Random Junk

We've Moved!

2006-12-16T17:24:00.000-08:00

I've decided to move on. Blogger helped get me into the blogging scene and I'm thankful for that, but my needs have changed. You can now find me at the following places:My Main Website: http://www.dragonmantank.comMy Vox Blog: http://dragonmantank.vox.comMy Web Development Blog: http://blog.dragonmantank.com

Is YouTube Starting To Die?

2006-10-29T19:34:00.000-08:00

YouTube has become the de-facto video sharing service on the internet. Recently though, they received a letter from Comedy Central and were forced to remove clips from their service due to DMCA violations. I've already found some of my videos that are now dead links, and will start removing them.My question to Comedy Central: Why? There were a ton of The Daily Show and Colbert Report clips there,

Browsing Safely On The Road

2006-10-28T09:59:00.000-07:00

I recently went on two trips, a wedding and then a business trip, and both involved getting internet access at the hotel. The hotel we stayed at at the wedding had free wireless internet, which was completely unencrypted and definately visable from the other hotels grouped around it. The second hotel had strictly wired internet which required me to sign up. Neither of them really gave me a huge

Why Maintaining Code Sucks

2006-10-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

At my job, one of the things that I have to do is some RPG (some 3, some ILE, some a mixture of both) since I actually know some RPG. The program that I'm working on right now was created back in 2002. Yes, they still coded in RPG in 2002. And in 2006. *sigh*.Anyway, looking over this code reminds me why I hated RPG in school. RPG is already confusing in the first place with it's many

Vox

2006-10-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

I just signed up for Vox. You can find me at http://dragonmantank.vox.com. I'm testing it out to see if I want to move the blog there instead of keep it at Blogger here, or I might just keep both open. We'll see. Let me know which you people like better.

Blog Updates

2006-10-26T16:09:00.000-07:00

I've learned to stop playing with the template and am just using the newer version that I had. While I hate to give up the control that I had with the older one, I get some new features with the new template enginge that Blogger uses.So. Sorry. And stuff.Anyway, on to the blog updates:LinksI've added a few more links over on the right-hand side. Yay.CategoriesI can now label posts and sort them

Bash.org - The Ultimate Truth

2006-10-19T21:57:00.000-07:00

#699308 I've discovered that people on IRC don't get offended or riled up by racism nor politically incorrect jokes nor feminism, nazism, nor goatse, or even tubgirl not even jokes about 9/11 get a rise out of anybody but as soon as I tell somebody that macs are better than PC's, things get uglySuch is the way of the internet...

Bookmark Roundup 2

2006-10-13T19:33:00.000-07:00

Time for more wasted time on the internet. Not much, but there you go.LinksSomethingAwful.com's Photoshop Friday: Johnson's Manual Accounting SystemWhat Happens When Humanity Disappears25 Signs That, Sadly, You've Grown UpVideosChad Vader Episode 4Charlie The UnicornRoxbury SNL skit with Jim Carey

Embarq +1, Time Warner -1

2006-10-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

We're moving soon, so I figured I'd call and get some prices on what I'm going to be charged for TV and internet. Right now I'm paying $100 for phone + DSL through Embarq and cable was part of our rent, but I'm going off of a baseline price of $37 dollars that I paid Adelphia before we moved and before Time Warner purchased them (which steadily rose from $30 when I moved out when getting married)

5th Generation iPods Kick Ass

2006-10-06T20:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I thought it was time to put my old 4th generation 20gig iPod to rest, or more likely it thought it was time since it wouldn't turn on. I couldn't get my computer to recognize it even plugged in, so I considered it dead to me. It had some good times, but lately had started having problems syncing with iTunes and had developed an odd little clicking sound.Thanks to the overtime from

SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop vs Ubuntu

2006-10-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I picked up over the weekend at Linuxfest was a DVD version of SLED/SLES (the server version) 10. When I got home I threw it in under VMPlayer and installed it. It ran pretty well and I loved how clean and integrated everything looked, so I figured I would install it at work since it's a business, and SLED is geared toward businesses.I downloaded all 5 CDs from Novell since

Ohio Linuxfest was great!

