I typically use zip ties in my cabling projects, but I can definitely see the benefit of using velcro, especially after I installed a new desktop in my setup, and literally spent 5 hours having to cut ties and reroute everything to get my setup like I wanted…

I’m no professional by any means ( I’m teaching myself C++, Java, and various web languages) and as such I typically use my monitors to display my IDE on my primary monitor, with documentation on the secondary and tertiary monitors. With HTML/PHP/CSS work, I use the tertiary monitors for displaying a live feed of my work.

I have enjoyed this discourse, but I understand that time is money, so I won’t tie up your time any further.

Reminds me of that other clueless individual who publicly said that there should be limits on the length of the barrel because high powered rifles have long barrels so having shorter ones for all guns would be better. GEE!!!

As for the Office v7. It’s finally done! As of two nights ago when the new NAS server was delivered. Now I just need a few days to get things up and running the way it was intended and then I can start taking pictures and creating the new pages on the website (which in itself will take a bit of time, well, that and sorting out pictures and picking the good ones… it’s difficult this time around because the setup is different and lens-wise I have to shoot most of it at wide angles).

I have some “making of” shots on Flickr that show some cabling going on.

But I plan to also write up a whole new “making of” page with more details about all of that.

DVI cables are a pain in the butt to deal with. I’m running more than I can count here and I have them in just about every length imaginable because you don’t want to use excess cable length if you can get away with something shorter, but if it’s too short you risk not being able to move things out of the way when needed because things are too tightly tethered. But just as with every other type of cable, the real trick in managing it is velcro. Lots and lots of velcro!

This can clearly be seen by the infamous Carolyn McCarthy “shoulder thing that goes up” gun control comment, as well as rep. Mike Rogers claim that the only opponents of CISPA are “14 year olds hiding in their basement.

He completely ignores the fact that this legislation not only encourages companies to aggressively seek out personal info on individuals (which could easily lead to that info being stolen) but actually gives them immunity from doing so when they use methods that break their own privacy policies AND the law.

It’s bad enough that tech giants like Google and Facebook have already been aggressively collecting personal info (and selling it to marketers in some situations) but now they are given protection for doing it…

Anyway I look forward to seeing more of the v7 home office build. if its possible, could you take more pictures of the setup process, I’m interested to see how you handle keeping all those cords and wires so neat and orderly. I never can get mine quite right, especially finding VGA and DVI cables long enough…

Just heard that CISPA actually passed this time around. Ugh.

I personally identify myself as a libertarian, and from my own political philosophy, I absolutely agree that far too many people fail to do their own research into the issues that affect this Republic. If more people actually looked at the data (which is easily obtainable) instead of listening to political propagandists, ineffective and ultimately right-infringing legislation (such as the current crop of gun control legislation, as well as Orwellian privacy invading legislation such as CISPA) would never even make it to the floor of either house.

I apologize for getting so far off topic, and I look forward to seeing more of your hardware, either with the home office or the home arsenal..

I have to ask, though… you say you “never imagined me as a 2nd amendment guy”. I’m intrigued. What is it that would have implied otherwise? I never really spoke up about issues regarding self government, self defense, and ownership of firearms before either way.

The thing is that I’m from a country (The Netherlands) where ownership of firearms is bound and limited in such a way that you can only own any if you are a registered “sports shooter” and that requires a lot of effort, interviews with your local police department, a psych profile, and a few more things. Yet crime is rampant and the government and courts tend to judge any form of self defense as a criminal act. In more common terms, those who have defended themselves against burglars, robbers, and the like, tend to put it along the lines of “you must be close to death or dead already before you are even allowed to raise you voice against your attacker”.

While that is technically an exaggeration, a few year ago the minister of justice said that the best way to deal with attackers and burglars and such is to yell “boooooeeeee” real loud at them because “that’s what he would do”. Easy to say for folks that have tax payer sponsored armed guards at their private residence, isn’t it?

After legally migrating into the the US (and boy, that in itself is worthy of an entire site or perhaps a whole book!) I gained all the same rights as US citizens. Except for one; voting rights. For that I would have to become a US citizen and due to financial factors (i.e. I’m over 40 and paid into the mandatory tax-based pension system all my life ever since I started working at 17) I’m not sure I want to go that route. However, everything else applies equally. So a few months ago I decided to make use of my 2nd amendment rights as a legal permanent resident. All I can say is that what I put on my blog is just bits and pieces at any given time but I’m starting to see that buying guns, ammo, etc. is much like computers; it can suck up large amounts of money even though it’s both useful and fun at the same time. The whole “pimping up a server” vs. “tactically outfitting your firearms” are not that different really. As a computer type myself, yes, I like pimping out a server as much as anything. It’s just fun. The computers are useful in many ways. So are firearms, in a different way.

I’ve lived on both sides of what the 2nd amendment represents. I have had a friend of mine go to jail for defending himself (which in the US would have usually been a clear cut case of self defense) and yet also have friends in the US who think of gun ownership of any kind to be related to being a “baby blood drinking republican voting constitution kissing racist gun toting something-or-other” (I’m just putting the whole thing in one term here). All I can say is that if you understand the world in a global way, the government and what it is supposed to be and not be, and how liberty and freedom should be determining factors in how someone lives their lives, the part about being able to (responsibly) own firearms and if the situation ever arises need to use them, is definitely a form of freedom that the US has been known for and promoted. Not as much lately, though, but I suspect you know about that too.

I love the liberty that the 2nd amendment provides. I like shooting guns and the challenge of hitting the bullseye and all that. I can’t say whether I ever held or shot a gun while being in Holland because that would be an act of incriminating myself (think about that for a second) so I won’t go there. And after moving to a part of California where the majority of people are similar minded it really wasn’t a “huge step” to join in on that. In fact, as a director of the chamber of commerce of Oakley I’ve been proposing we hold a gun show here (as a fund raiser for the chamber as well as involving the community and putting on an event that a majority of residents would like to have). But at the same time I realize that some people (and there’s a lot of those based on my website analysis!) will think I’m one of the “crazy people” now and that moving to the US has “changed me completely”. Nothing could be further from the truth though because if my country of origin allowed me the means of self defense and firearm ownership I would have done so there legally a long time ago!

I don’t believe gun ownership and 2nd amendment rights are a republican vs. democrat issue. Then again I haven’t been subject to the belief of that entire split-the-population false paradigm belief for a very long time. But it does mean that there’s always people that are stuck on either side who will have to see it from their perspective, tainted as it may be. I think that if more people ditched their TV’s and did their own research and really understood the things that are going on, did go on in history, and may be going on in the future, that the whole issue of firearm ownership would be a totally moot point.

All I can say is bravo Mr. Didak for publicly standing up for the second amendment.