tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77717442024-03-13T06:38:11.527-04:00b3nd3rblogThe random musings and disconnected thoughts of Bender the Terrible!Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1162254454356320472006-10-30T18:31:00.000-05:002006-10-30T19:27:35.083-05:00The finest German EngineeringTime to get bloggin' again.<br />I've been working at Bank of America, keeping those servers humming. We are also putting in a fiber backbone for a new fire alarm system. Why they need that much bandwith for a fire alarm is beyond me, but they have plenty of money. It's not a bad job, but it does have it's pitfalls. Since the Villa Park is considered a "critical" facility, we are subject to freezes. Simply put, they don't want anyone working in a computer room while there is any possibility that a critical system could fail and there would be no redundancy. That means if they take a system down in say San Francisco, we can't work in Richmond. Apparently they have something going on because practically the whole months of October, November, and December are under a freeze. Which brings me to the title of this post.<br /><br />For the past two weeks, I've been working at Hauni Maschinebau AG. They build high speed cigarette machines for the tobacco industry. They build them from scratch. This is the first time I have ever witnessed German engineering firsthand. The first thing we were told is to take all of our tools off of the job. They are not up to "specification". They then proceeded to provide each electrician with a rolling drawered tool chest filled with the finest tools I have ever had the pleasure to work with. Willy Hahn screwdrivers including hex, torx and precision phillips and slots. Blackhawk stubby ratcheting wrench sets. A variety of metric crimp tools. Swedish made diagonal cutters, and the finest pliers in the business, good old American made Kleins. Of course we need metric measuring tools and an 18v cordless Dewalt drill. The cool thing is they just keep bringing them, everyday we get something new.<br /><br />I've never been a big fan of metric blueprints. For an American, they can be a little hard to figure out at first. I have to admit though that once you figure them out, they make a hell of a lot more sense. They are just more logical in layout and pretty easy to follow once you get it. The control panels we are building are a thing of beauty. While they aren't very roomy and can be a little difficult, they are laid out to perfection in their use of space. Every plug, jack, and device is well thought out in placement and function. I have always enjoyed this type of work and hope that they can keep us busy through the holidays.<br />Auf Wiedersehen.Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1156975237264524022006-08-30T17:59:00.000-04:002006-08-30T18:00:37.273-04:00Yeah, Baby!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/1600/image001.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/400/image001.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />My kind of Fridge!Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1154401728911265122006-07-31T21:25:00.000-04:002006-08-14T20:41:25.770-04:00Bike Virginia 2006- Day 3, 4 & 5OK,<br />Lets get caught up.<br /><br />The weather did not look too promising on Day 3, so I decided to bag the rides and hang out at Tent City in Roanoke Rapids. We stayed at the T.J. Davis Aquatic Center, a nice facility for a small town with athletic fields, two olympic size pools-one indoor one outdoor, beach volleyball courts and all surrounded by a picturesque park.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/1600/DSC01227.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/200/DSC01227.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The morning was not too bad, I was able to read quite a few chapters of "A Salty Piece of Land", pure summer escapism by Mr. Jimmy Buffet. The showers chased me away from the pool about every hour, and became progressively more intense as the day wore on. In fact they got so bad, that me and Jimmy headed for Ruby Tuesdays for tall Killian's and a check of the Weather Channel. After a few schooners and a nasty looking Doppler radar screen, I decided camping was not an option, so once again I headed to base camp at the lake. Barb was staying there all week and fed me some delicious spaghetti.<br /><br />Day 4 looked like more of the same, but I had always wanted to visit Halifax, NC, so I was riding rain or not. Being somewhat of a history buff, I wanted to see the town where the idea of independence from England was born. Halifax was quite the place in the late 1700's. Where most towns were lucky to have one tavern, it had as many as thirteen. It was in these taverns that the well-to-do planters and merchants would hoist a few and curse the King. In 1776, North Carolina's Fourth Provincial Congress met there and the result was the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Resolves">Halifax Resolves</a>, a document that led to the Declaration of Independence.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/1600/DSC01229.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/200/DSC01229.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Many of the historic buildings have been restored, and there is a very nice Visitors Center with a short film that tells the story of the town. Halifax remained an important commerce and cultural center until the 1830's when the railroad bypassed the town, choosing Weldon instead. Weldon then had both a navigable river and the railroad and prospered until it was destroyed during the Civil War. The Petersburg-Weldon railroad was a favorite target of Union raiders during the Siege of Petersburg.