Base10Blog
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
 
We Knew He Was a RINO!
Mayor Bloomberg has officially left the Republican party. Not that this should come as much of a surprise, Bloomberg was a life-long Democrat who only switched parties to avoid crowded primary race when he inittially ran for Mayor. He is obviously keen on a presidential run as an independent. Two issues: First, Bloomberg has absolutely no chance of winning, at least now. I relish the idea of him spending an innordinate amount of money on consultants that are telling him it's possible. Second, if he does make a run, how will it affect the major parties? My guess is it would hurt the Dems a bit more. Bloomberg has no real appeal to conservatives. He might have some appeal for moderate democrats. I hope he does run.
 
More Base10 Gadgetry

I made mention a few days ago about my adventures with a Mac-mini. First, let me say, it is a zippy computer with a phenomenal form factor and I recommend it to anyone who does not need a high-speed gaming machine or photo editing box. While getting through some fits, starts and reinstalls, I have managed to do the following:

  1. Dual boot the system with OSX and Windows.
  2. Dual boot the system with OSX and Linux (specifically Ubuntu--I can't seem to get Knoppix to work).
  3. Stand alone boot with LInux (Ubuntu again).

I still can't tripple boot, although I read that this was possible. The Mac partitioning system is different from the standard system and limits you to four total partitions. It seems one is occupied by the partition table so this limits you to three useable ones. It should be possible to set up a triple boot system but you'd have to not use a linux swap partition. You can triple boot from a CD distro if it's in the drive at boot-up. I'm still undcided on my final setup, but I figure I'll run a dual boot OSX/Windows box an I may get a second mini to run Linux full-time.

Note on Ubuntu: It is a pretty impressive distro. I admire the desktop integration. I've never used it before, but I plan on spending some time with it.


 
Base10's Paw
After returnign to blogging after a long hiatus, Base10 didn't really post anything since the 14th. All Base10 can say is that he is having some intense arm pain (most likely engendered by some back problems that he has) and it is difficult to write of type. No cause for concern, but Base10 is taking steps to alleviate the problem.
 
Another Loss
While Base10 was heartened by the Mets win against the Twins on Monday, they lost last night to Minnesota ace Johan Santana. Santana pitched a complete game shutout in a 9-0 win over the Mets. We fans hope that tonight's game which pits a hot Oliver Perez against a struggling Scott Baker will go the other way. Click here for a preview.

In other sports news, the Wimbledon seedings were announced. Hardin is the number one woman (with Base10 heartthrob Maria Sharapova as number two). Roger Federer is the men's number one seed. You can read all about it here. Play starts on Monday.

The Jets just completed a minicamp and the news is mostly good. According to reports, Chad Pennington looked pretty good. The biggest distraction so far is the Pete Kendall situation. Kendall wants to renegotiate his contract or be released. So far the Jets haven't indicated they will do so (bear in mind Kendall did sign a multi-year deal last year). Finally, in an interesting side note, the Jets met with several soldiers from Fort Bragg during the last day of camp. The soldiers even participated in some drills. Interestingly, Coach Mangini cancelled the last minicamp workout instead opting for "off-site teambuilding" with the army guys. Base10 takes this to mean that they went out drinking with the soldiers. Good for them!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
 
Fastest Civil War Evah!
The civil war in Palestine that the mainstream media has so far declined to name as such appears to be over--at least in Gaza. Reports indicate that Gaza has pretty much fallen to Hamas. Base10 is watching the news and while fighting is still going on in Gaza, it looks more like Fatah is consolidating in the West Bank. So much for the "unity" government.

The inference here is that Iran and Syria are funding and otherwise supporting Hamas in this takeover. It is striking how well organized this takeover was. Hamas systematically took over Fatah command posts in Gaza. This goes along with the resent car bomb assassination of Lebanese PM Walid Eido, a Druze lawmaker with strong anti-Syrian views. So Speaker Pelosi, should we still be talking to Syria?
 
The Worst Possible Outcome
The beleagered Mets were swept last night by the Dodgers 9-1. The Mets are off today and definitely need to do a little soul searching. The Mets have now lost 10 of their last twelve and face the Yankees on Friday. The Yankees have won eight straight. The only thing that's saved the Mets is the fact that the Braves are as bad as we are right now and as a result the Mets have maintained a two-game lead in the division. The bad side of this is that the Phillies are also not only two games back while Florida is still in the running at five back. The Mets are doing everything they can to insure a pennant race.

