Something Random

[Handruin]

I'd be out and about if i could. I had two bday's to attend today and missed both. I sometimes wish some of you guys lived closer to me and I could just meet somewhere to chat about anything and nothing. Hell, go out taking pictures of useless things. I just need to live with this for the next couple weeks but I might go insane, or go broke from buying useless shit online.

I'm eating out of a bucket of sherbet, drinking more Gatorade, and cooking my 4th box of mac and cheese since Wednesday.

 

[ddrueding]

I often think it would be good to live close to some of the folks here. My closest friends are 40 and 120 miles away, and not in the direction of my commute. We are going to visit Olga's best friend for dinner, 100 miles away, tonight for the first time in about 6 months.

 

[jtr1962]

That's the nature of having a small group unfortunately. I've already met a few locals from CPF but then again their membership is in the tens of thousands. Anyway, if you're ever in NYC give me a holler.

 

[mubs]

What are you guys cribbing about distance for? I'm 12,500 miles away, even farther away than Paugie. I think once in a while we just need to pack a bag, take a flight and visit. One of these days I'm planning to surprise the Redhill folks irate:

 

[ddrueding]

One of these days I'm planning to surprise the Redhill folks irate:

I've thought about that a few times. A couple from tango are on a Fulbright to Stanford, when they return to Melbourne I might pay a visit.

 

[Fushigi]

[FONT=&quot]On this day in 1923, Yankee Stadium opened in Bronx, New York. In 1909, Joan of Arc was beatified in Rome. And in 1506, the cornerstone of the current St. Peter's Basilica was laid. Happy Birthday actor Melissa Joan Hart (1976), talkshow host Conan O'Brien (1963), comedian Rick Moranis (1953) and actor James Woods (1947). RIP writer/adventurer Thor Heyerdahl (2002), comedian Benny Hill (d. 1992) and physicist Albert Einstein (1955).

"Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory."
- Albert Schweitzer[/FONT]

 

[LunarMist]

That sounds pretty crappy Lunar. Typically, if something was bad and it is over, things get better sooner or later.

It would not really be sooner, but perhaps much later. There are difficult decisions – all options suck in different ways. Western culture wants to keep the old, rotting bodies around forever. Western medical technology has the capability, not to mention the self-interest in racking up charges.

 

[LunarMist]

imdb? Is that a quote from Merc, sometime earlier before he stopped posting here? If that's *your* feelings, seems you and Merc are sinking in the same boat then?

Don't compare me to Merc. As far as I can determine he is a brilliant young man with depressive or bipolar "internal" problems for the most part. These are very serious struggles as anyone who has dealt with a friend or family member with such challenges can attest.

I'm not a happy camper, but issues are maybe 25% internal and 75% external.

No further comments are necessary.

 

[ddrueding]

It would not really be sooner, but perhaps much later. There are difficult decisions – all options suck in different ways. Western culture wants to keep the old, rotting bodies around forever. Western medical technology has the capability, not to mention the self-interest in racking up charges.

I had a conversation with my grandmother quite a while ago. She started the conversation, and in it specified exact performance guidelines that she wanted to maintain for the rest of her life. She asked me to "take care of it" should she fall outside of those guidelines. I agreed.

She isn't there yet, but she is getting closer much faster than I had anticipated.

 

[jtr1962]

Western culture wants to keep the old, rotting bodies around forever. Western medical technology has the capability, not to mention the self-interest in racking up charges.

Ironically, poison Western culture results in the premature deterioration of bodies but the ability to keep one around in a not so great state for 20 or 30 years. I'm sure money is the motive. Hospitals don't make money off healthy people or dead people. The idea is to first start the downward spiral with prescription drugs which have side effects. Soon you need more drugs to counteract the side effects. Eventually the body gives out from these poisons, but that might take 20 or 30 years-plenty of time for the medical establishment to make lots of money. I want to live forever, but only if it's in a body which can do the things I do now. If the time comes that it takes me half an hour to walk a block, I'd rather just kick off.

Anyway, whatever you're going through now, my sympathies.

 

[mubs]

A gal in my group died earlier in the week. Finished her night shift, went home, slept, and apparently never woke up. She was morbidly obese, smoked a lot, drank a lot. 21 years old. No idea what happened.

I don't want to start a hot debate here on religious grounds, and am not trying to bait anybody. I think the need to preserve rotting bodies comes from a wrong understanding of what's said in certain religious texts about the afterlife. IMHO, a metaphorical explanation has been taken literally, hence the obsession with dead bodies.

I am fond of saying that "god" didn't invent religion (any one of them), but men did, for various reasons.

