Carrying over the sci-fi tone from my other blog, here is a little home feature that any self respecting Trekkie would swoon over. This clever guy has created his own LCARS panel to control various functions around his house. It just shows that a little imagination and, I'm sure, a lot of hard work can create something special. Do I want this is my house? Are you nuts! Of course I do.
On May 26th there should be a bright light in the sky of our red neighbor in space, as the latest Earth lander, Phoenix, makes it way to the surface of Mars. Scientists are preparing for ‘seven minutes of terror’ as the NASA spacecraft makes its nail-biting descent. The Phoenix lander will begin a three-month mission to investigate Mars' geological history and potential habitability. Phoenix will touch down on the northern plains, which are
understood to hold vast stores of water-ice just below ground. The lander will then use a 2.4m robotic arm to dig through the protective topsoil layer to this water-ice below; a scoop on the arm will lift samples of both soil and ice to the lander's deck for detailed scientific analysis. But Phoenix must first make the perilous journey to the surface. The spacecraft will enter the top of the Martian atmosphere at almost 5.7km/s (13,000mph). Pushing hard against the Martian air, its descent will begin to slow. A parachute will then be deployed to reduce the rate of fall still further. Finally, Phoenix will fire thrusters to bring its velocity down to about 2.4m/s (5.4mph) before its three legs touch the ground. This is the first time that this type of landing has been attempted in 32 years. Prior probes have used the cushioned landing using huge balloons to bounce over the ground. Confirmation of a successful touchdown could come as early as 1953 EDT. Let’s keep our fingers crossed on this one and pray that the ‘Mars curse’ doesn’t strike again. According to NASA's new associate administrator Ed Weiler, ‘fifty-five percent of all human attempts to land robots on Mars have failed’. Phoenix was launched way back on 4 August 2001 on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral.
Be careful out there in cyberland. It appears, according to security company McAfee, that almost 500,000 people may have been caught out by booby-trapped media files. The fake files pose as a music track, short video or movie and has been widely seeded on file-sharing networks to snare victims. McAfee said the fake media file outbreak was the largest it had seen for about three years. Those running the fake files get bombarded with pop-up ads and risk compromising the safety of their PC. The fake files or trojan has been widely distributed on the eDonkey and Limewire (uh oh!) file-sharing networks. The file has many names and is written in different languages to trick people into downloading it. Anyone downloading the trojan and trying to run it is asked to install a codec that will play the supposed media. Here’s a tip – if you don’t know what a particular file of program is, don’t download or install it – simple. Instead of playing the media, running the file installs a bundle of adware that plagues a user with pop-ups. Included in the bundle is an MP3 media player that will only play the tracks included with it. McAfee said seeing such a large outbreak was rare because hi-tech criminals typically prefer to target their malicious creations to keep numbers manageable and to avoid detection. Other security companies have seen the trojan but not in such large numbers as McAfee. Only those using Windows (stop feeling smug, Apple users) are vulnerable to the malicious programs.
The fake titles are shown below:
girls aloud st trinnians.mp3
changing times earth wind .mp3
heartbroken fast t2 ft jodie.mp3
meet bambi in kings harem.mp3
paralyized by you.mp3
pull over levert.mp3
Just look at this picture! if you have any knowledge of the people that created the modern world we live in, especially the science of modern life, some of these names will be familiar to you. It's an amazing collection of the greatest scientific 'brains' all in one place at one time. Do you notice anything strange about the photo? Almost all of the faces are of white Europeans, all except one are male and, yes, they're all dead. How many great minds from other areas of the world were ignored or just not known about in the West are missing? We will never know.
These words written by Jenny Marx are the first words in one of the most powerful documents ever written - the Communist Manifesto (yes, Jenny - Karl Marx's wife). This book has, in the past hundred years or so, caused the liberation of many countries and the deaths of millions at the hands of bloodthirsty dictators and madmen. Communism and it's running mates, socialism and anarchism, is still a powerful force in the world today. It is interesting to note that the foundations of socialism lay with the workers fear of losing their jobs and livelihood. History is replete with stories of angry workers smashing up new technology (looms etc.) when they felt threatened. In many cases, this newer technology opened up alternative jobs and created new industries that actually benefited the very people that felt threatened. So, on this May Day, let's remember the freedoms that many people have and hope that the future is made better for the still-toiling masses who are exploited by unscrupulous bosses. Workers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.
