Discrete or integrated, nobody knows what graphics solution to choose anymore. No, I’m not talking about people like you and me who actually read hardware reviews. I’m talking about the vast majority of the market, composed of regular, non-technical people who simply want to buy or upgrade a computer. That apparently simple task has become an ordeal. I mean, you know there’s a problem when even my most computer-literate friends come to me for clarification—and I often can’t help without looking at Scott’s graphs.

I confess this is even true for me, and I try to keep myself moderately well informed of what is going on in the world of graphics cards. I’m still running an nVidia 670 card in my desktop, and would love to upgrade (don’t need to, but I want to), but I don’t have the time right now to properly evaluate the current generation and make sure I get something that’s a legitimate upgrade while still maintaining a reasonable spending budget.

As examples of what I like and use, I have the Stones of Barenziah Quest Markers mod. I use Unread Books Glow. I find something like Towns and Villages Enhanced to be nearly mandatory. And Realistic Ragdolls and Force just makes beating enemies a tad more realistic without increasing gore and so adds a nice bit to the play. I also have a few audio/music mods to increase ambiance, and some map mods to improve the quality and usefulness of the in-game map. So with these as my primary interest, can anyone suggest some more really handy mods for the game?

The picture to the left shows a close-up of the board pieces plugged together during play.

At one point, I had gotten to other 1000 unique visits per week. That’s nothing to real websites, I realize, but to me that meant that at least a few people were interested in the same things I found interesting. But no matter how high my numbers got (about 3000 per week at the highest, which was a surprise to me) I hardly ever saw more response from visitors than 1-2 comments a week. That’s depressing. It makes the Blahg a site for monologuing and I really wanted a site for discussion. It didn’t matter if I posted about politics, cool cooking things, a new way to fold shirts, geek goodies, or anything else. People visited. People clicked links. I made a few pennies from Google ads. No one said anything.

I haven’t a clue if I’m returning now for good or if I’ll get burned out again in a few days or what. I want to share interesting things. I want others to enjoy what I find. But I also want to hear from people who find some of the same things interesting. So please, if you’ve read this far, and if you visit and find something I share worth a click, would you please consider sharing a comment as well? Getting feedback is a wonderful thing, and it goes a long way to alleviating burnout.

What is particularly interesting is the last 10-15 seconds of the report.  This is the part almost no one seems to be reporting when expressing their false outrage over this report:

. . . this is an element of the story which has largely gone unreported.  There are two assessments.  One looks at right wing groups as you mentioned, and a second focuses on left wing groups.  Significantly, both were requested by the Bush administration, but not finished until President Bush left office.

But of course, that’s the kind of information entertainers like O’Reilly and Limbaugh wouldn’t want you to hear.

Technorati Tags: Right wing extremists, Conservative faux outrage, Faux News, More political lies

I had not.

Technorati Tags: Video, YouTube, Tire Inflation, That’s a fire

Like so many young women, Amy King always took great pride in her appearance.

Standing in front of the mirror to check her make-up before a night out, the 21-year-old would always try a smile – friends told her they loved the way it lit up her face.

Eight weeks ago, all that changed. The student from Plymouth was admitted to hospital where, in a single operation, she had every tooth in her mouth removed.

Amy, whose dental problems were caused by untreated gum disease, does not go out any more. And when she looks in the mirror she hardly recognises the face staring back at her.

This is absolutely an extreme case.  It is not indicative of how nationalized medicine does or does not work.  The problem here appears to be over the management of the nationalized dental care, not the mere fact that it is nationalized.  I point this out, because one cannot look at this one case and claim nationalized care programs do not work.  On the other hand, proponents of nationalized healthcare cannot wave this away as a complete aberration that should not be evaluated when discussing nationalized coverage.

According to the article, teeth extractions in the hospital are up a statistically significant amount.  There is also an increase in the time it takes to get dental care, as well as suggestions that more advanced problem cases are not getting proper treatment due to how the national dental contract works.  Furthermore, there is an increase in home-care for dental issues.  This article even mentions a specific case of a woman pulling her own teeth when she couldn’t get to see a national provider.  Ouch.

As I said above – I’m neither for nor against national healthcare programs.  I see problems and benefits for providing universal coverage as well as for staying with what we have now.  I don’t think it’s a simple problem, and anyone who tells you one side or the other is clearly correct can only say that because they haven’t studied the cost and benefits well enough.  I do believe there is a true push toward nationalized care here in the US that will eventually succeed.  I do believe there will be benefits for many people as a result.  I also believe that some people will be left worse than what they have now, and that while some people will pay less overall for this coverage, many will also pay more.  I think it’s an important discussion to have, but I also think that knowing more than just the facts that support your own side are vital.

And a final note – the story says that Ms. King doesn’t like to go out any more, nor to smile.  But honestly, looking at her picture I still think she looks great.

Technorati Tags: UK, England, Nationalized healthcare, Dentist, Teeth extraction

Commodore-64 portablized

Is there anyone else out there capable of pulling off the work Ben Heck does? Honestly, I’ve seen a few people do similar mods to portablize game consoles or vintage computers, but no one with the breadth of neat hacks that Ben has done. The latest bit from him is the rejiggering of “Classic” computer the Commodore 64.

