My "Michael" Pumpkin

After reading about the Dremel pumpkin set, I figured I could make do with my "regular" Dremel and a complex pattern. I manipulated a photo of Michael until it was narrowed down to three colors: dark (no pumpkin carved), medium (half depth of pumpkin carved), and light (no pumpkin left). The tricky part was making sure the pattern was physically possible (no floating dark areas in the middle of light areas, etc). It got really trick carving on narrow sections of pumpkin. I actually broke off his mouth and had to reattach it with a needle (we were out of toothpicks). The pumpkin looks pretty ugly with the lights on, but with the lights out, it not too horrible. Here's a lights-on/lights-off comparison. :)



And here's how the pattern turned out.

Time waster

Have too much time on your hands? You can easily lose some of it with this game. Deceptively addictive...

The Test Drive

The Test Drive - Now this is how you test drive a car!

Dremel Pumpkin Carving Kit

Dremel is now offering a Pumpkin Carving Kit.

One finger victory salute!

Some people do the darnedest things on camera... even George W. Bush. I know, who'da thunk it???

A Flying Lawnmower?!?!?!

You have to see this video, it's the funniest thing I've seen in days. Right click and download the video from here. Their website including technical and purchasing information is here.

Scariest Geek Movies, Part 1-4

Here's BBSpot's list of Scariest Geek Movies: Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4.

See if you're a geek and find any of these funny...

The Punkin' Patch

Click here for full-size version.

Louisiana Purchase Nickel

This was cool, I got one of these new nickels today, I'd read about them a few weeks ago. I guess there are more new nickels coming out in 2005.

Halo 2 Commercial

See the latest US Halo 2 commercial in this hires Quicktime clip.

Halo 2 leaked again ... in english

Xbox-scene reports: "Halo 2 leaked again ... in english
>> It looks like a new version of Halo 2 has leaked on the internet today and starts appearing on peer-to-peer networks and newsgroups around the world, 14 days before the official US release. According to the nfo file attached to the release it's the english-language dialogue PAL version and it's fitting on a DVD5."

Setting up a Simple Linux Firewall

I've been tinkering with setting up a Linux router/firewall and ran across this article explaining how to create a simple setup. I'm in the process of evaluating the prepackaged firewall/router distros right now.

Two-Faced: Setting up a Simple Linux Firewall: "First of all, ask yourself why you're doing this. You can buy a simple off-the-shelf firewall/router gadget pretty cheap these days, and I hear at least some of them have fairly easy-to-use administration features (e.g. via a web browser). Saving money by using that old PC you've got kicking around is unlikely. Acceptable answers include 'learning experience' and 'insanity'."

Hot Rod Geo?

MEXICO CITY - Rodrigo Mendez's car is a flying purple nightmare, a bulked-up beast with a toothy grill and bellowing exhausts and a row of spoilers like a dragon's back. Mexican hot rodders go wild for tiny Chevy Metros...

Graphics Chip Comparison Chart

"A handy-dandy reference table with specs for the most common graphics cards around today. We haven't yet listed every card, and we only go back so far in time (Voodoo 5 and GeForce DDR are about it). We don't have every obscure manufacturer-specific SE, LE, 64-bit, and Golden Ultra Turbo Sample Edition listed, either. However, these numbers should be a useful reference"

Circuits Discover... Each Other

Where baby circuits come from.

Security Report: Windows vs Linux

"Much ado has been made about whether or not Linux is truly more secure than Windows. We compared Windows vs. Linux by examining the following metrics in the 40 most recent patches/vulnerabilities listed for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS v.3"

My take: Any OS in the wrong hands is a problem. Default settings/services goes a long way to prevent problems. The average user should default to secure while allowing the more advanced user to manually start/configure advanced services/settings.

Linux Virtual Privacy Machine

MetroPipe: "Carry your entire Internet communication system on a tiny USB drive. Contains a complete virtual Linux machine with privacy-enabled Open Source Internet applications. Carry your Internet applications, email, bookmarks, history, web cookies, download files in your pocket."

UPDATE: I tried this out and it certainly has promise. The best I can describe it is that it's a mini "virtual" machine that can run on Windows or Linux to emulate a complete Linux environment. Performance is a problem on less than up-to-date machines. It is secure because all interaction with the internet (email, browsing, etc) is done within the confines of this "virtual" environment. I predict we'll see more work along these lines. Imagine a Knoppix you could run as a task instead of needing to boot into it...

Autopackage

Keep an eye on the development of Autopackage, which helps you install non-distro software on your particular distro. For example, if you're running Debian or Red Hat and someone posts a "generic" distribution version of their product, Autopackage is supposed to help track down/supply the necessary dependencies foryou. I haven't tried it yet, but will look into it.

