Tom's Hardware Guide PCs & HowTo: Pepping Up Windows - Introduction

hmm, a good listing of some open source software we might want to use for our business

WSJ.com - Some States Push To Collect Sales Tax From Internet Stores

idiots...

I did sent an email to the author of the article... here it is:

A couple things I don't understand...

1. They provide 'software' to do the collection? So are we to assume that said software will easily integrate into any web application, or are we talking about some annoying program like Oregon's OTTER program that we would have to manually run in addition to any automated software? Or are we talking about software that would force us to use Windows and .NET?
2. Taxing the destination instead of the seller's state? How is that going to work? The seller is going to be taxed based on income made from the sale -- to tax the recipient would be double taxation. I really doubt the seller's state is going to so easily give up the taxes they are already collecting.
3. Neither Oregon or Federal law require it unless there is a presence in the other state -- how would they force an Oregon store to collect Tennessee taxes when Tennesse law doesn't apply to them?
4. Do we have any recourse if this is instituted?

Slashdot | P2P Users More Likely to Cheat, Shoplift

Perhaps it is more likely that certain people are compulsive liars and don't admit to either P2P or shoplifting/cheating?

I do, however, think people who use P2P are more likely to understand the 1st amendment...

Slashdot | Tim Bray on Implications of OpenDocument Format

I watched the video. Interesting.... one thing he didn't seem to know though is about IntelliJ's ability to read/write/use custom programming languages... not saying it is a good thing -- or that if IntelliJ died it wouldn't cause problems -- but there is the ability to do that now.

Slashdot | USPTO Reexam Finds $521M Eolas Patent Valid

Looks like the USPTO is being blatant about being on the take now.

meebo.com

nice. like trillian but ajax-based

» The Web-based Office will have its day | Web 2.0 Explorer | ZDNet.com

has some links to some Ajax apps

The Open Voting Consortium - CA Sec. of State Forming Panel to Investigate Open Source Software for Elections

Interesting. Based on my previous research into some of these groups, I bet they aren't going to do it right. Wonder what it would take to get onto the panel.

00FUN.com | Voice Inside Your Head

dad sent this to me. it's just great

MPAA tries to get sneaky (again) with broadcast flag legislation

you know, attaching things to bills is one of the things wrong with our country. it turns all legislation into dirty law. its BS. we need to find a way to get through everything on their own merit.

First Giant Squid Captured in Wild (on Film, That Is) - New York Times

interesting

MercuryNews.com | 09/27/2005 | Anti-piracy memory chip arrives

piece of shit hardware - I have been a loyal customer of theirs. might change that soon.

Electronic paper development kit runs Linux

ooh! maybe I can finally try playing with it myself!

Slashdot | Pay vs. Happiness

I've been thinking a lot about this over the years. I am trying to get my own company off the ground so that I (and my friends) can switch to positions doing things we love for people/a company that we can respect...

the problem is it takes a lot of time, and money. it is hard to get enough money to pay your own salary for a year (without an external job), let alone all your friends

I look forward to reading the bit about job burnout. I have a feeling I will agree with a lot of it.

Slashdot | RIAA Suit Rejected With Prejudice

finally

Slashdot | 24 Mb Consumer Broadband Launched

hmm, that would be nice ;)

wow, there's some memories for you

qwantz: My Experience with Google AdSense

I had been thinking of signing up with Google AdSense, but not if crap like this is going to happen.

although it appears some have had a good experience.

If I *am* going to do it, might be best to modify my template so that it won't show up when I am personally using the site... thus, if they try to say that I clicked my own links or anything -- I couldn't have because my own template on THEIR blogging engine won't show them to me. That might work well.

but, last but not least, Tim Bray has a review of it, maybe I will give it a shot.

A8N-SLI Premium + Windows x64 Pro

Ok, so the last blog entry was about this too, and one of the machines is going to be FreeBSD, but I thought I better start keeping notes somewhere other than gmail. I also though that, instead of just commenting on the last post, I would make the title something obviously identifiable when searching for my notes. I'll do the FreeBSD install in a seperate one.

Now, to start off with, firmware/drivers. I have the following:

• Silicon Image 3114 Driver Disk v1.1.0.1 [Asus]
• nVidia CK804 SATARAID chipset driver disk v6.66 for xp64 [Asus]
• A8N-SLI Premium bios v1007.002 [Asus]
• nVidia CK804 PATARAID chipset driver disk v6.66 xp64 [Asus]
• A8N-SLI Premium bios v1008 [Asus]
• Silicon Image 3114 Driver Disk v1.2.3.1 for Win64 [SI]

Originally, I used the bios 1007.002 and the 3114 v1.1.0.1 drivers. After getting windows running (about 10 attempts to format it until I cut the size of the C partition in about 1/2), the silicon image controller was 'unknown' in device manager. I noticed updated bios (v1008) and upgraded it.

Upon reboot, I noticed one of the RAID5 set was missing, and windows did the constant-reboot-panic.

Downgraded the BIOS, booted noticing the RAID5 drive was still missing. Windows loaded, and I upgraded the 3114 driver to 1.2.3.1 and the chipset to CK804. Upon rebooting, noticed that still no drive#3 (out of 4). Also noticed that the raid utility was reporting that I had the same amount of hard drive space available, with one less drive. Sounds to me like a likely candidate for hosing my filesystem at some point.

Upgraded the BIOS again, again not bootable.

Decided to try reinstalling Windows from scratch (they are hosed anyways, right). At the F6 prompt, used the SATARAID and 3114 v1.2.3.1 drivers. Wouldn't get past 'Starting Windows'.

Downgraded the BIOS again.

Tried to reinstalling Windows again. Complained that the drive could not be formatted at about 98%. Tried again, locked up at about 40%.

Hmm, ok. Tried latest bios, latest chipset, asus 3114 driver. Said that line 35 (which shouldn't have even been in use) of TxtSetup.oem wasn't valid. Hmm, ok.

Now I am trying v1007.002 bios, latest chipset from asus (SATARAID version), and the Asus v1.1.0.1 3114 drivers. We'll see.

I was debating whether to upgrade the BIOS after getting Windows running -- but maybe it isn't worth it.

One hell of a week...

Well, let's ignore all the hassle we have had over the last month or two trying to get the house refinanced... let's ignore the 8 or so contractors that have been here in the last week... let's even ignore the switching internet providers, etc etc...

let's just focus on installing machines....
After months of searching, we ordered the DLG-4300 gaming router. But then we decided to use Jails in our new freebsd server, and found out we had to have one public ip address per jail. Unfortunately, the dlink wasn't a router, and only allowed one ip address.

we shipped it back, spent a couple weeks finding a router that would work, and ordered the Netgear FVS124g.

