Man Briefing #2

cc photo credit Augapfel on flickr

Not to say that the ladies aren’t welcome as well…just didn’t fit with the photo quite as nicely.

Work has been quite busy at the moment. I’ve had a few pretty intense “special projects” I’ve been working on these past weeks.

Today it’s serious “couch-time” watching Notre Dame’s college football opener.  I enjoy (but am not rabid) about college football, preferring it much more over pro-ball games.  I follow ND for sentimental reasons.  I would often spend summers with my mom’s parents in their Airstream trailer touring the country as a child. On Saturdays, without fail, Grandma would be found tuning in to the small color TV in the trailer, Grandpa cranking up the roof-mounted antenna and twisting the tuning dial on the ceiling so she could watch her Fighting Irish.  I will also watch the occasional UH Cougar game (when found) along with Army, Navy and UT-Austin games.  Other than than, I really don’t care so much and any college game will do Saturday night when nothing else is to be found on TV.

Good news on the requisition front.  I had been looking at getting a Rosewill RCW-608 USB2.0 Adapter For IDE/SATA or a VANTEC CB-ISATAU2 SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 device adapter for work.  Finally able to justify it and (though we had to go through an approved vendor) ended up with a pair of Tripp Lite U238-000 - USB 2.0 to SATA / IDE Combo adapters.  I don’t care for one thing however.  The dongle end has an embedded 2.5” IDE connector.  To attach to a 3.5” IDE connection there is a loose adapter with the 2.5” connector mating pins (exposed) on one end and the 3.5” female end on the other.  I worry about damage to the exposed pins.  Other than that the kit seems pretty sturdy.

On to the Briefs:

• The Art of Manliness – Great site with fun (and informative) posts on “being a man”.  Runs the range of practical “man-tips” like How to Unclog a Toilet Like a Plumber to the critical and sensitive Dealing with Male Depression to the sublime Motivational Posters: Ernest Hemingway Edition.  I really like the writing tone.  Added to my RSS feed. (other recommended sites: BoingBoing & zen habits)

• BLDGBLOG: Fire Lookout Towers – BLDGBLOG is great in that the writer provides great analysis on the topic of focus.  When I was growing up and we were on those annual family vacation car trips, we usually passed by a few of these towers.  There is something magical about a tower in the woods. Nice trip down memory lane.

• Steampunk Art @ Oxford. Information on a Steampunk exhibit at Oxford.  Too bad it isn’t closer.

• Preview audio from Scott Westerfeld’s steampunk YA novel Leviathan –via Boing Boing – Sounds like an interesting story.  I’m going to have to see if the local library can find me a copy.

• XKCD Comic Solves Real World Tech Support Issue – Via Wired’s Geek Dad – So true.  So true.

• Hulu video- Saturday Night Live skit: Giraffes!   OK. Some background first.  I grew up sneaking down the hall as a kid to watch/listen to those classic SNL skits (Belushi, Radner, Curtain, Chase, etc.). Don’t care for the new-stuff so much, but I do still drop in from time to time.  So Alvis has a large collection (and love) for Giraffes as well.  So when I saw this skit the other night it was pretty funny.  Showed Alvis the “skit” and she thought it funny, slightly disturbing, but funny also.  YMMV.

 

• Enchanted - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – OK This is a guilty-pleasures confession.  For reasons I don’t fully understand, I’ve been jonesing on “Enchanted” for the past few months.  I don’t know if it is the flavor of Amy Adams and her characterization or just the romantic in me.  Regardless nothing seems to relax me more than firing this up on the DVR.

• Drive Jumper .com - drive hard jumper information.  Great site (one of many) that has a lot of great info on how to set the jumpers on a HDD.  Sometimes when I pull one of our spares off the shelf, the model doesn’t have the  jumper info noted on the label or the case or the circuit board.  Good reference site.

• WinToFlash - (freeware) – Yet one more DIY utility to convert a Windows CD/DVD setup disk over onto a (will make bootable) USB device.  Tipped off via TinyApps.Org Blog

• Scott Hanselman's 2009 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows -- Scott Hanselman’s Computer Zen – Amazing list of power-utilities for Windows.  Most are free.  I’ll be taking notes and exploring this list for some time.  Going to guilt me into updating a post with my own list of USB power-tools I carry about.  Will have to take a week off for that one! 

• How To Find Unknown Device Drivers By Their Vendor & Device ID  -- MakeUseOf blog – nice collection of tips and websites/tools to help sort out mysterious devices and (maybe) be able to track down their driver. 

• Stoned-Bootkit v2 & PE integration – Peter Kleissner is hard at work on his boot-kit.  v2 is in works and in  recent update to his site, he provides information how it can be integrated in a Win PE boot-disk build. Related: Stoned Bootkit blog & Security Database Tools Watch - Stoned Bootkit upgraded to v2.0

• Oscar’s Multi-Monitor taskBar -- (free/$) – Nice tool that allows you to extend your Task Bar to multiple monitors.  On my home desktop system I had purchased (and still highly recommend) Realtime Soft UltraMon.  It makes multi-monitor desktop wallpaper/taskbar management a joy.  Then for my laptop systems I just rely on Display Fusion (free/$) for the remaining multi-monitor wallpapering control. However it does not have the ability to extend the taskbar like UltraMon.  I’m thinking that a combo of Oscar’s Multi-Monitor taskBar and Display Fusion will make a powerful one-two punch! (see also: Microsoft Sysinternals Desktops (free) tool to create up to four virtual desktops on your Windows system like many Linux builds support natively.)