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/1600/DSC01233.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/200/DSC01233.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> All in all, a nice little 50 mile loop, and I beat the rain back to Tent City although I really had to hoof it through Weldon. Others weren't so lucky and had to deal with flash floods. Guess where I spent the night.<br /><br />Day 5 started with beautiful blue skies for the trip back to South Hill. Since the route was so close to the Lake house, I just took off from there that morning over my much travelled roads up to the Valentines Post Office. This was the first rest stop of the day and had the distinction of hosting a wedding. This was the second wedding I can remember on Bike Virginia, the first being at the Chateau Morrisette winery during the grueling Southwest Virginia Odyssey. It was also the second wedding I have attended at the Valentines Post Office. I was out doing a solo ride at the Lake several years ago and I had a Great Peanut Tour jersey on. Next thing I know a car pulls up along side me and rolls down the window. I figured it was someone lost and needing directions. Then I recognized a familiar face, Bobby Wrenn, the organizer of the Great Peanut Tour and an ordained minister. He asked where I was headed, and if I would be interested in heading up to Valentines as he was marrying a couple of cyclists there. I said "why not?" So this couple rides in from VA Beach on seperate cycles, gets hitched, jumps on a tandem, and heads back to VA Beach. I get back to the house and Lisa wants to know what took me so long. It took some convincing to make her believe that I really had attended a wedding. Which brings us to this one.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/1600/DSC01258.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/200/DSC01258.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/1600/DSC01249.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/200/DSC01249.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />On June 28th, 2006, Sandy Criswell tied the knot with Steve Jakubowski at the Valentines Post Office on Day 5 of Bike Virginia. I wish the happy couple well. I rode with the group down to Gasburg, then peeled off to finish the day with my regular Lizzard Creek circuit. Got back to the Lake house and picked up a paint brush. We got the entire front and high side done before I dove into a cooler full of Yuenglings. Thus endeth BVA 2006.Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1152653228898726762006-07-11T17:02:00.000-04:002006-07-11T17:50:52.880-04:00Bike Virginia 2006- Day 2After some intense rain during the night, I rejoined Bike Virginia in Emporia. Found a great parking spot at Greensville County High School and decided to do the forty mile loop that added the requisite mileage for a century from South Hill. It was a beautiful ride over some familiar roads for me. We did go to a little town east of Emporia that I had never visited, Grizzard, VA. Not a whole lot there, but I did find this old Esso station.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/1600/DSC01216.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/200/DSC01216.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> After that, there were rest stops in Adams Grove and Little Texas, both familiar stops from the Great Peanut Tour. The route took us down Low Ground Road, undoubtably the flattest road in Virginia. Upon arriving back in Emporia, I decided to brave the elements and camped that night. We got some rain, not too bad and my Eureka tent performed beautifully, keeping me dry and comfortable. I left Emporia the next morning, and after checking in at the lake house, headed over to the next host town, Roanoke Rapids, NC.Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1151238135428841442006-06-25T07:26:00.000-04:002006-07-11T16:51:49.660-04:00Bike Virginia 2006- Day 1<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/1600/DSC01210.0.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/200/DSC01210.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />The air was thick as soup when we departed Park View HS on our first day. We rode through some tobacco fields on our way to Boydton, VA. I had forgotten how beautifully manicured they are. Boydton was a cool old town. The Boydton-Petersburg Plank Road was a very important supply route before the railroads. It remained an important road for troop movements during the Civil War. The Boydton Tavern dates back to 1790 and there are 183 historic buildings there. I would like to go back and explore some more. <br /><br />From Boydton, we headed south to our lunch stop at the Buggs Island Dam (proper name is John H. Kerr dam, but no one from Virginia calls it Kerr Lake, as the Carolinians do.} A make your own sandwich thing with various salads and sweets. Not bad and free! All the lunches on the ride are free this year. After lunch we rode across the dam. The route monitor was sick of all the dam jokes. "Where's the dam lunch?, Another dam line, enjoy your dam ride, etc." <br /><br />From the dam we rode east on the old Jerusalem Rd before turning north on Old HWY One to cross the Roanoke River and up to our last rest stop at Smiths Crossroads. This stop had a cool theme. Every stop tries to be special in some way, and this one was home to some Parrotheads. Palm trees, girls in grass skirts, everything but the margaritas. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/1600/DSC01214.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/200/DSC01214.