Katrina pics

Ok, first off i'm sorry about the image sizes I don't have photoshop installed so bear with me.

This sign shows the power of Katrina and we were a long way from where it actually made landfall. Amazing.
This shows the road leading to my house after little cleaning by some of the residents.

As you can see from this image, this is the top of the pine tree in the front yard laying where its not supposed to be. If my truck had been parked there it would obviously be needing much in the way of repairs.
This is from the other side of misplaced tree top. Not the best picture but there is another limb on the roof that is partially on the carport (far right).Here is the missing window...interesting how this thing just popped right out without damaging the glass or the blinds...
Now, this was not staged...this is how the room was when I entered. The diameter of this thing about chest high was roughly 5 inches. The garbage bag there to the right is kc's spanking new Athlon64 machine which is maybe 3 months old all safe and sound. Simply amazing...
This is the limb that damaged the roof just inside the front door...do not ask me how a limb does this it still is a puzzle to me.So, this is the woodpile after Big Joe Duke and Ryan come over to lend a hand followed by Kenny a bit later. A big thanks to BJD and Ryan for the help. I have more pics to be posted but thought this would be good for today...tonight...whatever.

Picking up after Katrina....

Well, I return home from Cbot's house to find our house damaged, sorry I don't have photos to post currently but they are coming. I drove up and parked and just sat there for a good 15 minutes just not believing my eyes. We were very fortunate, I know this and I thank God for sparing us as much as he did.

When I returned home I saw the top of a pine tree in the front yard, resting normally where the hood of my truck would be. Beyond that, I noticed the double window in kc's room missing and sitting on the ground in front of her room. I look up and see a limb split in half yet still hanging down and touching the roof. As I draw closer I look into the room to see the damage to it and see a limb in the roof and the other end resting on the floor underneath where kc's computer chair rests. So, I continue my walk around the house either the same pine tree cap or a limb from another tree had fallen on the car port and had calpsed half of it. I continue walking around the house expecting to see more damage and, thankfully, only find the typical broken limbs and brush in the back yard *big sigh of relief*. I then open the door and it only opens about 1/3 of the way, so I shimmy my way in to surmise the damage. The split limb had poked a hole in the roof just inside the door, dumping ceiling tiles, insulation, and pine straw into the livingroom area. After getting a hoe and getting the stuff out of the way and into the yard I open both the front door and back door to let some light in. I enter kc's room to surmise the damage further and notice the limb through the roof could have seriously hurt someone if there were sitting at the computer. It needs to be noted here that a mere 6 inches or so beside said limb was kc's new machine all safe and sound covered by a trash bag.

Kc's room sustained little water damage considering there was a gaping hole in the wall and a limb through the roof. The matress and box springs were obviously soaked and were about to begin smelling. The rug was wet also, I think the computer chair was wet also but uncertain. Some of the stuff underneath the bed was wet but undamaged. Other stuff on her desk were dirty from insulation and possibly a little wet but again undamaged. All in all, very fortunate.

Well, thanks to Cbot and her brother for putting up with me for another night and sharing some bandwidth so I can get this posted for everyone to see that i'm alive and kicking. Like I said, pics are coming of the devestation of the homestead.

Good ridance Katrina, and God bless all of those affected and those that are pitching a helping hand to those unfortunate.

-Kisea

Katrina gains strength....where will she go?

Well, I wake up and Katrina is 175MPH winds and an eye of 30 nmi. I'm sure my mother is worried if she's paying attention to the weather from her place in Cullman. I've gotten 4 sheets of plywood to board up the windows and protect our place the best we can. Ted's priorities are evident....what does he do? First thing he does is move his matress out to a 'safe' location. Figures...

Well, I have decided to hunker down somewhere in Mobile county and use my digital camera to document what I see. Cbot and her brother have been gracious enough to offer shelter to me and my machines (gotta keep them safe). I don't know what to do with Thor, i'll find some way to keep him safe even if I have to lock him in a bathroom at cbot's or something. So, now I get to play the waiting game. Gotta wait for a power drill to put the boards up. Gotta wait to see what Katrina decides to do. The weather channel made an observation that this could be on the scale of Camille, which is very very bad.

I don't know when I will be able to blog again...power and internet could be out for who knows how long. So, as soon as I can let everyone know how it goes I will. Peace out yo!

Katrina, CoH, and K-mart....what a day

Well, it seems that Katrina, according to the National Hurricane Center, is eyeing New Orleans to be its welcome mat to the US. Thats fine by me just as long as it doesn't get too close to the coast and say "wait a minute, the bullseye is over Mobile not New Orleans..." *adjust course* One of the Dr.'s of the Meteorology department at USA seems to think that it may strengthen to Category 5 status and possibly make a 'jog to the east' towards the end a la Ivan. So we get to play the waiting game, or in my case City of Heroes.

On the note of CoH, its been a pretty fun game and I don't know if the lack of inventory and equipment part of the game is good or bad. One of the big draws for WoW after you get to the hightest level is better equipment. While CoH has the enhancements to your powers, so in stead of striving away at finding those 0.0000000000000000001% drop Epic items in WoW you can get in and play. I don't know how this affects the game play because I have not been one to play a game with a monthly subscription. It seems that if I were to pay a monthly subscription fee, then I want to see a more dynamic world and quests. This was something that they had envisioned for the now defunct game Wish (long story short, about a week into the first beta it bellyfloped bad). So I have one more week to decide 'shall I keep this for a bit longer or not.'

Tomorrow is the season finale's of The 4400 and The Dead Zone. While i'm not sure if this is technically the season finale or midseason break, because normally The Dead Zone picks back up around January with some new episodes...something I must look into. Kaylee (Jewel Stait from Firefly) was on last nights episode of Stargate: Atlantis. I finally noticed that she was a talented actress (because she was wearing ugly makeup). I knew she did a good job on Firefly, but there have been many actors and actresses who made an appearance in Buffy or Angel and it has been the only shining part of their career (not saying Joss Whedon can make anyone look good, he sure does know how to write and get the performance he wants from people).

One last thing, if there is a K-Mart near you GO. They have some pretty good discounts right now as they are trying to get rid of most everything in preparation of becoming 'Sears Essentials.' I picked up a hydrolic floor jack with 2 jack stands and 2 wheel chocks for $32 (previous price after another markdown was $67). They had 20% off console games too.

Females....

Female storms that is....

Well, all eyes are watching the Gulf of Mexico for the next few days as Hurricane Katrina has decided to try and hit the bullseye that aparently is hovering over Mobile. Ivan tried but missed eastwardly yet still caused some damage. Dennis tried again and also missed eastwardly and did pretty much nothing here from what I could tell. Now the female storm known as Katrina is going to take her shot. As of 11PM EDT the National Hurricane Center projects the Hurricane making landfall near the Mississippi/Louisiana state line. Which is better than the projected path of 3 hrs ago, then it had it coming in near Biloxi Mississippi which I have read is the worst case scenario for Mobile putting the worst winds and storm surge right on us.

