mjm wired ;)  

Let's see. I need to get from here to there.

Well I'm pretty sure I need to go. But I really don't know how to get there. It's pretty far from here. I guess I could use a map. Perhaps? Yeah, that would help. Well the map ... the maps seems to be a bit old. Not sure if I'm making an informed decision to travel that distance based on outdated information. Well it appears as though the route to get there involves some travel on unfamiliar roads. Look at that, it requires the freeway. Hmmm, freeway always has plenty of issues. There might be lots of traffic ... for all I know there could be construction ... or worse I might have to go through some less-than-friendly neighborhoods. Better check the tires, don't want to get a flat. While I'm at, should also check the oil and transmission. Driving with a full tank is also safer. It could rain or worse it could snow, should err on the side of caution. Right? Probably a good idea to give myself some extra time so I don't feel rushed. But that means getting out a little earlier. That can be rather inconvenient. But coming home could be just as bad, better try to return while its still bright outside. Don't want to be on the road with drunk drivers. Looks good, nothing to worry about, I think I should get there just fine.

Hmmm, well it is a bit far and I guess I really didn't have to go. Probably shouldn't bother. Probably better to stay home.

Yeah, sounds like the right decision.

Well as most science fiction fans know last friday was the series finale for Stargate: SG-1, ending the longest running sci-fi series ever. (Yes, longer than the X-Files - which was very lame to begin with) In any event, it was incredibly disappointing. On so many levels.

First of all let's ignore the issue that the series should have culminated at the end of season 8 when all the "bad guys" were defeated and every unique plot line and character seemed to have some closure. But NO, they introduced a new villian in season 9, bumped off several main characters, added new ones and just dragged it on.

Back to the point. The biggest issue is that the finale did not really finalize anything at all. Several big plot changes occured in the second half of this season alone. IMDB tells me that 2 straight to DVD movies will be made for Stargate. The first of which will conclude the plotline and after that who knows? Am I really anxious? No. But I would still like to know how it all ends. And if they were going to make 2 movies anyways, why not just end the show and create some cool movies that potentially newcomers could watch (perhaps something like Serenity)?

And how did it all end? ... The problem with many science fiction storylines is their over-dependence on time travel. Stargate ended (I don't care if I spoil it) with a scenario playing out where every main character ran the full extent of their lives. Probably something like the finale of Six Feet Under but with less satisfaction. Well here they were "trapped" but of course it "didn't happen" because they can go back in time and fix it! Yeah, how convenient.

Well anyways, I'm glad the show is over now. Once upon a time friday night could mean 3 or 4 different sci-fi shows to catch up on. Tough life for a geek. I'm glad there's one less. So now, I'll wait for the DVD's.

In all fairness, Stargate: SG-1 was a great show in its prime with the original cast. Highly entertaining, not too much mumbo-jumbo and great characters. Next to ST:TNG, it was probably one of the best sci-fi shows ever. I'll miss it. But after 10 years, its time to move onto something else.

Several years ago I was in the basement watching my two cousins playing during some family function. It was just the three of us, most likely during some sort of summer party. Well, both of my young cousins were pretty mischievous and they decided to play on this old spinning couch/lounge chair. They started spinning faster and faster, until one of them flew straight off and hit the basement floor, luckily it was carpeted. I just stood by and did nothing till it happened. After making sure he wasn't hurt, I couldn't stop laughing. The image of my "launched" cousin is glued in my mind and still cracks me up. Of course I had to share, I told my siblings about it some time afterwards.

The best part of the story came several years later, when my youngest brother decides to narrate the story with him in my spot. How that's possible I don't know, but he was convinced he was the one who was there, not me. I think I straightened him out. I guess I could excuse it to something childish.

The interesting thing I see more frequently among a more professional environment is when people take other people's ideas. I want to say its unintentional, but I'm not sure. They either lack the precision in their memory or they simply recall their thoughts in their own voice making it effectively their own. I often don't correct this when I see it, lest I look like an attention-seeker or ego-deflater. Either way its one of the most annoying things.