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>From there a short jaunt back to South Hill. 57 miles total.<br /><br />When I got back to the truck, I turned on the NOAA weather radio and the forecast convinced me that camping was out for the night. I packed up and headed for the dry, air conditioned comfort of the lake house. What an intense rain, at least an inch per hour, and it rained for two solid hours. There will be some soggy sleeping bags. I glad mine is not one of them.Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1150550101574225452006-06-17T09:15:00.000-04:002006-06-17T09:15:01.610-04:00A Story from Grist Magazine<p class="mobile-post"><br />I thought you might be interested in this feature in Grist Magazine:</p><p class="mobile-post">Labor Gains, by Amanda Griscom Little. New green/labor alliance brings Sierra Club and Steelworkers together. <br />http://www.grist.org/news/muck/2006/06/16/alliance/index.html?source=mu</p>Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1140634699653483122006-02-22T13:48:00.000-05:002006-02-22T14:02:45.306-05:00Philly in TorinoI guess I am lucky. I have four teams I can pull for in Men's Hockey at Torino. USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland. Why, you ask? Because they all have members of the Philadelphia Flyers!<br /><br />From the Flyers website: <br /><br />The following Flyers will be competing in the 2006 Winter Olympics:<br /> <br />Robert Esche - USA Wearing the Stars and Stripes…<br />• Played for U.S. team at 1995 Under-18 Air Canada Pacific Cup in Japan.<br />• Was spare goaltender on U.S. team that won the silver medal at 1997 World Junior Championships. Also played at 1998 WJC.<br />• Played two games at 2000 World Championship. Made 44 saves in 3–0 win over Russia.<br />• His 2.17 goals-against average in six games ranked 8th at 2001 World Championship. USA was fourth for its best finish at the time.<br />• Was top goaltender on U.S. team at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. Lists this as his greatest international hockey experience.<br />Olympic Connections…<br />• Was invited to summer training camp for U.S. team prior to 2002 Olympics.<br />• His most memorable hockey game watched was Canada vs. USA in the gold medal final at Salt Lake City.<br /><br />Peter Forsberg - SWEDEN Playing for Sweden…<br />• Ranked second in scoring (3-8-11) at the 1992 World Junior Championship.<br />• Named Best Forward at the 1993 World Junior Championship. Is the all time assists (32) and points (42) leader in World Junior history.<br />• Tied for the tournament scoring lead (6-5-11) at the 1998 World Championship.<br />Olympic Connections…<br />• Is competing at his third Winter Olympic Games (1994, 1998).<br />• He is one of three players on the 2006 Swedish team that were part of the gold medal-winning 1994 team.<br />• In addition to scoring the gold medal-winning goal against Canada at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, he was one of six players tied for third in scoring.<br />• Missed the 2002 Salt Lake City games while sitting out the 2001–02 regular season to recover from surgery.<br /><br />Simon Gagne - CANADA Wearing the Maple Leaf…<br />• Won gold medal with Canadian Under-18 team at 1997 Three Nations tournament.<br />• Won silver medal at 1999 World Junior Championship. Led tournament with 7 goals. Scored 4 goals in one game to tie a Team Canada record set by Mario Lemieux in 1983.<br />• Played for Canadian team that won 2004 World Cup of Hockey.<br />• Played at the World Championship for the first time in 2005. Finished third in tournament scoring (3-7-10) behind Joe Thornton and Rick Nash.<br />• Favorite international hockey rule is the big ice “because there’s more space and more time to make the play.”<br />Olympic Connections…<br />• Is at his second straight Olympics.<br />• Lists Canada’s gold medal at Salt Lake City as his favorite international hockey moment.<br /><br />Derian Hatcher - USA <br />Wearing the Stars and Stripes…<br />• Participated in 1990 and 1991 U.S. Olympic Festivals.<br />• First represented his country at the 1993 World Championship.<br />• His greatest international experience is winning the 1996 World Cup of Hockey. Led tournament defensemen with 3 goals.<br />• Was named to original U.S. roster for 2004 World Cup of Hockey but withdrew prior to tournament.<br />• Lists the big ice surface and the shootout as his favorite rules in international hockey.<br />Olympic Connections…<br />• Is competing at his second Olympic Games. (1998).<br />• Was invited to summer training camp for U.S. team prior to 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.<br /><br /><br />Mike Knuble - USA <br />Wearing the Stars and Stripes…<br />• First represented the United States at the 1995 World Championship.“It was something I had<br />never done and I was thrilled to finally play for the USA.”<br />• Playing against the gold medal-winning Czech Republic at the 2005 World Championship is his greatest international hockey experience.<br />• He tied fellow 2006 U.S. Olympians Doug Weight and Erik Cole and Brett Hauer for the team lead in points (6) at the 2005 World Championship.<br />Olympic Connections…<br />• The most memorable hockey game he watched was the 1980 Olympics, USA vs. Russia “because I was a kid and remember exactly where I was to watch it.”<br />• Other Olympic sports of interest are skiing and gymnastics at the Summer Games.<br /><br /><br />Antero Niittymaki - FINLAND Playing for Finland…<br />• His first international tournament was the 1997 World Under-17 Challenge.