From their website:

"If you've ever been frustrated by the fact that there was no package available for your distro, so you had to spend ages compiling the software you wanted from the source, or by 'rpm dependency hell' then autopackage is for you. However, being a completely new packaging system it requires the software creators to build autopackages for you. This is pretty easy, you need to show them the quickstart guide."

Star Wars: The Changes - Part Two

The time the comparisons are focused on The Empire Strikes Back. Interesting stuff. Comparisons between the original theatrical release (available LaserDisc), the Special Editions, and the recent DVD release.

Jon Stewart spins his "Crossfire" appearance

Jon Stewart spins his 'Crossfire' appearance from Friday. Check out the ifilm video here.

Xebian Linux for Xbox updated

"The Xbox is a legacy-free PC by Microsoft that consists of an Intel Celeron 733 MHz CPU, an nVidia GeForce 3MX, 64 MB of RAM, a 8/10 GB hard disk, a DVD drive and 10/100 Ethernet. As on every PC, you can run Linux on it.

An Xbox with Linux can be a full desktop computer with mouse and keyboard, a web/email box connected to TV, a server or router or a node in a cluster. You can either dual-boot or use Linux only; in the latter case, you can replace both IDE devices. And yes, you can connect the Xbox to a VGA monitor."

Mozilla/Firefox/Camino Vulnerabilities

Not to be left out, they also found two vulnerabilities in Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, and Camino, which can be exploited by malicious web sites to obtain sensitive information and spoof dialog boxes.

Internet Explorer Two Vulnerabilities

http-equiv has discovered two vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system, link to local resources, and bypass a security feature in Microsoft Windows XP SP2.

Opera Tabbed Browsing Vulnerability

Secunia Research has discovered a vulnerability in Opera, which can be exploited by malicious web sites to spoof dialog boxes.

Engadget Interviews CEO of TiVo

The Engadget Interview: Mike Ramsay, CEO of TiVo - Engadget - www.engadget.com

AndreaMosaic

Check out AndreaMosaic to see how it compares to Centarsia.

Corvallis TV Calls Air Force for Help

An Air Force search and rescue alert was triggered by Chris van Rossman's flatscreen Toshiba TV. It has a built-in VCR, DVD and CD player. And an undocumented feature that has authorities scratching their heads.

Van Rossman was warned to keep the TV off or face a $10,000 fine for sending a false distress signal.

Penny Arcade's take on Halo 2

"We did go play Halo 2, and they did make us sign something, but it was a while ago - the build we played is the same one all the most recent press was based on. Talking about Halo is always really complex for me - partly because of my mind, which is a deranged knot of neurotic impulses."

Networked DVD player that does DivX/Xvid

I-O DATA's brand-new LinkPlayer allows you to playback various formatted files connect from any PC and/or Mac on the home network to a Big screen TV with a remote control. Moreover digital camera and USB memory can be connected directly through a USB 2.0/1.1 port to display files on a Big screen TV.

LinkPlayer is compatible with Windows Media Video® Video (WMV9) and DivX® HD. HD mode allows you to enjoy pictures and movies in High-Definition (Video Up to 1080i / Photo Up to 2048x1532).

Make-up Day

Click here for a fullsize version.

The Wizard

Click on the photo (or here) for the full size version.

XLink Kai Evolution VII released

A new version of XLink Kai(info) has been released. For those who don't know, Kai is a tunneling application that allows you to play link-compatible Xbox, PS2 and GC games with people all across the planet FOR FREE.

Check out the list of supported games.

Download the new version here.

Xbox Media Center Released

XboxMediaCenter 1.1.0 announcement!

"XBMC 1.1.0 FINAL point release source code has now been set in our CVS! Once again we felt that we had been holding off doing any official release candidates for so long that we now consider the current XBMC CVS to be as stable as a point release should and could be, so we decided that we were ready to go final without a release candidate process. Yes, there are still a few known bugs but none serious enough to stop you from fully using and enjoying XBMC."

Google's Desktop Search is valuable, yet creepy

Google's new Desktop Search software is a muscle car among search engines, racing through personal data stored inside your computer to instantly find things you can't easily locate.

But it's also capable of skidding off the road when driven without the appropriate degree of caution. Don't type email or IM on a public machine running Google's Desktop Search, even after deletion, this search tool can still find them...

LOTR: Return of the King Extended Ed.

There is now a trailer of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Extended Edition. There is an extra 50 minutes of footage in this version.

I know I'll be looking for this one under the tree this year to complete my trilogy.

Star Wars: The Changes - Part One

For years now George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy has been undergoing changes, some subtle, others not so subtle. Here's a comparison of the evolution of these films from the 1977, 1980, and 1983 releases, to their present day incarnations.

