch. I guess through the gifts of Karma, I get to experience the iPhone/iPod Touch phenomenon. So, I thought I'd do a slight review and comparison between the different devices I have.<div><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://astore.amazon.com/coachdannynet-20/detail/B0012LWG9O/002-7405914-3101612">iPod Shuffle</a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31dA7WDpclL.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" border="0" alt="" /></span></div><div>I chose the shuffle after reading several reviews, but one review in particular sold me (<a href="http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/shuffle.ars">click here to read the review</a>). This is one tuff little cookie of an MP3 player. I have the 1 GB model, and it holds about 5 audiobooks, and 10-15 more podcasts depending on their size. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">What I like:</span></div><div><ul><li>I love it's size. It's actually smaller than a Sweet'n'Low pack, thicker, but not much. The controls are simple. </li><li>I like that I can quickly start, stop, forward, and reverse. </li><li>The battery life on the iPod Shuffle is long enough that I haven't been able to leak it all the way down yet. I've gone a whole week without a recharge, playing it for a few hours a day. </li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">What I don't like:</span></div><div><ul><li>I don't like that I can't load on OGG files, WMA files, or other types. </li><li>Sometimes, when I connect the Shuffle to the desktop, it resets the bookmark on an audiobook or podcast, and I have to fastforward through the entire thing. Fastforward seems to go at 3 second forward jumps. Not very fast.<br /></li><li>I don't like that I can't see what's playing. Occasionally, I'll have several episodes from one podcast show, and I can't tell which one I'm listening too. As a trade-off for the size, this is one that really doesn't bother me too much, but was a thought.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">HP iPAQ rx3715</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139); font-weight: normal; "><img src="http://regmedia.co.uk/2004/08/31/ipaq_rx3715_2.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; " /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div>I've had my toy for almost 5 years. With the Rhinoskin aluminum cover, it's held up pretty well. Held up externally, at least. The biggest problem I'v</div><div>e had with the rx3715 is the earphone jack. I've sent it off to be repair once at a resonable cost, but it broke again a year later. The right earpiece is the only one that works. If I was really into music, I'd be upset. But since I listen to audiobooks and podcasts, it's that that big an issue.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">What I like:</span></span></div><div><ul><li>I like that Windows Mobile OS is somewhat like Windows. Close enough that most anyone would know where things are. Adding programs is actually easier on Windows Mobile than it use to be. With Windows CE, you had to add programs from your Windows desktop. With Windows Mobile, you can download programs wirelessly, and install them right from your device.</li><li>I like how many wireless hacking tools are available for Windows Mobile. I can use my toy for site surveys. Yeah...we'll call it that; Site Survey.</li><li>I like that I can download podcasts and audiobooks directly to the device.</li><li>I like that I can sit it on an infrared keyboard, and write. </li><li>Battery life is pretty good. As long as I don't use the wireless access too much, it lasts a long time.</li><li>I have a library of 15,000 ebooks in all kinds of different formats, and the rx3715 has programs available for all of them. I usually keep at least 500 ebooks on that toy at any time. Just because I can.</li><li>I like that I can download ebooks directly to the toy.</li><li>I can add podcasts or videocasts any time I want, as long as I'm wirelessly connected.</li><li>I can control all of the TV's, DVD players, and stereo's in our house with it. Very handy, especially when we've lost the original remote.</li></ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">What I don't like:</span></div><div><ul><li>I don't like the problems with the headphone jack. This seems to be a common defect on this model, as there are a few PocketPC vendors that has a specific service fix for the issue.</li><li>I could do without the whole stylus thing. I've gone through at least six.</li><li>It has the older 802.11b wireless card. Works, but weak. </li><li>It's a bit heavy and bulky. But, that's only in comparison to newer gadgets. In it's day, it was the best of the best.</li></ul><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://astore.amazon.com/coachdannynet-20/detail/B001FA1O0E/002-7405914-3101612">iPod Touch First Gen</a></span></div><div><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41NybZ2C66L.