<br />• Played at the 1998 European Junior Championship.<br />• Played at the 2000 World Junior Championship. Other 2006 Olympic netminders to appear at that tournament were Rick DiPietro of the USA and Ilya Bryzgalov of Russia. Teammates included fellow 2006 Finnish Olympians Ossi Vaananen and Antti Miettinen.<br />Olympic Connections…<br />• Is making his Olympic debut.Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1137119136111831572006-01-12T20:44:00.000-05:002006-01-12T21:25:36.153-05:00Hamachi<a href="http://hamachi.cc/img/shot-5b.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://hamachi.cc/img/shot-5b.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Hamachi is yellowfin tuna in a sushi restaurant. It is also the coolest tool yet for private networking. <br /><br />Hamachi is multi platform, allows totally secure connections to your home or corporate network and allows secure browsing at WiFi hotspots. It is zero-config. I found out about it from Steve Gibson and Leo Laportes 'Security Now" podcast. I had been looking for a solution like this for some time. Connecting to the internet from a free wireless connection is getting ever more risky. Bad guys can sniff out your passwords and keystrokes. One way I used to get around this when I worked for Sherwin Electric was to make a VPN connection to their server in Vermont. That way at least the traffic I was sending over the airwaves was encrypted. Now that I no longer have access to that server, Hamachi fits the bill perfectly. <br /><br />Installation on the Windows platform could not be easier, just run the wizard, the Hamachi server assigns you a weird 5.15.xxx.xxx IP address. Then , with a couple of keystrokes, you create a network.From that point you just install on any other machines you want (Linux, Mac or Windows) and join them to the network. You can then use Remote Desktop or better yet a VNC server/client to control all of your machines remotely.<br /><br />Hamachi uses "Mediation servers" to connect users directly through a secure TCP inside of UDP tunnel. The beauty of this is that all users can be behind a NAT firewall and invisible on the internet. You may have to do a little port forwarding but it usually works right out the box. The UDP transport is faster than VPN and I can access my Mac desktop just like I am sitting at home from anywhere with a fast connection.<br /><br />It has a chat client built in (Windows only, I think). I had my Dad up and running on it last night in an hour. We can browse each others machines, share files, I even set him up an account on the Mac so he can play with Tiger. I have OSXvnc server running on it and we use Real VNC client on his machine and my Sony Vaio laptop. <br /><br />It is way cool.....check it out<br /> <a href="http://hamachi.cc"><img src="http://hamachi.cc/img/button.png" alt="hamachi.cc" height="31" width="88"></a>Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1135214204745019882005-12-21T20:13:00.000-05:002005-12-21T20:16:44.756-05:00Look out any WindowLook out any open door<br />Look out any Window<br />See what's going on, around you....<br /><br />Now this is pretty cool....Linux running as a <a href="http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-scrnsave/">Windows screen saver. </a>Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1135126107930930382005-12-20T19:23:00.000-05:002005-12-20T20:42:29.683-05:00Linux and LucyI love the song "Linus and Lucy" by Vince Giraldi from the original score "A Charlie Brown Christmas". Hence, the title of this post.<br /><br />Anyway, as I said in the last post, I've been gaining interest in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux">Linux</a>. I was amazed to find out that pratically every distribution of Linux has a "Live" CD out now. For those that don't know, a Live CD let's you run Linux without actually installing anything. So it's a great way to try out different distros to find the one you really like or that works best for your setup. Only problem is that they run really s..l..o..w. Afterall, they are running completely off of the CD/DVD. I decided to try one on the Mac and the most recommended was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Linux">Ubuntu</a>. Plus, I really like saying "Ubuntu". (Hello, my name is Umwalla Umdulu and I am here for the Ubuntu Festival...). I digress. After burning the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iso_image">ISO image</a> to cd, I gave it a try and low and behold....it didn't work. It was reading the cd but at the hardware detection point were it looks for the CD drives, it could not find them. So I goes to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WIKI">Wiki</a>!<br />There I learn that it is not a good idea to burn an ISO image at full speed. So I went back and burned another at 2x and walla! Linux on the Mac! First impressions- visually appealing (important to a Mac fan like me) and it seemingly found all of my hardware. I'll play around with it some more, but so far I like it a lot more than Knoppix. I'm going to try the Windows version on the laptop. It seems to be packed with apps. Here is a <a href="http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php">link</a> to the different flavors of Live Linux if you are interested.<br />Yuletide Greetings,<br />b3nd3rBennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1133908270044698282005-12-06T17:30:00.000-05:002005-12-06T17:42:34.443-05:00Cold Rain and Snow<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/1600/DSC01076.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/200/DSC01076.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/1600/santajer.