21 days later (1/3rd of the way through our free technical support) FedEx finally got it to us. I configured it THEN plugged it into the network, and WHAM everything died. Couldn't even access it, let alone the internet.

Finally, after multiple factory resets, called ISP and they had to release the MAC address associated with our dsl modem (unmanaged bridge). Then we could access the internet.

But what is this? The netgear, though claiming it could, can't do DMZ. Don't get me wrong, I read the manual, forums, everything. Unfortunately, the manual is months older than the oldest available firmware, and the DMZ settings just aren't there. An alternate DMZ setting is there if you view source, but not otherwise. And that isn't so easy to fix.

Did I also mention it was crashing and locking up every 5 minutes or so, killing the internet connection?


So, every 5 minutes we have to unplug the damn thing and on top of that, our DNS/Web/Email have been down for days.

Finally got ahold of netgear and they sent me a new unreleased beta firmware. That seems to have mostly fixed the lockup problems, but still no DMZ.

Around this time is when I started to also try to build all our machines. Hard drives had died in almost all of them, so 3 of the 5 machines had no operating system at all, and one had no internet access.

Windows XP 64-bit and FreeBSD 6.0 Beta5.
The windows box seemed to install just fine once I decided I didn't want a 715GB partition. Once I cut that in half, it finally was able to format without locking up. That was about the 10th 10-hour attempt at formatting before I made that decision. Got the box up and running,and 1/2 the base OS was 32-bit. that sucks.

Then today, I get the smart idea to install a newer motherboard firmware. Oops, raid now shows a missing drive and it won't boot into windows. Downgraded firmware, and raid drive still missing, but got into windows. And what's this, the raid controller software shows the same amount of hard drive space, but with one less drive. That's not a good sign. Called Asus. They tell me:
1) they don't support hardware raid
2) they don't support bootable raid
3) I'm screwed
They said I have to install windows THEN create my raid array (hmm, how do I make windows have redundancy and fail over then?). They gave me an email address for taiwan engineers when I complained, but that email address had permanent failures.

So, I am reinstalling windows from scratch now. Damn.

And the FreeBSD box? Well, it appears that the SiI3114r controller is only sorta supported... IE: it will show all the drives independantly, ignores the raid settings, and if you set RAID5 and figure out how to get the driver to work (which I haven't yet) won't do parity.... um... so what the fuck am I supposed to do? Don't know yet -- still working on that.

Needless to say, computers, firmware and tech support suck ass.

Slashdot | Linux-Powered Humanoid Robot on Sale Friday

can I have one?

Marc MERLIN's experience at Burning Man 2005: Psyche

lots of me friends were there.... don't see them in the pics though.

Slashdot | Artist Suggesting Ways Around Copy Protection

That's friggin awesome

Slashdot | Space Elevator Gets FAA Clearance

interesting

Slashdot | Mothers Taking the Fight to the RIAA

'Don't let your fear of these massive companies allow you to deny your belief in your own innocence. Paying these settlements is an admission of guilt. If you're not guilty of violating the law, don't pay.'

Yeah, reminds me of when the COURT HOUSE told me that pleading No Contest to a traffic ticket would count as admiting guilt, and that it wouldn't show up on my insurance. Of course, I paid triple insurance for 3 years, but hey...

Montreal Gazette - canada.com network

Wow, what a story.... we got oil vs hydrogen, companies at each other's throats, billion dollars motive for murder, anecdotal evidence, the whole shebang. Quite an article.

Slashdot | MP3 Company Refuses to Pay Swedish Copyright Levy

yeah! tell them to f-off.

Slashdot | Trigonometry Redefined without Sines And Cosines

Kewl. I want this book.

Power-dressing man leaves trail of destruction

Wow. that's friggin awesome

History of Secret Societies

Can't vouche for any of it, but interesting to see things in relation to each other.

Illuminati Saints

;) Interesting collection

Carlos Casteneda - Gnod's statistics

interesting site

The Founding Fathers Were NOT Christians

There are a lot of good quotes here... here's a few:

*

The Christian right is trying to rewrite the history of the United States as part of its campaign to force its religion on others. They try to depict the founding fathers as pious Christians who wanted the United States to be a Christian nation, with laws that favored Christians and Christianity.

This is patently untrue. The early presidents and patriots were generally Deists or Unitarians, believing in some form of impersonal Providence but rejecting the divinity of Jesus and the absurdities of the Old and New testaments.

*

It was during Adam's administration that the Senate ratified the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, which states in Article XI that 'the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.'

Thomas Paine:

nor by any church that I know of...Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all

*

On his deathbed, Washinton uttered no words of a religious nature and did not call for a clergyman to be in attendance.

John Adams:

Twenty times in the course of my late reading, have I been upon the point of breaking out, "This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!

Thomas Jefferson:

I trust that there is not a young man now living in the United States who will not die a Unitarian." He referred to the Revelation of St. John as "the ravings of a maniac"

James Madison:

Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise.

Ethan Allen:

When Allen married Fanny Buchanan, he stopped his own wedding ceremony when the judge asked him if he promised "to live with Fanny Buchanan agreeable to the laws of God." Allen refused to answer until the judge agreed that the God referred to was the God of Nature, and the laws those "written in the great book of nature."

*

The words "In God We Trust" were not consistently on all U.S. currency until 1956, during the McCarthy Hysteria.

And my favorite:

The Treaty of Tripoli, passed by the U.S. Senate in 1797, read in part: "The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." The treaty was written during the Washington administration, and sent to the Senate during the Adams administration. It was read aloud to the Senate, and each Senator received a printed copy. This was the 339th time that a recorded vote was required by the Senate, but only the third time a vote was unanimous (the next time was to honor George Washington). There is no record of any debate or dissension on the treaty. It was reprinted in full in three newspapers - two in Philadelphia, one in New York City. There is no record of public outcry or complaint in subsequent editions of the papers.

And from a linked source:

Thomas Jefferson:

Christianity...(has become) the most perverted system that ever shone on man. ...Rogueries, absurdities and untruths were perpetrated upon the teachings of Jesus by a large band of dupes and importers led by Paul, the first great corrupter of the teaching of Jesus.

Thomas Paine:

It is the duty of every true Deist to vindicate the moral justice of God against the evils of the Bible.

This is interesting:

Having escaped from the state-established religions of Europe, only 7% of the people in the 13 colonies belonged to a church when the Declaration of Independence was signed.

This is really good too:

It was they—the Baptists—who were instrumental in securing the separation of church and state. They knew you can not have a "one-way wall" that lets religion into government but that does not let it out. They knew no religion is capable of handling political power without becoming corrupted by it. And, perhaps, they knew it was Christ himself who first proposed the separation of church and state: Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto the Lord that which is the Lord's.

This one surprised me. Not because they declared the US to NOT be based on Christianity, but because the original was in Arabic...

ARTICLE 11.