Now i'm not too thrilled about this, I don't want to drive all the way back to Cullman yet again for it to miss Mobile yet again and when that happens I have to rush back to Mobile so I can make class the next day. The school let out at 1pm on Thursday, Ivan hit on Saturday night/Sunday morning IIRC (if i recall correclty) and classes were back in session on Monday or something like that. I mean come on people, when I drove down from Cullman I stopped at 4 consecutive exits and finally could get gasoline at exit 130 because they were running on a generator. I know that Mobile supposed to be 'used to hurricanes' but if you evacuate 300 miles away with all the damage Ivan did, its hard to get back to classes so soon afterwards.

So, lets all hope that no matter where Katrina hits, it doesn't cause too much damage and spares lives. If it hits near New Orleans it could be awefull for them since NO is below sea level and relies on pumps to keep it from flooding. No matter which way it goes nor where it hits, its going to cause damage. I just hope to finish my degree before one comes through and flattens our house down here.

So, as the readers of Cbot's blog knows, I helped her and Espen move her desks and junk today. I like her brothers house, but I would prefer to make a few changes. Subtile but changes nonetheless. Big Joe Duke came by while I was there to survey the back yard, he seemed to have a gleam in his eye. While Cbot's brother is hermitish, it would seem that he would be willing to help clean the yard. But what do I know...

If anyone in the Mobile area who has is willing to put up with a possible 'storm rider outer' let me know, cause I am not very confident in my house. I joke that its held together by termites, yet it may be more accurate than both you and I know. In addition to that, we have two very large pine trees which lean towards our house and two more trees which could be blown over onto our house quite easily. I have movies, pc games, console games and board games if one would put up with my presence if the need to seek shelter arises :)

Finally maybe they get the picture...

Recently posted on slashdot.org is a piece about a New York Times article that talks about the decline in movie goers and nothing about piracy. From the article itself:

"Multiples theories for the decline abound: a failure of studio marketing, the rising price of gas, the lure of alternate entertainment, even the prevalence of commercials and pesky cellphones inside once-sacrosanct theaters. But many movie executives and industry experts are beginning to conclude that something more fundamental is at work: too many Hollywood movies these days, they say, just are not good enough."

Are the movie studios finally understanding that if they put out crap people will not watch it, that if people continue to interrupt movies with their cell phones that we would rather stay at home. Piracy does not account for the massive decline in viewership and lost revenue. Now if we can keep DRM out of most things that they are trying to force down our throats we and the companies will be much better off. As consumers we will support what we like and dislike, if you offer a reasonable deal at a reasonable price people will purchase it rather than attempt to pirate it.

I created my MSDNAA account again so I can try some stuff that they have on there such as Vista/Longhorn beta 1 and the Visual Studio .NET 2005 or 2006 whatever it is Beta. Also to get me a legit copy of Windows XP64. Since my notebook came with XP Home I don't qualify for the free upgrade to XP64. When I purchased my notebook I paid for XP Home, if I wanted to upgrade I had to purchase XP pro (no thanks, I have home) then for the free upgrade I have to have XP Pro. BLASTED Microsoft.

What have we learned today: 1) Maybe the movie industry is starting to catch on that piracy isn't the problem, 2) Forced DRM is evil, 3) MS can suck my big toe.

To go or not to go...that is the question

So, I am eager to go to Dragon Con this year for one huge reason....the entire cast of Serenity is going to be there along with Joss Whedon. But, its so close to convention time and i've never been to Atlanta and all kinds of things. What to do? I mean its the cast and Joss Frickin' Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and of course Firefly. So, I don't know.

I was taking notes on my notebook (more like IM'ing) tonight and I just love the widescreen monitors. When i'm on my desktop, I feel more cramped for space but the prices of widescreen monitors are not in my price range. Some people would say 'use dual monitor yo' but I don't have a good setup here to use dual monitor and its still not quite the same either (hrmm dual widescreen monitors *salivates*.

Class was boring tonight, I loathe night classes...especially 7:30pm classes. Then Hain is lecturing on the same STL tutorial he did in undergrad for the people who haven't have an STL tutorial, so i'm just extra bored.

Short post today...maybe some more CoH later tonight...tehehe.

The ups and downs of class

So, I had the other two classes on my schedule this semester, AI and Programming Languages. AI is being taught by the overrated mvd. He wants it to be more of a 'research seminar'ish class. *shrug* Just as stupid as the undergrad version, why am I taking it? Easier than graphics but then I would learn something in graphics...so I don't really know.

Programming Languages...something I like, but more importantly its taught by Dr. Langan. Langan can make you like just about anything he teaches and when your done with the class you have learned something. There is no way you can avoid it.

Dr. Langan is approaching the UPE members for action, which is a first I believe for UPE. He and Mrs. McKinney and others want us to kinda be mentors for freshmen. Since the enrollment is down here and across the nation as a matter of fact. Some possibly good students that are coming into the program are not doing as well as they should and others are changing majors. Maybe they can't handle the creativeness necessary to solve problems in computer science. I admit i'm not all that creative in this regards, it takes a lot of work sometimes. Maybe some people are 'affraid' of having their job exported overseas. That is primarily an IT problem. What CS jobs have been exported have been trickling back because some of 'them' don't have good coders and the list goes on and on. Back the the topic, I have volunteered to speak to some freshmen and 'be a mentor' for them. If nothing else, I can put it on my resume.

So, I have this wanting to help further my application development skills. I want to come up with something to work on that, if me and whomever I work on it with feel comfortable with it, releasing it open source or something. I just feel that my coding skills may be lacking.

Haven't really learned anything today, so I'm going to skip the 'What have we learned today' skit. Back to CoH...

I'll take 'Lack of professionalism' for a thousand Alex...

I would like to say congradualations to Julie Froseth (hope I spelled it correctly, and picture of Espen and Julie coming soon) for a great presentation for her thesis defense today despite the lack of cooperation by the thunderstorm. While I was listening I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, a PHd professor doodling on a handout. Ok, I can let that slip by. Then a few minutes later I notice something else out of the corner of my eye, the same professor messing around on his PDA. Ok, so maybe it was something important like a personal note that, heaven forbid, should not be forgotten. A few minutes later he is STILL on his PDA, so I lean back to see what has him so captivated...it was bejeweled. This PHd professor was playing bejeweled on his PDA while a thesis defense was taking place. I will only give his initials, W.O. That is so disrespectful, why don't you just skip the defense and stay in your office instead of being so unprofessional.

Next, the school network is so jacked up right now, and they still pay these guys to do whatever they are supposed to be doing. I bet they graduated right here at the fine institution of South Alabama (Zing!). They lock down everything except port 80 to begin with, then as things arise they open more ports. I should go over there and tell them "Hey idiots, my Trillian doesn't work why don't you fix that instead of sitting there and doing little to nothing."

I read on MSN news that Garth Brooks, no i'm not a big country music fan the headline caught my eye, signed a deal with Walmart. I wondered what kind of deal did he sign with Walmart, is he going to do a walmart tour or something. His exclusive, multiyear contract stated that his album(s) to follow will only be available from Walmart, Sams Club and their online outlets. Thats just stupid in my book. If I lived in Hawaii, I don't have a walmart or a sams club so I have to order it online and have it shipped to me...I can't go to my local music store and buy it. Is this going to be the new craze, Walmart starts contracting with artists to have exclusive rights to be the only outlet for certain items. Then comes Target signing Aerosmith or something like that. Then Sears/K Mart signs Black Eyed Peas or some crap. I mean come on.

