Archive for May, 2003

The Matrix and the Matrix Reloaded

May 30th, 03 / Comments Off

I really wanted to just love the Matrix Reloaded. It was a good movie, but not a great one IMHO. I just rewatched the original Matrix and I can see why. The original was filled with mystery. First versions can be. It wasn’t clear what was real and what was a dream. Who was good and bad.

Not to mention that the first part had that slow, film noir pacing and look.

Second reason is that there is no mystery in Matrix Reloaded. There is more and more of the same. Tons of agents. Too many facts. In fact, I kind of thought it was confusing that Neo could crush folks, bend walls at the end of the first Matrix and in this one, he has to fight 100 agents. Not clear why. He dos the superman thing, but would have thought he could just smash the whole thing.

The main thing is that the original, like my other favorite movie Blade Runner, just keeps you guessing (a.l.a. what is the real world vs. who is the replicant). I thought Matrix Reloaded was predictable, while Matrix was completely not. For instance, what if the “real world” itself turns out to be a construct itself. Layers in layers. Alternatively, to kill the Matrix, you have to go to another reality called the Construct. Make that all white and pure while the Matrix is black. Another alternative is that to get the Matrix, you have to awaken all the folks who are plugged in so he has to become a leader in the Matrix world itself.

Most depressing thing is that the special edition of the Matrix was cancelled. It could really have used a DTS soundtrack for instance. My Two Cents – Archived Posts (3/17/03 – 2/24/03)

Here are some other reviews:

* “Tim Wick”:http://www.misfit.org/views/2003/05/twicktmr.htm. The number one hit on google for reviews. Go figure. I agree with his points.
* “Rotten Tomatoes”:http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/TheMatrixReloaded-1122457/. My favorite site for reviews.

Uncategorized

Buying a Touring/Commuting/Crosscycle Bike

May 29th, 03 / 2 Comments

I’ve been looking for my second bike. I love my Trek 5900, but it isn’t that practical for all the other things. Fortunately, Steve Hooper told me about Adventure Cycling Association. Here is what I found out:

“Buying a Touring Bike”:http://www.adv-cycling.org/features/buyabike2003.cfm. A great comprehensive piece. There is not much on touring in mainline publications like Bicycling.com, so it was nice to find this. . I ideally would love to get a touring/cyclocross bike that also is packable. Ideal specifications would be:

# SS Couplings. The Frame splits so that it can be transported in a standard sized suitcase.
# Cyclocross Tires. So that I can do light mountain biking with the kids. No need for a suspension for a while. Also, this would be an ideal compromise for the wet, wet winter commutes.
# Disk Brakes. Again for the wet and also given the loads. Weighs more, but Avid now makes mechanical brakes that can be used with road bike levers.
# Stiff. Assuming that this thing will be carrying/pulling weight. I’ll probably get one of those one or two wheel trailers for camping with the kids.

Here are some bikes that meet some of these requirements listed in rough order. The amazing thing is that I emailed these guys and in every case someone answered right away:

