Magic Fingers. I recently bought a copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica 2001, DVD version. Which is interesting not only because they have made the leap to electronic format, but also because I don't have a DVD drive. Or at least, I didn't.
SWMBO bought me a I/O Magic 16X DVD drive for my birthday. I had hoped to find a Pioneer 16X on the advice of fellow Daynoter Phil Hough but I could not find a local store that carried it. CompUSA had 12Xs by Hitachi and Creative, among others, but no Pioneer. So we got the I/O Magic and I crossed my fingers that it would work with one of my PCs (the 400MHz Celeron) at home.
The physical installation went fine, especially since I was just replacing a 36X CD-ROM with the new DVD drive. But I was impressed that the DVD drive included not only an IDE ribbon cable, but also the audio cable to hook-up to my Sound Blaster Live sound card.
I powered up the PC (running Windows98SE) and it installed the correct driver without me having to do anything. I checked the Control Panel/System to make sure all was well and was pleasantly surprised to see not only all was well, but that the drive was identifying itself as a Pioneer 16X! Now, I don't know if it is one or not, but as far as Windows is concerned, it is.
Seeing that the hardware side looked okay, I then installed the software (CyberLink PowerDVD) for viewing DVD movies. While I don't plan to watch very many DVDs on my 17-inch monitor (we have a 27-inch Sony TV, DVD drive, and 110 watts per channel audio/video receiver in the living room that we use for that) it's nice to have the capability nonetheless.
Given the problem Phil had with video I wasn't optimistic that everything would work but it does. I guess my TNT video card is compatible with the software so I can watch to my heart's content.
Now that the drive and software were hooked up, I started the install of the Britannica 2001. It went okay, but I'm kind of disappointed with the tons of rubbish it installs. For instances, it installed MS Java VM (I use the Sun version), MS Media Player (I've never upgraded because each version seems to add more bugs), Shockwave (I don't bother looking at sites that use this), Macromedia Flash (ditto), and something called IPIX. Or, at least, that's all it said it was going to install (seeing that I already had MS IE 5.5).
I found out after the install that it appears to have also installed MS IE 5.00 right over my 5.5 installation. It also changed my default home page and also installed the MS Wizard for connecting to the Internet (even though I specifically told it not to install their "free" internet access offer). So, all in all, I was kind of disappointed with the install.
Other than that, it seems to be okay. I haven't played with it enough to give a thumbs up or down on it yet. As others have noted, it does not allow you to copy text or graphics so it may be of limited use to people writing papers and such. It also did not go very in depth on the subject of Hawai'i, which is a little disappointing given their reputation but as I said, it's too early to say one way or the other on this one.
Mail Call.
From: Joseph Pearce
To: Dan Seto
Subject: More Cow Stuff
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2001 15:09:41 -0500Dan,
Your "Two Cows" post gave me a good chuckle. Started me thinking:
CAPITALISM - DOT.COM STYLE: You have 2 cows among a herd of 1,000,000. You sell advertising space on the cows based on the assumption that 200,000,000,000 people will drive by the farm on any given day. Before everyone realizes that there are not 200,000,000,000 people on the planet go public with milk futures at $250/gallon.
Joseph Pearce
President Chemi-Link
http://www.chemi-link.com/
From: John Doucette
To: Dan Seto
Subject: Linux Book
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2001 21:26:12 -0700Hi Dan
This link http://www.cs.indiana.edu/usr/local/www/linux/gs/gs.html is one of many to what I have found to be a pretty good Linux resource. Depending on the version you find it maybe a few revisions old but still valid for reference. I have been using version 2.2.2 which I have converted to Word format and printed out. The Word version is 735 KB which I can email to you if you like. This reference is freely distributable, so no copy right problems.
John
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Tuesday - 16 January 2001
Short Shrift Mode. I have to run to the post office and do some other errands. Fellow Daynoter Tom Syroid could use some good thoughts and/or prayers (see his Monday post at the end, and Tuesday's post). I had planned on doing a longer post but events seem to have overtaken me at the moment. What was that about life is what happens to you while you plan what you actually want to do? I'll be back at work tomorrow. Until then, be well.
Aloha!
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Hump Day Wednesday - 17 January 2001
Back to Basics. Some of the things we are doing in school is very basic stuff. It is nonetheless interesting to spend time going over some of the founding documents of our country. From the Federalist Papers (introduction here, contents here) to the U.S. Constitution it is all interesting and in some cases revealing.