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/200/santajer.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Well, we got our first taste of winter this week. Maybe an inch and a half here in Enon. Thanksgiving was a hoot at the Lake. 10 of us came down and we rotissieried<sp> a turkey and I made my semi-famous fruit dressing. Everyone agreed this was a good time and we will probably do it again.<br /><br />Been playing around a little with Knoppix 3.8.2 (I think) and it has made me want to check out some other versions of Linux. I know that Debian will run on the Mac but my version of Fink has the GCC 3.1 compiler and won't install w/o 3.3. Problem is I can't find an interim version of the Apple Developers Tools. I guess I'll wait until after Christmas when I'll have Tiger installed.<br /><br />My other option would be to install it on the Lake machine, an older HP w/ 800 Mhz Celeron. I recently put a new Western Digital 250 Gb hd in, but the old hd is faulty and crashes the system. I can't even slave it and reformat for Linux. I wish I had set up a partition on the new one for Linux but I figured I would wipe the old one clean and use it. From what I have read, Linux doesn't play well with NTFS so I will probably try and find a cheap-o to stick in there if I decide to go that route.<br /><br />All for now, Merry Ho Ho,<br /><br />b3nd3r</sp>Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1132264290825025962005-11-17T16:12:00.000-05:002005-11-17T16:51:30.873-05:00The iPod Nano-The best Just Got SmallerI've been living with my Nano since my birthday, so here are some observations.<br /><ol> <li>It's the bomb!</li> <li>Battery life is much greater for the type of listening I do.</li> <li>It's slower to download than Firewire.</li> <li>The new color screen is much easier to see in different lighting conditions.</li> <li>It's perfect for the gym.</li> </ol> The older hard drive versions were great but there was a problem for folks like me that listen to live jam music. The hard drives basically feed a memory buffer so for a regular four minute song, that is fine. The drive spins up, fills the buffer with digital music and then spins down. It doesn't spin up again until the buffer begins to empty and feeds it the next song. The problem is I might have a 45 minute "You Enjoy Myself" from a live Phish show or that killer 35 minute "Shakedown Street" from Merriweather in '85. My hard drive was constantly spinning and battery life was not the 10 hrs advertised. The new one is totally flash memory based, thus much longer battery life. Oh yeah, and it fits in an <a href="http://www.bquach.com/blog/media/nanomods/10-04-05_2034.jpg">Orbits box.</a>Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1132179927773410692005-11-16T17:23:00.000-05:002005-11-16T17:25:27.776-05:00Paw-Paw Cache at Dutch Gap<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/640/DSC01065.jpg"><img style="CLEAR: all; FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/320/DSC01065.jpg" border="0" /></a> Ally McBeagle likes to find geocaches,too! <a href='http://picasa.google.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a> Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1132083936874685082005-11-15T14:20:00.000-05:002005-11-15T14:45:36.886-05:00Well, It's about damn time!I've been pursuing a new sport for a while now called "geocaching". It combines tech with the outdoors. You have to be able to navigate, both the internet and the the outdoors using a GPS receiver. Here is how it works: People hide "caches" in interesting places and then mark their locations with a GPS and the post the coordinates on <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/">www.geocaching.com</a><br />They hide ammo boxes, tupperware containers, micros (very small containers that only have a piece of paper for a log) and virtuals (no container but you have to solve a puzzle to log the find).<br />So if you want to play, you log on, download the coordinates to your GPS and set out to find the caches. It is absolutely addicting. The containers have trinkets in them and the idea is you take one and leave one of your own. I like to leave gem stones, for example. Stickers, matchbox cars, CD's, batteries, glow-in-the-dark aliens, toys, coins, rubber snakes, etc. are all fair game. Kids love this stuff (of all ages, obviously).<br /><br />I have finally, after finding 36 of other peoples caches, hidden one of my own. Where is it? Well now, if you want to know you will have to go to the geocaching web site and type in zip code 27842 to find out! Hope you find it, but be forewarned. You won't be able to wait to find your next one! BTW, if you click on the title of this post, it will take you directly to the info. That's it, no more hints!Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1129160168882692262005-10-12T19:36:00.000-04:002005-10-12T19:44:34.936-04:00Drop that puck!<p class="mobile-post">Hockey is back! The NHL has changed some rules to allow more offense and a faster more European/Olympic style game. I think this will be good for the game.<br /></p> <p class="mobile-post"><br /> New NHL rules coutesy of EA Sports<br /></p> <p class="mobile-post"><a href="http://www.pittsburghpenguins.com/team/features/arts/1312.0.php">New rules videos<br /></a></p>Let's go Flyers, let's go- clap-clap-clap.Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1128446164511394882005-10-04T13:11:00.000-04:002005-10-04T13:16:04.523-04:00Remain in LightA very interesting development as reported by Wired Magazine:<br /><br /><h1 class="lg"><a href="http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,69033,00.html">This Laser Trick's a Quantum Leap</a> </h1> <span class="secondary">By John Huds</span> <br /><br />Physicists in Australia have slowed a speeding laser pulse and captured it in a crystal, a feat that could be instrumental in creating quantum computers.