Your desert pleasure barge ain’t truly pimped until you add some barge flaps. Show how hard you party and your love for space princesses, plus keep the dust from gettin’ all up in your grill while you entertain the peeps and maybe eliminate some pesky do-gooders.
I’ve just put up two new t-shirts at RedBubble declaring my love of old video games. (click image)
UPDATE: I guess Atari didn’t like the first one and I had to take it down…
I also designed a shirt for Skeptical Robot that’s up for pre-order (and then they’re gone!). (click image)
Granted, it was forged in a… well, a forge. OK, technically a kiln.
But this is still pretty cool. MY friend Amy Davis Roth (Surly-Ramics.com) makes awesome ceramic jewelry, some of which I’ve bought and received as presents over the years. Well, someone* recently had a house fire and look what survived.
Click for larger image.
Yes, the kiln probably burns hotter than a house fire, but it’s a different sort of thermal event. So it’s still amazing to me that this thing came out like it did. You can buy your own from Amy’s website Surly-Ramics.
*I don’t know who they are, I just have the pic and the story.
Ray died on June 6th, 2012. You can read my tribute to him at or Skepchick.org.
TWE and Maddie wish you a very happy Robonukkah.
Good heavens. Through some sort of temporarl anomaly or hole in spacetime, I’ve wound up on The Setup (usesthis.com).
Read it here, if you insist: http://maggie.mcfee.usesthis.com/
In unrelated news, I just posted a candid ‘behind the scenes’ video of James “The Amazing” Randi from a shoot at NECSS 2010 we just did: http://aggravatedmedia.com.
I’ve finished the tests I’d planned and the results are posted in the PDF linked here.
(I’ve updated this since yesterday into one document with added notes, so grab the latest copy.)
In the end, Seagate trounces the competition on performance. However, the second place Samsung disk is still a strong contender, especially where price is an issue. Quite frankly, these are the only two 1TB disks I’ll be recommending to anyone for any sort of capture or editing. Well… actually, I’ll be recommending 4 disks: the two winning models here and their cheaper non-enterprise versions. You’ll have to decide for yourself which best fits your needs and pocketbook.
For us, the 4 Seagates will go into a rack unit and be put into daily use offloading backups.
The 4 Samsungs will go in a new Mac Pro for edit/capture.
I’m glad I could share this info and I hope someone finds it useful.
Maggie
And the winner is… well, that depends on what you’re looking for in a 1TB drive. The clear, overall winner was the Seagate ST31000340NS. It won in overall speed and in sheer ‘clockwork-like’ consistency. But hot on its heels was the Samsung Spinpoint F1 RAID. Not only is this drive cheaper and still ‘enterprise grade’, it also has a consumer-level sibling with nearly identical specs for around $170! That spells bargain, to me.
Have a look at the numbers yourself here: DiskTestResults.pdf
(For more info on what and why, see this post)
I should give special props to the Western Digital ‘Green Power’ drive. It’s not going to win any speed contests, but this drive does draw significantly less power _and_ it runs cooler than the average drive. I tested one in a NAS full of Seagates and the WD drive consistently ran 10 degrees cooler! Take that, Al Gore!
And stay tuned for more shootout between the Seagate and Samsung next week. I’ll be testing a 4 drive conifguration in both internal bays of the Mac Pro as well as using e-SATA via a RocketRaid 2314 controller. And… maybe more if I’m not knackered!
For now… enjoy the weekend, peeps!
UPDATE: For those interested in pricing on the drives as mentioned, here are links from my “go to” drive suppliers for both the enterprise and consumer models of the top two:
Seagate ST31000340NS (~ $270)
Seagate ST31000340AS (~ $215)
Samsung HE103UJ (~ $238)
Samsung HD103UJ (~ $168)
Tim Russert has died. But all around the Internet I’m seeing loving, sad and poignant tributes to him. So to his family and friends who are mourning him today, please know that the Internet mourns with you. We’ve lost a great champion of fair reporting and commentary.
The Internet and America will miss you, Tim Russert. We truly will. Thank you for everything.
In honor of the special pants of that inimitable raconteur and beloved pundit, my friend/acquaintance/culinary cruise director/whatever-you-prefer Andy Ihnatko,
I present a re-telling of Jonathan Coulton’s ‘Mr. Fancy Pants’. *ahem*
Chances are your pants are not as tactical as those
Ordered from the Internet by Andy Ihnatko
They’re functional but generously fitted in the groin
You can roll them up or down
Got zippers by the pound
He’s wearing Internet pantsYou look in every catalog you shop at every store
but never find the perfect pair of pants you’re looking for
So you ask the Internet to recommend the best
The best in terms of fit
Can hold a ton of shit
You’re looking for Internet PantsSing a little praise for Andy’s Internet Pants
They’re tactical
And practical
With pockets deep
And wideHe makes the big announcement that he’s found the perfect pair
From all the multitudes of pants that he could choose to wear
If you’re the lucky sod who recommended them to him
You deserve a big award or
A place on IhnatCorp’s board
‘Cause Andy loves his Internet PantsSing a little praise for Andy’s Internet Pants
They transport DVDs.
‘Round ten with ease
With pockets so deep
And wide…