Following up on the previous post regarding spring cleaning your computer. Sometimes even the most knowledgeable amongst us need a little help and I'm not to proud to admit it. I never assume that everyone that has a PC in their lives is a computer genius and nor should you need to be. There are many avenues for you to take for help and assistance when you're 'stumped' and you don't always want to rely on that 'brother-in-law' that knows all about computers. One great resource is the Computer Mechanics in Oshawa - my son worked for them for a while and I know these guys - they know their stuff. On the weekend my wife and I visited the 
Durham Home Show in Whitby and while just wandering around, I found two other resources for you - Nerds-on-site (silly but apt name) provide a service aimed more towards the small/home business user and has been around for a while. The other contact I have is for TCS Computers (tcscomputers@rogers.com) who deal with sales and primarily home PC service and tuneups. Obviously, there are many, many more companies and individuals out there to help you and these are just some I know off - no, they don't pay me a retainer - I wish they did. 
By the way, home show=British chocolates and crisps - oh my!
It's time to batten down the hatches for a heck of a storm. GTA IV is on the way (some copies already downloaded) and I'm sure that the horror stricken media and parent groups will soon begin their campaigns to ban the game. You would think they would have learnt by now that they cannot stop or even slow down the dissemination of this game worldwide (Bully, anyone?). Will it be full of violence and mayhem - of course - otherwise, what's the point. What amazes me is how much this game has advanced in graphics, game play and storyline since the release of the first GTA in 1997. In fact, you can now download GTA and GTA2 directly from Rockstar Games for free. I remember when my son and I first saw the pre-rendered screen shots of GTA3 and being 'blown away' by the concept and the promised graphical look of the game. In fact, I didn't really believe that Rockstar could pull off such a major improvement to the admittedly, basic original game. Even if, by some miracle, the game is banned - so what? The normal rules of obtaining games or watching R-rated movies goes out the window due to the possibilities of the magic of downloading. Almost any reasonably intelligent teen knows how to download what they want and how to then use that download on 'modded' equipment - it ain't hard. I think that there are more important issues out there - such as how to deal with those troubled people that can't tell fantasy from reality.
What a nice warm sunny day it was yesterday. For the first time this year I was able to sit outside and give my laptop some fresh air. As we spring clean the house, we should also spring clean our computers. Every so often it's a good idea to clear out the junk that accumulates on the harddrive and to update drivers and generally make sure everything is running as it should. In fact most of my day was taken up by this 'housekeeping'. First off was a quick look at what's installed and deleting things I don't need. It's amazing how much utter crap was loaded. After I cleaned up, it was time to get rid of that one program that came with the laptop and is a real pain - Norton anti-virus - I just hate it. Unfortunately, just deleting doesn't really get rid of it, you also have to ensure your Windows registry is clear of all Symantec entries too - what a pain (good old regedit). I found that using a commercial registry cleaner application can help as well; I use Regcure for this as it seems to root out all the hidden files you no longer need. Then it was time for the 'biggie' - updating Windows Vista to SP1. It went so easy - 20 minutes and I was done - no errors, issues or problems. I don't know why people get all in a knot about SP1. Next up; driver updates. Again real easy, but you do need to search properly. I updated the BIOS using an Acer file from their UK website and it went as smooth as silk - no more than 30 seconds. Updated the video and webcam drivers from the Canadian site and I was done! Yay! I really recommend that you spend the time to keep your PC's running well and to clean up and 'tweak' things as you go - it's a good habit to acquire.
Now, I know that keeping your iPod's exterior looking pristine involves getting a cover for it, but this is too much. If you want to make a real statement, don't bother with having a nice leather or cloth iPod sleeve. Oh no. Really gross your friends out with this meaty offering from Japan. Of course, don't just get one for the shock value - this thing
oozes pure, sophisticated style (sure it does). If you've got about $66
and dignity to spare, it can be all yours.
I really can't think of anything to add or say about this site that you can't see for yourself. Just to say that it is obviously a labour of love and, dare I say it, pure fun. If only they were real.
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