Windows Vista... Not gonna do it... not for a while anyway.

I just read (most of) an article discussing how much joy Microsoft has released into the work in it's latest operating system's digital rights management (copy protection) features.

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html

Unfortunately, the recording industries zeal to protect their intellectual property (an understandable concern) will, most likely, prevent us from viewing and managing our media in the the way we're accustomed to. Sadly, the days of hooking up any audio/display device to any compatible port to watch/listen to our music or video may be coming to an end. The content will have to be able to determine whether or not our output devices are secure and if they aren't they'll refuse to play at full quality or perhaps at all.

I have a DVD player that can upconvert DVDs to HD resolution. If I want to watch a commercial DVD, I need to have a TV with an HDMI connector. An HDTV ready display with DVI or component inputs (both HD capable ports) won't work in this instance.

I suppose it's a good thing I didn't buy an HDTV ready TV before I knew all of this stuff.

It just not good for the consumers. I'll possibly be one of those people who'll do something to strip the DRM from the media so I can watch my legitimately purchased content on whatever device I choose.

I'm rambling... sorry.

cool high speed camera footage

http://www.lucidmovement.com
I've always been interested in this kind of stuff.

Lab disaster may lead to new cancer drug

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070205/sc_nm/cancer_drug_dc_4

I don't think I'd classify what happened as a disaster but still this is cool news. I hope it works out.

Thank God for accidents and miscalculations.

Grrrr Computer Problems

My work PC went kaput. It didn't turn on. I hadn't used it for several days. I turned it on and nothing happened. I think it's the power supply (again) but I'm not sure. It made a clicking sound with it plugged in. When I detached the motherboard from the power supply and plugged the power chord back in the clicking stopped. That worries me because it makes me think it may be the motherboard and a more expensive repair. If I need to replace the motherboard and CPUs (how do you know if the RAM and CPUs aren't fried?) I probably won't get something as high-end as I have/had. Of course, it's a few years old so I won't have to spend as much to match its performance.

I probably won't do anything to it until I get paid for a freelance job I did for the University of Virginia. I was going to use that money to pay down debt, not repair equipment. At least I'm not doing any work that requires me to use it at this moment. If work like that comes along, I can install my productivity software on my entertainment PC though it doesn't have as much RAM as I'd want for serious graphics work. I could also use the computer I'm using at my old room mate's house. I'm not worried about it... just bummed out.

Cool driftwood sculptures

http://www.jansch.freeserve.co.uk/

Horses made out of driftwood. Looks cool.

Keep metalic things away from those MRI machines

http://www.simplyphysics.com/flying_objects.html#

Florescent Pigs!!

Okay, so they only go green under UV light.

phone - eek

Last night our internet connection was flaky and I decided to use my cell phone to call a dial up internet number I have use of. I have unlimited evening and weekend minutes so that's not an issue. It's a really slow connection (slow like the modem I was using in 1994) but all I was doing was Instant Messaging. Well, I finished with the internet and closed my laptop, plugged my phone into the charger and went to bed.

This morning after I got to work and looked at my phone for some reason. It was still connected from last night. The display said it'd been connected for 10 hours. Eek. That scared me breifly. I called the phone company and double checked the hours for the evening and weekend calling. The normal day rate starts at 6AM. I accidently burned 220 peak minutes. The plan I have shares 1000 minutes between my wife and I. So far this month we've only used 47... up till this morning. Our plan resets on the second of the month so that leaves us just under 750 peak minutes to use. :D

ramblings

It's after midnight and I'm not terribly sleepy yet. I'm getting there though.

I just took the trash out front to be picked up tomorrow mornight. There were no clouds in the sky and the temperature was actually nice. I was out in khakis and a t-shirt. Just last week we had lows in the 20s. It's odd like that here in central VA.

Capital One bit me today. Last month, October, the due date was the 11th. I had marked on my calendar that CapOne gets paid on the 11th. Only, this month it was due on the 6th. I got slapped with a $35 late fee and for some reason the minimum due went up by $100. In looking at the statements available online, October is the only month in the last 5 that end on the 11th. The 11th was a Wednesday. grr. It looks like they aren't jacking up my interests rates though. That's a good thing though if they did, I'd just move the balance to my American Express. I wish I could pay them off. I'd been out of credit card debt for a few years, but then I bought a house that needed fixing up. Oh well.

I was going to ramble on about something else. I can't remember what that was though.

I have nothing to say right now.

There probably isn't anyone reading this anyway.