2006-10-01T16:44:00.000-07:00

I spent the weekend in Columbus at the Ohio Linuxfest, and had a great time. The keynote ended up being by Chris DiBona since Jeff Waugh missed his connecting flight and did not make his presentation until after lunch. My schedule was as follows:Google and Open Source (Chris DiBona)The Integration Holy Grail (Jorge Castro)20 things you didn t know you could do with your Apache Web Server (Richard

FSM Be Praised - Talk Like A Pirate Day

2006-09-19T07:46:00.000-07:00

Today is 'Talk Like A Pirate Day,' one of the more holy days in the Pastafarian religion. So everyone who has been touched by the Flying Spagetthi Monster's noodly appendage, let's show these landlubbers what it means to be true pirates!And for those of you who are new, some pointers.

Greatest 'Kids In The Hall' sketches

2006-09-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

Office TrappersKiller MonkeysSausages

Wii Set For Launch Nov. 19

2006-09-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

November 19 is the date that the Wii is going to be launched for $250 with 'Wii Sports', and up to 25 games by the end of the year.I think this calls for a sexy party!Linkage

Video Roundup 2

2006-09-14T19:48:00.000-07:00

YAY!Chappelle's Show: If The Internet Was RealSkit from the Dave Chappelle Show where he shows what it would be like if we were able to go into the internet. Almost as accurate as when Futurama did the same thing.RC Car Jumps House...and Lives!This is just cool. Car jumps over a house, and still runs after it lands.El NinoOld SNL skit where Chris Farley plays 'El Nino' on The Weather Channel.Guy

Playing World of Warcraft (or, How I Learned To Play A Bull)

2006-09-13T18:59:00.000-07:00

So I picked up PCGamer, and inside the DVD this month was a 14 day trial for World of Warcraft. I hate paying for monthly games and didn't want to shell out $40 for WoW and turn around and not like it, so I gave it a shot.6gigs of used space and the next morning, I was able to play! This was due to a 500meg update that took over 6 hours to download, and it was already 11pm when the base install

'White and Nerdy' - New Weird Al Song

2006-09-12T21:54:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a great CD.Linkage

Chuck Norris vs Mr. T

2006-09-12T21:50:00.000-07:00

Here is the second match where Chuck Norris is pitted against Mr. T!Linkage

Concerned: The Half-Life and Death of Gordon Frohman

2006-09-12T14:43:00.000-07:00

I ran across this gem of a web-comic on digg.com a few days ago, and have finished reading it up to the newest installment. For lovers of HL or other FPS games, this is a good read. It has thusly been added to the side panel along side my other recommended comics.http://www.hlcomic.com/

The Awful Truth About Guacamolẽ

2006-09-11T21:10:00.000-07:00

It is my sad news to bring this to everyone, but I have learned how real guacamolẽ is made, and it is very, very tragic. This secret has been kept for many years, and needs to be let out.It seems that Guacamolẽ is actually made not from avacados as most cooking shows on TV would lead you to believe, but from the smashes and liquified bodies of young guacamoles (gwak-a-mole (like the animal),

Congratulations Ryan and Beth

2006-09-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to congratulate Ryan and Beth on their new marriage. It was a wonderful ceremony, and I hope you guys have a great life together.

Polaroid i532

2006-09-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

So our old Nikon Coolpix digital camera was not living up to its former glory after a hard life, and with a wedding this weekend we decided to get another camera. I had a few tips to go off of for new cameras, but the one that I had my eye on (a nice low-end Canon model), but we couldn't wait for shipping. We eventually ended up at Wal-Mart which had a pretty good selection of cameras. We had a

Calvin and Hobbes Online!

2006-09-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

SWEET!http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/

xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language

2006-09-07T21:56:00.000-07:00

I found this webcomic (or rather a collection or drawings and musings) via Digg last week I think. I finally made it through reading all of them, and enjoyed myself heartily. You should too. I even added it to the list over on the right!http://xkcd.com/

Video Roundup

2006-09-07T21:45:00.000-07:00

Here's another set of videos for you poor bored people to watch:Chad Vader: Day Shift ManagerThis is the story of Chad Vader, the brother of Darth Vader, and his never-ending duty to manage a super market.Episode 1Episode 2Episode 3Conan O'Brien and 'Walker: Texas Ranger'This is when Conan had the lever that played Walker: Texas Ranger clips, and he saved this one for a special showing.SNL