In other sports news, reports indicate that Yankee Jason Giambi may be suspended by Commissioner Bud Selig as a result of his steroid remarks. For those who do not recall, Giambi basically admitted steroid use and said baseball owes an apology to the fans. I personally thing this is the wrong approach to take. Giambi should be praised for being honest. A ham-fisted apporach to this would only discourage players from coming forward. One thing Selig should consider is an amnesty for players who admit to past use so long as they disclose what they know publically. After all, steroid use in the past was pretty much encouraged by the owners so long as nobody got caught.

Golf fans should note that the US Open starts today as well. Enjoy!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
 
Can it Get Any Worse?
Base10's beloved Mets lost again last night to the Dodgers, 4-1. This means they have lost 9 of their last 11 and have lost their last four series. In case you haven't paid attention, that means they have not won a series since May. John Maine--Mets pitching wunderkind--gave up three consequtive homeruns on three pitches, including one to the pitcher. Thankfully, Atlanta is having troubles as well and lost to Minnesota 7-3. It was good to see David Wright, who is emerging as a real leader on the team, say that the team had to start pulling things together during the locker room interviews.

In other sports news, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has announced that he will sign with Hendrick Motorsports.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
 
Gadget Talk
Base10 indicated yesterday that he would be getting a new computer and indeed he did. Base10 bought a 1.8 Ghz Mac-mini with a 120 gig HD and 1 G of ram. Cool. And it runs Knoppix linux right from the CD drive. I did try to wipe the hard drive and do a hard disk install of linux, but I couldn't get it to boot from the hard drive. Right now, I'm putting OS X back on the system until I can figure it out. I hate the idea of buying a licensed copy of Win XP for it, but you supposedly need one to do a Windows install. I'm still trying to figure out the system that I ultimately want.

On other gadget fronts, Base10 also upgraded his PDA phone to a Verizon xv6700. Very neat and it seems to have an even faster EVDO speed than the prior version the xv6600. I'm still exploring this device as well.
 
Still Not Amazin
The Mets blew a three run lead last night and have now dropped seven out of their last eight. Final score: 5-3. Jeez! They are still two games ahead in the NL East, but this opening game is not promising. Let's hope they can recover tonight and tomorrow. Base10 has to admit he fell asleep when the game was still tied.

Oh the humanity!
Monday, June 11, 2007
 
Base10's Computer Adventure
Base10's main home computer is, if not quite dead, is definitely under hospice care with a do-not resuscitate order stapled to it's power cord. He is exploring options and will keep a series of posts about it. First, Base10 is a gadget freak. And aside from Mrs. Base10's mac, has two other windows based computers: a Toshiba Libretto UMPC and a somewhat dated Fujitsu slate tablet. Neither of these machines is top-of the line in terms of computing power, but then again that's not exactly what I need. The real problem is that while both of them have niche uses (I use the tablet for reading pdf files and the notepad feature as well web surfing while I mostly carry around the Libretto since it is so small. However, you can't type on the Libretto.

I am leaning toward buying a mac-mini since it has the intel processor and can run Windows, OSX and Linux. Time for some experimentation. I'll keep up a series of posts about my adventures.
 
Not So Amazin's
You know, there are many ways to lose a baseball game (really any sport for that matter): you can have a duel between pitchers, you can have an offensive slugfest, you can have closely contested one-run games. Or you can get kicked in the teeth. Twice. Then stomped on the head. That's the kind of game the Mets had yesterday in an embarrasing 15-7 loss to Detroit. What can you say? I shouldn't beat up on them too much. So they lost a series on the road to one of the hottest teams in the league right now.


Then to make matters worse, the Yankees won their game against Pittsburgh 13-6. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, Yankee fans. The Mets are still in first place while the Yankees--despite their recent six-game winning streak--still trail Boston by nearly ten games.

The Mets face the Dodgers tonight in a three-game series. (I hate West coast games). The Subway series starts on Friday.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
 
zzz...zzz...Alive!...Alive I Tell You!
Well, it's been a long time, but the semester is over and I have a little more free time now. Life is good. More comments on sports, politics, and life in general very soon.

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