Gradin.com » 300

Sorscha Valkyrie

Olaf — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:43:48 +0000

The latest member of our family made her gooey entrance around noon today. She cleans up well, however. Balthazar is so happy to be a big brother, and Sorscha’s mother and I are, of course, completely in love with the new girl. She’s such a beautiful, healthy girl; I couldn’t ask for anything more. Mommy is doing very well after her surgery too. She’ll be getting up tomorrow to begin her walking recovery and we should be heading home in a few days.

Sorscha Valkyrie Gradin weighed in at 6lbs. 11oz. and measured 20.5″ in length. She’s capable of thawing icebergs with a look, but has used her powers for good to warm the heart of every soul she meets.

“No Bones About It” For Sale

Olaf — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:03:37 +0000

I used my wife’s advice and chose to create a Zazzle.com account. It didn’t take long at all and I was able to setup a front and back, long-sleeved, black t-shirt for the Threadless “No Bones About It” submission. I didn’t win on Threadless, but I can still have my designs printed should somebody want one. Unfortunately, they’re going to be more expensive this way. If you dig it, awesome! I think you can actually modify the parameters and get a cheaper, short-sleeved version printed too. Either way, it’s cool to have this outlet when the design fails at Threadless. If things go well, you should see a new design each month on my Zazzle account – or at until I win a competition and Threadless and am restricted to resell it elsewhere.

I retitled it for Zazzle (Tribal to the Core), so go take a look (click the image to be taken to my zazzle.com store):

Tribal to the Core (Long Sleeve)
by

gradinDotCom

Create Custom T-Shirts On Zazzle
Browse Graphic Design T-Shirts

Threadless Submission (Critique)

Olaf — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:21:53 +0000

I am planning to start posting more submissions to Threadless for consideration in their shirt designs. Their methods have matured so much since my earlier submission and purchases! They now have the ability to allow artists to submit designs for critque prior to final publishing. It’s a great way for someone like myself to get the hang of their rules, as well as understand what people like to see in their illustrations. I’ve just gotten my July submission up tonight, so I encourage you all to go and cast your vote to help me with my progress.

Gävlebocken (The Gävle Goat)

Olaf — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:27:39 +0000

In a small city north of Stockholm, 5,000 onlookers welcome a giant Goat as it is unveiled each year around Yule. For several decades now, the Gävle Goat has made a historical mark in Gävle history as it is either sacrificed or spared during the Winter.

In 1969 the goat was burned on New Year’s Eve.

In 1970 the first goat burned six hours after it was erected. Two heavily intoxicated youths were tied to the crime. With contributions from several donors, the goat was rebuilt, this time of reeds.

In 1971 the local merchants who had previously built the goat abandoned the project, tired of seeing it burn each year. The science association at the Vasaskolan upper secondary school took over. Their little goat was broken to pieces.

In 1972 the goat collapsed due to sabotage.

It’s a Guiness Book record holder – probably for all times, but I haven’t checked that factoid out. I love the idea of a massive, miscellaneous craft project brought to local cheers and jeers. It’s unclear to me how the whole thing got started back in 1966, but it’s town tradition now that triumphs through all manner of abuse. I mentioned to a friend of mine in Sweden that my family should start our own goat (Gradinbocken) to display at the house and arouse further suspicions that we were…off. He pointed out that anyone late to that party may not notice something as obvious as a 1,300lb straw goat either. Still, it’s a worthy venture I think! Anyone want to start a Gainesville tradition? Maybe a Godzilla-sized chicken would be more appropriate…

DiY PC: Antec Nine Hundred (Case)

Olaf — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 20:00:15 +0000

I’m in the process of building out a new custom PC for the house – the first one in quite a while now. Contrary to what you might think, as a technology guy I’m usually a little late for getting things up-to-date around the house. As such, I’m replacing an old Intellistation dual-proc Pentium 3 XEON. It sounds phat, but trust me, it’s showing its age.

I tried once to just hit this project with one blow-out purchase and be done. Just as I was ready to do it, something else came up that took priority over discretionary money. As such, I’m going the incremental route and starting with the components that are least likely to change over a short period of time.

This post begins my adventure in building out what should be a great rig.

