Ghostscript, Ghostview and GSview

Ghostscript is a freeware interpreter for the PostScript language and for PDF files. This is the link to the home page which has further links to download the latest versions of Ghostscript, Ghostview and GSview.

I needed this software recently when I had received a corrupt eps file and needed to be able to convert the file to another graphic image file format. Irfanview couldn't open the file, but Ghostscript and ghostview could. A handy "Ace" to have up your sleeve!

Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith - Palpatine

I finally got to see "Star Wars III- Revenge of the Sith" on DVD last night. I had never seen the film before and was very keen to see it, having been a big Star Wars fan in a 'previous life'! :)

This film poses an uncanny depiction of what's actually happening in the world today.

Click on the image below to read the full story about Palpatine's rise to power in the Galactic Republic.

Here are some points from this that I would like to focus on:

• Palpatine secretly orders the Trade Federation to invade Naboo.


• Naboo's leader, Queen Amidala, rushes to Palpatine for aid.


• The two plead to the Senate for intervention, but are stalemated by Trade Federation filibustering.


• Queen Amidala acts upon Palpatine's suggestion, and calls for a Vote of No Confidence in the Republic's leadership.


• Chancellor Valorum is voted out and Palpatine becomes Chancellor.


• Despite Palpatine's promises of reform, the Republic continues to be attacked.


• Palpatine orders Dooku to organise the creation of a clone army on the Republic's behalf.


• Much later, Palpatine orders Count Dooku to lead a Separatist movement against the Republic with an army of droids.


• The Republic need a military and are pleasantly surprised to find that they are equipped to fight with an army of clones.


• Palpatine requires the authority to activate the Republic's newly forged army.


• Senators loyal to Palpatine motion that the Chancellor be given emergency powers to deal with the Separatist threat.


• The Clone Wars are a sham, a part of an intricate plan concocted by Palpatine as he secretly holds authority over both sides of the conflict.


• Palpatine's term as Chancellor ends during the rise of the Separatists, but that crisis allows him to extend his stay in office and enact executive decree after executive decree. He adds amendments to the constitution funneling more power to him, effectively circumventing the bureaucracy of the Senate.


• The public and the Senate willingly give up their rights and freedoms in the name of security.


• Palpatine promises that under his guidance, the war would be won, and the Republic would be safe.


• Palpatine secretly orders General Grievous to lead more Separatist forces in an assault against the republic.


• Palpatine architects his own abduction by General Grievous.


• The Jedi order's finest heroes, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, are dispatched to rescue Palpatine, defeating Grievous and Dooku along the way.


• Palpatine reveals himself as the Sith Lord to Anakin and persuades him to turn to the dark side. Anakin becomes Darth Vader.


• Palpatine enacts "Order 66", a coded command to the clone army on the various distant battlefronts, causing the clone army to kill the Jedi knights in cold blood.


• Palpatine gives a stirring speech to the Galactic Senate of how he narrowly escaped a treacherous Jedi rebellion. He assures the Republic that his resolve had not faltered. He had routed out the treachery that had entangled the Republic in the Clone Wars. He would cleanse the corruption from the bloated bureaucracy and reform it, as a new, more powerful, more secure institution.


• Palpatine declares himself Emperor, institutes a military build-up unprecedented in galactic history and creates a New Order: a Galactic Empire ruled by tyranny.


• During the Galactic Civil War, Palpatine disbands the Imperial Senate, and passes control down to the regional governors and the military.

The lines that I have underlined show what the Bush administration has already publicly done in their so called "War against Terrorism".

If you have watched any of the videos that can be downloaded from the 'New Vision Society' website (as shown in my post on 2nd Dec), you might believe that more lines should be underlined!

Star Wars III is a very timely film!

I wonder... could George Lucas forsee this when he started the Star Wars saga in the 70's?

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone!

(Isaiah 9:6) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Superman vs Jesus

Here's the downloadable teaser trailer to the new movie "Superman Returns". Note the messianic references when Jor-El (Superman's father who is doing the voice-over) says the following about the human race:
"They can be a great people Kal-El if they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all...(snip) I have sent them you... my only son!"