• The Guide - (freeware) – Outliner tool to create outline-based notes or other documentation.  I’ve looked into (and occasionally use) this class of writing tools from time to time.  Sometimes you can save a bunch of planning time by doing some rough-drafting first in an outlining application before moving over into a full-featured office-type word processor.  I’ve traditionally been hooked on using SEO Note (freeware) for its fine feature set and portability.  Recent changes to Evernote design have turned me off that product quite a bit where the earlier build designs I found very liberating to use. For incident-response work I’m turning to the excellent (and free) QCC Information Security UK – Casenotes tool.  Portable on USB with minimal effort. For this application I often use another text-editor (Q10 or Dark Room or Jarte) to make (and spell-check!) my initial notes in, then copy/paste them into Casenotes for the final save

• PNotes Portable – (freeware) – While I am a heavy-user of sticky-notes, they generally are corralled on the whiteboard in my cubicle or on hard-copy documents. However sometimes I do need to leave a digital sticky-note on my desktop.  I find this is a stable and easy-to use solution.
• Notepad++ Portable -- (freeware) – I’ve gone through more than a few Notepad Replacements but for day-in/day-out usage, this remains my go-to notepad of choice.  I particularly like the syntax highlighting/formatting support.

You’ve been briefed.  Now it’s your duty to keep ‘em clean!

--Claus V.

Inspiring Designs #2

Some more really brilliant and inspiring home designs from architectural blog Arch Daily.

Because everyone has to dream and imagine…

I’m leaving these for the girls to look through together.

• Nelson House / TWS & Partners – ArchDaily
• L House / moomoo Architects – ArchDaily
• Camouflage House / Johnsen Schmaling Architects – ArchDaily
• Tehama Grasshopper / Fougeron Architecture – ArchDaily
• Studio 2 in 1 / TWS & Partners – ArchDaily
• Emu Bay House / Max Pritchard Architect – ArchDaily
• Livraria da Vila / Isay Weinfeld – ArchDaily
• NG House / Arquitectos Anonimos – ArchDaily
• Sage Residence / Arbor South Architecture – ArchDaily
• House B2 / Vaillo + Irigaray – ArchDaily
• Villa Room / Paul de Ruiter – ArchDaily
• House in the Woods / archimania – ArchDaily
• House + / Anne Menke – ArchDaily
• Villa Hesthagen / RRA – ArchDaily

So, which one do you like best Alvis?  How ‘bout you Lavie?

Which room would be your Alvis?

Where would Brambles hang out?

--Claus V.

Inspiring Designs

Digressing from tech again for a moment.

Somewhere in the Valca home, I have a house-plans magazine that contains a small cottage-style lake house design that totally would be a dream-home.

It is small and compact, has wood-shingle style exterior cladding. It is two-story with two under-roof bedrooms and a shared bath upstairs.  Downstairs is a wide galley-style kitchen spilling into an informal country dining area.  To the opposite side is a cozy craftsman-style casual living room anchored by two half-height built-in bookcases with windows above and a river-stone fireplace in-between.

It just seems the type of place I could sink into to escape.  Nothing techy or modern about it.

In contrast to the lake-side cottage style that seems warm and inviting, the Germanic blood in me still gets excited and inspired by these efficient and modern designs.  I think the theme in them all that appeals to me is the logical lines and the blending of the outdoors and indoors.  Living on the Gulf-Coast, I love air-conditioning.  Couldn’t imagine living without it.  That said, most of the normal designs down here are enclosed and isolate the occupant from the natural outdoors.

These recently posted designs--as caught on my favorite architectural blog Arch Daily--seem to successfully bring the outdoors in; boldly.

• Big Dig House / Single Speed Design – ArchDaily
• Six Ramsgate / Wallflower Architecture + Design – ArchDaily
• Cabin Nordmarka / JVA – ArchDaily
• Anglesea House / Andrew Maynard Architects – ArchDaily
• House K / Tham & Videgård Hansson Arkitekter – ArchDaily
• House C - Prax Architects – ArchDaily
• Kübler House / 57 STUDIO – ArchDaily
• Open-air sculpture / MRA – ArchDaily

Bonus find: MUJI USA.  Wonderfully simple designed products for practical living.

--Claus V.

Feeding the Curious Mind…

Been busy around here for the past couple of weeks.

Trying to dig out from the crush of work as well as staying inspired mentally. Been a bit challenging.

Here are some links—past and present—that I’ve been grooving on to keep things fresh in my brain.

The Forgotten Underground

I had seen a CNN video on some dudes who had (re)discovered a hidden train tunnel under the streets of New York.

The video piece was completely uninspiring, but I figured more information was to be found online.

It was.

A Diamond Below - Curious Expeditions blog

New York Observed - In Brooklyn, an Explorer Wants to Dig Again ... – The New York Times

BHRA: Atlantic Avenue Tunnel – The Brooklyn Historic Railway Association

It’s an amazing story inspired by tales of pages of John Wilkes Booth’s journal in a forgotten tunnel, and is layered with the rich and powerful, metro rail systems, a scam, and rediscovered plans buried in a non-descript locked box in a borough president’s office.  And then there still remains an additional length of tunnel that may contain the abandoned train!

Reminded me of Clive Cussler’s novel Night Probe!

For more fun and adventures, check out the Curious Expeditions for more interesting places and things.

Coincidentally, BLDBLOG posted this article The Rentable Basement Maze which eerily seemed to tie into the above story.

Then there was the Sexy Archaeology Blog I dug up this weekend.  It’s a tongue in cheek look at archaeological stories both mainstream and not.

Fresh Scientific Perspectives

With all the news saturation on the guinea-pig flew it’s been hard to hold a meaningful conversation on the topic.  Even the watered-down news reports taste like cool-aid without the sugar.  Bleah!

While over at Kent Newsome's Blog I read his post on the subject with interest as well as his link to a great centralized source of scientific story blogs.  It’s been hard finding good science blogs that strike a balance between readability, reliability, and application.  Chron.com’s Eric Berger has his SciGuy blog and that is one of the few sources of daily science story material I take the time to RSS feed.

Anyway, Kent linked to the ScienceBlogs site which immediately was added to my RSS feed reader.

Despite an apparent and public distain for the Huffington Post, coverage and writing is spot-on and offers looks into Life Science, Physical Science, Environment, Humanities and Social Sciences, Education and Careers, Politics, Medicine and Health, Brain and Behavior, and finally, Technology.  Select the whole mess or any particular topic to RSS feed.

