:: Intrepid Spaniel ::

Dell has joined the MiniPC/EEEpc work alike fray with the Inpsiron Mini 9. Yay!

Atom 1.6ghz.. 512mb or 1gb memory, choice of 4/8/16gb flash drive, 9inch screen at 1024×600, windows xp home or the mysterious miniOS built on ubuntu 8.04. There are options for bluetooth and a 0.3 or 1.3 megapixel webcam.
It also has 3 usb ports and a 4 in 1 card reader.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-9

Here’s a review that likse the MSI Wind for it’s 10 inch screen better the 9″ Dell Mini and expanded storage options for regular hard drives. The MSI Wind and HP Onenote also have a slighly larger keyboard 88% vs. 92% for the Mini. Myself, I’d prefer a solid state drive but would recommend spending the extra money for the 16gb upgrade.

Those who know me know I am a big fan of Canon cameras, and have advised many of my friends and relatives to get one.

If you have a really old or broken Canon camera laying around this might be a way to upgrade it less expensively.

Customer Loyalty Program’s direct number is 866-443-8002.
You can call, find out what they offer, and call back later after you have decided.
This deal has been going on since 2006.

Note: Plus tax and $10 for 2 days shipping.

S45, S50, S100, S230, S300, S400, S500, SD110, SD200, SD400, SD600, SD1000, S1-IS, S2-IS trade for:
SD850 IS - $150
G9 - $250
Rebel XT Silver with 18-55 mm lens - $275

A40, A60, A75, A80, A610 trade for:
A560 - $89
S1000 - $100
SX100 IS - $125

SNL McCain Weekend update

hehe..

SUN VALLEY, ID. – Starting now and running through the end of Sun Valley’s 2007-08 ski season, all college students and faculty with current I.D. can ski for only $29 per day.

To receive the discount, college students and faculty must show current identification when purchasing ticket.

For more information, go to sunvalley.com

$20 lift tickets, $10 if you are in costume. Dummy race Saturday at 2, more events and details here. http://pebblecreekskiarea.com/spring_celebration.htm

Some of you may not know that I’m a ski and snowboard instructor, I am, I’ve been teaching at Pebble Creek for about 15 years.

In my drive to improve my teaching and provide student-centered ski and snowboard lessons, I’m missing a piece of the puzzle as the end of the season approaches. Students!

Now maybe you are thinking about golf, or gardening, or numerous other hobbies, but the snow is still great, here’s my attempt to encourage you to get out and enjoy it before it is gone.

To remedy this shortage of students this time of year, I’ve decided to offer you a completely FREE half hour ski or snowboard lesson at Pebble Creek. (subject to fitting it into my schedule). This short lesson would be ideal for an intermediate or advanced skier or rider that feels like they are at a plateau. Due to safety concerns, I’ll ask that you have skiied or snowboarded before, I won’t have time to get you safely down in a half-hour your first time, there is just too much to cover!

Combine this with twilight skiing at Pebble Creek, and you have an incredible deal. (though there are only a couple days left for 2007-2008, plan on it for next year) I plan on keeping this offer open indefinitely unless it becomes too hard to schedule or impacts paying customers.

How do you claim your magnificent prize? (Read more…)

This is a fun event. I attended last year and learned a lot and had a good time. Highly recommended. Here’s the announcement.
–

South East Idaho’s 2nd Annual hands on computer security event will be here April 12 at the Newberry building. Registration begins at 14:00 and the games start at 16:00 and run to roughly 1 or 2am. The cost of entry is $10 or $5 with two cans of food.

This year the challenges include:

* Programming challenges
* Reverse Engineering Challenges
* Capture the Flag (or a variant of ctf at least)
* Web Challenges
* Video Game Challenges
* And more…

All skill levels are welcome. The emphasis of this event is on teaching and learning (although winning is fun too). If you are a beginner, there are a lot of easy challenges and there is a lot of help. If you are an expert, some of these challenges should still be very very difficult… As long as you are computer literate and have some interest in computer security, this event should be a lot of fun - and you will probably learn some things to.

There are some cool prizes this year like R/C Pirate vs. Ninja, Alber Einstein Action Figures, Computers, Penguin Mints, USB Memory Watch, The Zombie Survival Guide, and more.

For more information go to http://wargamez.org or reply to me.

Want to help make this event a success? Post fliers (some can be found http://wargamez.org/pages/posts/fliers–200816.php), tell your computer-minded friends and co-workers about it, and most of all show up!

–
Rich Lundeen
http://webstersProdigy.net

Join us for twilight skiing at Pebble Creek, the Aspen (beginner) lift is free from 3:00-5:30pm. If you want to ski the whole mountain for the same time, tickets are only $10.

Extended due to great snow, open April 4th, 5th, and 6th. Join us this weekend the weather looks like it will be nice.

What a great time to learn to ski or snowboard, or a cheap way to try it again. Sunny, warm, afternoons and great snow! Even though the snow is melting in the valley, we still have great the hill but hurry because it won’t last long. Rentals are also at a reduced rate, so it can be one of the cheapest times to learn.

If you would like to schedule a lesson with a AASI/PSIA/ACE certified ski and snowboard instructor in this time period, please contact me at learn.to.snowboard@gmail.com or call the Pebble Creek office and ask about a lesson with Ben. (tell them to call me, and I’ll schedule it with you)

Check the snow report and the base area weather online

A good essay on the dumbing of America. The current anti-intellectual, even anti-rational climate is a concern for me. Do your part; get out your maps and learn about geography, don’t plunk your kids down to be mesmerized by the same video they’ve watched dozens of times, go to the library and pick up something substantive to read. If these things are to difficult, I challenge you to have the attention span to read this article, I know it was a challenge for me, but then again, I’m just an Idaho farm boy.

Call Me a Snob, but Really, We’re a Nation of Dunces: By Susan Jacoby for washingtonpost.com

I’m excited for the release of Ubuntu 7.10, the Gutsy Gibbon the above is a countdown to the release date. Here is a review showing what is new.. http://tech.tolero.org/blog/en/linux/review-ubuntu-710-gutsy-features-changes

With Ubuntu 7.10 and Apple OSX 10.5 (Leopard) coming out this month, it will be an exciting time.