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 22.oct.2005 - Readers have long been requesting an updated version of the Black Beast. It's the site's #1 request. And I've been meaning to do that for some time, bit I kept getting distracted.
After much research (my eyes are burning), I have a new system pretty-much spec'ed out. Just need to do the dirty work of creating a new page where I can link to all the beautiful new components. Coming soon.
The 2006 version of "the Beast" will be based around the Intel 945P chipset, found on the Asus P5LD2 motherboard, with a dual-core Pentium D.
Remainder of today's techno-lusting entry blogged here:> Designing New Black Beast - 2006 Version
18.oct.2005 - Updated the Ghost guide .. minor update .. included links to additional alternatives to Norton Ghost, one of them being free for home users (DriveImage XML).
Everybody likes freeware, but I feel the ability to restore your system (should anything tragic befall your hard drive) comes with such grave consequences that co$t should not become much of a factor in deciding which imaging application to use.
Nevertheless, everyone agrees that *any* imaging solution - no matter how rudimentary - is still far better than no imaging solution.
The remainder of today's back-up entry is blogged here:> Updated the Guide to Norton Ghost
17.oct.2005 - Saw the classic surf flick Five Summer Stories (1972) this weekend. The venue is what made viewing this flick so special. It was screened *outdoors* .. at Heisler Park (here in Laguna) .. while waves could be heard crashing on the beach below.
This picture shows the place where the screen was positioned .. on the walkway, between the grass and railing in the distance. It measured ~10-feet square (3-meters tall): plenty big for all to see.
The watery horizon in the far distance seemed to magically divide the lower half of the screen from the upper. Behind the lower half: the ocean. Behind the upper half: sky .. which continued to darken until the show began (7PM).
The remainder of today's cinematic entry is blogged here:> Films & Movies Screened Outdoors at Heisler Park in Laguna Beach
12.oct.2005 - E=mc² .. this famous equation was the subject of last night's PBS special, titled Einstein's Big Idea. I enjoy pondering concepts that torque the brain. You've probably heard the classic question: if you drive your car at the speed-of-light and turn on the headlights, will they work?
Albert's surprisingly simple equation states that Energy (E) and mass (m, sometimes called "matter") are actually different manifestations of the same thing.
The letter c represents the speed-of-light (some 670 million miles-per-hour). Because it's found on the m side of the equation, it indicates that a little bit of matter can be converted into a *lot* of energy. Your 99-cent ballpoint pen contains the atomic NRG of a nuclear explosion.
The remainder of today's thermonuclear entry is blogged here: E=mc² - Einstein's Big Idea
09.oct.2005 - Updated the Guide to ASPI layer drivers. Repaired a bunch of dead links. Amazing how quickly link-rot can set in. And since I tend to use copious linkage, the guides need updating twice annually.
Popular guide. Try searching Google for the term ASPI and you'll see what I mean. Only the Ghost guide is more popular.
08.oct.2005 - Boxing tonight, on HBO: Roy Jones Jr vs Antonio Tarver. They actually fought last week (on Pay-Per-View), but it should still be a good fight to watch. Their 3rd meeting, with each man winning one of the previous two matches.
For a long time, Roy Jones Jr. was considered the best pound-for-pound boxer on the planet, with blazing speed. Yet his matches were typically boring to watch, cuz nobody ever posed much of a threat. Most fights, he hardly broke a sweat.
This might be the last time to see one of boxing legends in action. Here on the Left coast, things get underway at 9:45. Wish I had one of those wide-screen hi-def puppies to watch it on, with surround-sound.
The other evening, I watched Seabiscuit on a friend's 60-inch Sony hi-def, wide-screen LCD .. with 5-speaker surround-sound. It was like watching a completely different movie. When those horses came snortin' around the track, you could feel the ground rumble. I really enjoy that movie.
07.oct.2005 - Began work on a guide to .. writing Radified guides. The guides here represent the site's most popular features. I'd like to think most of the site's 10,000 visitors come each day to see what interesting things I have to say .. but alas, statistics reveal the majority of visitors come for the guides.
