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Gaim (and Plugins)

Gaim is a free instant messaging client that supports multiple protocols on Linux, Windows, Mac and others. I use it on my Ubuntu Linux computer and my Windows XP computer. Gaim will round-up all your instant messaging clients you use into one simple user interface. For example, I use Yahoo, MSN, AIM and Gmail. My buddy list for all of these appear in one window together. Therefore, you can log on to many different accounts at once.

EDIT: GAIM IS NOW CALLED PIDGIN, SO MOST THESE COMMANDS AND INFO ARE NOW OBSOLETE.
VISIT http://www.pidgin.im/ FOR MORE INFO.

Gaim runs beautifully on it's native platform GNU/Linux, but if you are using Windows, you will have to use WinGaim and download the GTK+ runtime environment for it to work on Windows. You can download the Windows Gaim build with GTK+ here. If you are using Ubuntu, use apt to get Gaim sudo apt-get install gaim or Automatix2 will install Gaim as well. Otherwise, you can use the downloads page for all other distros and Windows.

The Plugins is really what makes Gaim special. I just started using the Guifications plugin [Screenshot]. This plugin displays "toaster" popups in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Simalar to MSN, it will popup when a buddy signs on, signs off, goes idle, goes un-idle, etc. What's cool about this plugin is that it's highly configurable; You can install Themes for these popups. I am using The Gremlin Black Theme, which matches perfectly with the black theme I am using for Ubuntu called Neutronium [Screenshot]. The Guifications plugin is in "Universe" backport of Ubuntu so you can use sudo apt-get install gaim-guifications. Or you can use the downloads page for other distros and Windows.

Another plugin that's a must-have, is the Extended Preferences plugin. I mainly just use this plugin to hide the buddy list on startup. Whenever I startup Ubuntu, Gaim will start and the buddy list will be showing. I wanted Gaim to start while only seeing the Gaim icon in the taskbar, so this plugin does the trick. On Ubuntu use sudo apt-get install gaim-extendedprefs or use the downloads page for other distros and Windows.

Gaim-Encryption is another one that I use. It will use up to 4096 bit RSA encryption and keys are automatically transmitted and stored making it resistant to man-in-the-middle attacks. You can use sudo apt-get install gaim-encryption or use the downloads page for other distros and Windows.

Why use 2 to 3 separate Instant Messaging clients when you can have all of them in one place? There are many different Instant Messaging clients similar to Gaim that you could use, but it's Gaim's plugins that makes it what it is.

The Big Questions

1. What's at the Earth's core?
2. Is time an illusion?
3. How does a fertilized egg become a human?
4. What happened to the Neanderthals?
5. Why do we sleep?
6. Where did life come from?
7. How can observation affect the outcome of an experiment?
8. How do entagled particles communicate?
9. Why do placebos work?
10. What is the universe made of?
11. What is the purpose of noncoding DNA?
12. Will forests slow global warming - or speed it up?
13. What happens to information in a black hole?
14. What causes ice ages?
15. How does the brain calculate movement?
16. How does the brain produce consciousness?
17. Why is fundamental physics so messy?
18. How doth human language evolve?
19. Why can't we predict the weather?
20. Why don't we understand turbulence?
21. Is the universe actually made of information?
22. Why do some diseases turn into pandemics?
23. Can mathematicians prove the riemann hypothesis?
24. Why do we die when we do?
25. What causes gravity?
26. Why can't we regrow body parts?
27. Why do we still have big questions?
    

http://www.wired.com/

Want a cool and quiet PC? Dunk it in oil!

This was a project by the guys at Toms Hardware Guide. The Munich based lab was the setting for this project to design a system that cooled the components by total submersion in a liquid-filled case.

The AMD Athlon FX-55 CPU and GeForce 6800 Ultra Graphics Card on the motherboard doesn't short out because the vegetable oil filled in the sealed Plexiglas case, is non-conductive. It actually eliminates the noise pollution of the fans and the clear case offers a view off the inner workings of the computer.