Anyway, per Kent’s recommendation, I’m now feeding Tara C. Smith’s Aetiology posts for the latest fair-and-balanced epidemiological news on the guinea-pig flew outbreak and response.

Good stuff.  [and yes, I’m referring to H1N1 as ‘guinea-pig flew’ for a reason…I don’t want to add GSD blog to the growing pile of material via search-engines by referring to to the other common and panic-inducing name it bears.]

Crime and Punishment

CYB3RCRIM3 – Law Professor Susan Brenner brings entertaining and informative analysis on intersections between technology and law.  While I will watch Law & Order on cable with Lavie, generally discussions on case-law tend to make my eyes glaze over (despite recognition on how important it is to our society).

Susan posts frequently and provides thoughtful reviews on real-world technology and how law is having to actively change to keep up with it.

WIRED is another source of technology news.  However, I usually spend most of my time on the Wired blogs. In particular I follow Danger Room, GeekDad, Monkey Bites, and Threat Level.

Threat Level in particular is quite good as it also documents the sometimes uncomfortable dance between society, law, and technology.

One ultra-fun read this week was Ryan Single’s post How Anonymous Hackers Triumphed Over Time.  The post itself is a great read but Ryan goes one better and includes lots of embedded linkage for folks who want to dive deeper into the story and find our just how the hack was technically pulled off.  That is the real richness that I find with on-line media sources of news.  Unlike a static newspaper where you are trapped in the content provided, with (good) on-line media, if the reader wants to get more details or has unanswered questions, you can dive as deep as time and your web-searching skills will allow.

So what began for me as a light and entraining story of “punking” a Time poll became a deeper study of the cat-n-mouse game between “hackers” gaming a poll and the web-masters trying to prevent it.  Great inside look on both accounts.

Sociology Fun in Contexts

As a few folks know, my BS degree is in Sociology and though my career has taken me far from those subjects, I still find the field deeply interesting.

While looking for techno-related graphic images for a wallpaper at work I stumbled upon this awesome website:

Graphic Sociology » Seeing Social Data

When I’m on the road and working out of a hotel room, one of the small pleasures I take is getting up early enough to hit the continental breakfast bar in quiet and snag a print-copy of USA Today newspaper.

While I don’t read the on-line version at all, nor do I (usually) pick up a print-copy at home, nothing delights me more than the bright colors, quickly digested news stories, and, best of all, the awesome charts and graphics USA Today is famous for.

So finding a blogger who appears to live for finding and picking apart charts and graphs from technical, design, and sociological perspectives was a major find for me.

Graphic Sociology » Internet Traffic post was the one that led me to the really, really cool Internet data charts provided by Akamai: Visualizing Global Web Performance with Akamai.  If you are into interactive maps with (almost) real-time data on the Web-Tubes this is a lot of fun.

Other great sociological-subject related blogs from Contexts.org’s stable are:

Sociological Images » Seeing is Believing – Great and frequently updated posts on how images in media reflect underlying issues and thoughts in society.

Public Criminology » Sociological Criminology – Exploring the nexus between criminology and society

Contech » Social Media in Social Contexts – Hasn’t been updated quite as recently with new material but there is enough there to keep me busy for a while.  Focus is on technology and society.

Severs were down while I was composing this post, so if they don’t load now, please don’t be discourage.  Make a note to check back later as they are all (particularly the Graphic Sociology blog) are worth checking out.

Cheers!

--Claus V.

Urban Adventuring - II

I was over at the iconFactory pulling down a cool wallpaper called Indy's Desk.

It is a great desktop that has some nice retro-feel vibes to it.

While you are there go ahead and also pop-in at their Indiana Jones home page.  It is loaded with icon packs from the series.  Make great stock RocketDock icon replacements.

All this adventuring got me looking for some new urban-adventuring websites.

• opacity.us - Abandoned Photography and Urban Exploration has always been my hands-down favorite. I think it is due to the quality of the photography.  While there haven’t been as many recent posts of late, trips into the Eastern State Penitentiary and the Worcester State Hospital are more than worth-while.

• Lab-Wan also has a collection of interesting sites and photography. High-quality.

• Illicitohio.com is a bit rougher in the photography scale, but more than makes up for it in the unusual locations.  I’m not sure how, but somehow I ended up on this site (and this post) when I was following a link-to on Mike Tyson's former home. What seems so fascinating to me is the condition of the home and items still remaining in it, and that it was able to be breached.  The exterior looks pretty cool and interesting, but the scale of the interiors just seems so cold and large. It seems to be a place to make even the biggest men seem quite small.

• Dark Passage: Exercises in Forensic Archaeology – quite a collection here. I wish there were more photos-per-location, but the quality of them is very good and artistic.

• abandoned places – The website is as much mystery as the locations captured. Just have fun and click around.  You will get it down pretty fast.

• Abandoned – lots of black and white photos of buildings and industry in Moscow.  The scale of the abandoned and uncompleted structures is amazing.

• Urban Exploration Database – Very well organized and photographed.  I spent more hours that I care to admit looking at this site’s showcases of decay.

• Modern Ruins Photographic Essays - Shaun O’Boyle – This is more of an “old-school” website, but it really accentuates the drama of the locations captured.  There is a great variety of locations here, from Cape Canaveral to boatyards to mills.  All good and haunting.  Tip, don’t give up on the first page.  Scroll to the bottom of the photo-gallery and click “next”.  Often there are multiple pages per location lurking. Shaun has a great eye for detail.

• out of site - Similar presentation to Shaun's site above. More color.  For a good sample take a look at the southern railway freight depot gallery.  I've seen more than a fair number of similar buildings here and there in small Texas towns.

• Infiltration.org was/is a magazine based on covering just such locations.  I believe they are currently not actively publishing, but you can still get books via Amazon.com Anyway, they provide great material and organization for more linking.  For example, Infiltration: Texas has links to locations in and around Texas that are fun to explore (via the web).  They also have Infiltration - North America for links to places in other states as well.  Full of additional resources, tips, and ideas if you are thinking on taking more than a Web-observer's viewpoint and getting you own feet dirty in this hobby.