As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion,-as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen,-and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

Am I understanding this right? Did we agree that we would never go to war with them because we weren't Christian?

Of course there are other sources as well...

Pledge of Allegience, Again?

Once again I find myself arguing with my father about the pledge of allegience. He doesn't seem to grasp the concept that the Christians are not the ones being hurt -- but that everyone else is finally starting to get equal rights...

Let's look at history:

• when black¹ people were released from slavery, white people felt threatened
• when women got the right to vote, men felt threatened
• when alternate-beliefs gain equal rights (ie: both allowed or neither), the christians feel threatened

It is always, and probably always will be, this way. If we were to promote Robots as being 'life', then Humans will feel threatened. If children were given the right to vote, adults would feel threatened. If (UFO) aliens were given the right to attend school and get jobs, Earthlings would feel threatened.

Sure, not EVERYONE feels threatened, but the ones who do are the ones who were previously on the beneficial end of the stick.


¹ Ok, someone is probably going to complain about the word "black". I have lots of black friends, most of which use the term "black people" themselves. I think the term African-American itself is derogatory, because it makes the assumption that, because of their skin color, they must have come from Africa. What if they came from Brazil? Jamiaca? Oh, but their ancestors, eventually, came from Africa -- right? Well, so did yours -- or everyone came from Pangea, right? Do you even know how the whole Politically Correct movement started? Do you realize that it was started as a form of Freudinistic Marxism as a way to get people to segregate themselves and thus make them fight each other and easier to control? Where did I get that info? I was watch a symposium on C-SPAN that was talking about how they started it. You want to fight the racism/sexism/religionism/ageism/etc? Then quit segregating yourself and others.

Fortune 75 - The Law of Unintended Consequences - FORTUNE - Page 1

I started to read this, but it is really really long.

ExceptionCollection.com

this seems interesting

Dartmouth News - Dartmouth researchers build world's smallest mobile robot - 09/14/05

it is all pretty kewl until you look at the 'funded in part by'...

this is kind kewl too. take a look of it sitting on a penny:

One Find, Two Astronomers: An Ethical Brawl - New York Times

hmmm... condemn them for not reporting it or condemn him for looking at their data?
perhaps both?

Dutch to Open Electronic Files on Children - Yahoo! News

their privacy steps are good, but I don't think they are good enough

Mailinator:Spam Map

Very interesting approach

FOX 12 OREGON Portland home prices continue to jump

20% jump in the last month? Then why are they not taking that into account for the refinance I am trying to do right now?

Collaze: Connect. Collaborate. Create

I don't have time to read this right now, but it looks interesting.

An early look at JUnit 4

looks like some interesting changes

Oregon's Sara Jean on Cover of Playboy

This morning on Good Day Oregon they announced that a local Oregon girl named Sara Jean was the new cover model for Playboy. Evidentally, she was signing issues yesterday ;)

Oh, and this is kinda funny. See how she got there.

As a side note, I am not sure why, but the float:left on the image keeps overlapping the next post. I was worried about trying to fix it, but, screw it.

Slow Seismic Slip Event Underway in Pacific Northwest

The probability of occurrence of a megathrust earthquake is about 30 times higher during this approximately two-week window, than during the rest of the 14.5 month cycle," Cassidy told LiveScience. "Having said that, 30 times a small number is still a small number.

WSJ.com - As Angry Patients Vent Online, Doctors Sue to Silence Them

here's a solution..... equifax-like service that consolidates and provides credit scores for all businesses. if they don't like it, then they can get rid of consumer credit reports and we could get rid of commercial credit reports...

Guilds: What's in it for me?

You can be an architect in Star Wars Galaxies? I had no interest before, but now.. hmmm...

But it is a Sony game... which in itself is a negative...

maybe I should find a new MMORPG soon since my new desktop will be done soon

Gallery 2.0 Released! | Gallery

was going to check this out -- but mysql is saying too many connections right now...

not even really sure what it does. will have to wait and see.

Find-A-Human -- IVR Phone S... - Approved*

very interesting page

for example, it provides:


type cell

company name Cingular

phone number 800-331-0500

steps to find a human For faster service, press the option that you are looking to close your account, You get the same ppl but an immediate answer

company home page web


usa national mass-market?


status approved

hours

PCWorld.com - 20 Things They Don't Want You to Know

pg5 has some interesting pwd recovery tools

pg9 has a link to Cliche Ideas... who has a link to Amazon/eBay/PayPal unlisted numbers... whom I am also providing said information for notebooksforless.com

page10 has an awesome link to Find-A-Human -- IVR Phone System Shortcuts (USA) which I will blog a link to separately.

Slashdot | GMC to Begin Remotely Scanning Cars for Trouble

wonder how much it would cost to get onstar for my mitsubishi eclipse.

wonder if it would be worth it. what do they offer?

hmmm looks like they don't offer much that I would like other than driving directions... not really worth it. if they could add OBD II to it, that would be awesome.

New Zealand Herald - Flying dinosaur biggest airborne animal - Friday 09, September 2005 17:59.00 PM - World News

interesting

Google Blog Search

interesting. but it fails to find my blog.
which is really wierd, because google used to find my blog all the time.
I guess that is what I get when my server keeps dying (has been running 24x7 for 12 years and now the hard drive is going) -- luckily we are in the process of replacing it

In the Forests of RNA Dark Matter -- Riddihough 309 (5740): 1507 -- Science

wonder how this will affect genetic algorithms

Freedom to Tinker » Blog Archive » Acoustic Snooping on Typed Information

damn! now that's good.

Column from PC Magazine: Microsoft Should Confuse the Market More

nice ;)

I'll take the Porn edition thank you

haha

Tasmania powers up 12Mbps broadband: ZDNet Australia: News: Communications

I want this.... a lot better price than what I am getting.

Security Watch: A virtual den of thieves - CNET reviews

wow, cybergangs ;)

Proxy Client Autoconfig File Format

nice.... since latest firefox broke the switchproxy, now I have a little 3 line javascript program that auto-switches for me :)

Developing Firefox Extensions with GNU/Linux : Page 1

I should look at this later, but I don't really have the time right now

WolframTones: An Experiment in a New Kind of Music

this is interesting...
would be kewl to mix this idea with the game from Apprentice Adept

playing with it, it looks kinda interesting. wish I had more control. like ability to specify the percussion instruments and tempo separately.

BBC NEWS | UK | MI5 head warns on civil liberties

'But the world has changed and there needs to be a debate on whether some erosion of what we all value may be necessary to improve the chances of our citizens not being blown apart as they go about their daily lives,' she said.

She wants to trade freedom in for security? Guess she deserves neither, eh?

Russia to Build World’s First Floating Nuclear Power Station for $200,000 - MONEY - MOSNEWS.COM

no comment

BBC NEWS | Health | Q&A: Two mother embryo

These will then be put into a fertilised egg from another women with only healthy mitochondrial DNA.

