Inert Ramblings

Blog

  • Give this kid a glowstick!

    I can’t imagine what the orange kid would be like at a rave with a few glowsticks! Yeah, with enough soap, we could blow up just about anything…

  • Hamor Hollow

    Peekaboo! Where’s my food? The hand that feeds me…

    The babies are in the process of being weaned from their mother and are being put in their overnight condominiums so they can get used to being alone. Every morning they go back in with Mom, though. One baby is spoken for and, if you’re interested in one of the others, feel free to leave a comment!

  • Geek Rig

    Dual G4 1.25 GHz Cinema Display HD Inert Headquarters

    I’m a complete and utter diehard UNIX geek. I just realized that every machine in my home office is some flavor of UNIX be it Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, etc. I haven’t had a Windows PC for over a year and, with the exception of building an OBD-II scanner, have no idea why I’d ever need one. So, these are my obligatory geek rig photos. Oh, and the second keyboard is my dedicated Final Cut Pro editing board.

  • Inspection stations can bite me.

    When the guy at the inspection station informs you that he can’t inspect your car because the airbags have been removed, be sure to go back armed with the appropriate printouts from your state’s Web sites and inform him that that’s not a valid reason to fail a vehicle.

  • Orson Scott Card – Ender’s Game

    Ender's Game Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, is one of the first science fiction novels I ever read as a child. A recommended read by Paul Fitzmeyer, a close friend of the family whom I consider to be my first mentor and geek inspiration, gave me a copy of the book about twenty years ago. I was immediately absorbed into the story of Ender Wiggin, an outcast child with many traits I felt strangely aligned with, and literally couldn’t put the book down until I finished reading it cover to cover.

    I won’t go into a storyline synopsis because so many others already have, so I’ll simply state that Ender’s Game is an absolute must read for any child or teenager who needs some inspiration in their life. Even though I recommend the book for adolescents, it is not a children’s book. Any child that picks up this book will require adult reading skills, and consider the book rated PG13 for mild violence and a complete mindfuck of an ending chapter.

  • Chocoberry Geek Smoothie

    Mix up a quart or two of Crystal Light just to have on hand.

    • 1 scoop chocolate Designer Whey Powder (2 carbs).
    • 1 cup frozen raspberries (6 net carbs).
    • 1/2 cup frozen strawberries (3.2 net carbs).
    • Raspberry Crystal Light to taste and desired consistency (0 carbs).

    Add whey powder and frozen berries to blender. Add Crystal Light until berries are barely covered. Blend to desired consistency and add more Crystal Light to taste. Fills one 16 ounce party cup, about 11 net carbs. Add more whey powder or Crystal Light and reduce berries to reduce carbs.

  • Has your weight held you back?

    Carla asks, has your weight or your health held you back from anything?

    I, too, have been overweight for as long as I can remember. I broke my leg when I was six or seven and got chunky. I then crashed my mountain bike horribly when I was fifteen and got fat when I was laid up and depressed for a Summer. Since then, I’d basically stopped all outdoor activities. No more mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, etc. I used to mountain bike 350 miles per week and that basically stopped overnight after my crash.

    That’s one of the reasons I decided to lose weight…I ran across RideMonkey and forgot how much I love mountain biking. Getting back on the saddle was one of the inspirations to lose weight and get back in shape. The main reason, however, is that Kelly wanted to lose weight and needed me to go on a diet as well as support for her. It worked out for quite a while, she lost some weight and I just kept losing (down almost seventy pounds in six months, thirty pounds to go).

    For the first time in almost ten years I’m able to ride continuously for ten or twenty miles as well as actually jog. Plus, I’m getting into motorsports and losing weight has done amazing things for my stamina behind the wheel when running six or ten hour rallies.

    I’m also much more active with friends…losing weight has boosted my self-esteem and I fit into the trendy garbage that’s been hanging in my closet for years that I hadn’t been able to fit into. And, the cool thing is, all those clothes are no longer current and they’re now retro. Heh.

    So, my weight had definitely kept me back from a lot of activities that I used to do. Luckily, with my current rate of weight loss, I won’t have any excuses to procrastinate any longer…I’m almost to my goal weight and, even now, I feel invigorated and inspired enough to try anything!

  • Haphazard Linkage

    Completely random destinations…

  • Category 5 Radio

    Category 5 Radio is up and running! Choose a mirror…

    Hosted by Kris, Andrew and Korey and James!

  • WebGUI – Overcoming installation hurdles…

    Installation of WebGUI on RedHat 8 and RedHat 9 boxes is quite a pain but, once you get everything up and running, things run flawlessly. As a matter of fact, once the installation quirks are figured out, installation takes less than ten minutes start to finish.

    Although WebGUI is free and open source, PLAINBLACK counts on installation difficulties to boost sales of their documentation and support programs. They also restrict users who have purchased documentation and support contracts from sharing their findings with normal users.

    I agree that companies who create open source software need to make money somehow, but I disagree on putting a gag order on people to keep them from helping others solve problems. Luckily, I have purchased neither documentation nor support so I can share my findings! This will be a multipart series as I uncover more WebGUI weirdness.
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