VMWare Mac-OS X

While this really isn’t of actual value to anyone I know, I think it’s pretty cool that there is a version of VMWare out for OS X now. If you just have to run Windows or Linux in a virtual session on your Mac, now you have the option. I don’t know any Mac-only folks, so that’s why I don’t think anyone I know would benefit from it, but since I’m considering a Mac for the wifey-type-person sometime in the future, I’ll have to keep this in mind for us/her.

If you want to learn more about the product, here’s an outstanding review of the product, with screenshots, actual virtual machine build and test information, and a few comments from others who have tried the tool.

Roughly one year ago VMware announced that they would release a version of their popular virtualization software for the OS X platform. Since that time they have steadily released beta’s versions of Vmware Fusion and with each release seen continual improvements. Now after a year of heavy development the company has pulled back the curtains and unveiled VMware Fusion 1.0.

As a longtime VMWare user in the Windows and Linux world, I have to say that the company behind this puts out a good product. And for the features and options you have, I think you’ll find VMWare Fusion isn’t even cost-prohibitive at its $59.99 price point.

[tags]Mac, OS X, VMWare, Fusion, VMWare fusion, Windows on Mac, Mac virtual machine software[/tags]

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Study suggests I was born first in my family

Really, I don’t know any other possible way to interpret these study results than to believe I was first-born in my family, even though my parents tell me I have two older brothers.

The eldest children in families tend to develop higher I.Q.’s than their siblings, researchers are reporting today, in a large study that could settle more than a half-century of scientific debate about the relationship between I.Q. and birth order.

Clearly, then, I must have been born first in my family.

Three points on an I.Q. test may not sound like much. But experts say it can be a tipping point for some people — the difference between a high B average and a low A, for instance. That, in turn, can have a cumulative effect that could mean the difference between admission to an elite private liberal-arts college and a less exclusive public one.

And hey – I’m the only one in the family who went to an elite private liberal-arts college.  It explains why I’m a Bush-hating, tree-hugging, flaming liberal, too!  What an excellent study.  eBeer all around.  🙂

[tags]Intelligence, IQ, First-born children[/tags]

God caused Minn. bridge collapse because of gays?

I really can’t even understand intolerant people like this.  I mean, I’m a hateful and intolerant person, but not on this scale.

Rev. Phelps says God hates Minnesota, the “land of the sodomite damned.”

The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., plans to stage protests at funerals of victims of the 35W bridge collapse to state that God made the bridge fall because he hates America, and especially Minnesota, because of its tolerance of homosexuality.

. . .

The signs that the protesters will wave will read:

“God cast down the bridge… Thank God for 9/11… America is doomed… God hates fags… God hates fag enablers… God hates Minnesota.”

Um, WTF?  See, the church I go to and the God I believe in teach tolerance and love.  Even people who do evil (and given that I have some very close friends who are gays or lesbians, I don’t even agree with their view that homosexuals are evil) deserve love, compassion, and our prayers, according to the biblical teachings I was exposed to.

Maybe Phelps and his followers never learned about Jesus and that whole New Testament thing? (via Deep Something)

[tags]Phelps and followers hate America, God caused Bridge collapse to punish gays?[/tags]

Can’t see in the gas tank? Light a match

Sure, that sounds like a stupid move, but if it didn’t happen, we wouldn’t feel the need to cover it here, would we?

An 18-year-old man was severely burned Thursday after he lit a flame while trying to steal gasoline from a riding lawnmower.

. . .

At one point, they decided they needed more light, so one of them ignited burning materials, according to Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Inspector Gregg Schetter. The gasoline then exploded, Schetter said.

And that, dear friends, is why we added the ‘Stupid’ category to the Blahg.

[tags]Stupid, Light a match, Stealing gas[/tags]

Why men and women have sex

For reasons I cannot even begin to comprehend, scientists have put together what they call an exhaustively compiled list of the 237 reasons why people have sex.

It is more about lust in the body than a love connection in the heart.

U.S college-aged men and women agree on their top reasons for having sex – they were attracted to the person, they wanted to experience physical pleasure and “it feels good,” according to a peer-reviewed study in the August edition of Archives of Sexual Behavior. Twenty of the top 25 reasons given for having sex were the same for men and women.

Now of course, I find that compiling an exhaustive list isn’t that difficult for men’s reasons for having sex:

  1. Opportunity to orgasm
  2. I could
  3. Hate fuck

That pretty much covers men. We really are pretty much that shallow and evil. And numbers one and two could probably be combined. Anyone care to offer the 234 other reasons that must have come from women?

More seriously, Fox actually takes the time to show us the top 10 reasons for men and for women.

[tags]Why men and women have sex, Exhaustive list[/tags]

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Tetris via hook-to-TV controller

I doubt we will be able to get one of these any time soon, but this hand-held controller with TV-out for playing Tetris on your TV looks pretty cool to me.

tv-tetris-controllers.jpg

I have no idea the price though, as I didn’t run the Yen to US dollar conversion. (via Kotaku)

[tags]Tetris, hand-held gaming, portable games[/tags]

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Another of my new interests

After years of not playing around with it, I have gotten back into POV-Ray. I am working through the tutorial that comes with the program (also available in HTML format) and another cool tutorial I found online that looks helpful. So far, here is the best image I have achieved on my own.

MySpheres_480.jpg

Unimpressive to most, I am sure, but I am trying to figure out how to make marbles. A scene of mostly clear, slightly internally reflective, colored glass balls (with a couple of reflective metal ones for effect) is helping me to understand a little how some of the lighting settings work. I know there are lots of folks who could crank out this kind of thing in minutes, but I still know so little about the scene description language that I am taking it slowly and learning just a tiny bit at a time.

And most importantly – I am having fun learning something with no obvious career motivation.

And I still don’t know why posts are showing up 2-3 times each.  They are only in the database a single time.  I’ve had to go to a couple of Dr. appointments today with my youngest son to find out he had a fleck of metal in his eye and to get part of the metal removed, so I haven’t had more than about the 3 minutes I’ve spent on this post to worry about the site.  Perhaps tomorrow the wife will actually do something useful and allow me time to do things for me.

[tags]POV-Ray, Ray Tracing, Marbles[/tags]

Site upgrades

I’ve been working on site upgrades. I’ve had some issues with the site back-end software which I thought would be cleared up with an update to the site software. Sadly, not only did that not fix the problems I was having, it introduced some other problems. I have a backup that I can go back to, but I’m trying to hold off until I have a little more time to try resolving the other problems I’m having. In the meantime, I’m not sure when I’ll get regular updates going again. I’ve been trying to maintain 3-6 articles and asides a day, but the recent site software issues have impacted this negatively.

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