* “Independent Fabricators”:http://www.ifbikes.com/. They make a Titanium “Cyclocross”:http://64.227.152.248/frames2/tiplanetcross.shtml bike with couplers available and 700c wheels. Missing: Need to see if they have disc brake tabs and 132mm axle spacing. They have them at Aurora Bikes here in Seattle. Contact Rob at 206-783-1000.
* “Co-Motion”:http://www.co-motion.com/travmenu.html. A Northwest builder. They make a steel racing, light touring and heavy touring bike series that all have SS couplers. These are called the Espresso, Nor’Wester and Americano respectively. The Nor’Wester sounds about right at 3.85 lb frame with 0.5 lb for the couplers. It is much shorter in top tube than what racers use. It can also use Cantilever, although not Disc brakes. It is a 130mm axle in the rear so can’t really put mountain hubs in the rear. Missing: 132mm axle, disc brakes and aluminum (e.g., lighter frame). They don’t recommend disc brakes since it causes stress on the front rigid fork and also interferes with panniers.
* “Waterford”:http://www.waterfordbikes.com/models/pframe.htm. These cyclocross and touring X-22 series can be had with couplers. The X-22 can have up to 38C tires and cantilever brakes. $1600 for frame and $800 for couplers, case and other accessories. 3.85lb frame. The X-14 is $1300. Missing: disc brake tabs and 132mm spacing for mountain hubs. Richard Schwinn himself (part of the Schwinn’s that started the famous bike company) sent me mail giving me advice. Basically said, that a good all purpose bike if carrying more than 50 lbs is the Adventure Cycle. Said that a trailer didn’t handle as well. They have them in Tacoma. Spoke and Sprocket. As Richard says, “If they were in Seattle they would be one the jewels of the city. I know many Seattlites who happily make the trek south. Talk to one of the Jim’s there at 253-564-1422.” List price is $1600 plus $1,200 for the Ultegra kit. Same for the Adventure Cycle.
* “Erickson”:http://www.sandsmachine.com/bp_erick.htm. Glenn did a nice bike for Hoops that has everything I want except the disc brake option, but he’s totally custom so I’m hoping that he can make this for me. Also noticed he does titanium as well. Fully custom, so the price will be interesting I’m sure! Only problem is that Glenn is gone this summer.

These bikes are wonderful but don’t have couplers mainly:

* “Rivendell”:http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/html/bikes_rambouilletframes.html. They make full custom bikes of course at $2,200 per frame, but also have a standard Rambouillet for $995 or (Atlantis is available, but in my size takes 26″ wheels) made by a small shop in Japan. Steel bikes and these don’t have couplers. But, they are big wheel friendly and can accept a mountain rear 135mm or a road 130mm rear hub. Missing: couplers, disc brake tabs and lighter frame, but they are cheap.
* “Giant OCR Touring”:http://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/030.000.000/030.000.006.asp?lYear=2003&bikesection=8830&range=138&model=10658. Just about everything except the couplers. Has Avid Disc Brakes. There is also a frame only for “Cyclocross”:http://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/030.000.000/030.000.006.asp?lYear=2003&bikesection=8820&range=108&model=10678 and “touring”:http://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/030.000.000/030.000.006.asp?lYear=2003&bikesection=8820&range=108&model=10675, so that I can build it up myself, so couplers really are the only problem. Bike is $1300 list.
* “Cannondale”:http://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/030.000.000/030.000.006.asp?lYear=2003&bikesection=8830&range=138&model=10658. They have a touring bike the T2000, but checkout their Cyclocross model with Disc brakes, etc. Just missing the couplers.
* “Redline”:http://redlinebicycles.com. They have a Conquest Pro.

Cycling

Won the War, Losing the Peace

May 28th, 03 / Comments Off

Passion for PeaceA great piece by Friedman as usual. The Rumsfeld doctrine of small-force, high-tech armies may be great for winning wars, but you need the Powell doctrine for winning the peace: a massive, overwhelming investment of soldiers, police and aid. We should be flooding Iraq with people and money right now. Start big and then build down — not the other way around. Ditto on the politics side. In destroying the Iraqi Army and Baath Party, we have destroyed the (warped) pillars of Iraqi secular nationalism. We need to start replacing them, quickly, with alternative, progressive pillars of Iraqi secular nationalism; otherwise, Shiite religious nationalism will fill the void.

Iraq

Depressed: DVD Coasters Galore

May 27th, 03 / 5 Comments

ULead MovieFactory. I’m depressed. I used this thing to create a DVD movie. Now as I’m trying to duplicate 7 copies, I have 1 coaster (e.g., destroyed DVD+R) for everyone that is good. An obvious driver problem where in the middle of a copy, it gives up the ghost and hangs.

