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This is a list of pieces my dad and I might use to make an HTPC with.

Here are some cases:
LUXA2 LVA20012N1Z Aluminum LM200 Micro ATX, Mini ITX Media Center/HTPC Case (Black/Silver)

Silverstone Aluminum Front SECC body mini Itx Htpc Computer Case LC05B (Black)

SILVERSTONE LC12S Silver Aluminum Mini-ITX Media Center / HTPC Case

ThermalTake VK81221N2U SD100 120W PS Mini-ITX Home Theater Chassis(Black)

Personally I’m leaning more to the LUXA2 LVA20012N1Z Aluminum LM200 Micro ATX, Mini ITX Media Center/HTPC Case (Black/Silver)

For a Motherboard, we are going to get the Zotac IONITX-B-E Intel Atom Nvidia ION Mini ITX MB. There was a Video Review on the sight we found it on.

For Memory we are trying to decide between 2GB and 4GB.

For a DVD/CD Reader/Writer we will look on Newegg for a good cheap one.

We will opt out of a TV-Tuner

For “interfacing” (i.e. controling), we will use something I found called the Logitech diNovo Mini. The diNovo Mini includes, Full QWERTY keyboard, Mouse Pad / Directional Pad, Lithium-Ion Battery life rated at 1-month/per charge, Backlighting (orange/green), Bluetooth 2.0 (30 foot range) and is Linux compatible.

For the operating system, my dad has chosen Ubuntu 10.4.

For the Open Source Media Center Software we will use XBMC (formerly Xbox Media Center, but they no longer support the Xbox system). The default XBMC theme/skin is (if you ask me) boring. As a fix to this dilemma, I have found the Aeon Project. It is better looking, and seems easier to use, then the default theme.

Any input about anything would be greatly appreciated.

Sunday, we went hiking. Mom didn’t go because she felt sick. Only Dad, Danny Lukas and I went, and it was supposed to rain. We hiked up Gorham Mountain, down a little bit, and then up the Beehive. The Beehive trail is a short but incredible hike. You go up the side of the mountain on iron rungs and metal ladders. My Dad got really scared and it wasn’t that scary. Then, we went down the other side of the Beehive along the Bowl Trail to the Bowl. The Bowl is a round lake. We passed the Bowl and hiked up Mount Champlain. We went up, then down Mount Champlain. We were a little tired so we hiked to the North side of the Tarn, which is a small lake. Then, we drove into Bar Harbor and got some Ice Cream at “CJ’s Big Dipper.” After we finished our Ice Cream, we stopped back at the RV. Mom, Dad, and Danny went back into town for dinner, but Lukas and I stayed behind at the RV. The map below is the route we took hiking, the route is highlighted in blue. We started at the bottom and worked our way Northward.

Click on the thumbnails below to get the full image.

Crab in Lukas’ hand

We arrive at the camp ground at about 8 o’clock on Saturday afternoon and set up camp.  It is low tide and Lukas and I go to the beach and look for sea creatures in the deposits that were left after high tide.  We sometimes caught some.  There were crabs, fish, star fish, and lots of snails.

We go to Bar Harbor a few hours after we arrived and look for something to eat.  We eat in a restaurant called Gettys (pronounced jetty) After we have eaten the overpriced meal we look around Bar Harbor and go into some shops.  We talk to people about Sea Kayak tours and find places to rent bikes.

We go back to the RV and make our plans for the week ahead.  We decide to hike the next day and make no other decisions about our week.  As we prepare to sleep we listen to the Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy.

While Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s On First” is probably the funniest comedy skit in the history of mankind, the following has similar overtones when dealing with a much more serious problem.

There are some people that, no matter what I’m doing when I hear them, I have to stop and listen. On the short list, very near the top, is Mohamed El-Erian of bond investment giant, PIMCO.

No matter what the crisis, there have always been people that have said “this time is different!” and they’ve invariably been proven wrong. Time and again we think we’re faced with situations that have never occurred before only to be shown “this time” has happened frequently. After all, there’s nothing new under the sun (Eccl 1:9).

So when someone like El-Erian says, not quite that, but comes pretty close, I have to wonder. The major take away here, and something he wrote last week after the EU bailout was announced, is that we’re in a place we’ve never been before.

No. I don’t mean by the way they look. See if you can tell the difference. Take this quiz:

Quiz: Joel Osteen or Fortune Cookie?

Here’s a great article that says, pretty much what I said yesterday - only much better and clearer (as usual). Operative quote:

“The Greeks would rather kill each other in the streets than work and pay taxes.” - the author quoting a friend.

Wow! I wrote that post yesterday just minutes before the news began leaking about a 500 billion euro bailout of ALL of the PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain).

I should have guessed that socialists can’t allow failure even when it’s brought on by the willful ignorance of an entire populace that deserve the poverty that was looming over them.

Instead this action will socialize the pain by stealing from those that are productive. When the revolution comes … I hope I have a camera.

According to a few articles today the EU and the IMF (read “US”) are going to announce a new bailout of Greece. This one apparently is for immediate disbursement (read “no need to actually complete the austerity programs”). That means that the whiners and thugs that pass for the Greek populace have now intimidated the EU into submission.

Angela Merkel

All two year olds should learn a valuable lesson from this. If your mother is someone like Angela Merkel, tantrums work. This is a perfect demonstration of moral hazard.

Apparently the German people are not thrilled; Ms. Merkel is in danger of loosing her majority in Parliament.

Having spoken to several German’s about this issue, it seems to me they’re not ready to pay for the much better benefits, much more generous pensions, earlier retirement, much worse corruption, and a higher percentage of people working directly for the state.

Commenting on the issue in Greece, Charles Ortel said on Bloomberg on May 6th (I’m getting caught up):

Does the population (of Greece) have the internal will to actually make the tough collective choices that need to be made to get this state back on track. And I think the early returns from Greece are very distressing. We see, in that awful case in the bank [where three people were burned alive in the riots] signs that the population just doesn’t get it.

Comparing the experience of the UK under Thatcher to Europe, British economist Kit Juckes said on the same interview:

I don’t know if they [the rest of Europe] get the idea that the social structures in Europe are not affordable anymore, and that they have to change. When you look at Greece, clearly, the people think the bank’s to blame, banks caused all this problem, or foreigners, or the government. Not, ‘we all borrowed too much money and spent it [...], and now we don’t want to pay it back’ that’s difficult for people [...]

Let’s face it, the cowards in the EU blinked, kicking the can a little further down the road. The failure of European socialism may have been delayed a few days or months, but when it finally comes it’s going to be massive and now even more cataclysmic.

In keeping with the intellectual heights that this blog maintains, I offer the following bit of humor for reflection. I must warn you though, it may be a bit “high brow” for a few.