Wonder what our place will look like a hundred years from now....

--Claus

Visual Joys

I got a new set of eyeglasses this week.

I've been fussing about apparent chronic eye-strain in my left eye and finally got to the family ophthalmologist for a checkup. The whole process took about an hour to complete.

Turns out it has been almost three years since my last vision checkup. I had to look up that post on my Blackberry to verify the date during the office checkup. Wow.

Good news was that my eyes are 100% healthy outside of the ocular performance.

I was told that the Rx I had been issued by a last-minute optometrist during my last visit was a bit too strong. So he dialed back the strength in one eye a bit and boosted in in my left eye a tad, also tweaking the astigmatism adjustment in it a bit as well.

I had to pick out my new frames by myself this time. After about twenty minutes of looking through the selections at the local mom-and-pop optical store we love and use in town I went with the very first set of frames I picked up; Adidas's "Inspired full rim model a787" in brown.

They look quite sporty yet refined. I went with the full-rim this time as these are very sturdy and rugged feeling, but the modern style compliments my personality and lifestyle pretty well.

Lavie and Alvis loved them.

There is a bit a curvature to the lenses in a wrap-around style and optically it is taking my eyes a bit of time to adjust, but now-where near the issues I encountered with my last sets.  These frames also have a polarized sunglass clip that I got allowing me to cut-down on the price of getting a 2nd pair of Rx sunglasses.

My left-eye still feels a bit strained but considering it's been working overtime for the past three to six months, and I still have to adjust to these new optics, I can see much better now right out of the box.

Visual Linkfest

Welcome to A Moment of Luxury - Lavie and I have started watching this new PBS series. The host, William Stubbs, turns out to be a local Houston boy and has a very pleasing presentation of his style. Yes, it is about interior decorating primarily but it is very classy and enjoyable. He reminds us of a mix of Lavie's dad and her uncle.

Flickr: Lost America's Photostream - there are some wicked-awesome visual treats in this flickr collection. Great colors and lighting at night for abandoned Americana materials and locations.

I found this King Kong NY wallpaper over at Social Wallpapering that has become my favorite Vista widescreen notebook wallpaper of the moment. It's a graphic from the King Kong movie and the colors and patterns work great for me for the sparse icons I have on it. Still looking for something for the dual monitor desktop....  I also like this wallpaper Heritage Flight 2 especially for the colors of the P-51 Mustang. However the colors of the buildings in the background are too vivid so I will have to do some color work to mute them out a bit first.

BLDGBLOG has had a number of great posts lately:

BLDGBLOG: Buildings and books - from whence I found the Lost America's photostream on flickr.

BLDGBLOG: Sounding Rooms - which essays on hidden rooms and the mysteries they bring to mind.

BLDGBLOG - bonus: this mini-post links to a public-domain book Secret Chambers and Hiding-Places by Allan Fea which provides some creepy and fun stories on hidden rooms. Oldie but goodie!

Arch Daily - Really neat new architectural blog that has loads of stunning modern designs. Lots of great supporting images with the posts.  Every day a new post comes up it is a joy.  I want to be an architect in another life. One of my college buddies played on the UH football squad and was in the College of Architecture program. He was always working on these models. Quite the contrast the big stocky football player and his delicate construction-board design models..Sample post: The Barn House / Buro II.  I love it!

Kong - freeware - For some reason this post has a Kong undercurrent. Kong is a freeware online/offline overhead shooter game with spectacular play and visuals.  Really fun. I spotted this one over in a review at freewaregenius.com. Seems to play well on our laptop/desktop systems.

--Claus

Geek-Green Thoughts...

With apologies to Kermit the Frog (video link), it's not easy being green.

Gasoline on the Radio

The other day I was driving home from work and listening as usual to NPR on the radio.

A story came on about the relationship of gasoline and pricing with American consumers.

• NPR : The Peculiar Role of Gasoline in Consumers' Lives (appx. 3:50 mins)

The host and interviewee discuss why we watch it so closely.  

One thing I found interesting was the note that with rising food prices, food manufacturers can re-package many food items with slightly more or less product to keep the shelf price constant and us psychologically in bliss (unless you keep an eye on the unit price...but who does that?)  This struck home the other day when I came home with a box of Rice Krispies that looked just like the one I always get for Alvis.

Only when I put it on the pantry shelf, I noticed it was about 1/2 to 1 inch thinner now than it usually is.  Hmmm.  Tricky.

Unfortunately you can't do the same thing with gasoline.

Two more short NPR gasoline related stories of note:

• NPR : Pain In the Gas (appx. 6:53 mins)

• NPR : Gas Prices Don't Slow Summer Driving Season (appx. 3:25 mins)

Two local Houston refinery connections I found interesting:

• KUHF, Houston Public Radio: Hurricane Series: Impact on Oil and Gas (appx. 3:04 mins)

• KUHF, Houston Public Radio: Hurricane Series: Surprise Hurricane of 1943 (appx. 6:14 mins)

Oil and Gas Related Blogs

Both of our fathers had (almost) life-long careers in the petro-chemical refining industry here in the Houston area.  Lavie's dad is now retired as is mine, although he has gone back to work doing consulting (contract) work for one of the major players again.  My brother has taken up the family business and continues the tradition.  I guess I am the black-sheep of the family.

So we grew up with all the oil and refining talk.  And I guess that makes us a tad-bit more knowledgeable about the industry than the usual consumer.  But I am still finding the whole thing maddening, especially when I listen to the business reports and it seems like each day has a new story about how now "x" event happened and that caused oil investors to drive the price of oil up...or so on.  I know it is more complicated than that, but it is so hard to sort out the hype from the fact in the markets nowadays.

Yesterday as I was waiting for my barber's chair to open up, I was reading a magazine that had some "Green Blog" links.