 

[Fushigi]

[FONT=&quot]On this day in 2000, the Big Number Change took place in the United Kingdom. In 1998 at Walt Disney World in Florida, Disney's Animal Kingdom opened. In 1993, the Web browser Mosaic version 1.0 was released. And in 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated. Happy Birthday actor Ryan Stiles (1959), musician Peter Frampton (1950), film writer John Waters (1946), actor Jack Nicholson (1937), musician Glen Campbell (1936), actor Charlotte Rae (1926), TV producer Aaron Spelling (1923-2006), musician Charles Mingus (1922-1979), actor Eddie Albert (1906-2005), physicist Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967), philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) and author Henry Fielding (1707-1754). RIP Erma Bombeck (d. 1996), U.S. President Richard Nixon (1994) and photographer Ansel Adams (1984).

"If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?"
- Scott Adams[/FONT]

 

[ddrueding]

I'm adding a new drive to my data array using online capacity expansion. According to it's current progress (at 2%), it will take 12.5 days to complete. I should have added 2 drives.

 

[LunarMist]

A gal in my group died earlier in the week. Finished her night shift, went home, slept, and apparently never woke up. She was morbidly obese, smoked a lot, drank a lot. 21 years old. No idea what happened.

I think I have some idea.

 

[ddrueding]

I have 726 posts in this thread, this will be my 727th. Crazy.

I sent a client to the Geek Squad today. She has a Sony Vaio laptop with the stock install of Vista, but her previous employer loaded it with crap; including 2 VPN programs, remote printing software, McAffee BS, and tons of other junk. I told her that a complete re-install would be the quickest way to do it, and that while she was at it changing to XP would be a good idea. Since the machine came with Vista Business, she already had the licence required. I even went onto Sony's website and found all 30 downloads that would make the machine fully compatible with XP.

Not wanting to deal with this crap, I sent her to the Geek Squad with a simple note on the laptop:

Erase drive. Install XP using Vista key. Update drivers from attached USB key.

I got a call from the tech an hour later where he sounded honest while telling me that they don't have XP media, and aren't allowed to open a retail package. When I asked about Vista media, he said he would be happy to sell us a copy. Even though he acknowledged that we already had a licence.

Not have the media? WTF kind of tech are they?

I ended up taking the system back home, where I am billing hourly to do the most basic thing that they couldn't.

 

[Clocker]

Friend of mine just decided to voluntarily retire is Dell Pentium 2 266Mhz computer.

It's been running almost constantly for 10 years. He installed Win2K on it, upgraded the RAM and added a 4x HP CD-Burner. It never failed on him.

 

[udaman]

How Irrelevant Imagery Can Influence Basic Male Choices

http://ts-si.org/content/view/3093/992/

Sex and financial risk taking...seems to go hand in hand, ehmm, with males

Sex, financial risk linked in brain
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2008-04/05/content_6593405.htm

The arousing pictures lit up the same part of the brain that lights up when financial risks are taken.

"You have a need in an evolutionary sense for both money and women. They trigger the same brain area," said Camelia Kuhnen, a Northwestern University finance professor who conducted the study with a Stanford University psychologist...When that hub was activated by the erotic images, the men were far more likely to bet high on a random chance game that would earn them either a dollar or a dime. Each man made more than 50 gambles under brain scans.

edit: just noticed Google ads in side bar, seems like they are targeting jtr & me

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www.Wu-YiSource.com
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[Fushigi]

[FONT=&quot]On this day in 1992, Space Shuttle Endeavour landed safely after a successful maiden voyage. In 1975, Junko Tabei became the first woman to summit Mount Everest. In 1969, a Soviet spaceprobe (Venera 5) landed on Venus. In 1965, Campbell Soup Company introduced SpaghettiOs under its Franco-American brand. In 1960, Theodore Maiman operated the first optical laser in Malibu, California. In 1951, El Al Israel Airlines began the first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights between New York and London. In 1929 in Hollywood, California, the first Academy Awards were handed out. In 1919, the US Navy aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read left Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight. In 1866, Charles Elmer Hires invented root beer; and the U.S. Congress eliminated the half dime coin, replacing it with the five cent piece, or nickel. Happy Birthday Tori Spelling (1973), Gabriela Sabatini (1970), Janet Jackson (1966), Debra Winger (1955), Pierce Brosnan (1953), Liberace (1919-1987), Woody Herman (1913-1987) and Henry Fonda (1905-1982).

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
- Benjamin Disraeli[/FONT]

 

[ddrueding]

I don't think I'll have time to post before the car arrives at 6:30AM, so my next posts should be from Moscow in a couple days.