Today I had my first Hain algorithms class. BORING. Just like the undergraduate algorithms course. But he did say (drum roll please) if we had an idea of an algorithm to go over let him know and we would cover it. So, if anyone has a cool subject in algorithms that I might like let me know.

What have we learned today: 1) Dr. W.O. is a loud, obnoxious baffoon. 2) Hain is boring 3) academic computing guys are morons, 4) Walmart is evil, and 5) Hain is boring.

Jeeze..... let the rant begin...

Why are all the women out there insist on becoming a sack of skin and bones? Yes, I am over weight myself. Yes, I am trying to lose the weight. Has it bothered me, you just don't know how much its bothered me. I have gone through bouts of depression (no, I did not take any medication, I had good friends and a strong will when I was gloomy). Thanks to a good book and diet program, The South Beach Diet, this is how i'm going to work on shaping my body into a more slim and heathly me. I am not going to wither away to nothing. Young girls are looking towards Lindsay Lohan, Hillary Duff, etc as role models and they are frail living cadavers. There is a good and healthy weight range, why do they insist on being sticks and twigs. Why does hollywood and the world put so much emphasis on having to be super skinny to be beautiful? If your body is out of balance this affects everything all the way to brain function. (also see Doug's post about book burro, helps to find the lowest prices on books).

The diet involved in the south beach diet really isn't that bad. Its nowhere near as dangerous as the Atkins craze (which hopefully is wearing off). I have been reading the book and still have a ways to go till I finish it. I have done research online which I have felt is trustworthy. Also, its much easier to stick to that many of the other diets and the foods that you eat make sense. I would recommend anyone who is interested, go to a bookstore and check it out.

Now, going back to a post from the other day about a gigabit network. I was reading and talking with people and haven't committed to a solution. I'm leaning towards getting the Linksys NIC and the SMC switch. I would go for the D-Link 4300 router with wireless but a couple of the review suggested to wait for the next one to come out with MIMO.

What is MIMO? MIMO (multiple-in, multiple-out) takes advantage of multiplexing to increase wireless bandwidth and range. MIMO algorithms send information out over two or more antennas and the information is received via multiple antennas as well. On normal radio, multiplexing would cause interference, but MIMO uses the additional pathways to transmit more information and then recombines the signal on the receiving end. MIMO systems provide a significant capacity gain over conventional single antenna systems.

What have we learned today: 1) What MIMO is, 2) the south beach diet is pretty cool, 3) be healthy not a sack of skin and bones.

Well, tomorrow is my first day of a new semester. Wish me well.

Blah....

Last night I watched my first episode of Stargate SG1 in a very long time. Among the reasons were skrubby was here and Ben Browder is now a regular. Ben was in fantastic form, acting in the old Bed Browder/John Crichton way we know and love. Also, Claudia Black has been in a few episodes this season as well, you can just look and see that she is having fun with her character. Even Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson) was decent, at least better than in some previous seasons. SG1 still isn't Farscape, but SciFi is trying to merge the two fans together obviously.

Last nights episode of Atlantis was like all of the previous two or three episodes I have seen. Someone does the 'I think I can make it work' [insert fluff here] 'OMG I can't control it' [insert more fluff here] 'we have a happy day'. Blah

Then Battlestar Galactica comes on. Adama has a split fleet with with the rest of them now around Kobol he is trying to find loyal people to fill key positions. Meanwhile, back at Kobol the 'president' is trying to convince people that she can lead them to Athena's tomb and on to Earth. While the whole political thing is okay, its really slowing the series down. The first five episodes of the season were pretty good, hopefully the rest of the season will be good. In the end, Adama decides to go get the rest of the fleet.

Haven't seen the episode of our lovely obsessive compulsive detective Adrian Monk yet. Looking forward to Sundays episodes of The 4400 and The Dead Zone.

Monday is the first day of classes so hopefully it will be a good semester. I have Dr. Hain *sigh* and Dr. Langan *WOOO*.

In funny news, the South Alabama network was crippled by the latest virus released. Instead of shutting down the network like a sane person would do, they didn't. They decided to use packet sniffers instead (thanks kenny for the inside info). Why don't the professors say anything about buffer overflows in SOME class (other than skrubby mentioned it in OS). A majority of students don't know what a buffer overflow is unless they go to wikipedia or something, much less how to prevent it from being a security hole in their future work.

So what have we learned today: 1) The USA networking dudes suck 2) current CIS faculty say diddly squat about buffer overflows 3) SciFi sucks.

UPDATE: It has come to my attention that one other professor has talked about buffer overflows. Mr. Lynn taught something about this in his CIS 121 class (Thanks Jeremy for the info).

New ride..

So, as some of you know I got a different truck, a 1997 Ford F150. This thing is simply wonderful, after 10 years of driving 'Old Blue' who hasn't had an air conditioner since before I started driving, I finally have a working AC. It has the 4.6L V8 so averaging my two tanks of gas I am getting about the same as my old Ranger. Larger truck, more room, AC, cruise control, a working cd/mp3 player, and an exquisite ride. The body isn't in perfect condition but it was a great price. I have to thank 'Old Blue' for treating me so well, but don't worry i'm still going to keep her for a bit longer. Maybe now I can repay kc by giving her a lift more often.

In school related news, I received an email that the department has selected three people from the applicants list and have sent notices that they have been chosen to receive GA's and they are waiting for their answer.

In other news, AMD has hired away from an IBM veteran to lead their development of all future AMD products across all of AMD's worldwide sites (link here). This is very interesting and has sparked speculation from many people such as: 'Will AMD begin making PPC chips" and "Will AMD begin producing Cell processors?" We will have to wait and see. The person who previously filled this post, who they refused to name, is still with the company in another role. We do not know what is going on in R&D already and it may be some time before we receive any hint as to what new research is being conducted but I do believe that AMD will continue to blaze the trail in desktop processing. With this hiring, hopefully they will make more of a dent into the server market and continue to make better mobile processors.

Now i'm looking for some feedback. I'm tired of the transfer time between my two machines, my new Athlon64 machine has dual onboard gigabit NIC's. I am looking at doing three possible things: 1) Getting an SMC 8508T 10/100/1000 8-port gigabit switch and a Linksys EG1032 NIC for my Athlon 1900+ machine (for those of you who are wondering, both support 'jumbo frames'). 2) I was also considering getting the D-Link DGL-4100 10/100/1000 GamerLounge Gigabit router with 4 ports and the same Linksys EG1032 NIC, and 3) The D-Link DGL-4300 (links to manufacturer site and toms hardware) 10/100/1000 w/802.11G and speedboost (up to 108Mbps wireless) 4-port and again the Linksys EG1032 NIC. The DGL-4300 is a mere $10 more than the 4100. While SMC and Intel have some good gigabit NIC's I have never been let down by Linksys. So, please leave me some comments about this will ya.

Why Viruses?