Some looked kinda tech-related so I keyed the URL's into my cell phone to check later.

• The Oil Drum | Discussions about Energy and Our Future 

This site's mission statement states

We all see the petroleum economy as the fundamental linchpin of our present democratic society. As cheap oil/energy/gas quietly fades into history, lives around the world will indeed change.

This real and tangible crisis of supply and demand is now inevitable. Whether the coming crisis arrives in six months or in four years, whether the crisis arrives in a slow, secular fashion or as a cataclysmic "shock," our purpose is the same: we are here to raise awareness of the reality of the current problem and to attempt to address the real issues that are often hidden by political pandering.

We are here to talk about ideas. We're all learning here about ourselves and from each other. No perspective will be punished as long as evidence and logic are present. We want to bring brain power to bear on all of these issues; we may not come up with a solution…but we can at least say we tried.

What can be expected to happen as this crisis develops and unfolds? Stick around, because that's the kind of stuff we're talking about.

It's got some interesting posts and articles. Worth checking out maybe.

• Daily Fuel Economy Tip blog 

Another interesting blog that offers consumers daily tips on how to help increase your fuel economy.  No wild miracle snake-oil-in-your-tank stuff here.

Just practical tips for the average Joe trying to get buy in the fueled times.

• AutoblogGreen

Great posts for the geeks and gear-heads interested in seeing how green vehicles may one day save our bacon and eggs.  The side-bar has great category/tag links for quick subject searching.

Green Living Blogs

• EcoGeek: Technology for the Environment blog

"Are you an EcoGeek?

Science, technology gadgets and...baby seals. We're in a bit of an eco-mess, but we've got the brains to lick any problem. And that's why EcoGeek.org publishes up to ten stories daily about innovations that are saving the planet. And if that sounds interesting to you, then congratulations, you're an EcoGeek."

This was the other website I took down.

It has a great collection of posts on green technology and its integration into our society.  Not all the products are out yet, but it points to the (hopeful) shape of things to come in the near future.  Well worth bookmarking or feeding.

• The Green Geek blog

Another geek-green technology focused site.  Seems to have a focus on the "bigger-picture" perspective technology can play in helping improve our environment.

I like "big-picture" perspectives.

• sustainable style foundation | look fabulous, live well, do good

Interesting website that has a multi-faceted focus on green sustainability in our society.

Covering areas of fashion, food, film, interior design, travel, music and more throughout popular culture, they take the position that green can be good and have hip-style at the same time.

It's a nicely managed website.

• Wild Thoughts Magazine: Environmental Writing Online

The featured articles written here harken back to the days of "Walden Pond."

Great writing, interesting perspectives, and real green living.

• The Alternative Consumer blog 

Seems a bit more focused for the ladies...and I don't mean that in a disparaging way.

However, it has some great suggestions for green consumer alternatives to products.  The focus isn't just on price and convenience, but also on the company's values and impact. It's a fresh look.

Green Design (Architecture and Products)

• House Hacker :: Stuff for Home

Practical tips on how to recycle and re-task items for better home living. Some clever items in here!

• Jetson Green blog 

I am really impressed by this site.

LOTS of architecture and design posts and material on taking a more eco-friendly approach to architecture and interior design elements.  Lots of quality posts here.  I'm adding this to my feed list.

• Inhabitat

Reporting and investigating the green design in architecture, interiors, furniture, products, fashion, materials and even graphics...this site helps show that green design can be purposeful, fun, and effective in today's consumer society. Another site I'm going to start feeding.

My own simple perspective

While I wouldn't consider myself a eco-green-environmentalist by any stretch of the imagination, I do try hard to keep an awareness of the impact my life makes in the world I get to live in for a few rotations of the earth around the sun.

Lavie and I make an effort to teach Alvis the same sensitivity and awareness of nature, the environment, and compassion for others as well.  We drive smaller cars, live in a much smaller home that fits our needs, pass on Alvis's "too-small-now" clothes to her little cousins to wear a few times more, stuff like that.

Obviously that's a constant challenge in our pop-consumer orientated society here in the States.

But we remain hopeful.

If nothing else, maintaining this perspective, with a few choice blogs will keep us in the loop.

And in the meantime...maybe I'll take up kayaking just in case the water rises too high here on the coast and I need to find a new way to commute into Houston.

--Claus

Links for your TPS Report

Here is a range of links for your amusement.

For the Practical minded

10 Cool Things You Can Do With (the New) Google Analytics - via GoogleBlogoscoped. I'm really finding the new and improved interface to Google Analytics much more user friendly. I knew it had a lot of horsepower, but these tips are great.

20 Ways to Use Gmail Filters - Via Lifehack.org. Because filters aren't only for your morning coffee anymore.

For the Wacky minded

You're On Notice! - The Stephen Colbert "On Notice Board" Generator - Oh, the possibilities before me....

For the Speed Racer fans

First look: 'Speed Racer's' demon on wheels - Via USATODAY. Speed Racer was my first introduction as a very young child that there was a whole different world to American cartoons...and It Was Good! Can't wait for this movie to come out. Might be a bit cheesy, but the nostalgia factor is pretty strong and the special effects should be outstanding.

For the Aubrey-Maturin (a.k.a. Master and Commander) fans

Aubrey–Maturin series - Via Wikipedia. All the info on all the books in the series. Good place to help sort it all out.

The Patrick O'Brian Mapping Project - Amazing use of Google Maps API mashups. If you are a fan of the Aubrey-Maturin series you HAVE to check this out. Patrick plots the adventures and sea-cruises from the characters and stories on Google Maps, and leaves notes from the novels. Truly an original and inspired use of Google Maps.

For the Abandoned Spaces explorers

russos: Подземная база подводных лодок, часть I - Which translates from Russian into something like "I'm in ur abandoned nuclear sub-base...stealing ur former seckrets!" Really Cool pictures...worth taking a quick peek at.