 

[ddrueding]

I now know why we don't have many (any) Russian members. I just got up (7AM) and it is midnight on the east cost. Even in Melbourne it is 1PM. It is impossible to be part of an active thread if you are asleep.

 

[udaman]

I don't think I'll have time to post before the car arrives at 6:30AM, so my next posts should be from Moscow in a couple days.

I now know why we don't have many (any) Russian members. I just got up (7AM) and it is midnight on the east cost. Even in Melbourne it is 1PM. It is impossible to be part of an active thread if you are asleep.

You are up @7AM PST?, it's 2 days later, so we can take it you are in Moscow, which is not on the 'east coast'. Aren't there something like 5 or 6 time zones from east to west?

In other news, last surviving member of the Kennedy political family dynasty will die of brain cancer shortly. His current US Senate term doesn not end until 2012, so there will be a special election to replace him.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/kennedy_tumor;_ylt=AlUhXMxDCn1Hexg23kmW_SeMwfIE

Malignant gliomas strike almost 9,000 Americans a year. Survival statistics are grim — few live three years and for the worst subtype, half die within a year.

At least Calif. has a billion $ stem cell research program going on, against the wishes of Bush Admin, & conservatives.

 

[ddrueding]

I wonder if Merc is still lurking...

These two are PhDs (graduated with my fiancee) and practicing pediatricians. They are cute and smart and nice and single! Not a word of English between them, but they have all the important bits listed above. Get on it!

 

[Fushigi]

[FONT=&quot]On this day in 1958, Explorer 1 ceased transmission. In 1933, legendary American racehorse Seabiscuit was born. In 1929, the first talking cartoon of Mickey Mouse ("The Karnival Kid") was released. In 1923, Belgium's SABENA airline launched. And in 1911, the New York Public Library was dedicated. Happy Birthday musician/actor Jewel (1974), comedian/actor Drew Carey (1958 ), boxer "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler (1952), chess grandmaster Anatoly Karpov (1951), actor Joan Collins (1933), actor/singer Scatman Crothers (1910-1986), actor Douglas Fairbanks (1883-1939) and aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal (1848-1896). RIP George Jessel (d. 1981) and Kit Carson (1868 ).

"Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to get leisure."
- Benjamin Franklin[/FONT]

 

[Chewy509]

The Russian entrant won the Eurovision 2008 song contest...

Notable entries were the entries from: Finland, Greece, Ireland and Estonia.

Hit google/youtube if you want to watch the event online.

PS. www.sbs.com.au has the whole show available...

 

[ddrueding]

Some people voiced interest in the Russian Subway system ("Metro").

I took the 35/2 back and attempted some "from the hip" (literally) shots. They aren't framed properly, because I wasn't looking. The color temps are all over the place because the actual temp ranged from ~2000K to ~3000K and were all very dim.

http://flickr.com/photos/ddrueding/tags/subway/

 

[ddrueding]

Some people voiced interest in the Russian Subway system ("Metro").

I took the 35/2 back and attempted some "from the hip" (literally) shots. They aren't framed properly, because I wasn't looking. The color temps are all over the place because the actual temp ranged from ~2000K to ~3000K and were all very dim.

http://flickr.com/photos/ddrueding/tags/subway/

 

[udaman]

Are you on dialup right now dd, reason for dbl post, cause SF site is *very* slow right now (wasn't that way earlier in the day)?

Pix look much better than I could take with my 4yr old 5MP PnS Oly. I should take some pix of the LCD screens/subby in LA sometime...now if I could just find a body for that 24/3.5 TS-E, that would be a good lens to use in that environ, but I'd need 6400 ISO or higher...nothing Canon has can do that (FF at least, without PP 'push' ).

*Edit:, well the site was very unresponsive just a few minutes ago, now with this post it's back up to speed, so I can edit before time limit.

 

[jtr1962]

Some people voiced interest in the Russian Subway system ("Metro").

I took the 35/2 back and attempted some "from the hip" (literally) shots. They aren't framed properly, because I wasn't looking. The color temps are all over the place because the actual temp ranged from ~2000K to ~3000K and were all very dim.

http://flickr.com/photos/ddrueding/tags/subway/

Are they using incandescent lighting in the trains or just in the stations? Honestly, I'm surprised they're still using it at all. NYC has been using fluoro in the trains since the R10 in 1948, and in most of the stations since the 1970s/early 1980s. From my childhood I remember the D line when the stations were lit with incandescent, and also the older pre-1948 trains still in service using incandescents. Both horribly orange and dim.

