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| Thursday, May 28th, 2009 | | 3:54 pm |
| | Thursday, April 30th, 2009 | | 7:26 pm |
| | Friday, April 24th, 2009 | | 12:08 am |
| | Monday, March 16th, 2009 | | 11:44 pm |
Something strange is going on. I just played through episode one of Doom on the second highest difficulty without dying once or even feeling challenged. Must be all these new-fangled, advanced first-person shooter games have honed my skills, and going back to good old Doom is like child's play. Speaking of child's play, I also beat Super Princess Peach on the DS today. | | Monday, November 24th, 2008 | | 10:24 pm |
Saturday, my silly Mazda decided it hates me and threw a rod. Kind of a shame it didn't quite make it to 200k miles. It is off to the scrapyard, and I went out today and got a nice new Ford 500. It reminds me a lot of my old Camry, but bigger. | | Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 | | 10:38 pm |
Well, my furnace is fixed now, thankfully. But that's not the biggest news. Stephen Colbert, on the Colbert Report last night has renamed Canton, Ohio to Hitler's Asscrack, Ohio. I was laughing so hard when I saw it because everything he said is so true (Hoover left because Canton sucks more than they do, the McKinley monument is boring). There was even a story about it in the paper today: http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=438697&originalStoryID=438706&r=(not that I make a habit of reading that, it was just the first result that came up in google for "hitler's asscrack". Frankly I was surprised they quoted him correctly, or even knew about it.) I wonder what people would say if I tell them I was born in Hitler's asscrack? | | Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 | | 6:40 pm |
The good news: My power was out only three days for Ike. The bad news: My furnace broke. The guy who came out and looked at it said my gas valve is bad, but he wanted to charge $320 for the part. I didn't like that noise, so I went online and got it for $80. Now if only I could find an HVAC willing to install it for me. | | Saturday, September 13th, 2008 | | 6:28 pm |
Still on the subject of computer upgrades, I'm pretty much done for now. I still might do some minor tweaking and memory adding later on, but I'm happy for the moment with what I've already done. My current setup: 2.53 ghz Core 2 Duo E7200 overclocked to 3.1 with an Arctic 7 Freezer heatsink 2gb ddr2 1066 ram geforce 8800 video card 750gb Samsung hard drive Pioneer combo dvd cd burner 500 watt Seasonic power supply Biostar T-force motherboard (no serial port? WTF!) an old PCI NIC because the onboard NIC has Linux driver issues M-audio delta 2496 sound card (old) Acer 19 inch widescreen LCD Logitech mx518 mouse Generic keyboard of awesomeness Altec Lansing ACS48 speakers (quite a few years old and still going strong. Soon to be replaced in exciting fashion, stay tuned) 4gb usb flash drive (why not) Things I still want: A better case, one that supports 120mm fans, and doesn't look like Las Vegas with elaborate windows and lighting. I'm eying a certain sturdy-looking Lian-Li, black One mouse pad, black One prophylactic, soiled My old parts went into Tola's computer, so I saved money on that, and I gave the old server/router/spaceheater and various spare parts to my dad. An unfortunate thing is that while I was putting parts into Tola's computer, her hard drive decided it was the perfect time to stop working, so she got my 250gb drive. The worst part is now she thinks I broke it causing her to lose all her important files such as term papers and family photos. "You have backups, right? RIGHT?" Wrong. Current Music: Weird Al - Why Does This Always Happen to Me? | | Saturday, August 16th, 2008 | | 5:07 pm |
A year ago, I posted a wish list of computer parts that I wanted: http://devin-x.livejournal.com/44314.htmlThe total came up to over $2900. It's not too late: Newegg still sells all those parts, but now they only total to $1883.86! If you buy them for me now, you would be saving over $1000! | | Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 | | 9:50 pm |
Apparently, there is a business model that is used by a surprising number of local recording studios, and that is: Step 1: Get ProTools Step 2: ??? Step 3: Profit It may seem like I'm oversimplifying it by applying such a cliche, but it's pretty much spot on. Studios will have crappy gear, used by inexperienced and less than talented techs, but then get ProTools and use that reason to justify charging $75 per hour. Not a bad racket if you don't mind being around musicians all day. | | Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 | | 10:57 pm |
