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That's a pretty liberal school, I'd have to say....
12 years ago
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Linux: Where everyone should be!
Microsoft pretty much sucks. Everyone knows it, but we're stuck with it. And before you get started, Mac is no better. In fact Mac is worse in many ways, but I won't elaborate since it'll just take too much time.
The world is locked into Windows and there's no going back. Or is there?
Months ago I was using my laptop to grab videos off my camcorder. One day it worked, the very next day Vista couldn't find my camcorder any more. I also found that my built-in media reader couldn't see some of my Sony memory sticks anymore either. How can a XP Pro SP3 work so perfectly and then MS sticks us with crap like Vista and expects everyone to just gush about it? Worse than that, they're trying for force the obsolescence of XP and force everyone who wants a new PC into using Vista.
After spending three months going back and forth with MS Tech Support, and not getting a fix, they suddenly decided that since my OS came with my computer and I didn't buy a full retail version directly from them that I no longer deserved the pleasure (or misfortune and frustration) of their support. Eventually Vista just quit altogether and MS Tech Support wasn't answering my emails any more.
Long story short - I had to do a clean install of Vista. Everything I had done to make it like I like it was gone and I had to start over. Thank goodness my important data was all backed up to my network drive.
Well, I had work to do. I had been toying with the open-source Operating System Ubuntu Linux for a little while and decided now was a good time to really put it to the test. I set it up to dual boot on my laptop (share with the Windows Vista installation) and got busy. Amazingly everything felt very comfortable and the GUI front-end is Windows-Like and pretty intuitive. Everything on my laptop worked perfectly, but I had to monkey with the touchpad settings a bit.
I was able to complete my video editing project for the church with ease and have been pretty satisfied with the small footprint and high performance I'm getting with Linux. It's more secure and stable that Windows. And the best part is...it's FREE. The OS is completely free and so are tens of thousands of programs that run under it. Open source has a few hitches, but what do you expect for free? Certainly Ubuntu delivers infinitely more than I paid for! (Which totals $0.00)
So far I have used it to do some pretty serious video editing and am now using a free CAD program that's similar in capablity to AutoCAD, which costs $1500.00 or more! Below is a schematic I'm working on for a mod at work right now.
Click for a closer look...
Linux does take a little more computer saavy, but not much if you use a release like Ubuntu that feels a lot like the Windows interface you're used to. There's a good Knowledge database to go to for help and there seems to be an endless number of forums offering advice and assistance. Here's a cap of my Ubuntu Desktop;
BTW - I made this post from my laptop booted in Ubuntu Linux, using the Linux version of Mozilla Firefox Browser.
The world is locked into Windows and there's no going back. Or is there?
Months ago I was using my laptop to grab videos off my camcorder. One day it worked, the very next day Vista couldn't find my camcorder any more. I also found that my built-in media reader couldn't see some of my Sony memory sticks anymore either. How can a XP Pro SP3 work so perfectly and then MS sticks us with crap like Vista and expects everyone to just gush about it? Worse than that, they're trying for force the obsolescence of XP and force everyone who wants a new PC into using Vista.
After spending three months going back and forth with MS Tech Support, and not getting a fix, they suddenly decided that since my OS came with my computer and I didn't buy a full retail version directly from them that I no longer deserved the pleasure (or misfortune and frustration) of their support. Eventually Vista just quit altogether and MS Tech Support wasn't answering my emails any more.
Long story short - I had to do a clean install of Vista. Everything I had done to make it like I like it was gone and I had to start over. Thank goodness my important data was all backed up to my network drive.
Well, I had work to do. I had been toying with the open-source Operating System Ubuntu Linux for a little while and decided now was a good time to really put it to the test. I set it up to dual boot on my laptop (share with the Windows Vista installation) and got busy. Amazingly everything felt very comfortable and the GUI front-end is Windows-Like and pretty intuitive. Everything on my laptop worked perfectly, but I had to monkey with the touchpad settings a bit.