The case decision has always been a hard one for me. I have a memorable scar on my right thumb where I was attacked by a sub-$50 tower case back in 1996. I was attempting to push out metal break-outs in the case’s rear slots with my thumb. It was difficult at first, but when the razor-sharp edges of the slot sliced off a third of my thumb’s width, it slid in easily. Er – that wasn’t the intention, however. Some-odd stitches later (three through the thumbnail – ouch!), I was ready to get back to work on the case. I used a Clark’s head screwdriver and some pliers to finish off those slots. As fun as the ER visit was to break up my day, I was not entertained by the next case-catastrophe. I wanted to test out the case power and front L.E.D.’s before I began installing components. Holding firmly to the exposed metal from the case’s chassis, I pushed the large power button on the front bezel. Oh vengeful gods! 110 volts coarse through me, there’s a loud crack, and smoke boils up from behind the bezel. Unshaken (actually I was literally shaken, but still determined), I unplugged the power supply and reset the breaker that had tripped. When I investigated the power switch and back-side of the bezel, I found that it had welded itself onto the case. Having the equipment (a hammer and screwdriver), I gingerly broke the weld (gingerly, for an ogre). Turns out, the case’s sharp edges had struck again. During shipment – possibly before – the switch leads had been sliced and exposed. Unbelievably, I replaced the switch and went on.

With the exception of some minor cuts (again from the chassis edges), I experienced no further catastrophes with that case. It wasn’t until I had done some fancy coupling of two power supplies with one switch and electrified the entire case while the system was on that I finally ditched it. Good times.

What this painful experience taught me was that I would no longer spare any expense when it came to cases. Disregarding the beautiful custom cases out there, I seek out full tower cases with lots of room for hard drives, bays, and plenty of cooling options. As you might guess, I also check the status of the chassis edges – deburred or folded are the terms I believe they’re using now. I also look at cases that generally don’t include power supplies (PSU). Included PSU’s are probably cheaply made and may have suffered damage within the case during shipment or installation.

This brings me to my case of choice, the Antec Nine Hundred. It reminds me of the Spartan 300, but has nothing to do with that. My first choice was actually a Gigabyte (3D Aurora 570) tower, but it didn’t go on super sale when the Nine Hundred did. I chased the deal for a little while on the net where it bounced around from site to site at $89.99. I missed the deal on ZipZoomFly where shipping is generally free and got it at Outpost (Fry’s) – there I had to pay shipping and tax, but it was a far better deal than $130+ you see it elsewhere.

As I build out the actual system, I’ll be sure and add my feelings on this case. Until then, here are the spec’s directly from Antec’s site:

Unique Top mounted 200mm TriCool exhaust fan to cool the hottest system
Perforated front bezel for maximum air intake
Two front loaded HDD cages for up to 6 hard disk drives
The HDD cages act as air ducts to take air in more efficiently. Optional middle 120mm fan bracket to cool the hottest graphic cards or CPU
Two 120mm TriCool blue LED front fans to cool hard disk drives
Window side panel comes with an optional 120mm fan mount for maximum VGA cooling
Top mounted I/O ports for easy access
Top tray for your MP3 player, digital camera, etc.
Power supply mounts at the bottom of the case (power supply not included)
Advanced cooling system:
- 1 top 200mm TriCool fan with 3-speed switch control
- 1 rear 120mm TriCool fan with 3-speed switch control
- 2 front 120mm special black TriCool blue LED fans with 3-speed switch control to cool HDDs
- 1 side (optional) 120mm fan to cool graphic cards
- 1 middle (optional) 120mm fan to cool CPU or graphic cards
9 Drive Bays:
- External 3 x 5.25″; Internal 6 x 3.5″ for HDD, or
- External 6 x 5.25″; Internal 3x 3.5″ for HDD, or
- External 9 x 5.25″
Motherboard: Fits micro and standard ATX
7 Expansion Slots
Top I/O
Power & reset button with blue LED
2 x USB 2.0
1 x IEEE 1394
Audio In and Out
Case Weight Net: 18.52 lbs, Gross: 24.36 lbs
Case Dimensions: 19.4″ H x 18.4″ D x 8.1″ W

$105.78 through outpost.com (Tax & Shipping incl.)

Gym Jones – The Discipline Behind “300″

Olaf — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 03:40:12 +0000

It’s better to die on your feet than live on your knees.

The men of Zack Snyder’s “300″ trained 10-12 hours a day, five days a week, for four months – all while eating barely enough to cover their needs and recovery. It was at the invitation-only fitness center in Utah, Gym Jones, where strength and endurance were pushed to near Spartan limits for around thirty actors and stunt men – one of which was the director, Zack Snyder.

At Gym Jones, “the objective is genuine fitness, not the appearance of fitness…appearance is a consequence of fitness.” Training is conducted for a specific job or challenge. Sometimes the real life challenge is a matter of life and death. Sometimes the challenge is make-believe and only for entertainment. Regardless, the training fits the job. In “300,” modern men needed to be transformed into Spartans of 480 B.C. When modern man trains, he trains for physical aesthetics, uniform muscular development, bigger muscles. In 480 B.C., man trained to throw a javelin further, hold a shield wall stronger, and cleave bronze armor with a one-handed sword. Challenges like this require a level of overall fitness that man no longer requires; man no longer knows. To reacquaint the modern physique with real endurance and relative power, trainer Mark Twight developed a “program” where no day was like another. Instead, exercise programs were constantly varied to stress muscles differently every day. Things didn’t get easier as time went on. The key concepts to the program were to develop a camaraderie to match what Spartan warriors might have had. Bring the overall body’s level of power and endurance up 100% or more. Push beyond both physiological and psychological barriers to rebuild a stronger man. Not everyone was able to complete the course – not everyone was able to complete the pinnacle “program” – the 300.

