Bruce is back
And he even has is own website - http://www.bruce-campbell.com. Check out his new ad: "Experience is Everything" I also read on the website that he is working on a new tv-series and a remake of Evil Dead. w00t!
Gift Cars
I have provided below, for courtesy, a list of cars that I would like to own, should someone ever want to buy me one:
New
- Porsche Cayman S
- Lotus Elise
- Toyota Tacoma 4x4 Std Cab
- Toyota FJ
- Ford GT
- Saleen S7-R
- WRX STi Limited Edition
- BMW //M Coupe
Used
- 98 Toyota Supra Turbo Targa
- 95 Mazda RX-7 R2 (red)
- 92 Mazda RX-7
- 84 Delorian DMC-12
- Toyota MR-2 Spyder
- 1996 Nissan 300ZX
Classic
- 64 Lamborghini Miura
- 66 Lincoln Continental Convertible with Suicide Doors
- 57-66 Lotus Elise
- 79 Mazda RX-7
- Perfectly running 1972 Fiat Spider Sport with 1608cc motor
- 72 Datsun 240Z
- 70 Porsche 911 E
- 66-84 Toyota FJ40
- 72 BMW 2002
- 72 Chevy Nova SS
- 66 Ford Mustang Fastback
I'm sure I'll think of 20 more as soon as I click publish, so I'll be updating this page often. ;)
Google Calculator Broken today?
I use this daily as my calculator so I was perplexed when I couldn't seem to create the right syntax this morning. Turns out it's just broken.
Here is the example from Google's own help page:
And here it is not working:
What gives?
SpamAssassin on CentOS 4 Quickly
Here's how I did it company wide:
- install spamassassin. I used an RPM for ease, and went with 3.1.x for it's sophisticated new filters and sa-update ability.
install perl module dependancy for sa-update:
# perl -MCPAN -e "install Archive::Tar;"install procmail
run sa-update:
# sa-updatestart up spamassassin:
# /etc/init.d/spamd startcreate global procmail rule like this:
LOGFILE=/var/log/procmail.log # send mail thru spamassassin :0 fw * < 256000 | /usr/bin/spamc -f -u $LOGNAME DROPPRIVS=YES # All mail tagged as spam (eg. with a score higher than the set threshold) # is moved to "spam". :0: * ^X-Spam-Status: Yes $HOME/mail/spamDon't forget to bootstrap SpamAssassin:
# chkconfig --add spamassassin # chkconfig spamassassin on
Now all your users' mail that scores a 5.0 or greater (default settings) will go into a folder named 'spam'. Now isn't that nice.
"Click 'N Save" my butt!
Airline tickets have been insane this year. Southwest keeps sending me e-mail campaigns about how cheap tickets are right now. But who wants to fly for 20 days? Or for 2 days? Or 2 weeks before or after Christmas? Glad I bought my tickets back in October. I did that last year and my price was $350. This year, my price was just shy of $600. What difference a year can make.
We need alternate travel in this country, and the flexibility to use it. I'd go for a 2-3 day trip on a train if I could...but the train routes aren't as direct and have lots of stops. It'd take me at least a week to get home via train. I distinctly remember my 3rd grade science teacher promising me a flying car by now.
Thanksgiving Feasticles
The Thanksgiving holiday is always one of my favorites. Whether it’s going back home to see family or just cooking at home, the food is good and the time off is always very nice. This year, Tracy and I decided to stay in, cook up some grub and relax. It was a good thing too, I was feeling a little ill last week (round two of the office disease) and I had the holidays to get over it. As I type this now, I am just now feeling that I might be over it tomorrow. We’ll see when I wake up, heh.
As you can see from the pics, we had a variety of food. Shown here is onions and celery (start of the stuffing), bread, sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts.
Tracy cooked everything but the sweet potatoes, that’s my specialty. One note…Betty Crocker is on Crocker Crack. It says clealy in the instructions that you should cook the potatoes first. Then peel. That is complete insanity. I knew better than to do that last year, but I did it anyway because that’s what Betty instructed. Ended up with a big soggy messy pile of potatoes that burned my hands as the skin fell off. It’s much better and faster to peel the potatoes first, then cut them up, then cook them. My results this year were vastly superior. WTF does Betty know anyway.
We rounded out the weekend by watching some visions of our fiery nuclear deaths courtesy of ABC. You may remember the 1983 movie ̶The Day After̶. Pretty realistic vision of humanity’s future after a nuclear exchange with the USSR. With 1983 special effects of course. They couldn’t get mushroom cloud footage from the Government so they made do with injecting ink into vegetable oil. Anyway, worth a watch if you have never seen it. More info here.
I also spent quite a bit of time tonight writing a barebones photo gallery in PHP. As much as I don’t like the PHP language out of principle, it is excellent for writing quick and dirty web apps. I have a few web apps lined up to write and I figured a good way to get back into PHP would be to write something simple. I’ll post the code later when it’s a little more polished. For now you just have to find a harder path to break into my web server. :-)
The One Keyboard
Before reading this, just go to eBay and buy one now. You'll get a jump on the rest of the people that continue reading for another 30 seconds.