Chuck Norris Facts

2006-09-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

Everything you've ever wanted to know about Chuck Norris. My favorite:"Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs."LinkageAnd as a special treat, the first in the series in which Chuck Norris fights other greats of our time. Today he fights...Steven Segal!Even More Linkage

The Bargain Bin - Medieval: Total War

2006-09-04T19:03:00.000-07:00

I found this at Wal-Mart for $9.95, and it looks like Amazon has it for as cheap as $8.99. This is the second installment of the Total Wars series which started with Shogun: Total War. The best thing about these games are they that are two games in one; Total War allows you to either play a turn-based strategy game without doing any actual fighting of your troops (the computer will determine the

IPCop - The Bad Packets Stop Here

2006-09-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

This weekend I set up an IPCop Linux router for home to replace my Belkin router (in addition to a lot of other network and computer changes). My old web server is now my router, complete with intrusion detection systems via snort. Hell, it's already noticed a few MS-SQL Worm propagation attempts and stopped those (not that I have anything that I know of running MSSQL or the ports open).All it

SimCity DS Screenshots

2006-09-02T18:29:00.000-07:00

I will definately be buying this game.Linkage

RIAA shoots themselves in the foot again

2006-09-01T22:26:00.000-07:00

You gotta love the RIAA. In a current case, the defendant wanted to hire a neutral party to check her hard drive. Completely reasonable, as the RIAA should have a list of things that they found on the defendant's computer which warranted the case, and the neutral party should find the same thing. The RIAA said that they would not go for a neutral party, but would rather have one of their own

New CDs On The Horizon

2006-08-30T21:18:00.000-07:00

Just in case anyone cares, Weird Al has a new CD coming out soon called Straight Outta Lynwood. He's got two of the new songs on his Myspace page (which you can get to via my Myspace because, yes, I have Weird Al on my Friend's List). Also, Meatloaf is coming out with Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster is Loose. You kick ass Meatloaf.

Ubuntu as a Workstation

2006-08-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

One thing that has never lasted more than a few weeks for me is using Linux as a main desktop. I've given up hope that I'll be able to run it at home full time until WineX/Cedega is up to snuff to run Sims 2, though my hopes are that it is not far off.What I have been able to do, in the course of testing evil mechinations out at work, is try to use Linux 100%. At this point I'm counting myself at

Bookmark Roundup 1

2006-08-24T08:12:00.000-07:00

Since getting del.icio.us I've been bookmarking a lot of stuff lately. Here's some of the more interesting ones:Grand Theft Auto: National Geographic Firetruck SpecialWatch as the fearless firetruck hunt it's prey...Angry German Kid vs. Numa Numa GuyWonderful mashup of the Angry German Kid and various viral clips. (Orignal German kid here and original Numa Numa here)The Easter Bunny Hates YouThis

Please Excuse Our Mess

2006-08-19T18:58:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of checking out a bunch of the new blogger features (I've already switched the site over to the new beta version of Blogger), but will be going through and making updates to take advantage of the new things available to me.

Netflix is better than Blockbuster

2006-08-16T21:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a few months since we cancelled our Blockbuster Online account, mainly due to the fact that it was taking forever to get our movies. There were also times that we would send back two in a single slip, and they'd only acknowledge one made it back. To make a long story short, I don't think I'll ever use Blockbuster again.So Friday of last week we signed up for Netflix because we got a

It's Alive (A Tutorial in Laptop Powercord Repair)

2006-08-10T18:14:00.000-07:00

Some BackgroundI have a wonderful Presario 705us that I got way back when when XP first came out. In fact, it was one of the first Compaq laptops that shipped with XP preinstalled. DVD/CDRW combo drive, 16meg AGP S3 video card, Athlon4 1ghz proc, it was sweet. That was over 4 years ago, and up until about a month-and-a-half ago the only problem I had with it was the powercord (ignoring the dead/

Awesome Car Commercial

2006-08-07T14:58:00.000-07:00

These cars may be small and ugly, but they sure do handle well. Why can't car commercials these days look as cool?

