2004
- TI-99/4A
- Apple //c
- Fat Mac
- Macintosh IIc
- “the wonderful world of Unix”
- Windows NT
- on and on…
Trouble in Gig E Land
In February I upgraded my home network to Gig E. The speed is great. However, a couple of days ago I woke up to find a bunch of my machines unreachable on the local network. I went downstairs and my SMC 8508-T had croaked. It looks like at 10:30pm on Thursday evening it just stopped functioning for all gigabit devices. No link, nothing.
After flirting with the idea of upgrading to a layer 2 or layer 3 managed switch I decided that a simple RMA really was the best thing to do. In the process I found out there are two 8508-T versions out there. I have 751.0154 but there is also a 751.7513 version. Interestingly, I was never able to get jumbo frames to work as advertised on my switch. It’ll be interesting to see if the one I get back works for jumbo frames. Of course I will let you all know.
By the way, if your looking to have a real switch (but not so real you need a maintenance agreement) at home I would recommend the Netgear GSM7224 and GSM7324 models. Very slick! 🙂 Go with the 7324 and you get layer 3 with fiber so you can get a neighborhood backbone setup.
Special Numbers
Do you know what a googol is? A googol is a very, very large number. 1.0 * 10100. Or, in long-hand…
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
I remember googol from some trivial bit of knowledge in my “math geek” high school days. I just stumbled across it again in my reading and it’s fascinating me. I’m reading all about natural numbers which are normal numbers like 0, 1, 2, 3 and so on. Not the supposedly unnatural numbers like 3.14159265. Decimals and fractions are straight out. The most natural are the prime numbers. Once you are a prime you are in a class of your own, however, there is even a pecking order in there with a variety of special types of primes. While it’s not a prime hunt, Sierpinski numbers are one example of this that I’m currently helping hunt for.
After stumbling on googol I had to try my favorite Google function ever, the Google Calculator. There is no connection between Google and googol other than sharing the same letters and both sounding like something a 8 month old baby may emit during feeding. I was not disappointed, Google Calculator let me know exactly what a googol is. The calculator even defies the 32-bit (or even 64-bit) world and at least pretends to tell me things like googol mod 154351. However, it has yet to give me a number that doesn’t evenly divide into a googol so I’m tempted to test it to see if it’s really doing it right. Maybe a prime number generator built off of Google? Would probably be really slow but could make a great article for Wired magazine. 🙂
I now have a new favorite Google Calculator query (replacing the answer to life the universe and everything):
mass of the earth * (googol * speed of light) / pi
which it effortlessly tells me is
(mass of Earth * (googol * the speed of light)) / pi = 5.70099405 × 10132 m kg / s
which is completely meaningless and entirely useless, but very fun.
Prime Number Hunt
I’m reading a book on math (specifically cryptography). I was doing some searching online about prime numbers and ran across the project Seventeen or Bust. It’s interesting and you can participate by running the client.
Oceans Twelve
Tammy and I along with her two sisters and their significant others went to see Oceans Twelve today. I thought Oceans Eleven was great so I was eagerly looking forward to Oceans Twelve. It was a fine movie, but didn’t live up to the previous one. For some reason the soundtrack and cinematography impressed me more than the actual story. Will have to check out the soundtrack when it is available.
The Da Vinci Code
The last time I read a book as aggressively as I read The Da Vinci Code had to be the Dune series. I don’t intend to elevate this book to that level, after all, Dune is one of my favorite stories ever. However, this book is an absolute page turner. Usually books take about 50 to 100 pages to get me really interested. This one took the first 2!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A very fun read. I’m not going to say anything about the story – I want you to be as surprised as I was while reading it.
What's the Matter With Kansas?
I heard about Thomas Frank’s book What’s the Matter With Kansas? on The Daily Show shortly after the presidential election. The author caught my interest and I picked up a copy of the book. I found this book to be a great read. He does a good job of looking at historical precedent and taking apart what has changed.
