Dirty Dynamo

Tired of rebooting and pressing the keys 6 and 4 every time? First check if your machine has the “EFI32″ or “EFI64” firmware.

For this type in terminal:

ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi

If your machine has the EFI64 firmware you’re good to go (If it doesn’t then you won’t be able to run in 64bit mode).

Then go to:

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

Copy the file to the desktop, then open with TextEdit

find there:

<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string></string>

and change it to:

<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>arch=x86_64</string>

Save it and replace the old one (you’ll need to authenticate).

Reboot and verify 64 bit mode is enabled by going to:

About this Mac / More Info / Software / Extensions and select the first line “ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin”  it should display at the bottom of the screen the following:

ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin:

Version:    3.4.0
Last Modified:    8/1/09 1:56 AM
Kind:    Intel
Architectures:    i386, x86_64
64-Bit (Intel):    Yes
Location:    /System/Library/Extensions/IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin.kext
Kext Version:    3.4.0a20
Load Address:    0xd32000
Valid:    Yes
Authentic:    Yes
Dependencies:    Satisfied

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Yesterday while car shopping I forgot to get my thumb out of the way while slamming the car door shut, which was not a good idea. Asides from the cosmetic issues, the pain for the las 24 hours has been intense, and it had not been improving.

Desperate measures had to be taken, and I was lucky enough to have a dremel drill here at work so I decided to perform the dreaded operation. Once the drill bit went throught he nail the relief was instantaneous. I am so happy now! While it still hurts the insane throbbing is gone and I can focus on work and not pain.

I found this picture I took a while back in LA. It is a section of a steel mill wall from the 1890’s. Not the best quality, but though I’d share it here.

Adobe RGB

sRGB IEC61966-2.1

The upper photo has a tagged Adobe RGB profile, the one below has a sRGB IEC61966-2.1 one.

While both look decent in Safari and Firefox, 90% of the browsers that are out there, which at not color managed, will desaturate and washout Adobe RGB and display a limited color gamut. The results of viewing an Adobe RGB tagged photo in Internet Explorer running on a PC are simply atrocious. From now on I will use sRGB IEC61966-2.1 for all the photos that are to be published in the web in order to have better compatibility with the world out there.

A color-managed browser (or color-managed application like Safari, iPhoto, Preview, Photoshop, Aperture) honors the embedded ICC profile(s) and proofs or displays the color correctly by Converting or mapping it to the monitor profile space. A non-color-managed browser is simply applying the same Default profile to all three color images.

Both of the above images should look pretty similar in Safari or Firefox, but not in IE.

I still have to work in customizing my settings to post reliable and consistent color across all browsers. sRGB IEC61966-2.1 is the best starting point.

Our items were received this past Saturday, all of the 164 boxes and miscellaneous items. So far no major casualties or things to get anoyed for have been discovered. Some of the boxes are gone, thanks to an add posted by Chiquita Uno, commander in chief, and the place is looking a bit less disorganized. Last night we had a swim in the pool and it was awesome!

Photos of the unpacking can be seen here:

Today we secured our new habitat overlooking Miami’s biscayne bay aquatic preserve. Heck yeah man!

Pictures of the unpacking mess can be seen here:

This is it! How cool is to find this Miami signs right on the way to LAX. Definitely a sign that everything is going to be perfect!

In preparation to our departure to Miami our friend Stacey threw a fond farewell party for Kara and myself. We had a great time and it was wonderful to see all of our friends in LA gather to wish us a safe trip and a successful adventure. Thanks everyone, you will be missed !!! Here are some photos from the occasion:

During October – November 2008 I made a trip around the world with my friend Miguel. The objective of the trip was to cover as much ground as possible traveling by train. We departed from Los Angeles to London via Toronto and then took trains to Paris, Cologne, Berlin, and Moscow, where we took the Trans-Siberian railway to Beijing, China. Having covered enough ground by train we then flew to Hong Kong where we stayed a couple of days before flying back to Vancouver and then Los Angeles. Around the world in 18 days!

I love traveling by train, and highly recommend this experience. I must admit it is not for everyone, since being confined in a train cabin for 6 straight days in the case of the Trans-Siberian can be a bit overwhelming, and you won’t get any frequent flyer miles from London to Beijing, 6774 of them !

The selection of images has almost been completed,  click here for the image gallery: