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January 30, 2007
Trivial Tuesday #53
1. What network canned 'Armed & Famous' after only 4 episodes?
2. The Police plan to reunite to play at the Grammy's February 11. Besides Sting, who made up the band?
3. Britain's GW Pharmaceuticals Plc announced Tuesday that they would be starting an obesity treatment trial with a drug derived from what plant, typically known to cause the munchies?
4. What country plans to open an embassy in the virtual world of Second Life?
5. Al Unser Jr., two time winner of the Indianapolis 500, was charged last week with a DUI (among many other charges). 'Al Unser Jr.'s Turbo Racing' was released on what gaming system?
Answers to the last Trivial Tuesday:
1. Tatum O'Neal, 10 ("Paper Moon")
2. 1988
3. Wham-O
4. MySpace
5. XXI, XXV
Posted by mhader at 5:48 PM | Comments (3)
January 23, 2007
Trivial Tuesday #52
1. Ten year old Abigail Breslin was nominated for best supporting actress ("Little Miss Sunshine") this morning by the Academy. Who is currently the youngest winner of an Oscar?
2. On this day in what year did Michael Jackson go to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'The Way You Make Me Feel'?
3. On this day in 1957, which company manufactured the first [what we know today as] frisbee?
4. Which large web site recently announced that it will begin sending Amber Alerts to their subscribers?
5. Bill Parcells again retired from coaching football this week. Which Super Bowls is he responsible for coaching to victory?
answers for last week:
1. A dispute over a missing pair of jeans
2. Queen
3. Illinois
4. NFLX
5. David Beckham
Posted by mhader at 8:59 PM | Comments (2)
January 20, 2007
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday Jonathan!
We have to figure out how to celebrate our collective birthdays..
Posted by mhader at 6:38 PM | Comments (1)
January 16, 2007
Trivial Tuesday #51
1. Naomi Campbell plead guilty today on assault charges filed by one of her former maids. What lead to Naomi throwing a phone at her maid?
2. Brian May is making plans to reform and tour with what band?
3. Sen. Barack Obama filed paperwork forming a presidential exploratory committee today. What state does he represent in the Senate?
4. Netflix is beginning to roll out the option for customers to stream some movies straight to their computer. NetFlix stock is traded publicly on the NASDAQ under what symbol?
5. MLS is bringing in what world famous player?
Answers to Trivial Tuesday #50:
1. Milan
2. Ella Fitzgerald
3. Somalia
4. ...
5. Cal Ripken Jr., Tony Gwynn
Posted by mhader at 5:12 PM | Comments (3)
January 9, 2007
Trivial Tuesday #50
1. What fashion city has formally barred ultra-skinny and under-age models from the catwalk?
2. A new postage stamp was announced today honoring the 'First Lady of Song'. Who is she?
3. What new country did the US attack today?
4. With CES and MAcWorld happening at the same time, there is tons of tech toys news this week. Any new products you are interested in?
5. The newest inductees to the Baseball hall of fame were announced today. Who made the cut?
Answers for last week's trivia:
1. Courtney Cox
2. The Killers
3. He was not elected as either Vice President or President.
4. Both HD-DVD & Blu-Ray (both use AACS)
5. Dean Smith
Posted by mhader at 8:41 PM | Comments (3)
January 8, 2007
Happy Birthday!
Yes, Ben, Michael posting in his blog is indeed odd. I actually jotted down a short list of things I've considered blogging about and took the time to write a few entries. The sad thing, as I look at the list I wrote just last week, is that I'm already not sure what some of the ideas even refer to. 'WS' is all I wrote for one of them. I knew at the time I'd have no problem remembering what it meant. The only thing that comes to mind, however, is Wallstrip, which is a daily video about hot stocks on the market. I find it interesting, but I really don't think I wanted to talk about it. So what does 'WS' stand for? I think it stands for Michael actually needs to write out his ideas.
So far I'm happy with the newer version of MovableType that I'm using. I upgraded to 3.33 from 3.1x (there were some major changes starting with 3.2). I haven't messed around with it too much, but I've noticed they've apparently added some AJAX which makes some things a bit quicker and also RSS feeds to make it easier to maintain the blog.
