Updated 5/10/2004
JT's Blog
The weblog of Zaz Corporation founder Kevin JT Binder.
        

Saturday, April 17, 2004


The film that established Federico Fellini's worldwide renown, I Vitelloni, was initially released in American art houses as The Young and the Passionate.

The title, I Vitelloni, literally means "big calves", which is slang for what we'd call "big loafers".

The story strongly parallels Fellini's own life, as it takes place in Rimini on the Adriatic coast, Fellini's hometown. At 18, Fellini left home (Rimini) for Florence and worked as a proofreader and cartoonist for a comic-strip story magazine.

Fellini draws on his subsequent 15 years of experience in Florence in this character study of five friends who are turning 30 yet still live at home, unemployed, indulged by their provincial bourgeois families.


Released in 1953.

Cast: Franco Fabrizi plays Fausto, the lead character. Leonora Ruffo plays Sandra. Franco Interlenghi plays Moraldo, Sandra's brother. Also appearing: Alberto Sordi as Alberto, Leopoldo Trieste as Leopoldo, and Riccardo Fellini (Federico Fellini's brother) as Riccardo. Jean Brochard plays Fausto's Father. Claude Farell plays Olga, Alberto's sister.


Oscar Winning Fellini Films

La Strada (1954), The Nights of Cabiria (1957), (1963, considered to be Fellini's masterpiece), Amarcord (1974)


Noteworthy Fellini Films

Il Bidone (1955), La Dolce Vita (1960), Juliet of the Spirits (1965), Spirits of the Dead (1968), Fellini Satyricon (1969), Intervista (1982)


Fellini Quotes

"There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the infinite passion of life."

"My work is my only relationship to everything."

"You exist only in what you do."

"In the myth of the cinema, Oscar is the supreme prize."



Top-most Riccardo Fellini photo (with prop) found at Istituto Italiano di Cultura San Francisco

Riccardo Fellini ("loafing" on the chair) photo found at CU Boulder IFS (International Film Series)

Cast photo found at filmarchiv.at

Modern day Rimini Italy bridge and beach photos found at travelplan.it




Wednesday, March 10, 2004



Tibet

Tonight, having just seen the movie "Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion", I realize how little I knew about the actual situation of Tibet.


The Dalai Lama

On my birthday 3 years ago in northern California, I and thousands of others had the opportunity to see and listen to the Dalai Lama in-person, for three straight days. Being in the Dalai Lama's presence, hearing him speak, was an inspiration to be sure, yet my intellect hadn't fully grasped the full significance, nor the broad relevance Tibet's situation and Tibet's leader in exile actually has to humanity's opportunity to create peace amongst itself. This movie brings it all to light.


Awareness

I believe that many U.S. citizens, like myself, have not been truly aware of what's actually been going on in other places of the world, like Tibet. We owe it to ourselves and all humanity to create more awareness for ourselves and others around topics like these.


The Movie

I, thus, highly recommend this movie. In my opinion "Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion" is a must see. It's currently being shown at various locations around the U.S., and will show in Canada soon. It's also being shown at Film Festivals around the world. For a schedule visit the cryofthesnowline.com website (link below).

It's not yet available on DVD.


Dalai Lama Statement

For me, to top it all off, today March 10, 2004 marks the Forty-Fifth Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day: I was pleased to discover a statement of His Holiness the Dalai Lama written today on The Government of Tibet in Exile web site. Pair an unexpected viewing of the Dalai Lama's recently written words with a viewing of the movie less than two hours earlier and the so-called coincidences of life seem to become the Universe imparting it's wisdom to you.


Narration: Martin Sheen. Filmed in Tibet, India and Nepal

The film is narrated by Martin Sheen. Over the course of ten years, the documentary was filmed in Tibet, India and Nepal.



Click here to read His Holiness The Dalai Lama's March 10, 2004 statement on the Forty-Fifth Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day.

Read the Spirituality & Health review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat here.

See a gallery of Images from the Documentary here.

See the official "Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion" movie web site at cryofthesnowlion.com (both movie images from the same).

Click here to see the Movie Trailer.




Sunday, March 7, 2004


Antarctica Once Warm

Imagine that: tropical polar regions 70 to 200 million years ago. That certainly paints a different picture of the world, now doesn't it?


