Well it’s been an interesting week so far. Sunday afternoon the hard drive in our home mail server decided to crash, leaving us without email for two days. I noticed it Monday morning when I had a conference call of several hours, too. I spent Monday morning scrambling to get everything fixed while on the phone with customers, trying to demonstrate our product. It was a total zoo but somehow I made it.
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December 2010
Breathtaking photos from the ISS
My cousin Art forwarded me this page of breathtaking photos taken from space by ISS astronaut Col. Douglas Wheelock.
It’s a wonderful reminder that we all share a spectacularly beautiful planet.
Getting things done and having fun, too
Wow, what an action-packed weekend. Sleeping in both days was nice. On Saturday I started the day by replacing a controller board in our refrigerator in an effort to fix its weird behavior. Fifteen minutes of work and a $100 board from Amazon.com saved us over $150, which is the minimum a repairman would’ve charged us.
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I created my own Roku channel
I am in geek heaven with our new Roku box. This book-sized media player is simple to use and its simple to write applications for it. I signed up for the Roku SDK a few days ago and this evening I began working on a way to get my saved media to play on it. I’m happy to say I succeeded!
I used the homevideo apps by Brian Lane to create the appropriate XML files on my Apache server. It was simply a matter of adjusting the pathnames and everything worked.
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Ext4 gets booted off my laptop
Strap on your geek safety belts: here comes a buzzword-laden post.
When I got my work laptop I promptly installed Ubuntu Lucid Lynx on it, choosing to add the new Linux filesystem, ext4. Over the course of using my laptop I have seen mysterious slowdowns, where the disk I/O seemed to grind to a halt.
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Gerry Reid gave the gift of life
On WTVD’s evening newscast tonight my friend Mandy Reid talked about the organ donations of her husband and my friend, Gerry Reid. It was a reminder of all the lives that were powerfully changed by his passing. It was tough watching it but it really is a story that must be shared.
I am an organ donor and so is Kelly. I hope those of you reading this will also choose to become an organ donor. One day you, too, could become a hero like Gerry.
Santa’s not bringing Google Fiber this year
It turns out that Santa’s backhoe won’t be making the rounds this year, after all. Google announced today that they are delaying their site selections for Google Fiber until next year. According to Milo Medin, Google’s new Vice President of Access Services, the overwhelming response received from communities has added to the time needed to evaluate all proposals.
Hey, Google, I hear Google Fiber makes a great birthday present (hint, hint).
Family wants to know how teen snuck onto plane
It’s truly a tragedy that Delvonte Tisdale fell from the wheel well of an airplane. That said, I don’t understand how the family can blame airport security when it was apparently this young man’s poor decision which resulted in his death.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Family and friends of a North Carolina teen who fell from the sky after stowing away in an airplane’s wheel well say they are haunted by the boy’s death and wondering why security didn’t stop him from climbing onto the aircraft.
via Family wants to know how teen snuck onto plane :: WRAL.com.
Black segregation in US drops to lowest in century
This makes me happy.
America’s neighborhoods became more integrated last year than during any time in at least a century as a rising black middle class moved into fast-growing white areas in the South and West.
Still, ethnic segregation in many parts of the U.S. persisted, particularly for Hispanics.
Segregation among blacks and whites fell in roughly three-quarters of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas as the two racial groups spread more evenly between inner cities and suburbs, according to recent census data.
Black segregation in US drops to lowest in century :: WRAL.com.
Time running out for Google Fiber site selection
I was reminded today that Google has less than three weeks to make its site selections for its Google Fiber project. The post that sparked interest said that the company would be making its selection by the end of the year.
Which communities will Santa’s backhoe visit this year?
Update 15 Dec: Google says it needs more time to decide.