3.30.2008
3:14pm
MAD magazine fold-ins.
12:05am
This past Friday at work we received a couple of ReadyNAS 1100 units from Netgear to use in the Integration lab for system backups. The current system of DAT72 autochangers was not able to keep up with the amount of data needed to archive for full level 0 sets. That inspired me to think about my own backup solution at home, which consists of trying to keep data duplicated as well as I can between my laptop and desktop. Unfortunately my desktop has a lot more storage space than the laptop which means certain things can't be duplicated. I decided to solve that problem with a high-capacity external drive, a Seagate Freeagent 750GB drive I found at Best Buy for $135. Seems really cheap to me for so much space, and it will be able to handle everything on the desktop, laptop, and then some more. The black aluminum enclosure is classy, and the power adapter is really compact too in case I want to take it somewhere. If I had an eSATA port on my desktop that would be the ultimate way to connect, but for now it's using USB2.
Google was sporting a black theme today to recognize Earth Hour. Unfortunately they forgot to fix the background color of the auto-complete search box, so the options were pretty much unreadable. Of interesting note, there's another search engine portal out there called Blackle that is a permanently-black background Google. They claim the black saves electricity with CRT displays, which are still used in many homes. Google's own Earth Hour page mentions that the black theme won't save any power with modern LCDs though. At one point when I had borrowed Ryan's Kill-A-Watt device I did test a Sun CRT with full-white and full-black and it did use more power with white.
3.29.2008
10:55am
Haha, this fake commercial had me laughing pretty well. The original, in case you haven't seen it. Someone else figured out that the regular MacBook fits in a manila envelope as well.
3.28.2008
9:34pm
Well, we all knew this was coming. The zoo victims filed a lawsuit for the tiger attack on Christmas day. One of the brothers was arrested for shoplifting yesterday. I guess they are really hoping for some settlement cash so they can afford to buy some Wii accessories instead of stealing them.
The cats' flea medication arrived today and they've been treated. I've cleaned most of the apartment now of the messy powder, just have some remaining electronic items to dust off. My vacuum has gotten more use in the last two days then it has in the whole time since I bought it last year. Come to think of it maybe that's why I had a flea problem in the first place.
3.25.2008
11:49pm
I found some fleas in the apartment the other day, checked the two cats with the flea comb and sure enough they had fleas on them. I'm not sure how that happened, because neither of them go outside. I suppose a few fleas must have jumped in through an open doorway or clung to my clothing or something.
I was looking online for flea-elimination options, and decided to treat the apartment with diatomaceous earth which is an organic non-chemical option. Plus I ordered Advantage so within a week or so the cats will be treated with that too. The DE though, I wasn't quite prepared for. It's really dusty powder that you are supposed to put on the carpets and work it in with a broom. Then vacuum a few days later. Well, beating it in with a broom kicked up all kinds of crazy dust and now my apartment looks like a flour processing plant exploded. I've got quite the cleaning task ahead of me. The cats also got some DE rubbed into their coats which is supposed to kill the fleas that are living on them until the other stuff arrives.
3.23.2008
12:05pm
Happy Easter!
Things to do with old tennis balls. Cool list, video at the end that shows how they are manufactured.
Was reading an article online yesterday and got referred to an interesting short video on google called Money As Debt. Paints a rather scary picture of how the economy in our country works, very easy to understand though.
3.22.2008
5:42pm
I never thought I would see the return of the classic id software games. Browsing on Steam today, I saw they have a Super Pack of the id games. The entire Doom, Wolfenstein, Quake, HeXen series and Heretic, even Commander Keen. I wonder if the old Wolfenstein cheat code still works that cousin CJ showed me like 12 years ago. Frankly I'm surprised that some of these games have been ported to work under Windows.
2:22pm
30 error messages you never want to see. Some funny ones, some not-funny.
3.21.2008
9:40am
The 2009 Honda Fit is go. It now has a dead pedal, an armrest, improved folding seats, iPod connectivity.
Honda has an official teaser site up now too.
1:13am
If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is a movie scene worth?
The Axiom EP400 sub that Dad's using malfunctioned this week, so Axiom is sending a new amp to replace the bad one.
3.16.2008
2:41am
I'm up late tonight because I was feeling bad earlier with a headache so I slept through most of the afternoon.
I decided to re-watch The Machinist, a haunting movie about a man who has insomnia. The trivia section on IMDb is great to read after you have seen the movie, it highlights some additional 1:30 connections.
3.15.2008
3:14pm
I should have posted at 3:14pm yesterday to coincide with Pi Day (3/14). Kinda weird with the coincidence today.
3.13.2008
9:50pm
Engadget reports that HD DVD lost Toshiba about $1 billion.
3.12.2008
6:13pm
Why gas is getting so expensive. A barrel reached $110 today. No road trips for me lately.
3.08.2008
9:01pm
South Park was right, you gotta watch out for those senior citizens.
3.06.2008
7:20pm
Big news in astromony today. WMAP result number 1 is particularly good :)
Best Buy must have known it was my birthday because they put a few HD DVDs on sale that I wanted. $10.49 each can't beat that.
1:09pm
It's my birthday. No cake yet but there were tasty cookies from Mom.
The "Lord of War" was arrested today. Good movie by the way, too bad it's on Blu-ray.
3.03.2008
11:45pm
So far I haven't gotten sick. Most everybody I know has though. Nate and Felipe were both back at work today although they still weren't feeling 100% well. Adam was out sick with a fever.
Nate picked up some boxes at my apartment today, he is going to store them for me in his attic since I was trying to clear out some of the junk in my apartment. I've been able to turn my 2nd bedroom into something more useful than "junnk storage." In exchange for that favor he is going to "store" my HD-A2 player in their theater room.
No class this week since it is Spring Break. It certainly does feel like spring outside.
3.01.2008
1:56am
HDR photography is awesome. Examples. I haven't tried doing one myself (yet). Many of them are more like paintings than photographs.
Bad news for Boeing.