Computer upgrades
Warning: geek content ahead I am in the process of upgrading my tired, old computers. So far, I haven't done any really exciting upgrades. Minutes ago, I added a 750gb hard drive to compliment the 250gb one. I did this because my 80gb ide windows drive bit the dust last week (and that's what started me thinking about how decrepit my computers are). The only problem is that I now have two sata-2 drives, but only one sata-1 port on the motherboard. I plugged it in to make sure it worked, but I'll have to move the cables back over to the old one for now so I can get to my stuff. The other thing I just installed is a new 500 watt power supply. It works like a charm, but it was a total pain to put in the case. I ended up having to remove the 5 1/4 drives and the motherboard to make room to pull the old one out of its little alcove. It was kind of like changing the spark plugs on a Chevy. But I finally got it done, and now I have the luxury of multiple sata power connectors without using an adapter, a 4-pin P4 connector (that socket on the motherboard was looking lonely, being empty all this time), and a 24-pin atx connector that hangs off the edge of my 20-pin atx socket. The first time I turned it on, I got a scare when, as soon as I hit the switch, I heard this horrible screeching noise. After several times of turning it on and off, I figured out it was the pc speaker beeping continuously. Confused, I went over to the laptop to look it up on Google, but the laptop wouldn't turn on, even though it was plugged into the outlet. I did some troubleshooting and found the problem: there was a penny in the floppy drive. I shook it out, and it turned right on. The info I found was somewhat esoteric, talking about how newer computers use mostly the 12v rail of the power supply, so the bulk of the wattage on new power supplies is sent out 12v instead of 3.3v or 5v which older computers use. I checked and compared the stickers on mine, and it was true. The +12v rail delivered 408 of the 500 watts on the new one, and only 156 of 300 watts on the old one. I started dreading that I might have to go to all the trouble of swapping it back out, but then I noticed I forgot to hook up the power line to the video card. I plugged it in, and the terrible beeping went away. As an added bonus, I also found massive amounts of dust inside my empty case. Word to the wise: sometimes blowing at the dust to clear it away is a good idea, sometimes it makes you cough up a lung. Next in line to be upgraded are the motherboard, video card, memory, and processor. They'll have to be done all at once because they all need different sockets than what I have. (P4 -> Core2duo, DDR -> DDR2, AGP -> PCIe) Luckily, my sound card is still good. After that, I will upgrade my second computer from an Athlon Thunderbird 1.2ghz (underclocked to 900mhz due to heat) system to Athlon 64. This will cost half as much as the Intel upgrades. | | Friday, July 4th, 2008 | | 2:22 pm |
Finntroll
Current Music: Finntroll - Trollhammeren | | Monday, June 16th, 2008 | | 9:03 pm |
old news
In light of the price of oil's recent alarming increase being blamed on "speculators", here's a bit of news from three years ago. The last sentence is the insightful one. Oil 'Will Hit $100 By Winter' Worst-Ever Crisis Looms, Says Analyst By Heather Stewart Economics Correspondent The Observer - UK 7-4-5 Oil prices could rocket to $100 within six months, plunging the world into an unprecedented fuel crisis, controversial Texan oil analyst Matt Simmons has warned. After crude surged through $60 a barrel last week, nervous investors were pinning their hopes on a build-up in US oil-stocks to depress prices in the coming months. But Simmons believes surging demand will keep prices bubbling well above $50. 'We could be at $100 by this winter. We have the biggest risk we have ever had of demand exceeding supply. We are now just about to face up to the biggest crisis we have ever had,' he said. Opec producers held emergency talks last week to consider making their second 500,000 a barrel increase in production quotas in a fortnight: but the discussions were suspended last Thursday after prices dipped back below $60. The looming oil crisis is not high up the agenda at this week's G8 meeting, although the heads of state are expected to repeat their finance ministers' call for greater transparency from Opec and other oil-producing nations about their reserves. However, global warming is one of Britain's two major priorities, and Tony Blair hopes to secure a pledge to pour more cash into developing alternatives to the oil-intensive technologies that cause climate change. Simmons believes such moves will be too little, too late. He will publish a hard-hitting book this week in which he argues that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest producer, is running out of oil, and further price rises are inevitable as supplies decline. He warns that the scramble for resources could eventually descend into war. Many analysts expect extra production over the next year, as high prices boost investment by energy firms. But Simmons says after many years of underinvestment, there is even a shortage of drilling rigs. 