What motivates people to exploit security holes and write computer viruses? I think its two things, like anything they are motivated by money. One of the huge reasons they write viruses is for spammers who make money and employ some of the 'cream of the crop' virus writers. They can exploit security holes to make zombie machines who will unwittingly send out tons of spam. As long as there are people out there who click on spam and buy stuff the spammers will keep making money and continue to produce more and more spam.

Secondly, like the old 'script kiddies' from my days on Internet Relay Chat, they are looking for respect and 'street cred'. Back then the 'script kiddies' would flood nodes until they would ping out of the network and they could gain 'Op' status (channel operator) and thus control over that particular channel. These virus writers want status among other virus writers and their friends.

A possible third category which I don't think I give merit to are people who just want to hinder Windows users. While I am by no means a Windows or Microsoft proponent, I do use Windows because they seem to find a way to keep us chained to what they push on us. These people want any kind of news that makes Microsoft get negative press and possibly shed positive light on Linux.

How do we foil these people, well there is a huge segment of the population who are not computer savy and do not understand that they need to update their computer. Furthermore, there are many people on dialup that don't update because its 56k or worse. But probably the biggest thing is to find a way to cut into the profits of the spammers. How do we do this? I don't really know, maybe threaten them with prolonged torture, immense fines and public humiliation.

Now in funny news (article link here):

"A man has been arrested in Japan on suspicion carrying out a virtual mugging spree by using software "bots" to beat up and rob characters in the online computer game Lineage II. The stolen virtual possessions were then exchanged for real cash."

"Several players had their characters beaten and robbed of valuable virtual objects, which could have included the Earring of Wisdom or the Shield of Nightmare. The items were then fenced through a Japanese auction website, according to NCsoft, which makes Lineage II. The assailant was a character controlled by a software bot, rather than a human player, making it unbeatable."

*wiping eyes from laughing* That is so darn funny! This comes on the heels of a Korean guy dying after a 50+ hour marathon of gaming (Starcraft or something like it). The Asians are some weird people, I like anime but some of the things they do over there is just down right odd.

What have we learned today: 1) its all about the money 2) Viruses suck 3) virus writers and spammers are evil 4) some of those Asian people are very odd.

Another hot and sticky day in Mobile

Like I said in yesterday's post, there is a lack on GA's to fill the all of the available slots. There are four of us american students who are GA's (I won't name names here), then the rest are of, what I will generalize as 'middle eastern' origin. I ask myself, why is there such a disparity between these foreign students and american students as GA's? Well, you have to admit, unless you get one of the 'special' GA's the money is not attractive in the least. I have been able to survive because I have a family which have gone out of their way to help me get to this point.

But, going beyond the monitary focus, its yet another obvious point of a generalized lazy america. The number of caring and dedicated students to careless students continues, from my point of view, to rise in the unfavorable direction. I dare say, neary every person who reads this blog cares about their education and went to great lengths to gain as much useful knowledge they could get out of their education. While Mobile is not a technology town by any means, if they wanted to help bring in more tech Mobile is in a very good geographical location for technological growth. Many students think that since they pay the money to the school, they deserve a good grade. That they are just there to put in the time and get the degree at the end to help them get a job and make money.

I do not want the readers to think that all foreign students are like what I am about to state. I have a few friends who have traveled to America for their education, and those who I count as friends take their classes and education seriously. But I have seen and heard about several incidents of, what I would consider, boarderline of blatant Academic Misconduct. I reported one such incident to a professor of a graduate course, one I did notice failed not recieve a GA the next semester (unsure if he was a GA when the incident happened or not) however the other 'offender' did and continues to recieve a GA in the CIS department. Many think they can barter their way out of trouble or into a better grade in their courses. Some have found that will the right amount of brown nosing and ego stroking of the faculty, they can get their good grade. I am not a brown noser and I do not stroke egos. You may think that I am pompous or I disrespect authority but ask any of my friends and I believe that they will tell you the same thing. Off the top of my head there are two professors that I have utter respect for, Skrubby and Dr. Langan.

With this said, how do you get students of all nationalities to respect their education and universities? Well, we need professors who deserve respect and push their students to do more, be better and work harder. There are several professor's classes which are insanely easy, if you can hit a couple of their key words and brown nose them in your discussion answers then you can pass with flying colors. You can hear about stuff like this at every university. Do people value their degree? From where I am sitting, not enough of them are. Every person who graduates with the same degree that you have also bears witness to you and every student who comes after them. If you apply for a job and they have tried any number of graduates from your program with dismal failures then the probablility of your application landing in the garbage is quite high.

On another note, I have to say that The Wedding Crashers was a great movie. Vince Vaughn was at his usual brilliance. Owen Wilson was good as well and the female leads were great. If you have not seen it, like comedy, don't mind some language and can overlook the short topless scene then I would highly recommend this movie. The character Gloria, Isla Fisher, was the best and hottest of the cast if I do say so myself.

What have we learned today: 1) The Wedding Crashers is very funny, 2) we need more good professors, and 3) education is undervalued. Now, leave some comments and tell me what your thoughts are about this and what you think could be done to help improve this.

Reporting for duty, Sir

Well, the graduate assistants had a meeting today to go over what our duties and assignments are. For those of you who do not know, I have been offered and accepted the Mentor Graphics Assistantship (the money was the deal there).

So, I show up early as I always do and 2PM rolls around and most of them show up just in the nick of time. We go over how to fill out our time sheets for the new people, where they will be and what to do with them. Then Dr. D comes in and starts talking about how we need to communicate and how help each other out. That if you have to miss a class or lab then you need to get someone to cover for you and only under dire emergency should you contact them about missing a class/lab. Then he further went on about other things such as we should be on the lookout for cheaters since the 120, 121 and 230 assistants will be 'our first line of defense' for this. A couple of us will be teaching class and that the assistants helping them should be respectful and treat them like any other instructor.

So then Kurt and myself along with the other assistants with special duties are excused while the rest find classes to cover. This was the shortest Dr. D meeting EVER for me. I would imagine that the others GA's know how long he can go now. But, the department had two people decline their GA offer so they have three (yes 3) slots open for CS/IS Graduate Assistantships. I have to say not from experience but simply by visibility, Skrubby ran a tight and disciplined ship when he was over the GA's and it is evident that Dr. M.V.D. and Dr. R.D. are having problems.

In addition to the meeting, I received my nice purple parking pass for the South lots (CIS, business, and across University Blvd. parking lots). They have a PDF form you fill out, print and sign then carry to the Student Center game room to received your parking tag for the semester. This was pretty efficient except for the check box where you freely tell them that either, yes I live on campus or no I do not. If you check yes, then you get a plain parking pass and can only park in the dorms or student center area. If you check no, then you can get one of the four designated parking zone tags. I know a couple people who say they do not live on campus just to get the parking tags and be able to drive to class. Maybe some sort of secondary check here. When I lived in the dorms I would have LOVED to have had a transit system. Granted, I did not walk that much because its freaking Mobile. Save gas and enjoy a ride to class maybe even make some new friends.

Well, as for the rest of the week I think I shall play some Dungeon Siege or finish off Doom3 and maybe install Farcry. We'll see.