And for those confused with the TPS Report reference

TPS report (Office Space) - Via Wikipedia. One of the driving forces of madness and banality in the move that reminds us geeks that there is yet hope, heaven, and career satisfaction away from our current cubicles and in the real world of construction labor.

Office Space - Via Wikipedia. The sleeper movie where the red Swingline stapler and TPS reports became part of geek pop-culture, and a youthful Jennifer Aniston becomes fed up with "flair."

Initech TPS Report cover sheet - (PDF file link) Attach it to something and file it in your favorite manager's mailbox.

TPS report - Via Wikipedia. What the REAL ones are about, some kind of boring IEEE 829 - Test Procedure Specification or whatnot.

--Claus

Copernican Coincidence?

I've mentioned before that I took astronomy classes at U of H as part of my B.S. degree.

I really enjoyed them and have a deeper appreciation of the scale and beauty of the unseen universe that we share existence.

One of the early thinkers in "modern" astronomy was Nicolaus Copernicus.

Although there are many elements to his work, his best known contribution summarized in "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?" format is the position than that the planets circle the sun, and not everything circles the earth.

I am thinking again about Copernicus due to a recent post in the architectural blog "BldgBlog": The Heliocentric Pantheon: An Interview with Walter Murch

It's a very fascinating interview with film editor and sound designer Walter Murch and examines Murch's thoughts on the relationship between Copernicus and the Pantheon, Bode's Law, and musical ratios.

Did the ratio of the vaulted circles around the Pantheon's oculus inspire Copernicus to see the planets orbiting the sun? Or was is just a kooky coincidence? I'm not sure, but it is a bit of neat trivia.

It's all kinda heady stuff, but is a really fun interview that merges space, sound, science and architecture in a great way.

For more information about the Pantheon and the engineering that went into its construction, see this link: The Pantheon-- Rome 126 AD

--Claus

Odd Views in Japan

Been sitting on these for a bit.

Anime-themed car-skins

I'm sure anyone who drives in Houston (or any other major metro area) has seen vehicles that have labels wrapped on their body. The ones around here are mostly ad-related and are on pizza delivery cars, etc. Beetles and scions seem to be popular canvases.

I always though it would be very cool (otaku geeky...but fun-cool) to get a wrap done of some fun anime-themes. But, then, who would do that?

While enjoying the models at dannychoo.com I caught a post of his and learned that there are some fans who do just that to their cars, and that there is a term for this art: Itasha. It basically refers to a car that was covered in anime stickers and decorations! Nice.

He has a pair of nice pics. on his site, but then links to Yoshimu-san's blog where there are a large number of additional pictures of all kinds and styles.

Purrrr!

Old with New

Living in Texas and the Gulf-Coast, most of the architecture is relatively modern. Even many of the "older" buildings still fit in well with their more recent neighbors. We don't have the physical historical presence here with our buildings that you find more in the North Eastern US or in Europe and Japan.

Q-Taro posted some pictures he took in a blog post: Old Japanese Houses

Apparently for all the growth and modernity we associate with Japan, there are still pockets of resistance. The contrast is striking and I can only wonder how the owner's feel. While probably not as out-of-place in the more rural areas of Japan, it really intrigues me when I see these homes buried in the middle of the lights and towering buildings.

He links to another blog where there are even more of these contrasts. Kai-Wai

While many Japanese websites don't play well with on-line translators, this one seems to, so if you want to get more info beyond the pictures, go visit via Google's Translation of the pages.

Some of my favorites:

Milk drop box

Wooden evacuation bridges

Green zinc house

Tank bucket

Enjoy.

--Claus

Tiny versus Modular Home Concepts

Let's digress from tech for a moment, shall we?

One of the subjects I first covered as a new blogger was the phenomenon of "tiny homes." These are very small sized homes.

Recently NPR ran an story on how "tiny home" proponents are responding to the needs of those impacted by the recent Gulf-Coast visitors Rita and Katrina: Tiny Houses Find a Friend on the Gulf Coast

Related links:

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company
Cusato Cottages: The Katrina Cottage
The Martin House Company: House-to-Go
The Small House Society

There seems to be something appealing in this concept. It is more home-like than a travel-trailer. And there definitely is a "kawaii" factor about them. No getting around the fact it is a major life-style change. You are forced to decide what bits of humanity are essential to your comfort and happiness--all else must be shed and not very conducive to most "family-living" plans.

Following a different flight-plan, Retrothing touched on modular housing. Here, you select the modules you want in your home-design and they put all the elements together. This seems more my style--modern and contemporary and clean--but still with unmistakable logic and order. (Stop laughing at me, Lavie!)

Muji+Infill Modular Housing (Japanese site) - Living in a Hurricane-zone, the concrete appeals to me.
Huf Haus - but it doesn't much compare to the post and beam look of these designs.
Oldcastle Precast Modular Group - Good and sturdy concrete boxes - just need some more work to make them more "home-style" for single-family dwellings.
fabprefab's containerbay - Houston is an international port city. Lots of shipping containers on the road. Considering that and the possibilities of modular homes, led me to this site.
Loft Cube -- Nice design work.

land+living -- modern design website. Not directly related but I liked it anyway.

Enjoy and dream.
--Claus

Abandoned in Place - Duex

One of my earliest posts was "Abandoned in Place." In it I waxed philosophic about the mystery of abandoned buildings and how they seem to draw my attention.

Some time ago I was over on the Watashi to Tokyo blog and came across the "ruins are beautiful" post. It highlights a mysterious seeming Japanese island called "Gunkanjima".

According to to the "Watashi to Tokyo" post:

"To be honest with you, I heard the name before but did not know much about it....they say Gunkanjima was only small reef, but it was developed for mining coal since 1870's. Its population was 5,000 at peak, and they built many high apartments. Thus it looked like a warship, so we call this island "Gunkanjima" (warship island). However it was closed in 1974, and it has turned into ruins now."

It reminds me of a set-piece for a Studio Ghibli production of "Laputa: The Castle in the Sky" or something. I can only imagine what it was like to have lived and worked there.

