Learning to fly

Yesterday, Stephen Hawking flew in 0-gravity.

This "ordinary" feat for anybody is an even bigger feat for Mr. Hawking who, since the early age of 21 started developing Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (colloquially known as Lou Gehrig's disease), a degenerative disease that would slowly and painfully cripple him. Join the back of your hands (more like the exterior part of your wrists) and keep them joined for 15 minutes and imagine that same pain all over your body all the time.

We have all seen him in his well know wheel-chair (actually, he's had several, designed by himself) and a little apparatus similar to a computer mouse with which he was able to form sentences to talk with the help of his speech. When I saw the news today, that device had dissapeared and he was left with a device attached to his face, to capture facial movements in order to implement all those functions.

But when he was released into 0-gravity his smile covered most of his face. His twisted body floated gracefully in mid-air and you could easily see this moment was going to be one of the high-points of his life.

He is planning a low-orbit space-trip for next year. Keep it up, Steve!

A little inspiration

Steve Jobs. Almost no-one will recognize this name. However, we all will recognize the Macintosh corporation name, creators of the very first computer with a graphical interface operating system: the Mac. Also, we all know the name Pixar, creators of films such asToy Story, Monsters Inc., Cars, etc.

So who is behind these feats? An inspiration. Take a while, connect your earphones and listen:

Steve Job's welcome speech to Stanford University students

THE works

If I wait till I get the time to actually write down the whole process, I'll never publish this... so here it is. Any questions, just ask!

The most incredible instrument in the world

Ubuntu 7.04 out today!

Today I will introduce you to the best free operating system out there: Linux. So what else is new, yes, I know. But to say "linux" is like saying "DOS" (Disk Operating System). In it's time there were several "flavours" of DOS: MS-DOS, IBM-DOS, PC-DOS, DR-DOS... there were several... but I digress. LINUX!

Linux, "son" (not literal, just in some way) of the ginormous UNIX. Just like DOS, it comes in several flavours: Red Hat, Fedora (de Red Hat, tb...), Mandrake, Debian, etc. Many of these versions or "flavours" as they are known in our world (since versions imply evolution and many are based around the same kernel ("heart" of the system) and the same package versions, but differently organised, etc.), many of these flavours, as I say, are difficult to manage, install and use. Some are really obscure even for the most knowledgeable in computer alchemy (reaching even the point of only having a console, without any graphical interface!! HERESY!!).

Ubuntu linux, is different in that sense. Derived from the Debian flavour, is a flavour deffinitely designed for maximum profit in man(or woman)-machine relation. Installation is really easy; it's use, with a minimum know-how is very similar to other graphical operating systems such as (brrrrr) windows (brrrrr).

Instalation procedure

From the Ubuntu download page we can download, absolutely for free, naturally, an ISO image. After burning it with any ol' Nero or similar, we will have a fully operational system disk. There is also the option to apply for an original (physical) disk and I think they only charge for the p&p... if that...

When you boot the PC with that disk, an Ubuntu session is automatically initiate, as if had already been installed in the computer. That will allow us to play, see, mess with it, without having to actually install a thing!! (I think it is the only operating system which allows for this).

Before all that, of course, we must free a section of our hard disk with, for example, Partition Magic. You do not have to worry about how to partition for Linux. Simply leave a section un-partitioned. I left 10Gb; more than enough.

Once the kickstart session is initiated, we click on the "install Ubuntu" icon on the desktop. It will ask us wether we want to manage the partition where to install or to just use any available un-partitioned space. And that's it! Except in rare situations, all the hardware will be ready for its use as soon as the installation is finished. The installation time will depend on the disk reader.

I understand that for version 7.04, the evolution from Windows is even simpler. I, honestly, will update it directly with its magnificent (Synaptic) Update Manager. Contrary to Windows Update, I can guarantee you can leave the automatic updates turned on (the latest Windows update checks the autenticity of your installation and if it is not original... better pray it is...).

The graphical interface also comes in several flavours: Gnome, KDE, FVWM, etc.; all of them highly modifiable. There are P2P download programs (such as eMule - aMule). There is a Windows emulator for your games and programs. There are programs for playing your MP3, DVD, MPG, AVI, MP4,... whatever you want! All of this, naturally, free and legal!

And, like any good computer package... the more you dig, the more you find beneath. You may, if you feel so inclined and you have the knowledge, re-program your favourite application to do just that little thing it was missing. They will not only let you, but will also allow you to have the source files. That is, Open Source.

In fact, you don't even need to uninstall your Windows since it will automatically create a dual-boot so you may choose which operating system to work with at every booting and Windows will be none the wiser (this is not so if you reverse the installation order, that is, first Ubuntu and then Windows... windows will happily KILL your Ubuntu boot and think nothing of it...).

And, I inisist: FREE AND LEGAL. Do you want to know more? -> Wiki Ubuntu

CATS! (Part deux)

CATS!
CATS!
CATS!

Musicians

No words:









And a selection of solos by Tom Morello (guitarist in Rage against the machine and Audioslave)



And of course, some Queen!!!


Another MUST that I cant embed: Terriffic drummer

And do yourselves a favour. Search Youtube for Andres Segovia... and enjoy!

Some other musicians: SlideSpoon master - Impossible Guitar

A different route

This past weekend, my pal Jorge and I decided to go out for a ride and, for the most part, it was our usual round trip: Las Rozas, Puerto de Galapagar, Embalse de Valmayor, Cruz Verde, Robledo de Chavela, Cruz Verde (de nuevo), Navas del Marqués.

That is where the trip varied, partly by mistake and partly because we wanted to explore. From Navas del Marqués we went to Peguerinos through the AV-P-308. Peguerinos is a cute little town in La Sierra. From there we followed the road that just went straight through. Shortly after, the tarmac degraded a little. Halfway through, more or less, there was a crossing that would lead us to either the Alto de los Leones or to El Escorial. We decided for the former and the road climbed further and further up until we reached a point, near the top, in which the road became little more than a forest track. Even so, we followed it and after a few miles we got to the main road at the Alto de los Leones again.

This is the route:

Apart from how uncomfortable the road was, all ups and downs, bumps, puddles and sand, we went through some beautiful forests, near some streams and, close to the top, some amazing views. There were numerous places to stop for a picnic. Anyway, if we hadn't gone with out bikes but with our girls, it would have been grand. Here are some pics of the route: