Author: steppek

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If you have done 6 impossible things this morning, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways

I have been a Douglas Adams fan for what seems like forever. I originally got hooked on Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by watching that old PBS TV version. I read the books, the entire trilogy, and have been anticipating this movie for quite some time.

As campy as HHGG was on PBS it was great fun to watch, even if you hadn’t read the books. It originally aired on BBC and I think that PBS recut it and aired it in 1981. At first I didn’t quite know what to make of it, then I got hooked and couldn’t wait for the next episode. The books then made it all the better (as in enhanced it not reducing the pain).

Of course don’t forget Infocom? In case you don’t know Infocom was a company made on creating text based adventure games. Zork I, II, III, et al and of course The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. I played that till I was blue in the fingers (typing of course). It was frustrating at times, especially trying to get the babel fish. You had to put a bag of mail on the floor, stand on one foot , and put your robe in front of an opening on the conveyor belt…ok, I made some of that up, but it was a pain to get that thing…

Anyway, I have sketches at home from that time and you can definitely see HHGG influence. I will admit that I carried a towel (click for cultural significance) in the back of my 78 Honda Civic for quite a while, and yes it did come in handy. I slept in my car once and used it then, I changed the oil and used it then, my windows fogged up I again used it then too, and that is where I will stop with that. You can plainly see the immediate benefit.

Do I need to carry a towel to the Movie?

Hitchhiker’s Guide: Exclusive Pics: The Vogons of Hitchhiker’s Guide

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Battlestar Galactica up for a 2nd!

I just saw on Slashdot where Battlestar Galactica is now renewed for a second Season. This is awesome.

Of course, I was a fan of the First BG. Who wasn’t at that time. Star Wars had just been out, and then _here is some more Sci-fi for you on TV_ (right on!). I remember getting Pizazz magazine (only source of a link for this worth anything) promoing BG. In this issue they had a two page view of a Cylon standing on a bridge taking a shot at Starbuck, Apollo or something. I remember thinking to myself, That silver guy is a total rip off of Darth Vader.

Well when it finally came on IIRC, Jimmy Carter broke in during the 2 hour premiere. After nagging my parents to let me stay up and watch it, the President breaks in with news on the Iran Hostages. Being a kid at the time, and having my own priorities, I was pissed (No disrespect intended). So I missed the last part of it.

Anyway, getting over that, I totally loved that series and I am really getting into the new one. It is more gritty, real, the ships are dirty (like Star Wars) and the characters are playing well off of each other. I have to say Edward James Olmos is awesome at playing Adama. He has that presence of a commander feel about him. I was sceptical about Starbuck being a woman this time around, but Katee Sackhoff is holding her own. Also interesting is the dynamic they have with a government and the miltary. It is well written, and following Ron Moore’s BG blog over at scifi.com I get the feeling that he is really into it.

If you haven’t seen it, give it a shot and here is to a Second season!

Sci Fi Wire — The News Service of the Sci Fi Channel

UPDATE:
It wasn’t the hostage situation at all, but it was Jimmy Carter:
*In some parts of North America the series premiere was interrupted for over an hour due to the signing of the Israel / Egypt peace accord by Israeli Premier Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, which was overseen by U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
Saga of a Star World

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Enterprise and other lost Sci-fi

I have known for about a week or so about the fate of Star Trek Enterprise. Yea, it is canceled. After last season, I can see why. Personally I liked the show for the first two seasons. The third season was a long story arc, and it was tiring. It was about a Temporal Cold War, were sets of races that were trying to play one another against each other to a common benefit for a time traveling race. I stuck with it, but I wasn’t interested in the story any longer when it came to the last stretch of the season.

Now, This 4th season started off better, I was getting into it again, but alas it is now officially gone. Gone the way of Firefly (Thanks Fox).

Speaking of Firefly, I had heard a lot of rumbling about how this show was good and cut before it’s prime. I finally picked up the _Entire Series_ on DVD this past Christmas, and I have to say I really feel like I was missing out.

