PC Makers Offering a Bridge Back To XP

Slashdot article on how the Telegraph is reporting on efforts by PC manufacturers to give customers buying systems pre-installed with Windows Vista a much-sought way to downgrade to Windows XP. ( A few months back Slashdot discussed Microsoft's similar concession for corporate customers.)

"It took took five years and $6 billion to develop, but Microsoft's Vista operating system, which was launched early this year, has been shunned by consumers — with computer manufacturers taking the bizarre step of offering downgrades to the old XP version of Windows."

The Perfect Desktop

This article is based on OpenSUSE 10.3 (GNOME) but could easily be adapted to other distributions.

This tutorial shows how you can set up an OpenSUSE 10.3 desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions that works even on old hardware, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge.

Not anything new or novel really, but it's a nice layout to get the minimum you'd need to painlessly switch from using Windows to using Linux for your main productivity needs. Read on for more.

EDIT: I just noticed a list of similar articles that walk you through the same process, for Fedora 7, PCLinuxOS 2007, Mandriva 2007 Spring Free (Mandriva 2007.1), Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn (my distro of choice nowadays) and Debian Etch (Debian 4.0).

Sweet Weekend

So this past weekend was the Cake Competition down at Virginia Beach, VA. And everybody came home with a ribbon: Donna got 3rd place on both of her designs, and tied for 2nd in taste with her awesome carrot cake; Katie got Honorable Mention with her design, and Carrie got 3rd with hers. So, congrats all around to my girls. I'll try to grab a pic or two from the digital camera when I'm home.

And so we had a mini-vacation at the beach. It was nice to be back - and to enjoy the boardwalk. Finally got to rent one of those family bikes, very cool.

I miss the smell of the ocean.

U Sank My Carrier!

Really, really interesting article written over at Wake Up From Your Slumber by Gary Brecher (self-proclaimed War Nerd, and with a title like that I'd concede the point to him). I've always been a fan of naval history - heck, I completed all the coursework for a Master's in Military History with a concentration on WWII naval engagements. So I definitely follow what he's pointing out here, and the same truth has rung clear throughout the ages: Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

He was given nothing but small planes and ships-fishing boats, patrol boats, that kind of thing. He kept them circling around the edges of the Persian Gulf aimlessly, driving the Navy crazy trying to keep track of them. When the Admirals finally lost patience and ordered all planes and ships to leave, van Ripen had them all attack at once. And they sank two-thirds of the US fleet.

Definitely give this essay a read. Makes you ponder a little more deeply the ramifications of the US' international politics and the consequences thereof.

Heinlein Archives Put Online

Good news for fans of the late SF master Robert Heinlein, 2 months after his 100th birthday celebration. Per the San Jose Mercury News,

The entire contents of the Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Archive - housed in the UC-Santa Cruz Library's Special Collections since 1968 - have been scanned in an effort to preserve the contents digitally while making the collection easily available to both academics and the general public... The first collection released includes 106,000 pages, consisting of Heinlein's complete manuscripts - including files of all his published works, notes, research, early drafts and edits of manuscripts.

You can skip the brief article and go straight to the archives.

US Senate Fails To Reinstate Habeas Corpus

Welcome to the police state. Give Half-Life 2 a try, you can see where we're headed. All we're missing is the alien Combine invasion to complete the picture.

Story noted on Slashdot from 9/20, and yet I bet not picked up on by most "regular" news outlets.

Khyber notes that yesterday a vote in the US Senate fell four votes short of what was needed to restore habeas corpus — the fundamental right of individauls to challenge government detention. Here is the record of the vote on the Cloture Motion to restore Habeas Corpus. Article 4 of the US Constitution states that habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless in cases of rebellion and invasion when the public safety may require it.

I don't have the time to run through the vote record, but it would be interesting to see how the presidential candidates voted on this.

The Hard Science of Making Videogames

PopSci delves into the 10 greatest technical challenges faced by game developers today, and the technology that will hopefully make them a thing of the past. At the top of every dev's wish list is increased realism: realisitic fire, water, enemy AI, material physics, etc. Here directly from the developers where the tech stands today, and where it will likely be tomorrow. '4. Artificial Intelligence - Problem: Once upon a time, the bad guys in videogames wandered around mindlessly, shooting at you while they waited to die. That doesn't cut it anymore. Players demand sophisticated enemies to fight and reliable in-game allies with which to fight them. Thing is, it's freaking complicated, and it eats up processor speed. "We're faking just enough smarts to make it work," says Mathieu Mazerole, lead engineer on Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed. Status: Imbuing characters in a game with lifelike decision-making ability involves employing the kind of high-level logic theories--learning decision trees, mobile navigation, finite-state machine models--used by top robotics engineers.'

The Guild - Episode 3: The Macro Problem

I could have sworn I'd posted this already, but my niece pointed out I had neglected to do so. Here's Episode 3, where Codex's problem with Zaboo gets sidetracked by a crisis in The Guild.
Episode 2: Zaboo'd
Episode 1: The Guild