Ubuntu Audio
Posted by Stretch | Filed under Other OSes
I’ve finally gotten audio to work on my laptop. It took several hours of searching the internet, and trying many different things. The command that finally got it to work?
sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-generic
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base
then add the following line to the bottom of the alsa-base
options snd-hda-intel model=hp
Its nice to have audio working again, and thanks to the Ubuntu forums I finally found my answer.
Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of E.T.
Posted by Stretch | Filed under Movies, Opinion
This post contains a spoiler, if you do not want to know what happens in the movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skulls, stop reading now.
I went to see the new Indian Jones movie this past weekend. As a movie its a decent movie. As an Indiana Jones movie, it sucks. I’m sorry but Indiana Jones, and ET just doesn’t work together. Jones is trying to find the reason behind the crystal skulls and why it has an elongated head.
On a wild goose chase in South America, he finds a temple. In the basement of this temple is 6 or 7 crystal skeletons of aliens. The skull he’s been carrying around half the movie is the skull to one of the aliens. These aliens came to earth thousands of years ago, and collected vast amounts of knowledge. Once the skull has been reunited with its body, the aliens take off in their spaceship, leaving a huge gaping hole in the earth.
Now why doesn’t this work? Let’s look at the previous 3 Indiana Jones movies.
Raiders of the Lost Ark: Renowned archeologist and expert in the occult, Dr. Indiana Jones, is hired by the U.S. Government to find the Ark of the Covenant, which is believed to still hold the ten commandments. Unfortunately, agents of Hitler are also after the Ark. Indy, and his ex-flame Marion, escape from various close scrapes in a quest that takes them from Nepal to Cairo.
The Temple Of Doom: After arriving in India, Indiana Jones is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone. He agrees, and stumbles upon a secret cult plotting a terrible plan in the catacombs of an ancient palace.
The Last Crusade: When Dr. Henry Jones Sr. suddenly goes missing while pursuing the Holy Grail, eminent archaeologist Indiana Jones must follow in his father’s footsteps and stop the Nazis.
The Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, and mythical stones. And now Aliens?! Indiana Jones is good for pyramids, and temples, mythical items. Indiana Jones movies are action/adventure movies, not sci-fi movies.
George, I know your intentions were most likely good, but you went a little too far on this one. Please no more Indiana Jones movies.
Arrival Part 1
Posted by Stretch | Filed under Personal, Photography
Part one of my new camera accessories has arrived. Last week, I ordered Canon’s 70-200 f4L USM lens.
And today it arrived. Its alot bigger than I thought it would be, and has a nice feel to it. I’m eagerly waiting to go out someplace to use it. It will get alot of use this summer when I’m out in Acadia, and in the Adirondacks.
On the camera, it definitely needs two hands to hold. Being so long, it needs the extra hand to help balance, and with any slower shutter speeds, I’ll have to use a tripod.
10 Gas Saving Tips Debunked
Posted by Stretch | Filed under Cars
With the rise of gas prices, websites all over the web are popping up with gas saving tips that you can do with your car. Unfortunately, most of their “tips” do little to nothing to actually help your gas milage.
1. Turn off your engine if you are going to be idling for more than 30 seconds. Millions of gallons of fuel are wasted each day from idling. Your starter and battery system can handle the increased activity.
This hardly helps. When you go to turn the engine back on, its has to load the engine with fuel, thus using all the fuel you just saved by turing it off. To top it off, and contradict the author, its puts extra stress on the electrical and starting systems of your car.
2. Change your air filter every 10,000 miles. Just like a marathon runner, your car needs to suck in air without restriction.
This should be done regardless of gas mileage. A clean air filter will let the engine run smoother as it can get the air it needs to run.
3. Install a real-time fuel consumption meter if your car does not have one already. This way, you can see what you are doing while you are driving and make the needed adjustments to save fuel.
Most modern cars have this installed, but with some cars, this still won’t help your mileage. No matter what you do, you will never get double digit gas mileage on the stock engine of your Hummer.
4. Pump up those tires. Higher tire pressures result in lower rolling resistance, so your mileage will improve. Not too high, mind you, but a tad over the “recommended” from your car and tire manufacturer. Remember, they don’t want you to get good mileage.
Leave your tire pressure at the recommended pressure that is written on your car. Doing this is not only unsafe for you, but also other drivers. The .01 gain in mileage is not worth the risk. Over inflating your tires causes you to lose traction, and if you have to do an emergency maneuver, you could end up sliding.
5. Turn off your air conditioning, but only at lights or in slow traffic. When you really get going, the open windows produce drag that will offset any savings you might imagine from having the AC off.