There are two really neat photo-gallery websites referred to regarding Gunkanjima:
Gunkanjima Odyssey (Japanese--so bring your web-translator)
Gunkanjima (English)

In the comments, someone left a link to a site called "Opacity". This is some of the most beautiful photography of abandoned buildings and material I have ever come across. It is really emotionally haunting. It looks to be updated regularly so I've added it to my bookmark list of frequently visited sites. I really like the site layout and color-scheme. Well done.

When growing up as a kid, one book I read that really inspired me was Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay. David Macaulay has done some really incredible work, but this one was my favorite. In it, archaeologists from the future uncover a motel room and try to use (misguided) anthropological analysis to discover what life in our times was like. Seeing the possibility of how our ruined civilization would like in stark black and white illustrations captivated my young imagination.

Of course, that let me to learn about the wonderful discoveries of Cambodia's abandoned cities of Angkor, the Maya civilization (that my minor was in), and the tombs of Egypt. (As well as also founding a delight in "fantasy-archeology" found in Raiders of the Lost Ark movies, Lara Croft Tomb Raider movies, heck, even (the original) Planet of the Apes films.)

See you in the skies,
--Claus

Dazed and Confused Confessions

Confession #1: I've been kinda "out of it" for the past couple of weeks. The "wreck" and a special project at work have been eating my lunch.

Worn out. I've even been too busy to drop many comments in over at the TechBlog, my virtual pub hangout with the regulars.

See, because of my l33t 5killz I've been placed on a special project at work. It has almost nothing to do with networking or computers or any of that stuff. And to be honest, I don't have much experience at all with this other system and its hardware. Plus it involves supporting a new customer's system so we want to look good. So I've got binders of stuff I'm trying to understand. New offices to find and visit, and new customers who are so happy to see us when we show up, but are confused when we leave without fixing anything (still don't know how!).

Frustrated. Because it is hard leaving my zone of security (desktop/network support) to do something completely foreign is stressful. While I could spend 30 minutes solving a very challenging computer issue, I am spending hours working out how to troubleshoot something I know should be a 10 min. fix if I only knew the system and the commands.

If anyone knows of any good Nortel Meridian PBX system virtualization software out there (if such a thing even exists), I'd love to hear about it from you. Doesn't have to be very new--heck, I don't think Nortel even supports the Meridian systems we have any longer. So crashing a 400+ user PBX system because I don't know the right commands to manage it would be a bummer. I really need something I can practice on and see how all the parts work together.

How tired am I? Our IT team was issued new laptops last week. Our former laptops had to have been between 4-5 years old. These new ones are easily at least four times as powerful (and fast) and instead of being excited, I just got irked that I had to take the time to set it up. I want to be excited about it, really. It is pretty nice. I'm just so stressed out right now I can't find the time to enjoy it. I need to find some removable stickers/labels to put on it (flames?) to pimp it out. Maybe that would help...

The body shop returned my poor car to me this week. It was amazing! Total damage done was close to $2000. I had to pick up the deductible +rental upgrade. I was very nervous about how it would drive being a front wheel drive and them having to straighten up the front end frame. Tracked perfectly with no drift or pull. They even cleaned it up better than when I drove it off the lot new. I did have to adjust the air-pressure in the tires. I keep them a few pounds of pressure higher then recommended so I don't pre-wear the outside edges of my tires (tire-shop tip). They did an awesome job. The family at Kopriva Body Works has had to fix my car twice now, and each time I've been thrilled. It's nice to have my confidence in my car restored so wonderfully. Good folks and wonderful craftsmen. Now if I could just say the same about having trust and confidence in other drivers I share the road with....

Random Links I've collected this week:

The Narrow House -- [an englishman in Osaka] -- Looks kinda cool to me. Something about small and efficiently designed architecture really inspires me. Not for everybody.

Six Studio Ghibli movies to re-air in May on Turner Classic Movies - Set your Tivo today. I highly recommend them all, but that "Pom Poko" one is kinda weird...

Airstream travel trailers teamed with Nissan to design a model called the Basecamp. Looks really nice. I have only the fondest memories of Airstream trailers as we grew up with Mom's parents traveling all over the States in one. Every weekend grandpa would be found on his ladder polishing and waxing the thing.

I haven't really even started playing Kingdom Hearts yet on our PS2. Now comes word that that the sequel Kingdom Hearts 2 is out. Yikes! I better get busy!

ComputerZen master Scott Hanselman takes folks through a walk-though of hunting down a trojan on a system. Good technique to know.

Get some useful Windows XP Command-line tips from Amit Agarwal over at his Digital Inspiration site. In fact, knowing your way around the Command-line interface really can give you an edge with working on your XP/2000 desktop. It's well worth the time to practice using them. Microsoft's XP Command-line reference page, and Windows 2000 Command-line reference page.

New to home networking? Check out Network Magic. Freeware/$$ verisons available. This well polished application helps you to set up and manage a home network. The site has some really good documentation and previews on how it all works. Well worth a look if managing a home network is something you want to do, but don't know where to begin. Seen across many posts, including over at Download Squad.

Confession #2: Guilty blog reading pleasure--Bored Housewife. You go, girl!

See you in the skies,
--Claus

The Diogenes Club

"There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of their fellows. Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest periodicals. It is for the convenience of these that the Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable and unclubable men in town. No member is permitted to take the least notice of any other one. Save in the Stranger's Room, no talking is, under any circumstances, allowed, and three offences, if brought to the notice of the committee, render the talker liable to expulsion."

from the story "The Greek Interpreter"
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

A place to hide. A place to nest. A place to retreat. This is something we all long for. A little zone of peace in a mad world. Just like those abandoned in place spots, places like these--or at least the idea of places like these--attract me. When I was attending classes at UH-Park campus, the upper floors of the library had some really secluded desks and tables. It was the perfect place to settle down to study. Almost nobody got up there.

