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Monthly Archives: November 2007
War on Christmas Update
Uncle Jay Explains the News
Flash thingie
I don’t know what this is, but you’ve got to go see for yourself:Box2DFlashAS3 1.4.2
The Human Eye and Intelligent Design
Creationism disproved, again:
Do you want to be a Super Geek?
RAIDs (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive [sic] Disks) are considered pretty handy for a number of things. This is an example of productive and practical use of a RAID. Granted, this project does not have the archaic grandeur of a Floppy Disk RAID, but then again, the capacity and performance of this system are utterly superior to those of a Floppy Disk RAID. The following is meant as an instruction sheet of how to build a rock-hard USB stick RAID system and simultaneously transform from an ordinary nerd to a SUPER LINUX GURU.
Get your sticks together and go here.
The Bible as Ethnography ~ 01 ~ Introduction
As a child in Catholic school, and later in public school and being sent off to “release time” religious instruction, I had the opportunity to read most of the Old and New Testaments of the standard bible. Later, in junior high school, I became interested in comparative religion, and read it all again, together with some other texts that are not normally considered part of the Bible. Then all that fell to the wayside as I went off to do different things.
Continue reading The Bible as Ethnography ~ 01 ~ Introduction
Early Earth Atmosphere
Ohio State University geologists and their colleagues have uncovered evidence of when Earth may have first supported an oxygen-rich atmosphere similar to the one we breathe today.The study suggests that upheavals in the earth’s crust initiated a kind of reverse-greenhouse effect 500 million years ago that cooled the world’s oceans, spawned giant plankton blooms, and sent a burst of oxygen into the atmosphere.
The Vista Bounce
It could be called the Vista Bounce. Here is how it works: Continue reading The Vista Bounce
Boot Faster Than You can Say”Debian Linux”
Technologic Systems has announced a single-board computer (SBC) claimed to boot Linux 2.6 in under two seconds. The TS-7800 is equipped with a Marvell 500Mhz ARM9 CPU running a full Debian implementation, and includes a user-programmable on-board FPGA (field-programmable gate array) with 12,000 LUTs (look-up tables).
Beware Evildoers
A French businessman tells AFP his company is working on putting TASER stun guns on a flying saucer that would zap protesters, evil-doers, and anybody else that authorities there don’t like.
Genes and Behavior
Genes determine basic behavior, like the behavior associated with being a predator. Or avoiding being eaten by a predator. This we know to be true because millions, zillions, of years of evolution must have shaped genes … especially in mammals with with their whopping big brains and all … to have genetically coded behaviors.http://www.bloggingwv.com/love-everybody-even-the-squirrelly-ones/ Continue reading Genes and Behavior
Linux Google Search
Black Rhino
Diceros bicornis. Africa has two species of rhinoceros, the “black” and the “white” rhino. Experts disagree on the origin of the two names, and there has been an effort to change these colloquial terms to something else. This is because the “black” rhino is dangerous and shifty, and the “white” rhino is cute and well behaved. Therefore, there are racial undertones, although the origin of the names does not reflect this.The Black rhino is not black. As with all rhinos, it is mud-colored or dust-colored because it likes to roll around in the mud/dust.They are ecologically vastly different though their ranges typically overlap considerably. The black rhino, these days known as the “bush” rhino is a browser, meaning that it eats bushes.black … bush … bushes … browser. This particular rhino was rescued by the Walker family of South Africa … I believe its mother was the victim of poaching … and hand reared. For this reason, it became a docile member of the family and what would be called today an “ambassador rhino,” greeting guests at the Lapalala wilderness preserve, where it could be hand fed and patted on the head and so forth.This photo is a few years old. Last time I was there, in July 2007, this rhino was gone. He had reached maturity, found his genetic roots, busted out of the enclosure and destroyed several of the guest’s cars in the parking lot.He was rounded up and re-penned, but the South African animal police guys insisted that it be put down, so he is no longer with us.
It could be worse
But not a lot worse. Just as we are hearing that the current hurricane season, just winding down, was not as bad as it could have been, we also have this:
More than four times the number of natural disasters are occurring now than did two decades ago, British charity Oxfam said in a study that largely blamed global warming.
Million Book Project Flawed?
We are told that “the Million Book Project has exceeded its goal of digitizing one million books by 2007. ” Well, I can think of a million books that I’d never want to look at, and I can think of a million books that I would give up my life to preserve. Or your life, at least.Which million does the Million Book Project address? And how? And why? Continue reading Million Book Project Flawed?