This one is actually true, Mythbusters tested this one, twice. If you are going under 50mph, leave your windows down. Above that, the drag is considerable, and they say you should switch to A/C.
6. Reduce the weight of your car. Remove all non-essential items from the trunk and the interior of your car. Weight takes energy to move, so the lighter your car the less energy you will lose. Keep the spare tire and the jack, but almost everything else can go. If you don’t have a family, take out the back seat. Invest in custom wheels if they are significantly lighter than the stock wheels. Carbon fiber parts (like the hood or trunk) are great, too, although they may be a bit expensive.
Stripping your car is going to do pretty much nothing. And to do it to have any effect, you’d want to take out the spare and jack, which he says to leave in. The back seat doesn’t weigh much, less than what a full grown adult would. Lighter wheels are a good idea though. When buying a car, look for the aluminum wheels, not the steel wheels. While only a few hundred dollars more, they are much lighter than the steel ones. Carbon fiber hood and trunk? I’m pretty sure most people wouldn’t want to spend the money on that just to get a slightly higher mpg rating. Carbon fiber hasn’t quite reached the affordable level yet. If your are gonna take out the rear seat to save weight, you might as well include the carpeting, sound deadener, and the radio. Strip it down to just the chassis and seat in the interior, in which case, you might as well just drive a race car.
7. Don’t keep your gas tank full all the time. Remember, fuel equals weight and you must do everything you can to make your vehicle lighter. Keeping about a half tank or less all the time should allow for emergencies but also keep your weight down.
Keeping your gas tank half full will keep your car lighter, but it also lets contaminates in. The emptier the tank, the higher chance of water mixing in, especially since most states use some mix of ethanol and gasoline. The ethanol attracts water.
8. Wax your car and keep it clean and waxed. Drag (friction with the air) greatly reduces fuel economy. A clean and waxed vehicle will have reduced aerodynamic drag, thus providing better mileage. If you have a luggage rack, take it off. If you have a moon roof, keep it closed. Smooth is what you want.
While waxing might not help. A clean car will be smoother than a car covered in dirt, and chunks of mud. Taking off the luggage rack, or at least the center rails will make your car slightly lighter, but most importantly remove drag.
9. Don’t drive a lot with a cold engine. Cold engines do not run efficiently. Use a block heater to pre-heat your engine if you are taking many short trips. If you can combine your short trips it will help, as driving further will allow your engine more operating time at higher temperatures.
This one is spot on. A fully warmed engine will run much more efficiently than one that is cold and only running for a few minutes.
10. Use cruise control whenever possible. The car’s ability to maintain a constant speed is better than your ability to do so. Small, more precise, and constant adjustments made by the car’s cruise control system will save you fuel.
The only way this is true is if you drive a stick, or are on perfectly flat ground with an automatic. With a stick, the car is locked into one gear, unless you change it. So the only thing the car can do is give it gas. With an automatic, if the car needs to go faster, the cruise control will floor the gas, and downshift, so that the car is now at 3-4k rpms. Last time I checked, 3-4k rpms does not get good gas mileage. Cruise control can’t anticipate hills, so once you get to that hill, it floors it, again wasting gas. A human driver can see the hills, and accelerate before the hill to continue up the hill at or near speed.
The best tip to save gas and get better gas mileage is to accelerate slowly, and cruise at 55mph instead of 65+mph.
Election 2008
Posted by Stretch | Filed under Political
The presidential election is still 6 months away, but I’ve already decided who I’m voting for. There is only one real choice in this election, the other two choices aren’t going to be any better for the country than moronic Bush.
John McCain won’t be any better than Bush. His attitude and actions are very similar to Bush. If he becomes president, our country will continue its downhill travel for the next 4 years. If you’re one of the few that believe our country isn’t headed downhill, take a good look around. Gas is now over $4.00 gallon, our dollar is worth pennies compared to what it used to be, and the only ones getting richer are large companies and CEOs.
Hillary Clinton, while being the first female to run for president, had better not become the first female president. She was a senator for New York State. During her term, she brought pretty much nothing of what she promised to do. We are still waiting for all the jobs that she promised to bring to upstate NY. She is one of little action, and will not unite this country.
Barrack Obama is my choice as president. He is younger, and seems to be more in touch with the people of the country. I like his policies over the other two, and his attitude is by far the best. Constantly being attacked by Clinton, he just tosses it aside, and keeps going, not stooping to her level.
Here’s to hoping Obama proves me right, and can bring this country back together.
