Category: Uncategorized

I’m taking some time to slowly upgrade the system recommendations. So far, I’ve done the “super economy” (<$500) system... I'll work my way through the remaining systems and do the server/laptop versions as well. The system recommendations are a sort of list of components and approximate net prices of systems that I (and others) think are good. They represent the most common senses, best price for best technology systems that are available part by part. Many of people are finding ways to either build these things from scratch or, they have had their boxes so long that there isn't s single part left that is OEM. So, keep your eyes peeled for more.

Gary Wilke of Appleton, WI purchased a $2600.00 *Gateway computer from a *Gateway Country Store for his daughter. Since Jan., he has had to return it for service or replair five (5!) times. That is not to mention the four (4!) home visits to repair minor problems and replace a hard drive. When he took it back the last time, this past Friday, he decided it would be the last time.

Setting the PC in the *Gateway Country Store foyer, he returned to his car and grabbed a sledge hammer. Cursing away, he smashed the thing to bits right before eyes of the staff and customers. He then wished them a good day and left. Later that day officers arrived at his home, took him into custody and charged him with a disorderly conduct misdemeanor. When learning it was a *Gateway computer, from the *Gateway Country Store, the authorities exercised pity and set his bond to $150.

I think we should applaud Gary, rally behind him and start carrying around our own “consumer dissatisfaction” sledge hammers. I think I’ll pay my first visit to Comcasts corporate offices with my cable modem. Next, the damn grocery store that pulls every bait and switch and meat/produce Ponzi scheme known to man, Kroger. Then I’ll… Oh, 2002 could be the year of the consumer.

* gratuitous over use of keyword for google’s sake

Dean’s Software Guide has been updated with April’s choice.

This month we checked out Celestia, an open source universe model that has an incredible amount of detail and complexity. Astronomically acurate with actual scientific data, you’ll be suprised that this is free.

Well, I’ve updated the software section for the months of Feb. and Mar. I figured since it’s nearing the end of March, I’d better do that… especially since its the most popular part of paxtonland. Also, I’ve upgraded the publishing system to the latest version of Movable Type. The forums are going well, slowly building a user community. I’ve added voting mechanism that will run different polls from time to time.

There are about 350 people a day, on average, visiting paxtonland. We’ve come a long way since the computer club’s web server.

Anyway, planned updates include migrating the software section to a database backed mechanism that will make sure links are acurate, allow ratings and user comments/reviews. Also, the much neglected systems section will be updated with current hardware and prices.

Oh by the way, in the last poll, you thought Al Gore was the best looking presidential candidate in the field. Al Gore (14 votes), George Bush (6 votes), Pat Buchanan (3 votes), and poor Ralph Nader (0 votes).

MSNBC is running a rather windy piece about the return of Silicon Valley. It briefly mentions Woz’s venture “Wheels of Zeus” (W.O.Z., duh… why didn’t that dawn on me earlier? – Sent in by Mike).

Mozilla.org released 0.9.9 yesterday, making this the final version before 1.0 ships late this month or, early next month. I’ve been using Mozilla as my primary e-mail and browser client now since September. Before that I tested each build and sent feed back as I could. Having always been enthusiastic about the project, I’m still anxious to see it move out of beta, and into the real world as a viable browser alternative.

For those of you that don’t know what Mozilla is. Briefly, it is a browser born out of the codebase that was developed from scratch by many, many people in a collaborative effort. Netscape itself dedicated a fair amount of financial support, staff and resources. Led by Jamie Zawinski, the a rather infamous Netscape developer, the project captured the attention of a great deal of net geeks. Zawinski quit the project in disgust yet, the project rolled on slowly. In fact far too slowly for some and perhaps too late to save the internet from domination by Microsoft. Many hope that Mozilla will give Mac users a viable alternative to I.E. and bring linux browsers to a usable and standards supported level.

Anyway, go ahead and try it for yourself this is the net installer that is about 1/4 Megs and here is the full install that is about 10 Megs. Both are for all versions of MS Windows.

4 students held after Columbine food fight. Four Columbine High School students were arrested Friday after a planned food fight outside the school escalated at lunchtime, with hundreds of chanting students filling the lobby outside the administrative offices.

Now, I wouldn’t proport to even fart if I were in Columbine. There’d be a federal SWAT team with AK’s pointed at your brainpan. Your life would be over. Nuts.

Academy Award-Winning Animation Director & Artist, Chuck Jones, Passes Away at 89

In a career spanning over 60 years, Jones made more than 300 animated films, winning three Oscars as director and in 1996 an honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. Among the many awards and recognitions, one of those most valued was the honorary life membership from the Directors Guild of America.

