Stemming from some other work I've been doing outside the gallery, I decided to continue some animation I had going.

Many folks had viewed the scene in the gallery starring my leggy robot and mandala. So, as continued practice and experiments with formats, I decided to change the last frame to display "end of part 1". I guess you'd call that a "teaser", eh?

Then I rendered more frames and compiled part 2. Both are now in the gallery and may be viewed from other locations as well, including the new lasers page.

I may continue the story in future animations. It will be interesting to see how it develops, both in content and quality, as I test techiques. I'm developing these in multiple parts, since these animated images are large. They are intended for viewing with fast internet connections.

Introducing my newest hobby, Lasers!

Since I was a kid and wrote a report for science class about it, I've been fascinated by the laser. Not too long ago, only scientists in labs had access to them, and they required bench space and quite a bit of AC power. I recall my early sketches of ruby rods surrounded by bright light "chargers" and only imagined.

Your average red laser pointer (like we play with in conference rooms or to tease the cat) has power output of less than 5mW (1 milliwatt is 1/1000th of a watt), which is still relatively safe to look at, and is what you often see used at concerts and such events.

I recently acquired my first "real" laser, a class III-b green portable. With average output power of >420mW, it is capable of burning things, and the beam is visible in a lighted room (even at low power) and of course outdoors at night (where it appears brightest). With a very minimal beam divergence, it can reach distances of many miles, as its class is often used for such jobs as aligning microwave antennae.

I have a lot of info here, including links to a forum I enjoy, populated with many other enthusiasts.

Our favorite answer to your question is, "If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand."

We all upgrade our computers from time to time. My last machine was built for me in St. Louis in 2003. At the time, that Pentium 4 was state of the art, and it was a solid performer for 6 years.

As a graphics artist, I need a computer with some graphics performance as its intent. So, when I decided earlier this year to get a new one, I sent the guys in St. Louis some specifications, and let them have some fun.

What they designed and built for me is what we affectionately came to call "the Beast". Visit this page, read the specs and follow the OEM links, and you'll see why.

This page came about with my experimenting with a digital camera, trying different settings to see if I could capture the blue LEDs and inside view of this workstation.

The results are pretty cool. In addition to understanding the new camera, I got some great shots, so I decided to post them on a page just for the Beast!

This is an awesome system which I am extremely happy with. Several photos and links to the OEMs are included.

Incremental File/Folder Backup tool (Free)

Another tool I did for myself and thought you'd like it too. This one is a very fast file backup utility.

Periodically, I backup my system to an external drive. Between full backups, I want to backup new stuff, and changes made since my last backup. Then, when I do another full backup, I usually delete the incremental backups. In my case, I make these incremental backups of files on C: on my D: drive, and on the C: drive for files on D: (so if I lose a drive, hopefully it's only one of them).

This utility will find everything that has changed since a certain date and time, and copy it all to a selected folder. You just select the top folder of what you want to backup, select a folder where you want to copy it to, and pick a "modified since" time. In the backup destination, it automatically creates folders to mirror the full path of every file it copies, so an entire hierachy (files modified since the selected time) is backed up.

Filename Fixer (Free)

A handy file utility I wrote for myself, then decided to give away. When I copied all my files to my new workstation, many of them ended up with ALLCAPS filenames. Not all, not any particular rhyme or reason. Windows just named some of them in ALL CAPS! Ok, in explorer, it's just ugly, and Windows may not care. However, if you upload your files elsewhere, their use and access may be case-dependent (such as HTML, or image files referenced in a URL). Since, in my case, there were hundreds of them scattered all over the place, I grew weary of discovering them and renaming them one-at-a-time in explorer, so I wrote this little program. Then I added some extras and decided to let you use it too.

Roosl's Mail Filter (Version 5.02)

In addition to several improvements made since the last release (including a noticeable bug which affected the mouse-over of the task bar icon), I've also incorporated the new Scan Monitor Gadget, an optional companion app. I had been wanting this myself for some time, and now that I've finally added it, I must say that this is the reason to get this update!

More details about these and more are in the software section!

God,

Thanksgiving is a time on our calendar, but whether it's because of a reminder, or when I sit and write here, thank you for all the blessings.

Thank you for the means to enjoy simple "things", as well as the seemingly complex life we have, and the awesome universe we share.

Thank You for the time and the things that have passed, and again for tomorrow, that my time today and the perspective you show me, will bring.

Forever grateful to God for His given blessings, I'll always have time and space for what His presence and meaning are to me in my life.