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" border="0" alt="" /></div><div>Let me start off by say; This type of interface is the future of how we will interact with a computer. For at least the next 5 years, the laptop will become less important, and devices like these will increase. Rapidly.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">What I like:</span></div><div><ul><li>The touch interface is awesome. Apple really got this right.</li><li>WiFi is fast.</li><li>Lots of applications.</li><li>Pretty much everything I do online can be done on this thing.</li><li>I can put almost all of my podcasts and audiobooks on this device.</li><li>I makes a good alarm clock</li><li>Except for Microsoft Reader books, most of the eBooks I have can be put on the device.</li><li>Battery life is pretty good. A bit better than the iPAQ.</li><li>I can be used as a wireless 'jumpdrive'. Yeah...that's right; wireless!</li></ul><div>I'm going to stop there before I fall deeper into the Mac Cult. I've got to hold to my Penguinista mentality.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">What I don't like:</span></div><div><ul><li>It doesn't work with Linux. At least, not yet. But, I don't hold any confidence that apple will produce a version of iTunes for Linux.</li><li>No way to read Microsoft Reader ebooks, yet. This isn't a show stopper, but I'd still like to be able to read my 800 .lit ebooks on the iPod Touch</li><li>It's not an open platform. I'm curious how Google's Android will be. I'm waiting for that to come out before I decide to upgrade my phone.</li><li>No camera on the iPod Touch.</li><li>No capability of making video on either. </li><li>I can't control the TV's, DVD's, or stereo equipment.</li></ul><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Category Winners:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Versatility: </span>iPAQ rx3715</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Portability: </span>iPod Shuffle</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Useability: </span>iPod Touch</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Edit January 5, 2009: </span>The Stanza app on the iPod Touch/iPhone with 2.2 update allows for some MS Reader .lit file to be used. Basically, all my .lit ebooks can now be read on the iPod Touch</div></div></div></div></div>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-51755222912336521162008-08-28T15:19:00.003-05:002008-08-28T15:23:55.471-05:00Write Me In!Write Me In in November!<br /><br /><OBJECT classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" WIDTH="384" HEIGHT="304"><br /><PARAM NAME=movie VALUE="http://www.paltalk.com/marketing/media/vanksen/main.swf"><br /><PARAM NAME=flashvars VALUE="firstname=Daniel&lastname=Thompson&urlfin=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.inews3.com%2Faol4pres.php"><br /><PARAM NAME="BGCOLOR" VALUE="#000000" /><br /><PARAM NAME="allowScriptAccess" VALUE="always" /><br /><EMBED src="http://www.paltalk.com/marketing/media/vanksen/main.swf" quality=high WIDTH="384" HEIGHT="304" ALIGN="" TYPE="application/x-shockwave-flash" FLASHVARS="firstname=Daniel&lastname=Thompson&urlfin=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.inews3.com%2Faol4pres.php" PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" BGCOLOR="#000000" ALLOWSCRIPTACCESS="ALWAYS"><br /></EMBED><br /></OBJECT>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-59173194027948892862008-08-12T20:46:00.006-05:002008-08-13T13:48:15.080-05:00Citius, Altius, FortiusIt's the Olympic motto. Faster, Higher, Stronger.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">There is a distinction between gold medalist and Olympic Champions. I don't think there is a word for what the difference is. I did an earlier blog about one, my favorite Olympic moment -<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stephen_Akhwari"> John Stephen Akhwari</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Summer_Olympics">1968 Mexico City Olympics</a>. For the purpose of this post, I think it bears repeating:<br /></div><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Hq3rOMnLGBk&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Hq3rOMnLGBk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />To this day, I tear up hearing those words. "...they sent me 5000 mile to finish the race."<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Do you remember <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamo_Wolde">who won the marathon in 1968</a>? They said it in the video. Even people who where in Mexico City for those games don't remember, but they remember <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stephen_Akhwari">John Stephen Akhwari</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stephen_Akhwari">Akhwari</a>, even though he came in last -with a broken leg, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1968_Summer_Olympics_-_Men%27s_Marathon">still beat 17 other competitors who didn't finish</a>.<br /></div><br />Citius, Altius, Fortius - Faster, Higher, Strong. I'll let you decide which it is.