I Heart OSSEC

2006-08-04T16:52:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday I attended my first SANS webcast, which showcased OSSEC, a HID (Host-based Intrustion Detection) system. Essentially it helps look at server and machine logs to see if anything is going wrong. It actually came at a good time, as at work we were looking into setting up a central log server and reporting system called 'syslog-ng.' I had already been working on it a few days and was

The Net Netrality War: "Nobody gets a free ride!"

2006-08-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

I love it when people go off on a subject that they have no real understanding about. AT&T's Ted Whitacre spoke with utility regulators in San Francisco yesterday, and one of the issues brought up in the Q&A section was about net netrality.AT&T, for whatever reason, thinks some of the larger content companies are getting a free ride, as if they are magically on the internet without paying

Slashdot vs Digg: The Epic Struggle

2006-08-01T05:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finished listening to FLOSS Weekly Episode 10 which had Jeff Bates (better known as Hemos) as a guest. He was one of the original founders of Slashdot. Among the great banter of the show, one of the things that was brought up was Digg and it's impact on Slashdot. Long story short (at least as how I take it) - Digg may have rocked the boat a bit, but they are two different services at

This week in Video Games

2006-07-29T18:31:00.000-07:00

Greatest 10 years in Video Game HistoryA compilation of the greatest single years in the history of video games.The ListHalo 3 is the End (XBox 360)Halo 3 will be the end of the line for this loved FPS series. Can't find a working link for this story, but it's true, I read it earlier. Opera Browser for the DS Tested... (Nintendo DS)...and the results don't look that grand. Slow loading along with

The Amazing Screw On Head

2006-07-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

It looks like the SciFi channel has picked up the pilot to a new show from the creator of Hellboy called 'The Amazing Screw-On Head'. It's a great combination of Lovecraftian mythology, vampires, the undead, action, comedy, and Abraham Lincoln (sadly, not Evil Lincoln, but Good Lincoln more than makes up for it). Watch the pilot and fill out the survey. Don't let this show die!The Amazing

'Products Featured' Updated

2006-07-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

In case anyone cares, the 'Products Featured' list has been updated to include some of the books recently reviewed as well as other stuff I've talked about it. If you get an inkling to purchase any of those items, feel free to use the links in the posts or on the Products Featured page!

'Hot Coffee' has Finally Cooled

2006-07-21T21:07:00.000-07:00

So it appears that the FTC Investigation over the whole 'Hot Coffee' mod is finally over. Take-Two Interactive got a slap on the wrist and was told not to do it again. I think that this was the right decision.I think this because really Take-Two and Rockstar didn't do anything wrong. Yeah, it was a poor decision to leave the code in the game, but aren't many other programmers (game developers or

Mike Nelson to give mainstream movies the MST3K treatment

2006-07-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

Do you feel that some of the movies coming out of Hollywood are just, well, missing something? RiffTrax are downloadable audio tracks that you play in sync with your DVDs. They are written and performed by Mike Nelson, former host and head writer of Mystery Science Theater 3000.read more | digg story

Columbus, Here I Come!

2006-07-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

So one of the perks of my new job in IT is training and conferences. I'm not even past my first 90 days, so hopefully what I learned today is a good thing for my future - I'm being sent to Ohio Linuxfest 2006! I'm missing out on the SANS Conference in Las Vegas, but hey, there are more things that I'll hopefully get to end up doing.The website is sparse about what all will be dgoing on this year

Erik Mongrain - Kick Ass Guitar Soloist

2006-07-19T18:58:00.000-07:00

With my new job and the accompanying new 25 minute drive to work every day, I've gotten a lot more time to listen to podcasts (I'll eventually link them over on the side). While listening to the latest Diggnation they had a link to this guy playing a guitar in a very unique way. I checked out the other videos that he has on Youtube, and if you are a fan of acoustic guitar (I love any guitar, but

Goodbye Vista

2006-07-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

Well, it didn't even last a day. Not because of incompatibilities or anything of that nature, but of little annoyances that just grew over time.Administrator AuthorizationWhile it's a far cry from the 'It takes 10 steps to delete a shortcut', it gets in the way of everything. You can't make the simpliest change without it popping up and bugging you. Yes, it's in the name of security, but at least

Vista (vs XP vs Ubuntu Desktop vs OSX) installation

2006-07-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

Vista just finished installing. I thought I would put it up against XP, Ubuntu, and OS X to see how everything stacked up.InstallationWindows VistaLooks nice and didn't give me any hiccups. It's a vast improvement over the XP installer. It didn't seem any faster than what XP seems to take while installing, so Vista (at least Beta 2) still took around 40 minutes. It still does everything, and is

Vista Beta 2 - Will I Like It?

