Monty Python Channel on YouTube
The world is a better place: there is now an official Monty Python channel on YouTube :)
Random Tangent
Ninety degrees of randomness
R.I.P. Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton, one my all-time favourite authors, passed away a few days ago.
I loved his books and the way he wrote them: they were exciting, inspiring, and a whole lot of fun. Indeed, I’ve read all his fictional works though I’ve only read one of his non-fiction ones (must remedy that). I’ve also watched almost all of his films and remember being blown away by ‘West World’, ‘Jurassic Park’, and ‘Twister’. Heck, I even remember the ending scene from ‘The Andromeda Strain’ which I watched on TV back in the mid-80s! I must now watch the three films that I’ve missed.
You can read more about Crichton here:
- His official website
- His Wikipedia entry
- AiCN’s tribute (with videos)
- TED’s tribute
Rest in Peace, Michael.
First Look at an M750 Tablet PC
I may have just bought myself a desktop but I’m still dying to get my hands on a tablet PC — though, fortunately, I am no longer in a rush to do so — and Craig Pringle recently got his hands on my tablet PC of choice, the awesome new Toshiba M750. He’s written up a first-look review and says he’ll write more about it as he continues to use it.
Awesomeness.
Tetris!
I love Microsoft: The original Windows 3.x version of Tetris (the one made in 1990) runs just fine in Windows Vista :) I’ve actually been carrying that version of Tetris — all 76kB of it — around with me since the mid 90s. Of course it requires quite a bit of window resizing to get it just right on a 22" wide screen!
Why do I and so many other people care so much about this game? The good folk at Graph Jam said it best:
A friend and I even organized regular Tetris tournaments at our undergraduate college during the late 90s which were hugely popular. Also, Tetris is the only game I’ve ever bought for my mobile phone. Yes, I am addicted.
Though, really, Tetris is less like a drug and more like a good cup of tea: it’s perfect for any occasion. Whether you want to wake yourself up, relax before going to bed, keep your hands busy while talking on the phone or listening to a podcast, or do something when you have nothing else to do, Tetris is always the answer.
So thank you Microsoft and, more importantly, than you Alexey Pajitnov for creating such an awesome game.
New Desktop PC!
Back in April 2007 (in my third post on this blog, in fact) I wrote that my laptop had died and that I was stuck using my mother’s ancient, somewhat-battered laptop. My plan was (and still is) to get a job and then buy myself a nice, high-end tablet PC.
However, over the last couple of months, my mother’s laptop started acting up so I had no choice but to find a replacement for it. I didn’t want to buy a tablet PC because I don’t yet have a job so I’d rather not dip into our savings too much (and I’m not willing to buy anything but a high-end tablet PC). Instead, I bought a cheap desktop PC that I could work on in the interim and upgrade in the future. I was always going to buy a desktop for home use, I just hadn’t planned on doing that right now. But as plans tend to do, this one changed so now I am the proud owner of an HP Pavilion desktop PC:
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It’s reasonably low-end as desktop PCs go: with a 2.4GHz Dual Core Intel Pentium Processor instead of a Core 2 Duo and, importantly, integrated graphics instead of a separate graphics card. Fortunately, this isn’t much of a problem because I don’t plan on getting into computer games, high-end graphics editing, or power intensive computing just yet. I do plan on recording and editing videos and doing some basic graphics editing but all that will work fine on this system. In fact, this setup runs the Windows Vista Aero interface without a hitch so it’s not like I’m suffering here!
In other areas, it’s a pretty kick-ass system: with 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 360GB 7,200RPM hard drive, a CD/DVD reader and writer, and the usual set of ports, card readers, and networking options. The best part: it came with a 22" wide screen LCD with a 1680×1050 native resolution :) After using a 15" screen for a couple of years and then a 12.1" screen over the last year this big screen is fricking awesome!
In fact, the whole system is pretty awesome and I’m having a great time using it. Woo hoo! :)
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