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fly Like and Eagle<br /><br /></span>Another Olympic favorite story for me: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_%27the_Eagle%27_Edwards"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards</span></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_%27the_Eagle%27_Edwards">Edwards</a>, a ski jumper from the United Kingdom -the first Brit to do so. He trained with used or donated equipment, and was extremely <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_sighted">short-sighted</a>. His glasses and goggles usually fogged to such a degree while training, they were rendered useless.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">On his jump in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Winter_Olympics">1988 Calgary Olympics</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_%27the_Eagle%27_Edwards">Eddie</a> came in last. But, he'd jumped his best, threw his hands up in victory on his landing, and the crowd roared for him:<br /></div><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/A7MmJIy0bjo&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/A7MmJIy0bjo&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">From the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_%27the_Eagle%27_Edwards">Wikipedia Entry on Eddie The Eagle</a>:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">At the closing ceremony the president of the Games singled him out for his contribution: "At this Games some competitors have won gold, some have broken records and <span style="font-weight: bold;">one has even flown like an eagle</span>." At that moment, 100,000 people in the stadium roared 'Eddie! Eddie!'. It was the first time in the history of the games that an individual athlete had been mentioned in the closing speech.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The President of the IOC singled out the last place finisher, not the gold medal winner. Even ski jump fans will remember Eddie The Eagle before they remember <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matti_Nyk%C3%A4nen">who won that event</a>. Who was the real Olympic Champion of the 1988 Ski Jump competition?<br /></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>Citius, Altius, Fortius - I think Eddie's nickname implies which one.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Runnings"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cool Runnings</span></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Did the gold medal winner of the Bobsled event of the same <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Winter_Olympics">1988 Calgary games</a> get a movie made about them? Does anyone even remember <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobsleigh_at_the_1988_Winter_Olympics#Four-man">who won the event</a> that year? Or, do most remember who showed up?<br /></div><br /><embed id="VideoPlayback" style="width: 400px; height: 326px;" allowfullscreen="true" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-6284439304329219579&hl=en&fs=true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Jamaica stunned the world by showing up. And, they had a successful movie made about them.<br />Citius, Altius, Fortius<br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Eel</span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Moussambani">Eric Moussambani</a>, from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equatorial_Guinea" title="Equatorial Guinea">Equatorial Guinea</a>, had never seen an Olympic size pool till he walked into the venue in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Summer_Olympics">2000 Sydney Olympics</a>. He'd only started swimming eight months before the race, practicing in a hotel pool. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Moussambani">Moussambani</a> proudly represented his country, and had to do it by himself, in front of an Olympic crowd:<br /></div><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3zjCc_VyxM4&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3zjCc_VyxM4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />While the video above is done by a pair of comedians, the performance of Moussambani, while imperfect, is still very memorable.<br /><br /> The Gold Medal winner is not always the Olympic Champion.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_symbols#Motto">Citius, Altius, Fortius</a>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-18606063171902264312008-07-30T11:04:00.000-05:002008-07-30T11:05:17.016-05:00Linux BeautyCan you do this with Vista or OSX?<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pTRsLW0eet0&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pTRsLW0eet0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-35004983992126479282008-07-28T15:25:00.000-05:002008-07-28T15:41:14.725-05:00HTML class done, but not done with Valencia Community CollegeTaking the html class at school really helped. I think the pace of the online class was a bit much for the amount of material covered. I'm going to keep learning web publishing. Eventually, coding programs directly on an OS will be obsolete. Unless your program to run a warp drive, or hyperspace jump stuff. Don't even get me started on how bogus a transporter beam would be. Let's just say, I agree with Scott Adams.