The Graphing Calculator

A story about geeks and their unending quest to make something great. I was very impressed by this.. and just purchased the grapher.. now that may not seem big, but it is.. Cash is very tight (infact non-existant) so this is all on borrowed money. Bought software on my machine is a total of about .. 3.. mathematica, DevonThink, GraphingCalculator.. The rest is open source or hacked (I'm trying to move to more open source.) I really like the idea behind this software.. why didn't I know about it when I was in University.. erggg.. See the video in

googleVideo

and

get the software.

A view of Windows Vista! Installing in the lab

Windows vista log

Day 1: after 20 min of "first time load" and another 20 min of I don't know what I finally see the pretty graphics of windows vista.. hmm.. nice. I don't feel the poppy-ness that i was hoping for.

Translation stage controllers seem to work, it took me a while to get all new drivers, but they are now recognized. Keyspan USB to serial port looks good.

Quickcam, I really don't like Logitech. Their recommendation for everything is for you to buy a newer camera.. well. What if I don't want to tear apart a brand new camera and then make all new optics!; support the old please. Well, I installed the program for a newer camera, but there is no camera found. No worries, a restart, and letting windows find my driver fixed that problem. But I don't have the time lapse any more. grrr..

Now for the real trial. Pixelink camera. Their web site is down, and the software wont run (wrong OS, warning) so going home..

Day 2 : Something is a little off.. the computer is telling me that it is blocking a startup item.. but I can't seem to see what that is.. hmmm..

Pixelink is back up and I got some new software.. but alas, it does not see the camera. I've tried installing a 3rd party driver uniBrain.. or something.. iFire is their product.. well. Nothing works...

The computer gave me the blue screen of death and then restarted.. that is a record.. less then 5 hours since new and a blue screen!!

The computer has now frozen and forced a restart.. Deleted all fire wire programs that I've installed.. trying to get the uniBrain one froze the computer.. (three forced restarts today.. good thing I brought my mac to work on.. )

restarted.. I'm still being told there is something in the startup that is being blocked, but I can't seem to find what it is, or be able to do anything about it..

Stupid norton anti-virus just can't understand I don't want it (another startup item I want to delete.. stupid 60 day free trial.. screw you Norton.. !

Here is a little pic that I think shows the mentality behind Windows and Mac...



AHHHHh.. what the hell is this windows defender.. ??! more like windows don't let me do what the crap I want to do... ergg..

And the stupid interface.. after startup I am using 45% of 2GB of RAM!!!! and nothing is running!!... and it feels slow and unresponsive.. (I remember now why I had switched to Linux.. )

killing Aero (in the Display settings) takes the RAM from 45% to 38%. Going to pure classic doesn't seem to help. Moving windows still is choppy.. odd.. should be better...

Tomorrow.. installing XP.. screw vista.. in the end.. runs slow. Doesn't work with CCD, or spectrometer, and is a pretty bad copy of the mac.. and I'm getting sick of the faded screen and asking me to permit every type of install program that is trying to pass.. way too much reading, and just a generally ugly thing.. Come on Bill.. you can do better the this?

The Web is us

this is fantastic.

WonderLand

just messed up!!

OK.. last one for today.. too depressing.. !

what the muslims do to their kids for religon..

CNN

The sin that keeps on sinning

A quick note about the blasphomy challenge..

see the report

NightLine report

see the challenge...

Blasphemy Challenge

I'll have mine up soon, but I want to take the oppertunits to try iMovie, so I may take a while.. hehe

Parents vs children

An interesting question, but not hard to answer. Is a child subject to their parents beliefs. When a child enters society, do they have rights? I would say yes! A parent is there to raise the child and they have the obligation to provide a child with the what it needs to grow and flourish. But a child is not a possession. It is a member of the society.

In Vancouver two Jehovah's Witness parents had sextuplets and didn't want the doctors to give blood transfusions (the children were born very premature to which two died.) The government stepped in and took custody of three of the babies, gave them transfusions and returned them to the parents, who are now filling a law suit because their religious beliefs where violated.

But their beliefs were not violated, because their children do not have these beliefs! It is a baby, and cannot hold such complex thoughts! A person can do what they wish to themselves, but do not have the right to inflect harm onto anyone else based on their own beliefs. Good for the government for stepping in and protecting its citizens!

Here is the link to the story:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/02/01/sextuplet-transfusion-070201.html

Paying a bribe, again..

This is an old story, happened on the 2nd of Jan. But it is worth adding in. I drunk ran infront of me on the high-way and I hit him. Lucky I was going slowly (about 40-50km/h) and hit the braks before, so no broken bones, but it was still an adventure. I ended up at the police station waiting for the hospital to say in what shape the guy was in. When they called the supervisor on the station came in to tell the cop on my case that he was very bad off. And that he could be in the hospital for more then 15 days or lose his life. If this were that case I would have to be in Jail over night until the majestrait was in the next day. But if I gave him 1000 pesos (about $100, more then a weeks wage for him) then I could go. Long story short, the guy was let go that night, but the hospital was also dishonest and wouldn't give proof of a paid bill (that could be changed to the insurance) so we paid the bribe and went home.



Its not that they want cash, but it is the abuse of athority and general scare tactics that gets me. I do belive that it will come back around on them. Socity can not progress if the enforcers of the law do not lead by example. The picture above has in the center the supervisor who came in and started talking shit. (with teh baseball hat.)