Anyway. So, while building my new desk last weekend, I took it upon myself to clean up my old keyboard. It's my daily workhorse and has been for 12 years now. Hrmm. That's unusually long for electronics. Doing the math on that piqued my curiosity and I did a little bit of research...
It's an old generic PC-AT model based on an IBM model M...similar to the ones that came with the original IBM PC-AT computers. I've had it forever...I bought it in 1994 from a ham radio swap meet in Tennessee. For $1. Yes, one dollar. It was used when I bought it, I guessed it was a couple years old. But it was exactly what I was looking for at the time...."one of those keyboards that felt like the old typewriters in high school typing class that had a good click to it". I cleaned it up and have been using it ever since. It's got an awesome tactile response and the audio feedback is superb. It sounds like an Uzi when I'm in 'the zone'. It's heavy and feels great to use. I took it apart, washed it and put it back together, good as new. They don't make keyboards like that anymore.
I had never really put much thought into why I liked it so much until I did the research above. Which made me question how old it actually is. So I looked up the FCC ID on the bottom of the thing. Turns out it was made in 1986 by Chicony Electronics Co Ltd, in Taipei, Taiwan. It was imported into the US by N. Kokenias of the Electro Service Corp in San Mateo, CA.
Wait a sec?! This thing is over 20 years old? How has it lasted this long? Why do I like it so much? Why do new keyboard suck so much? A few Google searches later I discovered that I am not the only one that knows the powers of this type of keyboard. Check this out:http://www.clickykeyboards.com/ Some excerpts:
IBM model M keyboard - a hardware device designed and based on IBM mechanical typewriter design, said by some to be the</span>best example of keyboard design, engineering and construction. Each key has an individual micro-switch which uses a buckling spring mechanism to transform human force into an electrical signal.
Buckling spring key-switch keyboards are technically superior because they provide visual, tactile, and auditory feedback. Rapid typing occurs as a result of one finger completing a key stroke, while another finger is preparing the subsequent key sequence, and other fingers are preparing to convert the user’s thoughts into action. Each key has an individual weight to it, and experienced typists can apply sufficient, but not extra, force to achieve their goal.
Many computer professionals, prefer to use the one true standard of computer keyboards. Designed by American mechanical engineers, in contrast to new-age designers and focus-group marketing "experts". Many vintage IBM keyboard enthusiasts have purchased one IBM model M keyboard and have been using the same one keyboard for decades.
WOW. Well, that settles it. Now I know why I have always hated every other PC keyboard in existence. My Mac keyboards are nice, especially the laptop models, but still no where near the feel and response of this old IBM model M clone. So, rush out and try to find one on eBay before all the nerds that know about The One Keyboard snatch them up. More keyboard elitism like mine can be found here: http://www.dansdata.com/clicky2.htm
built a new computer desk
So, this weekend I built myself a new computer/office desk.
Costs & Materials
- 1 custom made 8 ft marble-look kitchen counter top from home depot: $140
- 1 end cap set (included with table)
- 2 black legal size filing cabinets: $120 (each)
- 1 bottle Elmers Wood glue $5
Tools
- Router
- circular saw
- Iron (for the end caps)
- Hammer & Nails (nails came with the table!)
- Knife
- 409 (Cleaner)
Total outlay
- $385
- 5 weeks gathering materials and waiting for a weekend to work on it (3 weeks waiting for countertop to arrive)
- 4 hours of actual work
- 1 splinter, removed with knife
Process was easy. Ordered the desk from Home Depot and bought the filing cabinets. When the desk arrived, I put it up on makeshift sawhorses and cut straight edges on it with the circular saw. I probably cut a half inch off of each end. Then I added the edge supports and ironed on the end caps. Used the router to make the end caps flush and to smooth the harsh edges all over the countertop. Used the 409 to clean off the adhesive that was spattered all over it. Installed extra support underneath and ploped it on top of the filing cabinets. I didn't anchor it because I want to use the extra inch of play to slide the desk back and forth for easier cable management in the rear. And as you can see from the pics, it turned out stunning. It looks like I have an expensive marble desktop. And the black filing cabinets make it look industrial.
All at about 1/3 the cost of anything from Office Depot and a lot nicer.
More Second Life quotes
Guess that I was quoted in 3 more articles. Same quote, different paper. Cool, that had more reach than I thought! :)
"Second Life, a virtual world, has a booming population, economy"
http://www.paramuspost.com/article.php/20061103090214491
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/11/03/2045885.htm
http://tccitizen.com/entertainment/second-life-a-virtual-world-has-a-booming-population-economy.html
I haven't touched SL since the article. But the recent grey goo attacks had me wanting to log in again. ;)