Friday, April 11, 2008
I like this quote
"Give a man fire, and you warm him for the night. Set a man on fire, and you warm him for the rest of his life." - Terry Pratchett
Thursday, April 10, 2008
working with cat
While working late at home sometimes is not always desirable (especially if you'd rather be doing something else), one thing that usually makes it better is when one of your cats is willing to share your lap with the laptop.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Venezuela - baywatch for the children!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7338131.stm
So, apparently Venezeula feels that "the Simpsons" is inappropriate as a morning cartoon for children.
(I can understand this).
So they have pulled the show from the airwaves and replaced it with "Baywatch".
That seems really funny to me. But on some reflection - are we to think that children couldn't handle the simplistic storylines or bouncing boobs (and David Hasselhoff)???
From a certain point of view, Baywatch might be better for children than the simpsons. At least the women are empowered to go kick ass and save lives, just as much as the men on the show are.
I have heard that Venezuela is home to many beaches; and I'd imagine that any child going to the beach is probably going to see an eyeful of skin anyway...and for that matter, I doubt that Venezuelans are as uptight about seeing skin on TV as some folk are in the US.
(but on the other hand, the simpsons does make a lot of literary and cultural references that may inspire kids to look them up and read further in order to get the jokes..actually, on further thought, some of those references are probably lost in translation; from my experience having watched Simpsons episodes in Spanish while in Mexico & occasionally on DVD)
For further thought, I guess that baywatch was something frequently on TV when I was growing up & visiting friends...and I've turned out fine...right?
And if you didn't know Baywatch, then this wouldn't be nearly as funny:
So, apparently Venezeula feels that "the Simpsons" is inappropriate as a morning cartoon for children.
(I can understand this).
So they have pulled the show from the airwaves and replaced it with "Baywatch".
That seems really funny to me. But on some reflection - are we to think that children couldn't handle the simplistic storylines or bouncing boobs (and David Hasselhoff)???
From a certain point of view, Baywatch might be better for children than the simpsons. At least the women are empowered to go kick ass and save lives, just as much as the men on the show are.
I have heard that Venezuela is home to many beaches; and I'd imagine that any child going to the beach is probably going to see an eyeful of skin anyway...and for that matter, I doubt that Venezuelans are as uptight about seeing skin on TV as some folk are in the US.
(but on the other hand, the simpsons does make a lot of literary and cultural references that may inspire kids to look them up and read further in order to get the jokes..actually, on further thought, some of those references are probably lost in translation; from my experience having watched Simpsons episodes in Spanish while in Mexico & occasionally on DVD)
For further thought, I guess that baywatch was something frequently on TV when I was growing up & visiting friends...and I've turned out fine...right?
And if you didn't know Baywatch, then this wouldn't be nearly as funny:
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
ubuntu 8.04
As of right now, 16 days to go until the next version of Ubuntu linux is released.
I downloaded the beta this weekend and tried it out as a live cd for a little bit - seems very solid so far. Was responsive and good looking on my system.
Did not do a full-on install of it yet on my home PC, mainly since it is still running XP quite acceptably. Would be neat to dedicate an entire physical machine to it; but haven't really had a need to yet; my late 2005-vintage iBook is still running fine (although the battery is only good for ~30-40 minutes if wi-fi is on...
Regardless, pretty impressed with it.
If I only needed a PC for web, email, documents, pictures, & listening to mp3s, and watching movies/files that I had donwnloaded, or I needed to outfit a lot of people with PCs and I was on a budget, then I'd be pretty confident in choosing Ubuntu.
Not sure if it's ready for prime-time yet if you do a lot of PC gaming and like having the newest games to play, or if you're using your computer to make/record music, or if you are dependent on some proprietary application that only works on Windows.
The thought of "letting go" of being tied to proprietary software is pretty attractive, though a bit misleading. It's not as if by adopting an open-source only approach to things that somehow one's tech life will be free of complication or hassle. One still needs to do backups.
Regardless, I think more people being aware of the option and using it is a very good thing.
