Virtual House Fire

Several months ago the processor on our computer went bad. The computer had lived a good life and was in need of being replaced anyway so then I finally had a good reason. I ordered the parts to build the new computer, but when I removed the hard drives I placed one of them on the desk with the intent of adding it to the new computer later. This was the drive that had all of our pictures and music on it. I am talking thousands of songs and tens of thousands of pictures! Then a magnet was accidentally set on top of the drive.

The drive was quite a mess. To make a long story short I was sort of able to recover most of the pictures and luckily I had all of the music and most of the pictures backed up elsewhere. I suppose we may never know for sure how much was lost. It was like a virtual house fire. One of the things that people fear most with a house fire, other than the loss of life, is losing those irreplacable things like family pictures.

The digital age we live in comes with pluses and minuses. The negative thing is that rather than taking a rare fire or flood to destroy 10 years of family memories it can take one simple little magnet. The advantage is that it is easy to have multiple copies of these digital items like music, pictures and documents. But of course you have to take the time to make sure you actually back them up. After lots of searching I think I have found a pretty good and inexpensive solution. Its called iDrive. You install a small program to your computer, configure the settings and it backs up all of your files, and this part is important, to an off site location! You aren't just backing up files to another hard drive in your house, which is better than nothing, but still vulnerable to theft and fires, but you are backing up to a secure server located somewhere else. It uses 128 bit encryption both in trasmitting the data and in storage, you can access the backup from any computer with an internet connection and you can have 2 GB of storage for free! If you need more than that, it is less than $5 per month. A great deal if you ask me.

Remember it is not a question of if your hard drive fails it is just a matter of when. Keep in mind that most hard drives have a life of 2 to 5 years at the most. Please, please, please take my advice and make sure that you have some kind of backup system, it will save you a lot of frustration and heartache later on.

R.I.P. DRM!!

This is very good news for music!

Sony Drives Another Nail in the DRM Coffin - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Flying X-Wing Style!

Man, would I love to be there when they launch this thing... not too close of course.

Rocket-Powered 21-Foot-Long X-Wing Model Actually Flies

Andy Woerner and his crazy rocketeer friends have built a 21-foot long X-Wing model that can actually fly. Yes, this is a real X-Wing powered by four solid-fuel rocket engines complete with radio-controlled moving wings. It blasts off in California next week...

Redefining the music industry!

...and it is about time. Record labels have proven to be the bane of the music industry for years and now we are at a point where we can cut out the middle man. Thank you Radiohead for taking this first step!

How Radiohead killed the record labels

"The announcement in the early hours of this morning of the imminent arrival of In Rainbows, the seventh Radiohead album, is hugely exciting for the band's millions of fans. In Rainbows, boxed set Potentially though it's even bigger news for the music industry. Released in ten days time, the album is available as a digital download for whatever price you want to pay. Radiohead may have done irreparable damage to the industry's traditional business model."

I can see a future where the major record labels are either dead or are vastly smaller than they are now. With computer technology for recording and the internet for distribution and marketing there is no longer a need for these juggernauts that cater to the lowest common denominator, stifle music, inhibit creativity, and rip-off artists! The RIAA has made their bed by alienating their clients with scare tactics and now it is time to see them reap the benefits of their unholy army of lawyers.*

(*if none of this makes any sense it is because I am highly medicated)

Jatropha: From Weed to Biofuel

Since I have several readers who know considerably more on this subject than I do, I would be interested in what you have to say about this. It seems like about every month or so we read about some new possible energy source. This one sounded unique and promising being a fast growing weed that is a natural pesticide in itself and drought resistant. We hopefully wouldn't see the problems that we do now with rising corn and other grain prices.

Mali’s Farmers Discover a Weed’s Potential Power - New York Times

...a plant called jatropha is being hailed by scientists and policy makers as a potentially ideal source of biofuel, a plant that can grow in marginal soil or beside food crops, that does not require a lot of fertilizer and yields many times as much biofuel per acre planted as corn and many other potential biofuels.

jatropha can grow on virtually barren land with relatively little rainfall, so it can be planted in places where food does not grow well. It can also be planted beside other crops farmers grow here

Relevant

I have been listening to the Relevant Podcast for about 6 months now. It "features the editors of RELEVANT magazine discussing the news, issues and entertainment that matters to your life—with in-studio music performances and interviews thrown in for kicks."

