Sunshine
In tribute to one of the first warm and beautiful weekends of 2010 I'm posting two music videos for one of my favorite science fiction movies, "Sunshine". One of the truly captivating scenes of the movie is when Mercury passes in front of the space ship. The crew gather in the observation deck to watch an entire planet, dwarfed in comparison to the sun, pass across the tumultuous surface of the sun.
The Doctor. Doctor Who? Just, The Doctor.
This must be a parapraxis (a.k.a) Freudian slip posting because yesterday was Valentines Day and the object of this posting is to say how much I've enjoyed the Doctor Who series. The recent episodes, all be it a bit bizarre , have been clean and entertaining. Normally I associate British television with Monty Python which is nuts or something more shoddy and crudely cocked up (Was that too vulgar? I'm still trying to figure out the lingo) like A Clockwork Orange.
The entire 40+ years of Doctor Who extend beyond my life experience but based on the original and current episodes the stories are unique and clean science fiction entertainment. While the science isn't as interesting or realistic as Star Trek the application and consequences of science and technology are portrayed in imaginative ways. Just to prove I'm not completely biased I will admit some of the episodes are low budget corny flicks but I appreciate the imaginative plots and clean content.
For the record, Tom Baker is my favorite doctor. Louise Jameson as Leela is my favorite companion, especially in The Talons of Weng-Chiang. Christopher Eccleston did a great job at portraying the doctor as an adventurer and could have been my favorite but Tom Baker is just more.. well.. for lack of a better word, doctorly! David Tennant is another great doctor but he seems a bit too silly and internally conflicted to be a strong doctor.
All opinions about favorite doctors are relative. If time and space can be relative in the TARDIS then I reserve the ability to change my mind.
Review of SilenX LX-4600 Luxurae Fanless Power Supply
This posting is my personal review of a SilenX LX-4600 Luxurae Fanless Power Supply. I purchased two units for different applications. One unit is for my home theater pc and the second was an industrial application in a dusty environment.
I purchased the power supplies from Directron.com for about $55 each. The order shipped promptly and the units arrived in good condition. My first disappointment came when I opened the box. As advertised the unit had a heat sink where there is normally an exhaust fan. However, attached to the outside of the housing was a small fan to circulate air inside the housing. The documentation was lacking and no where on the Directron site did it mention a fan. Also on the housing was a circulate nob that had no marking or documentation. Lastly, the power supplies came set to 230 volts and not 115 volts!
The first unit worked perfectly and apart from my disappointments I was mildly impressed. The second unit didn't work so well. It was DOA (dead on arrival) and to make matters worse it fried the hard drive!
Upon re-examination of the site where I purchased the units I found three alarming concerns.
- Directron will pre-test the unit for an extra $5 per unit.
- After Googling to find other vendors of SilenX power supplies only Directron and Axiontech were listed.
- The SilenxUSA.com website sells the same LX-4600 unit for over $230!? Why can Directron and Axiontech sell the unit for under $60?
I realize some times parts are DOA and the fact that the DOA unit damaged a hard drive can't be avoided. My primary concern is the site had misleading images and no description of the internal fan. It remains to be seen how the DOA unit is resolved by the manufacturer/reseller.
Criticism of The Wall Street Journal article “Cerberus Sets Its Sights on IPO for a Gun Maker”
Yesterday at lunch I was thumbing through the the Wall Street Journal news paper. The beginning of the section had the following article placed in the most prominent area of the page with the accompanying picture of a middle school aged girl shouldering a rifle.
At first I skipped the article and thought "Oh, another anti-gun article spewing the evils of guns and how they are used for deviant purposes." After reaching the end of the paper and not the end of my lunch I decided to go back and read the article. I was shocked by what I found - or rather didn't find based upon my initial reaction.
Read the article for yourself, Cerberus Sets Its Signs on IPO for a Gun Maker. The picture's caption states:
"Built through a string of Cerberus acqusitions, Freedom Group is one of the largest gun makers. Here, a student in Kansas tests a Bushmaster rifle in 2008; Cerberus bought Bushmaster Firearms in April 2006."
Be honest with yourself, what does the picture bring to your mind?
The article has nothing to do with students brandishing guns! The author wants to subtly imply firearms will be used improperly.
Why not show a picture that provokes a sense of security by displaying someone properly using a firearm? What about a soldier practicing with a rifle? Or, since our society is so consumer based - a store shelf filled with guns and ammunition.
Since the author mentioned Kansas by name, maybe the author was trying to imply little Jane Doe (girl in the picture) needs her Bushmaster rifle to survive school. Maybe schools in Kansas did away with home economics class in favor of "surviving the fall of government 101". I doubt very much that either of these apply to Kansas, Jane Doe's situation, or what the author was trying to imply.
The Wall Street Journal article about Cerberus Investment Group and it's acquisitions to consolidate the firearm and munition market has nothing to do with children brandishing firearms. So why be sensational and put the picture there?
This entry contains my commentary and review of the article written in the Wall Street Journal, "Cerberus Sets Its Signs on IPO for a Gun Maker". All quotes from the article are property of the Wall Street Journal.
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