New Dinosaur Species

What a find. Two different teams recently found two different dinosaurs, working separately, thousands of miles from each other. A small, quick, meat-eating dino was found on the bottom of the Antarctic sea, and a giant plant-eater was found on the top of a mountain.

The two-legged, 6 to 8 foot carnivorous dinosaur is believed to be an entirely new species related to the tyrannosaurs.

The herbivore, was a primitive 30 foot sauropod with a long neck and four legs. It was found on top of the 13,000-foot high Mt. Kirkpatrick near Beardmore Glacier.


Lost World

The National Science Foundation calls the discoveries evidence of a lost world.



News discovered at: Netscape. Read the original article here.

Top Antarctica photo found at: nature-adventure.de

Second Antarctica photo found at the World Game for The World's Fair site.




Sunday, February 29, 2004


The Story

"The Passion of The Christ" tells the story of the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus on the day of his crucifixion in Jerusalem.

The movie was filmed in Matera Italy, and Rome.


A Passion of Love

It's difficult to endure all the torture shown, and there's simply no reason to. Instead, I say "save yourself the dollars and reflect on the example Jesus, the master of life, set for all of mankind."

Matera, Italy


Movie Buzz

If, however, you're like me and have to see "The Passion of The Christ" for yourself to see what all the hubbub is about, prepare for a visceral experience.


Caravaggio - The Deposition
The Pope: "It Is As It Was"

According to the Pope, who watched it in January, Mel's movie "is as it was" (For those that have seen it: I don't think he was referring to the "crow" part). Even so, I agree with Unity minister Jack Groverland who said "the movie is artless, it totally misses the mark" (with respect to spiritual insight).


Not For Kids

Whatever you do, don't bring the kids. I give Mel Gibson credit for doing what he could to bring the greatest story that ever was to life on the silver screen, but unlike Caravaggio's "The Deposition", shown here, Mel Gibson's rendition is completely preoccupied with blood.



Painting & Photos

Both photos shown here are of Matera Italy.

Caravaggio's "The Deposition" was found at christusrex.org, in the Vatican Museum ("Musei Vaticani" in Italian). (Click the painting, or click here, for a close-up.)

The first Matera photo was found at Yuki's web site:
yuki.cside.tv/italy/ (Japanese) yuki.cside.tv/italy/ (English)

The second Matera photo is Copyright Anthany H. Galt. It was found on his site here.




Saturday, February 21, 2004


Have you had your laptop long enough to wish you'd known how to extend the life of it's battery?

You will when you go to purchase a replacement. I spent nearly $150 for my latest laptop battery replacement.

And, what about the new batteries? What's different about a Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery?

Do I treat it the same as I did the first Nickel-Cadmium rechargable batteries? The answer is: No.


Lithium-Ion Batteries Have No "Memory"

The main thing to know about these new Lithium-Ion recharbeable batteries is this: they have no "memory" like Nickel-Cadmium (NiCad) and Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries do.

What this means is that you don't need to make sure the battery is fully drained before charging it up again. With NiCad and NiMH batteries the effective life of the battery is reduced considerably because of this "memory" effect. Not so with Li-Ion.

With your Lithium-Ion battery feel free to charge it any time, no matter how discharged it is. Charging the battery while it still has quite a bit of charge makes absolutely no difference to the overall life of the battery.

However, your computer's "fuel guage" may eventually get a bit innacurate without a complete discharge. Read on for details.


"Fuel Guage" Accuracy

It's recommended that every 30 charges or so that you completely discharge the battery so that the "fuel guage" can recalibrate itself. If you don't, your computer may eventually say that the battery is empty when in fact it's half full, for example. When this happens the computer could actually operate for a longer period of time than it thinks it can.

Doing a complete discharge followed by a full recharge will keep the gauge accurate.


Li-Ion Battery Life Span

The other thing to know about Li-Ion batteries is that the newer they are the better they are. Their ability to hold a charge diminishes every day, starting the day they're manufactured. Li-Ion batteries' effective life span is around 2-3 years.

Avoid purchasing spare lithium-ion batteries for later use. Observe manufacturing date. Do not buy old stock, even if sold at clearance prices.


Keep 'Em Cool, Store At a 40% Charge

A Li-Ion Battery's useful life diminishes considerably if it's subjected to high heat, and oddly enough if the battery is left fully charged for long periods of time.