'Many of these projects are aspirations; many of them won't create peak production in the first year, and many of them within five years will be in decline,' he said. However, the Economist Intelligence Unit predicts that oil prices will peak by the end of this year, and decline by 10 per cent in 2006 as the Chinese economy slows, reducing demand. Chinese imports have been crucial to propping up the oil price in the last two years. But the EIU warned that its forecasts - which show a 30 per cent increase in oil prices for 2005 - could prove too conservative if there are further wobbles in supply. 'The narrow margin of spare production capacity has made prices vulnerable to unforeseen reductions in supply or rises in demand,' it said. Paul Horsnell, head of commodities analysis at Barclays Capital, said supply constraints would continue to bite for the rest of the year. 'It's all getting a bit tight' Brent crude closed almost $2 a barrel higher in New York on Friday night, while futures contracts for heating oil, widely used in the US, hit a record high, which analysts said was unusual for summer. 'It's fear,' said Kyle Cooper, an analyst at Citigroup. 'It's not based on what is happening now. It's based on fear of what could happen.' Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1519745,00.html | | Sunday, June 8th, 2008 | | 3:13 pm |
Cock Puncher
The other day I watched the Onion Movie, and thoroughly enjoyed it. There is no plot, just a bunch of unrelated skits, and every now and then there is but a hint of interconnection between them. For example, when the "Upstanding Black Man" exits the library, it segues nicely into "The Penis People". Also, the high-impact montage of every skit at the end of the movie was genius. And don't forget the blatant fan service that was the video for "Take Me From Behind", which is about love sneaking up on you, you know, from behind. All in all, this was the best Steven Seagal movie I've ever seen. | | Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 | | 2:50 pm |
ha-ha!
Canton is once again in the National Spotlight with this lovely story (via Fark): Jun 3, 7:34 AM EDT Mow your lawn... or risk jail time in Canton, Ohio CANTON, Ohio (AP) -- Homeowners who don't mow their grass in the northeast Ohio city of Canton now face stiffer penalties - including possible jail time. The city council unanimously passed a law Monday that makes a second high-grass violation a fourth-degree misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $250 and as many as 30 days in jail. The previous law only made the first violation a minor misdemeanor, with a fine of up to $150 but no jail time. The new law is to take effect in 30 days. "This is the type of action we need to take in order to clean up our neighborhoods and our city," Mayor William J. Healy II said. The laws are an effort to reduce the roughly $250,000 the city spends to cut about 2,000 private lots each year and to address public complaints, Councilman Greg Hawk has said. | | Friday, May 23rd, 2008 | | 7:44 am |
If only everything were as abundant as coffee filters... Current Music: Shostakovich - Symphony #4 | | Friday, May 2nd, 2008 | | 11:41 am |
| | Friday, April 25th, 2008 | | 8:00 am |
Last night I was bored and happened to be watching "Are you Smarted than a Fifth Grader" on TV. The guy got all the way to the last question and quit so he got half a million instead of a million. I was disappointed. Today, I was bored and randomly browsing the internet, and I came across Google trends. I noticed that yesterday's most searched keywords were the questions from last night's show. Apparently America isn't smarter than a fifth grader. | | Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 | | 12:15 am |
heh. Current Music: Weird "Al" Yankovic - Spam | | Thursday, April 10th, 2008 | | 1:45 pm |
Current Music: The Residents - Dinah and the Unclean Skin |
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