As some of you may know, today (April 24th) marked the release of Ubuntu version 8.04, code named Hardy Heron. This release is a Long Term Support release, meaning that it will be supported with security updates through 2011. My upgrade to Hardy from Ubuntu's previous version (7.10 Gutsy Gibbon) has not gone as smoothly as I had hoped. To kick things off, by the time I was ready to start the upgrade, all of the ...More »

I've had a lot of fun recently listening to Jonathan Coulton, a computer programmer turned musical artist and creative freedom activist. All of his music is licensed under the Creative Commons, meaning it is free to download and free to share. Of course, on his website, he prefers to offer people the option of purchasing his music, so that he can make a living of it, but that doesn't mean you're not allowed to find ...More »

I have been getting many questions regarding our aircraft, the KS-77 Vermillion, as to the direction of flight. It seems most of you think it is flying backwards. Well, it's not. The KS-77 does indeed fly forward, although I think I know where all the confusion is coming from. You see, the directionality of nearly every common aircraft is reversed from what you would expect to see from, say, a jet-liner or a Cessna. The most ...More »

I tried several times over the past week and a half to write a post but have had trouble finding the time. Last Friday (April 4th) I had a thesis draft due. This involved staying up all night on Thursday to get as much done as I could. Although my final progress wasn't as far as I had a hoped, it was still a decent draft and illustrated most of my main conclusions. That Friday night ...More »

As I am sure many of you know, today marks the effort of Earth Hour, a day when people all across the world will turn out their lights for one hour, from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone. I modified the theme a little bit to show my support for the effort (although I am not quite as intense as Google; I know some of the graphics look bad). Tonight we are having a ...More »

Note that if you want to know why today has been a really terrible day, scroll down to the bottom of this page. Everything else is just the icing on the cake. Today has been a hell of a day and is definitely up there as one of the worst days in recent memory. I kicked it off with an overwhelming 5 hours of sleep. I'd have slept longer but for my thesis appointment at UTIAS ...More »

Just something I wrote a few minutes ago that gave me lulz; if you don't know what this is from, A) shame on you! B) click here for one of the greatest books of all time. I must not take Engineering Science. Engineering Science is the mind-killer. Engineering Science is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face Engineering Science. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has ...More »

I must not like the idea of getting back to school since I seem to have a tendency to write long posts on Sunday afternoons. It's a gloriously sunny day today, if a little cold at a few degrees below zero. The wind doesn't help matters too much, but it is still nice in the sunshine. I went for a nice long walk with a friend today, down around Queen Street, then up through all ...More »

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As I am sure many of you are aware, Mr. Reznor recently released the NIN album Ghosts I–IV. This album is released under the Creative Commons, and as such, may be legally distributed. You may pick up the entire collection in lossless (FLAC) format here. I encourage you to purchase the album. The same download I provided a link to above is a mere $5 US. It is well worth the cost, and you will be ...More »