Travis is a CFI!

Phrack coming to an end

www.phrack.org

Apparently Phrack is going to end. It's kind of weird, because I found Phrack a few years ago, having heard of it a long time ago, but thinking it was already gone. I thought wow it ought to be around for quite a while then. Oh well. Although the site does hint at a "resurrection."

Phrack is one of the great hacking publications that has been around for quite a while now.

Some crazy tennis

BBC SPORT | Photo Galleries | The Helipad Open photos

Check this out...pretty awesome pictures.

Chupacabra?

This is downright freaky. Kind of looks like a big bat maybe? I have no idea what it is, but it intrigues me, as I have long thought it would not be entirely suprising for there to be some strange creatures out there we have not really encountered much yet...or something.

Cell Architecture Explained

Cell Architecture Explained

I'm always looking towards the future of computing along with my friends, and this is very interesting. Not that the ideas are new, but the application of them to personal computing is. The information explained here is basically all interpolated and extrapolated from the recent filing by Sony and some other companies of patents surrounding the Playstation 3. The article, writeup, or whatever you want to call it is fairly well written, though to me sounds not like a writer, but just a technology enthusiast. He gets the information across in a satisfactorily organized manner, though.

Basically it is about a CPU architecture that allows for sharing of computing power between "cells," more than one of which can be in the same device, but they do not have to be. Through whatever communication medium available, different devices can share computing power, like say a PDA, a home stereo, your PC or terminal device or whatever it will be, etc. Read the article for a better explanation. What I am getting at is that this fits what I imagine will be the ultimate future of computing, which will be that computing power will be available on demand from whatever devices are around at the time, or maybe even over the internet, or whatever there will be then. Basically even if you don't have a very expensive and powerful CPU, you will almost never run out of computing power. Rather than going out and getting an expensive personal computer, users will simply buy a terminal device suitable for them, whether it is a small portable device or a permanent workstation. The device itself will have its own "cells" which will be easily added or subtracted, but it will be much smaller and less expensive, because it will be designed to use the available distributed computing power.

End speculation, that's just what I think. The bottom line of the article, though, is that the capabilities of the PS3 will be so far beyond anything we can imagine, it will be incredible.

1988 Turin Shroud Dating shown invalid

Scotsman.com News - Sci-Tech - New research shows Turin Shroud is no medieval fake

I find this pretty amazing. So much time and effort were put into the 1988 research, and it was backed so strongly, that to find out they messed up and used a bad sample is pretty amazing.

A Century of Einstein

Wired News: A Century of Einstein: "A Century of Einstein"

I believe we all should know a little more about this man whose work influenced our lives so much. Please join in in celebrating "Einstein Year."

Winston Churchill's parrot

Boing Boing: Winston Churchill's 104-year-old parrot is still alive and cursing

This is awesome. I'd like to meet this parrot.

Attorney General Giuliani?

NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story: "Attorney General Giuliani?

Washington is abuzz today with talk that Attorney General John Ashcroft will soon resign.

The conservative Ashcroft, a born-again Christian who has enraged the left, has suffered from pancreatitis and other health problems."

I personally think this would be pretty great, I think Giuliani is a good man, and would be better liked than Ashcroft.

A related article here. (SFgate.com)

Boeing 7E7 article

Wired News: Boeing's Gift to Chapped Fliers

This is a great explanation and preview of the new Boeing airplane, which I think everyone should know about.

Google as Big Brother

Google as Big Brother

This is very interesting reading, and all factual. I grudgingly started using google, mostly because of its clean interface, but still hope for something better to come along, because I just plain don't like how they do things, and this is why.

Apple - iMac G5

Apple - iMac G5: "Where did the computer go?"

Indeed. A nifty looking computer, If I had scads of money I'd get one but I'll probably always have a PC.

Centrino trashes Itanium in brain measurement test

Centrino trashes Itanium in brain measurement test:

Pretty funny stuff. I love my laptop and its Centrinoness. Amazing how far we have come in the past few years.

Understanding Aviation

I wrote an article on Kuro5hin if you want to check it out:

Understanding Aviation || kuro5hin.org: "There are those few uninformed that spread ill will about commercial aviation. As is the case in just about anything, people who have no understanding of something love to pick it apart. I'm sure we all know someone who refuses to fly. Their reasons most likely include 'I just don't feel safe on those things.' The fact is, really, that airline travel is exceedingly safe, and becoming ever safer.

I will try to explain exactly why this is. I'd also like to introduce general aviation, and relate what I know about the future of air travel. It is a sad fact that the general public knows very little about aviation, and yet has so much to say about it."

The new Cray XT3™

Supercomputers have always interested me, this is the latest from Cray, the XT3™. For $2 million you could have your very own!

LINK source article on AnandTech
LINK Cray site

NASA fun, BassDrive

I have been aware for a while of some archived NASA footage of their full-scale transport crash test thingee, which took place in 1980-something, I think. This was with a Boeing 707, and old design. They goofed up the crash a little, and the intense fire was not forseen, and it generally scared people a lot about airliners.

Let me assure you, airline flying is very safe, and I'll write about that some day. In the meantime read "How safe is flying today?" Another myth I'd like to touch on is that airliners and passenger flying is the whole of aviation, as many people unconsciously imagine. There is a ton of other flying out there, most people just don't see it.

Anyways back to the crash. Some fellas had a contest to put this crash footage to music, and I really like the winner. Check it out here. Or at the link below.

Some more NASA fun: what if we threw a cat at a wall in zero gravity? Well you can see what happens here. Or at the link below.

Lastly, what is BassDrive? Well, in one of my phases I got really into drum and bass and jungle music. This has fallen off into a much lower level, but I still enjoy listening to it, like when working on stuff or studying or something. A really great way to listen or to check it out is the internet radio station BassDrive runs at www.bassdrive.com. Their radio shows are just awesome, I particularly like Modern Vintage with Vishnu.

I have to say that these two links I got from Boing Boing, a great place.

LINK for airline safety info
LINK for crash footage
LINK for cat footage
LINK for BassDrive

Private spaceflight with SpaceShipOne

I have been following this pretty closely, being a pilot, and being interested in space. Also I am interested in Burt Rutan and his whole history with aviation. Interestingly enough, Paul Allen (Microsoft) and Richard Branson (crazy rich successful business dude, Virgin Atlantic) are also involved.

Having seen their prototype or whatever you want to call it, a Rutan Long-EZ with a rocket engine attached to it, at an airshow a while back, and now seeing an actual spacecraft designed and built, is pretty fantastic. I can't wait to see what happens in like 5 years.

It turns out this is the first of two flights in 14 days required to meet the requirements of the X-Prize, I think (I need to read the articles more closely.) Pretty amazing that this is happening already.

LINK for news about the latest flight.