New biotech cigarettes coming Tobacco from crops grown on department-supervised test plots last summer is going into the cigarettes made by Vector Group, parent company of cigarette maker Liggett Group.

The company has asked the Agriculture Department to remove restrictions on where and how the tobacco can be grown, and the agency probably will go along. The tobacco was genetically altered to block the production of nicotine in the plant’s roots.

West Hartford (CT) A fifth-grade teacher at Duffy School was arrested after school Wednesday on a child pornography charge.

Daniel Martin, 39, used a school computer to download pictures of children involved in sexual acts, detectives said. He was charged with one count of possession of child pornography and is on a leave of absence from the school.

After he gets to prison the Darwinism will begin.

ATT research has an animation technique that they have adpoted to something they call playmail. In which you can upload a picture of yourself, allow them to digitize and animate the pic and you can send e-mail of your disembodied head talking (user registration is required).

Facemail, or Playmail is based upon theirfacial animation project and they are licensing the technology. Modeled in MPEG-4, the technology (to me) has great implications for e-mail and instant messaging. The site looks kind of out of date and I’m not sure how far they’ve progressed since. But, your skepticism will disappear when you look at the demos. Especially the photo-real demos. Wow.

Someone using spot near tower as litter box in White Bear Twp. Apparently, someone has been sneaking out there at night (in Minnesota) and making a huge doot on a regular basis. Despite traps set for the perp, he/she has managed to evade them all. Township supervisor Bill Short says, “I’m curious about the culprit, but I just want to stop it…”

If you have any information about the chronic public defecator in White Bear Township, call the
Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department at
(651) 481-1300.

Lets help to put a stop to public defecation in White Bear Twp. Some one has to clean up the mess, after all… and I’m not doing it.

A small, private plane crashed into a downtown Tampa office building Saturday evening, killing the lone occupant, a 15-year-old student pilot, authorities said. For onlookers in the city?s downtown area, it was an eerie echo of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York, but the FBI determined that the Tampa crash was not the result of a terrorist act. Apparently, he took the plane without authorization… stolen, that is.

Officials at North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said two F-15 fighter jets were scrambled from nearby Homestead Air Force Base, in an attempt to track the plane?s movements, but were called off when it was determined they were no longer needed.

Sayed Abdullah sat cross-legged on a thick carpet as dusk fell. He lit a kerosene lamp that hissed loudly, cutting the cold and darkness in his bare living room. He shifted his broken body, trying to find the position where he felt the least pain. There is always pain. He moved constantly for the next four hours, telling his story long into the night.

More…

On the right, you’ll see a mailing list signup form. Do sign up, paxtonland sends out occasional newsletters, bulletins and extra-special stuff that might not otherwise get to these pages.

The DVD Players Compatibility List is more information than you can deal with. If shopping for that DVD/MP3/VCD player, check here first.

60,000 Germans Sleep in Cars in Record Traffic Jam

(Reuters) – Bavaria’s worst-ever traffic jam forced at least 60,000 Germans to spend the first night of the Christmas holidays trapped in their cars, as snow and ice brought chaos to the country’s roads.

Now, I complained about I-75 and I-696, sheesh.

The Real Story of Flight 93. Riveting reading. I promise and guarantee that you won’t be able to stop until the end. Remarkable… just remarkable. Regardless, as hitman on metafilter points out:

“”While we empathize with the grieving families, we do not believe that the horror captured on the cockpit voice recording will console them in any way,” [an FBI spokesman] said. While the FBI claims they need to keep the information secret due to a criminal investigation, partial transcripts of the tape have shown up in Newsweek. If the FBI can leak to Newsweek, surely they could get the family members to sign a confidentiality agreement and let them in on the secret too, no?”

Yes, and I hope that they force them to do so. Somehow.

<- Click me. I found this picture under a recent slate.com review/brief for Vanilla Sky.

I’m sorry to have to point this out and there is not a real delicate way to say this but, does it look like Tom Cruise is about to… well… you know… go down on someone there? When you click on the photo and see the enlarged version, you can see that it is his own hand. It’s just that it is bent in a peculiar manner. Personally I think that it is no accident. I mean look at his mouth gaping open, that *ahem* fleshy blob, jutting out at the proper angle, just the right size and degree for attack. Very odd indeed. With his muscles all tight like that and that expression on his face, makes me wonder who is behind him and what’s going on back there (okay, that’s a stretch) as well.

