Using Mac

My personal blog

Nuggets 131, Suns 107

Allen Iverson scored 44 points and dished out 15 assists in leading the Denver Nuggets to a 131-107 blowout of the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night.



The Open-Source ATI R500 Driver

Last week the first open-source ATI R500 (Radeon X1000 series) driver had entered the world. This new driver (named the xf86-video-avivo) is very early into development, but a small set of developers have been working on reverse engineering this GPU class for the past couple of months. This driver does not yet contain any 3D functionality or support for features that most end-users expect. At this point, the driver just contains very basic initialization and set video mode support for a portion of the Radeon X1000 family. Even with this very basic R500 driver, we couldn't help but to explore the Avivo driver for the past few days.


Rudy Giuliani's New Foreign Policy Team

Rudy Giuliani's New Foreign Policy Team Tuesday, Rudy Giuliani announced the line-up of his foreign policy team, addressing a key area of concernfor many voters going into November 2008 (Read on Source)


Life in an earthship

These fully sustainable, off-the-grid dwellings can maintain a comfortable interior temperature regardless of the heat or cold outside.
Photos: Home sweet earthship


CEA News - Conservation: Protecting Canada's coral

WWF-Canada today released a new study ... Tags: Conservation (Read on Source)


Google seeks EU approval to buy DoubleClick

Company says $3.1 billion deal is "positive for both users and advertisers, and fosters competition." Search competitors disagree. Google filed with the European Union competition regulator on Friday for permission to buy rival DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, and the deal almost immediately became contentious. The European Commission...


Teamsters, UPS agree new 5-year contract

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Teamsters union and United Parcel Service Inc on Sunday said they reached a tentative five-year agreement that will raise parcel workers' wages and increase the company's contributions to funds providing pensions and benefits.


FCC won't probe disclosure of phone records

The FCC won't investigate whether phone companies gave customer records to the NSA, saying intelligence officials deemed a probe to be a national security risk. The head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission declined to investigate reports that phone companies turned over customer records to the National Security...


Workshop: Extend PC battery life in Vista

... Windows Vista includes a huge number of options that can be used to reduce the amount ...


Tearing down Bobby Jindal

There are few things that drive the Left crazier than minority conservatives. We’re race traitors, parrots, puppets, hypocrites, House Niggas, Aunt Tomasinas, whores, and sellouts. (Read on Source)


RH to Host in EC2--Does it Blend?^W^W^W Is It Open?

Luis Villa's Blog: "So Red Hat is going to sell hosted servers in EC2. With my recent focus, this prompts an obvious question.


Apple Film Fest: Making a 3-Minute Masterpiece in a Jiffy

Once the camera starts rolling, it doesn't stop -- at least not for Virginia Tech students Tony Lazzeroni, Tyler Henderson and Paul Hinson. Last month, the filmmakers took home first place in Virginia Tech's Four Minute Film Festival for their video "First Impressions." Now they're in the running for an award in Apple's Insomnia Film Festival for their video "Tuned Out."


Weekend Athlete: 2008 Nissan Xterra

Xterra500

Straight out of the box, the Nissan Xterra tries to be the Weekend Athlete?s best bud. It?s got a storage box above the roof for a wetsuit or other nasty items, but best of all it?s got a wipe-down cargo floor. Past that, of course, it still must pass the compulsory tests.

Carrying camping gear is easy, as it usually is, but for some reason car designers seem fixated on giving you either enough room for four people or enough room for four people?s gear. It seats five, you say? Yeah, it?ll seat five if you and your friends are members of the Lollipop Guild.

If you members of the Lollipop Guild, first let me say I?m a fan of your work. Second, you?ll all want to circle around back and check out the height of the load floor. It was just fine for me, which suggests it could be too high for shorter athletes.

The seat-folding system is one of the old-school kind, where you flop the bottom forward then flop the back down, but it uses intuitive loops and can be done with one hand. Ditto for raising the seats, and this earns the Xterra big points.

