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New Year's Day - [01/01/07]

Happy New Year! Also, a nice link to tracking computers by using their heat produced by laod as a weapon against them: Wired News. Not that it is really worth the hassle, but being the Dark Wizards, and being security oriented, this is a neat little trick that will help get your thinking hat going.

-wang

Christmas - [12/25/06]

Happy Holidays! I myself got a new Laptop. It is a NASCAR Edition CisnetPC. It has a nice little Atheros AR5005G Wireless MiniPCI card that is troublesome to get online with my Ubuntu and Knoppix LiveCDs. However, for the price, it is a nice little laptop sporting an 8x DVD burner, and an AMD Turion 64 processor. Only 512 MB of RAM, and a hard little chip to find, but for most simple operations, it will do just fine. Nice little ATI Radeon Xpress 200 (as the drivers find it, advertised as the 200M model though) video card with an external monitor and S-Video connector for some TV outputs! I like it. Definately a great portable utility for getting the job done. I am still jealous of Chief Wizard's air compressor though. Mmmmmm, such sweet machinery . . .

-wang

Brewing our First Batch - [12/17/06]

       Today, on this glorious day, the Dark Wizards take up Brewing Cider! Although not a final, nor a robust product yet, we are beginning that which will become a great venture. We have our first set fermenting. We started the batches on the 17th, preparing our liquids and getting it all in bottles. Chief Wizard pitched his yeast that night, and Black Mage waited until morning, as he had to transport them to their final fermentation stations.

       Currently working on mixtures of Sugars, we are hoping to get a good taste for the sugar content. Quantity, and the way different types of sugar will affect the flavor. Once we get a good mixture of that, we will be able to begin flavoring, and see what we can do to create a nice, full drink. This is where we are hoping to get to by the end of spring if at all possible. Then, we can work on a good blend, and make large quantities.

       Starting with 3 Gallons per Wizard, we hope to upgrade to somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 gallons or more very soon. This still pends some glassware. Also with a large amount of product, we will need somewhere to put it. Black Mage is working on some containers to keep it in. Being a little stiff in the pocket currently for starting up, we are making sure we get the best quality items, and have the means to output high quality beverages. So far, we have a large heating pot and the propane gas equiptment to get a good 7.5 gallons of fluid prepared at a time. We currently have most everything we need for the fermentation and preperation, but only 1-Gallon jugs. Soon, hopefully after no more than one more batch of brews, we will start some 5-Gallon batches, and procees with some good times!

       -wang

Halloween Wizard Gathering - [10/29/06]

       On the night of Halloween, we will have a nice Wizard meeting at CounterCulture Café. We have info on the location in the forums, if you CLICK HERE. We will be showing up in full Wizard dress. It is not required, but is encouraged to come in either Wizardly attire, or Halloween attire, observing the holiday. We will be bringing some of these Fancy old DSL modems made by a company called "2Wire" for testing and such. They broadcast wireless signal, so we can use them for trying to break WEP keys, and other such goodness. Possibly hosting some good softwares over a webserver or something. It will give us a private network in addition to the already present Wireless Internet available at CounterCulture.

       CounterCulture Café is a great place. Not only is it 24/7, but it also provides free wireless internet (No Encryption) and sells stuff like sandwiches, coffee, chocolate milk, bagels, espressos, and all those other goods you expect in a coffee shop. I encourage you all to come and join us, buy a bit of food, and have a good time! Let's be careful to not get them banned by their ISP, or cause troubles though. We would like them to welcome us, and not kick us out. Otherwise, it would be Denny's for us, and that would suck.

       On the cutting board for this meeting is a way to log and document our meetings, and somehow organize this a little better. I myself used to be part of a nice group in Washington State called the Grange. You can find mroe information on this group HERE. It was more of a nice gathering, where we all gathered on a specific Tuesday of every month, either the second or third. The other Tuesday I would attent the MuzzleLoading group, which consisted of mostly Grange members. Anyway, in our meetings, we would have an organized meeting, where they discussed finances, and other important issues, and then had a nice little social afterwards. It was mainly a good social, consisting of pot-lucks, and playing card games, and talking to friends, and having good times. Sometimes there would be people selling pies and cookies, and sometimes people would just bring food for all to share. For the meetings, there was a head leader, treasurer, secretary, and all of the important positions. These would be rotated on occasion, going to popular vote of the group. Any issues brought up would be talked about, and people would be allowed to talk and express their opinions, and then all would vote on it if necessary, and it would be recorded. The meetings would start out with a traditional, "Here Ye! Here Ye! All present please rise. Today we call a meeting of the local Grange on Tuesday, October thirty-first, two thousand six. . . . " and such. It was a well formed, disciplined group, and we had the flag bearers, and all. Much like a BoyScout meeting, if you have been a BoyScout. So, I am thinking we should bring this kind of order to the Dark Wizards. Creating a formal group that has a flag, a logo, and stickers, and holds regular meetings at a specific location, with a website to back it up with important information, and discudssed topics, allowing us all to participate in this community, and make it great. It will take time, but with some rescources, and some work, we will have a powerful group, full of friends, and members that will help us take our technology to the next level!

       -wang