<br /><br />Unfortunately, my days at Valencia Community College aren't quite done. Evidently there is one little 1 credit course I have to take to graduate, then move on to University of Central Florida. It's a 'job search' course. I hear it actually helps some people, especially with resume preparation. When I first heard I had to take one more course, I was really discouraged. I'm wanting to get to UCF, and get done with it. Move on. But, that irritation lasted a day, then I was fine with it.<br /><br />I'm going to spend the next few months focused on studying for, taking the tests, and getting as many IT certifications as possible before December 31. I already have the A+ certification, so next:<br /><ol><li>Network+</li><li>Security+</li><li>Linux+</li></ol>After that, I'll start on the MCSE stuff (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer). I'm loath to go there, but I need to (like I actually know what loath means).Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-31913220846926308442008-07-16T15:58:00.000-05:002008-07-16T16:14:42.858-05:00HTML, XHTML, and CSS makes me angry<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3288/2675440676_777cd11dd5_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3288/2675440676_777cd11dd5_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />After 20 minutes of homeworkDannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-30579743690887103132008-07-12T00:14:00.000-05:002008-07-11T23:14:33.906-05:00The Pace of Ubuntu<div style="text-align: justify;">Since <a href="http://ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu</a> 8.04 LTS Hardy Heron came out I've been receiving updates almost daily. No exaggeration. Daily. Not just system updates, but updates for different programs I have installed.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Microsoft does updates once a month, the second Tuesday of each month. And, they only update Microsoft software. Apple isn't much different.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Now, granted, much of the Open Source Software is in the alpha or beta stage, so frequent updates are expected. But Windows XP and Vista aren't really much different. Even after seven years, XP still feels like the beta version, and Vista is barely alpha. Sure, it works, but even after the service pack, there's STILL the file transfer problem.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">In <a href="http://royal.pingdom.com/?p=319">a recent article</a>, Windows, OSX, and Ubuntu were compared for system and security update server 'up-time'. This was based on the servers being 'pinged' every 5 minutes. Windows won, with zero downtime. Mac came in second, and Ubuntu came in third with one day, five hours, and 45 minutes of downtime.<br /></div><br />I have machines with Window, Mac OSX 10.5, and Ubuntu 8.04(.1). In the time between April 1st and June 30th, I received updates from Microsoft about six times. My install of OSX 10.5 is recent, but I've received two updates from Apple. It would take most of this blog to tell you how many updates I got from Ubuntu in that time. Not just to the system software, but individual program updates. Updates from Ubuntu come in almost daily still.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I'm wondering if Open Source Software is growing faster. I mean exponentially faster. It's quite possible. But, when I listened to the most recent<a href="http://www.lugradio.org/episodes/104"> episode of LugRadio</a> (their last episode, evidently), it seems that big projects like <a href="http://www.openoffice.org/">OpenOffice.org</a> have organizational problems that hold back progress (not just OO.o -they're an example). It seems the bigger the project, the slower the pace. Still OpenOffice.org is growing fast than MS Office. MS Office is still far ahead in functionality -or so I'm told. I've used only OpenOffice.org for over a year now. I've not experienced any functionality problems. I do admit to the most basic use of Office applications, so I'm not pushing the envelope there.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Maybe it's just my perspective -being that I watch things like this. It may take awhile for Open Source projects to match or best proprietary one, but I think it will happen sooner than most think. As more desktops and servers have Open Source installed on them, the momentum will be unstoppable. Until the asteroid comes, that is. Or Yellowstone blows. Or global warming melts everything. Or we trash everything, and Wall-E has to save us.