StumbleUpon | ar0cketman's blog posts

http://ar0cketman.stumbleupon.com/review/18756313/

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:44:22 -0700

Stumbleupon has recently started requiring users to respond to captchas. While I applaud their goals to fight spambots, if this heavy handed approach (with completely illegible graphics) continues, I will leave the community.

I just don't need the hassle.

http://ar0cketman.stumbleupon.com/review/14587308/

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 11:38:18 -0800

Due to Windows problems with the internet gateway machine, I've been mostly off-line for the past week or so. Configuring a *nix gateway machine as free time and interest allows, and will be back online in time. Until then, please indulge in my extensive archives.

http://ar0cketman.stumbleupon.com/review/10564976/

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 20:25:35 -0700

The fire season is heating up quickly here. I probably won't be posting much over the next four weeks or so...

http://ar0cketman.stumbleupon.com/review/8307212/

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 20:43:46 -0800

A fellow Stumbler recently asked me about a Firefox plugin to save embedded videos. I've been using VideoDownloader for a couple weeks and like it. Alternatively, you can right click on the web page, select "View Page Info", click the Media tab and scroll down to the embedded file, click to highlight it, then click Save as...

Next, the conversation turned to Linux tools to convert .flv (FLash Video) format files. I've been using ffmpeg. It's command line and can handle most any format. It has been ported to Windows, and a cross platform graphical user interface has been created: WinFF.

Of course, with Linux, there is always more than one way to accomplish a task. Myfilm is a Perl script using "lynx" or "GET" that even converts the files to .mov format. Clive is a Python downloader script that can pipe to ffmpeg for reformat into nearly any video format. All of the above applications will work with Windows, though probably not Vista.

To install any of these tools in Ubuntu, check out the excellent site: How to install ANYTHING in Ubuntu!

http://ar0cketman.stumbleupon.com/review/6399828/

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 18:36:32 -0800

Can anybody tell me what happened to the salvage yard just outside of NASA's Cape Canaveral gates? Is it still there? I seem to remember reading a news story several years ago, stating the site was closing it's doors. Who got the inventory?

http://ar0cketman.stumbleupon.com/review/6123177/

Sat, 21 Oct 2006 23:25:10 -0700

Just a quick post, upon my return home from the X-Prize Cup, prior to my being offline for several more days.

This year's event was a spectacular improvement: the count of working hardware increased a few orders of magnitude. A substantial bonus was the improvement in reliability and sophistication of the hardware, led by John Carmack's Armadillo Aerospace Lunar Lander project, which flew three times in one day. Other highlights: Tim Picken's nitrous-asphalt hybrid pickup truck and bicycle; the wonderful Rube Goldberg ingenuity typified by the space elevator ribbon climbers; the amazing number of great flights and static tests by the TRA, lead by Pat Gordzelick; Jeff Masten's impressive static tests, clicking off firing after firing, like clockwork, and the Powerhouse Rocketbelt, piloted by the personable Dan Schuld.

I was dissapointed by rocketeers attending that didn't contribute. I expected more from you guys! You know who you are, and I'm right there with you! Next year, I swear, I'll fly SOMETHING, even if it's only Estes!

Folks, you owe it to yourselves to clear your caledar this time next year to attend the event. If it improves this much next year, you might want to start planning your low-gravity lunar retirement!

http://ar0cketman.stumbleupon.com/review/5985297/

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 19:35:59 -0700

Words of wisdom on Integrity and Credibility.
Thank you, bluefin69.

http://ar0cketman.stumbleupon.com/review/4846583/

Sun, 16 Jul 2006 08:22:18 -0700

After multiple floods and the death of every working computer in the house, I'm back online. Now gathering my old hardware, upgrading internals and building backup Ubuntu boxen.

http://ar0cketman.stumbleupon.com/review/4420775/

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 19:12:44 -0700

~~NIGHT WATCH~~

A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside. "Your son is here," she said to the old
man. She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened. Heavily sedated
because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside
the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand.

The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of
love and encouragement. The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All
through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand
and offering him words of love and strength. Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine
move away and rest awhile. He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was
oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter
of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.

Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly
to his son all through the night. Along towards dawn, the old man died.
The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While
she did what she had to do, he waited. Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of
sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.

"Who was that man?" he asked.
The nurse was startled, "He was your father" she answered.
"No, he wasn't," the Marine replied. "I never saw him before in my life."
"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"
"I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just
wasn't here. When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing
how much he needed me. I stayed."

As always, this Marine fulfilled a duty.

God bless our troops.

The next time someone needs you...be there. Stay.
You'll be glad you did.

http://ar0cketman.stumbleupon.com/review/4404041/

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 10:18:22 -0700

SU doesn't like the Google Spreadsheet URL: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ , so I'll do this as a comment instead of a review.

Google Spreadsheet looks like an excellent free alternative to Microsoft's expensive Excel product, inately supporting network portability, OS neutrality and collaborative work. If it exports to a common format to enable import to other applications, it may become my new favorite engineering tool.