Monthly Archives: March 2004

Current Events

Not Enough Sleep?

You not alone, at least, not according to this article (CNN.com)

All I really have to say about it is… DUH!!!!

Apparently, the people conducting the survey/study don’t have or never have had kids… I know I haven’t gotten anywhere near the ‘recommended’ 8 or 9 hours a night for the last 8 months or so… at this point, I’d have to say Janice and I are lucky to get a full 7 hours a night… and we’ve had quite a few 5 hour nights….so I can’t say that I’m surprised by the results of the survey… if the big K ever gets back to sleeping through the night… I think we’ll throw a party…

Just Stuff

Animal Face-Off

So… Kael and I were flipping channels this evening and found this show on the Discovery Channel

Its actually pretty cool. They pick two animals (the one we saw was Elephant and Rhino). And then they figure out which would win in a one-on-one fight. They do it all via computer simulation. But, to get their data, they ‘build’ the animal and then test it to get real numbers for its strength. For example, they crafted an Elephant skull and tusks out of Aluminum and then attached it to a small crane to use as the body. They then were able to see how much force the Elephant could apply to pierce something with its tusks, how much force it could apply to lift something with its tusks, and how much force it could apply by ramming something with its head. They then did similar tests with the Rhino, plugged all the numbers into a computer, had some animators render up the animals, and let the simulation run….

In case you’re wondering… the Elephant kicked the Rhino’s ass… Brains and Brawn over Rage and Brawn… the Elephant was smarter and stronger… If you get the Discovery channel, try and catch an episode of this… it looks like it normally airs on Sundays..

Tech

Comcast’s DVR

So…. I sent Comcast an email trying to find out more about their DVR

Just little things, like the size of the HD, when it will be available.. .that kind of stuff. Here’s the response I got:

The DVR has an 80-gigabyte hard drive, offering at least 30 hours of

recording time. The variance is based on whether the recorded programs

are transmitted in analog or digital format; digital programs use less

space on the hard drive. Recording programs in HD format requires more

memory, reducing the number of hours of programming that can be stored

to approximately 7 hours.

DVR is currently available in limited service areas but will soon be

available to many Comcast customers. I am sorry but DVR has not yet

been launched in your area. At this time we have no time frame as to

when this will be rolled out in your area.

So…its not available in my area (which I knew)…and from what they’ve told me about the unit, combined with what I’ve read online in reviews of the unit… I don’t think I’ll be getting Comcast’s DVR when it is available… since, it apparently has a shitty UI, bad featureset… and from Comcast’s email… a very short recording time…looks like its a TiVo for me.. that is, as soon as they get around to releasing a stand alone HDTV compatible unit…

Current Events

Music Sharing…good?

So..to repeat what everyone already knew… RIAA’s lawsuits are bullshit..

its not that the illegal downloading/”sharing” of music is what’s causing CD sales to plummet… its the fact that the music on the CD sucks, the CD prices are the same now that they were 5 years ago even though production costs for the cds have never been lower (IIRC, its something like 4-5 pennies in actual manufacturing costs for each CD)…. so while RIAA keeps preaching that the downloads are bad for the industry… according to this CNET article the song swapping may actually encourage people to go out and buy the whole CD, since they have the chance to listen to the whole thing, and know that there is more then one good song on it. The study referenced in this article found that it takes about 5000 downloads to prevent the sale of ONE CD…. I’m not condoning the actual stealing of music… but I do think that ‘try it before you buy it’ is a good business model for the music industry.. .after all.. you test drive your cars before you buy them don’t you?

Tech

Bye-Bye Buymusic.com

So.. the first of the iTunes Music Store competitors begins to close up and go crying to its mommy!

The guys over at AsTheAppleTurns are reporting that someone over at SpyMac has said that BuyMusic.com (No..I’m not going to link it.. I can’t look at it since I use a Mac, so I’m not going to bother linking it) has sent their customers an email stating that they will be absorbed into buy.com over the next couple of days. My guess, is that this is the first step towards closing them down. I’d imagine they have to keep the service running for x amount of time since I think some of what the do is subscription based…but I could be wrong since I can’t even view their website to see what they offer….

Current Events

Music Sharing…good?

So..to repeat what everyone already knew… RIAA’s lawsuits are bullshit..

its not that the illegal downloading/”sharing” of music is what’s causing CD sales to plummet… its the fact that the music on the CD sucks, the CD prices are the same now that they were 5 years ago even though production costs for the cds have never been lower (IIRC, its something like 4-5 pennies in actual manufacturing costs for each CD)…. so while RIAA keeps preaching that the downloads are bad for the industry… according to this CNET article the song swapping may actually encourage people to go out and buy the whole CD, since they have the chance to listen to the whole thing, and know that there is more then one good song on it. The study referenced in this article found that it takes about 5000 downloads to prevent the sale of ONE CD…. I’m not condoning the actual stealing of music… but I do think that ‘try it before you buy it’ is a good business model for the music industry.. .after all.. you test drive your cars before you buy them don’t you?

Just Stuff

Star Wars: Clone Wars: Animated Series: Season 2

Damn… long enough title? Anyway… tonight was the premier of season 2 of the the Star Wars animated series, Clone Wars.

The animated shows, each only like 5 minutes or so long, are telling some of the story of the events that occurred during the Clone Wars, which started at the end of Attack of the Clones, and ends before/during Episode III (which, by the way, is rumored to be titled Rise of the Empire). Tonight’s episode picked up right where episode 10 left off. If you missed it it will be available for viewing tomorrow on cartoonnetwork.com And i’m sure that CN will repeat them all at the end of the season, just as they did season 1.

My only complaint about the series… is that they are to short! I want a full half hour show dammit!

Current Events

That’s some interview

Definitely not something that would happen at most interviews..

So.. here’s the deal, apparently when you go to interview at Hooters you are required to change into your ‘uniform’ so that they can see how you represent the company (I guess..it could just be this one guy that made them do it). Turns out, a bunch of girls interviewing for a Hooters restaurant that is supposed to open in April were told to go into a trailer, and change into a Hooters’ uniform (For those of you who don’t know what the Hooter’s uniform is click here – The bottom half of the uniform is a pair of small gold shorts). Apparently there was a webcam, or video camera also up and running in the changing trailer, because police found 180 digital videos when they raided the trailer last month…. for the full story click here …… And of course… this being the internet age… I wonder how long it will be before the videos are available online….

Tech

Everybody’s got a blog

It’s true… if you don’t believe me.. keep reading

Here’s proof that blogging has gone a bit… mainstream… click here

Yep… you read that right… the Mars Rover Opportunity has a blog all of its own… And so does the rover Spirit .. you know things are getting common when blogs are being posted from another planet =)

Tech

U.S Dept. Of Justice = M$ PR?

If there was ever any doubt that Microsoft had purchased the DoJ to get its federally approved illegal monopoly… that doubt should be gone now

And all the proof any one would need is the sound bites coming out of DoJ offices… instead of being happy that M$ is finally being threatened with a real punishment… all the sound bites mention how horrible it is that the EU has reached such a decision, and that M$ has already been punished, and the fine is too big (I think the guys over at AtAt had the right idea, when they said the DoJ is afraid that this amounts to a $600 million paycut for them)