Does anyone else have neighbors that think it's still Christmas time..with all the tacky lawn ornaments set up in the front yard? It's been two full weeks since Christmas, I think it's time to pack it up..maybe they just want to be ready for next year. They are also the same neighbors that have had a car jutting out of their driveway for the past month or so. It looks like the parking brake wasn't used and it rolled down the driveway until the front tires were caught in the gutter on the street.
Posted by mhader at 6:07 PM | Comments (3)
January 6, 2007
Upgrade
I just upgraded to the latest version of MovableType on a whim and I don't really have time to mess with it right now. Please let me know if you notice anything weird going on! Thanks..
Posted by mhader at 11:20 AM | Comments (1)
January 5, 2007
Picture Friday
Posted by mhader at 5:00 PM
January 4, 2007
To NAS or Not To NAS [geek]
This is [hopefully] the year of the new computer. Mine has been chugging along with constant heavy use for nearly 4 years now (with lots of upgrades along the way) and it will soon be completely replaced (assuming I can find the money to fund it). I've recently started thinking a lot about the storage for the system and was wondering if anyone had any experience with a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device.
I'm currently running a RAID 1 (two large drives mirrored) setup on my computer because that's about all my motherboard can handle. That mixed with a drive for the operating system and another for recording tv makes for a lot of hard drives crammed into a small amount of space with no room for expansion.
My storage goal on the new system is to have a fast drive for the OS, as much space as possible for recording television (with no need for redundancy), and at least 1 TB of redundant storage--preferably all in a package that could easily fit in the Jeep in case of an approaching hurricane. What I want to do requires a lot of hard drives in a large case with a motherboard and power supply that can handle it. This is where the idea of a NAS device comes into the scheme.
I imagine if I got a NAS device capable of gigabit transfer speeds, it would allow me to move the terabyte of storage out of the main computer, giving me ample space for my DVR needs. At gigabit speeds I would hope to have no problem streaming media from the device.
So, does anyone have any advice on NAS? I've looked at a couple consumer NAS devices online and they are a bit pricey, but I'm not sure I'd be any better off building one myself. Though, depending on my monetary situation when I start collecting parts for the new computer, I might not have a choice..there are so many other things to spend money on!
Posted by mhader at 9:40 PM | Comments (6)
January 3, 2007
You Rock [geek potential]
During the Thanksgiving break I decided I had waited long enough so Kira and I headed for our local retailer and bought Guitar Hero for the PS2. For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's a music video game currently only for the Playstation 2 that uses a guitar-shaped controller to simulate an electric guitar.
I actually bought the Guitar Hero Bundle (comes with the guitar) and Guitar Hero 2 (game only) because I preferred the guitar from the first game and the songs from the second (lots of good songs on the first as well). I now wish I had bought both bundles for the second guitar. Instead I ended up buying a 'limited edition' React controller a couple days later. The React controller is pure crap. Don't buy one.
The game play on both games is very similar in single player mode (money is cumulative across difficulty levels in GH2 however). RedOctane (the publisher) made a lot of improvements to the multiplayer mode. My favorite being cooperative mode which allows the players to choose between lead, rhythm, and bass. My only problem with the multiplayer mode is that the second player can hardly hear what they are playing, making it extremely difficult to play some songs.
Check out Wikipedia for more info and a listing of all the songs on each.
If you have a PS2 and don't have the game, I highly recommend picking it up.
Posted by mhader at 6:38 PM
January 2, 2007
Trivial Tuesday #49
1. "Dirt", a show about the corruption and scandal of two tabloid magazines, premieres tonight on FX starring which ex-Friend?
2. Which Las Vegas band is the frontrunner for the next James Bond theme?
3. Today is a National Day of Mourning for President Gerald Ford. What made his election to Presidency unique?
4. What possibly soon to be popular consumer electronics device's encryption scheme was recently cracked?
5. With his 880th win Bob Knight surpassed which coach as the winningest coach in Division I men's basketball?
Answers to #48
1. 5 cents
2. Hoola-Hoop
3. Deleware River
4. Missletoe
5. Sugar Ray Robinson
6. The Barnum’s Animal Cracker
7. Coca-Cola
8. Alabama
9. Snowflakes
10. Because of all the wrapping!
Posted by mhader at 10:00 AM | Comments (2)
January 1, 2007
It Has Begun
Another year is a upon us..Happy New Year to all!
Trivial Tuesday will return tomorrow and perhaps I'll follow it up with some actual entries..
Posted by mhader at 4:01 PM