Although this second egg has been fertilised, the pronuclei DNA from the male and female that made this egg will be removed.

The result would be an embryo with pronuclei DNA from the parental egg and sperm but mitochondria - and mitochondrial DNA - from the donor egg.

damn

Slashdot | RNA May 'Run' Genetic Coding

speaks of 'an order of magnitude more transcripts than genes', suggesting that more actual coding is done through RNA than DNA. Is everything we know about genetics off-base? (no pun intended)

damn!

Tom's Hardware Guide: Samsung builds foundation for 32 GByte Flash cards

kewl. I want some

Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Controlling Hurricanes -- [ METEOROLOGY ] -- Can hurricanes and other severe tropical storms be moder

do they really think it is a good idea to control hurricanes? aren't they worried that they might be a necessary part of the ecosystem? I could understand harnessing them for electricity (wind/tidal energy) but... stopping them might end up having long term devastating effects...

not to say that they aren't devastating themselves -- but what would happen to the earth if they no longer happened? if they are caused by heat, wouldn't stopping them mean stopping the heat dissipation as well? what about the millions of tiny particles that end up hundreds of miles away that no longer would -- would some species of microorganism end up inbreeding?

sounds like a dangerous proposition without them knowing more

Tech Shows

This is a list of the best free downloadable tech/gaming shows currently available on the Internet. These shows are also referred to as vidcasts, VODcasts, videozines, and IPTV.

kewl

New legal threat to Google over GMail - Industry sectors - Times Online

Let me see if I get this straight...

Google launches GMail
Germany company said they own the trademark on the name GMail
British company said they own the trademark on the name GMail
British and German companies will work together to proove that __insert_what_here__ owns the trademark GMail?

And what does the US Government say?
7 entries...

• the "Typed Drawing: GMAIL" since 1/20/1998: Cripps, Milo INDIVIDUAL UNITED STATES 1211 Bajada Santa Barbara CALIFORNIA 93109



• since 4/7/2004: Google Inc. CORPORATION DELAWARE Building 41 1600 Ampitheatre Parkway Mountain View CALIFORNIA 94043



• since 11/11/2004: Giersch, Daniel INDIVIDUAL FED REP GERMANY Harvestehuder Weg 16a Hamburg FED REP GERMANY 20148



• since 4/2/2004: GOOGLE INC. CORPORATION DELAWARE 1600 AMPHITHEATRE PARKWAY MOUNTAIN VIEW CALIFORNIA 94043



• since 4/8/2004: Gospel Music Association CORPORATION TENNESSEE 1205 Division Street Nashville TENNESSEE 37203



• since 3/31/2004: CENCOURSE, Inc. CORPORATION DELAWARE 4070 Woodridge Rd Miami FLORIDA 33133



• since 4/3/2004: The Trustees of the Smith Trust Shane Smith and Karen Griffith, both citizens of the United Kingdom TRUST UNITED KINGDOM London 24 Lock Keepters, 117 Brunswick Quay London UNITED KINGDOM SE16 7PW

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Titan moon occupies 'sweet spot'

interesting

GameDAILY: Free video games, cheats, game downloads, video game news and reviews

$2million for playing BeJewelled? damn!

New Scientist SPACE - Technology - Ant logic makes sense in space

this is really kewl... I like the idea... wonder how it could be used terresterally... car skins perhaps... cushions that inflate in specific areas depending on where the weight is.... smart homes?

Adult Swim throws fans b'band lifeline

mmm... more cartoons....

64-Bit Windows' Performance on Dual-Core--ExtremeTech Review

AMD 4800+ with 2GB of memory? They should know that memory is more important than processor speed. We are building a Win64 for the business (as well as a FreeBSD6) and have 4GB with AMD 3200+. Reading the second page, they did mention that:

The key to running 32-bit applications is something Microsoft dubs WOW64; WOW stands for Windows on Windows. Running 32-bit apps in x64 essentially gives each application its own 4GB of virtual memory space, which isolates it from other applications. So if one 32-bit application locks up, it only affects its memory space, not other running 32-bit apps. Windows x64 itself has a full 16TB (that's terabytes) of virtual memory address space. The downside, if you can call it that, is that you'll want to load your system up with as much memory as possible. While we used 2GB in our test systems, 4GB or even 8GB is desirable—assuming your motherboard supports it.

how to install 32-bit apps (as long as they have no 16-bit code):

On the other hand, installing and running 32-bit apps can occasionally be a chore. A 32-bit application that has any remaining 16-bit code won't run, because WOW64 doesn't support any 16-bit code. Also, 32-bit applications and 64-bit applications get their own folders. "Program Files" is reserved for 64-bit apps, while "Program Files (x86)" is for 32-bit software. This will sometimes result in strange installer behavior, as with Steam, Valve Software's game download application. Steam insisted that the parentheses in "Program Files (x86)" were illegal characters, and refused to install. You can either install Steam into a different folder (e.g., \games\valve) or change the folder name in the installer to "Progra~2\valve".

Page3... well, they are using the A8N SLI-Deluxe. We are using the A8N SLI-Premium, so the results should be fairly comparable.
They are running with 6800GT graphics, whereas we are running with dual 6600GT.
They are using a 160GB SATA drive (actually, two but dual booting one os to each disk), we are using 4x250GB SATAII drives.

Pentagon Revises Nuclear Strike Plan

Ok, let me get this straight...

since we can't rely on them actually knowing whether someone else has WMDs or not -- we will let them bomb anyone they think has WMDs, even if they don't?

does this also mean that they can nuke Oregon if they "suspect" that someone planted biological weapons here?

yeah, give guns to the bullies on the playground. great.

Slashdot | Making Ice Without Electricity

hmmm, ice without electricity... that sounds like a really good idea... wonder how well that could work along with a heat pump...

Balanced Ternary

While looking at whether it would be interesting to use Balanced Ternary for solving Primes, I was looking over my tutorial I wrote a few years ago (link above) and then did a search. I found this page that had a very interesting observation...

Date: 04/08/2002 at 11:41:19
From: Thomas
Subject: Weird base three

Hello Dr. Peterson,

First of all thank you for your prompt answer to my math problem. I
followed your advice and made a table using base 3 for the numbers -5
to 35. I noticed a pattern. The column of the 1s follows 1, -1 0. The
column of the 3s: 1,1,1, -1,-1,-1, 0, 0,0. The column of the 9s has
nine 1s, nine -1s, and nine 0s. Consequently the next column, which is
the column of the 27s, will have 27 ones, 27 -1s, and 27 0s.

