01.24.08
Rich Dad Poor Dad (by: Robert T. Kiyosaki)
Rich Dad, Poor Dad (Rich Dad)
Personal Comments:
I can still remember when this book was recommended to me by a friend, in a comment to a post of mine where I said: “I’ll never be rich”. I think it was the first time someone recommended me a book, so I could not ignore it. I added it to my Amazon wishlist, finished what I was reading and got it!
I read the book in a week, so it is a very light, simple to read, small book. It has about 240 pages, the authors english is clear and straightforward. I recommend it!
Now, let me add that there might be some small spoilers for the rest of my comments but nonetheless you should keep reading if you’re unsure about this book. This book is about financial literacy. It is not technical, consider instead a motivacional book on why you should become literate financially. The author talks about how his two dads gave him two very different educations although they were both intelligent man. One education was focused on financial literacy, the other was focused on intelectual literacy. Even though some of his opinions might shock most of us (because we resemble his poor dad) it’s interesting to get some of his ideas, tips, and references to keep being intelectual literates with a foot on the financial side. The book is not an excellent piece of literature, the author very repetitive, so I guess, that you’ll have to stand that if you want to extract the good things the author has to teach. In the end, you’ll disagree with some things and agree with others but I’m sure that you’ll learn some very important things. One is that financial literacy is indeed important, that you can change your life a lot if you do follow some small advices. I would say go for it. It’s a cheap book that can be read in a blink. Thanks Nuno for his recommendation…
01.15.08
Linux on PS3
Well, Linux on the PS3 is definitely no news… the news are that I finally installed a decent Linux distro in it. By decent I mean Gentoo (which is definitely better than decent).
I’ve installed Gentoo several times past the last 7 years or so, just because it is IMO the best distro out there for what I need. When it came to install a distro on the PS3, I wanted to play safe because I didn’t want my PS3 to break down all of a sudden, so I went for the official Linux distro Yellow Dog Linux. What I nightmare!!! Let me say that again: What a nightmare!!! Not that installation was hard (not at all, as hard as Gentoo I might add) but the distro itself is just obnocious. User support is terrible, community is horrible, homepage is a complex maze where you get lost before you enter it, it is hard to do what you want and you can’t install this or that because it is not supported yet…. ahhhhhhh but it will be on the next version….. which by the way nobody knows when it will come out. ARGH… It smells like Windows running on a Linux Kernel.
The tutorial you can find on installing Gentoo on PS3 is good but far from perfect. Hopefully the following details should make it clearer (I’ll assume in the following set of tips that you know how to install and how Linux works on the usual architecture):
- First, remember PS3 is just basically a normal PC with a very powerful processor which, since it has to have XMB (Sony Media Bar / Operating System) installed at all times, makes some things a bit different;
- For a start, the boot loader (to boot another OS) is called KBoot, and it needs to be installed before installing a new other OS. If you already have KBoot installed from a previous Linux installation maybe it’s better to reinstall the latest version of it;
- The media containing KBoot needs to be formatted as FAT as currently is the only file system XMB supports;
- After installing KBoot, you can select in XMB to reboot PS3 with otheros and then PS3 will boot into the kboot prompt. This is where you should have a distro livecd handy (be it in USB or CD, doesn’t matter) prepared to be booted by KBoot. This media can theoretically be formatted using any filesystem supported by Linux, however, for Gentoo I suggest (and even think there’s no other way) Ext3;
- Once you get into the livecd, you’re on your way, USB slots are /dev/sdX and PS3 drive is /dev/ps3da (for kernels >=2.6.23);
- In Gentoo, partition ps3da and download a stage4 tarball from a mirror, and install it as usual, refer to the guide on installing Gentoo on PS3 and maybe even the guide for installing Gentoo on PPC64 assuming you’ll want to run PS3 on a Gentoo PPC64 (you can choose PPC32 but there’s no reason to);
- After Gentoo is installed… throw a party and have fun!
01.13.08
Is this it for the HD war?
As a PS3 owner, I have been tracking closely how the war for HD evolves , i.e. how the war between HD DVD and BluRay goes.
For those not up to it, let me say that up until now there were no reasons for a good looking future for either sides, although there were people throwing a lot of fireworks when BlockBuster started to rent BluRay only. However, only more recently I started wondering if this is it… and unless something major happens, this is really IT!
Besides the fact that regularly amazon.com comes up with the BluRay BOGO deal (Buy One Get One), several major companies have come BluRay exclusive. Worth noting is Warner that backs BluRay exclusively (check this also) . From this day on, things started to get tricky to HD-DVD.
- Michael Bay stated that “BluRay is just better.“;
- New Line shifts to BluRay;
- Paramount follows New Line;
- BluRay supporters throw fireworks once again (including me);
- HBO also goes BluRay also;
Obviously M$croSoft is also keeping track of what’s happening being one of the most interested in HD DVD winning this war. Seeing BluRay getting the lead it even announced XBox360 may go BluRay is that’s what consumers want. And now, amazon.co.uk is selling 3 BluRays for 2. Let’s not leave HD DVD to die a slow death. Get a bunch of BluRays. :-)
EDIT: I forgot to mention in the first version of this post that Apple also seems to back BluRay.
No… to free kisses!
After reading the portuguese blog post on QNED about free hugs I can’t help but also give my oppinion about it.
For foreigner reader, let me add that the general portuguese culture is that men meet up and handshake each other (hugging is allowed for informal greetings to intimate friends) and women give two kisses to everyone (except, in professional settings).
Let me also add that it is not well seen if, for example, I present a female friend to someone and that female friend handshakes the other person. A lot of pressure is done for a kiss to happen. Even though it might not be a real kiss (in the sense that your lips might not touch the others cheek). I guess, the majority are just ‘cheek-to-cheek’ kisses.
I, fortunately, at least in this respect, am not a woman. I guess it is not very hygienic, or even nice to be touching cheek with every guy you meet, even if it is your friends best friend or even you friends cousin’s girlfriend or blablabla. It doesn’t really matter who it is, women should not just be pressured to meet with a kiss. Men on the other hand can, in general, do as they like. This view of women of free-kissing just to be nice should stop now.
In the UK, (or at least here in Southampton) this doesn’t happen even among friends and I’m happy. I don’t even handshake people, except on very special occasions like Christmas. I guess having to kiss them, would be even worse. I’m quite happy to bring up this subject because it is the first time I’m discussing it and I wonder how many women feel like QNEDs author…
01.05.08
Tip on Ebay Bidding
Be Smart!
I challenge you to read this auction!
Now, I ask you: How smart was this user in bidding for the product?
[SCROLL DOWN FOR SPOILER]
5
4
3
2
1
…
Tip for today: Read everything on the auction details TWICE!
Have you noticed this:
please note : You are only bidding on a printed picture of a PS3
I’m sure the bidders didn’t and now they face a harsh war…
I’ll leave you with a similar situation on Judge Judy.
