Sometime last year, I removed Microsoft Windows from my home computer and installed Ubuntu Linux. It was a tough decision, because I knew I would not be able to play 3D games like Counter Strike Source. I finally found a free multi-player 1st person shooter that is similar to CSS, fun to play, and performs just fine on my not-so-new computer (Athlon XP 2800+ with GeForce 4 Ti 4200). The game is named Urban Terror and is based on the Quake3 engine. Downloads are available for Linux, Mac, and Windows. Did I mention that it is free?

Screenshots:











Give Urban Terror a try:

http://www.urbanterror.net

We are making progress again with the help of our contractor. We will be adding around 600 square feet of new air-conditioned living space plus a small covered porch. The new rooms include a Family Room, a Studio / Guest Bedroom, and a Bathroom. A bonus feature is additional closet space in the Master Bedroom which shares a wall with the addition.

We will be replacing all of the windows in our house as part of this project and also blowing additional insulation into the attic and underneath in the crawl space. The new plans have a much more reasonable amount of glass than what the architect designed. These energy efficiency improvements will allow us to use the existing A/C unit instead of having to operate a second system.


The new spaces are colored in green:






This is a rendering from inside the existing Living Room, looking out towards the addition:



Here is a rendering from inside the new Family Room, looking out the new french doors onto the new Covered Porch:

This year's starting lineup...




Beer selection courtesy of Ward's Grocery and Gator Beverage.

Here are some pictures of the ash that landed on my car due to the fires in north Florida.

Pictures taken on May 9, 2007.

"The Vista Content Protection specification could very well constitute the
longest suicide note in history."

This is a quote from Peter Gutmann's Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection.

The original document located here:

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt


I have mirrored the content here:

http://thatlinuxbox.com/static/vista_cost.txt