Happy Birthday To My Fellow Marines

Traditionally November 10th has been the date which Marines celebrate the official creation of their Corps.

For those of you who are currently serving in the Marine Corps, thank you, and happy birthday.

For those that have already served your country as a Marine, thank you too. And happy birthday.

Please remember to support our troops, no matter what branch, and no matter where they are serving. Educate yourself on the sacrifices these men and woman make on this countries behalf.

If you were in the Marines, tell us about it. Leave your website link.

I have a bunch of photos I'll be posting to flickr today of me when I was in the Corps., and a few pounds lighter. I'll update this post with the link.

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Metallica At The Delta Center

Metallica At The Delta Center 2008, originally uploaded by digitalthom.

Best picture I could take. The lighting changed so fast, half the time the screen was just black. And they were moving around, so a lot of the pictures I took were even blurrier than this one.

But the experience was incredible.

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Controlling Your Life With Nothing But Brain Power

I just watched a 60 Minutes segment discussing what I think is the most amazing use of computer technology I've ever seen. Neuroscientist have been able to capture electrons firing in the brain and allows a person to control electronic devices, such as computers, wheelchairs, and possibly robotic prosthetic. For me this is truly amazing.

One thing I thought was interesting, was the brain keeps firing electrons, whether the body can respond or not. It's like a gun; you can keep pulling the trigger even if the gun has no bullets. It fires, but does nothing. Just like the brain.

I told my wife if I'm ever in a position where I'm locked in my body, please have these people install this device in my head. Immediately.

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Ubuntu 8.10 Caters To The Mobile User

Looking at the new Linux flavored operating system; Ubuntu 8.10, the latest direction is towards the mobile user. It's obvious more and more users are going the laptop route, and that has been an issue with operating systems like Ubuntu, possibly because of integrated or proprietary hardware.

I've been running Ubuntu on my HP laptop for about 7 months now. It has had issues, specifically with audio drivers and power management. The two issues I'm hoping the 8.10 release will fix are (1 and 2 are basically the same);

1. The auto detecting of my USB headset (affiliate link) when it's plugged into the port
2. The volume control works with my USB headset
3. Manage my battery better. Ubuntu burns through a fully charged battery in under an hour. I should get 2+. It's a new battery.

I'm installing the OS right now. I'll run through my own set of tests and write up a secondary post letting you know how it goes.

By the way, my Ubuntu midnight release party was a bust. When the clock turned over, all I saw was Ubuntu 8.10 coming soon... disappointed. I couldn't download for another 9 hours. Oh well, I have it now.

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Morgan Burns The Zune

If you watch the TV show Chuck, undoubtedly you heard the Zune burn on last nights episode. To set the scene, Chuck is trying to figure out how to reach the Kill Screen on the video game Missile Command. Chuck realizes the sequence to win the game matches the Rush song Tom Sawyer. Chuck looks at Morgan, his trusty sidekick..

Chuck: “Morgan, hey, uh, buddy do we carry any rush cds in the store?”
Morgan: “No need I got’em all on my Zune”
Chuck: “You have a Zune?”
Morgan: “Are you kidding me, no, no, I’ll grab my iPod”

I was on the floor laughing for about 30 minutes. I had to rewind the TiVo so I could finish watching the rest of the show. It was great. Wonder how much Apple paid for that jab.

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