What they are saying is this...
bit0 follows the pattern 0+-0+-0+-
bit1 follows the pattern 000+++---000+++--- (note that the first + is actually number 2, so leading 0's don't have initial 0)
bit2 follows the pattern 000000000+++++++++--------- etc (first + is actually number 5, so leading 0's don't have initial four 0s)
bit3 follows the same pattern, but 27 of each -- starting with first + at 14

so, to clarify...
bit0: [0][+][-] repeat
bit1: [3*0][3*+][3*-] repeat
bit2: [9*0][9*+][9*-] repeat
bit3: [27*0][27*+][27*-] repeat

how do we clarify where the initial '+' would be?
bit0: skip 0
bit1: skip 1
bit2: skip 4
bit3: skip 13

f(x)? except for bit0, the # we are skipping, times itself, plus 1 = the number of the repeat
more specifically, we are repeating the pattern of: 3^bit, and the number to skip = ((3^bit - 1)/2)
so..
bit0: ((3^0-1)/2)=0/2=0 [if the computer didn't give a crash]
bit1: ((3^1-1)/2)=3/2=1
bit2: ((3^2-1)/2)=9/2=4
bit3: ((3^2-1)/2)=27/2=13
etc

so...
we are skipping the first half of each repeat (round down to nearest whole number), where each repeat is 3^bit...

what does this mean? it means we could generate an entire table without doing any math, any calculations, etc -- OTHER THAN doing 3^bit and /2.

pattern = (3^bit)0s followed by (3^bit)+s followed by (3^bit)-s; skipping the first 1/2

Slashdot | Windows XP In Your Pocket

Funny enough, a coworker had me check this out this last week.... nice :) I'll have to actually read the article, sometime...

Slashdot | Patch & Workaround for Firefox Flaw Available

Personally, what I think sucks about the new version is almost all of my really useful plugins quit working... copy+url, webmail compose, etc.

RSA Security - The RSA Challenge Numbers

While trying to decide what practicum project to have a capstone student do for me, I realized that writing an AI to solve the RSA factoring challenge might be too extensive for a capstone. So, I am debating working on it in my spare time. Here, I am going to put a few notes that I have figured out this morning to make sure I don't forget.

The RSA FAQ says that the best known method for solving the factorization is to use a General Number Sieve and then Matrix all the resulting primes to find the correct one. While the first is an algorithm, the second is obvious brute force. It is because of the length of time these two take that the RSA feels that these algorithms are secure for "decades". I believe that an AI could solve the problem quicker (even if it still took months).

We can speed up the first part (the sieve) by matching patterns. For example, some basic things we know:

• base2
  
  
  • has 2048-bits, based on the specific challenge to solve
  
  
  • has to start with a 1, or it would be a 2047-bit number
  
  
  • actually, it appears all primes start with 1
  
  
  • has to end in 1, or it would be a multiple of 2
  
  
• base6
  
  
  • has to end in 1,5, or 0, or it would be a multiple of 3
  
  
• base10
  
  
  • can not end in 2,4,6,8, or 0, or it would be a multiple of 2
  
  
  • can not end in 5 or 0, or it would be a multiple of 5
  
  
  
  

One AI solution to speed things up would to be locate patterns in different bases (as seen with base2, base10 and base6 above). This would speed the sieve engine. Speeding up the matrix/brute force might best be done with a median-approach, but that is hardly AI-based.

We can assume that teams are currently working to break the RSA-640 algorithm. As such, an alternative to the RSA-2048 algorithm up front would be to run the program against the RSA-704, then move on to the next one once it has been solved. If we wanted to take this approach, then the program should be written so that it makes as much of the reusable data collected/created available for the next run.

Also, 2048-bit keys are going to take a lot of memory to keep track of every single one in memory. This is probably part of the reason it takes so much resources. Perhaps a better approach would be to utilize a random-access memory mapped file, so that we can keep the minimal amount of data in memory at any given point in time.

Google Code: APIs

There looks to be some fun stuff to play with here

More about Google Talk

some interesting info

although, it doesn't agree with Google themselves...
from Google Code:

Google Talk is Developer Friendly - 24/Aug/2005
As you may have heard, we've released our IM/Voip system Google Talk into beta. Talk uses XMPP for its communications protocol, and the team has a document outlining how to use a standard Jabber client to communicate with Google Talk. This makes for a very nice programmatic interface for IM. There are interfaces in multiple languages, including Python, PHP, Java and C#, and the Jabber Software Foundation maintains a healthy list of libraries on their site. We hope you enjoy our developer-friendly Google Talk.

email from a friend - LA Levees

> If the levees there are so flimsy that a single barge (heavy though
> they are) can do this much damage, then the people who approved the
> levee design should be hung.
>
> From rense.com:
>
> Locals - Loose Barge
> Broke The New
> Orleans Levee
> By Wayne Madsen
> 9-7-5
>
>
>
>
>
> Locals from Lakeview subdivision of New Orleans report that after
> Katrina passed a loose barge struck levee causing breach that flooded
> city.
>
> WMR has just been informed by evacuees in Baton Rouge from Lakeview, a
> well-to-do New Orleans neighborhood, that the flooding of the city was
> caused by a loose barge striking the levee on the 17th Street Canal.
> The breach was not caused by rising flood waters as reported by FEMA
> and other agencies. Lakeview is some 1.5 miles down Veterans Boulevard
> from the 17th St. Canal breach.
>
> Distraught evacuees want to know why the Coast Guard or the U.S. Army
> Corps of Engineers did not secure the barge. The evacuees who
> witnessed the barge striking the levee also want to know why the major
> media is not covering this story. It is not known what company owns
> the barge but if it is a major campaign contributor to the GOP, the
> answer is self-evident.
>

Slashdot | ESR Gets Job Offer From Microsoft

too funny

Unpatched Firefox flaw may expose users | CNET News.com

people make fun of me for my java-evangelism, but...

well, you figure it out:
from Section 9.1: Introduction to Correctness and Robustness

For software written completely in Java, buffer overflow errors are impossible. The language simply does not provide any way to store data into memory that has not been properly allocated. To do that, you would need a pointer that points to unallocated memory or you would have to refer to an array location that lies outside the range allocated for the array. As explained above, neither of these is possible in Java. (However, there could conceivably still be errors in Java's standard classes, since some of the methods in these classes are actually written in the C programming language rather than in Java.)

Sure there are Java programs out there that have this problem. But that is USUALLY because they include NON-Java code.

Neowin.net -> Google Talk's very first secrets

Nice ;)

Not sure how useful, but funny anyways

Verbot® 4.0 by Conversive, Inc.

this looks interesting

The Little DG834G Page.

this might help me learn how to start doing some hardware hacking on those little firewalls.... put some custom firmware on them...


here too:
The DG834 Hacking Site

Scratch-built GPS - hack a day - www.hackaday.com _

I've been wanting one of these

Vacuum forming - hack a day - www.hackaday.com _

Kewl... we'll have to use this to start making our own java-based hardware

9/11 Inside Job

this was sent to me today. I have skimmed a little bit of it -- it is a lot of reading

Frequently Answered Answers about the Optimus keyboard

Since I still want one, how about an updated FAQ?