PSTwo size compared to Xbox

Sony's new version of the PS2 called the PSTwo by some is really really tiny!

Online DVD rental war brewing?

Blockbuster cuts price 12.5%: "This could be interesting! Blockbuster Chief Executive John Antioco told Reuters the price cut for a monthly online subscription to $17.49 from $19.99 would become effective 'the week after next.' This in direct response to Netflix's announcement it would reduce its monthly online subscription fee to $17.99 from $21.99."

Also of note, Amazon is entering the DVD rental biz?

IBM touts System recovery with Knoppix

System recovery with Knoppix: "System recovery with Knoppix"

This article shows how to access a non-booting Linux system with a Knoppix CD, get read-write permissions on configuration files, create and manage partitions and filesystems, and copy files to various storage media and over the network. You can use Knoppix for hardware and system configuration detection and for creating and managing partitions and filesystems. You can do it all from Knoppix's excellent graphical utilities, or from the command line.

Jon Stewart on CNN's Crossfire

Here's a transcript of Jon Stewart annihilating the Crossfire crew live on CNN.

UPDATE: Not sure how long it'll last, but here's the video of that show. Hear Jon Stewart call one of the hosts a Dick live on CNN. Hilarious.

ATI Releases Catalyst 4.10 Drivers

ATI has just released the new Catalyst 4.10 drivers for your downloading pleasure. According to ATi, there are performance increases across the range of graphics cards. The .Net version of the drivers weigh in just over 44MB and while the standard 4.10s are 26MB.

Upcoming game releases of interest

Xbox:
Tony Hawk Underground 2 (screenshot)
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue (screenshot)
Bloodrayne 2 (screenshot)
Halo 2 (screenshot)
Spyro: A Hero's Tail (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24)

PC:
Half-Life 2 (screenshot)
Serious Sam 2 (no screenshot)

SmartJoy FRAG: for Xbox & PS2

Now, with the SmartJoy FRAG, you can use a regular mouse and keyboard to control FPS games on your Xbox or PS2 such as Halo or SOCOM II.

What kind of file extension are you?

Those goofy guys at BBSpot have a new quiz for you to take. What kind of file extension are you? Here's what I ended up being...


Which File Extension are You?

And don't forget:
Which OS are you?
Which Nigerian Spammer are you?

Pirates release Halo 2

Late last night, 27 days before its officially scheduled retail release, an allegedly complete version of Microsoft's upcoming first-person shooter Halo 2 was leaked to the Internet. The pirated release, said to be a PAL version of the game with French-language dialogue, is currently making its way around various Usenet newsgroups and peer-to-peer networks.

Microsoft warns of 22 new security flaws

"Microsoft on Tuesday, October 12th published 10 software security advisories, warning Windows users and corporate administrators of 22 new flaws that affect the company's products."

Segway's Centaur

Segway LLC's Human Transport scooter just got a big bad brother by the name of Centaur. While it's only a "concept" vehicle, the video link is pretty awesome.

EBay's PayPal hit by glitches

EBay Monday said it was working to fix the recent PayPal problems, which have affected payments, log-ins and account creation.

'We are working furiously. ... We have all resources dedicated to getting it fixed as soon as possible,' PayPal spokeswoman Amanda Pires told Reuters.

The Weirdest "Shit"

The USB (Universal Serial Bus) is a peripheral communication port used on most modern computers. It was designed to replace the old 'legacy' communication ports like the RS232 port and Parallel port.

The primary advantages of the USB port are simplicity, size and the ability to supply a modest amount of power to remote peripherals. It's this ability to supply power that is so badly abused in this low grade project of incredible vulgarity.

MSN fighting Messenger difficulties, virus

MSN fighting Messenger difficulties from a virus Monday according to a CNET story. I know I couldn't access Messenger for hours on Monday morning...

Mozilla's Firefox

I thought I'd better give FireFox a try. I've been a die-hard Opera fan for a couple of years now. It seems FireFox (through the use of "extensions") is gaining a similar feature set. It also seems to have sped up considerably over the last few months. When I tried it before it seemed bloated, slow, and fairly unfeatureful (if that's even a word).

Hack-a-day will keep you busy

I ran across the Hack-a-day website recently and it's full of interesting tidbits. I just hope they can keep the material fresh. They list neat things you can do with (somewhat) ordinary things you might already have around. There seems to be a tendency to want to make things do what they weren't designed to do (which can be cool). Check it out.