Of the many dozens of cream puff shots designed for media publicity and cleaned up for promotion that they must have had available to them, they pick this one? Please, it was no accident at all. Particularly in light of his most recent, yet somehow forgotten, alleged controversies. Oh well, I could be crazy.

Anyway, here at paxtonland we always look out for the important issues in life so that you won’t have to. No need for thanks, it’s our job.

Legal Abandonware is an amusing collection of software (mostly games) that has been abandoned to the public domain. Unlike many other abandonware, which isn’t really legal to trade and download. This abandonware is apparently legal to have. Titles from Borland, Sierra, and Microprose are here. Some of this stuff is a walk down memory lane.

CNN is running this piece about the U.K. not wishing to extradite Bin Laden in the hands of potential U.S. executioners.

My humble opinion… Yes, the U.K. should hold the man back from the U.S. in the face of execution.

If the U.S. is going to set up a kangaroo court, outside the influence of the people’s justice system. A court run by Bush, one of the most murderous executioners in the nation’s history, and his minions. Then yes, place the fool up for trial in front of a multinational tribunal. One where the U.S. has a voice, but doesn’t hold Bush up as judge, jury and executioner.

Here is what I wrote on capitol punishment over a year ago:

I cannot tolerate the fact that we are allowing the government to murder human beings in the name of justice for all. I do not trust the political, judicial, or any other entity established by our government not to personalize an issue such as this. Hence, this is the real key to the debate on the death penalty. Personalization. No one, in my opinion, can prevent themselves from personalizing decisions made that determine the nature of a punishment as final as the death penalty.

I’ve never heard a death penalty argument (either pro, or con) that is strictly empirical and impersonal. They always start, or end with: “If your (insert relative here) was (insert henous crime here), what would you want done?” Good god, has anyone thought that that is exactly what jurors are doing? Doesn’t anyone else realize that capitol cases are what help advance the prosecutors political careers via the extended publicity? Does anyone else realize that very rich and powerful law firms donate legal talent to defend capitol criminals because of the great publicity? Isn’t anyone else uncomfortable with construct that we have given our government the power to determine the life and death of it’s citizens? Finally, what system, other than appeals, have we established to make sure that an innocent person isn’t put to death? How about this for personalization: If I ware an innocent man standing accused of a capitol crime, facing death… my life in the hands of lawyers and career politicians, I would find a way to take my own life.

Now, this Bin Laden is no citizen, he is not an innocent by any means. But, to stand by a belief or conviction, then it has to be concrete enough to stand by under any circumstance.

This is one of those times. Kill him, but kill him in battle, kill him by means of war in the face of capture. I’m not intersted in seeing him captured and brought in alive for the sake of justice. I’d rather see his corpse maimed from the effect of battle then by the needle of a physican.

Google Search: makes the baby Jesus cry

Time.com has a flash demo of the “Segway” or, IT as it’s been referred to. Everyone is looking at this thing critically.

I’m thinking that people are under-reacting to this. In history, transportation devices have been the crucial and critial milestones in human economic development. The horse, the wheel, the boat, the motorcar, the locomotive, the airplane, etc… Wouldn’t it stand to reason that the next major accomplishment in human transportation not be a flying backpack, but a device that enables everyone old and disabled alike to commute?

Speaking of the old and disabled, we are also forgetting that the world is about to see it’s elderly population explode. Imagine the shopping malls, city streets, and perhaps even office hallways filled with these devices. The world criticized Billy Durant and William Crapo for their horseless buggy…. people scoffed at the idea of paying an exhorbitant $68.00 for a cart that would only carry a couple of people and move at 18 miles per hour. But, by 1911 people had made millions upon millions of dollars, the world had changed forever. Watch this one folks… I think this is the future that our grandchildren will watch on the history channel.

Instead of scoffing at the less than impressive revalation of “IT.” You’d better figure out a way to become the next David Buick and grab a piece of this pie yourself. Minds far sharper than our own already are plotting to make this a monopoly.

Like Ford and Visteon earlier this month, GM will cuts pay For contract firms The decision could affect up to 12,000 engineers, designers and programmers. This will hit Kelly Services, Modern Engineering and the Bartech Group among others that are on the vendor lists.

Expect contractors to loose their jobs, loose benifits, and accept pay cuts. This close to Christmas, I’d imagine that they’d not loose 7% of the billing rate or, at least split the difference with the consultants. Perhaps some firms out there will. Oh well, it’s not a problem because everything will be okay come spring 02, right? Of course it will.

Letter to senator Leahy contained anthrax.