When the little town I live in just outside of Houston finally got it's own Starbucks I thought Lavie and I had found it. I imagined quiet sit-downs sipping coffee and making notes for a novel--ala JKR. Unfortunately, it is across town--so much for unplanned visits--and 3/4 of the town also had the same thought. Some new enterprising individuals are coming up with alternatives for the former Starbucks crowd. Check out these new hangouts: theOffice and Paragraph. Are these cool or what? (Thanks to TinyApps blog for the links for the quote and sites.)

Animal Crackers:

• freeCommander--the best windows file manager tool (along with A43) has a major update released. This is a really good one. It is faster and the icons/buttons have been upgraded.)
• Awesome file security application/wipe tool Blowfish Advanced CS. We use this to encrypt financial data stored on our drive. (Note: the main download site is down but you can find it on C|net.) How to guide.
  
• Article about the cat and mouse battle between rootkits and their detectors.
• Article about the resurgence of rootkits.
• While hiding out at the Diogenes Club, going to do work for my full-time, part-time-job with these guys. Ever since they hired me, they refuse to tell me where to report to work or where their office is!
• animefringe is closing down after December. I have enjoyed their site. Simple but thoughtful anime and manga reviews. Good luck guys and gals!

--UPDATE TO YESTERDAY'S POST--Lavie's parents now have power & a/c!!!! The well pump needs some additional assistance, but should be pressured back up by the end of the day! Thank goodness! I wonder if they would be willing to consider a solar-powered water-well setup? Link#1, Link#2, Google Search Link.

See you in the skies!
--Claus

It's all about Appearances....

It's been on the record for some time that I like icons, desktops, and other neat eye-candy for the pc. I haven't gone to dual monitors yet, but that's just due to desk-space limitations, I've got the hardware ready. However, sometimes too much can be distracting. When I get XP on a new machine, I like to strip it down to more of a modified W2K/Classic setup. I keep a handful of icons on the desktop, and quite a few more down in some custom quick-launch bars in the task-bar. That's it. In Linux, I generally prefer Fluxbox/BlackBox desktop interfaces rather than the gorgeous KDE. It is almost too beautiful. I'm more of a ZEN type of guy. Simple, functional, inspirational--in perfect ballance.

Now, I generally use Linux at work only for data-rescue circumstances. Imagine my surprise the other day when I ran across a Windows shell tool that re-creates the BlackBox desktop experience on a Windows pc! It is called bblean. It doesn't need to be "installed"--just unzip, add some extra modules if desired and click-to-go. If you really like it--set it to run at startup. If you get tired, quit it and your Windows GUI returns. NEAT! The Wikipedia has an entry for it with some good links for more modules and stuff. You can really get out-of-hand if you aren't careful--thus loosing the "simplicity" of it all.

I've been playing with the Microsoft XP Virtual Desktop Manager Power Toy on my laptop. It is pretty cool, but the more I use it, the more I'm just not sure. I will keep it going for a while to see what I think. You get 4 "virutal" desktops you can select. Keep Internet apps on one, network apps on the other, etc. Even have a different desktop on each one. Seems mainly for people who use too many windows open at the same time and don't like overlap, or those who can't decide which desktop image to use.

As previously blogged, I've been playing with Firefox 1.5 Beta 1 (a.k.a. Deer Park) for some time. I really am impressed with this build. If it works this well now, I can't wait for the final delivery version. However, I was chicken to install it over my 1.0.7 version and sometimes it doesn't play well installed in two locations. John Haller has made a "portable" version of it (and some other cool things too). Use this one to avoid conflicts...and if you copy for 1.0.7's profile folder (just follow the instructions on his page) into it, you can preserve all your bookmarks. Neat. Thanks John!

Dad has been talking about getting a new digital SLR (DSLR) camera body so he can use his SLR lenses. Dan's Data has an awesomely deep and headache inducing DSLR camera primer about why one should (or should not) get a DSLR camera and blows away some false expectations about them. It might be good to review for those coming from the SLR world into the DSLR camera world. This guy is awesome and witty (Aussie). I might just add his banner to the list.

Spybot S&D Updates are failing pretty hard right now. If your do as well, just keep trying. After a couple of days trying (both at work and at home), I finally got one of the european servers to deliver a good set of updates. Maybe they are facing a DoS style attack. If that still doesn't work, go to the main download site and download the detection update pack manually from there.

Shortbread cookies:

• Opera is now free (100%). Free as in no more ad banner free.
• DRAWN is a website/blog that highlights Illustrators. This is some cutting-edge stuff. Cool! They are a kind bunch of folks! They had a post that I did some comments on and in my enthusiam to be helpful, kinda was totally wrong and off the mark. They patiently cleared up the confusion I helped to fan and didn't flame me for it either. Thank's guys. That's class. You have my attention, bookmark, and respect! Now to show the site to Alvis--our budding artist.
  
• The Place Promised in our Early Days -- I'm on the hunt for this anime movie DVD.
• Visit the Ghibli Museum--just be sure to bring your favorite web-language translator with you!
• Pictures from the real Satsuki and Mei's house (My Neighbor Totoro). I really like it. Disney is planning a re-mastered release...sometime...maybe in 2005/2006.
• 34 different power supply units reviewed--wow.
• Two "standalone" anti-virus/trojan scanners: McAfee's Stinger and Anti Vir Personal Edition Classic. Keep both of these handy on a USB stick--just in case.
• The Elder Geek on Windows XP site posts are kinda old, but the information is expansive and works.
  

Lavie's parents in Liberty County still don't have power. It has been--what a week?--since it went out. It has been hot and breezeless. I hope they get power soon. Good people, them. Us? We're spoiled...no a/c, no power, no running water...time to move.

So, after riding out Rita, just what would to take to design and build a hurricane resistant house?

• IFC house construction,
• Constrution tips,
• Project house in Cheasapeake, Virginia highlighted on FEMA website. (the best link)
  
• CBS News report on hurricane resistant housing,
• Texas Tech site on building and wind resistance,
• Bob Villa's hurricane house project.
  

Chores calling--need to finish pickup and recovery from return from evacuation....

See you in the Skies!
--Claus