Bubbling Crude

Sorry, no post yesterday it was a travel day for me. I drove about 300 miles yesterday down Interstate 65 from my hometown to the wonderfully sticky city of Mobile. Yep, its getting to be that time when professors either try to fit too much information into your brain or they seem to waste your time more than previous terms (you'll hear more about that all semester).

I filled the tank on my 1997 Ford F-150 from 1/4 to full on a mere $44.00 last Friday at a price of $2.399 per gallon at the Murphy's USA (Walmart) in Cullman. Saturday morning it was $2.499 per gallon. Along the interstate the prices were sometimes around $.10 to $.15 higher than that. Maybe, just maybe we need to rethink this whole 'SUV craze.' Many get less gas mileage than 18 MPG. I could not make a guess of how many SUV's I saw on the interstate (and passed by most of them) with only the driver as the only passenger. While I fully know that we are a semi-free country maybe we should reconsider this. So, person A gets this Ford Excursion or Chevy Suburban or whatever that get like 12MPG just because we 'may' want to carry our friends out to lunch or something. Look in Europe, for the most part they drive rather small cars with small engines which get pretty good gas mileage....are they smarter than us in the USA. It sure looks that way, but I hope not.

I know money is short to come by right now, and those with money are not eager to spend it. So going out to buy a hybrid car is not much of an option. But how much of that is a result of the Oil Companies? We may never know for sure. An episode of The Lone Gunmen talked about this (of course with humor). In the episode 'Like water for octane' there was a car than ran on water. Maybe we can't make a car than runs on water but we could explore alternative fuels if only we could loosen the grip that the Oil Companies have on us.

We are too dependent on oil period. Not just gasoline, oil. We are a wasteful society, if everyone would take the time to recycle plastics and metal cans that would save a lot of oil. Oil is an integral part of created plastics, as well as a TON of other products we use.

So what have we learned today 1) Oil is expensive 2) the government doesn't seem to want to do anything about it 3) Mobile is HUMID.

UPDATE: Sorry I was in a hurry when I wrote this so...

ID software is cool

At the end of the keynote speech by John Carmack at QuackCon, he reveals that shortly the source code for Quake 3 will be released. This is nothing new at Id Software: Doom, Quake, Quake 2 have all been released and continue to thrive in the community. Doom Legacy and Quakeforge have been some previous community releases by the masses. This allows aspiring game programmers to gain experience towards the job that they aspire to attain.

Maybe other developers should look at how Id handles this and do the same themselves. Many people criticize Id for developing a stunning engine then develop a game like Doom3 to show it off to sell to other game developers. I have thorougly enjoyed Doom3 and I refuse to use the 'duct-tape' mod because it defeats the purpose of the game...scare the piss out of you while having a fun time. I give a big Kudos to John Carmack and Id Software for doing this.

Software patents, what do you think about them? I don't like them very much, they stiffle innovation. Currently, some of the large companies are in a patent rush. They claim to protect themselves, so they can use them as bargaining tools if and when they infringe upon another companies patents. One of the craziest patents that comes to mind is when Microsoft patented the 'double-click' (slashdot post here). They also files for a patent for custom emoticons. How do you like that?

I believe that developers should have some protection when they research and develop something innovative. So, maybe software patents could be reduced in life to say 2 or 3 years? I mean in this time a lot more R&D could be done and make the previous algorithm or what have you seem like bubblesort (quick and easy but not very efficient on larger data sets for those who are not fluent in code). Here are some links for your reading pleasure: the Wikipedia entry about Software Patents, League for Programming Freedom, European No Software Patents, Some examples of software patents, and many more if you google 'software patents.'

So, this is why I posted this...I want some feedback from YOU. Leave your comments about this and let me hear what you think on these subjects.

What did we learn today 1) very little.

AMD who

I wanted to write this because, expecially lately I have been asked numerous times about computers. Coming from a small town and a group of people not known for their computer literacy I kinda expected it. They ask if I could build them a computer (usually because my mother coaxes me into it) I agree to help. Then I am usually asked about some specifics of the computer I spec out and why an AMD and not an Intel processor. So, in short I say its cheaper but operates the same and start to move on. Then they say they want a good computer so don't worry about a price difference get 'the good stuff'. They don't understand the jargon and technical stuff so I lay it out simply Intel, in my opinion, is not the best solution. So, with the news of a new architecture release coming soon from Intel I wanted to get some of my speculation out there and lay out why, currently, AMD is on top.

I am a big AMD fan, I admit it and its not something about rooting for the little guy to triumph over the giant. I just haven't liked Intels practices much less their latest tactics in processor design. In computer architecture you learn, or at least you should, that an easy way to boost higher clock speeds is to increase the length of the pipeline. Lets face it a majority of the public is not educated in computer architecture and can only go by the 'MHz to MHz' or now the 'GHz to GHz' comparison which is basically null and void. That is why AMD started using a new naming scheme for their processors to kinda debunk this and stay in the market with Intel tauting MHz and GHz. In addition, even though AMD has become a major player in the microprocessor market they are far from the sheer size and pockets of Intel and this new naming scheme keeps them in the running with inexperience users.

The last new architecture that Intel introduced was the IA64 or Itanium processor (some call it the Itanic for obvious reasons). This was a totally new 64bit architecture that was not based on x86, some thought this was a godsend, but those who like the x86 architecture pointed out how it had to run x86-32 code via emulation (which we all should know as a very bad word in computing). Before the Itanium, Intel had the P6 architecture, which was preceded by P5 (Pentium), 486, 386, etc. all the way back to the first parts Intel made. At present there are three major architectures that are all in production at Intel: P6 (Pentium Pro/II/III now evolved to Pentium M), NetBurst (Pentium 4 and derivatives), and IA-64/EPIC used in Itanium processors (we don't actually know what the name for the Pentium-M is because they have never released its name). But we do know that it does use some extensions of the P6 (later cores change this but i'll leave that to you to find out).

One of the latest Pentium 4 cores is the Prescott which uses a 31 stage pipeline (called NetBurst) coupled with an 8 stage fetch/decode frontend for a total of 39 stages. That is more than twice the length of the AMD K8 (Athlon64) pipeline. The next closest pipeline length to that aren't even out yet being the Cell and Xenon processors at around 21 stages. A longer pipeline only benefits in raw clock speed which explains why the Pentiums are the only processors above 3GHz on the market.

Going back to architecture class, while you get raw speed from a lengthy pipeline you also get inefficiencies in cases where branch prediction misses (IE flushing the pipeline) which in the case of the Prescott can be up to 30 cycles down the toilet (I guess I should mention the heat issue too, DANG man up to 150Watts for some of the latest processors, my Athlon64 runs around 84 degrees F under decent load). Then if you have a cache miss, oh my god it could be even longer than that by quite a bit because you have to access main memory (you should have bells ringing in your head "Von Neumann bottleneck"). There is a very good article on anandtech which is more in depth here.