Eight gallons of vegetable oil was poured into a constructed Plexiglas case, which was sealed airtight with silicone glue. They first used an aquarium, but the cables and connections couldn't be brought from the inside to the outside. So Plexiglas was used, so they could use boreholes and cut additional pieces as necessary.

In the beginning, they didn't use oil at all. They first used de-ionized water, which to every one's amazement, ran for a period of five minutes before crashing. The system components were not damaged after drying, but after repeating the process over and over, they decided to use vegetable oil instead. Water is actually a better medium than oil, but due to the free ions it cannot be used. They decided on vegetable oil for this experiment - but they actually recommend motor oil.

The cooling fan on the AMD Athlon FX-55 was removed and they left the heat sink. Same for the GeForce 6800 Ultra graphics card, only the metallic heat sink remained. After all, the fan's blades are not designed for low RPMs that result from high friction resistance in the liquid.

This is a really cool experiment and can actually be used in every day computing. But the flip side I see to this is, when you want to change the components, it could result in a messy job. Also, your parts would be oily, which seems like would be difficult to remove. And, the risk of the case leaking because the silicone seal is coming out or something like that. To change the entire motherboard, you would have to make a plughole in the bottom to drain the oil. Other than that this is an awesome idea, that can cool your computer and a cool machine is an optimal machine. Which their tests, showed the computer was running cooler than most high-end PCs with the same hardware. Plus, the luxury of having a completely quiet computer.

Morning Buzz

Sometimes on my way to work in the morning (if I'm not running late), I will stop to grab a morning beverage to start the day. Sometimes I go through the drive-thru at Starbucks and pickup a grande carmel macchiato. Sometimes, I just go straight to work and make a cup of coffee there. But this morning, I stopped at the local gas station and picked up a energy drink. There are only a couple energy drinks that I actually like. Monster Energy Drink taste good, smells good and is usually pretty good. Red Bull is good too, but you don't get allot for what you are paying for. Rockstar is another favorite, it has something called Milk Thistle in it, that claims to reduce the effects of a hangover, among other things. I have come to like Von Dutch Energy Drink. It kinda has the taste of Red Bull, but not as tart. It is probably my favorite taste out of all the energy drinks listed above. And all the one's listed above, are the only ones I will drink and that isn't that often. The energy drink industry is supposedly big business. The private company from Austria, Red Bull, owns about 60% of the market share. There are energy drink fan sites and blogs all over the net.

Here is a pic of my empty can of Von Dutch Energy Drink from this morning:

Key Ingredients
Von Dutch Energy 8 fl oz servings (2 servings per can): The following information is for a full 16 fl oz can.

taurine 2000 mg
caffeine 160 mg
glucuronolactone 1200 mg
inositol 100 mg
riboflavin (vitamin B2) 300% DRIascorbic acid 200% DRI
L-carnitine 50 mg
niacinamide 100% DRI
calcium pantothenate 100% DRI
eleutherococcus senticosus 50 mg
pyridoxine hydrochloride 100% DRI
cyanocobalamin 100% DRI

Pets

This is my cat "Ralph". I never really been much of a "cat person" and have always been more less a "dog person", but I grew up with both dogs and cats. I really can't have a dog in my apartment at the present time. How I ended up with Ralph is one day, his mother who was a stray, wandered into my apartment and gave birth to him and his two sisters in my closet. That was December 2005. I gave the other kittens away to good homes, but kept him, because my girlfriend at the time, wanted to keep the one with the most white (as the other kittens were mostly black like their mother). He is a cool cat to have, he pretty much just hangs out and does his own thing. He is an indoor and outdoor cat.

This is "Bubba" the crazy little chihuahua. This my Brother's dog, but he lives with my Mom in Florida. He is probably 6 years old (will have to confirm that with my Bro), so he has a little age on him. He's a little runt, but has really chilled out through the years.