It’s in the initial stage of production.

We hope it will be released in 2006.

It will cost less than a good mobile phone.

It will be real.

It will be OS-independent (at least it’s going to be able to work in some default state with any OS).

It will support any language or layout.

Moscow is the capital of Russia.

Each key could be programmed to produce any sequence.

It will be an open-source keyboard, SDK will be available.

Some day it will be split (and made “ergonomic”).

It will most likely use the OLED technology (e-paper is sooo slow).

Our studio is located two blocks from the Kremlin.

It will feature a key-saver.

Keys could be animated when needed.

It has a numeric keypad because we love it.

There’s no snow in Moscow in summer.

It will be available worldwide (why not?)

OEM is possible (why not?)

Slashdot | Recent Solar Flare Could Disrupt Communications

Watch out Mr. CellPhone... they're coming for you ;)

Das Keyboard - The Blank Keyboard.

nice :)

Slashdot | Researchers Say Human Brain is Still Evolving

interesting...

gene discovered that gives adults the ability to digest milk..? hmmm...

Slashdot | Clever Artificial Hand Developed

nice, maybe I can get one of these once carpal tunnel completely removes my ability to work :)

Comet reveals its secrets (September 2005) - News - PhysicsWeb

They also report that Tempel 1 consists largely of extremely fine particles that seem to be very loosely bound together: in other words, the comet is more like a pile of powder than a solid rock. The outer layer of the comet is composed of particles that are between 1 and 100 microns in size, while the density of the nucleus is about 600 kilograms per cubic metre (Sciencexpress 1118923).

In addition to the material ejected by the impactor, the flyby spacecraft also saw shallow outbursts of material - probably triggered by sunlight - with a mean radius of about 3 kilometres. This ejected material mainly contain water and carbon dioxide. Furthermore, a relatively high concentration of organic material, such as formaldehyde and methanol, was found to be more abundant than water and carbon dioxide during and after the impact.

Next Generation - Plaudits, but no U.S. Deals for Darwinia

I tried it, wasn't too fond of it -- but I *really* liked their Uplink game. In fact, that was the only reason I tried Darwinia.

Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Morphware -- [ INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ] -- Magnetic logic may usher in an era in which computing devi

A coworker mentioned this to me... Unfortunately, since I no longer have a subscription (and google's cache doesn't seem to go to the full story) I can't read it all.

luckily there are other resources...

Morphware Page
http://morphware.net/

Morphware Forum
http://www.morphware.org/

Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD

a coworker told me to check this out

Serial ATA

wierd... I bought 'SATA II' drives... hmmm...

Daily Kos: UPDATE 2: "Go Fuck Yourself, Mr. Cheney!" - CNN Reports it!

that's funny

Software As She’s Developed - The Ajax Desktop

interesting. will have to check this out.

Internet Pioneer Vinton Cerf Joins Google

so Google will own the chairman of ICANN? interesting. and Google CEO has been friends with him since he was 12...?

Developer aims for Dtrace on FreeBSD: ZDNet Australia: News: Software

Kewl. I will make sure to use it on my FreeBSD servers. Although, if Sun had managed to write it in Java this would have been ported in a matter of seconds instead of... how long?

Logitech unveils smart mouse - Computer Business Review

it's too bad they don't add these kind of features to their wireless trackballs...

and WTF is up with having to buy a mouse in order to buy a keyboard? in order to buy a new set of wireless keyboard+trackball from logitech, we had to ALSO buy a mouse? How friggin useless.

Slashdot | FEMA Demands Use of IE To File Online Katrina Claims

When is the government going to learn that we don't like it when they ENFORCE monopolies?

Google Help : Search Features

I stumbled across this today... Gives a nice overview (with links) to the different types of searches you can do with Google... examples:

• Search By Number

Use Google to access package tracking information, US patents, and a variety of online databases.

• Travel Information

Check the status of an airline flight in the U.S. or view airport delays and weather conditions.

• Who Links To You?

Find pages that point to a specific URL.

• etc

Boing Boing: 18-year-old "pirates" a school bus, rescues 100 from NOLA

nice :)

Microsoft sues European Commission | CNET News.com

craigslist > best of craigslist > portland

wierd...

Wired News: The Next Mother Lode: Mars

4Frontiers will also be hiring soon, said Homnick.

'We're not shooting blanks,' said Homnick. 'We need to staff up. Our message to recent college graduates is, 'You can go with a large corporation, give up some of your freedom and most of your dreams. Or, if you have freedom in your heart, courage to face the unknown and discipline to deliver, contact us.''

Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury: "Americans Are Being Brainwashed"

wow

Slashdot | 6.8GHz 1TB RAM and 2TB HDD Laptop?

if the title wasn't enough:

A new "non-volatile Quantum-Optical" type of RAM is used

Mystery Bulge in Oregon Still Growing

Another volcano? Great.

Cypherix Products - Cryptainer LE Free Encryption Software

too bad we are upgrading the windows machine to 64-bit

the electric sheep screen-saver

this is a really interesting idea....

Gilligan died at age 70

Slashdot | First Episode of NerdTV Released

First episode is a 95MB download in mp4 format.
And then neither Quicktime or Real Player included audio when they played it...
The website has separate audio download available, but I would prefer it to be in sync.

Slashdot | SALT Telescope First Light

Guess I will have to check this out later, since...

NOTE!! This site has been slashdotted. All large images have been temporarily removed to save our webserver and bandwidth. We apologise for the inconvenience.

Slashdot | Hydrogen Stored in Safe High Density Pellets

Didn't we cover these pellets recently?

CNN.com - Hitachi unveils terabyte DVD recorder - Aug 24, 2005

Hitachi said it did not have concrete plans for launching the products in overseas markets, explaining that consumers in Europe and the United States were not as keen on high-end recorders.

Oh no, we are interested in the high-end recorders, just not the high-end price tags.

Slashdot | Marvel Gets Cash to do 10 Films

Wow. 10 more Marvel films. Bet Stan Lee is feeling pretty good right about now.

Linspire - The World's Easiest Desktop Linux

wow. they have been slammed all weekend. guess /. posts really do help get people to try your product.

Researchers find clue to start of universe - MIT News Office

ok, maybe I am missing something here...

they are saying that studing deuterium is important because it was created during the big bang and provides measurements of how much dark matter there is.

are they on crack? since when is a hydrogren atom with one extra neutron proof of anything a bazillion years ago? since when are we even unable to create it ourselves? since when do we have proof that it can not exist naturally in some other galaxy? in fact, since it occurs naturally as a gas -- who is to say there isn't stars right now giving it off?

they are on crack, I am sure of it

Slashdot | Parasites That Can Control Insect Minds

oooh.. fun with nature....

