cuchillo

I have read several articles recently that Russia is now planning to build a tunnel from northeast Russia to Alaska. Whether this will actually happen or not is being debated, but it has completely captured my imagination. Can you imagine being able to take a road trip to Europe? Or a train ride?

I envision taking my family (it is at least ten years away) through Canada, across Alaska, under the Bering Strait through a 65 mile-long tunnel, across Russia, through Ukraine, then Poland and Slovakia. Then, on to Prague in the Czech Republic, through Germany on the autobahn and into France. Leaving France, we'll drive through the now second longest tunnel, The Chunnel, and into London.

I think two months for the drive there and one month for the drive back will do.

Tonight, I've rediscovered that I hate troubleshooting computer hardware. Over five hours ago I sat down to write some code (I like writing code). However, my computer crashes everytime I use the eyedropper tool in Photoshop. Yeah. Weird. Definately seems like a hardware problem of some sort. Program crashes don't generally give you BSODs nowadays.

Well, I've messed around with the RAM timings, flashed the BIOS, downloaded drivers galore, and I'm still having the same problem. Darn. I was hoping to get some more milage out of this setup.

Unfortunately, if I want to upgrade the motherboard (I think it's the problem here. I've been having problems with the USB ports on it) I'll also need to upgrade the CPU, memory, video card, and most likely the power supply too. At least I can still use the case and hard drive.

So if I replace all that, why not just buy a new computer from Dell or something? It may be about the same price. Well, the hardware wouldn't be as good, but at least I wouldn't have to mess with it. It would just work.

I definately like programming, but I definately don't like troubleshooting hardware.

A couple of years ago, I saw David Boone for the first time. I was impressed then, and I still am every time I see him play. Watching him play live is really where it's at. He is one of those artists who can connect with the audience well.

Now he is doing something cool. He's giving away many of his songs. Free for download. He's also encouraging people who own his CDs to rip them for friends. This is especially cool in today's climate of overprotected intellectual property. Do a search on the RIAA if you don't know what I mean.

I think this could help him immensely. One of the hardest and most important things for a new musician to do is to grow a fan base. Just because your music is good doesn't mean that people will find it.

Here's your chance. Every day this week, starting today, you can download five songs for free. He also has a video on YouTube.If you like it and want more, find me and I'll burn you a CD or we can catch a show together. You won't be disappointed.

I subscribe to a bunch of RSS feeds. Netvibes helps me manage it all. One of those feeds is Pro Blogger. He writes about blogging professionally. One day Darren Rowse wrote about twelve-year-old David Wilkinson in England who writes a blog on technology. That's when I started reading what was to become Techzi.net. I still read it. You'd be surprised at the quality. When I was twelve, I think I was playing basketball and video games, and having rock fights with my friends for fun.

Well, about a month a go Wicked Lasers sponsored him with a $300 green laser pointer to give away in a contest. As it turns out I won, and I'm ecstatic. You see, I really have wanted a green laser pointer since I learned about them on Think Geek, but I never could justify the cost. Now I don't have to. Sure, I could sell it on ebay or something, but that's not going to happen.

So what do you do with a $300 laser pointer that is not a toy? You can burn holes in black plastic bags, heal cuts, point out constellations, and maybe pop balloons. That's what they tell me anyway. I can't wait to find out for myself.

Be sure to head over to Techzi.net and tell David he is one cool kid.