In a "geeky" way I have pretty detailed recollection when it comes to past events and conversations. And I do accept that the people can unwittingly confuse their own memories, but it can be pretty funny to tell someone that they said something shocking or hilarious that they can't remember. It can be powerful to contradict someone with their own words. I guess, however, I should be careful, I don't want to abuse my powers.

I saw this in the newspaper and I thought it was pretty funny. Go to Google Maps and get directions for 2 major cities that are separated by an ocean. Say for example New York and London.

Try it for yourself.

Pay close attention to how Google recommends you cross that ocean. And of course don't forget the disclaimer:

These directions are for planning purposes only. You may find that construction projects, traffic, or other events may cause road conditions to differ from the map results.

In this case you might be missing your road.

So in 1997 I was excited to get a 14.1" Sony Trinitron monitor. It worked at a pristine 800x600 SVGA resolution (and I could push it to 1024x768@85Hz, rare for the time). However that was only for my main computer at the time, a 166Mhz AMD K6 (sorry I couldn't afford a Pentium MMX). So the rest of the 286's and 486's at my house (all second hand) were running monochrome (remember Hercules?) or EGA. So I would scour the used computer shops for monitors. I was looking for any VGA at the time. I bought several $5 or $10 semi-broken monitors (otherwise $50-100 used) thinking I could get my dad to fix them. Sadly in the end they all landed in the trash.

A few years later I remember helping with some replacement monitor purchases at a place I worked. I would select the UPS Ground Service for shipping (typically 1 week) - saving a whopping $50 over faster delivery. Of course that stopped when I was scolded over the fact that if someone needed a monitor for their work and had to wait 5 days, that's 40hours X their hourly wage of less output or in some cases no work at all. Okay, so I could see first hand how time waste translated to dollars.

Wising up, on occasion I would pay more attention to the parts needed to fix a monitor. So it takes a few hours to open it and isolate the board or part that's faulty. Then a few days to order the part. A few more hours to put it back together. Voila! Good as new. However someone will do a cost estimate and find that actually buying a new replacement will take less time and overall cost. And their numbers are correct.

So I dump a monitor in the trash. But somehow I know that doesn't translate well for the environment. While I "potentially" saved money, I know that probably a few resistors or diodes would make that junk into not-junk. Obviously I can't recycle a CRT like you can paper. And then someone will give me an argument that throwing that monitor is probably better for the environment, but I just don't buy it ... yet.

So now I have one of last nice Trinitron monitors on my desk. It's only 17" but it manages nicely at 1280x1024@100Hz. But I want more! I want a wide LCD with a ton more screen space. However I can't get over the fact that I'll be effectively turning this one into trash. Could it a new Dell 24" Wide Panel make me more productive? Sure! Would I be $700 more productive? Tough sell.

I go through computer hardware parts (motherboards, CPU's, memory) almost regularily every 18 months or so, but I never throw them away. Yes, I still have my 166Mhz K6. But with big monitors, they take up lots of space and I can't keep them around. I feel guilty contributing to the growing electronic waste problem, but at the end of the day I might really need that 2GB RAM upgrade or that WUXGA 1920x1200 resolution.

If you don't keep up, the waste of your skills or abilities seems like a greater tragedy.

Okay, no, I'm not learning Japanese, nor will I. After 6 weeks of a multitude of unrelated illnesses and a few rather disappointing weeks at work, I finally went out ... at night ... without medication ... I think. I had Japanese food for the first time, you know, the real deal with sushi and many other "looks better than they smell dishes". It was an interesting night of discovery.

I went downtown to the university campus looking for this place. I couldn't find parking at first, so I quickly called my brother who gave me some incorrect suggestions, but in the last minute he redeemed himself. Being out of school and now seeing so many roads, buildings and locations change was very unsettling. Man, do I ever feel old. old. old.

Dinner was okay in that I've never had a full meal with chop-sticks before. I've started many times only to end up with a fork or spoon. Too much food, not sure I like the raw fish bit. And what's with the raw cabbage? I'm disappointed my plankto (capto?, namko?, something...) didn't seem very Japanese-ish. My Chinese colleagues informed me that most Japanese restaurants are run by Chinese or Koreans and that the food isn't quite "authentic". Fancy that. Other than that, I also get the impression that the Chinese don't like the Japanese. Fancy that. Also, my buddy told me he worked with a former asian Playboy model while shooting a movie in L.A. Fancy that.

