March 2006 - Posts

IE7 is not ready for prime time
Published 03-31-2006 4:03 PM | Mark
I tend to download Microsoft betas as soon as I can, without fail. Their betas are generally more polished than most companies final products. IE7 is, unfortunately, an exception to this rule. That's not to say it's bad. The tabbed browsing and the attempt...
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More Oblivion
Published 03-30-2006 4:03 PM | Mark
I am roughly 25 hours into Oblivion after a week of owning the game. I am still finding it to be an amazing experience and I am frankly obsessed with it. However, the game is not without its faults. The "Radiant AI" system is quite flawed. Its purpose...
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Review of Doom - 0 stars
Published 03-27-2006 7:05 PM | Mark
Doom was the seminal PC game. It defined the first person shooter genre and illustrated that the PC could do things with games that no console could. What a shame, with all its hard earned glory, that in its latest iteration it is no more than a half...
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The New Yorker is such a rag
Published 03-26-2006 1:01 PM | Mark
Mary gets the New Yorker; I read it sometimes, but more often than not I get too annoyed by its politics. It does, however, have the best movie reviews. Mary still reads it, and she often asks me about this or that article. Today was such a day. Was I...
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Oblivion
Published 03-25-2006 2:56 PM | Mark
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PC version) has been occupying a large part of my time lately. I am completely immersed. I did not realize it at the time, but this is why I bought a new computer. The graphics are the best I've seen in a game, with the only...
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Frank Quattrone remains free (for now)
Published 03-21-2006 12:15 PM | Mark
Frank Quattrone is the venture capitalist who helped turn many startup companies (amazon.com, for example) into major powerhouses. His job, in the 90's, was to most efficiently direct the allocation of saved capital, and he did an incredible job. In December...
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Free Sam Waksal
Published 03-19-2006 12:47 PM | Mark
[WIKIPEDIA:Sam Waksal] is an immunologist who developed a drug called Erbitux, which is used to treat various types of cancer. He founded a company called ImClone to produce and market this drug. One day Sam learned that government bureaucrats had decided...
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Tale of a new PC
Published 03-18-2006 11:37 PM | Mark
Every new build has problems, and this one was certainly no exception. First, I realized that my hope of transferring my existing 430 watt Power Supply over to the new machine was not to be realized. New motherboards require 24 pin connectors to the power...
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MEMRI.org
Published 03-17-2006 9:58 AM | Mark
I may have mentioned MEMRI (The Middle East Research Institute) before. They perform the invaluable service of translating hate-filled rhetoric regularly broacast around the Islamic world - the state-enforced propaganda that passes for education in the...
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Review of Nelson DeMille's Night Fall - *
Published 03-13-2006 4:54 PM | Mark
Nelson DeMille is a gifted author of popular fiction who releases quality novels every two years without fail. The events of his plots are often directly tied to contemporary history, but don't get bogged down in it, always moving at a brisk, compelling...
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The final uber machine
Published 03-12-2006 5:06 PM | Mark
I had to change a few components from the previous post. Most versions of the 7900GT were sold out. Initially there were two models remaining on Newegg.com , but as I agonized over my order, the one I had in my shopping cart actually sold out! So now...
The new PC
Published 03-11-2006 9:57 PM | Mark
I am in the process of building a new PC. Every component is painstakingly selected to maximize system performance for the long term, without spending ridiculous amounts of money. At this point in time, I defy you to build a better hot rod. Without further...
Rest in peace, Keith Parkinson
Published 03-10-2006 11:56 PM | Mark
I only learned today that Keith Parkinson passed away last year - October 29th, 2005. He was the pre-eminent fantasy artist and his works adorn many book covers. I actually have signed prints of two of the covers he did for [WIKIPEDIA:Terry Goodkind]...
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Stupid things said on a conference call
Published 03-09-2006 4:58 PM | Mark
The Internet age is creating all kinds of wacky buzzwords. And one thing I've learned from my experience as a cog in the corporate machine is that if there's a new buzzword, some idiot will use it over and over again, every chance he gets, on a conference...
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Objectivist Epistemology
Published 03-08-2006 10:39 PM | Mark
Ayn Rand's most important contribution to philosophy is found in her book Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology. Reading the book, or even this well written summary (or this even shorter summary ) of her theory, is like lifting a veil from the inner...
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