How Star Trek is This???

Have we really found a way to control the weather??? Read this article.

Link to article

Free Podcasting Service

I just read about this on Lifehacker. GCast is a free (ad supported) service where you can record and host your podcast. This looks like it could be very useful. It's made by the producers of GarageBand.

Link to Site

What's in a name?

This post was recently "dugg." Interesting how companies come up with their names.

Link to Post

WiFiber

Now this I gotta see!!!!

Picture video that takes an hour to download on a DSL line at present can be downloaded in seconds from tower to tower with this protocol!!!

Link to Article

Will the real George Washington please stand up?

I came across this article on digg.com. Seems that the George we all know and love on the $1 bill is not how he really looked? So, for a cost of $1 million, an expert has recreated what Washington may have looked like and formed a waxed figure for all to see. This is pretty interesting.

Click here for the article. It may be a little slow to open since being "dugg up."

Beware of Online Predators

Parents:

How many of you saw the Dateline broadcast last week where the journalists and police had set up a house as a place to lure and catch pedophiles? It was enough to make your skin crawl, wasn't it?!!? I decided I would include a post where you could find some links to publications online on how to deal with such issues and to keep your children safe as they experience the Internet.

Kid Safety on the Internet
A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety
Internet Safety Awareness
Safeteens

As a result of reading these pages, I hope you can be better informed on how to protect your child and keep them safe online.

New Hybrid?

Oh, if this is true I hope I can get one of these. I love my SUV, but I really hate the gas mileage.

Ford Hybrid Vehicle

Another Gadget

Yes, I loooooove gadgets. My iPod mini has a new addition--the inMotion mini speaker system made by Altec Lansing. This company makes very good quality speakers for stereo systems as well as computers. I was amazed at this little set's quality. It's about the width of 3 iPod minis and the height of a little over 2. You can tell how the iPod is docked in the picture to get an idea of the size. It's battery powered but comes with an AC adaptor. You can't control the volume really through the iPod itself but through the speakers' volume control. I got it on sale for about $100. I like things that are small and portable. Who'd have thought I'd ever have given up my big cabinet speakers with 12" woofers from 20 years ago for something this small??? Now, granted they are not going to carry 120 watts across the room or anything like that, but for your desk they are great!!

Image from Altec Lansing

On a lighter note...

Since I am a musician I have an iPod mini. Yeah, the Nano came out about a week after I bought it, but I like it and it serves its purpose for me. Can't stand the earbuds...you can have those things, but I have an old pair of Altec Lansing computer speakers that I attach to it. Since I'm not much of a person to listen to music anytime except when I'm at home I hook it up to external speakers. I have a pair of headphones if I need them...er..actually 2 pair. LOL...one of my co-workers recently bought a Nano. She was upset because her Nano was black, but ALL of the accessories were white. The case, the earbuds (which she hates, too...we have deformed ears and they won't stay in our ears for some reason), the cables, etc., are all white. She wants some black accessories!!!! LOL

Anyway, being an iTunes customer AND a musician of classical training, I am always looking for good instrumentalists with quality recordings. Well, I've found a trombone quartet you need to listen to. It's called the Momus Trombone Quartet, and the music on their album entitled The Lexington Project is really great. I highly recommend anyone to listen to it. This group has excellent technique and skill.

Someone sent a video to me in an email the other day of another trombone quartet. It was a group of all girls, and they were playing Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever march, and I swear one of those girls played the piccolo solo down to the trills!!! Her bell was in the way so I couldn't see if she was using the trigger or not on the trills! It was awesome. When they repeated that section they did it in double time, too! I don't know who they were or where they were from, but it was so cool!!

Update: I did a search online and found the video of the trombone quartet playing Sousa. You can view it online at the Website of the International Trombone Association of 2002. Click on Bones Apart Stars and Stripes Forever. Enjoy!

Another Update: You can find the Bones Apart quartet Website here. Their schedule says they will be at GMEA next January!

Hard Drive Interests

I occasionally have folks ask me, "Why does my computer make that noise?" I usually tell them it's nothing more than the hard drive doing its thing as the computer boots up. Hitachi, a maker of hard drives that are in many computers, has a page that contains sounds that their hard drives make if there are various problems. I personally have not heard any of these sounds, because the computers I have worked on sometimes use IBM, Maxtor, and Western Digital hard disks. They don't have quite the same sounds. Anyway, I thought you might find it interesting.

Hitachi defective hard drive sounds

Saw this on Digg. Interesting and cool video of how a hard drive works. Now you can see what it actually looks like on the inside as well as how it works. This is part of a Colorado State University Controls Lab demonstration.