If you take advantage of your laptop-enabled mobility, as I am, you want ready access to a full battery when you're out and about, so we're stuck with that aspect of our Li-Ion's deterioration. But if you don't plan to use your Li-Ion battery for a while, don't leave it fully charged. It's life will be extended if you first bring the charge level down to around 40%. (Also note that it's best not to leave a Li-Ion battery fully discharged. Short term is fine, long term: 40% is best.)


Li-Ion Phone Battery?

If you happen to have a Li-Ion battery for your mobile phone: watever you do, don't leave the battery sitting on the dash of your car in the hot sun! That'll reduce it's life big-time.



Quote ("Avoid purchasing ... clearance prices.") and Reference: Isidor Buchmann's web site, batteryuniversity.com. Mr. Buchmann is the founder and CEO of Cadex Electronics Inc., in Vancouver BC.

Laptop & laptop batteries images found at: Apple

"Li-Ion" Batteries image source: LG Chem

Phone battery found at: Amazon




Tuesday, January 27, 2004


Two-thousand two-hundred (2200) Apple G5 processors power the world's 3rd fastest supercomputer in the world.

As of December, it's the most powerful supercomputer at any university in the world.


The Upgrade

On January 27, The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University said it has plans to upgrade it's supercomputer that uses Apple Computer Inc.'s PowerMac G5 computers with Apple's recently introduced Xserve G5 servers that have two chips in each box. The 1100 computer PowerMac to Xserve G5 swap will be complete by May.

"It cuts the system's size down by a factor of three," says Srinidhi Varadarajan, assistant professor of computer science, college of engineering, at Virginia Tech. "The new system will take much less power and generate less heat and free up space."


Rack 'em Up

Ever since I'd first heard about the installation I found it rather strange that they'd chosen to go with 1100 dual-processor desktop PowerMac G5's. They were in a hurry, apparently. Yes, that's all that was available at the time. The dual-processor 1U Xserve G5 rack systems certainly make more sense. Now that they're available, they're giving themselves an "upgrade". I'd say there's nothing like a multi-million dollar budget to purchase a new supercomputer every six months, now is there?




Links

Watch a Quicktime Movie of the original PowerMac G5 installation here: Virginia Tech's Supercomputer

Read the orignial Reuters story here.

Check out the 64-bit Apple Xserve G5 here. (Apple touts it as "the classiest 1U server with dual 64-bit processors." I have to agree.)


Photo sources: Apple Computer, Inc. and Apple's Quicktime web site.







Sunday, October 26, 2003


I've always wondered what it would be like to be a professional photographer.


Spencer Tunick

In this photo: 450 women show up at New York's Grand Central Terninal at 3 AM Sunday morning, Oct. 26, strip off their clothes, and compose their bodies into sculptural shapes and formations for Spencer Tunick.


More Fun?

Perhaps it's time to take photography a little more seriously. Or is it less seriously? At any rate, my question is: do photographers have more fun? (Speaking of who has more fun, I see only one blond in this picture. How about you?)

Photo found here.




Tuesday, September 9, 2003


Bill Joy is an interesting guy. Best known for his work 25 years ago as the designer of Berkeley Unix operating system, Joy played a part as one of the developers and early backers of the now ubiquitous Java software.


Technology Maven Looks to the Future, Questions Scientific Progress

... since 2000, Joy also has become a lightning rod of opposition to the notion that all scientific progress is good. His 20,000 word Wired magazine cover article entitled "Why the future doesn't need us" sparked a wide-ranging ethics debate.


Why the future doesn't need us

The essence of Bill Joy's article is captured in the subhead: "Our most powerful 21st-century technologies -- robotics, genetic engineering and nanotech -- are threatening to make humans an endangered species"


Bill Joy Leaves Sun Microsystems

Sun Microsystems said Tuesday that Bill Joy, its chief scientist and a software pioneer who became an outspoken critic of an over-automated society, is leaving the embattled computer maker he helped.

I'd like to see Bill's mountain-top Valhalla research lab in Aspen, Colorado. My mind conjures up fantastic views and gadgets galore.


Read the Wired article here.




Sunday, August 17, 2003


"My favorite thing is to go where I've never been."

- Diane Arbus


Photo source: Photobetty




Friday, August 15, 2003


"Television is the first truly democratic culture - the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want."

- Clive Barnes, New York Times, 1969




Sunday, August 10, 2003


"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

- Martin Luther King Jr.


Photo source: youngleaders-usa.org




Thursday, August 7, 2003


"The trouble with facts is that there are so many of them."

