Cheap Talk, throw your two cents in. Listen to what I have to say and you may actually enjoy yourself.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Airwick Commercial
Elephant
Centipede
Question: WTF? This makes no sense
Wii
Thank God It's Christmas
Monday, November 26, 2007
Oracle
Oracle - You suck!
Oracle - Why can't you just accept my statements the way they are?
Oracle - Why must they conform to your standards!
Oracle - F*** You!
=W=
Friday, November 16, 2007
Crock Pots
It was a great invention.
49ers News
Monday, November 12, 2007
Futurama News
New Futurama Is Nearly Here | |||
|
more news regarding the upcoming Futurama DVD movie Bender's Big Score and some info on the three Futurama movies to follow, we'll be using this page to gather the latest information on the movies all in one place. We base this on publically available sources and exclusive information from - among others - a very trustworthy unnamed source with middle initial "X".
* First off, the names of the four Futurama movies: Bender's Big Score
* The Beast with a Billion Backs
* Bender's Game
* Into the Wild Green Yonder
All 4 new Futurama movie DVDs are going to be released in "Glorious Widescreen" (1.78:1) with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and will be available in both DVD and High-Definition format. Each of the feature-length movies (approximately 88 minutes) will be cut and reconfigured to be shown as four individual episodes on Comedy Central sometime after the release on DVD (date has not yet been set). The current plan states that the TV episodes are going to be in 4:3 to match the earlier episodes. All the more reason to buy the DVDs once they are available!
*
Futurama: Bender's Big Score
Release Date: Nov. 27th, 2007
Official Price: around $24
Preorder: $19.99 at amazon.com
Plot summary available at the source, not posting to avoid possible spoilers
Source:http://www.gotfuturama.com/Information/Articles/4_New_Futurama_DVDs/#Benders_Big_Score
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Shortwave Radio
Let me just say it picks up some weird stuff in all kinds of languages. I use it mostly to see if I can pick up something German. I have had the opportunity to hear stuff from Canada, Central America, All over the US, but alas I have never any German programs. However, I am hoping this will change.
Normally I just use batteries in the thing, but once I go past the 4th channel I only hear static and strange loud noises. So I am going to attempt to plug it in the wall. It says it can use a DC3v and I have this cool little adapter, if I can find it, that can switch between voltages and has all kinds of plugs to use. Maybe that will give me better range.
Either way, it is a fun little gadget.
=B=
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Birthday
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Nov 1
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Anniversary launch for 'nanosats'
Nanosatellites weigh less than 10kg |
The "nanosats", each weighing 1kg, will blast into orbit on board an Ariane rocket in 2007, said Arianespace.
Each satellite will represent a nation, and will do small-scale research experiments during two years in orbit.
The former Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 was the size of a basketball and became the first artificial satellite of the Earth on 4 October, 1957.
"Just like 50 years ago, when the first manmade Earth satellite was launched, these nanosatellites will signal a new era for scientists worldwide," said Jean-Yves Le Gall, chief executive officer for Arianespace.
The company markets launch services for the European Space Agency (Esa).
"Arianespace is very proud to be participating in this commemoration," he added. "Supporting science and research is an integral part of our assigned mission."
Space race
Compared with Sputnik which weighed 83kg, nanosatellites weigh under 10kg and can be sent up in clusters in low-Earth orbit, which is less than 2,000km above the planet's surface.
Increased miniaturisation of electronic and mechanical components has made it possible to construct much smaller and lighter satellites.
These satellites can significantly reduce the cost of access to space for many nations and can be used in groups, or swarms, for Earth observation.
UK satellite company Surrey Satellite Technology Limited has developed small satellites, like SNAP-1 which was launched in June 2000.
It weighed 6.5kg and carried micro-miniature GPS navigation, camera technology, onboard computing, propulsion and attitude control technologies.
Commercial telecommunications satellites are costly, commonly as big as buses, and can weigh up to eight tonnes.
At the time of Sputnik 1's historic launch, which was described as "the simplest kind of baby moon", the US and the Soviet Union were in a race to space.
Some voiced concerned about its launch because its orbit would take it over the US seven times.
Others speculated that its launcher rocket could be capable of carrying a nuclear weapon thousands of kilometres.