The show is usually about an hour long with no commercials, just fun. It consists of 3 guys and a girl sitting around and chatting just like any of us might do with 3 of our friends. The only difference is their discussions are recorded and include having a band showing up and playing a few songs. Sometimes they will also interview a Christian author, like Don Miller.

The podcast is released late Friday nights, but it leaves me with something to look forward to listening to at work on Monday. I highly recommend at least giving it a try for a few weeks. The magazine, which I just subscribed to, is also great and the website has a plethora of interesting articles as well.

The Blue Angels

My family came to see the Blue Angels on Sunday. Quite a show I must say, but man it was hot! Unfortunately I accidentally had my camera set to 1600 for the ISO(film speed) so the pictures are really grainy and not much good for anything except sharing on the Internet. I have to remember to always check the stinking ISO setting. I have done this more than once, but never that high.

Yes that is Rodrick on the left.

See if you can figure this one out?

Hollywood Physics

9 Laws of Physics That Don’t Apply in Hollywood



I must confess that all of these issues have bothered me at one time or another in movies except maybe the sound that travels at the speed of light. I can't think of a time that that particular physics violation has crossed my mind with movies. Now I am sure that one will annoy me all the time too.

Comet McNaught

Of course the forcast is for it to be cloudy tonight and tomorrow :-( but if not check low in the South-western sky tonight right after the sun sets!



SkyTonight.com - Catch Comet McNaught Now!

Rio Karma

Sometimes my MP3 player knows me like a close personal friend other times it is a stranger throwing random songs at me like rocks trying to provoke me.  Today it is a brother handing me the right songs in the perfect order to comfort, inspire and motivate me.  Yesterday I left work a little early feeling like I could do no more...of anything.  Today I went into work feeling the same and wondering how I would make it through another day of toil and playing catchup.  But with the selective combination of Arrested Development, U2, Waterdeep, Foo Fighters and Pedro the Lion I now have the strength to press on.

At least it is Friday... back to work now.

What's the difference between a nerd, a geek, and a dork?

I have personally been called all three of the below throughout my life but I would have to say the only one that is close to accurate is "Geek"  except for the whole biting heads off of chickens thing and as of yet nobody works under me.  I say "as of yet" b/c once my diabolical plan is complete the entire world will work for me... (to be said with an evil laugh following it)  Good ol' Yahoo always answering those deep hard hitting life questions.

Ask Yahoo:
What's the difference between a nerd, a geek, and a dork?

We've been called all three, and to be honest, we always assumed they meant the same thing. However, according to the cool kids, there are differences.

Official definitions for nerd, geek, and dork each use the words "inept" and "foolish." Nerds have the added distinction of being "unattractive." Ouch. While it's hard to argue with the dictionary, we sought out definitions from the Internet at large.

According to Whatis.com, nerds are people of above-average intelligence who place little importance on their appearance. Nerds are often aware of their status, but they don't mind. In fact, many take pride in the putdown, as it means they're smart and not wrapped up in superficial worries.

Geek is a more specific term. Back in the day, geeks worked at carnivals, and (according to the dictionary) "bit the heads off live chickens." Thankfully, the term now has a different connotation. Like nerds, geeks are smart, but they tend to focus more on technology. As Urban Dictionary explains, these are the people you make fun of in high school and later work for as an adult.

Being called a "dork" is the biggest insult of the three. There's no way you can spin it into something positive. After all, even the dictionary writes that dorks are "stupid" people. And to make matters worse, dorks assume they're cool. Oh, and they smell, too.

So, to sum things up, if someone calls you a geek or a nerd, thank them. If someone calls you a dork, consider going back to school and investing in some new deodorant.

Email is the new snail mail

BREITBART.COM - E-Mail Losing Its Clout

"E-mail is so last millennium. Young people see it as a good way to reach an elder _ a parent, teacher or a boss _ or to receive an attached file. But increasingly, the former darling of high-tech communication is losing favor to instant and text messaging, and to the chatter generated on blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace."

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"...Adults who learn to use IM later have major difficulty talking to more than two people at one time _ whereas the teens who grew up on it have no problem talking to a bazillion people at once," Boyd says. "They understand how to negotiate the interruptions a lot better."