Stay Tuned.

For the 6 readers I may have left, thanks!

1. My son loves to play Guitar Hero III (I know, I know, “Frets on Fire”, but he’s particular)

2. I can watch HDTV with my TV tuner in Vista (and this won’t be a problem with Kernel 2.26)

Today I decided to boot into Vista so I could watch some TV.  That was over an hour ago.  First, Vista wanted to update.  I had rearranged my hard drive layout a couple weeks ago so it decided to re-detect all my hard drives as well.  Once the update process –that took 30 minutes — finished, I had to reboot, install pre-shutdown updates then I had to wait for post-boot “update configuration” to finish.  Once I got to the desktop it decided that my sound should only come out of my USB headphones which was fine, but annoying.

I have become a full-fledged Windows hater.  It’s bloated, can’t detect the simplest of hardware without a driver disk and the constant reboots for software/driver updates is stuck in the 1990’s.  If it wouldn’t devastate my son to lose Windows I would format the spare HD and use it to hold something useful — like maybe a oepnSUSE partition?

I am a Linux crusader trying to convert the masses.  If you somehow stumbled across this and you are thinking about switching to Linux but the command line scares you, start off with some of the more user friendly distros like Ubuntu, Fedora Core, or openSUSE.  Use it for one month.  I promise you can do EVERYTHING in Linux that you can do in Windows (and you can usually do it 10x faster not to mention you don’t have to spend a penny on software)

Get one of the distro’s here:

Ubuntu

Fedora Core

openSUSE

CERN is firing up the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) tomorrow for its first run.  Although I doubt the world will implode it does mark the beginning of one of the most important physics experiments to ever be performed.

If we are all still here tomorrow I promise to make a concerted effort to start updating this page more frequently!

You can view the live webcast here http://webcast.cern.ch/

also see Wired’s blog for more info.

Subject: Hi Jeremy Buy Heroin, cocaine and other shit from timothystuff
I am very sorry for you Jeremy, is a pity that this is how your life is
going to end as soon as you don’t comply. As you can see there is no need
of introducing myself to you because I don’t have any business with you,
my duty as I am mailing you now is just to KILL you and I have to do it
as I have already been paid for that. But I give you a chance. Call my neighbor 315-678-2789 and say password “there is time to save my skin” and if that would sound convincing, I will forget about you.
Tell him this password for Timothy Sinclair (be sure it is not my real name).

WARNING: DO NOT THINK OF CONTACTING THE POLICE OR EVEN TELLING ANYONE
BECAUSE I WILL KNOW.

Well, if I end up dead, its been a good life.

In short, his software selects random words from a group of texts then interfaces with Wordpress to create a blog post everyday.  I’m not sure if he just uses the “post by e-mail” feature of Wordpress or if his software interfaces directly but either way, it produces some interesting results.

Have a look at the blog that writes itself here:

http://mkv.dnlr.net/

Read more than one and you will find that although it seems non-sensicle, the software has a way of putting words that create a cohesive post (at times).  I find it facinating to see what topics appear.

http://myphoneblaster.com/

What is it?  In short, you call people and when they answer they hear an MP3 you have uploaded through the site.  You select the number to call, set the caller ID (which is the best part, he he…) and upload a MP3 from your computer or select from a few “default” tracks.

Although I’m first reminded of the days of ‘ole (before everyeone had caller ID) when you could prank call people without being immediately called back or reported to the authorities, I’m sure you can use this site for things other than getting into trouble.

For example:

• Send your significant other a sweet song
• Express your anger through music instead of screaming
• Bug your co-workers (as I have already found this effective)
• Brighten up someone’s day
• Fill-in-the-blank

Give http://myphoneblaster.com/ a try.  I think you will quickly find it fun a addicting.

At home I use Linux and Windows, at work I use a Mac.  I enjoy aspects of all three OS’s but for a while Mac’s have had a killer app that was not available on any other OS.  This applications biggest asset was what it didn’t do — Get in the way!

The app is called Growl and it provides useful notifications only from applications you want to monitor.  For example if you are chatting with someone and reading an intriguing article from Wired but your browser is taking up the entire screen.  With Growl there is no need to flip back and forth between the browser and the IM client, instead Growl pops up a small, non-obtrusive “bubble” with the message from your friend which “floats” there for a few seconds, then goes away.  Growl works with a grocery list of applications to display useful information you may want to be aware of like completed downloads, new IM’s, new e-mails and so many other things.  If you want tend to the notification you can click on the bubble and the appropriate application will be made active, if not, it will just fade away after a few seconds.

For you Linux users out there an application with the same idea in mind is available called Mumbles.  It works with the Gnome desktop and can be installed via a source or a .deb package.  The range of supported applications is not as vast but the ones that matter to me work out of the box — Pidgin, Firefox and Thunderbird.  More support is coming and what is available is already a must-have.

Finally, for you Windows users an app called Snarl is available.  The current issue with Snarl is application support.  I believe it’s on its way to being a great app — just give it a few months.  It does have a developers guide available for anyone who wants to add Snarl functionality into their existing application.

While all three apps serve the same purpose Growl is by far the pack leader.  It has been around the longest and provide support for tons of applications. (Both of the others are admitted attempts to bring “Growl” functionality to the respective OS.) If you are on the computer even half as much as I am I can assure you that once you use these apps you will wonder why someone didn’t think of this a long time ago.  Don’t just take my word for it, download the apps and give them a test run!

Growl - http://growl.info/

Mumble - http://www.mumbles-project.org/

Snarl -  http://www.fullphat.net

I landed a job at a web-hosting company.  It wasn’t just any job — it turned out to be one of the best things in my life thus far.  I work with a small group of extremely talented people whose combined knowledge could overload a supercomputer.  I have superiors but they do not make me feel inferior.  I not only get to come up with ideas but implement them.  I spend most of my time dealing with server related issues but my input in many areas of the company is respected.

I have the joy of getting paid to “play” with computers, help customers avoid certain web disaster, become a Linux guru and, with the help of my co-workers, learn the skills it takes to be a damn fine system engineer.

I hope anyone who reads this has the opportunity, at least once in their life, to truly enjoy their career.  There is nothing better in life than enjoying what you do for a living.