Sputnik 1 was followed a month later by Sputnik 2, which carried the first living creature, a dog called Laika, into space.
In December 1957, a US rocket carrying a test satellite exploded. The US successfully launched its first satellite, Explorer, in February 1958.
The mission for 2007 was announced at the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) congress in Vancouver, Canada.
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Now playing: Journeyman
via FoxyTunes
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Look at this article!
I was just on Public Citizen's website (www.citizen.org) and found this very helpful webpage.
Click on this http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2524 to read it.
<br>
B
Thursday, September 20, 2007
New Couch
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
It's So Simple I'd Even Call Myself A Genius
-W-
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Sony seen needing consistent PS3 strategy
TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp needs to establish an unwavering marketing strategy for its PlayStation 3 game machine to drive growth of its console business, the head of Japanese videogame publisher Square Enix Co Ltd said.
"Sony first unveiled the PS3 as a mighty home electronics product. Then, after some badgering from game companies, it shifted the position of the console closer to a game machine," Square Enix President Yoichi Wada told reporters on Friday.
"(The future of the PS3) would be tough if its marketing strategy is not straightened up," he said.
Sony's PS3 is packed with cutting-edge technologies such as a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player and a Cell microchip, dubbed "supercomputer on a chip", making it advanced enough to be a hub of living room electronics, a high-speed gateway to the Internet, as well as a game machine.
But on the downside, these state-of-the-art capabilities drove up manufacturing costs. The basic version of the PS3 retails twice as high as Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii.
The high price and scarcity of strong game titles have caused the PS3 to lag far behind the Wii in unit sales since their launches late last year.
In a sign of changing fortunes of the two Japanese video game makers, Nintendo in June became one of Japan's 10 most valuable companies, and in doing so, bumped Sony off the top 10 list.
Shares in Sony, locked in a battle with Nintendo and Microsoft Corp for dominance in the $30 billion video game industry, closed down 1.4 percent at 5,640 yen, while Nintendo fell 1.5 percent to 52,900 yen.
Square Enix, known for such blockbuster game titles as "Dragon Quest" and "Final Fantasy", was up 1.1 percent at 3,750 yen.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Academic Idiocy, Where Have You Gone?
=W=
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
I finally bought a monitor
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Now playing: Queen - Fat Bottomed Girls
via FoxyTunes
Almost over with that crap
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Now playing: Queen - We Will Rock You
via FoxyTunes
Happy 1 Month
=Ben=
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Now playing: Queen - Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)
via FoxyTunes
Friday, August 31, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Variations on an Original Theme for orchestra, Op. 36 ("Enigma")
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Now playing: Rob Dougan - Drinking Song
via FoxyTunes
Microsoft Expression Web
Just thought I'd share my opinion
=W=
Monday, August 27, 2007
Too, bored!
I am now trying to stop and find other ways to handle my time. Of course I am trying to take notes, but even that gets boring. So I think besides note taking I will also jot down things to write blogs about. Or play tic-tac-toe with myself. I like doing that, except somehow I always lose, I mean sure I also win, but I also lose.
-w-
Funny
Maynard: It reads, 'Here may be found the last words of Joseph of Arimathea: "He who is valiant and pure of spirit may find the Holy Grail in the Castle of Aaaaarrrgh"'.
[pause]
Arthur: What?
Maynard: '"...The Castle of Aaaaarrrgh"'.
[pause]
Bedevere: What is that?
Maynard: He must have died while carving it.
Lancelot: [incredulous] Oh, come on!
Maynard: Well that's what it says.
Arthur: Look, if he was dying, he wouldn't bother to carve 'Aaaaarrrgh'. He'd just say it!
Maynard: Well, that's what's carved in the rock.
