We just need more.

here’s the perfect week:

Monday  Saturday  Wednesday  Saturday  Friday  Saturday  Sunday

One to work, one to play, and one to do absolutely nothing.

 Now I finally have my blog set up on my own domain, with a different theme (couldnt’ find this one again) Look for further updates on http://pseudosemantics.com 

 Thanks.

 Using the same logic, here’s how to know when to seek emergency care.

• If you bleed to death, the cut needs stitches
• If a broken bone heals crooked, you should go in and have it set.
• If you heart stops beating, the pain in your chest was a heart attack.

Just in case you were wondering.

 Even though I didn’t have the internet at home, I had it at work, on my phone, and there are several free hotspots I know of… I guess my definition of having the internet, is having it all the time.  I’m very impatient these days, if I don’t have what I want at my fingertips (literally, I’m lazy too–if it isn’t in reach, its to far away) I get frustrated.

 Now that I have it, I feel better.  I don’t really use it much.   I still haven’t checked all of my email accounts.  but I just feel better knowing that it’s there.

 The thing that really upsets me is that Cho Seung-Hui wasn’t well armed.  The 9mm Glock is a formidable gun, but his other gun was a 22 pistol–a pea shooter.  In columbine, the attackers had shotguns, rifles, pistols, and bags full of bombs.  In the recent Trolley square shooting the gunman had a 12 gauge shotgun. 

 The problem is that with all of the recent gun laws, Cho knew that he would be the only person there with a weapon.  There was no one to stop him.  One commentator was talking about when/why he committed suicide.  According to them, he was always planning on killing himself–as a control thing.  The timing was decided, not because he was satiated, but because the cops got there.  Someone arrived who could challenge him. 

At first glance, gun control laws seem like they would be the solution.  But when you think about it more, you realize that GUN LAWS DON’T STOP GUN CRIMES.  They punish them.  If someone is willing to kill, they don’t care what laws they break.  Especially people like Cho Seung-Hui, they have nothing to fear, fines, imprisonment, death sentence, they all mean nothing…Cho wasn’t planning on living out the day.

People like that will always exist, so we can’t stop it from happening.  If we destroyed every gun on the planet, they would make their own guns or use explosives.  All we can do is deter them, or stop them quickly in the act.

So the solution is to have more guns in school.  I think every public educator should have mandatory gun handling classes.  And I think that schools should pay for teachers to get concealed weapons permits if they are interested. 

In a crisis like that, we need the teachers be in control of themselves, so that they can help the students.  If they had some gun training, they would at the very least have some familiarity, and have an idea of the capabilities and weaknesses of guns.  The would have an idea of how long it takes to reload a gun, how far a shotgun is effective, or the likelihood of hitting anything with a Walther p22 beyond a few hundred feet.

These kinds of crimes are meticulously planned, strategized, and executed.  They prey on fear and dominance.  If I were planning an attack, and I knew that there were armed security guards, that the vice principle had a gun, and there were a couple of dare cops in the building, that would seriously limit the options I had.  If two additional teachers had concealed weapons, there wouldn’t be much I could do without being ‘challenged’.  (obviously this is related to a high school/middle school setting–a college campus would be on a larger scale)  I think in most cases it would not be worth it.  If it was, within seconds of a shooting there would be someone there to try to stop it.

I think it is horrifying that an entire university can be held at bay with a 22 pistol.  If we make it harder for our would-be protectors to be armed.  We will only empower the next shooter with more time, less resistance, and more fear to feed on.

Life bunches up on you.   It will come at you in patches and bursts.  You’ll spring for pizza on a thursday night, then someone will bring pizza to work on Friday, and you’ll visit your parents on Saturday, who will offer you some pizza.

Next, a three week pizza drought.

When was the last time you had alternating good and bad days?  –doesn’t happen.  You have a few good days, then a rut that lasts a week.

Why do you think they call it a lucky streak?  If it was totally random, everyone would win and lose equally.  (at least with games of chance)

Over short runs in your entertainment center, you probably will not be able to see much of a difference (at least I can’t) Both are high definition connections, capable of 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, or 1080p. HDMI however is much cleaner, sending HD video and audio over a single cable with a USB sized connector.  Component uses three video connectors for video only, and audio is run separately as stereo (red and white RCA) or surround sound audio with a digital coaxial or toslink connection.

For the boring details about the differences, keep reading… 

This goes back to the digital VS analog battle.  Component is analog, and HDMI is digital. 

Since most devices process HD video as a digital signal, HDMI doesn’t need to convert to analog and back for the cable.  Any digital to analog conversion will introduce some loss, so this can maintain a better quality.

Second, besides sending an amazing video signal, it can also send up to 8 channels of digital audio (perfect for a 7.1 surround sound)–All that over a single, small connector. 