This is my friend Liz's cat "Koko". He is one of the most fluffy cats I have ever seen, not to mention he is so docile. He is a fairly old cat that she has had for a long time.


[If you click on any of these pictures you will see them in full resolution]

Resident Evil 4 (Biohazard 4) PC Game

I got my hands on a PC game called Biohazard 4. It is a third person shooter/survival/horror/adventure game. It was released in Asia on February 2007. There will be a port of Resident Evil 4 published by Ubisoft in North America due June 2007 and Europe on March 2007. Basically Biohazard 4 is Resident Evil 4, in Asia it is known as Biohazard 4. Biohazard 4 was leaked on many torrent sites by a Korean source, in early February.

The plot of the game takes place six years after the events of Resident Evil 2 and 3. Umbrella is no more, they have become bankrupt and out of business. You play as Leon Kennedy, the main character of the game. Leon is one of the few remaining survivors of the Raccoon City incident and is now a special agent for the the government. Leon is sent on a mission to find Ashley Graham, the President's daughter, who has been kidnapped by a strange cult. He travels to a Spanish speaking village somewhere in Europe, where he meets up with Ada Wong, from Resident Evil 2 and Luis Sera who helps Leon with information about the cult.

The game actually doesn't have any zombies, as previous Resident Evil games had. Instead, the main enemies are parasitically-controlled humans referred to as "Los Ganodos". Once simple villagers, these Ganados are the product of an infestation of "Las Plagas" parasites. They are much faster and smarter than previous zombies. They can run at you, throw things, use weapons, dodge your bullets and they can work together when in large numbers.
Normally, the camera remains behind the player character, who is visible from the waist up, and stands in the center of the screen.
The healing herbs from the previous games are back. In addition to the traditional green and red herbs, is the yellow herb, which when combined with a green herb (or a mixed herb), increases the player's maximum health.

I have had fun playing this game off and on. When playing, it keeps you interested in what is going to happen next. Allot of the mini-missions are pretty hard too and you have to be pretty tactical. I admit, some of controls are rather difficult for the PC to play this game right. I heard you can use a Xbox 360 controller to play this game, which would probably be the best choice. I have bluetooth on my PC, now I just need the controller!

The cut scenes (the animated "movies" between scenes, where you sit back and watch) have very poor graphics. This is probably because the game is a port, nonetheless, the graphics during the cut scenes are very low quality. Now the graphics during the game play are very good, in my opinion. Leon's jacket is very detailed and the landscapes (sky, buildings, etc.) are good quality as well.

The sound effects are very cool, as with previous Resident Evil games, they can be frightening, playing alone in a dark room. The Los Ganodos are pretty scary too, they will come at you full force or lunge at you from out of nowhere, taking you off guard. When you progress in the game further, the villagers start getting harder to kill. When you blast their heads off with a shotgun, the parasite in their body, pops up where their head was and attacks you with it's sharp tentacles. The blood and gore factor is pretty high in this game, compared to others.

Currently in the game, I am at the point where I have just beat "El Gigante" and have rescued Ashely. I have my game saved where we are in the farm house with Luis and like 100 or so villagers are breaking into the house, trying to get us. Very cool stuff.

Below is a cool short video of the game made by Ray Pinot with 'System of a Down' as the sound track ...

Pictures of the Lunar Eclipse last Saturday

These are pictures from the web of the lunar eclipse from last Saturday (3/3/07). I didn't get a chance to see it for myself as the moon was rising on Saturday evening. It was actually more visible from Europe and Africa. A Lunar Eclipse usually happens twice a year. During a Lunar Eclipse, the Earth moves in front of the Sun and the Moon is in the shadow of the Earth, where the three are aligned exactly. The Moon passing in the shadow of the Earth does not cause the Moon to completely disappear, but the Moon will glow a reddish-copper color. This is caused by the Sun's light being refracted around the Earth's atmosphere, making the Moon look red.

