Here’s my second render. I love penguins and they’re the mascot of Linux, so why not work on penguins. Here’s how I progressed with my penguin as I learned more last night. And….BONUS….here’s my second video. This one’s 8 times as long as the previous one! Watch Penguins Jump (and Cameras move)!

Here’s my first (admittedly simple) render with Blender. I did one before, but I didn’t really know what I was doing. This time I’m gearing up to do some serious playing. Full size is available by clicking on the picture. I also created a very short animation (just over 1 second) to test the animation process. You can access that here: Eric’s Cube and Mountains Animation (watch out Pixar!) You will need Divx and/or Xvid codecs to watch the animation.

Better late than never!

We have a tradition in the USA in which we allow the user the right to purchase technologies which can be used both legally and illegally. For example, a camcorder can be used to film a documentary, a child’s first steps, or a birthday party. It can also be used to sit in a movie theater and film the movie to then illegally distribute it on the internet. So is the solution to ban all camcorders? No, that would be silly and there are plenty of legal uses for a camcorder. The correct solution is to police movie theaters to make sure that such persons do not gain entry. In fact, in the Betamax case, the judge ruled that VCRs were legal because although they could be used to bootleg movies, they could also be used to watch legally purchased movies and time-shift programs, allowing the user to watch television on his or her own schedule. VCRs can also be used to copy tapes which the owner has the right to copy - such as his own footage.

Photo Sharing

Photo Sharing

A big Thank You to all those who have protected us over the past 200+ years. Here are two wonderful veterans who were key to the success in World War II. Click on the pictures to see a short summary of their stories.

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Photo Sharing

Photo Sharing

Photo Sharing

The same dork who, last December, was trying to claim that the GPL ruined his ability to program because the software was available for free, appealed last December’s decision. Well, on 9 November, he was handed another blow from the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The Judge was a pretty smart guy and asserted that if Linux was so anti-competitive by being free, why do more people have Windows and Macintosh computers than Linux? Why do people use Photoshop instead of The GIMP. I love it when our government officials actually know about technology! (Unlike the congressmen who passed the DMCA!)

Photo Sharing

Photo Sharing

The same way that aspiring writers are told to write at least one thing per day and it will improve their writing over time, I have decided to take one picture a day. So join me as I post 1 A Day…

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Photo Sharing

So, today I heard the biggest shock of 2006, Donald Rumsfeld was sacked! This was a surprise because Bush emphatically declared, going into the election, that he would not get rid of Rummy. It was also a surprise because I thought Bush would let the democrats fight to get rid of Rumsfeld, thus putting the blame on them if things went wrong. Instead, the day after the election he was out and Gates, a former CIA head is in. I didn’t really like a lot about Rumself and the way he ran the Pentagon, but hopefully we haven’t taken a step into WORSE policy!