John 3:16 - the most famous scripture in the Bible says:
"For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son. That whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

In this teaser trailer, Superman is portrayed as a messianic figure, a possible saviour for the human race.

In his new book "Comic Book Character: Unleashing the Hero in Us All", David A. Zimmerman explores complex characters like Superman and Batman, Spider-Man and the X-Men, to uncover their cultural significance as models of moral character, virtue and heroism. Zimmerman shows how these iconic tales of good versus evil tap into our universal yearnings for justice and righteousness...

When asked "How are Superman and Jesus alike?" He states,
If I were to cast Superman in the Gospels, he would play Pontius Pilate: a guy with supreme power but who inevitably acquiesces to the will of the crowd and commits the most tragically evil act in history—the execution of the Son of God. Jesus and Superman are similar in that they’re both super-men—one raised as a human but endowed with powers by virtue of being an alien, the other literally the God-Man, but while Superman exists to advance an industry and maintain the status quo, Jesus seeks to draw us back into fellowship with our Creator. They’re superficially very similar, but ultimately their goals are irreconcilable.

I personally believe that this movie trailer communicates a yearning that has been placed in all of us by God himself.

We are spirits first of all, with a conscience (mind), placed in our earthly bodies. It is the innermost parts of our beings, our spirits, that yearn to be reconciled to our creator, and this can only be done through Jesus - the God given mediator between God and mankind.

This need for spiritual reconciliation with our creator, and a need for a saviour to show us the way, is often seen in our creative expressions, just like the messianic reference shown here in the Superman trailer.

Lemon and Paeroa

In New Zealand there's a local softdrink called Lemon and Paeroa or L&P for short.

Currently the L&P website is full of funny references to New Zealand culture, also known as Kiwiana. It's full of UGLY humour (which I just love), and other references to life in NZ in the 70's. There's some great wallpapers and mpg's to download of "hunky retro" Kiwi males strutting their stuff for the ladies.

The website has flash animation which can take a while to view on dial-up, so here are some of the direct links to their wallpapers and mpgs.

Brilliantly Funny!!!

Justin.mpg

Steve.mpg

Stubbies.mpg

Wallpaper 1

Wallpaper 2

Wallpaper 3

BitPim - Free CDMA phone software

BitPim is a program that allows you to view and manipulate data on many CDMA phones from LG, Samsung, Sanyo and other manufacturers. This includes the PhoneBook, Calendar, WallPapers, RingTones (functionality varies by phone) and the Filesystem for most Qualcomm CDMA chipset based phones.

It is still under development so not all features are available. Have a look at the website and read through it before deciding whether to run with this freeware version or buying the commercially available products DataPilot or SnapSync.

Free Logos

If you're looking for a company or product logo, have a look here. This website has around 5000 logos freely available in Adobe Illustrator format. A very handy resource!

7-zip - Freeware File Compression

7-Zip is free file archiver software distributed under the GNU License.

Supported formats include:
Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR.
Unpacking only: RAR, CAB, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM and DEB.

For ZIP and GZIP formats 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10% better than the ratios provided by PKZip and WinZip.

I needed a freeware winzip alternative that had a nice looking interface and also allowed for RAR support as well, and this was it. A great little program that's a small size to download as well.

New Vision Society

In "The Matrix" Neo had to face a choice... Morpheus told him "You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.... Remember, all I'm offering is the truth, nothing more...."

This is how I felt when I first looked at New Vision Society. Their website starts with a flash animation with some of the following wording:

Welcome to the real world.
Almost everything you know of this world has been a big lie.
I can only show you the door.
You are the one that has to walk through it.
Time has come for you to know the truth.

There's a strange thing about this website as well. Different PC's see different html pages once the animation has finished. One page features links to many videos on conspiracy theories, while the other has a more corporate look to it aiming to sell free electricity technologies. The direct link to this version is here.

If you don't see the webpages with links to their videos, then the videos are all here.

Food for thought...

now wheres that red pill gone???