Interstingly, if you were on the Moon observing this eclipse, it would be an awesome sight to see. It would become completely dark as you would watch the Sun makes it's way behind the Earth. You would see a a big black disc (Earth) covering the Sun and a red "ring of fire" around it. It's glow would make the ground beneath your feet turn red...kinda like this

(The following pictures are from Flickr)

Eye Of Science

As a youngster, I used to own a science starter set for the up-and-coming junior scientist. The set included a microscope, which I would spend hours looking into at various things like grass, insects, food, blood and many things. My Mom elevated my interest in microscopes when she brought home a wooden box of microscope slides from the hospital she worked at. The slides had various things on them such as skin cells, blood cells, etc. I am hoping to get a new compound microscope again very soon. I have been looking at a few on eBay. The microscopes I have used don't compare to the microscopes I detail below. I found a very interesting site called eye of science. It consists of high powered magnification microscopic photography. There are photographs of human cells at magnifications of x1,500 or more. There are also photographs of bacteria, viruses, fungus, crystals, insects and many more. It is a German site, but on first page is a choice for English. After entering, you can browse the pictures by clicking on the 'Gallery' button on the bottom of screen. Seems they have won several scientific awards for their work. There is also a gift shop where you can purchase posters and books.
Eye of Science is:

Oliver Meckes – Photographer scientific
Photography since 1986

Nicole Ottawa – Dipl. Biologist Scientific
Photography since 1993

"Eye of Science" was founded in 1994

eye of science philosophy:
As a two-person team of photographer and biologist,
our aim is to combine scientific exactness with aesthetic
appearances, and thereby help to bridge the gap
between the world of science and the world of art. We
are committed to the rigorous standards of scientific
investigation, but also to the use of color as a creative
and harmonious tool to achieve beauty. By combining
science and aesthetics we hope to enthuse our audience.
Day after day we explore fascinating forms and structures in
a world beyond human vision.

Here are a few pictures from the site:


This is Pollen of Ragweed at a magnification of x1,200. Common to N. America and is a strong allergen to many people with hay fever. I think these particles floating up any one's nose would cause them to sneeze!

This is a macrophotograph of an embryo of a cat (felis silvestris forma catus) at two weeks gestation. It is only at x10 magnification.


These are fruiting bodies of ergot fungus (claviceps purpurea). This fungus infects cereal crops and grasses, causing a reduced yield. Ingestion of ergot causes poisoning (ergotism) in animals and humans, which can be fatal. Symptoms can include vomiting, gangrene and hallucinations. A number of medical drugs, as well as LSD, are derived from ergot. What a striking resemblance to Psilocybe Cubensis! Magnification is at x50.


This is shark skin (acanthias acanthias) magnified at x70 taken with a colored electron micrograph. These microscopic "scales" is what makes the shark's skin feel rough. It also reduces drag in the water as it swims. On the site it says, this design has been investigated by engineers for use on the surfaces of aircraft and boats

deviantART

Has anyone visited deviantART yet? It's a community where artists around the world upload there work and share with others. As of February 2007 the site consists of over 4 million users and over 32 million submissions, and receives around 60,000 submissions per day. There is art that is actual paintings, pastels, acrylics and watercolors. Then there is photography, some manipulated with Adobe Photoshop and some not. There is allot of work done primarily in Photoshop, called Digital Art. There's also alot of FanArt, of TV Shows, Anime and Cartoons. If you are an artist and have some work you can upload it there after you sign up. Allot of users will add other users art to there 'favortites' and link them on their profile. Other users at deviantART can leave comments on the art that a user uploads. There is also something called 'deviantMobile', where you can upload art work to your mobile phone for the wallpaper; but I think you have to be a paying member to use this option. I was thinking of uploading some of my art I've held on to when I was really into it, or maybe some photography, but who knows. I think this is a great site if your an artist or not. Wikipedia: Due to the impractical nature of researching the copyright status of any art work reused in deviations, many copyright violations remain untouched until the violation has been proven. Administrative work regarding policy violations is often viewed as one-sided and unconcerned; this is because some users are not aware of the copyright policies, and claim to be falsely or mistakenly accused. This has led to many clashes between users and staff.