Firefly, if you don’t already know, is a mix between a Western and Sci-fi. There are no aliens, weapons are more conventional than futuristic, and there is space travel. The characters are an interesting mix, and play off of each other, and is very well written. I wish to thank Fox for having the foresight to cancel it early so as to not ruin my productivity (end sarcasm). In all fairness, there is a Firefly movie, Serenity, coming out later this year.

The new Battlestar Galactica… well… Lets make that another post.

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New site design

I thought that it was time for a new look…I did opt for the Kubrick theme, just like a lot of others. Anyway, let me know what you think…I like the welder look. It has that industrial theme, but that isn’t exactly why I have it on here.

I put that up because when I see someone welding I think of “Making Something” and that is what I like to do. Getting my hands dirty and making something. Although I work with a keyboard and code…I wish I could weld, I guess I will just put that on my Someday list. 😉

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Me and minime

Ok, I know that I am not the only one to call my Mac mini ..well.. minime. But hey, I did name my iPod “Escape Pod” so I get points there.

I wanted to share some impressions during my first month with the Mac mini. The form factory is a big plus. I have it on my desk right beside my monitor, and it takes up no space to speak of.

I purchased the 1.5g model with 512mb or ram. Performance seems to be very good. I have used it to burn DVDs and iMovie for editing, and it seems to just crank along. It is also very quiet. I have turned off my Linux box, and really only have the Mac on always. I can sit in my small windowless (in more ways than one) office at home, and I can think.

OSX is nice. Linux with Gnome is a lot like it in some ways, so I feel comfortable with it. I like how when I attach a new device to it, you don’t see balloons popping up telling me that there is a new device installed (Well Duh). For example, my DVcam, I hooked it up, couldn’t tell if it was recognized. I opened iMove and it was just there waiting for me. Now, Installing applications are a little different. Most of which you just drag the application into the applications folder. It is odd at first, but makes the machine very easy to manage.

I did install Gimp on it, and I wasn’t quite happy with that. It felt very “Tacked onto OSX”. I get that feeling with the Windows version too, like mouse focus was quirky or something with X. However native OSX apps are awesome. So unless Photoshop for OSX falls out of the sky, There are some things that I will just have to continue do on my Linux box.

So, I see me using it for really anything. I bought it for editing movies primarily, but it has proven to be a great general purpose machine. Very happy with it, and I would recommend it to anyone, especially family.

BTW: iLife is worth the price you paid for the whole machine, and consider a USB, and a Firewire hub.

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Tivo and the Superbowl

Everyone has probably seen this already, but Tivo released viewer ship information on the Superbowl. I bet it is fun and an eye opener to see this kind of information up front.

Well it looks like Commercials were the big thing (Surprise) and the MVP phone number for dialing in a vote. Paul McCartney kept 5% more audience than the Hip-hop crap from last year. I would like to think that they were watching Paul, but I think that some were probably just curious about what “Wardrobe Malfunction” that He might have.

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In The Trenches: Tech Chat

This last weekend I moderated Kevin Devin’s ITT Tech Chat. The Tech Chat was on IT Communications, and it went really well. I enjoyed talking to everyone about everyting from web applications that we use, Intranets including Blogging and Wikis.

We all had so much to say that it went on for quite a while. I think that it was almost 2 hours. It left me with a lot of good information, and I hope that you can get something out of it as well.

ITT Tech Chat: IT Communications

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Dude, I got a Mac!

So far I likes what I sees.

First off..This thing came all the way from China to Charlotte, NC in 2 days. I got a shipping notice on the Jan 19th and Here it is on the 20th.

I have never really used OSX, except looking at it in the store. It is nicley done. In some ways Linux with Gnome is like it, but OSX, of course is more polished and the interface is a little different.

Garageband is very easy to use, I was throwing together music in no time. I am hoping that the rest of iLife will be the same and I think that it will be.

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Gimp Splash Screen Winner

I want to congratulate Bill Luhtala on his win with “work in progress…”. There were a lot of good choices, and I am sure it was hard to pick just one…

It was a fun contest, and I really enjoyed having an image in the running.

You can find out more information, as well as other contestants that were high on the cut list over at The Gimp