“300”

25x Pull-up +
50x Deadlift @ 135# +
50x Push-up +
50x Box Jump @ 24” box +
50x Floor Wiper @ 135# (one-count) +
50x KB Clean and Press @ 36# (KB must touch floor between reps) +
25x Pull-up

300 reps total

Reading through GymJones.com really gives me a sense of awe and inspiration. The opportunity given to those chosen by Gym Jones is one none of us will ever have, but the experience is something we can all learn from. Not that any of us aspire to Spartan-like lives; nonetheless, a little knowledge of what made a warrior fit back in the day can’t hurt any of us today.

Frank Miller’s “300″ Departs from the Original, but it’s a Story no Stylizing can Diminish

Olaf — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 19:14:58 +0000

The word “patriotism” was defined around 480 B.C. when a small but mighty force met overwhelming numbers head-on in a battle with no odds of winning. I originally read the book “Gates of Fire” by Steven Pressfield some years ago and have been in love with the story ever since. I was unfamiliar with Frank Miller’s graphic novel, “300″ until now. The film was based upon the graphic novel – more so, perhaps, for its imagery and Frank Miller’s reputation rather than purely its story. The “300″ blew away both me and my wife. I’ve ordered the Frank Miller graphic novel as a token of my respect and appreciation for such a well-made movie from such a well-told story. A more historically accurate version of this tale could be told, but in a way it deserves a near mythical telling. Despite the surreal spin the movie takes, it is an appreciable tangent with fantastic notions to better acquaint a modern audience to its alien premises. If you’re familiar with the original stories, it’s plain enough to see the deviations. The meaning however, is something that can’t be lost in any retelling of the Battle at Thermopylae – an ideal I believe Zack Snyder, the director of “300,” kept in his heart.

Migration

Olaf — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 20:35:26 +0000

We’re spending an otherwise crisp and chilly November weekend on the sunny beach of Pensacola Beach, Flordia. We arrived last night in time for dinner – a lovely time to arrive anywhere. While not ideal for making a trip to the beach, it allowed us to rest up for a pre-7am wakeup call from Balthazar. The sun comes in bright well before 7 here, so Balthazar was wide awake and on the bed requiring our attention. 7am is typically a good time to take a long stroll down the beach to Bagelheads, though in November that means it’s around 40°F and windy to boot. So we bundled up as much as anyone should bundle up on the Gulf of Mexico and started walking. Balthazar actually ran the whole way – a little more than a mile, I estimate – on soft sand. It might have taken us 20 or 30 mintues to get there. Then it’s hot coffee, bagels, and cinnamon buns. Mmmmm! So we’ve spent a good first day on the beach – the morning has brought about nap time for the rest of the family. I expect we’ll do more of the beach, or perhaps try and hit a Native American Indian festival going on in Pensacola. We only have the weekend, so we’re trying just as hard as we can to relax and enjoy it.

VMware Ends Global Warming

Olaf — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 04:55:08 +0000

Diane Green, president and co-founder of VMware, told 7,000 attendees at VMworld 2006 in L.A., California that VMware is doing its part to end global warming. All jokes aside, Green backed her words up by having Roland Risser from GP&E give a talk about exactly what that means to a leading energy provider on the Pacific coast. The deal is that with over 1 million server workloads virtualized to date for VMware, they estimate an energy savings total enough that it could power New England for 1 year. GP&E was so excited by this that they began offering incentives to customers for powering down their servers for power conservation. For each server powered down, a customer could be awarded up to $1,300 to a maximum total award collection of $4 million. Those are some pretty striking numbers considering the number of customers that GP&E services. However, as Risser states, it’s cheaper to give customers money to save energy than it is to invest in new energy technologies.

Lilly Capehart – Lizard Whisperer

Olaf — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 16:48:18 +0000

Lilly and family have put together quite the entrpreneurial activity. Lilly “hypnotizes” Green anoles by stroking their underside a few times in her hand. The lizard is pretty much inactive for 10 minutes or so while she dresses them in doll clothing, poses them in miniature scenes, or simply sticks them together like primates from A Barrel of Monkeys. The results, as captured by her father Lucien, are fantastic. You’d think they were Photoshop’d (yes, that’s a verb), but now you know better! Lilly was recently on David Letterman, so I’m sure she’s going to be busy hereon out.

Lizard Ville