I’ve installed a new graphics card into my computer, the Radeon 4850 X2 by Sapphire. This card is, in short, a beast. Check out the details over at Newegg.com
I’ll post again soon with an updated picture of my desk, because this single card can drive up to four displays (5 if you include TV out).
The United States of America is more resistant to terrorist attacks than ever before because of recent policies, inducing the Bush Doctrine and The Patriot Act, but the huge economic and social consequences may negate many long term benefits. Our military has deployed troops to several different countries in order to combat terrorist groups. Without this military action, it is extremely likely that terrorism would have been a much larger threat than it is today. The troops have done an admirable job defending us from the hostile terrorist forces, and many Americans are no longer concerned with the possibility of dying in a terrorist attack. There has not been a major terrorist attack on American soil since September 11th 2001. Our government has spent vast sums of money to attempt to make sure that an event of that magnitude never happens again. In order to reduce the risk of such attacks, many ethically questionable policies have become standard practice. One such policy is the Patriot Act, which allows for warrant-less wiretapping, reading online communications, and adding citizens to do-not-fly lists, to name a few. Although the country as a whole is safer from terrorist attacks because of these measures, the cost for this added safety negatively impacts our civil liberties, domestic preparedness, and economics, which is more than citizens should be reasonably expected to bear.
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I took some pictures of the electric bike that I made last summer and added them to the photo gallery. Here are some cool stats:
Kit: Road Runner Conversion kit from Electric Rider
Motor: 750 watt DC Brushless
Controler: 48 Volt
Batteries: Four 10 Amp 12 Volt Sealed Lead Acid batteries (like what you find in computer UPS’)
Top Speed: 25MPH
Cursing Speed: 23MPH
Range: 10-15 Miles
Conventional Powertrain: Intact, 24 speed
A few weeks ago I updated my desktop from Ubuntu 8.04 to 8.10 and preformed a clean instal. I was following the MTS to AVI how to guide that I made a while ago and found that some of the links were dead. I tried to find the new location for some of the downloads, but eventually gave up. I decided I would see if another program had come along that could do the task better. Enter HandBrake
This is an awesome conversion program that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux that was originality designed to rip DVDs to your hard drive. This open source gem also has a knack for transcoding h.264 video files. Even beter it does so using multiple threads, unlike the script that I was using before. If you have a need to convert AVCHD (or .MTS) files, I seriously recommend it.
For an assignment in my health class I was to keep very close track of what I ate over the span of 3 days and then use the site My Pyramid Tracker to keep track of my diet. It turns out that I did better than most Americans, I just need to eat more vegetables.
I found this assignment interesting even though I did not learn much from it that I did not already know. Basically it confirms that I drink enough milk, eat an adequate amount of fruit and meat, and that I need more vegetables. My sodium intake, unlike most Americans, is, on average, within it’s limits. The average sodium intake for the 3 days is 2145mg, which is below the 2300mg limit. Basically if I were to simply add more vegetables to my diet I would be in good shape. Now if only vegetables tasted better…
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