Time to get Lumileds or Cree a contract to light the Moscow subway. Other than the lighting it sounds like a great system. The stations are certainly more elaborate than anything we have here.

 

[ddrueding]

The oldest stations are more elaborate than the one I shot, and the newer ones are simple half-tubes. That one was built after WWII.

All the lighting is really crap incandescent, with a significant amount burned out. I picked my shot to include the most light I could. There was one corridor with great color temp but poor CRI (no yellows at all). The light sources themselves were very bright.

 

[Fushigi]

[FONT=&quot]On this day in 1958, the F-4 Phantom II first flew. In 1957, Toronto's 1050 CHUM AM became Canada's first radio station to only broadcast a top 40 Rock n' Roll music format. In 1939, DC Comics published its second superhero, Batman. In 1937 in California, the Golden Gate Bridge opened to pedestrian traffic. In 1930, the 1,046 feet tall--the tallest man-made structure at the time--Chrysler Building opened to the public in New York. In 1927, the Ford Motor Company ceased manufacturing the Model T and began retooling plants to make Model A's. In 1919, the NC-4 aircraft arrived in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight. And in 1703, Tsar Peter the Great founded the city of Saint Petersburg. Happy Birthday Joseph Fiennes (1970), Todd Bridges (1965), Adam Carolla (1964), Peri Gilpin (1961), Louis Gossett Jr. (1936), Lee Meriwether (1935), Henry Kissinger (1923), Christopher Lee (1922) and Vincent Price (1911). RIP Paul Gleason (2006) and Robert Ripley (1949).

"If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?"
- Laurence J. Peter[/FONT]

 

[ddrueding]

I just noticed that my workstation has been up for over 100 days (2413+ hours). Sure I have servers that stay up longer than that, but this is my main desktop. Crazy.

Server 2003 SP1, See sig for spec.

 

[timwhit]

I just noticed that my workstation has been up for over 100 days (2413+ hours). Sure I have servers that stay up longer than that, but this is my main desktop. Crazy.

Server 2003 SP1, See sig for spec.

My workstation has been up for about 84 days, running the same OS as DD.

On another note, is anyone else running Firefox 3 RC2? So far it is much faster, more stable, and has less memory leaks than version 2. I've been running it since one of the later betas and I'm quite impressed. On the other hand IE 8 beta 1 is completely unimpressive.

 

[ddrueding]

On another note, is anyone else running Firefox 3 RC2? So far it is much faster, more stable, and has less memory leaks than version 2. I've been running it since one of the later betas and I'm quite impressed.

I've been running it about as long and having a similar experience. Really loving everything. And as the official release approaches, all of my favorite extensions are coming back on-line.

 

[Handruin]

I've really been enjoying FF 3.0 (the RC's) and now the GA version. I've noticed a huge improvement in things using ajax and javascript. It also seems to make more use of multi-cores when rendering complex or cpu intensive pages.

 

[udaman]

I've really been enjoying FF 3.0 (the RC's) and now the GA version. I've noticed a huge improvement in things using ajax and javascript. It also seems to make more use of multi-cores when rendering complex or cpu intensive pages.

Safari is still faster . 3.1.2 just released for Windoze.
Safari bests Firefox, IE at JavaScript rendering


http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/06/20/safari.beats.firefox.ie/

Though on dial-up the difference isn't much.

 

[ddrueding]

...and exposes you to "Carpet Bombing"

Only masochists install Apple software on windows. The only people I know to write worse software for the platform is HP.

Edit: Outside the anti-virus business, that is.

 

[LunarMist]

Is it as awful as that ITune sh*t?

 

[timwhit]

I installed it at work for cross-browser testing. It sucks.

 

[ddrueding]

I just went to Google the address for the local t-mobile store, and it turns out it has a Wikipedia entry:

165 University Avenue is a small rented office building on University Avenue, the main commercial street in downtown Palo Alto, California. Located near Stanford University, the building has served as an incubator for several noted Silicon Valley companies, including Logitech, Google, PayPal, and Danger, Inc. YouTube also provides this location as the example address when setting the location of an uploaded video.Until 2000, the ground floor was home to a Palo Alto institution, Chimaera Books & Music. Like many independent bookstores, its closure was due, in part, to competition from the dotcom economy.
As of 2008, it was leased as a T-Mobile store.

 

[LunarMist]

I just noticed that my workstation has been up for over 100 days (2413+ hours). Sure I have servers that stay up longer than that, but this is my main desktop. Crazy.

Server 2003 SP1, See sig for spec.

I reboot about 3-5 times a day. No concerns about uptime here.