The bike slips right in thanks to a wide cargo area, but the Xterra isn?t long enough to hold it with both wheels on. It is the rare vehicle today that will let you put a bike in with all wheels on, so I?m not going to ding it a ton for that, but it will keep the Xterra from ever being picked first in the Weekend Athlete kickball tournament.

Now for the grades. To better assist my fellow athletes, I?m making the scoring system more transparent. If you?re all about the bike and never camp, or vice-versa, hopefully this will help you decide if a vehicle does what you want it to:

Weekend Athlete Scores (Out of 10)

Ease of loading gear ? 4.5: Shorter folks will want to make sure the load floor isn?t uncomfortably high. Also, when carrying a full complement of camping and biking stuff, it requires a bit of thought to get everything just right, which hurts a larger vehicle such as the Xterra. But it is a nice, wide opening, and it doesn?t have a stupid swing-out door.

Ease of seat operation ? 7: Simple, one-handed operation is nearly perfect.

Bike hauling ? 5: Yep, I?m not dinging it for making me remove a wheel, but it isn?t much better than most. And to me, average gets you a 5.

Locker room cred ? 9: It looks tough, but it?s the easy-clean cargo area and roof-mounted wetsuit box that seal the high ranking.

All-around ? 7: Solid, but not spectacular.


Virtual Online Worlds for Kids

Virtual Worlds for kids are abundant online, and more kids sites are launching every day. Whether your kids prefer puppies or penguins, chatting or games, there are sites to appeal...


The Very Best Google Adsense Tricks

Since its creation, Google Adsense has presented a new and easy opportunity for many webmasters to earn money from their sites. There are many webmasters who make a living from Adsense alone, but the...


NBC Ready To Make 'Heroes' Of Web Programming

When the mailman arrives on Monday, July 14, on the NBC website, he'll find himself delivering a new ability in the debut of webisodes of the popular superpowered series.

read more


Artificial Intelligence Gives Gliders a Lift

A British firm develops a system that tracks cloud formations, ground conditions and weather data to create real-time flight plans that guide glider pilots toward thermals.
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Safe and Sound

Im back in my beloved Palo Alto. As promised, Ill do a post later tonight...


Flock Social Networking Web2.0 Browser in openSUSE

SUSE & openSUSE: "Flock web browser is built in Web2.0 and social networking as the core theme of the browser supporting Social networking, Photosharing, Bloggin, syndications."


Duckett leads Seahawks over Raiders 23-16

The second- and third-string Seattle Seahawks were just like their starters: better than the Oakland Raiders. (Read on Source)


Is It Good For Business To Subsidize OSS Developers?

ruphus13 writes "A lot of developers for open source software have full-time day jobs too. As economist Milton Friedman said, 'The business of business is business.' So, does it make sense for companies to encourage their developers to contribute to the open source community? OStatic discusses a blog post by Alfresco exec Matt Asay, who makes the case for why they should. '"Companies like IBM, Intel, SGI, MIPS, Freescale, HP, etc. are all working to ensure that Linux runs well on their hardware. That, in turn, makes their offerings more attractive to Linux users, resulting in increased sales." While I don't think we'll ever see companies everywhere subsidizing employee development of open source tools, many tech and non-tech companies alike could benefit from subsidizing open source development from employees with talent. If more companies woke up to this idea, we'd see more purpose-driven, mission-critical open source software shared by firms in the same industries. That, ultimately, would benefit the companies providing the subsidies.' Should your employer pay you for time spent on open source development?" snydeq points out an Infoworld story suggesting that there's something to learn from the way French companies are promoting open-source development.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


Everglades Restoration Effort Making Scant Progress

Everglades Restoration Effort Making Scant Progress Complex project planning and funding processes are hindering a federal and state effort to restore the Florida Everglades, says a new report from the National Research Council.? Good science has been developed to support efforts, but to begin reversing decades of decline, managers should first move forward with projects that have the most ... (Read on Source)