Recently, deviantART has given its users the option to submit their works under a creative commons license giving the artists the right to choose how their works can be used.

The site itself is unbiased towards or against any type of art, other than images which are graphically pornographic, violate copyright laws, or promote racism.

The following art I have here is embedded flash and once clicked on it will take you to the original site where the artist is hosting his/her work. Or you can click the link of the artists name and it will take you to their profile at deviantART.

Ridin hood....Collabo by *kizer180 on deviantART


Ultimate Silver Samurai by *diablo2003 on deviantART


Microphone by *Epinephrin on deviantART


.: ghost town :. by =ggokhann on deviantART

No Nautilus Please

Thanks to Psychocats site, I have dumped my default file manager Nautilus and I am using Thunar. Thunar is a fast, clean, and easy to use Xfce File Manager. It is the default file manager in Xubuntu, but since I am using Gnome in Ubuntu, then by default I'm stuck with Nautilus. Originally, ubuntu forum member ciscosurfer started to discover a way to use this sleek file manager in gnome. Then, ultimately, psychocat made an easy-to-use script to do it.

1. Download the script to your Desktop
2. Paste the following commands in a Terminal:

cd ~/Desktop
chmod +x defaultthunar.sh
./defaultthunar.sh

To revert back to Nautilus, download this script to your Desktop and paste these commands in your Terminal:

cd ~/Desktop
chmod +x restorenautilus.sh
./restorenautilus.sh

I prefer this over Nautilus any day. I have zoomed on my icons to make them larger and added more places/folders to the side pane. You can also configure custom actions via Edit menu. In Custom Actions I have added a right-click 'open as root' (like Nautilus) by adding the command gksudo thunar. There are also plugins you can download for Thunar. I am using the Archive-Plugin. This gives you the right-click 'Extract Here' option for archives or the 'Create Archive' for files and folders. I had to compile this plugin from source and I posted instructions on how to do this on the ubuntu forums here.

I used the install instructions from http://foo-projects.org/~benny/projects/thunar-archive-plugin/index.html

• Download the tarball from here.

• cd to the download directory, then copy the following in a Terminal:
  

tar xvzf thunar-*

• cd to thunar-archive-plugin-0.2.4 directory that the tarball creates and install some dependencies first or it will complain later:

sudo apt-get install libthunar-vfs-1-dev

• then still in thunar-archive-plugin-0.2.4 directory:

./configure --prefix=/usr/lib/thunarx-1
make
makeinstall

• now check in usr/lib/thunarx-1 and make sure two files are in that directory
  thunar-archive-plugin.so and thunar-archive-plugin.la
  
  (If not they are probably in the newly created /lib/thunarx-1 directory....which would be:
  /usr/lib/thunarx-1/lib/thunarx-1)
  if they are copy the 2 files to /usr/lib/thunarx-1
  
• Restart thunar and you will have the "extract here" and "create archive" on right-click menu
  
  