I’m using an older Sony DRU-120A and Windows XP and I’m sure there is a driver bug somewhere. Sigh. An evening not to mention a bunch of DVD+R at $5 a pop down the drain.

That’s what I get for being on the bleeding edge. I’ll have to try another utility to create DVDs. I’ve also seen on C|Net that Dazzle’s DVD Complete has the same problem. I wonder where the bugs are.

Home Movies

DDR400 is Here!

May 25th, 03 / Comments Off

Well the next generation of hardware performance is here. There is the new lineup of Pentiums with hyperthreading and also a new set of motherboards based on the i875P and the i865P. Tom’s Hardware recommends getting an 865P motherboard and the 2.8 GHz Pentium IV. I’m on the way:

* Tom’s Hardware Guide Motherboards & RAM: One Tough Cookie: 10 Boards with Intel i875P Chipsets – Part I – Intel takes Dual DDR to its Mass Market. The next generation of power is here in the i875P (a.k.a. Canterwood) chipsets. Here are the current reviews. It shows that there are Bios problems with most right now. But, ulitmately performance is going to be great. This roundup showed lots of bugs and problems and basically said, don’t buy the 875P yet. I’m so sad.

PCs

dvd to divx backup

May 25th, 03 / Comments Off

Well it’s been six months since I figured out the best way to backup DVDs. Here’s an update on what’s on the web now:

* “Doom9.net Guide”:http://www.doom9.org/. This was the source I used before and learned about Gordian Knot. The site has only gotten better. It actually explains what you are doing while the other guides are more of the press key 1, 2, 3 variety. Not the first hit in Google, but seems the most comprehensive. Main change is the use of the XviD encoder which is open source and royalty-free apparently with great quality. I’ll have to give that a try.
* DVD To DivX conversion guide. I did a DVD to DivX backup tools study about six months ago. It’s interesting to see how the tools have evolved since then. Here’s a how-to-guide that uses the various piece parts that Gordian Knot integrates.
* “Ecuador’s DVD to DivX Guide”:http://ecuador.ebodyform.com/pcdvd/dvdrip.htm. A slightly different take on the conversion process. This does a conversion of the audio to MP3 as well, so you lose the AC3 I think. He also has a rip “pack”:http://users.otenet.gr/%7Ethalia1/ecurip23.htm of all the software needed.
* “Ecuador’s PC Software Player Ratings”:http://ecuador.ebodyform.com/pcdvd/dvdplay.htm. He also has a good guide to software DVD players. He likes Cyberlink PowerDVD the best.
* “OCAddition DVD to DivX Guide”:http://www.ocaddiction.com/articles/howto/dvdbackup/. Yet another guide. This one uses Gordian Knot. I used this program before. I sure hope it has gotten easier.

Movies

Ode to Peta Jane

May 24th, 03 / Comments Off

Alex is learning poetry. Here are some of his latest. First is a kind of neat form:

Peta-Jane
Awesome fun
Busy helping caring
Makes me very challenged
Peta-Jane

I had not heard of this form before, but it has the first and last line are the name of the person.

The second line are two adjectives describing the person. Then third line are three things she does. Finally fourth line is what she does for you. Kind of neat huh?

Alex

T-Mobile $19.99 WiFi

May 22nd, 03 / 1 Comment

Wireless Internet Access – T-Mobile HotSpots. Pricing is hitting the right range. Right now T-mobile offers a $20/month plan if you are T-mobile voice subscriber for Wifi access. Sign my up!

Gadgets

Drowning in Wifi Signals

May 22nd, 03 / Comments Off

Doug’s Dynamic Drivel: A new Wi-Fi model. This problem of how power WiFi has been hotly debated in our shop over at “Geekfishing”:http://geekfishing.net.

Basically if you have lots of 802.11 Wifi access points beaconing, you get unpredictable results as clients roam automagically from one to another. In our own offices, there are no less than five different Wifi networks up at any given time from different small businesses. Boy it is confusing for end users to suddenly get on a network. What is worse is that half the networks won’t allow VPN back to our secured company network.