<br />The scientists slowed the laser light pulse from 300,000 kilometers per second to just several hundred meters per second, allowing them to capture the pulse for about a second<br />The accomplishment marks a new world record, but the scientists are more thrilled that they were able to store and recall light, an important step toward <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer">quantum computing</a>. <p></p> <p> "What we've done here is create a quantum memory," said Dr. Matthew Sellars of the <a href="http://laserspark.anu.edu.au/index.html">Laser Physics Centre</a> at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. </p> <p> Slowing down light allows scientists to map information onto it. The information is then transferred from the light to the crystal, Sellars said. Then when the scientists release the light, the information is transferred back onto the beam. </p> <p> "Digital information can be expressed with pulses of light," Sellars said. "If we can store the light pulses for a very long time, we have a memory that operates on a quantum scale." </p> <p> To slow down the light, the researchers used a silicate crystal doped with a rare-earth element called <a href="http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele059.html">praseodymium</a>. <a href="http://www.thetech.org/exhibits/online/lasers/mainpage.html">Laser</a> light pulses fired at the crystal are normally absorbed and don't pass through, Sellars said. But when a secondary laser was directed at the crystal, it became transparent, allowing light from the first laser to move through. </p> <p>To store the light, the secondary laser was switched off, so the original light pulse was trapped. The secondary laser was directed onto the crystal once again to release the pulse. </p> <p> Scientists can map information onto light beams using <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photon">photons</a>, which, like all <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_particle">elementary particles</a>, have "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin_%28physics%29">spin</a>." Spin gives them a natural orientation, similar to a compass needle. The spin can be oriented up or down, representing a one or zero. Flipping from up to down has the same effect as switching a tiny transistor on or off. </p> <p> In the spooky world of <a href="http://rugth30.phys.rug.nl/quantummechanics/">quantum mechanics</a>, particles like photons behave in mind-bending fashion, and can actually be oriented up and down simultaneously, until they are observed or measured. This arrangement is known as quantum superposition, and results in a unit of information known as a <a href="http://www.worldwidewords.org/turnsofphrase/tp-qub1.htm">qubit</a> (quantum bit), instead of the traditional bit. </p> <p> The processing power of a quantum system -- and it is formidable -- is a direct result of the superposition state. Since the qubit can represent several values at once, a quantum system is exponentially more efficient than its classical counterparts. Just 40 qubits would equal the power of today's supercomputers. </p> <p> "We're at the borderline from going from a few qubits to many more," said Raymond LaFlamme, director of the <a href="http://www.iqc.ca/">Institute for Quantum Computing</a> at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. "But from a conceptual point of view, we're learning a new force of nature." </p> <p>Quantum computers will exploit quantum mechanics to perform complex mathematical operations -- like cracking the most complex codes cryptography can dream up -- at blistering speed. </p> <p> "The process of decryption and modifying information security will be a large application," said LaFlamme. "Entities such as the <a href="http://www.nsa.gov/">National Security Agency</a> are very interested in building a quantum machine." </p> <p> While acknowledging that quantum technology is still in its infancy, LaFlamme described the success of ANU's quantum memory experiment as "a milestone," and envisions steady progress in the future. </p> <p> "The 19th century was the Industrial Age," he said. "The 20th century was hailed as the Information Age. I believe the 21st century will be the Quantum Age." </p>Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1128385045669614642005-10-03T19:56:00.000-04:002005-10-04T13:19:11.663-04:00The Spirit of New Orleans........is alive and well. Last Thursday night Lisa and I caught the <a href="http://subdudes.com/">subdudes</a> (they never capitalize the name, more subdued that way). These guys are one of my favorite bands out of Nawlins and the show rocked! Great venue, the Science Museum of Virginia's Swinging on the Tracks series. SMV used to be the main train station in Richmond and the pavilion is the old boarding area. Lots of old iron awnings with slatted roofs and the sound was incredible. The boys played lots of new songs and some old faves and closed the show with my personal fave, "Sugarpie". After a brief breakup, they reformed in 2002 as the dudes and now have two new guys in the line-up, Johnny Ray Allen the original bass player called it quits. If you are into roots rock you have to check these guys out. New CD coming in January and they have a <a href="http://www.subdudes.com/podcast.php">podcast</a> with lots of live tracks and rarities. You can subscribe with a reader or pick it up on iTunes. <span style="font-style: italic;">You'll be satisfied!