ReOpen 911 Investigation

Just watched Casino Royale

CASINO ROYALE
I thought this movie was just plain Awesome! I've never been a die-hard Bond fan, but this one takes the cake. Daniel Craig plays a very tough Bond, a very different Bond that is. My dad thought he played James Bond very well and said he liked this Bond more than the others. Well, I may have to agree, he kicks some major ass in this flick (which my dad and I both agreed looked very real). I liked the cast, Eva Green is a beautiful Brit, which is Bond's lover (you know he always has to get laid a couple times in the movie by some of the most beautiful and exotic women). Bond's car (you know he always has to have the hottest car as well as the women too!) is like this state-of-the-art machine that looks incredible, but doesn't go into much detail about his car as past Bond films have. There's a scene in the beginning of the movie where he is chasing a bomb maker on foot and they end up in a construction site. Craig is running up a crane, jumping off buildings and busting through walls. Not to mention, the bad guy he is chasing is doing some incredible stuff too. Mads Mikkelsen plays Le Chiffre, a sinister looking character who is more less a banker of sorts to underground terrorists. He borrows a large amount of money from some underground guerrilla mob and as his plans fall through of doubling that money he is forced to play a international game of poker, with bets like 500 million and such. So Bond takes him on head-to head at this poker game, which ensues plenty of action and mystery. Like I said, this film is action packed and the stunts are just crazy insane. I like movie's like this that takes place in different countries, like they were in Prague, Madagascar, France and UK of course. I thought this movie was great and I highly recommend it! Has a 7.9 out of 10 on imdb.com

Linux IBM Commercial

Here is a IBM Linux Commercial from 2003. I think this is a cool commercial, not just because it's linux, but because it touches on spirit, learning and innovation. I think the main goal of this is to make you think, kinda like the Red Hat commercials, if you have ever seen them.
"Linux, for the betterment of Science and therefore Humanity."

What punishment did Sony ever recieve for their rootkit scandal?

So what ever happened to Sony for installing a rootkit on its customers computers via certain audio CD's? Audio CD's that install malicioius rootkit technology without your knowledge or consent. You won't even see it happen. The rootkit then takes over your computer and hides itself, in the same way that viruses, spyware, and trojan horses often do. Opening up security holes all over your system. Wikipedia: So then Sony BMG released a rootkit uninstaller, the Sony BMG removal program merely unmasked the hidden files installed by the rootkit, but did not actually remove the rootkit. In addition, this program was reported to install additional software that cannot be uninstalled. In order to download the uninstaller, it is necessary to provide an e-mail address (which the Sony BMG Privacy Policy implies to be added to various bulk e-mail lists), and to install an ActiveX control containing backdoor methods (marked as "safe for scripting", and thus prone to exploits).

On May 22, 2006, a settlement was proposed, and approved by a judge. Sony's punishment? Replace the infected CD's with either normal ones or via mp3 downloads, and to pay up to $7.50 to each person filing a claim. Sony makes billions per year, so $7.50 for you my friend is a load of crap!

Envy - Automated Nvidia/ATI driver Installation

I know this has been covered all over the web and on allot of linux forums, but I can't get over how sweet this program is! I use Ubuntu Linux and every time I update my kernel, I run envy from the command line and uninstall my Nvidia drivers. Then when my system reboots, I drop to a command line once again and run envy again (btw, that is the command 'envy') to install the drivers back for the new kernel modules. No more compiling the drivers with your new kernel by hand, it is all automated. The author of this python based command-line application, Alberto Milone, even has a way in this script to go to the Nvidia website and download the newest proprietary drivers for your card.

From his site, you can download the .deb package. On the site, http://www.albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html, he explains what envy will do:

• 1) detect the model of your graphic card (ATI and Nvidia cards are supported)



• 2) download the right version of the proprietary driver for your ATI or Nvidia card from ATI or Nvidia's websites



• 3) handle the dependencies (compilers, OpenGL, etc.) required to build the module



• 4) install the driver



• 5) set up your xorg.conf (i.e. the configuration file of the Xserver) for you



• 6) restart the Xserver for you (if you wish so)

So check out the site, there you will find instructions for installation and support. He is also taking donations too.

Patriotic Posters

I found some really funny pictures and stuff on http://www.whitehouse.org/ of Bush and cronies. These are actually posters that you can purchase or have these printed on coffee mugs, shirts, magnets and more. They also have Anti-Bush bumper stickers. You can go to their gift shop here.
These are just hillarious....