Slashdot | Experimental 4G Phone Service Faster Than Cable

I want a 1Gb phone...

in fact.. how about a router like the PX40, but add 4G to it... and then get me unlimited minutes on the cell carrier... yes, then we can set up our own 1Gb mesh network with multiple entrypoints to the internet and say screw fiber.

news @ nature.com - Dark matter highlights extra dimensions - Three new 'directions' could explain astronomical puzzle.

How about instead of me responding to... get this.. 6 dimensions -- what if instead I just point to my response 3 months ago about 11?

Seebach: Shell's ingenious approach to oil shale is pretty slick

I tell you -- they will never bother doing alternative fuels if they are able to find alternative ways of grabbing oil. Damn.

Dinosaurs may have been a fluffy lot - Sunday Times - Times Online

Anyone wonder how many kids RIGHT NOW are being taught incorrectly in school as you read this?

Europe plans laser-fusion facility (September 2005) - News - PhysicsWeb

Is it bad that I like the idea just because they are shooting lasers at things?

Philips Paper-like Display Earlier Than Expected

I want one!

This isn't the same one mentioned on the site, but is a pic from the companies website:

Slashdot | Supernova 1987A Decoded

So, what causes that big of electrical discharge in the first place? Perhaps something coming near (like how an eye-of-the-storm reacts)?

The digital home | Science fiction? | Economist.com

They are out of touch with consumers.. they don't realize I am specifically the consumer they are trying to market -- and yet they don't talk to me directly....

Slashdot | Refilling Ink Cartridges Now a Crime?

When is the law going to understand that when I buy something, it is mine, and I should be able to do whatever the fuck I want with it...?

Slashdot | Blu-Ray To Punish Users for Modifying Hardware

Let's see if we can find the idiocracy....

from the above article:

The new, Internet-connected and secure players will report any "hack" and the device can be disabled remotely.

And from a new er article:

The Inquirer is running an article detailing how Blu-Ray drives for the Playstation 3 will cost Sony a small fortune. It turns out that at the release of the console in the first half of 2006, Sony will have to pay more than $100 per drive which will dramatically increase the unit cost of the PS3

So, what does it come down to? Sony is going to charge us more money for the right to fuck us over if we do things like take out region coding... Fuck them. I don't think I want Blue Ray or PS3.

Argonne researchers create new diamond-nanotube composite material

although I could have sworn I had just blogged this... this is kewl...

Human Search Engines Are More Fun

Two days later, somebody in Seattle hid a container of goodies, and posted satellite coordinates of where it could be found. Another guy found the goodies and up went a Web site about it, later posted to the sci.geo.satellite-nav newsgroup. Today, according to the site, there are 194,813 active caches (or hidden goodies) in 217 countries.

I've heard about this, but didn't realize it was so popular. Nice, sounds like fun.

World's First Built-In Wi-Fi -Enabled Digital Cameras

This is kinda kewl :)

The last refuge of the truly bored: BurgerTime debacle at Fuddruckers

This is really good. Make sure after reading his post to at least read the comment in the form of a physical Letter.

Microsoft CEO: 'I'm going to f---ing kill Google' - Technology - smh.com.au

Google paid Lee a $US2.5 million signing bonus and promised a $US1.5 million bonus after one year, plus a $US250,000 salary and options on 10,000 shares of Google stock, according to court documents.

If he stays for four years, Lee also will receive another 20,000 Google shares, currently worth $US5.8 million.

They are opening a new center in The Dalles, right? hmmmmm....

Slashdot | A Mac Mini-lenium Falcon

I am intrigued to see what this looks like, but it has been /.ed.

Portland, Oregon - Nicknames

I had never heard the term "little beirut" before. Probably because I didn't live here during the Regan/Bush era, and wouldn't have thought anything about it. But I have heard it 3 times in the last week. Makes you really realize how the government sees us.... interesting indeed. Well, here's some more nicknames for you.

Portland has many nicknames. The City of Roses and Rose City originated during the 1905 Lewis and Clark centennial. The climate is ideal for growing roses and the city is home to the annual Rose Festival, the International Rose Test Garden, and the Rose Garden Arena.

One of the oldest nicknames, 'Stumptown', comes from the period of phenomenal growth after 1847. The city was growing so rapidly that the stumps of trees cut down to make way for roads were left until manpower could be spared to remove them. In some areas, the stumps remained for so long that locals painted them white to make them more visible, and used them to cross the street without sinking into the mud. The name has been paid homage, albeit with a stylized local pronunciation, in the name of a popular coffee chain, Stumptown Coffee.

Other nicknames include:
* City of Bridges, or Bridgetown, due to its numerous bridges;
* PDX, from the airport code of its airport;
* Puddletown, because of its weather;
* Rip City, a nickname stemming from a chance remark from Bill Schonely, a long-time announcer for the Portland Trail Blazers;
* River City, because of its proximity to the Willamette River and Columbia River;
* Little Beirut, for the hostile demonstrations in response to the visits of presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and his son George W. Bush;
* Deportland, from the alleged rough treatment of passengers at the Federal Inspection Service facility when Delta Air Lines operated flights to Asia from PDX;
* P-town, presumably from "Portland" + "town";
* Pizzortland, the post-modern ebonic slang approach.

Slashdot | Mom, and Now Judge, Stand Up to RIAA

they are currently /.ed, but might be interesting reading once they are back up

Modern humans, Neanderthals shared earth for 1,000 years. 01/09/2005. ABC News Online

interesting

Jots :: joe :: ajax

Some simple yet kewl ajax examples

Purchase Skycar

oooh...



Moller International


About Us
News
Investment
Skycar Info
Sales
FAQ
Links
Contact
Tests-New!


M400 Skycar Deposit Information

Deposit is refundable until after a successful transitioning flight has occurred. Thereafter deposits are refundable only if Final Delivery Price exceeds List Price (as adjusted for CPI-W) by 5%, OR Standard Equipment List has been shortened OR Guaranteed Performance Specifications are not met, OR FAA Certification Date of the M400 Skycar occurs after December 31, 2008 or a Purchase Agreement is executed prior to FAA certification.

Your required deposit amount is as follows:

Delivery Position Minimum Deposit
Amount List Price
25-100 $100,000 $995,000
101-200 $25,000 $750,000
201-500 $10,000 $500,000

Performance Specifications & Equipment List

Guaranteed Performance
Passengers 4
Maximum speed 350 MPH
Cruise speed (25,000 ft.) 315 MPH
Range 750 Miles
Size Large automobile
Best mileage approx. 20 MPG
Useful payload 750 lbs
Can hover with one engine failed
Can use automotive gasoline

Certification Date
Not later than December 31, 2008


If you are interested in a delivery position please review the Moller M400 Skycar Deposit Agreement or contact Bruce Calkins at the following e-mail address: bruce@moller.com

Mazda Ditches Cylinder Locks in Favor of USB Key

how can I hack this? let me count the ways ;)

Levanta - Get More Out of Linux

Ok, even if you like Linux (which I really don't)....

this device seems kinda kewl. wouldn't mind having a BSD-equivalent on my network (or even a Windows one for those game machines)... but...