2006-07-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

So, my Windows install has started doing some very funky things. Live Messenger refuses to run, even after an install, as does Money 2006. The Sims 2 has started to randomly lock up when it loads things (such as families, lots, etc). Overall Windows XP is just acting weird, and making me mad. So I'm formatting.I'd really like to switch to 100% non-Microsoft in the house, but things like The Sims

Zombies - They WILL Eventually Come

2006-07-14T18:53:00.000-07:00

I recently finished The Zombie Survival Guide, by Max Brooks (yes, the son of the great Mel Brooks). I've been reading a lot, sue me.My rational fear of a zombie attack is given even more ground by this book. The world is woefully underequipped for a zombie attack. Hell, I'm apparently underprepared for the day that the dead will arise from their graves (or the zombie disease will begin to spread

New Atari 2600 Game Released

2006-07-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

The game, called "A-VCS-Tec Challenge", fits into 8K, graphics, sound and all. It is being released as a limited-edition cartridge for 2600 enthusiasts who still have working consoles.read more | digg story

Book Review: Amber and Iron - The Dark Disciple Volume 2

2006-07-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

Amber and Iron - The Dark Disciple Volume 2Amber and Iron picks up where the first volume, Amber and Ashes, left off. Chemosh, under the impression that Mina is in fact dead (thanks to an illusion spell cast by Nuitari's mages in the Tower under the Blood Sea), has moved into his Castle Beloved near the Blood Sea as he awaits his Children of Chemosh to gather and become the perfect army.With the

Greatest Social Experiment in History

2006-06-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

Whoever 'Mike' is from eon8.com, I congratulate you. For those of you that hadn't gotten swept up in the massive digital tide that was eon8.com, let me enlighten you. A strange internet poster known as x21b made a few vague posts about a website, eon8.com. These messages were cryptic, including random strings of text and links to files for download. Visiting eon8.com would give the user a feeling

Chronicles of George

2006-06-29T18:24:00.000-07:00

For anyone who has worked in technical support and had to work with people of poor verbal/written communication skills, please read the following website and laugh your ass off. I nearly passed out from some of the posts on this website.Thanks John.Chronicles of George

$25 iMac = Mac Happiness

2006-06-27T18:19:00.000-07:00

So during my hiatus on posting on this blog, my local high school had a garage sale. I was hoping to pick up a new laptop since my Compaq has become a fire hazard due to the powercord, but alas I got there too late. While it started at 2pm, my wife and I arrived about 10 minutes early and people were already carting things out.I had been tipped off that there were going to be quite a few iMacs

USB Teddy Beat Holds Data, Scares Children

2006-06-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

Hilarious story about a somewhat creepy but funny usb drive.I will build one, this is so awesome!read more | digg story

Lost Mother 3 / Earthbound 64 found?

2006-06-19T05:54:00.000-07:00

Beta discs of Mother 3 / Earthbound 64 have surfacedread more | digg story

Open Source Windows Clone ReactOS releases 0.3 RC1

2006-06-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

ReactOS is a free software implementation of Microsoft Windows.You can test it without installing by using a Live CD, or Images to be run by emulators. It already works with Software like Microsoft Office and Nero Burning Rom and games like Deus Ex and Unreal Tournament.read more | digg story

IMDB for Comic Books

2006-06-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

ComicBookDB.com is the fastest-growing comic database on the web. The first goal of this project is to catalog every comic, graphic novel, manga, creator, character and anything else that could possibly relate to the field of comics. And it is built by anyone and everyone who wants to help.read more | digg story

US Senate has no idea what videogames are

2006-06-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday the Senate fired many angry blows against the gaming industry and the ESRB for "poor ratings" and violence, but nobody at that hearing seemed to know what they were talking about. They thought you could STILL buy hot-coffee-capable GTA and they showed the most violent GTA footage possible and claimed it was "part of the game".read more | digg story