Anyways, it was good to get out. And just to make sure this post wasn't a complete waste of your time, here's a funny picture for you (sorry no Playboy models).

I can't beleive I'm confessing on my blog that I am actually watching America Idol for the first time in my life and I actually enjoying it. Past few weeks were pretty entertaining with all the humiliation and belittling (sad fact of our human nature). But anyways, I've never watched the show before . I saw 15 minutes of Fantasia performing when I was in India in 2004 and otherwise I really have not found many "Idol's" very impressive. So last night the final 24 (12 girls and 12 boys) were selected. And the picks made for some possible interesting television.

During the auditions Indian siblings, Shaymali and Sanjaya Malakar both made it. And even though both thought the older sister (Shaymali) was the better singer, her brother proved to be the shining talent when she was cut. However sadly for this desi, this is American idol and as much as I think he's a good singer, I doubt he'll make it. After all america wants people like Katharine McPhee who sit very suggestively on the cover of their debut CD's.

Otherwise outside the obvious indian talent, I'm rather impressed by Chris Sligh - the christian wanna-be rocker who's got a killer sense of humor. Sadly he reminds me of Jack Osbourne and I think he'll struggle in the sex-appeal department as well. And even though I doubt I'd ever buy her music, I was very much impressed with the vocal ability of Melinda Doolittle. An honorable mention to Sundance Head, who had an awesome audition but really went south during the infamous "Hollywood Week".

Oh well, there are some obvious one's who won't get very far including bare-foot boy and the young Antonella. But I'm sure there will probably be some fun with the i-can't-beleive-i'm-not-beat-boxing Blake Lewis. And I feel sorry for the kid who apparently his mother didn't love him until he auditioned for American Idol, too bad he got cut.

I can't believe I've been sucked into this gimmick. What have I become?

From Microsoft's own website. In order to run Windows Vista in any other mode than Home Basic (i.e. no effects, and with removed functionality) Microsoft recommends the following:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 GB of system memory
• 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:
  • WDDM Driver
  • 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)
  • Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
  • 32 bits per pixel
• DVD-ROM drive

Huh?

Most personal computer manufacturers cut costs by shipping lower quality hardware that runs pretty well (since Windows XP is over 5 years old now). Microsoft has tried pushing their otherwise unpopular Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) and Windows Tablet Edition stimulating different software/hardware usage. But I guess no one really buys it because they don't need it or just plain don't care. Video gaming in Windows hasn't changed much in the past few years (hello Xbox 360!!). And for the most part people don't do much more on their PC's than they did a few years ago. Even video editting was perfectly useable in the pre-XP days (anyone heard of a Macintosh?). The bottom line is that if you bought a new computer in the past 2 years or so it should run Windows XP pretty decently and other than space issues (downloading "stuff", taking pictures, etc.) it probably meets all your needs.

When the Pentium processors came out (1993?) originally people used Windows 3.1 (3.1.1 32bit if you were lucky). Windows 95 was revolutionary in many aspects and finally allowed you to do significantly more from your computer than ever before. So 12 years later ... Windows has not really changed much past Windows 95. Sure there are plenty of improvements, but realistically it is essentially the same. So can this Vista do for XP what 95 did for 3.1? That's easy to answer.

And yet, hardware manufacturers see that people eventually stop caring for the most wham-bam latest-greatest hardware (64-bit, Dual-Core, etc.). A $500 computer from Dell seems to work just fine. Ahhh, so now a new revolution begins. Having unnecessary software just to use your unnecessary hardware. Progress at its finest.

The whole push for obscene requirements just for the basic operating system seems so idiotic it just boggles my mind. Microsoft really has given hardware manufacturers something to smile about. Will this Vista cause sales for hardware and computers to increase? I doubt it.

There's something to be said about innovation. How about - it should be innovative? I know it's wishful thinking.