<br /></div>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-40418758066090749022008-07-10T08:15:00.000-05:002008-07-10T08:16:50.300-05:00The Pickens Plan<embed src="http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1632654798" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashvars="videoId=1653634930&playerId=1632654798&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://console.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&domain=embed&autoStart=false&" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swliveconnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" width="486" height="412"></embed>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-77372268731010758102008-07-02T15:21:00.000-05:002008-07-02T15:24:53.815-05:00Which Operating System are you?Not sure I like how mine turned out:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bbspot.com/News/2003/01/os_quiz.php"><img src="http://www.bbspot.com/Images/News_Features/2003/01/os_quiz/apple_dos.jpg" alt="You are Apple Dos. Simple and primitive with a good understanding of the common man. You're still a work in progress, but a good start." border="0" height="90" width="300" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bbspot.com/News/2003/01/os_quiz.php">Which OS are You?</a><br /></div>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-67783478477369630572008-07-02T10:04:00.000-05:002008-07-02T10:06:35.373-05:00The Website is Down<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BcQ7RkyBoBc&hl=en"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BcQ7RkyBoBc&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-66220899154321125282008-06-27T20:19:00.000-05:002008-06-27T20:20:22.016-05:00Introducing Baby GavinThis is baby Gavin, about 15 minutes after he was born. He was looking around at all of us.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yRlT5HCw2JU&hl=en"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yRlT5HCw2JU&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-47766610091515468152008-06-24T13:44:00.000-05:002008-06-24T13:45:24.067-05:00I'm Voting Republican!<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FiQJ9Xp0xxU&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FiQJ9Xp0xxU&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-4393867716659414802008-06-23T15:09:00.000-05:002008-06-23T15:40:01.210-05:00Pretty fly for a white...computerIf you're Apple user, consider this question carefully:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Would you still use Mac OS X if it could be installed on any type of PC?</span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I believe most people move to Apple because they were seduced by the pretty equipment. I'll give Apple that; they make good looking hardware. Others moved to Apple because they liked their iPod. The Mac vs PC commercials have been pretty successful at moving people to Mac.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Apple hardware is expensive. They usually go with the best stuff available at the time of manufacture, and make sure it runs on OS X. Price is the biggest obstacle for most people who'd like to buy a Mac. When money is tight, there's little choice when the laptop PC is $600, and the Mac is $1200. Yes, there is the Mac Mini. That does bring OS X closer to the masses, but the Mini hasn't been that great of a seller. I'd get one, but I'm me.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">If you could go to Wal Mart, back in the electronics section, up to the software wall, get the recent upgrade to OS X (we'll call our imaginary version 10. 7.22.1 "Ferral Cat"), take it home and install it on your laptop or desktop PC, would you do it?<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">If so, why? Besides the malware issues with Windows, what other reason do you choose or prefer OS X over WindowsXP/Vista or Linux?<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Knowing me, I'd rush to the Apple store, get me a brand spanking new Mac Book Pro, and have buyers remorse before I got to my car. I'd keep the computer, though. It's pretty.<br /></div>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-52480435868450678352008-06-17T15:20:00.001-05:002008-06-17T15:23:43.017-05:00Security or what?Best line I've heard in years:<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"It's not a question of Security vs Privacy. It's a question of Liberty vs Control!"</span></span></span>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-90259545127865312512008-06-14T11:24:00.000-05:002008-06-14T12:05:58.742-05:00Security Updates<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/security_holes.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/security_holes.png" alt="" border="0" /></a>I'm of the mindset, "Once a system has been compromised, it can't be trusted." If I find <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware">malware </a>on a computer, be it Windows, Mac, or Linux (unlikely for the last two), I complete wipe it (Dban), and reinstall the system. It's funny to me that people still call it, "reformat". We've passed the Windows 98 days, folks. If you try to simply clean the system with anti-virus/spyware/adware solutions, you can't be sure the problem is gone. Only by wiping and reinstalling can you be sure.