HDCPis supported on all HDMI connections, which can be a blessing and a curse.  HDCP is technically a content protectionmeasure.  It will check that every frame sent is a perfect signal transfer, ensuring that there is no loss over the cables, connectors, or interface.  However, in order to get an HDCP license, the product has to meet some copy protectionrequirements.   For most situations, it won’t interfere, but it can have its drawbacks–for instance HDMI and DVI-D use identical video signals (DVI doesn’t support audio)(And yet, the connector is like 4 times the size)  So you should be able to connect an HDMI source to say a digital widescreen monitor, but many DVI displays don’t support HDCP, so it will not play copy protected content.  Some legitimate video splitting or switching functions are disabled as well.

The HDMI specification states that a repeater is required for cable runs over 15 feet.  In practice I haven’t seen that always necessary.  HDMI was originally designed to run longer distances (45 feet) but was changed just before release.  Under 50 feet, there is rarely need for a booster, especially if you are using a high quality cable.  However if you are pushing a high resolution, (Like 1080p) you might notice some sparkling.  You can get an HDMI booster, which will clean up any sparkling or loss you might find.

Component doesn’t necessarily have it’s own features, but it doesn’t have some of the drawbacks of HDMI.  (I guess it does have some drawbacks of its own)

Since component is an analog signal, it handles long distances much better.  Over long or low quality cables, there might be some loss, but it will generally just be a slight loss of clarity or signal intensity, often unnoticeable.

Component video doesn’t support/require HDCP.  You can run full HD content without restrictions (Assuming your source will feed it to you)

An example I saw demonstrated by an old roommate, Riley:

1. Take a heavy glass tumbler, and flip it upside down (it’s recommended that you start with an empty glass, but at this point it doesn’t really matter)
2. Using a cigarette lighter, heat one of the edges of the tumbler
3. Turn the tumbler on it’s side and press the hot edge against a table or counter top until it cracks.  (just a crack)
4. Turn the glass upright and place it on the table/counter.
5. Wait.

The glass will spontaneously shatter.  I saw it twice.  Once, a chunk of the glass just hopped out of the tumbler, a little surprising, but not really impressive.   Riley wasn’t satisfied, so he repeated steps 1-5.  The glass exploded!  The entire glass shattered and shards slid across the counter-top and onto the floor.  It was really cool.

But I was left wondering, how did he figure that out?  What got it into his head?  How many glasses did it take to perfect the process?  How did he think that up?

Jonathan learned a trick to make a sparkling explosion with a couple of lighters–you’ll have to get the details from him.  But similar questions arose in his head.

The one that always got me… was bread.

Who thought that up.  I can’t imagine the process.  “Let’s see.  This really tall weed has a little chewable seed wrapped in some skin stuff.  Let’s not eat it now, but lets gather up all the little seeds, throw away the rest of the plant, and keep the seeds for a while.”

“Now the seeds are hard, lets see if we can grind them into a powder, but don’t eat it yet, lets mix in some water and make a sticky paste.  Hmm, I still don’t think it’s ready to eat”

“Maybe throw in an egg, or some little bacteria that will make the paste bloat and expand… yeah, that might be good… now let’s stick it in the fire…and….BREAD!”

I was baffled at how the breadmaking process could have ever been conjured up… then I realized–it wasn’t guessed, it was taught.

Bread was a gimme when Adam was kicked out of the garden “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground;” (Genesis 3:19)

So the conversation was more:

“Sorry, you can’t stay here anymore, but I found something cool you can do with that weed…”

720 is actually 1,280 lines wide, by 720 lines tall.  Compare that to 1,920 lines wide by 1,080 lines tall. 

1080 sounds like the obvious winner, and all things equal it would be.  The difference is that 720p is  a Progressive signal, which means that all of the lines are drawn in with each refresh (it starts with line one, moves to two, three, and so on.)  1080i is an interlaced signal–meaning that it only refreshes half of the lines each time (for example 1, 3, 5, 7…. then 2, 4, 6, 8)  Now all of this happens really fast, so you can’t see the difference in most cases, but in some instances… especially scenes with a lot of motion, you can start to see the interlacing.

Another factor in the progressive vs interlaced argument, is that (currently) only CRT TV’s are fast enough to show a true interlaced signal.  All of the other types (plasma, LCD, DLP etc) would show some flicker, so they have a hardware de-interlacer.  That will essentially try to guess what the missing lines would be.  There are several approaches to deinterlacing, but all of them will show a signal decrease.  Especially with a lot of motion.

A lot of people will choose the resolution based on the content.  If you want the picture to be the focus, go with 1080i.  If you are willing to sacrifice some resolution to keep action smooth, crisp and clear, choose 720p.  (If you want the best of both worlds, read my post about 1080p)

A true HDTV will have an ATSC tuner, which is able to pick up, decode and maintain the HD channels available over the air.  Some HDTVs will have both and ATSC and an NTSC (standard TV) tuner, to accommodate either signal, or picture in picture support.

An HD ready TV can display HD resolutions, (through Component, DVI, or HDMI) but not from an antenna.   You will have to have an HD receiver (which are still hard to find) or order HD programming through your cable/satellite TV provider and use a set top box.

Of course, if you want any of the ‘cable’ or premium channels in HD, you will have to get them from your provider, regardless of the tuner you have.