I was able to complete my video editing project for the church with ease and have been pretty satisfied with the small footprint and high performance I'm getting with Linux. It's more secure and stable that Windows. And the best part is...it's FREE. The OS is completely free and so are tens of thousands of programs that run under it. Open source has a few hitches, but what do you expect for free? Certainly Ubuntu delivers infinitely more than I paid for! (Which totals $0.00)
So far I have used it to do some pretty serious video editing and am now using a free CAD program that's similar in capablity to AutoCAD, which costs $1500.00 or more! Below is a schematic I'm working on for a mod at work right now.
Click for a closer look...OpenOffice 3 is now available and does everything MS Office does, but for free. Documents are even exchangeable between to two! One small drawback that forces me to keep Windows around is DirectX. PC games just aren't any good without it and it's a product of Microsoft. If you're not a gamer, there shouldn't be anything holding you back.
Linux does take a little more computer saavy, but not much if you use a release like Ubuntu that feels a lot like the Windows interface you're used to. There's a good Knowledge database to go to for help and there seems to be an endless number of forums offering advice and assistance. Here's a cap of my Ubuntu Desktop;
BTW - I made this post from my laptop booted in Ubuntu Linux, using the Linux version of Mozilla Firefox Browser.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Steampunk
A few months ago I stumbled on some music that I just LOVE. It was Abney Park. After listening for a while I started trying to figure out what it was and eventually learned the genre is Steampunk. A little more research revealed that Steampunk isn't just a music genre, but an entire sub-culture. I don't really know how to explain it other than it being anachronistic of the industrial age with a great fondness for restoring the beauty of machines and the repurposing of anything.
I that vein, I have found a nice rusty diamond-plate background to put under the parchment of this blog. I like it better than what was there before. I guess I need to start looking for some shiny brass accents to put here and there.
There's a lot of cool stuff going on in Steampunk, I wish I had the time and intestinal fortitude to join in! Here's a couple of cool examples, but you'll have to do more research on your own.
I that vein, I have found a nice rusty diamond-plate background to put under the parchment of this blog. I like it better than what was there before. I guess I need to start looking for some shiny brass accents to put here and there.
There's a lot of cool stuff going on in Steampunk, I wish I had the time and intestinal fortitude to join in! Here's a couple of cool examples, but you'll have to do more research on your own.
Steampunk R2D2
Steampunk Laptop (totally functional!)Our Christmas Morning
We had our family Christmas about 10:00am after everyone had breakfast and was fully awake. Peggy's sister Janet and her husband Tom had been vising from Chicago since the beginning of the week and shared our Christmas. Much fun was had by all.
Peggy's new pajamas (with feet!)
Klara gets her own perfume
Charlotte enjoys her new MP3 player
Tom and Janet Join in the fun
Mayhem opens her stocking
Reilly doesn't waste any time
Twister's first ChristmasChristmas Eve at Mom & Dads
We did the usual . . . spending Christmas Eve at Mom & Dads house. All the cousins played the parts of the nativity and Mom showed a nice video of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and a singer that sang about the animals around the manger and their gifts to the Savior. It was very nice.
We also scored some awesome prime rib and fresh home-made zupfa bread. YUMMY! Thanks Mom! I was still a little sick, but ate anyway. I'm glad I did.
We also scored some awesome prime rib and fresh home-made zupfa bread. YUMMY! Thanks Mom! I was still a little sick, but ate anyway. I'm glad I did.
Panoramic shot of Mom's Living room
Getting Ready for the nativity playFriday, December 19, 2008
One more tweak!
I got to work this morning where I'm stuck with a crusty little 17" monitor and had a look at the blog. Even though the screen resolution was set to 1024 pixels wide, I still had to scroll left and right. It seems the automatic margins are being forced in at a minimum width. One more little adjustment and it fit nicely.
Super-shiny!