From the book:
A while back the Wall Street Journal ran an essay about a place where hatred trumps bread,? where a manipulative ruling class has for decades exploited an impoverished people while simultaneously fostering in them a culture of victimization that steers this people’s fury back persistently toward a shadowy, cosmopolitan Other. In this tragic land unassuageable cultural grievances are elevated inexplicably over solid material ones, and basic economic self-interest is eclipsed by juicy myths of national authenticity and righteousness wronged.
The essay was supposed to be a description of the Arab states in their conflict with Israel, but when I read it I thought immediately of my dear old Kansas…
Frank does not write from the center. He clearly is pro-liberal, pro-union and pro-choice. However, the text does not turn into self-righteous drivel. In fact, he takes issue with the lack of liberal attitudes in the democratic party – pointing out the weakness that now dominates it.
Finding Neverland
Finding Neverland is a really great movie. We went to see it today during a matinee and it seems others had this idea as well. The movie was in one of the smaller theatres and it was packed for a 2:00pm matinee. Johnny Depp is great in this story about the making of Peter Pan.
I will not try to summarize the story only to tell you that there were very few dry eyes leaving the theater. The story takes a sad and heartfelt turn at the end.
You will not regret parting with your $8 for this one.
iMac G5
Those of you that have had to endure me rambling on and on about
computers at some time probably know that I cut my teeth in the world of
Apple. Actually, my computer lineage is like this:
I was a huge Mac fan (err, zealot?) when that wondrous thing called multi-finder was released. I was eager to see the first color Mac. I really like these machines, but I got so frustrated with the sad excuse for an operating system that I had to bail. Additionally, they just don’t carry any weight in the business world.
I’ve been excited about Mac OS X for a while now and I finally took the plunge. They had a one day sale and I decided it was time to get an iMac. I got the 20" iMac G5. It’s the most visible computer in our house so I appreciate the aesthetics. Plus, it’s just a lot of fun.
I just got it set up tonight. It’ll take a while to stop fumbling around in this thing. I’ll share my re-acquaintance experiences as it goes.
Thingelstads Announce Pregnancy
MINNETONKA, Nov 25, 2004 (BABYWIRE) – Jamie and Tammy Thingelstad took a moment out of their Thanksgiving day activities to announce they are pregnant with their first child. The couple are ecstatic with the news and eager to let friends and family know.
The Thingelstads had decided that it was time to start a family shortly after getting married in 2002. After an unsuccesful attempt last year they were eager to try again. Tammy suspected that she was pregnant after having continual cravings for Lion’s Tap cheeseburgers. She took a home pregnancy test and was excited to see the good news. It was very early though and the couple kept the news close.
After passing the first trimester the couple made a trip to get an ultrasound as initial tests for the heartbeat were not successful. The ultrasound showed a healthy, early stage baby with two legs, two arms, a huge head and a quickly beating heart. While conducting the ultrasound it kicked a few times and spun around. Fetal movement is a great sign of a healthy baby.
This is the first grandchild for both sets of grandparents. Upon reaching them they were overjoyed. Kaye Olson, mother of Tammy, simply shrieked after hearing the news! Rosalin Chrest, mother to Jamie, was excited to hear the news and started sewing baby clothes immediately. Meanwhile Don Olson, famed softball coach and father to Tammy, immediately renewed his contract with the local girl’s softball league and quickly joined Tammy in hoping for a daughter. The numerous aunt’s of the future child were all delighted as well.
The Thingelstads are looking forward to a smooth pregnancy and a new member to the family in June of 2005. Tammy is hopeful the child will not take after her husband’s 9 lbs 8 oz birth.
About the Thingelstads
Jamie and Tammy Thingelstad reside in Minnetonka, Minnesota with their cats Logan and Gypsie. They have been married since July, 2002. The couple enjoys outdoor activities and decorating a very colorful house.
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SOURCE: Thingelstad’s
Jamie and Tammy Thingelstad