So, soon Intel is supposed to be introducing a new architecture some are calling Conroe. While we know nothing about it yet it will be interesting to see what they stuff into it. I suspect it will have a shorter pipeline than the netburst, yet still longer than the AMD K8, probably around the length of the Cell and Xenon processors (so they can still claim to be faster than AMD in the GHz department). Also, after reading the article at anandtech I wouldn't be surprise to see the Front Side Bus integrated into the processor similar to the K8. That would help scaling multicore processors because the current Pentium design for multicore is fairly rough and doesn't even compare to the AMD solution.

Is Intel losing in the desktop 64-bit computing field? Definitely so, their IA64 was all but a total flop. It was expensive and the backwards compatability issue with the multitude of x86 code doomed it from the start. AMD's development of AMD64 (aka x86-64 or x64 but now AMD64 is the official name) which was a 64-bit extension to the IA32 architecture created a fully backwards compatible operating evironment with old x86 code. Intel's EM64T architecture is simply their implementation of AMD64. It was obvious that they wanted to keep it on the down low that AMD kicked their butt and they must play 'catch up' with the desktop 64-bit computing.

Did Intel drop the ball when it comes to multicore? I would venture to say most definitely. The K8 was designed from the beginning to scale up in the number of cores on a single chip, they are already working on the quad core K8. You may ask how would multicore processors help me, a lowly desktop user. Well, thats a bit complex. This processor is able to process more software threads at the same time, this is called Thread Level Parallelism (TLP). The need for TLP processing capability is very dependent on the situation. Certain applications are only written with one thread and can't make use of the second core. But there are many who can such as audio, video, and rendering applications. With more and more people doing these kind of things then the more advantageous it will be to have an Athlon64 X2 (the name for the multicore Athlon64's) system or the ability to simply drop in the X2 processor, update the BIOS and be ready to rock and roll.

So, what have we learned today: 1) I remember architecture class, 2) AMD Athlon64's rock (from experience no less), 4) At minimum, Pentium III and up suck. If you find any omissions or anything wrong, post comments or email me. I try to do as much research as I can on things like this but to be human is screw up.

Who needs Vista anyway?

So there have been a bunch of rumblings about Windows Vista (aka Longhorn). Vista will use a vector based graphical system. Fine and good, now your icons will look good whether they are icon size or blown up full screen or some crap like that. They have been touting WinFS for a long time now and guess what....as it looks now, its not going to make it in time for release but will be added later as a service pack or something. Thats just great, this means that if you convert your hdd to WinFS and have to reinstall guess what...the original install disc won't recognize your WinFS disc unless they do some voodoo (note: this is not known for sure must wait to know for sure).

Now, some of the cornerstones of Vista: new developments to the OS and the .NET framework is further support for DRM (I hate that acronym, its so evil), an application deployment engine called "clickonce", improvements to the installation of applications, and the trustworthy computing initiative which is previously known as Palladium. A bunch of jargon to mask some of the stuff. So, I googled 'Palladium' just to see what all that encompasses and came up with a pretty good article by Ross Anderson (obligitory link here). In short, its a group effort from IBM, MS, Intel, AMD, and HP. Palladium is only the name MS gave one version that was to be deployed in 2004. Here is a short part of the article about Trusted Computing:

2. What does TC do, in ordinary English?

TC provides a computing platform on which you can't tamper with the application software, and where these applications can communicate securely with their authors and with each other. The original motivation was digital rights management (DRM): Disney will be able to sell you DVDs that will decrypt and run on a TC platform, but which you won't be able to copy. The music industry will be able to sell you music downloads that you won't be able to swap. They will be able to sell you CDs that you'll only be able to play three times, or only on your birthday. All sorts of new marketing possibilities will open up....

There is more to the article and its a good read. It put me on edge (must learn linux).

The windows Presentation Foundation (aka Avalon) is a new UI subsystem and API based on XML, .NET, and vector graphics, which will all make use of 3d graphics hardware and Direct3D technology.

The Windows Communication Foundation (aka Indigo...why did they come up with that name I have no idea...was someone a fan of the Indigo girls?) is a service oriented messaging system to allow applications to interoperate locally or remotely similar to web services.

Now for all you Win32 API Guru's out there...WinFX (Totally different bird than "WinFS") is a new API to allow access to these new features, replacing the current "Win32" API. Just spiffy huh? Its a managed API which, like everything in Vista is built on the .NET framework so I don't know about the backwards compatibility. Here is a link to watch a video talking about WinFX, its in two flavors 100k and 300k.

Vista will include a completely re-designed UI, they call Aero (why does Red Hot Chili Peppers "Aeroplane" come to mind here). This interface is intended to be cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing (IE more annoying and waste of cpu clock cycles IMO) than previous Windows, including new transparencies (who cares), animations (Bah humbug) and eye candy (only in games my friend) implemented similarly to Mac OS X's Quartz Compositor. They think the improved aesthetics will re-inforce faith in Windows platform and keep potential switchers from leaving the OS (makes me want to switch even more).

It is worth noting that WPF, WCF, and WinFX are technologies that will be made available to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 as well, and will not be technologies exclusive to Vista, but rather developed in time for the Vista release, to be incorporated in that operating system (how thoughtful of them). This doesn't imply coming visual changes to these operating systems though, as Aero(plane) will still be exclusive to Vista.

Vista is expected to have a brand new networking stack. A significant change is a more complete implementation of IPv6 which is now supported by all networking components, services, and the user interface. Vista will also take advantage of peer-to-peer technology to provide a new type of domain-like networking setup known as a Castle (I would probably wager MS is the self proclaimed King...).

Full support for the no-execute feature of processors. This feature, present in AMD's AMD64 architecture, as well as Intel's EM64T Architecture. Which I must point out in programming terms is "Intel EM64T == (Intel)AMD x86-64". Finally, something to be all warm and fuzzy about.

We all know that XP has built in CD writing support, but who uses it, Every new system that has a burner comes with burning software. Vista will have Built-in DVD recording capabilities, including Mt. Rainier support. Great, now my computer is going to melt down for sure...pesky volcanos.

A new installation program that will install Vista in about 15 minutes. I have GOT to see that, no wonder the beta is 2.4gigs. I suspect its just a copy and paste operation for the most part.

They are going to be dropping the "My" prefix on stuff, so 'My Computer' will now be 'Their Computer' oh wait I mean 'Computer'.

The Windows System Assessment tool sounds cool as long as it doesn't send itself to MS every time I scan my system... Its supposed to allow you to tweak your system for peak performance. Once again only time will tell.

There was an article on Slashdot a few days ago about OpenGL support (link here). I didn't even think of this when I was sitting in on a presentation about Windows Longhorn from the MS Evangelist. He did his thing talking about avalon, indigo and stuff. I listened while he praised the vector graphics stuff. Since the graphics are now vector based what does this mean for OpenGL? Well, the current MS implementation will be to layer OpenGL over DirectX (effectively stopping OpenGL at version 1.4 even though version 2.0 has been released). This could produce a performance reduction of up to 50%. What games are OpenGL: quake2, 3 and anything on the Q3 engine, Call of Duty, half life , Decent 3, some of the final fantasy games, Diablo 2, Doom 3, Duex Ex, Heretic 2, Hexen 2, the Hitman series, The Homeworld series, Jedi Knight 2, Jedi Academy, Medal of Honor, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, both Soldier of Fortune games, Star wars: knights of the old republic, two star trek games, Tribes 1 and 2, and Unreal and there are a bunch more at opengl.org and this does not take into account CAD, Modeling & Creative Content Creation, Developer Toolkits & Libraries, Game Engines, High Level 3D APIs, Virtual Reality Tools, Viewers & Internet 3D Streaming, Utilities: Screensavers, File Converters, Benchmarks, Simulation & Visualization, Scientific, Data Analysis & Geographic Mapping.

