General Weblog (some links from the December 2000 surfing)

http://www.tznet.com/mader

This page is all about some of the airplanes used in the 2nd World War (WW2). I am very much interested in airplanes in general, and these machines are among my favorites, thanks to dozens of documentaries - a bit like Tony Soprano :) - and to simulators like Microsoft's Combat Flight Simulator 2.

This site's pictures archive isn't that big, and the pictures aren't the best you can get, but they are kind of different and it is always important to give credit to personal efforts like this one.

http://www.geocities.com/qx3fun

This website covers the Intel QX3 microscope. You can read a review of it, check some pictures and videos, find some hyperlinks to related sites, and some tips that might help you having more and better fun with the device that Intel has forgotten. After its commercial debut, Intel didn't release a single Windows 98 driver update, let alone official support for other operating systems - for example, the QX3 doesn't work on Windows 2000.

You might read my own review of the QX3, published on 080101.

http://www.komodostudio.com/home.html

Bill Fleming is now one of the world's most respected 3D artists, after having spent most of his life... studying reptiles. After a false start with a Commodore Amiga - which he had to sell - Bill bought a new computer a decade later, in 1995, and since then hundreds of digital creatures were born, and thousands of people were taught his art, including professionals at IL&M and Pixar!

You too can learn with Bill, as he writes many books on the Art of 3D. Start @ his Komodostudio website.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pictures

The best space pictures can be found here, from artists' conceptions to many real data from several missions to the solar system, including the Cassini (which transports a CDROM with millions of names, of those terrestrials who welcome eventual ET life), the Galileo, the Magellan, the Mariner and loads of Mars related information.

If you're into space technology, then NASA also publishes some papers about the FIDO rover, cryobots, ultrasonic drills and aerogel. These are interesting readings that will certainly entertain you, for hours.

http://www.3ivx.com

The DiVX ;) codec is sometimes mentioned as being for DVD, as MP3 is for CD, but it isn't like that at all. In fact, DiVX ;) isn't much better than Microsoft's MPEG4 codec and it is definitely below the quality and compression ratios that can be achieved with the "new" WMV (Windows Media Video) files, which are absolutely FREE to produce, since Microsoft is offering the producer software.

The DiVX authors noticed "their" codec loss of competitiveness and thus started investing their time on a better alternative - 3ivx. Visit the 3ivx website for more.

http://www.fandom.com/harrypotter

Harry Potter... Nowadays everyone one and his dog knows about the boy with magical powers, but it wasn't always like that. When Rowling was a teacher at Portugal, few people did recognize her talent, from her previous efforts.

This fandom website is not one of the first on the Potter subject, but it sure is one of the best. Check it. I first wrote about this on 050200.

http://www.witchvox.com

The Witches' Voice is a network about Witches and Witchcraft - a legally recognized religion in the USA. Above all, this website acts as a cyber gathering point to everyone into Witchcraft, making thousands of contacts available and trying to educate people on the subject, which still is not regarded as the community wants.

Because this site exposes a reality very different from the one I am used to, I enjoyed visiting it.

http://www.hash.com/products/am.asp

Animation Master (AM) is a very complete animators' tool that is certainly faster to learn than the more general, heavier, and much more expensive, 3D software packages, like Kinetix 3D Studio and Maya's absolute king of the heavy weights...

The popular Alien Song video was entirely made with this software and it is available for download, from the aforementioned link.