- Samuel McChord Crothers


Photo source: Harvard Square Library




Monday, August 4, 2003


Optimism is the truest form of moral courage.

- Ernest Shackleton


Source: Ross Mayfield's weblog.




Sunday, August 3, 2003


Less than a decade away: turn your laptop or your PDA into a supercomputer. Plug-in to The Grid.

Seen at Mirror.co.uk:

A VAST system of linked super-computers called The Grid will revolutionise the internet by 2010.

Scientists predict in less than eight years [the grid] will become as essential to life as the web once was.

Found at nembis.com:

The web was born at CERN. Now, the particle physics lab is birthing the next major communications leap - a communications grid so advanced, that "no matter how primitive and cheap your computer, you will have access to more power than now exists in the Pentagon." In several years, it will become as essential as the web itself.

Other Resources

The Global Grid Forum, The Grid: The Next-Gen Internet? (Wired.com)

I'm thinking that there will be some rather amazing virtual reality applications coming out of Grid supercomputing as well.


Photos source: tue.nl Cursor/02

(Click photos for close-ups.)




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h o t z a z # 1




Blog Index

Federico Fellini's Classic "I Vitelloni" -- Filmed in Rimini Italy


MARCH

"Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion" Movie -- And Dalai Lama Statement

Antarctica Was Once Warm and Wet: Dinosaurs & 'Lost World' Found


FEBRUARY

Mel Gibson's Movie "The Passion of The Christ" -- The Pope Says, "It is as it was."

Lithium-Ion Battery Care -- How to Prolong Your Laptop Computer's Battery Life


JANUARY

Apple G5 Supercomputer - World's Most Powerful University Supercomputer


OCTOBER 2003

Spencer Tunick - One Day in a Photographer's Life - 450 Unclothed Women at NYC Grand Central Terminal


SEPTEMBER 2003

Bill Joy - Legendary Software Designer


AUGUST 2003

Diane Arbus' Favorite Thing

Clive Barnes on Television

Martin Luther King Jr. on Being Vocal

Samuel McChord Crothers on Facts

Ernest Shackleton on Optimism & Courage

Supercomputing - The Grid: The Next Web Revolution

File Swappers Beware - Legislation & Legal Action

Blogs: Talk Radio for the Wired -- Blogs' Shake the Political Discourse


JULY 2003

Allure of Europe Is Drawing Students

Windows Viruses and Spam

Apple G4 Cube - Alive and Selling

Napster Version 2.0 -- Napster Comes Back To Life

Rabbit-Proof Fence

Love Me - A Story by Garrison Keillor

San Francisco Harbor & Ferry Building Restoration

Patents: Rewarding Innovation

Vaclav Havel on Hope & Truth

Hackers Defacement Challenge: a Hoax

Technology Meets the Mob

Matrix Revisited? HotZaz #1 Matrix-XP

Work-Life Balance, Edwald Kist

Emerson on Energetics

Windows Messenger Service -- Spam Stopped

PC Viruses 625 Times More Likely than on Macs

Holland's 1000 Foot Blogger

Scientists pick the G5

Emerson - Paths & Trails

Dog versus iMac

A.C. Clark - Advanced Technology

[Hoax] Hackers Offered Most Points to Hack a Mac

Laptop Sales Beat Desktops For The First Time

New 'TV's': Project into 'Thin Air'


JUNE 2003

Katharine Hepburn: 96 Years of Life

Vatican Virtual Tour

Curiosity

World's Fastest Personal Computer

"Video-Phone's" Time Has Come -- Video Conferencing Made Easy

Movie-Making Possibilities, Sharing Tea with a Moth

Travel Back-In-Time 12 Billion Years

Four Secrets to Staying Young, Being Happy, and Achieving Success

What's a Domain Name?

Net Identity -- Feature-Rich Email and Web Services

Evening Walk, Trident Cafe Writing & Photo Capture

64 Bit Macs & Mac OS X

Brunch on Pearl Street Mall

Best of The Web

Weblog-O-Rama, Hi Profile Bloggers, & David Winer

Cebuano Anyone? Translation On-The-Fly: Hindi to English

100% Up-Time DNS

What's a Blog? (Part II)

What's a Blog? (Part I)

U.S. Computer Coach

Moving to India

The Land of Blog -- Sudden Impact

Dot Pro - Confidential Quid Pro Quo



 

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