I downloaded the beta this weekend and tried it out as a live cd for a little bit - seems very solid so far. Was responsive and good looking on my system.
Did not do a full-on install of it yet on my home PC, mainly since it is still running XP quite acceptably. Would be neat to dedicate an entire physical machine to it; but haven't really had a need to yet; my late 2005-vintage iBook is still running fine (although the battery is only good for ~30-40 minutes if wi-fi is on...
Regardless, pretty impressed with it.
If I only needed a PC for web, email, documents, pictures, & listening to mp3s, and watching movies/files that I had donwnloaded, or I needed to outfit a lot of people with PCs and I was on a budget, then I'd be pretty confident in choosing Ubuntu.
Not sure if it's ready for prime-time yet if you do a lot of PC gaming and like having the newest games to play, or if you're using your computer to make/record music, or if you are dependent on some proprietary application that only works on Windows.
The thought of "letting go" of being tied to proprietary software is pretty attractive, though a bit misleading. It's not as if by adopting an open-source only approach to things that somehow one's tech life will be free of complication or hassle. One still needs to do backups.
Regardless, I think more people being aware of the option and using it is a very good thing.
eee pc
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/30/windows-xp-powered-eee-pc-laptop-400-april-9th/
Seems pretty cool - have gotten a chance to play with one at work (one of my colleagues won it).
Not sure what I'd really do with it or why I'd need one at the moment - not to mention that it's also pretty well known that a bigger-screen version is on the way soon.
(On another note, I do find it amusing that Windows XP has had its lifespan extended (again) for the eee PC since Vista is a bit too bloated to work well on a low-spec system like the eee)
Seems pretty cool - have gotten a chance to play with one at work (one of my colleagues won it).
Not sure what I'd really do with it or why I'd need one at the moment - not to mention that it's also pretty well known that a bigger-screen version is on the way soon.
(On another note, I do find it amusing that Windows XP has had its lifespan extended (again) for the eee PC since Vista is a bit too bloated to work well on a low-spec system like the eee)
Rancid makes me feel better
Had been feeling down (was in a bit of a rut) well after last thursday's post...the weekend was mostly better, but Monday was unsatisfying.
Yet, rocking out to songs by Rancid helped me feel much better.
One of my all-time favorite bands - I have a lot of love for them and have been enjoying their music nearly half of my life.
This is just a convenient video from a google/Youtube search with pretty clean audio.
Yet, rocking out to songs by Rancid helped me feel much better.
One of my all-time favorite bands - I have a lot of love for them and have been enjoying their music nearly half of my life.
This is just a convenient video from a google/Youtube search with pretty clean audio.
Monday, April 07, 2008
what's up with boring city development?
Lease is coming to an end, and so we're thinking about what to do next.
Living now in a part of the greater Seattle area that is very pedestrian-friendly, in that there are not only lots of crosswalks, but there are also businesses & things to do within walking distance. I can't honestly call it vibrant, but one will see people nearly anytime...maybe it's better described as an "active" area?
We like that. Unfortunately, home prices where we live now are on the high side. Annoyed that most of the places we can afford (further out) are in neighborhoods where there's nothing around...just a lot of houses - that seems really boring to us.
Alternatively, I guess we could try living in Seattle proper, but the areas we can afford aren't super compelling either, and are also going to require a longer drive for both of us.
Maybe just keep renting for the time being?
Living now in a part of the greater Seattle area that is very pedestrian-friendly, in that there are not only lots of crosswalks, but there are also businesses & things to do within walking distance. I can't honestly call it vibrant, but one will see people nearly anytime...maybe it's better described as an "active" area?
We like that. Unfortunately, home prices where we live now are on the high side. Annoyed that most of the places we can afford (further out) are in neighborhoods where there's nothing around...just a lot of houses - that seems really boring to us.
Alternatively, I guess we could try living in Seattle proper, but the areas we can afford aren't super compelling either, and are also going to require a longer drive for both of us.
Maybe just keep renting for the time being?
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