Galahad: Perhaps he was dictating.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Only two more weeks of ignorant religiosity
A quote from Wikipedia: "Some Christian churches commonly offer a fall festival or harvest-themed alternative to Halloween. Most Christians ascribe no significance to Halloween, treating it as a purely secular entity devoted to celebrating "imaginary spooks" and handing out candy. Halloween celebrations are common among Catholic parochial schools throughout North America, and in Ireland, the Catholic Church sees it as a "harmless ancient custom."[cite this quote] Father Gabriele Amorth, a Vatican-appointed exorcist in Rome, has said, "[I]f English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no harm in that."[31] Most Christians hold the view that the tradition is far from being "satanic" in origin or practice and that it holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality, and the ways of the Celtic ancestors actually being a valuable life lesson and a part of many of their parishioners' heritage.[30] A response among some fundamentalists in recent years has been the use of Hell houses or themed pamphlets (such as those of Jack T. Chick) which attempt to make use of Halloween as an opportunity for evangelism.[32] Some consider Halloween to be completely incompatible with the Christian faith, due to "its preoccupation with the occult in symbols, masks and costumes," its origin as a Pagan "festival of the dead", and the fact that it is also observed, albeit in a non-traditional form, by Satanists. In more recent years, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has organised a "Saint Fest" on the holiday.[32]"
So anyway, this lady was obviously confused and a little ignorant, but I would expect no more from the religious zealots in Tyler Texas.
I don't know, my two cents. Now I am glad I have only two weeks left. YAY!!
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Who the hell is that? It isn't Star Jones
=W=
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Massively multicore processor runs Linux Aug. 20, 2007
Fabbed on 90nm process technology at TMSC, the Tile64 chip is "the first in a family of chips that can scale to hundreds and even thousands of cores," Tilera said. The company plans to bake a 120-core version on 65nm technology in the future, it added.
The Tile64 is based on a proprietary VLIW (very long instruction word) architecture, on which a MIPS-like RISC architecture is implemented in microcode. A hypervisor enables each core to run its own instance of Linux -- or other OSes, once they become available. Alternatively, the whole chip can run Tilera's 64-way SMP (symmetrical multiprocessing) implementation.
Tilera Tile64 architecture
(Click to enlarge)
The crown jewel of the Tile64 architecture is a network-like "iMesh" switching interconnect said to eliminate the centralized bus intersection that in previous multicore designs has limited scalability, according to the company. Tilera's founder, MIT professor and serial entrepreneur Dr. Anant Agarwal, has experimented with mesh-like chip interconnects since 1996, the company said.
Each of the Tile64's cores clocks between 600MHz and 900MHz; each has its own L1 and L2 cache. L3 cache is handled in an interesting way, as Bob Dowd, director of marketing, explains. "We take all the L2 caches and consider them in aggregate to be the L3 cache," he said. "It's highly effective, because if you reference your own cache, and don't find the data you're looking for, a neighbor may have it, and that's faster than going off chip to external memory by a good ways."
The Tile64 is implemented as a a system-on-chip (SoC) with no requirement for external northbridge and/or southbridge chips. This saves power, at the expense of locking in a specific peripheral mix, essentially tying the chip to specific verticals, according to the company. Dowd noted, "We did a lot of research, and believe we have the peripheral mix right for the markets we are targeting -- networking and video. If we went into storage with a new processor, we'd add fiber and disk drive interfaces."
Tilera claims that the Tile64 outperforms Intel's dual-core Xeon processor 10 times, while offering 30 times better performance per Watt. Compared to TI's top-of-range TMS320DM648 DSP, performance per Watt is claimed to be 40 times better.
Another touted benefit is the ability to consolidate control- and data-plane functions on a single device, with "solid-wall" processor boundaries reinforcing security and licensing containment barrier. In this regard, the Tile64 chip resembles another heavily multicore MIPS64 chip, Cavium's 16-way Octeon.
Software environment and tools
Tilera claims that existing, "unmodified" Linux apps will build for the Tile64 processor using the company's toolchain. The toolchain includes a compiler licensed from SGI and based on MIPSpro.
Alternatively, developers can port their applications to Tilera's iLib C library, aimed at exploiting parallelism while still supporting standard system calls. The approach appears to resemble that used in Intel's Threading Building Blocks, recently released under an open source license.
Finally, for users wishing to manually tune multi-core application performance, Tilera will offer a full "MDE" (multicore development environment) toolsuite based on Eclipse. In addition to a full IDE (integrated development environment), MDE includes a parallel debugger, along with an application profiler aimed at helping developers figure out what parts of their code to optimize for multicore.
Tilera is in discussions with "all major Linux support providers," Dowd said, adding, "We'll have ecosystem announcements coming out as we line them up."