</span>Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1127954795384845592005-09-28T20:04:00.000-04:002005-09-28T20:46:35.390-04:00Vacation tech<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/640/DSC00135.jpg"><img style="CLEAR: all; FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/320/DSC00135.jpg" border="0" /></a> Like <a href="http://sowersnet.blogspot.com">my brother</a>, I guess I am a geek. I too, used to hit the trail with nothing more than some gorp, clean underwear, and a rain suit. This is what I took on my trip last spring to Sedona, AZ.<br /><br />Left to right, top to bottom:<br />Slik tripod, Yaesu charger for FT-VX5R.<br /><br />iPod charger and Firewire cable, Zire 72 PDA, various audio interface cables, iPod, iTrip Fm Transmitter.<br /><br />Sony high capacity NiMH charger, Magellan Map 330M GPS, Yaesu VX5R Tri-band All Mode Tranceiver, Olympus NiMH charger.<br /><br />All sitting on top of a Sony Vaio Portable Desktop PCG-K25 Pentium 4, 2.8GHz w/802.11g WiFi<br />Not pictured but taking picture, Sony DSC-W7 7.2 Megapixel digital camera w/1G Memory Stick.<br /><br />What have I become?<br /><br />A f&%king GEEK! And this was a minimal trip! No cell phone, though. This was a vacation from that little insidious device.<br /><br />Papaw would be proud. <a href='http://picasa.google.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a> Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1127943726498395962005-09-28T17:39:00.000-04:002005-09-28T17:42:06.506-04:00Remember filmstrips?I try and keep this blog non-political. Sorry. I couldn't resist.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.filmstripinternational.com/index.php?asshole">Filmstrip</a>Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1126615463626931252005-09-13T08:42:00.000-04:002005-09-13T08:44:23.630-04:00Right angle sidewalk artCheck this link out for some freaky artwork I found on digg.com:<br /><br /><a href="http://andy.saturn9.ws/Photo%20Albums/sidewalk/">http://andy.saturn9.ws/Photo%20Albums/sidewalk/</a><br /><br />Some people are so clever and have way too much time on their hands.Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1126450984153714372005-09-11T10:44:00.000-04:002005-09-11T14:43:15.883-04:00The Great Peanut Ride<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/1600/self_portrait.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/200/self_portrait.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>It's Peanut Time Again! For me this is official start of fall. The weather this year could not have been more beautiful. I took Friday off so I could do the Lake Gaston ride, a circumnavigation of the lake. I decided to try and shoot some pictures from the saddle. Here is my self portrait. The Gaston ride is one of my favorites. All rides start and finish at the Cattail Creek Campground in Skippers, VA. For reference, Skippers is the last exit on I-95 before the NC line. This particular ride is 81 miles long, but I cheat because it goes right past our place at the lake. So I get Lisa to drop me off and simply ride home. Even so, there are several crossings of the lake, so it is very scenic and for me, very familiar. I hadn't been riding much preceding this ride and I felt it. My quads were screaming when I pulled into Whippoorwill Hills. Nothing a few ibuprofens and a couple of beers and a nice long nap couldn't fix.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/1600/maters.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/320/maters.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Saturday morning I loaded up after a pancake breakfast and headed for the campground again. I have found through the years that I ride my very best on a foundation of banana pancakes. Today's ride is all in<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/1600/cukes.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/200/cukes.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> Greensville County VA and has the best rest stops of any organized ride I have ever done. I think I like them so much because the locals put out what ever they have the most of. Therefore, you get tomato sandwiches ( known locally as "mater sammiches"), water melon rind pickles (delicious, kind of like bread and butter pickles), watermelon, cucumbers and peanut products of all kinds (brittle, fudge, muffins and cookies).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/1600/dashboard.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/200/dashboard.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Now let's have a look at my "dashboard" and "widgets". This what gives me feedback in the saddle. To the left is my bike computer which gives me speed, average, distance travelled, heart rate, elapsed time and time of day. To the right is my GPS which gives me position on the map, elevation and most important-distance to the next rest stop!<br /><br /><br />I love this ride and been doing it since 1989. This was the 27th anniversary. It never rains on the Peanut Ride but sometimes there is a very heavy dew. Like about 4" one year. I'll be back next year, hopefully in a little better shape. I'd like to do the C&O Canal Trail from Cumberland MD to DC later this fall. Any takers? More pictures will be posted on Flickr when I get back to the land of broadband. I only have dial-up down here at the lake and am grateful to have that.