So, what have we learned today: 1) I can read, 2) OpenGL rocks, 3) DRM, MS, Longhorn/Vista is evil 4) No thanks MS, ill stick with XP as long as I can. Plus, I also learned that there is a Windows Longhorn Server which is to replace Windows 2003 Server but they have yet to give it a marketing name like Vista. If I have overlooked anything or stated anything wrong please post a comment or email me.

A big thanks to Wikipedia and its supporters for the information I gathered for this post, its a very handy online encyclopedia. Hopefully my visa card did not receive any fradulent charges while I was writing this and that no one's Visa was revoked while reading this post. Also, I guarantee Lordpanzer will have a comment to make about the possible 'monitor DRM' Vista may have, so I won't tread on his ground there (union rules).

Movie industry

I like movies...good movies that is. So far this year the box office take has been down from the same week of last year I don't know how many times. We even set a record for most consecutive weeks the box office was down from last years take. Does this surprise anyone?

Movies like Stealth, The Island, Dukes of Hazzard, Are we there yet, Constantine, Guess who, Bewitched, The Ring Two, Kingdom of Heaven, XXX: State of the Union, Elektra, Son of the Mask and on and on. They have good names in them with good effects but the stories, for the most part, are rather nonexistent. They are there with the big budgets and some good actors and actresses but little to no story and lose money. Take Stealth, the reviews I have read about it gave it 1/2 out of 5 stars. It has earned less than 25% of its production cost back. But who do they blame it on? Us. They say that we are going out and downloading the movies instead of paying nearly $10 per person to get into a theater plus the current price of gas near my house is $2.299/gallon. More examples, Dukes of Hazzard was reviewed and given 1 of 5 stars, Bewitched 1 out of 5 stars and the list goes on and on.

Most of the movies listed above have not made a profit. Once again, they say its us the computer savy people who are killing the movie industry. We find a way to download the movie and watch it, bypassing paying them the 'reasonable' price to see it in the theater. I have dismissed more movies this year as 'renters' than ever before. Why can't they just make a good movie? Do they have to keep making remakes of previous movies?

As many of my friends know I am a Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fan. So far, Episode III has made over $800 Million worldwide this year. I consider the movie very good (don't ask how many times I saw in in the theater). Lord of the Rings were released in December which is usually a bad time of year to release such a large movie but it worked. Do you know why? Putting aside the geek factor, they were fantastic movies.

If you don't read slashdot.org then maybe you should. From time to time they have stories on there which are not covered by mainstream media (but you do have to overlook some of the comments from obviously disturbed people). The FBI and other agencies can coordinate multinational investigations into websites which allegedly offer movies for download. They can spend large sums of tax dollars to thwart this injustice on America, yet drug trafficing is at an all time high. Meth labs are being found everywhere. Alabama just passed a state law that requires sudosomething stuff to be put behind the counter to help curtail this epidemic (the jury is still out on this one). Why not spend the money on something like that which hurts everyone rather than shutting down a website in europe which will pop back up in another country in a few days.

Maybe I'm being too negative... maybe I just have expectations which are too high. I'm looking forward to Serenity (yes i know i mentioned it yesterday) and The Chronicles of Narnia later this year. I know that Serenity will be good, its by Joss Wheden. Narnia should be good, I have not read the books but they are well loved by many. But beyond that, I don't know for sure. I do know that as long as the movies are as lack luster as this year has been so far the box office will continue to see declining sales (at least from me for sure).

So, what have we learned today: 1) big budget films aren't always good, 2) movies need better plots 3) MPAA sucks 4) its quite possible that i'm too negative and 5) Serenity is going to rock!

Kill Reality

I was sitting at my computer looking through some stuff I have collected over the last few months and found the trailer for Serenity. I couldn't help but ponder why do all the good shows get canceled? Farscape, Angel, Special Unit 2, Firefly, Enterprise, Grounded for Life, Good Morning Miami, Wonderfalls, Tru Calling, Joan of Arcadia, and The Lone Gunmen just to name a few... well maybe more than a few but get over it.

Well, I don't suppose many of you recogize Special Unit 2 (no its not a sequel either), Grounded for Life, The Lone Gunmen, or Good Morning Miami but they were good shows (except for GMM it was a decent show but whos counting). SU2 was suberbly funny take on things but it was aired on UPN which is basically a graveyard. Grounded for Life started on one station was on the brink of being canceled and then moved to another station, changed, ran for a bit, then canceled. All the time, little to no advertisments were aired. Now the Lone Gunmen was a spinoff of sorts from a wildly popular show (for a while) called The X-Files. It had a talented cast with great storylines, but little advertising. What advertising they did have was geared at getting the audience of The X-Files to also watch this show... bad move, this show was nothing like it thus it joined the others in the basement of cancelation.

Ok, my next round of shows: Enterprise, Tru Calling and Joan of Arcadia. I think I was one of the few who considered Enterprise a refreshing take on Star Trek. We get to see the roots of the Star Fleet and the adventures of the first Enterprise. First off, the theme song was hotly debated by Star Trek nerds everywhere...people get a clue, just because it wasn't the traditional anthem and actually had words that fit the storyline doesn't make the show bad. Honestly, I only got to watch the first season because I have a life (or should I say school has my life), so when I say 'it was a good show' you know what i'm talking about. Tru Calling, this show also seemed to be good but I did not actually get to watch any other than the first episode. It had one of the hotter chicks on television, one Eliza Dushku from Buffy. They aired the first season normally then they held the cards on the second season until after january (normally new seasons start around september). Couple this with more lack of advertisment and you also get a one way ticket to the basement of cancelation. Joan of Arcadia, once again, seemed to be a good show which I could not make time to watch. It had another nice looking chick by the name of Amber Tamblyn and John Ritters son. Neither of these could carry it past a second season because ABC is looking to grab a younger demographic which JoA wasn't reaching (until midway through the second season).

Now, Farscape, Wonderfalls, Angel and Firefly. These puppies were cream of the crop but dumped. Farscape was one of those religiously watched shows by me. Rockne S. O'bannon, David Kemper and company were fantastic. Every episode was practically like a movie and those three part episodes with the words "To Be Continued" drove me to my wits end. Half way through their 4th season SciFi (in their infinite wisdom) decided to take the escape clause and snuff out a 5th season. So what happens in the season finale... "To be continued". What a huge uproar by nerds everywhere. The most massive campaign ever seen to bring it back. You had ads in major cities, ads in newspapers, ads in magazines. It was even covered twice on CNN. Grassroots campaigns were started to help 'sell' the series to other broadcast companies by putting together packages. Protests where people were encourages to send empty cracker boxes to SciFi (because of an episode entitled 'Crackers Don't Matter') with statements that 'Crackers DO matter' enclosed. What eventually happens? A miniseries is made to tie up the loose strings finally. I guess you can kinda score one for the good guys there, they pull something from that cancelation basement for a brief but spectacular moment.

