January 29th, 2006 by Mox
Back when negotiations between Disney and Pixar broke down, Disney announced that it would begin production of Toy Story 3 as it was allowed to do under the terms of their existing agreement. This was largely seen as a strong-arm tactic on Eisner’s part to force Pixar’s hand in the renegotiating of their partnership. Disney put together an animation studio (Circle 7) whose primary function was to make sequels of Pixar films and would do so to the chagrin of Pixar fans everywhere.
Cut to earlier this week. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Disney, Movies |
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January 27th, 2006 by Mox
A couple of days ago, the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on the Broadcast Flag and the RIAA-proposed Audio Flag. Surprisingly, committee chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and John Sununu (R-New Hampshire) asked some key questions that exposed holes in the arguments for this “anti-piracy” technology. First up, Sununu (from an EFF Deeplinks article):
“The suggestion is that if we don’t do this, it will stifle creativity. Well…we have now an unprecedented wave of creativity and product and content development…new business models, and new methodologies for distributing this content. The history of government mandates is that it always restricts innovation…why would we think that this one special time, we’re going to impose a statutory government mandate on technology, and it will actually encourage innovation?”
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Posted in Technology |
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January 26th, 2006 by Mox
This month marks the two years of service for the Mars Exploration Rovers. Their original 90-day missions have been extended three times and, for the most part, they’re still going strong.
While showing signs of wear, Spirit and Opportunity are still being used to their maximum remaining capabilities. On Spirit, the teeth of the rover’s rock abrasion tool are too worn to grind the surface off any more rocks, but its wire-bristle brush can still remove loose coatings. The tool was designed to uncover three rocks, but it exposed interiors of 15 rocks.
On Opportunity, the steering motor for the front right wheel stopped working eight months ago. A motor at the shoulder joint of the rover’s robotic arm shows symptoms of a broken wire in the motor winding. Opportunity can still maneuver with its three other steerable wheels. Its shoulder motor still works when given extra current, and the arm is still useable without that motor.
Their current mission extension lasts through September 2006.
Posted in Science |
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January 17th, 2006 by Mox
I was in Orlando January 6-9 for the Walt Disney World Half Marathon. This was my second year participating (notice I didn’t say running), but because of a minor controversy last year, this was the first time I was able to complete this distance, crossing the finish line at 3:38:44, with a net time of 3:30:04. After last year’s somewhat disappointing experience, there were some significant milestones for me during the race.
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Posted in Disney, Recreation |
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January 17th, 2006 by Mox
It’s a new year, so now seems as good a time as any to start fresh.
The biggest change you’ll notice is the move from Geeklog to Wordpress. I’ve been playing around with Wordpress off and on for about a month and I really like its simplicity and ease of use on both the front and back ends. Installation and setup is a breeze and the interface is fairly easy to navigate. I found a layout that I liked and was able to adapt it into a usable Wordpress theme with only a few days of work. It’s not quite finished yet, but the basics are there and solid enough for me to get going. I’m going to miss some of the features of a full featured CMS like being able to define and arrange content blocks on various parts of the page. On the other hand, it seems that coding those kinds things are fairly straightforward should I decide there is a feature I really can’t live without.
The switch to Wordpress brings with it another benefit: podcasting. I’ve been seriously considering putting together a podcast ever since I attended the Portable Media Expo back in November, and Wordpress is a bit more podcast-friendly as far as RSS feeds go. I haven’t decided what the format of the show will be but it will likely be called SquareRoots Radio.
Hopefully I’ll be able to put this site to some good use in the coming year.
Posted in SquareRoots.Net |
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