The Best Games Never Published

2006-06-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

TwitchGuru explores the video game industry's development hell to find the greatest games never published.read more | digg story

Pocket NES Emulator running Mario on Motorola Q! (w/ video)

2006-06-13T07:21:00.000-07:00

"Wow, what can't this phone do? We've already heard about the Motorola Q allowing users to watch TV through Slingplayer Mobile, and rock the satellite tunes through XM Radio, but the latest video that has popped up on the internet shows the Q running "Pocket NES.""read more | digg story

Funny Videos of the Day

2006-06-11T18:04:00.000-07:00

This video is just hilarious, because I have seen all of these dances:Evolution of DanceAny video containing Bob Saggett and George Lucas rule:Bob Saggett VideoLeave it up to the Japanese to create the most kick-ass doomsday simulation ever!:DoomsdayMario doesn't have it any easier than the rest of us:Life of Mario

Rare Nintendo Prototypes Discovered

2006-06-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

This lucky person has put up the collection for sale on eBay a piece at a time, releasing new copies of the Star Fox Championship Weekend game pak into circulation as well as prototype versions of Tetris and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past plus the second known copy of the English version of Earthbound for the NES.read more | digg story

Top 50 Game Ending Songs

2006-06-10T16:27:00.000-07:00

You will no doubt find some old favourites in the list, and probably a lot of other titles youâ��ve never played or even heard of. There are MP3 files for each one of the songs.read more | digg story

This website is down because someone removed the X-Box

2006-06-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

A frugal public university installed a Linux'ed Xbox as a student server. Of course, most people wouldn't suspect that an Xbox might be a file server. You can probably guess what happens next.read more | digg story

Blizzard's Secrets Revealed

2006-06-07T06:55:00.000-07:00

Several articles outlining in detail how Blizzard Entertainment (makers of World of Warcraft, Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, etc) have gained power, how they are wielding power, and the how the entire game industry has changed because of them. Especially how the rest of the world has changed views of people that play multiplayer games.read more | digg story

Play Zork over the phone

2006-06-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

Zasterisk is the old text-adventure game Zork, implemented as a voice-based game that you play over the phone using the open source phone-switcher Asterisk.read more | digg story

The Wii Virtual Console: How it will change everything.

2006-06-06T06:59:00.000-07:00

The Wii Virtual Console has the potential to be one of the biggest things to hit gaming in a long time. Imagine having a huge library of great games all available to you at any time. The controller is not the only part of the Wii that is truly revolutionary. This could mean big things if Nintendo plays its cards right.read more | digg story

Fothyl's Adventures in Cyrodiil

2006-06-05T20:59:00.000-07:00

I finally picked up Oblivion, and I'm loving it. It runs pretty decently on the Radeon 9700, if only at 1024x768. It's not anwhere near as bad as I thought it would be.Because I'm a big geek and the Elder Scroll games are extremely open ended, my character Fothyl (a Nord Knight who casts destruction magic) has decided to keep a log of what is going on in his life. Check it out at http://

The No Internet Connection Blues

2006-06-05T20:29:00.000-07:00

Assuming anyone actually reads this blog, you'll have noticed a distinct drop in the frequency of my updates since this weekend. This is because my DSL connection is down. Yippie.In an effort to not be without internet, I've tried finding open wireless APs around me, tried my hand at WEP cracking, and even going so far as to hobble together the worst wireless antenna setup ever. What do I get out

Great tornado photos

2006-06-05T15:41:00.000-07:00

Scroll down just a bit for a collection of amazing tornado pics.read more | digg story

Ubuntu Dapper Drake Released

2006-06-02T07:42:00.000-07:00

I did the upgrade yesterday, and it was the least painful upgrade I've ever done on any computer. If you have Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger) or one of the Release Candidates of Dapper installed, you just run the regular 'Update Manager' and it pulls it all down while you continue to work on what you were doing. After it's all done, restart at your convience, and you're all set.Total time to do two

Windows Vista - Deleting a shortcut is just a few clicks away....