Sign of things to come. And according to the folks at “RovingIP”:http://rovingip.net, this is not easy to solve without low level changes in all clients.

Gadgets

Topolino Wheelset Review and Veloflex Pave Reviews

May 22nd, 03 / Comments Off

h2. Topolino Wheelset

Topolino Tech. I’m a crazy dope with too much craziness for lightness. In any case, I just got these wheels. A great deal from “Bethel Cycles”:http://bethelcycles.com that includes tires, rim strip and tubes. I finally got these and mounted them with a set of Veloflex Pave 700×22 tires. Here’s a review of them after about a month:

* My buddy has a pair of Campagnolo Nucleons. Now, those look like delicate wheels. The spokes must be 14 gauge at most. These are much thicker and there are 36 spokes. The idea is that if the spokes are light why not put more on. They are about as stiff as my Mavic Ksyriums. This surprised me. Such a light wheelset (1400 grams about, but this doesn’t include rim tape or skewers) is amazingly light. They haven’t gone out of true yet. Something else that I had expected for such a light set. Only about 300 miles on them so far, but have hit things unexpectedly.
* I used nylon rim tape that Bethel sent me. Very light, but switched to Velox in the front. Got lots of flats. In fact, my super light 50 gram Performance ultralight tubes ended up with 6 flats on the inside because of spoke intrusion I think. Made a 20 mile ride awful long. I’m used to Mavic Ksyriums which don’t need rim tape. Switching to Velox (what Topolino recommends) and also going to the Michelin A1 tubes at 70 grams seems to have helped. Haven’t flatted yet.
* Of course, these aren’t the sensible wheels that will last a lifetime. I’m 165 pounds, so not super light. I’ve had good success with Mavic Ksyriums. Riding them for 2 years now and haven’t wrecked them. I did have to true them slightly at 2,000 miles, but given the potholes I’ve hit in the winter, this is pretty amazing.
* They certainly aren’t as stiff as my long ride wheelset. These are Mavic CXP-33 semi-aero rims with 14/15 gauge butted spokes on Campagnolo Record hubs. The spokes are put in 2-cross.Now that’s a durable rim set.

h2. Veloflex Pave Reviews

I’ve been using the Veloflex Pave’s now for a little bit. They are 700×22c and I’m at 110psi (so breaking all the rules below). Nice tires. Theoretical an ounce light (180g) than the Michelins. Main difference is they are very squirrelly at high speed (above 35 mph) and also in the rain. So they are fast fair weather tires. Probably not a good choice for all weather use, but terrific for the summer.

Also, they don’t take kindly to glass, my first set of Pave’s ended up getting a casing tear after 200 miles because of glass and junk on the road.

I’ve use the 700×23C Continental 3000GP. Got a true 1,500 miles out of the rear tire and still going on the front. The idea is to do a rotation because the fronts don’t really wear out. Decent rain performance.

Tried also the Michelin Axial Pros. Had the same problem with a tear in the casing due to road debris. Probably a fluke. Thought they were very nice. Similar to the Continentals.

h2. Sane Tire Recommendations

“Road Bike Rider”:http://roadbikerider.com. Here is the conservative recommentation from folks who are riding 15,000 miles per year. I’m not kidding and what to recommend to ordinary, non crazy folks.

* For tires, use either Michelin Pro Race or Axial Carbon 700×25C tires, or Continental Ultra GatorSkin 700×25C or 28C. An added bonus is that all of these have puncture protection built in. I know there are other good brands of tires, but the Michelins and Conti’s are my all-time favorites.
* For tubes, I recommend latex, which is more resistant than butyl to punctures and pinch flats.
* For inflation, run no more than 100 psi. I weigh 210, ride on crappy, potholed roads and run 87-90 psi front, 95-98 psi rear. I never pinch flat, not even with butyl tubes.

Cycling