<br /></div><br />Wipe the hard drive:<br /><a href="http://www.dban.org/">Dban</a><br /><a href="http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=videos/using-dban-to-wipe-a-drive">Tutorial on using Dban: Iron Geek</a><br /><br />Some information on reinstallation:<br /><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,105866-page,1-c,installation/article.html">PC World - Step By Step, reinstall Windows</a><br /><a href="http://pcworld.about.com/magazine/2109p156id111652.htm">About.com - How to Reinstall Windows without losing your data</a><br /><a href="http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/11/06/how-to-reinstall-os-x/">Chris Parillo - How to Reinstall OSX</a><br /><a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/comp/support/library/software/os-help/reinstall-mac-osx/">Dartmouth - Reinstalling OSX</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Reinstalling <a href="http://ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu</a> is about the same as the above information. You can install Ubuntu from the <a href="http://ubuntu.cs.utah.edu/releases/hardy/ubuntu-8.04-desktop-i386.iso">DesktopCD</a>, or the <a href="http://ubuntu.cs.utah.edu/releases/hardy/ubuntu-8.04-alternate-i386.iso">Alternative Install CD</a>. <a href="http://freegeekcentralflorida.org/">Free Geek Central Florida</a> gives a copy of Dban and the Ubuntu DesktopCD with each FreekBox.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">But, you then hit the problem of how the malware got there in the first place. Wipe/reinstall won't stop the problem from happening again. It might - if the original problem happened from a vulnerability that's been recently patched- but it will probably happen again.<br /><br />Once you're wiped and reinstalled the system, <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">don't forget to do ALL the system updates</span></span>. This is especially important on Windows.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Most malware comes from manipulation the user in order to get to the system. Email attachments, malicious scripts on websites, malware imbedded in picture files, and '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_site_scripting">cross site scripting</a>' are just a drop in the bucket of social engineering. The hard part is to learning how the original problem happened.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">If you're a home user, a simple wipe, reinstall, update will take care of most malware and vulnerabilities. But, if you're an organization with 5 or more users, that simple procedure won't be enough.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">What will be enough depends on the size of your business, the importance of the data, and what you can afford. That is whole 'nuther book, not just a blog post.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Use the anti-virus/spyware/adware products and programs to detect if you have something. If you do, don't bother 'cleaning', 'quaranteening'. Just wipe and reinstall.<br /><br />Free anti-malware resources:<br /><a href="http://www.clamwin.com/">ClamWin -This is what I use</a> for Windows<br /><a href="http://www.clamxav.com/">ClamXav - ClamAV for Mac</a><br /><a href="http://www.clamav.net/">ClamAV - for Linux/BSD</a><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">And don't keep your personal files on the same disk as your system. That's just asking for trouble.<br /></div>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-12676089292540982372008-06-09T18:37:00.000-05:002008-06-09T20:11:38.406-05:00Render Me This<div style="text-align: justify;">Last week, I listened to the recent episode of the <a href="http://tllts.org/mirror.php?fname=tllts_248-06-04-08.mp3">The Linux Link Tech Show</a>, with special guest <a href="http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/index.php/the-team/">Campbell Barton - Technical director of Big Buck Bunny</a>. Big Buck Bunny is an animated short movie created using <a href="http://www.blender.org/">Blender</a>, a free open source 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems under the <a href="http://www.blender.org/education-help/faq/gpl-for-artists/" class="internal-link">GNU General Public License</a>. Blender is an incredible program maintained by <a href="http://www.blender.org/blenderorg/blender-foundation/">The Blender Foundation</a>. And, like many open source programs, it's completely free. Blender also has a huge community, lots of free training information, and <a href="http://www.blender.org/blenderorg/blender-institute/">The Blender Institute</a> behind it.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I was really impressed that Big Buck Bunny was created in less than a year, but a fairly small team. Campbell Barton gives a good insight into the process that helped create Big Buck Bunny, and how it pushed Blender to increase functionality.