hummer0328

Just found another reason to read through all the books. I'm tired of coming across random spoilers while browsing the interwebs...

I've recently read: A Game of Thrones A Clash of Kings and am currently in the middle of: A Storm of Swords I read A Game of Thrones a while ago, well before the HBO series. I've also been watching the TV series. Sure fills in on a lot of pieces missing from the show. And the changes as well. The true reason I'm reading the books is that I couldn't wait till next year to find out what happens in the forth season.

I'll be turning 27 here in a couple months. Joined ST when I was 17. I'd be lying if I said time sure does fly. 17 sounds like a long time ago. But then again, I've changed a lot since then. Graduated high school, joined the army, then college, now a career, all while living in 6 different states in that time period. So yeah, I've kept myself busy!

The beta1 for Elementary OS Luna was released last month, so today I finally decided to try it out. All I can say is WOW! Cause it has left me speechless. Most beautiful linux distro ever! It's a VERY heavily customized Ubuntu 12.04, but even in beta feels much more stable than Ubuntu (especially 12.10). It has a nice lightweight feel, and is blazing fast (unlike 12.10). The devs have done a lot of work, especially with the custom apps. For example take Files (based of Marlin) which blows Nautilus right out of the water as it is both beautiful, functional and super fast. Noise, the music player, is again both fast and beautiful. All the custom apps are. I've noticed better battery life on my laptop too. I can go from login to 10 open apps in just a few seconds on a 3 year old laptop. The only thing I had a hard time with was getting my wireless printer to work. Otherwise everything else just seems to work. And since it's based off ubuntu you still get access to the software center for installing anything else you need. If this is what they call beta, I can't wait for the final product. The folks over at Canonical should takie notice, cause this is how an OS should look and feel.

I can't complain as I get what I pay for: 8 Mb/s down and 0.4 Mb/s up. It doesn't matter the time of day, even at peak hours I get my advertised speed.

Microsoft has agreements with the major OEMs that prevent them from selling computers without Windows loaded on them. That is an agreement in restraint of trade. What's wrong with your FTC? Are they not paying attention? The FTC isn't doing anything because Microsoft hasn't done anything illegal. Microsoft isn't stopping the major manufacturers from developing separate product lines that don't feature Windows. Microsoft is preventing from stripping the existing product lines of Windows. Once you commit to using Windows for a product line, you commit to using Windows. My understanding of the issue was that most major retailers will discount you the price of Windows off of a preinstalled computer provided that you don't except the EULA when you 1st turn it on, but they won't advertise this and you may have trouble finding sales associates who even know about this. At least a friend of mine was able to do it a few years ago (I believe at a best buy). I guess it took some time to find somebody who worked their who knew what the heck he was talking about. I think he got around $100 off the cost. I know I've done some research of my own in the last few years and found out the same thing. From what I remember, retailers could potentially face legal action if they didn't allow it. Now that doesn't mean that they're required to advertise this and I'm sure Microsoft would prefer it if they didn't. And as far as Win 8 is concerned, I think I'll stick with Linux!

After spending the last year using Arch, I've finally found Unity mature enough to use and have switched back to it with Ubuntu 12.04. Must say, Unity has come along ways and I actually kinda like it. To my surprise, I've actually found Ubuntu w/ Unity to be faster than my highly customized Arch with Gnome, especially after I made a few necessary customizations that I've learned while using and maintaining my Arch install. I must say that Ubuntu 12.04 is a very polished and easy to use OS!

Since I got a Kindle Touch for my b-day a few weeks ago I've read quite a few books. My favorite new book so far has been Ender's Game. Amazing! And apparently a movie is coming in Nov 2013. So long to wait though!

If you end up liking The Windup Girl, try Ship Breaker. It's by the same author (Paolo Bacigalupi) with a sequel coming out later this year. http://www.goodreads...14-ship-breaker Been reading quite a bit lately. Currently on book #21 for the year. I've been almost exclusively reading young adult books as I'm currently in the process of writing my own novel in the same genre. As I've come to find out, writing isn't the hardest part about writing a novel. Coming up with a detailed plot where all the little pieces fit together nicely is time consuming and a good path to a migraine. But I love it! Anyways, here is a list of novels I've read this year so far: Congo by Michael Crichton Enclave by Ann Aguirre Prized by Caragh M. O'Brien The Pearl Wars by Nick James Delirium by Lauren Oliver A Million Suns by Beth Revis Ashfall by Mike Mullin Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare Tomorrow, When The War Began by John Marsen The Dead Of Night by John Marsen Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick Blood Red Road by Moira Young Divergent by Veronica Roth (reread from book I read last year in anticipation of the sequel Insurgent) Leviathan by Scott Westerfield Behemoth by Scott Westerfield Goliath by Scott Westerfield Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (currently reading)

Load up Win7, find the model# of your wi-fi card, do a google search for "model # linux" or "model # ubuntu" (only cause ubuntu's user base is so large). That's the beauty of linux, if you're having problems you're probably not alone. I would be willing to bet there's a simple fix with step by step instructions somewhere on ubuntu's forums. And as far as how to install flash player, I don't use mint so can't help you with that, sorry.

Yeah sure WEP can be broken in seconds and WPA in minutes IF you know what you are doing. I do it all the time when going over to a particular friends house who doesn't have internet (although I'm nice about it and never abuse the connection with torrents and such). As an IT security guy I should tell you to always use WPA2, but to be honest it might not be necessary. Even WEP encryption will keep 99.9 percent of people out of your network. It's that pesky 0.1% (like me) that you need to worry about.

From my understanding, a qubit still uses binary. A classical bit must be either a 0 or 1. Qubits do this as well, but can also be both, at the same time. I'm not going to try to go into the details of how logic circuits work in a processor (for those who don't already know), but qubits still use traditional circuits. However, the fact that the qubit can be both a 0 and 1 has some pretty cool consequences for how efficiently those circuits work. Then there is quantum entanglement, were two different qubits share the same state. It could allow for transfer of bits from one place to another without the bottlenecks of traveling down a traditional bus, or the time it takes to do so. That's about all I know. Trying to figure out the finer details just gives me a headache.

I read and finish the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare: City of BonesCity of AshesCity of GlassCity of Fallen Angels The 1st 3 were good, but the 4th book was pushing the story line too much. I also read Unwind by Neal Shusterman. At first I wasn't very impressed. But the ending was pretty disturbing. Borderline 1984 type stuff. Currently reading: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's about a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany, narrated by death.

I've never been one to put much stock in the current standard model. There are way too many holes and assumptions that are made. Today's scientists stand on the shoulders of those who came before them, for the most part, assuming they were right. Every time some gaping hole appears in the standard model, somebody comes up with an even stranger idea to patch it up. I have very little doubt that the standard model as it is now is incorrect. There are probably pieces that are, in their own ways correct, but the underlining cause is misunderstood. What the world truly needs is an innovative scientist of the likes of Einstein or Heisenberg to make the leap. My prediction is that it will happen soon. Probably within the next decade. It will turn the standard model upside-down and scientists will have to rethink many of their present assumptions. I have my sources, reliable sources. These sources have told me that CERN found something significant with the LHC and have been trying to stall for quite a while now. Partly, they have been trying to confirm what they found, (partly by disproving the Higgs Boson), and understand the implications before they come forward with anything. I think we are generally on the right track, but we're missing something. Something big. Can't wait to find out what that something is.

Wow, jut when IE was starting to look half way decent, MS puts a stop to that. I can't imagine what they are thinking...