Angel was a spinoff of Buffy about the vampire with a soul. Several stars made their move from BtVS over to Angel eventually. It had a nice run but after BtVS left the WB I think it was doomed. Joss Wheden (brilliant person), IMO ticked off the WB when he packed up for UPN, and about this time was working on Firefly (explained later) so he didn't have direct control of either show. So in the end it came down to two things either WB was going to cancel Angel or Charmed...guess who got the axe. An awesome (and dark) storyline was started and was abruptly ended which left quite an aweful taste in my mouth.

Wonderfalls was a brilliant show by one of the producers of BtVS and Angel. It was quirky and extremely funny. Sadly, lack of advertising and a bad time slot helped usher it to the basement.

Finally, what got me started rambling: Firefly. Joss Wheden's masterpiece which I sum up as a space western. This series was picked up by Fox (three series on three different stations). The major blunder, Fox decided they would not air the Pilot episode first. So the first episode aired was actually the second episode. Even I was like 'ok, so how did all these people come together and end up running from those people'. Never second guess someone like Joss Wheden. Now, Joss got the funding for a movie to continue Firefly which is entitled Serenity. All of the series' fans are jubilant about this, however the mainstream people out there haven't heard of it. There have been talk of more movies if this is successful or maybe another series. I say rock on!

So why have I been babbling on about all of this? Reality TV. Its killing good series. Its cheap to produce and it seems like it captivates audiences. So, when you ask people 'Do you like Reality shows?' why do they answer 'I hate them'? Why do they keep making more of them if everyone seems to hate them so much? Simple, they get ratings. Why do they get ratings? Because people watch them! Why do they watch them? Because it seems that people get captivated by them. How? Because America is a country that likes to see humiliation and harm come to people...we like to see what someone will do for money or exposure. Its as simple as that. As long as we let ourselves be captivated by Reality TV, they will continue to make it and reap profits.

Lets hope that this quick list of shows continue to rise above Reality TV: Wildfire, The 4400, The Dead Zone and Monk.

So, what have we learned today? 1) I have too much time on my hands 2) I don't have much of a life 3) Serenity looks cool 4) Reality TV is evil.

Yes I admit that I omitted some stuff but dude...look at how long the post is already, do you think people want any more drivel today....I have to save something for tomorrow ;)

Update: After talking to a certain someone, they pointed out I forgot Dead Like Me. A series that was just canceled by Showtime. Quick synopsis: girl gets killed by a toilet seat from Mir and now must become a reaper. Very interesting premise, seemed to be a very likable show but was told to walk the plank and join the rest in the basement. A cool sidenote about the show, it also starred Mandy Patinkin which many should know from 'The Princess Bride' fame and the infamous line "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father...prepare to die."

First Post....yah

Ok, this will be my place to publish my thoughts, beliefs, and ramblings for no one and everyone to read. It may seem sane... but then again you may dismiss me as a total nut job from time to time. Thats okay, because in the infamous words of Jimmy Buffett "...if we weren't all a little crazy we would all go insane..."

I don't have a cool name IMO, some of my friends have Cbot.blog(this) and The Porter Method so i'm just using "Wright Stuff" for now, I'm not a bot nor do I consider myself that smart. Now, with no further rambling...

I was reading slashdot.org about the havoc that may be experienced due to the new Energy Bill, which should be signed into law today by our President Bush. You ask 'whats the big deal about the energy bill?' Well, as with almost all bills, our wonderful congress people (see political correctness) attach other things to these bills. Many don't make it, a lot do. In this particular bill we have the extension of daylight savings time (which is quite confusing to people anyway).

The bill would start daylight time three weeks earlier and end it a week later as an energy-saving measure.

Now, what is your first thought about this? Lets now compare thoughts. First thing on my mind, "Oh great, another Windows patch to fix this..." Then cut to, "poor Win9x/ME/2000/NT4 users who will not get a patch." Then my mind rambles on uselessly from there. Then I think VCR's, DVR's, DVD players.... then it hits me. The Broadcast Flag (dun dun DUN!!!!!). What is the broadcast flag you say? Try wikipedia or Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Well, as Americans we are a bit spoiled. What do we do when something doesn't work anymore (and may or may not be in warranty or we can't find our receipt to Walmart)? Well, we go buy a new one. Okay, just keep reading and following my breadcrums here. In 2008 or 2009 (not sure when exactly) all television broadcasts must be in digital format. In 2007, this extension of the daylight savings time will begin. People with VCR's will not notice it until the time changes and the VCR doesn't.

Ok, so we set the VCR with the new time, no biggie. Now three weeks later, the vcr has reset it self for the 'old' daylight savings time, stubborn things. Again, we set the time on the vcr and also means for some people they haven't recorded one of their favorites shows on television yet again.

All is well and good during the summer months.

Fall rolls around again and the vcr, being a stubborn little thing it is, sets the time with the 'old' daylight savings time. Then one week later the time changes but the vcr didn't, what a stubborn little device these things are. So, once again after missing two more things on television you reset the time. (I didn't take into account being late for work or school or none of that crap, sorry)

So, being as lazy and spoiled as many Americans are, one day we are walking in walmart/best buy/[insert store here] and we see a nice new vcr with these nice features which most importantly has the new DST code. So, why not just buy it and never have to set the time on it again unless something unexpected happens (like a hurricane knocks the power out, tree trimmers break the power pole and the power goes out.... yes these have happened to me within the last year and no i'm not kidding) .

But guess what, that new vcr, dvr or whatever has the new Broadcast Flag compliant code in it too. Assuming that the Broadcast Flag is passed, because the media companies are lobbying congress heavily and doing all the other stuff that helps get things that benefits business to pass congress. With that new dvr or vcr your not able to record your favorite show anymore because that would just be evil or something.

So, if you have read through all of this and are still with me how do we compare? Yes my mind works in a complicated way and no i'm not insane. I just think... maybe I think too much but then again if I didn't I would be wasting the 10% of my brain that wasn't already wasted.

Now, this is where I will wrap up my first post. If your the one people who read this on the first day I post, fantastic your here from the beginning. On the other hand, if your not one of the people reading it on my first posting day, shame on you. Todays lessons are: 1) First Posts are cool 2) DST is stupid 3) why would congress make something stupid already worse 4) I forget, its congress 5) Get motivated, if you don't like whats happening get involved. With numbers we can make a difference.

[Rant] So you say, 'its politics, I can't make a difference, they are too corrupt...' or 'I don't want to be like the politicians' or 'Its all about money'. You can make a difference, it may not be something big if your working alone but if people work together with resolve you can make a huge difference. You don't have to sit back and take it. Be active. If congress starts talking about taking away your rights *cough* patriot act *cough* DO SOMETHING!! eff.org is a place to start, expecially for us techies. Through them you can send emails to senators and representatives in your area. [/Rant]

Check back often, on some days I may post multiple times or I may take a day off.