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You are here: Home / Archives for 2011

Archives for 2011

A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas

2011/11/07 By staze

While not a stoner, I do enjoy the Harold and Kumar movies as they are silly, and a nice call back to the days of National Lampoons, and other classic 80’s comedies, not to mention the primary actors in them being highly enjoyable, and talented. As such, my wife and I went and saw Harold and Kumar 3 this last weekend, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The movie starts off well, and we soon determine the “plot” of the movie is replacing a lost Christmas tree. Danny Trejo plays Maria’s (now Harold’s wife) father, and he places a great deal of importance on Christmas. Harold and Kumar haven’t really been friends in a while, and their story lines don’t intersect until maybe 20 minutes into the movie. Once that happens, it becomes a very familiar with the previous movies. Hi-jinx ensue, and they eventually meet up with NPH, who as usual plays a caricature that could only come from a Harold and Kumar movie, and this time maybe even funnier than previous examples. He even explains what happened when he died in the last movie. After all this, and a brush with death, we get the extremely campy scene similar to the cheetah ride in the first movie, and the whole movie ends on a nice happy note. All and all, it’s a pretty good movie. I’m not sure it’s worth the $19 it cost for two of us to see it in 3D, but they do make fun of the 3D aspect a few times (it’s a joke a few times, as are nice topical things refering to Kal Penn’s previous job (for the White House), and John Cho’s previous role in Star Trek). See it. At least in the cheap theater, or on DVD.
[xrr rating=4/5]

Filed Under: Reviews

“Server” is a concept, part 2: Redundancy

2011/11/01 By staze

A while back, I wrote about the announcement of Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion), and how people were freaking out about it being dumbed down with regards to the Server OS (or the possibility that there would be no Server version). Today (and yesterday), a rumor has been going around that Apple is thinking about killing the Mac Pro, and how everyone is freaked out that there’s no alternative for “pro”. Which then brought out the FUDtards again to talk about how sad they are that the Xserve was killed, and how the Mini Server isn’t a real server, etc. Which brings us to part 2 of my “Server is a concept, not hardware or software”. Or more specifically, “Redundancy shouldn’t be only at the system level”.

I won’t rehash what I’ve already said, but I will touch a bit on the hardware argument since it came up. Someone brought up that the Mini Server should have (for redundancy/resiliency):

  • Dual power
  • Dual Thunderbolt
  • ECC RAM

I won’t argue too much with the ECC RAM, since it would be a relatively easy thing to do (though ECC RAM can’t correct for BIG errors, so it’s not really the amazing thing people say it is, plus it tends to be slower), but the other two, I will argue a bit with, and they both are basically the same argument.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Sys Admin Tagged With: Mac Mini, Redundancy

6W LED GU10

2011/10/30 By staze

A few weeks ago, I installed track lighting in a room in our house. It uses 120v GU10 bulbs, and knowing that the minimum wattage on a halogen bulb that size is about 35w, I thought I might save a bit of money by switching to LED bulbs. After looking around online, I found these for a decent price, and figured they would be worth the risk to buy two and see how they did.

In short, they are, with a single caveat: They’re ~3000k color temp. In long, they’re pretty nice. They’re 6w, pretty bright for their wattage, and instant on. I haven’t tried them with a dimmer yet, but from what I’ve read, they can “flicker” when dimmed fully. That said, I like them. My wife, on the other hand, doesn’t: at least not for their intended purpose. She wants to use the room to show artwork, and 3000k makes the art look too blue. So, I’ll be on the hunt for some 2700k GU10 LEDs (which, seems to be a market cornered by Toshiba).

For now, though, I’d recommend them for “light”. I wouldn’t recommend them if you care about the color temperature being similar to Halogen (they’re significantly cooler when compared side by side). Not to mention they’re pretty darn inexpensive now. No clue at this point about longevity.

[xrr rating=3/5]

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: GU10, LED

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