2006-05-31T17:09:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is really trying to focus on enhanced security in Windows Vista. One thing they are trying to do (like OSX and Linux) is really make sure that what you are doing what you think you are. In OSX and Linux this works really well (basically enter a password to go 'root' temporarily for a command, such as changing IP addresses and the like), but Windows has become a bit paranoid.read more |

Hasbro introduces Transformers Classics line

2006-05-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

The new series of figures will feature updated versions of the first generation of TRANSFORMERS, inspired by the look and spirit of the original figures and characters. The line will include favorites: OPTIMUS PRIME, Bumblebee, Astrotrain and Megatron which will be represented as a blaster for the first time since the 1980's.I love Transformers. But, Hasbro, you're making a toy of Hot Rod, not

A look at the FreeNAS server

2006-05-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

FreeNAS, an open source NAS server, can convert a PC into a network-attached storage server. The software, which is based on FreeBSD, Samba, and PHP, includes an operating system that supports various software RAID models and a Web user interface. The server supports access from Windows machines, Apple Macs, FTP, SSH, and Network File System (NFS).read more | digg story

Super Mario DS Sells 480,000 Units In Japan on Day 1

2006-05-29T16:52:00.000-07:00

Super Mario Bros. managed to sell through 480,000 units in it's first day, making it the fastest selling DS title ever.I can't wait till I pick this up for the DS. Maybe once I finish Morrowind. If you don't already have it, you can pick up New Super Mario Bros. here! read more | digg story

Morrowind: Not quite Oblivion...

2006-05-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

Because I know that minimum game requirements don't actually mean I can play the game, I've decided to reload Morrowind and play. It's not really what I want to play after seeing Oblivion on the X-Box 360, but I'm afraid that I cannot run it. Since games are not usually returnable after opening, I'd like to know if anyone has played Oblivion on a Radeon 9700 and how well it ran. Here are my

Firefox Extension: Reveal

2006-05-28T21:04:00.000-07:00

If you use Firefox with a bunch of tabs, this extension is great. By pressing F2 it displays all of your tabs in thumbnail view, allowing you to see all of the pages currently open, rearrange tabs, and search all of the tabs (once turned on in the options). I'm not generally bit on extensions, but this one is really great.http://aluminum.sourmilk.net/reveal/

Lifehacker.com

2006-05-28T20:59:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this website a few months ago, but never really paid attention to it. Recently I needed a better way to keep track of things I do during the day, and started using their 'Life in Text' tutorial, which was basically a set of shell scripts for Unix (or Cygwin) to run a basic Todo list via the command line. Since then, I've started visiting the site more and more often as they have

How to Make a Spider from 5 Crisp Dollar Bills (and Scare Waitresses!)

2006-05-28T20:53:00.000-07:00

Once in a while you're likely to have a bad reaction. (I once made one for a tip, and popped it up on the bar. When the girl turned around and saw it, for just that split second, it looked real. She let out a scream, and must have jumped three feet straight into the air. She was slightly arachniphobic. Oops.)read more | digg story

Wii + 360 is the Preferred Package

2006-05-28T20:34:00.000-07:00

Joystiq is running a poll with interesting results: at last count close to 50% of gamers will run with a Wii and a 360, and another 25% will go with just a Wii. The PS3 is taking a hammering it seems after E3. Is it price, functionality, delays, or all of the above?This really doesn't suprise me at all. While with current generations I was fine with a PS2 and a Gamecube (bought in that order),

Trail of the Black Wyrm

2006-05-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

Title: Trail of the Black WyrmAuthor: Chris PiersonI picked this up a few days ago. This is the second book in the 'Taladas Trilogy' series of Dragonlance books. The series is an introduction into the second continent on Krynn called Taladas. While on the same world, the two continents are vastly different.The book picks up where the last book, 'Blades of the Tiger' left off. I'm currently about

X-Men III: Last Stand

2006-05-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

I saw this movie earlier today, and I have to admit that I loved it. In case anyone is planning on seeing it I won't give away any details, save for the fact that Beast was awesome, the huge fight scene was great, and there damn well better be more X-Men movies!As a side note, definately wait until the credits are over. Not only do you see a suprising twist, but you can really see who the geeks

The iShoe!

