cbalz's blog

Ubuntu in the Sky with Diamonds, Part II: ATI + Linux Woes? Vesa Driver Works for Me

nobody@vox.com(cbalz) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:06:24 -0700

Solution technical details are posted. Earlier, I detailed some travails with getting decent screen resolution on an external (workstation-style) monitor to my laptop running Ubuntu Linux. Initially, the proprietary ATI driver provided some reli...

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Wildflower Long Course 2008!

nobody@vox.com(cbalz) — Fri, 23 May 2008 07:39:15 -0700

1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run. Mile 50, bike course: Ugh, feel kind of sick, like I have the flu. Mile 7, run course: Wow, feel better! Problem: "*Bummer*" something like the flu I had a couple weeks before, or a remnant of it, ...

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California Cities Adopt Grassy Swales to Filter Run-off Water

nobody@vox.com(cbalz) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 23:33:52 -0800

The grassy swale: Consider this wonderful pursuit, perfectly combining function and design. A drier version of the marsh wastewater treatment plants such as that used by the City of Arcata, CA, they give us the option to do something good for the...

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West Alpine Road, Santa Clara County, California: January

nobody@vox.com(cbalz) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 23:20:46 -0800

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QotD: My 10 Things

nobody@vox.com(cbalz) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:49:19 -0800

What are 10 things you've done that other people probably haven't? Submitted by Janette. Petted a butterfly for a long time as it sucked flower nectar Painfully ran into the random-number generator bug in the Basic computer language on the Ap...

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Cycle Tour "Little Appalachia" in Silicon Valley

nobody@vox.com(cbalz) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 18:47:54 -0800

Just a stone's throw into the hills from the bustling "Silicon Valley" of Santa Clara County, California lies a microregion seemly untouched by the tides of change below. Cycling along Stevens Creek Canyon road, which tracks Stevens Creek for abo...

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Talking Points on JavaScript for Software Engineering

nobody@vox.com(cbalz) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:47:57 -0800

Perspective Widespread agreement that object technology is effective Less agreement that the kind of strict object development environment supported by, for example, Java or Eiffel is desirable Systems containing large amounts of JavaScript ...

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Star Wars Over the Years

nobody@vox.com(cbalz) — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 08:23:10 -0700

The "Star Wars" science fiction movie series is so iconic that it is no barometer of culture, but rather an interacting component of living society. The saying, "as California goes, so goes the nation", would apply equally, if perhaps not more s...

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My First Long Course Tri -- Big Kahuna, Santa Cruz, CA

nobody@vox.com(cbalz) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 21:00:52 -0700

What can be said about Big Kahuna (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) but "bushy bushy blond hairdo, Surfin' USA"? Well, maybe Swimmin' USA! The crazy, epic swim set the tone for the whole event: You weren't looking forward to it, bu...

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First Fun Ocean Swim

nobody@vox.com(cbalz) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 20:40:48 -0700

Being the land-lubbing sort, and having started some triathlon-type activities, it's taken me a while to adjust to open water swimming. My first full-ocean swim, at Santa Cruz, CA, was on a dark morning when the water was black, freezing, and no...

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