Super-shiny!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Blog Experience
Whew! I just spent way too much time monkeying with this blog tonight. For starters. I was sick of the dang thing being default formatted for 15" screens. Blah! Who uses those tiny things anymore anyways? Sorry if that's you, but you need an upgrade. Seriously, big LCD monitors are cheap and they'll make your life so much better, and all your dreams will come true.... (Okay, so if you're on a laptop then you've got an excuse.) I went from a 19" LCD to a 22" high-gloss widescreen LCD on my desktop and HOLY COW! It's friggin' AWESOME. Only about $170 at tigerdirect.com - watch for deals!
(Steps off soap box.) So, as I was saying...I got into the blog template HTML and went for broke. I had to stretch the background to 1024 pixels wide, then tune the side bar and the posts to fit a little better. That's right, that skinny-ass sidebar was just stupid-useless. It was soooooo cool the way it just used to cut off all the gadgets. I know there's gotta be smarter coders out there.
After those tweaks I noticed the parchment texture didn't fit anymore. Okay, lets see if Blogger.com has the correct size....of course not. I made my own, then had to open an account at Photobucket so I'd have a reliable place to load them from. Got that working then the world was all shiny again.
Oooh! Another dull spot - no tunes! I went to playlist.com and banged together a quick playlist so folks could enjoy listenting to the junk I like listening to. (Admit it, you like it and you know it!) Well, do ya suppose maybe the stinking flashplayer could be easily sized to fit the blog sidebar...uh....NO! CRIMINY! I cracked open the embedded HTML for that and fixed 'er up real good. Now it fits without scrollers, plays the songs all the way through and shows 14 songs at a time instead of just 3 or 4.
Hmmm...missed it by that much: Those greedy "buy this cell phone" and "go to this trendy website where we'll try to get your money" ads just had to go. I got back in there and hacked those off too.
Yup. Shiny once again!
(Steps off soap box.) So, as I was saying...I got into the blog template HTML and went for broke. I had to stretch the background to 1024 pixels wide, then tune the side bar and the posts to fit a little better. That's right, that skinny-ass sidebar was just stupid-useless. It was soooooo cool the way it just used to cut off all the gadgets. I know there's gotta be smarter coders out there.
After those tweaks I noticed the parchment texture didn't fit anymore. Okay, lets see if Blogger.com has the correct size....of course not. I made my own, then had to open an account at Photobucket so I'd have a reliable place to load them from. Got that working then the world was all shiny again.
Oooh! Another dull spot - no tunes! I went to playlist.com and banged together a quick playlist so folks could enjoy listenting to the junk I like listening to. (Admit it, you like it and you know it!) Well, do ya suppose maybe the stinking flashplayer could be easily sized to fit the blog sidebar...uh....NO! CRIMINY! I cracked open the embedded HTML for that and fixed 'er up real good. Now it fits without scrollers, plays the songs all the way through and shows 14 songs at a time instead of just 3 or 4.
Hmmm...missed it by that much: Those greedy "buy this cell phone" and "go to this trendy website where we'll try to get your money" ads just had to go. I got back in there and hacked those off too.
Yup. Shiny once again!
Charlotte "The Littlest Goalie"
Charlotte played soccer again this season ( I think this is about her 4th or 5th season). She has a blast playing and is still learning the basics. At her level the city league coaches are usually parents that haven't coached much before, so there's not much strategy involved. Just a crowd of kids trying to kick the ball as hard as they can, hopefully in the right direction. Charlotte has a grip on one thing though, goalkeeping. She's absolutely fearless and has taken some pretty good abuse proving it. She'd like to spend more time in the goal, but "everyone gets a chance." Oh, I feel so warm and fuzzy now. LOL!
These boots are made for goaltendingKlara's Volleyball Thing
Klara's only been playing volleyball for a couple of seasons now and is doing very well. Her coach says she has a lot of talent and recommended that we sign her up with a club team so she can make the most of her skillz. It's a little too expensive for us to get into right away, but hopefully things will loosen up a bit soon and we can go for it. In the mean time Klara will stay with her current coach and UNDEFEATED team!
Don't be fooled. She's serious.
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