WinPlosion

Check out WinPlosion. It's a neat little knock-off of OS X's Exposé. Basically it lets you (with a modest system) set hot spots in the corners of your desktop (or via hotkeys), that will instantly zoom out all your open windows into your desktop so you have a bird's eye view of them all. Then you can click on the one you want to use and it will pop back to regular size and have the current focus. It's very easy to get used to this. My description does their flash demo no justice though. Watch it and see what I mean.

Command piping and substrings in awk

I ran into an interesting problem at work today. I needed a way to neatly/easily run a VNC server on-demand with a different display that would be unique to the user without them needing to remember it. Rather than arbitrarily assigning display numbers, I thought I would try to do something based on the uid number.

The "id" command spits out output like this:

[sean@myhost]$ id
uid=500(sean) gid=500(sean) groups=500(sean)

What I'm interested in is the "500" from the "uid=500". The command I'm hoping to accomplish is something like this:

vncserver :4 -geometry 1024x768 &

so I came up with the following command that I tucked in a script:

id | awk '/uid/ {print "vncserver :"substr($1,7,1)+4," -geometry 1024x768 &"}' | bash

This takes the output of the id command, pipes it to awk where it takes the 7th character (all I'm interested in, we're a small shop) and adds 4 to it (for reasons I won't go into here, suffice to say it isn't required), plops it into the middle of a string, then pipes that string to bash which in turn executes it like a string.

So without the | bash on the end, it would simply print a valid vncserver command as I'd wanted, but it wouldn't execute it. This little exercise helped me get a little more familiar with substrings in awk and piping to bash which are both handy tricks

The kids (even the furry one)

This is a good picture of Michael, McKenzie, and Maggie. This was taken the morning of McKenzie's first day of school. Does she look excited???

Another Router/Gateway possibility

I'm also checking out Linux LiveCD Router for my dad's machine. Until I get the replacement power supply I'm stuff gathering things to test.

New web page hit counter

I'm trying out StatCounter to track web activity. Not sure if it's worth the effort but maybe I'll at least see if someone else is viewing my stuff.

Xenium Modchip info

Keep up to date on Xenium Modchips. XeniumOS updates available here.

NASA's World Wind 1.2

If you have a decent graphics card and a broadband connection, you should check out NASA's World Wind 1.2. You can zoom from a planet view, to a neighborhood view with only your mouse wheel. You have quite a few different modes to view (aerial photo, Landsat, topographical, elevation mapping, etc). Very neat stuff. I looked up where I used to live in Kentucky and could navigate around town as if I was in an airplane.

It's a 250MB download and requires broadband. If you can, I highly recommend checking it out.

Building a network gateway out of spare parts...

I thought I'd take a shot at building a firewall/router out of an old machine my dad had sitting around. It doesn't take much of a machine to do that.

Here's the hardware we've got for it:
An old Pentium Pro 200
a 3GB hard drive (that seems such an odd size)
128MB of ram (made from 4 32MB sticks!)
an old Toshiba CDROM
my old Farallon NIC (a forced purchase while living in Family Housing at UofO)
and a relatively new US Robotics Courier v.Everything v.90 56k modem

Unfortunately, the modem shipped with a dead power brick. Since the modem was made in '94, I suspect it wasn't really "new" but "like new". I bet they had a closet full of the boxes the modems came in and the modems themselves were probably pretty hands-off. They pulled them out of the box, plugged them in, and never touched them again. The guys selling them (from downsizing dial-up ISPs) probably dusted them off, blew them out, slid them back into the pristine boxes, and sold them on ebay.

Anyway, here's the plan. Try out a few Firewall/Router Linux distros.

I have the latest versions of: Mandrake MNF, SentryCD Firewall, Linuix, and IPCop

With any luck, one of them will work. I think the Mandrake one looks promising. It states a minimum requirement of a 300mhz machine which might be a problem. There's no need for a GUI interface on the actual machine. I hope to have it be completely remotely driven via html configuration (like a "regular" router). It seems to have the fanciest interface out of the four (although that's not necessarily important).

I'm looking at a week down-time waiting on the replacement power supply though. This might be a good time to install MythTV on my dad's other machine I'm working on. I expect this to go smoothly, but we'll see... that's another story altogether.

Links of interest:

Mandrake MNF
SentryCD Firewall
Linuix
IPCop

The purpose of this blog...

This blog is just a test to see if I find blogging to be useful. I would like a transportable scratch pad that I can jot notes into and have available to be wherever I go. My main homepage is pretty much my bookmarks list, so this can be my notepad. If I stick to it (and anyone besides me reads this) you'll find ramblings about my interests. Computers, learning more about Linux, Xboxes, movies, videogames, scouting (Cub Scouts currently), and general family activities (not necessarily in that order). If you read this blog, please leave me a note/comment to let me know. I have no idea if anyone else even uses my bookmarks...

--Sean