One of the things we looked at last night are the questions that need to be answered when one begins a new nation. The way one deals with the contradictions gives a good look at the values, principles, and interests of that country:
We then did a comparison between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams:
Jefferson
Adams
History seems to indicate that while Jefferson's words are still used to describe the best of what our country was, the ascendency of the federal government (as a counter balance to the rise of the moneyed trusts and later corporations) indicates Adams won this debate.
As I said, basic stuff. But still, interesting to look at. YMMV.
Mail Call.
From: Dan Seto
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2001 1:40 PM
To: Robert Bruce Thompson
Subject: Re: Helping TomRBT,
Thank you to you and Brian for working on getting this going [some help for Tom and family - Ed.]. Much appreciated. And who said you don't have any feelings? What? Oh. You did. Well, never mind then. <g>
Aloha - Dan
-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Bruce Thompson
To: Dan Seto
Subject: RE: Helping Tom
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 20:10:20 -0600I'm Scots. We're very loyal to family and friends, but suspicious of the rest of the world.
There's obviously not a whole lot any of us can do, but at least I hope we'll make things a bit easier for Tom and Leah. If it were practical, Barbara and I would be over there helping out, as I'm sure would all of us be. Since the Syroids are thousands of miles from most of us, all we can do is send help by proxy.
Barbara just got off the phone with Marcia Bilbrey, who'd talked to Leah. Apparently, things are going as well as can be expected. I'm sure Tom is blaming himself, but at least Leah isn't blaming him. Barbara and I were very concerned about that, having seen marriages break up in similar circumstances. Women simply aren't rational when it comes to their child being hurt, and Barbara and I were worried that Leah might lash out from pure instinct. Fortunately, from what Marcia says, Leah is doing everything she can to make Tom feel better.
Bob
--
Robert Bruce Thompson
http://www.ttgnet.com/rbt/thisweek.html
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Thursday - 18 January 2001
Electrical Equivalent of the Titanic. At least, that's how one source, in a Los Angeles Times article (see it here) is describing the situation in Central and Northern California in regards to their electricity crisis. As most people know, the crisis is a combination of refusing to build new generating plants over the last 10 years and a deregulation plan which allowed wholesale prices to soar but kept caps on what customers could be charged. Sort of a rent control plan for electricity. At the time, I'm sure it was a politically popular intervention into the free market. But in this case, the interference caused a distortion of the market leading to the present crisis.
If this problem isn't solved soon, the coming tourist season this summer could be negatively affected (hint: we may not be going to California and instead may go to Las Vegas and then Portland and Seattle). Whichever way this plays out, the consumers in California will be paying more, perhaps much more, than they have been - just as the free market would dictate.
Stop Light. The New York Times has an article (see it here) on the research being done to bring light to a stop, and then to release it and send it on its way.
Researchers say they have slowed light to a dead stop, stored it and then released it as if it were an ordinary material particle.The achievement is a landmark feat that, by reining in nature's swiftest and most ethereal form of energy for the first time, could help realize what are now theoretical concepts for vastly increasing the speed of computers and the security of communications.
I have a lot to read for class tonight so I gotta go - Aloha!
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Aloha Friday - 19 January 2001
It's Friday!
Bouncing Balls. The Sony Hawai'ian Open golf tournament (see their site here) teed off yesterday. At the end of the day, three were tied for first:Big John Daly, Brad Faxon, and Larry Mize. However, given the winds at Waialae, the scores, and the leaders will probably change before Sunday's final.
Summer Tours. For those of you who have been there and done that, comes a list from the the Los Angeles Times of off-the-beaten track tours for this Summer (see it here). From painting in Paris to the Pushkar Camel Fair (that's in Rajasthan, India). From the Antwerp Zoo to the wild animals in Zambezi, Botswana, and Namibia. Bring lots of cash.
On Top of the World. Or at least on top of New York. What's it like to have to change the light bulb on top of the Empire State Building? Read this article ( here) from the New York Times and find out.
I have a 20 minute presentation for school next week Thursday and I haven't gotten past writing more than a few notes for it. So I guess I should get started on that. Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!
© 2001 Daniel K. Seto. All rights reserved.