While I can’t say I personally would want one, this really is a pretty cool project for folks who have to get their retro on. (via MAKEZine)

Technorati Tags: Ben Heck, Retro, Commodore 64, Hardware hacks, MAKEZine

I found it as worthwhile as Brian did, and thought it worth passing on to my readers and friends.

Technorati Tags: Skeptoid, Open mindedness, Skepticism

So with lasers consuming the position as awesomerest of awesome everything, just what could I want to talk about to impress even the laser fan? Well, how about the most powerful laser EVAR? Could this thing lift a squirrel into orbit? I don’t know. But it is a shit-ton of power:

Scientists working at the National Ignition Facility of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, have built the most powerful laser in the world, capable of simulating the energy force of a hydrogen bomb and the sun itself.

“The system already has produced 25 times more energy than any other laser system,” said NIF Director Ed Moses.

These scientists worked more than a decade to come to this. They generate this power by combining 192 laser beams. And the whole facility is contained within a ten-story building that’s roughly the size of three football fields (American football, for my dear foreign readers). So just how much is 25 time more energy than any other laser, exactly?

NIF’s 192 laser beams, housed in a ten-story building the size of three football fields, travel a long path, about 1,000 feet, from their birth at one of the two master oscillators to the center of the target chamber. As the beams move through NIF’s amplifiers, their energy increases exponentially. From beginning to end, the beams’ total energy grows from one-billionth of a joule (a joule is the energy needed to lift a small apple one meter against the Earth’s gravity) to four million joules, a factor of more than a quadrillion – and it all happens in less than 25 billionths of a second.

Yep – fully focused and powered up, this laser could lift 4 million apples one meter off the ground. Hmmmm. That doesn’t sound nearly as cool as it should. Let’s try again – this laser could lift 1 apple 4 million meters off the ground! Might need more exclamation points, but I think you get the idea. And that estimate of the value of a joule isn’t quite accurate, but it does simplify it and still leave us close enough.

Of course, that assumes the laser wouldn’t instantly vaporize the apple. But maybe if it’s a zombie dinosaur apple, it will survive the trip.

Technorati Tags: Lasers, 1.21 Gigawatts!, Apples, Zombies, Ninja, Pirates, Dinosaurs, I’m too fascinated by memes

But in all that reading, research, study, training, and other learning, one of the coolest things I ever consumed was the OSSTMM project. Rather than try to explain this project, I’ll just snag the introductory text from the project home site:

The Open Source Security Testing Methodology Manual (OSSTMM) is a peer-reviewed methodology for performing security tests and metrics. The OSSTMM test cases are divided into five channels (sections) which collectively test: information and data controls, personnel security awareness levels, fraud and social engineering control levels, computer and telecommunications networks, wireless devices, mobile devices, physical security access controls, security processes, and physical locations such as buildings, perimeters, and military bases.

The OSSTMM focuses on the technical details of exactly which items need to be tested, what to do before, during, and after a security test, and how to measure the results. New tests for international best practices, laws, regulations, and ethical concerns are regularly added and updated.

The version I read when I first found this was 2.2.  It has been years since I used it, and I periodically check in for updates on the version 3.0 release.  I haven’t seen an update on the web site, and I’m not a team member/subscriber to the service, so I didn’t expect I would know unless I checked in on my own.  Well tonight, while catching up on email, I get this message from the project:

Hi,

Maybe you forgot us Six years is a long time to work on a single version of a project. That time is coming to an end and the OSSTMM 3 has been fully researched, completely re-written, and is nearly ready for press.

OSSTMM RC15, the Beta draft has just been uploaded for Silver Team members and OSSTMM RC20, the Alpha draft has just been uploaded for the Gold Team, partners, and team members.

All tests have been fully edited as well as most chapters. It contains the new, more usable format and descriptive content with greater explanations to make it easier to use. It also includes a full chapter
on Analysis.

Only a few chapters are missing. Chapter on RAV Calculations is still partially unedited and the Trust Metrics chapter is still incomplete. End chapters for templates and other extras are still incomplete. The unedited and incomplete chapters have been clearly labeled for completion.

We have a full color cover with an animal symbol ready to go, an OSSTMM security picture for the back cover, templates, and many graphics still to be added for the public version. Further examples,
graphics, and tips and tricks will go into the print version.

It feels so good to be so close to completing this version!

Sincerely,
-pete.

I’m really looking forward to getting this update. As a non-member, I know I will still have to wait. But as a consumer of all things open source, I expect it to be worth it. And I intend to review the final version and try to offer feedback, in the manner I hope most open source consumers at least try to do. Even if I have nothing to offer, I believe just making an honest effort to contribute is an important part of being in the community.  If I were still actively in security, I would probably subscribe, but it’s hard to justify the expense at this moment since I’m not doing security any more (but would like to – hint, hint)

If you are in to computer security at all, I can recommend the OSSTMM as a good resource for testing guidance.

Technorati Tags: OSSTMM, Open Source security, Security