About Chapters

Individuals who want to become involved with green building on a local level can join their USGBC local chapter. Chapters are the local voice of USGBC, and chapter members are key to raising awareness about green building. Chapter membership also provides excellent networking opportunities, the chance to serve on committees, and chapter member- ... (Read on Source)


New Characteristics Discovered In Hodgkin Lymphoma

Researchers are still discovering new characteristics of Hodgkin lymphoma, a common form of cancer of the lymphatic system. The malignant cells are derived from white blood cells (B cells), but have lost a considerable part of the B cell-specific gene expression pattern. The phenotype and the characteristics of Hodgkin lymphoma cells are ... (Read on Source)


New Knowledge About Thermoelectric Materials Could Give Better Energy Efficiency

New research could be used to develop motors that are more fuel-efficient and provide for more environmentally friendly cooling methods. The new data describes properties of thermoelectric materials.


Penn St

Congrats on game, another thumping and this college football season looks like a complete joke. Almost like a grown man who posts trash with ten i.d.'s on CBS (here they come, its so easy to coax a rat from underneath his hole....All you need is food) (Read on Source)


Katy Perry: Death Becomes Her (E! Online)

Katy Perry: Death Becomes Her(E! Online)E! Online - Leave it to Katy Perry to celebrate her birthday with dead people.



Model Truck Painting Ideas And Tips

Have you ever opened your model truck and caught yourself thinking about whether or not you truly wanted to just apply the decals that came with it or just paint it and be done? Maybe you wondered whether or not you wanted to just apply the decals and be done with it. Yes, decals can make your model truck look pretty good but a good paint job can make the difference between good and great. The only thing that might hold you back a bit is your being ready and willing to learn the necessary techniques for a great paint job.

When modeling started to involve painting it was originally limited to hand painting techniques. The paints and tools that were available were very limited in number and could also be very expensive. The ones that were less costly could tend to be very low in quality as well. Now leaders in the market have gotten better control of the manufacturing costs and can now offer affordable paints and tools. Along with availability going up the quality of the paints and tools has risen as well. Now another tool is available that once relegated to body shops and automakers. Small scale air brush painting kits have come on the market at an affordable price and are easy for the beginner to use as well. If you are thinking of taking this route then you should examine the different number of resources out there that can help you choose what type of air brush you might like to use as well as what sort of techniques might be possible with them.

Something else you will have to think about when you decide to paint your model is exactly where you are going to assemble it. When you paint your model truck you are going to have to allow enough time for the parts to dry which will mean that you will have parts spread out a bit. If this is not going to be possible due to a lack of space then decals may be something you will have to consider. If there are children in the house you will also have to think about using only decals. Little parts can be tempting to little hands. If you do find that painting is what you want to do then you will have to know a few things. The first thing is whether or not you wish to use primer.

While primer is not necessary for painting your model it can be extremely useful. If you want to know whether or not your paint will adhere. You can apply a bit to the sprue and see how it does when it dries. If it flakes off then you will definitely need to use primer first. Primer will help show you any flaws that may be present in the truck's construction as well. One thing you need to make sure of before you prime your truck is that it is clean. If not then the foreign materials will end up showing through your paint job.

If you would not mind going through these steps and want to make your truck look as good as possible then painting might be the choice for you. If you do not want this much trouble then you should stick to using the stock decals that came with your model.

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for model cars, model trains, and model trucks. You will find excellent hobbying and trading resources here for http://www.sellmodelcars.com, http://www.sellmodeltrains.com, and http://www.sellmodeltrucks.com.


Because mean kids suck, Lurleen

Because mean kids suck, Lurleen [Lurleen posted a diary asking for some love from the straight allies in the coffeehouse, asking "Why are you an ally?" I started to post this in the comments, but then decided to front-page it. -- "R"R] Why am I a straight ally of LGBT Americans? Because mean kids suck. When I was a kid, I had three strikes going against me: I was a nerdy smart ... (Read on Source)


NiFfLe:

NiFfLe: Oldtimer's game Guess which game on Sunday has the Niffle staff arguing like an old married couple. (Sorry, honey, nothing personal.) (Read on Source)