Early markets, customers, reference implementations
The first Tile64 chips target network and video devices that require significant application processing, such as surveillance systems, and firewalls with deep packet inspection. Early customers in the networking space reportedly include 3Com and firewall vendor TopLayer, while early video customers reportedly include U.K.-based high-definition videoconferencing equipment provider Codian, and BackupTV, a vendor of network-based video recording and other head-end services for cable TV network providers.
To hasten adoption, Tilera is offering processor daughterboards implemented as PCI Express cards with six or 12 gigabit Ethernet ports. The cards can be used in production systems with passive backplanes, or as targets in development hosts, Dowd said. He declined to specify pricing.
Tilera TILExpress-64 PCIe card and its architecture
(Click architecture diagram to enlarge)
CEO Devesh Garg stated, "This is the first significant new development in chip architecture in a decade. We developed this new architecture because existing multicore technologies simply cannot scale. Moreover, customers have repeatedly indicated that the current multicore software tools are very primitive because they are based on single-processor-core models. We're introducing a revolutionary hardware and software platform that has solved the fundamental challenges associated with multicore scalability."
Availability
The Tile64 is available now, in three variants differentiated by I/O mix and clock. Pricing starts at $435 in 10,000 quantities, the company said. Tilera's iLib and MDE tools, and TilExpress-64 board are also available at undisclosed pricing.
--Henry Kingman
Monday, August 20, 2007
School is back again
I for one am not looking forward to classes.
At least I only have two classes that day, so it could be worse.
Thursday on the other hand will be worse, I am sure.
=W=
Friday, August 17, 2007
Hurricane Dean
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Thank you so much
So once again, thank you.
=W=
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
mmmmm......Marshmallow!!!!
The marshmallow is a confection that, in its modern form, consists of sugar or corn syrup, beaten egg whites, gelatin that has been pre-softened in water, gum arabic, and flavorings, whipped to a spongy consistency.
However let us not forget!!
The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man
The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is a character in the movie Ghostbusters and the animated series The Real Ghostbusters. He was the cartoon mascot of the fictitious Stay Puft Corporation which produced marshmallows. He was thought to be a parody of the real-life Pillsbury Doughboy and Bibendum, the Michelin tire man.[11] Jonah Goldberg of the National Review referenced the Marshmallow man as a popular culture symbol that people assume is harmless, but can be turned to evil in the right circumstances.[12] The costume was created by Bill Bryan using miniatures, optical compositing and Bill Bryan himself in the latex suit.[13] His image has been found in a microscopic etching on a 1988 Mac computer chip.[14]
In the film, an ancient Sumerian god called Gozer arrives atop an apartment building on Central Park West in New York City, where it tells the Ghostbusters that the next thing they think of will be the form Gozer will assume to destroy their world. Despite their efforts to clear their minds, Ray Stanz imagines the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. As he explains, Mr. Stay Puft "just popped in there" as "something that could never possibly destroy us." Moments later a giant (112 feet 6 inches [34.3 meters] tall) Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is seen walking towards the apartment building. The Ghostbusters shoot at Stay Puft with their proton packs, setting him on fire, but not stopping his advance. The Ghostbusters eventually stop Stay Puft when Egon suggests that the Ghostbusters cross their proton pack streams as they fire at Gozer's portal—although Egon himself had warned them early in the film that crossing the proton streams "would be bad," he does assure them that there is a very slim chance in this case that they could survive. The plan succeeds in causing "total protonic reversal", destroying the gate. The explosion generated by the event incinerates the Stay Puft man, raining molten marshmallow down onto the roof of the skyscraper they are on and the street below.
The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man also appears in the animated series The Real Ghostbusters, contradicting the events of the original film. No explanation is offered as to how Mr. Stay Puft, originally the newest incarnation of Gozer, became his own entity. Although Stay Puft was portrayed originally as a mindless monster in "Cry Uncle", by later episodes he had become a kind-hearted, almost child-like figure. Again, this change is never fully explained, save a vague reference by Peter that he is "all better now" when a police officer reminds him of Stay Puft's previous rampages. Mr. Stay Puft soon became an ally to the team, helping the Ghostbusters defeat enemies too powerful to fight on their own. The character was voiced by John Stocker, and later by Frank Welker.