2006-05-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

My friend John sent me this link. When I was initially told of the iShoe, I had dreams of flash/mini harddrives imbeded inside of my shoes. But alas, it is just a bundle of Nike shoes and an iPod, the regular kind.Apple, Nike, please make the iPod and shoes have a baby, a wonderous baby that plays music as well as keeps my feet warm and dry, and looks damn cool. I know you can do it. The world is

Sony to prevent selling of pre-owned PS3 games?

2006-05-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

So Daily Radar is reporting -- apparently users will 'rent' games rather than buy them. Right...If this is correct, it's another nail in the coffin for the PS3. I'm already not going to purchase one due to the price, and I'm not going to pay $50-70 for a new game, find out it's crap, and not have a recourse such as selling it back to a local store.I see this being shot down, however, because

New flight release of Ubuntu is out

2006-05-19T08:03:00.000-07:00

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Flight 8 is out.Counting the days till all my machines get to upgrade...read more | digg story

Screw you Luigi!

2006-05-17T17:09:00.000-07:00

So my wife is playing Mario Party 4 and someone finally won the lottery that is run just before the last five turns. Luigi won.I hope he's happy. Because he still sucks.

Sun Puts It's Weight Behind Ubuntu

2006-05-17T17:03:00.000-07:00

fak3r writes "Sun today announced that they are putting their weight behind Ubuntu Linux. While Ubuntu has been many people's desktop Linux choice for a few years now, with its Debian heritage, you can see what kind of server it could be. Slap that on the new Sun 1Us with the new Niagra T1's CPU, the one that'll have four, six or eight cores each, and go to town." As they say on Slashdot, I

Introducing Macbook

2006-05-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

It is finally here!!!This means that the next laptop I buy will definately be a Mac. While the MacBook Pros are certainly very nice laptops, I've always wanted a nice light one. Thanks Apple!read more | digg story

Xubuntu Rocks

2006-05-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

After 5 hours (yes, 5 hours) of installation, I got Xubuntu 6.06 Beta 2 installed on an IBM Thinkpad 385ED. This bad boy has a 167mhz Pentium with MMX, and has been upgraded to 81megs of RAM. It previously had Damn Small Linux installed (and before that, Windows 98). After the install I have 633megs of space left on a 1.8gig drive. The installation was painless, if not incredibly long. Most of

Which Linux Distro is Right For Me?

2006-05-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

My friend Bob forwarded this link to me when he was looking for a new distro. I found it pretty good reading. It boils down to that there is no single distro that is best for everyone, it depends on the person.Link to blog

Life After the Video Game Crash

2006-05-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

The PS3 is too expensive, the 360 isn't selling outside the USA, and 75% of homes don't have an HDTV. Could this spell disaster for the gaming industry? This article makes a good case.read more | digg story

Ubuntu Center Hands-On

2006-05-13T18:08:00.000-07:00

Ubuntu Center is a PHP control center for your Ubuntu box. You can stream music from your computer, view your photos, bookmarks, calendar, and much more. It is packed full of amazing features that are elsewhere, but never together in harmony. Ubuntu Center takes care of this by incorporating many capabilities into a simple web interface.read more | digg story

CBS to air DDR Show

2006-05-12T18:29:00.000-07:00

I feel so sorry for American TV at this point. Whomever decided that this was a good idea needs to give me all of their money right now, because they don't deserve it.Story from Yahoo

CPU overclocked to 7.104Ghz!

2006-05-12T18:08:00.000-07:00

CPU cooled with liquid nitrogen has set an overclocking record.read more | digg story

Nintendo vs Sony: War of the Press Conferences

2006-05-12T15:34:00.000-07:00

So, I'm stuck on the couch after hurting my back yesterday, so the computer gets hooked up to the TV to watch the press conferences from Nintendo and Sony online via Gamespot. I wasn't too interested in the Microsoft conference, so didn't watch it.Sony - The PSP and the PS3Sony's conference was the longer of the two. Starting off with a lot of factual information (sales dribble for the most part)

More about Wii

2006-05-11T20:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a bunch of stuff about the new Nintendo Wii:Boss battle from Super Mario GalaxyBest thing at E3: The Nintendo WiiInterview with Satoru Iwata about the WiiThe hardware specs of the systemA torrent for the full press conferenceOpera announcing that they will be the browser on the Wii (Incidently, it is also powering the DS's new browser as well)A new 'Duck Hunt' game will be released (