<br /><br /><i>"Every time that wheel turns round, bound to cover just a little more ground" -</i><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Wheel-Grateful Dead</span><i><i><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></i></i>Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1126189833423708012005-09-08T10:08:00.000-04:002005-09-08T10:30:33.473-04:00Beloved New OrleansIt just rips my heart out to see the suffering going on in New Orleans. Those of you that know me also know that Lisa and I have been down there many times for Jazzfest. Jazzfest was held at a race track that was not in the best of neighborhoods. The kind that you really did not want to be in after dark. We were always made to feel welcome during Jazzfest, though. I remember coming out of the festival one year and we were invited in to the home of a black family. They were cooking, selling Budweisers for a dollar, and jamming the blues. It was like a block party. I never felt more welcome. A couple of blocks down the street was Shellfest, a Shell station that during Jazzfest was turned into a minature version of the festival. Local bands were playing in the repair bays. Food and drink was offered for sale. People were dancing, partying and celebrating the diversity that is and always will be New Orleans. Outside the gate vendors were selling beer huggies with a strap to hang around your neck with lettering that said "How you gonna clap?" Will they rebuild it? You bet your sweet ass they will. New Orleans is like the United States of America, more an idea than a place on the map. Ideas like that will never die.<br /><a href="http://www.nojazzfest.com/photos/index04.html">Jazzfest photos.</a>Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1125496038743563692005-08-31T09:11:00.000-04:002005-08-31T09:55:24.136-04:00WeatherheadsWant to learn more about weather and weather forecasting? Follow the link in the title of this post. It will take you to an experimental section of the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK website. Here you can learn about the dynamics of severe storm forecasting, a subject that has always interested me. I credit my mother's father, J W Martin with developing my interest in weather. When I was quite young, I would spend the summers on his farm in Camp Creek, WV and quite frequently in the afternoons we would get thunderstorms. Grandaddy and I would sit on their enormous front porch and watch the storms roll in over the mountains. Ever since, Ive had a keen interest. I watch the Weather Channel more than most people (drives Lisa nuts). I signed up several years ago to become a weather spotter through Amateur Radio and the NWS's <a href="http://www.skywarn.org">Skywarn</a> program. KE4KLD, spotter # CHF-031.<br />Anyway, check out the link and see if you find it as interesting as I do. Each day they post three areas of concern, indicated by the boxes on the map. Click on one and you will go to a larger view with a navigation bar on the left that will provide various analyses of the current map. The description link at the top of the page gives you further material to research, if you're interested. If you just want forecasts and warnings, use the link under the "Links" section on this here blog. <span style="font-style: italic;">"If the thunder don't get ya, then the lightning will" -</span>"The Wheel" by Grateful Dead.Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1125018138270593402005-08-25T20:21:00.000-04:002005-08-25T21:02:18.300-04:00PodcastsOK,<br />I thought podcasts were a passing fad. I had never really checked them out. Turns out they are cool. One of my Sunday morning things is "Meet The Press" with Tim Russert. Tim asks some tough questions (well tough by network TV standards) and I like to see guests from both the left and right writhe and squirm. So MSNBC has been advertising podcasts of their shows so I figure I'll check them out. Pretty safe way to get into some already familiar territory. I had missed last week, so it was kind of interesting to hear Trent Lott writhe and squirm under David Gregory's questions (guest host-Tim's on vacation). So anyway, I decided to try Al Franken's show. I like Al. He's been a Deadhead since , well if you can remember, you really weren't there. His diatribe against fellow druggie Rush Limbaugh is hilarious. So I tried Todd Cochrane's Geek News Weekly. Now I really start to se the potential. Todd turns me on to the Flickr Magazine Cover (see previous post). If I had been listening to Kim Kommando, I would have missed the URL. <span style="font-style: italic;">With a podcast, you can rewind. </span>So it's kind of like a radio talk show, only you are in control. This morning, I checked out TWiT with Leo Laporte. I laughed my ass off all the way to work. It was John-Boy and Billy for geeks. John Dvorak as the crusty old curmudgeon (i.e. Robert D. Raeford). Only he makes sense, most of the time. I'm hooked. BTW, Cool new radio station in Williamsburg, WTYD "The Tide". Not a lot of commercials (yet) and some cool "hand picked " setlists. 107.9 on I64 east out of Richmond and streaming audio soon as well as another xmtr on 92.3. Got a real college radio thing going on, but they are not afraid to throw some old CSN&Y or Joni Mitchell in there.------- Content.------- COOL!Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771744.post-1124932760269384532005-08-24T21:18:00.000-04:002005-08-24T21:19:20.273-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/1600/magazine.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/688/495/320/magazine.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />This <a href="http://flagrantdisregard.com/flickr/magazine.php">website</a> lets you make a magazine cover from any Flickr image.Bennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04979891911837763574noreply@blogger.com0