Over the years, a moderate amount of merchandise has focused around the character and has become an icon for the Ghostbusters film. A number of McDonald's Happy Meal toys have featured the character. To coincide with the film's release, Kenner released an action figure with limited articulation that included rotation in the head and arms in 1986. A Japanese vinyl kit of the character was also released by Tsukuda as was Kenner's plush Marshmallow Man.
In 2004, company NECA licensed the Ghostbusters franchise to produce a number of modern Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (and other Ghostbusters related) merchandise such as a Bobble-head toy, a resin statue and a 15 inch roto-cast plastic action figure. The NECA version of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man displayed a more menacing and evil version of the character compared to that of Kenner's, which portrayed the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man as a more gentle looking figure. This was probably what he would have looked like as he was destroying New York, rather than Kenner's, which would portray him as the more consumer friendly version that would appear on packages of Stay Puft Marsmallows.
He has been referenced several times in popular culture. On the television series Lost, one of the nicknames Sawyer gives Hurley is 'Stay Puft', due to his weight. On the MTV Show Viva La Bam, Don Vito is referred to as the Stay Puft Man due to his weight. The movie Shrek 2 includes a scene with a giant gingerbread man named Mongo that is intended as a spoof of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. In the Homestar Runner Halloween toon "Homestarloween Party", one of the characters, Pom Pom, dressed up as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man for his Halloween costume.
The person inside the Stay Puft costume during shooting was the costume's creator, Bill Bryan. According to the Ghostbusters DVD special features, the 10 second scene of Stay Puft climbing the building while on fire cost almost $100,000. The first take was ruined when the costume caught fire too quickly and Bill Bryan had to be extinguished. A new suit had to be constructed, at the cost of around $50,000 a piece. Originally, when Mr. Stay Puft is destroyed in the movie, there was a scene in which, in addition to the marshmallow goo, Mr. Stay Puft's hat also falls to the ground. The scene was ultimately cut due to the "hat", a large cloth replica that works much like a parachute, was deemed too unrealistic. In the scene where the containment grid is shutdown in the first film, a Stay Puft poster can be briefly seen on a wall. The earliest design of Mr. Stay Puft had a different head design. it was the appearance of a cartoon like man with a scary looking face, but was scrapped and replaced with the more recognizable marshmallow-shaped head Mr.Stay Puft was also featured in several of the Ghostbusters video games.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Back To The Grind
This has been the best week of my life, so far. Though I know it will be very very difficult to do better than this week, but maybe it could happen, some years down the road, we'll see, what do I know.
We have spent the week setting up our cool new apartment. So I'd say we have a great place going on. Really we do. This is a good place, small, but good.
Life is good, more later.
=Ben=
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Saturday's Weather
1 AM | 4 AM | 7 AM | 10 AM | 1 PM | 4 PM | 7 PM |
Temperature / Dew Point (°F) | ||||||
78 / 70 | 76 / 70 | 75 / 71 | 83 / 71 | 89 / 70 | 91 / 71 | 88 / 71 |
Humidity (%) | ||||||
75% | 83% | 88% | 66% | 53% | 52% | 57% |
Wind (mph) | ||||||
2 214° SW | 1 208° SSW | 1 202° SSW | 3 180° South | 6 158° SSE | 6 172° South | 5 188° South |
Conditions | ||||||
| | | | | | |
Probability of Precipitation (%) | ||||||
10% | 10% | 10% | 20% | 20% | 20% | 20% |
Cloud Cover (%) | ||||||
41% | 41% | 41% | 44% | 46% | 46% | 61% |
Saturday Saturday Night
Partly Partly
Cloudy Cloudy
Hi 93°F Lo 75°F8
Things are looking better!!
I don't have a clue
I'm so very tired. It's almost all the time now.
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It's funny sometimes, you think that you did something good by figuring out why something isn't working, but instead people assume y...
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It has now been 1 month since I got married to the most wonderful, beautiful, amazing girl in the world. I love her. I really do. I am ge...
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This may not sound like fun, but I think it is. Here is what you do. Go and find a CD you really like. Or make your own. Then find a roo...