one9.us

For those who haven’t heard, Microsoft has been doing a promotion to get the word out about Windows 7, the replacement for Vista.  Along with HouseParty.com, they’re giving out promotional packs for individuals to host Windows 7-themed parties, for getting together groups of people to install the new OS.  I entered, got accepted as a host, and finally received my pack today.  Here’s the bulk of what I received:

The box came from UPS just as you see here:

10 Windows 7 canvas tote bags:

Windows 7 jigsaw puzzle, napkins, playing cards, streamers, etc…

But the best part is the free copy of a full version of Windows 7 Ultimate (Signature Edition), that includes both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, 2 full weeks before the OS hits store shelves:

Here’s a list of the full contents:

• All hosts will receive:
  • One limited Signature Edition Windows 7 Ultimate
  • One Deck of Playing Cards with Windows 7 Desktop Design
  • One Puzzle with Windows 7 Desktop Design
  • One Poster with Windows 7 Desktop Design
  • Ten Tote Bags with Windows 7 Desktop Design for hosts and guests
• Also included in USA party packs:
  • One package of streamers for decoration
  • One package of balloons for decoration
  • One table top centerpiece for decoration
  • One package of Windows 7 napkins

I realized there are no good Rock Bridge Memorial State Park trail maps online (this one on the official MO State Parks website is not only small, but horribly inaccurate), so I emailed DNR and asked if they had a better one.

Since we’re talking about state government here, they obviously didn’t have one, and mostly likely won’t anytime soon.  So, I took it upon myself to make one…

I scanned one of the trail map brochures that you can find at any parking lot, screwed around in Photoshop with it for a while, and ended up with a very large, accurate map (save for the exclusion of the new Springbrook — Sinkhole Trail connector) for anyone who may be looking for one.  Why the parks department couldn’t provide it, I have no idea, but I guess that doesn’t really matter now.

Click the photo below for a 2500 x 2050px version (also on my Flickr Photostream):

Hopefully this will be of help to others.  Enjoy.

EDIT:  Here’s an additional map, showing the course used for the Show-Me State Games Mountain Bike race (click for larger view):

So, I got my new Centro and an unlimited data plan, which means I’m sitting at my computer, but surfing the web on my phone’s 2.5" screen.  Makes a lot of sense, I know.  Eventually, I made my way to my blog, and suddenly remembered that it’s extremely unfriendly to the bandwidth-challenged out there.  I ended up getting errors from the Centro’s browser because it took too long to render the page.  That’s when I started looking for a Wordpress plugin that would render an alternate layout for mobile devices.

I found some real crap out there, but one that worked absolutely great is made by Alex King (http://alexking.org).  My pages download extremely quickly to my Centro, and it also displays photos that I import via my Flickr-tag plugin (which another mobile plug did not).

If you have a Wordpress website, I wouldn’t hesitate for a minute installing this plugin!  Considering how much time people spend surfing the web on mobile devices, you don’t want them avoiding you site simply because they can’t get it to load.

I installed a sweet GUI for my Palm Centro, called TouchLauncher.  It’s basically a skin that makes your Palm device look a whole lot better than OEM, and allows some convenient reorganizing, as well.  Originally, I’d been using the developer’s icon set (see here), but I got bored and decided to make some icons of my own.

In the screenshot below, which I took with the freeware application, Snap, you can see just a few of the 38 icons I made, namely the Firefox icon for the Blazer browser, and the camcorder, Facebook, and Twitter icons.  The rest you see are from the developer and some other guys.  Through TouchLauncher, I was able to set the Facebook icon to launch the Facebook app that Sprint included on the phone; the Twitter icon launches the browser and goes straight to Twitter Mobile.

If you want the icon set, I uploaded it here:  http://drop.io/tlauncher  There’s also a screen capture in the .RAR file so you know which icon is which.  If you don’t already use TouchLauncher, I’d suggest you get a copy and play with it.  At less than $7, it’s some of the best money you’ll put into apps for your Palm.

So there I was, just sitting at my PC, listening to my iRiver mp3 player and talking on my Motorola Razr, and in runs Steve Jobs.  "How’d you get in my house?" I yelled, but he just kept jumping up and down, yelling all sorts of nonsense.  I lept out of my chair to tackle the deranged man, only to be slapped by the iPhone 2.0 and some other crap he was peddling.

"NO!!!," I screamed.  "I need easy-to-use devices with great battery life that don’t force me to install third-party apps and convert to proprietary file systems!"  He had no answer.  He simply knocked over my monitor and left.

Hide your children, protect your women.  A crazy man is on the loose…

It’s been freezing cold outside for weeks, and I haven’t been able (or willing to be honest) to ride.  Instead, I decided to kill some time indoors by making a set of system icons, and I thought I’d share.  Right-click, Save Link As… to download the ZIP file.  See pic below for samples.

Performed entirely on bicycle parts:  http://www.specialized.com/bc/microsite/holiday/index.html

Article from: 

WITH understandable reluctance, Prime Minister John Howard recently donned the political hair-shirt of a carbon trading system.

On the same day, NASA chief Michael Griffin commented in a US radio interview that "I am not sure that it is fair to say that (global warming) is a problem that we must wrestle with".

NASA is an agency that knows a thing or two about climate change. As Griffin added: "We study global climate change, that is in our authorisation, we think we do it rather well.  "I’m proud of that, but NASA is not an agency chartered to, quote, battle climate change."

Read more…

It’s not often you see naked people outside, you know–doing "it"–but that was just the beginning of an awesome ride. I was at less than 4 miles from home, heading up Anthony St. near the MU campus when I noticed a tent in someone’s side yard. Then I noticed what looked like a person inside, so I kept staring (what else is there to do?). About the time I was lined up really well with the opening of the tent, I saw a fully naked girl sit up on an equally naked guy, and begin to reach over and close the flap. At 8:00a.m. on a Saturday. I hope they were enjoying themselves.

Read more…

The UPS man just dropped these off at my door.  Gee, I wonder what I’ll have to do with them…

My surround sound cabinets are finally 100% d-o-n-e!!  It’s been a long project and I’m glad to say it’s finally complete.  To take a look at the entire project and see lots of pictures, click here:  http://one9.us/blog/projects/midgets/.

Google is still making the news with their controversial Street View feature on Google Maps.  For more on the story, see the links below.  And here’s more proof that no one is safe!

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=9576

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/scenes-through-the-eye-of-google/

http://mashable.com/2007/05/31/top-15-google-street-view-sightings/

–Aaron

I finally got back to finishing my surround speakers today.  They still have some internal wiring that I need to finish up, but they’re basically done.  I’ll get the full project up on the site in a few days hopefully, but until then, click the images below to get a better look.

It took me about two hours to re-write some code and update all the pages for my subwoofer project from a couple years back.  If you haven’t seen it before, here’s the link:  http://one9.us/blog/projects/dual12subs.  I also combined pages to whittle 61 down to only 24, so hopefully that’ll make browsing all the pics a little easier.

Edit:  Project Big Brother–the project that inspired me to get a website and learn how to code in the first place–has also been updated.  Check it out.

 –Aaron