QUNU

I feel that open source methods are the logical outcome of an educated society. The benefits of open source software are amazing. Recently I was was able to identify a new bug, chat with a developer on freenode and download a cvs copy complete with bug-fix in less than 30 minutes. Try that with any version of closed source software!
QUNU takes these ideas to a new level. QUNU links experts in subject areas to a database. Users of QUNU can search on a topic and initiate an online chat on that subject to solve routine problems. If you have expertise in a given area, please contribute to the community by registration and offer your help also. Even as a "user" you can help people in need by being available for a brief online chat when they have problems.
This community driven effort is exactly what works well online! Try it out today; http://www.qunu.com/ "live help when you need it most"

How to fix BZFlag sound in Debian Etch

The standard Alsa drivers for my sound hardware (Intel 845 motherboard) are very poor.
I did finally manage to get sound working properly by building bzflag without SDL:

(get a recent bzflag cvs)
./configure --without-SDL
make
sudo make install

You must remove the config.cfg file before the new non-sdl bzflag will work properly.
Confirm your version like so:

/usr/games$ ./bzflag -v
BZFlag client 2.0.8.20061016-MAINT-linux-gnu-SDL (protocol 0026) http://BZFlag.org/

This is the -SDL build.
Note that the installer does not put bzflag in this location. the /usr/games location is specific to Debian. Just copy your new build to this location and check again:

/usr/games$ bzflag -v
BZFlag client 2.0.8.20061105-MAINT-linux-gnu (protocol 0026) http://BZFlag.org/

The normal option tells bzflag to send sound request to SDL - which chooses the best option from available drivers. The --without-SDL avoids this ALSA issue and sound works properly.

How to install Firefox 2 in Debian Etch

My "standard" v1.5 install of Firefox began crashing without warning - so I installed Firefox 2 in the following manner:

Get Firefox
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Untar the file in /opt

Copy your plugins:
$ cd /usr/lib/firefox/plugins
$ sudo cp * /opt/firefox/plugins/

Rename your old Firefox
$ cd /usr/bin/
:/usr/bin$ sudo cp firefox oldfirefox
:/usr/bin$ sudo rm firefox

Link your copy in /opt
:/usr/bin$ sudo ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox .

Done!

Crossing the Street

Found this, liked it:
Giovanni Boldini (1845 -1931)

Large Scale Quantization

Redshift differences of double galaxies show a peculiar "grouping" of values.
This large scale quantization has a few interpretations - including one that suggest the Earth must be the center of the universe.
This observation is important for a number of reasons, not the least of which is our presumption of a "big bang" theory. Sadly, these observations also show a misunderstanding of velocity and red shift observation (which also show a general trend for dim objects to be travelling faster than bright ones.)
My views on the subject are more pragmatic.

1. Light from the universe observed on Earth has travelled through millions of miles of dust and debris. This material has an effect on our observation.
2. Any theory that says the Earth is the center of the universe is wrong. We simply are not that important.

This banding must then be an artifact imposed upon otherwise more generally distributed data.
The implications of this observation are that everything we see in the universe is filtered through the rose colored glasses of material that lies between us and that object. This calls into question almost everything we hold has constant in astronomical observation.
So, if the universe is not really expanding - but only looks like it is - what impact does this have on our ability to make statements about the age of the universe, evolution and age of objects, and even localized regions of space?
My last statement is even more profound;

1. Dim objects are farther away, or just obscured by dust

Notice I did not say "moving more quickly away from us" although dim objects most often have red shifts which suggest this. We need to find a way to compensate for such errors.

My favorite visual demonstration

Do you ever wonder how people walk by problems every day without stopping? The human brain is organized in a way that eliminates the "common" and spends most of its time focusing on only the change in our visual input system.

Stare at the black cross for 15 seconds.

Cool new template, Video and search bars added

Ok, I'm ready to declare that xml is dead. Unfortunately I'm the only one and this template proves it. The blogosphere has some cool hacks though, and I have manged to rework my template to include a few custom map elements and search items here.

Heildelberg

Heidelberg Castle

Here are some photos from a recent trip to Heidelberg.

We only had a few days there - mostly filled with business activity but the weather was perfect.

The ruins in the background of this photo include a tower with 7m walls (wall thickness of about 21 feet). Half of this tower was destroyed by undermining the walls with packed gunpowder.

This castle also holds the largest wine barrel ever made (58,000 gallon capacity.)

Bz-Incorporated

Played a few matches today with Bernie (fellow team member of Bz Incorporated). We won both of them.

First Post

Here is a first post to get this blogger thing started. Actually, I kinda started it already many years ago so this is a "renewal" blog if you wish.