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One of our projects this semester is to make a Bauhaus Chess set in a program called 3DS Max (created by Autodesk). 3DS Max is a modeling and animation tool built specifically for creating 3D representations and models. Being a lover of Open Source, when we we’re told although Blender was considered, it fell a bit short for some reason, so we had to use 3DS Max. 3DS Max is not bad to use, some of the tools are nice if your not an arty type (like me) and prefer more technical and structured things. Some of the effects (like glass and water) give a really nice effect to add to the model your designing. Also as part of the project we had to have an accompanying website, which you can view at bark4mark.com/bauhaus ...

One topic that rarely gets coverage that I’ve seen is how women get along in male dominated environments, such as Computer Science. For me it has never mattered someone’s gender - I love using, tweaking and learning about computers and if you share that interest - the more, the better! It has been shown very young children are conditioned from a very young age by gender rules - shown by Prof. Robert Winston in Child of Our Time programme. So I’ve often wondered in a very skewed ratio of males to females (as generally there are more females than males in society) would affect a Woman’s choice of even considering Computer Science, since so few actually do. So I set about asking our class representative, Lauren Butler, her thoughts on Computers, doing Computer Science and being an authority figure in a male dominated class-room, my questions and her answers follow: ...

Some people make new years resolutions about eating healthier, exercising more etc. I find that boring, who doesn’t want to be healthier? So I am making a list of technology resolutions: Learn C in XCode on a Mac Make an awesome CRM program for College degree (Python, Google App Engine) Learn Vim and Emacs bindings, using them for code Learn to use Git, possibly mercurial Learn some Obj-C with Cocoa Learn some C++ with Qt Learn Python +Tcl/tk Learn more about the design of Linux kernel and study some of it’s code Do Sysadmin stuff on my server on Linode; like setting upSendmail,IRCServers and other stuff If I have time, investigate CakePHP, Django, maybe Ruby (on Rails?) and it’s ilk That should keep me busy besides college and working! I didn’t include any security stuff, as we’re doing best practice for my honours degree next year. If anyone has any of their own, I’d love to see, or any resources to help me complete my list ^-^ Happy 2010! ...

Lesson learned: never leave a expensive. Take these pictures I shot after the dog attacked my motorcycle! I still love dogs as pets, they are man’s best friend and just like best friends they can screw up. The only thing I am most upset about now is the dog can’t pay for the repairs… Forgive and forget Fritzie? Thats a girl… P.S. If anyone knows anyone thats in the seat repairing business, let me know! I can find almost any other part for my Yamaha YP125 other than a seat, grrrr ...

via tuxradar.com For me it’s definitely Kubuntu, but I can see why they choose OpenSuSe. May I just mention the virtual machine builder system is awesome, pay attention Mr.Shuttleworth! Although PPA builds come a close second for useful online tools…

“The really, really short answer is that you should not. The somewhat longer answer is that just because you are capable of building a bikeshed does not mean you should stop others from building one just because you do not like the color they plan to paint it. This is a metaphor indicating that you need not argue about every little feature just because you know enough to do so. Some people have commented that the amount of noise generated by a change is inversely proportional to the complexity of the change.” ...

When I found this, I had to share it:

I own a Majesty 125cc 2002. The video below is the updated (and more powerful) model: (Some of the) New features: 2x the amount of space Parking break (for hills! Think handbrake if your a car driver) Liquid-cooled 400cc ABS brakes Dual Halogen Headlights Larger rear lights Csr-like oversize dials on dash It looks good, good, good. I haven’t looked at price, but my last two bikes are Yamaha and I’ve had little trouble with them. I like the bigger bikes that have loads of built in storage (panniers look a bit unnatural) and a bike that’s confident in itself to not have to show off it’s braun but rather it’s brains with good safety and road handling ;) ...

Ars has a great article about how Sony through the Playstation 3’s awesome power (can’t you tell which of this generations consoles I own?) and subsidy (based on recoup of selling games and hardware - a model pioneered with the PS1) With respect to cell processors, a single 1U server configured with two 3.2GHz cell processors can cost up to $8K while two Sony PS3s cost approximately $600. Though a single 3.2 GHz cell processor can deliver over 200 GFLOPS, whereas the Sony PS3 configuration delivers approximately 150 GFLOPS, the approximately tenfold cost difference per GFLOP makes the Sony PS3 the only viable technology for HPC applications. ...