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">When I first heard of Blender, I took it as an alternative to something like <a href="http://www.solidworks.com/">SolidWorks</a>, or possibly even <a href="http://www.ptc.com/products/proengineer/">Pro Engineer</a>, but I may have been wrong about that. Then again, I could be wrong about being wrong. Either way, Blender tends to be used more for content creation than solid model design and engineering.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Today on the <a href="http://www.linuxtoday.com/">Linux Today</a> news feed, I saw <a href="http://opensource.org/node/340">this article</a> about the creation of <span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://helmer.sfe.se/">Helmer</a></span> -a 24 core, 48 GB ram clustered machine using a <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40107872">Helmer filing cabinet from IKEA</a>- for just $3500 in parts. Many companies offer rendering server farms to accomplish this tasks for unbelievable costs, but Helmer (and I hear Helmer II is almost complete) can be put together by almost anyone with a A+ certification. There's even pictures of the building process and documentation on the <a href="http://helmer.sfe.se/">Helmer</a> page. I wouldn't be surprised to see <a href="http://helmore.sfe.se/">Helmer Servers</a> showing up at IKEA stores soon. What appeals to me is that Helmer might make an incredible <a href="http://doc.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/edubuntu/handbook/C/server-hw.html">Ubuntu LTSP Server</a>.<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://helmer.sfe.se/"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://helmer.sfe.se/helmer1-1024x768.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">A small company could use just one of these (probably the Helmer II at 50 Teraflops!), or even two or three, to produce animated movies like Big Buck Bunny.<br /></div><br />So, watch Big Buck Bunny here, then <a href="http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info.php?products_id=97">buy the DVD</a>!<br /><br /><object height="225" width="400"> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1084537&server=www.vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1"> <embed src="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1084537&server=www.vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="225" width="400"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://www.vimeo.com/1084537?pg=embed&sec=1084537">Big Buck Bunny</a> from <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/user508904?pg=embed&sec=1084537">Blender Foundation</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/?pg=embed&sec=1084537">Vimeo</a>.Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-8087297466610946272008-05-30T15:48:00.002-05:002008-06-03T20:37:15.337-05:00Green Screen SpaceI now see the point of having multiple desktops, but I don't think multiple monitors are necessary. Here's my setup at work:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3146/2337133303_4d86b71a83_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3146/2337133303_4d86b71a83_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />My home computer has only one CRT monitor. It used to be a 21" model. I decided to try a 19", and found 19" is perfect for me. 21" is just too big.<br /><br />At work, I've also found that while I have two monitors displaying stuff. I really only use one at a time.<br /><br />Since Beryl and Compiz/Compiz-Fusion came out, I didn't really see the usefulness of anything like the Desktop cube, wall, expose, all that eyecandy stuff. I sit now with new information. I'm going to flip-flop.<br /><br />It's been claimed that having a second monitor brings up productity 20% in the average office. With the cube, a person has 4 "monitors". With enough memory, video graphics and such, using the cube is incredibly productive, and using the engery of only one monitor.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1411/577754824_489b09afac_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1411/577754824_489b09afac_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So, Compiz-Fusion is green software.<br />Cool.Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455840.post-86285976281143444902008-05-18T13:03:00.000-05:002008-05-18T13:05:44.268-05:00Edubuntu Classroom installationBlogged about it on <a href="http://freegeekcentralflorida.blogspot.com/2008/05/edubuntu-ltsp-classroom-installation.html">Free Geek Central Florida Blog</a>. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/26613431@N05/">Pictures</a> too:<br /><br /><a href="http://freegeekcentralflorida.blogspot.com/2008/05/edubuntu-ltsp-classroom-installation.html">http://freegeekcentralflorida.blogspot.com/</a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/26613431@N05/"><br />http://www.flickr.com/photos/26613431@N05/</a>Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15466261124777179965noreply@blogger.com1