A random list of things I would like to do before I die. Hopefully at least 70 years from now...

• Drive a race car around a race track
• Get my airplane pilot's license
• Ride a Harley
• Appear in a movie
• Get in a fight
• Learn to play an instrument
• Go into space
• Sail in a (real) submarine

I've tried not to make my list about possessions, and it is a true reflection of my true self. I did not say things that I have no interest in doing (like climb Mount Everest) even though they may be recognized by others as impressive feats.

The list focuses on gathering experiences, enhancing my knowledge, or simply fun/cool things to do. The list is not complete - nowhere near. But it's a start.

After trying the Ging distribution of Linux, and experiencing some of the shortfalls of booting from a CD (slooooow boot time, and almost no software installed), I decided to try a Linux distro that everyone seems to recommend: Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is nice so far. It booted quite a lot faster. In fact, if it took a long time, I didn't notice. It comes with Firefox installed (unlike Ging) so I can make use of it right away. And it looks friendly (although Ging looked friendly too). That look probably has more to do with the Gnome interface than anything else.

If I ever need a Linux OS permanently installed somewhere, I might choose Ubuntu.

A few months ago, I read about a research project being conducted by National Geographic. You submit your DNA sample, they do an analysis of the Y chromosome, and then they will tell you the route your oldest ancestors took to leave Africa. It sounded interesting to me, although I didn't really understand everything about the project, but I purchased a kit and submitted my sample.

What I didn't know until I looked into this project, is that there is a significant piece of DNA, through the Y chromosome, that is passed almost unaltered from father to son. So scientists have the ability to go back many, many generations along the male line - father, to father, to father, and so on forever. Every once and a while, a slight mutation enters the line, but that's evolution in action.

Incidentally, there are female genes passed from mother to daughter called mtDNA.

For the record, I am a member of Haplogroup I. I might be a member of subgroup I1a, but I'm not totally sure. I'm still doing research on that.

So what does that tell me? Not much. I share a common ancestor with almost every person alive today - “Eurasian Adam” - the common ancestor of every non-African man alive today (the M168 DNA marker). He wasn't the first man alive, so he's not the biblical Adam. But he's the only one with ancestors that left Africa and survived.

After leaving Africa 45,000 years ago (the M89 marker), most likely my ancestors settled in southeastern and central Europe about 20,000 years ago (the M170 marker).

I've signed up to get my genes analyzed further. Hopefully, it will allow me to find relatives in Canada that I didn't know I had. But I'll talk about using DNA to research my family tree another time.

Hopefully, everyone is aware of the terrible flooding that has destroyed parts of Louisiana. Strong forces of nature such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, and tsnuamis come along every once and a while - and leave human suffering in their wake. Not to sound callous, but “it happens”.

Often when this happens, the people affected band together to help each other. Resuce operations are launched. Volunteers stream in from places far and wide. Donations are collected. The community comes together.

But sometimes, the opposite happens. What we're hearing about the flooding in the Southern U.S. is a prime example. For instance, today in New Orleans the following happened:

• three shootings
• looting
• a number of attempted carjackings

From CNN:

Hundreds of people were looting businesses downtown, throwing rocks through windows and hauling away goods from stores. Some looters were brazenly trying on clothes in the street. Police said the looting was happening citywide.

To which all I can say is: what the f$%* is wrong with people these days?

Some of the most anticipated components of Visual Studio 2005, the tools known as Team Foundation, are being delayed from their initial launch date of Nov 7 to Q1 2006. Microsoft will instead offer one more beta to developers. Team Foundation includes tools such as integrated bug tracking, version control, reporting, and automated builds.

I saw this over at Digg, and had to try it. It's a version of Linux that you can burn to a CD, and boot the computer from the CD. Basically, a “no install” OS.

So I have downloaded the ISO, burnt the CD and attempted to boot my laptop with it.

If it works, I'll post a quick review of it here. I might have to try 2 or 3 “boot from CD” linux distros to get it to work.

Update: After getting a few error messages, it booted successfully. Screen shot is below.

My main problem now, I guess, is figuring out what to do with Linux now that it's loaded. It doesn't come with a web browser, so I might have to find one. And it took about 30 minutes to load. It's nice to see it work, though. Cool!