Even if you enter OSTG905 as a promo code, this device cost $7k. There is no friggin way it is worth THAT much.

Google to Open Technology Facility in Oregon

Told people I wasn't crazy. They bought 30 acres of industrial land in Feb for just under $2mil. 85-miles east of Portland. Option to buy 3 other area sites. Construction estimated to cost $5-20mil.

They expect the facility to create between 50-100 jobs over time, with estimated average of $60k/yr salary + benefits (kinda low, probably why they chose The Dalles instead of Beaverton).

They have agreed to provide Google with tax incentives and power supply (according to The Dalles Chronicle).

Of course, The Dalles has had fiber since 2003, and Ashland since about 1998-ish... But, Beaverton, we MAY get it next year "IF AT ALL" according to Verizon. The Dalles fiber connects to NoaNet via Bonneville Power. Their fiber network is called "QLife" (quality of life). Senator Ron Wyden raised $700k for it to be put in. They also got grants from the Columbia River Gorge Scenia Area and loans from the Gorge organization.

Google said at the time that they had no specific project completion date, but was planning to start construction soon. Wonder if it has been started.

I looked through the minutes of the The Dalles Port Authority site, but could not find any mention of Google. Their site also has maps of their properties, but I unsure which one Google bought.

Verizon FIOS update

Whelp, doesn't look like we'll be getting it anytime soon. I talk to Pat (Customer Relations Manager) and he talked with a few people. It seems that although the line is currently 1 block away, and we are in unincorporated Washington County, we will be serviced by Beaverton.

Beaverton has not agreed to let Verizon do the rollout yet because they are concerned about disruption and public complaints.

I could understand about public complains due to mass traffic problems during reconstruction. I could understand public complaints about how Verizon will only allow FIOS to be used with their own ISP (who's terms of service may be less than desirable). I could understand people complaining because the lines aren't community owned.

But no one has actually asked us our opinion. Don't you think that should be the first step?

NEUROTICALLY YOURS CARTOON: HURRICANE REPORT

Important hurricane update!

infared solar cells?

the Smart Home show also talked about Infared Solar Cells, but I don't have time to track those down. should do that later.

Geothermal Heat Pumps : ENERGY STAR

more from the Smart Home show

4' below the surface, earth maintains constant temperature between 50-60 degrees (depending on location)
geothermal heat pump for heating and cooling
uses liquid-filled tubes buried in earth
works a lot like a refrigerator
much more efficient than air-based heat pumps
70% of the energy used is renewable

Boston.com / News / Nation / Washington / Bush team scolded for disguised TV report

What a surprise

How to Identify Misinformation - US Department of State

Brenden sent me this really funny page

Stardust | JPL | NASA

Smart Home show talking about the aerogel... although I have heard about it since I was in high school, they showed some kewl demos...

1/4" window has same insulation as 7 panes of glass

Nanogel is used as filler in opaque skylights

They showed a 1/4" aerogel insulation and was unable to burn it with a stove... in fact... he kept his hand on it IN the burner without getting burnt...

New Scientist Breaking News - Robot builder could 'print' houses

Smart Home show was talking about how NASA is making a version of the contour-crafting robot that will develop structures on the moon...

and that they can incorporate various wiring/sensors while they build...

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete

saw this stuff mentioned on a Smart Home show...

wierd... concrete that is made like cooking bread.... and 1/5th the weight, even floats... great thermal/fire insulation... 8" thick has R-value of 20. can use saws,drills and routers on it. with rebar inbedded can be used for floors and roofs... quakeproof... can be finished with just about any standard building materials...

Internet 0

Saw mention of this on the Science Channel (some show about Smart Homes). Will have to check it out.

Jalenack's AJAX Periodic Table of the Elements

this would be great for any chemistry student

MAKE: Blog: Build your own LEGO kit...

this could be fun... hmm...

MakeZine.com:

hmm. maybe I should subscribe to this...

Java User Groups: Java Technology Pointers

lots of java links... most aren't that interesting... some good ones near the bottom...

specifically,

The hacker's worksheet looks interesting... it is like Excel, but where the cells themselves are Java expressions, so you can do things like col(0,row-1)

The Autonomous Embedded Java Robots link didn't really provide anything useful. Just a PDF slideshow talking about how well their LEGO-oriented project worked.

I thought the GPL Course Management software had promise -- but I couldn't access the demos to figure out whether it would be worth ripping out the MySql bit.

The eConf thing is interesting, I think. hard to tell. I think it is basically so that an instructor can record his presentation so that students can later view it.

Getting Started With the Java Rule Engine API (JSR 94)

I like the concept, but their approach sucks.

What I need to do is make my JAXB DB open source... Then, not only are the rules easy to define, access and utilize -- but it would open up the opportunity for multiple rules to end with the same endpoint -- ie: true workflow style.


I'll have to open source the DB, then a Rules/Workflow Engine based on it.

E-commerce Made Easy: eBay and the NetBeans IDE

hate Paypal, love Java -- do I give ebay another chance?

Become: Be smart, Be Thrifty, Just Be

I just did a lot of research to replace the DLink DGL-4300 Gaming Router I bought (which isn't actually a router). Had I known about this place, I wonder if it would have been faster.

I really like the auto-suggestions being in a separate section. Makes it easier to see than the auto-pulldown...

And it's all written in Java. Nice :) Not only that, but they chose Java so that it would be faster than the C++ one they already had :) haha...

a couple comments from the 'its all in Java' link...

No one believed it was possible, but we were able to build the prototype crawler in three months using two developers, which was a major achievement.

hmm, but then they go on to say that they then wrote it so that it is in Java, but the data structures are in C++, but there is no JNI... hmmm....

they moved away from SQL cuz it wasn't good enough -- that's good. they went to a proprietary format -- that's bad...

they used JDK 5 -- that's good.
they're using RMI -- not so hot....

they are running Intel on Linux -- and said the hardware AND operating system failed more often than the JVM... very interesting indeed... perhaps that's why I don't use either?

NIO and JAXB -- very good. I always do both as well....

Eclipse was too slow ;) yep

Slashdot | Australian Science Makes the Regenerating Mouse

wow... science sure seems to be progressing fast.

Slashdot | New Algorithm for Learning Languages

This is really kewl

Slashdot | The Massachusetts Office Party

I like the analogy to the Boston Tea Party