The Ghost guide has historically been the site's biggest draw. Followed by the ASPI guide, the FDISK guide, the Guide to Ripping & Encoding CD Audio and the Partitioning Strategies. Oh yeah, and the Guide to Installing Windows XP.
The remainder of today's entry is blogged here:> Radified guide to Writing Radified guides
06.oct.2005 - Friendly reminder for those of you living here in Laguna Beach (LaBeana Gooch) .. today is the First Thursday Art Walk. Maybe I'll see ya out on the town .. sucking up some culture, along with the complimentary chardonnay & hors d'oeuvres.
I prefer watercolor paintings best, tho not sure why. I've always admired people who can paint. Since my own artistic skills are limited to drawing stick-people (and not very good ones, at that).
05.oct.2005 - Been enjoying this new book: Into the Wild (refer to yesterday's entry). Feels like I'm sucking the juice out of every word. Fascinating reading. Read the first chapter twice .. so the book would last longer.
Learned the kid mentioned was no dummy. He'd grown up in an affluent suburb of Washington DC, where he'd excelled academically & been considered an elite athlete. Later he graduated from Emory (Atlanta) with honors .. before heading out "into the wild".
He was captivated by the writings of Tolstoy, particularly admiring how the Russian had forsaken a life of wealth and privilege to wander among the destitute. War and Peace was his favorite book.
Krakauer says (from the Introduction):
I spent more than a year retracing the convoluted path that led to his death in the Alaska taiga, chasing down details of his peregrinations with an interest that bordered on obsession. -and-
In the months following publication, it generated more mail than any other article in the magazine's history.
Not sure what is causing such allure, but the story got its hooks in me. I'm looking at the book, seeing how thin it is (only 200 pages), and thinking it's not nearly long enough.
There is something liberating about facing your fears head on. Emerson said: Do the thing you fear, and death of fear is certain.
Maybe that's why I'm drawn to the story. I've always enjoyed challenging myself. But there seems more to it than that. Something primal. Maybe the next chapter will offer a clue.
04.oct.2005 - Got a new tent and sleeping bag yesterday, along with some other hiking & camping gear .. such as water filter, a canister-stove, some cookware and a headlamp.
Tried to get equipment I could also take backpacking (which tends to be lighter). Kinda excited about heading up to Yosemite before it gets too cold. I've been jones'in' for a healthy dose of nature. I never feel better than after spending a couple of weeks roughing it in the mountains.
On a similar note, I also picked up the book Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer. The cover reads:
In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley.
His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter...
01.oct.2005 - Adiós September, Hola October: one of the year's finest months .. with warm days, cool nights. My kinda month.
Saw A History of Violence last night, up the road at the Big Newport, on the giant screen there. Opening night. Theater not very full. Stars Viggo. Little Nik said, "Vee-go. Now *that's* a cool name!"
Despite strong reviews, I was disappointed. Maybe because of them. I mean, Rotten Tomatoes selected it as its Certified Fresh pick-of-the-week. Maybe my expectations were too high. This is the first Certified Fresh flick I found disappointing.
Violence starts painfully slow (almost boring). Story-telling, especially in the first half, is labored and unnatural. The dialogue comes off as mechanical.
A review I read said: A History of Violence is character-driven, not story-driven. What that means is, it has great characters (Ed Harris plays a very colorful mobster from Philly) but the story-telling suks.
You might know somebody who's a good storyteller, somebody who can make even a mediocre story sound enchanting. Whereas a bad storyteller can ruin even the best story. I feel that's what happened here. At least in the first half. (Second half is better.)
I felt drawn to this flick cuz of the recent accusations of violence filed against me. Indeed, Maria Bello, who plays Viggo's attorney-wife, gets a Restraining Order against bad-guy Ed Harris and his henchmen. To which Viggo responds (rolling his eyes), "A lot of good *that'll* do."
The remainder of today's entry is blogged here: A History of Violence: A Rad Film / Movie review
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