Sexy PC = = Aching Back

Got all the PC parts in, finally, and spend about four hours wiring it up. I still need to pull my hard drives from this PC and put it in the new one before it all works, though. Bummer. Plus, my back hurts from being hunched over my case for most of the evening putting everything in it's proper place.

I really should wire up some SATA drives instead of reusing my IDE drives to take full advantage of what my new rig has to offer, but I just reinstalled everything a few weeks ago and I don't feel like using up any more of my precious MSDN installation keys (I only get so many, ya know!). In addition, reinstalling on a Dialup connection is a real PITA when it comes time for security patches.

No big rush, though. I still need to figure out how to fit a 20 inch full-tower case in a desk that has a tower hutch of 18 inches.

Fitting 20 inches of case in an 18 inch hutch is problematic, you see. It's 2 inches too big, and that just won't do.

So I can either take a hammer to my existing desk, or purchase myself a new one. Decisions, decisions.

I'm gonna go lie down now. Rock on, kids.

Computational Goodness

Firstly, I'd like to say I hope everyone had a pleasant Holiday. Welcome to the week where jack shit gets done, because next weekend is New Year's.

It is also apparently a week that is out to get me. You know it's gonna be a good time when everything is so iced over, you literally cannot get out of your driveway. I sat today spinning my wheels, because all the snow and ice melted in the slightly warmer weather and promptly refroze as night fell. It took me forty five minutes, a shovel, two pieces of plywood, and a lot of patience to chip enough ice away that I could get some traction and get out to get to work. As I was doing this, I could think of nothing but the ridiculousness of the situation. (Stupid dirt driveway.)

Also today, I misplaced the RFID keyfob I use to clock into work. Having to knock on windows to get people's attention to get in, while also being very late? Yeah, that's a good time... (Hmm, still need to look for that stupid fob...)

Secondly, I made a post a few days ago reporting that the DHS roughed up some college kid over requesting a copy of the Little Red Book. Well, he's been found out. The story was fraudulent. I WAS TRICKED! Who makes shit up like that? What a dickhead.

I suppose the scariest part about it was how easy it was to believe. We live in a time where our President has admitted that he ordered the NSA to spy on Americans, and expects us to thank him for it. So the idea that DHS agents were checking library book lists for people reading "Un-American" items seemed rather credible.

It's sad it's come to that, really. I wish I had read it and been able to think with a clear conscious that it was a load of bullshit, but so much doubt has been cast upon our government that I didn't even blink. I was outraged, but not even really surprised. It was just so plausible. And the fact that everyone believed it off the bat does not bode well for how America views its government at the current time.

Lastly, I don't really enjoy being perpetually single, but there are benefits. For example, not having to justify myself to anyone when I drop $1600 on a brand spanking new PC. Mwah ha. 3800+ AMD Venice-core processor. 2 gigabytes of Corsair DDR-400 RAM. GeForce GTX 7800 Video Card. 320 Gigabytes of harddrivey goodness. And a power supply that puts off so much juice I could probably use it as a space heater in winter.

I spent $170 on the case. Why the hell did I spend $170 on a gorgeous Fulltower, when I could've gotten a good Midtower for $100 less? Because I could, that's why. The fucker has enough room for six hard drives for God's sake. Two 120 mm fans! Everything lights up! It's awesome! I just wish I had thought to check how tall my hutch was before I bought the case though, because it's actually an inch and a half too big to fit into my desk. Nothing that taking a hammer to my desk won't fix though.

Also, I really don't want to buy a new system for at least five years so this sucker is designed for a bit of adaptability. My current configuration can take up to 4 gigs of ram, and supports SLI if I feel like dropping another $450 on a second GTX. Fulltower leaves me a lot of room to play, and it even has a motherboard tray for ease-of-swapout when it comes time to upgrade the mobo and CPU.

Mmm. SLI. That’s gonna be fun. I think I’ll do that sooner rather than later.

Okay, I know out of my three readers, two of you don't give a shit, so I'll stop rambling about my computer now. Sorry. I'm a big dork and I love my Tech. I figure I buy a new system every five years (and upgrade here and there as time passes), and my next system will be when I'm thirty. By that time, I'll probably be Mr. Family Man, looking for El-Cheepo PC to run spreadsheets on to figure out my mortgage. Brr. Scary.

This is my last Gaming rig, and I wanted it to do everything but make me breakfast in the morning. Don't worry though, I promise I'll try not to do so much upgrading that it becomes self aware and takes over the world. ;)

(What is really sad is five years from now, I will read the specifications I just posted and chuckle. I occasionally chuckle at the computer I bought when I was fifteen. 166 MHz Pentium, man! 16 Megs of RAM... which I promptly upgraded to 32! A 3.1 GB hard drive! Uber1337, man! Uber1337! Ahh, the technology of the mid 1990's. Good times.)

Anyway, I'm done. I need to go look for my keyfob so I can actually get into work without banging on the door tomorrow.

Rock on.

Merry Christmas!

Ahh, been a few days. The Holidays are a busy time for many people, and that includes me. I don't think I'll be back until after Christmas, so a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays (whatever you prefer) to my few regular readers and also to any poor saps that randomly stumble upon my inane ramblings.

Now, just a bit of commentary about a man named Bill. Bill O'Reilly, to be exact. I have something to say that really must sent off in his direction, in regards to him believing "Secular Forces" are out to "Destroy Christmas." That something being: "Dumbass."

"War on Christmas?" Gee whiz, I don't know if you looked around recently, but I think Christmas is winning. I could do a line-by-line refutation of his pieces, but reading it again and realizing how stupid the whole thing is and that people actually believe him... that would just make me unhappy. So I won't read it again.

Suffice to say: There is no War on Christmas. It is all in Bill O'Reilly's head. I don't think that the 80-85% of Americans who celebrate Christ's birth have anything to worry about from the Secular side of America.

You want to worry about Christmas being destroyed? Blame retailers from ripping out all the good feelings that Christmas was supposed to have and turning it into an angry stressful Consumerfest. Overcommercialization is more of a threat to Christmas than the American atheist minority. So stop fighting battles where they don’t exist.

Okay, that's enough negativity for one evening! Enjoy your weekend, folks!

Merry Christmas!

DHS Investigates College Student for Library Book

(Link to Story, via South Coast Today/The Standard Times website)

A student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth requested the book Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, a.k.a. "The Little Red Book" via his school library's interlibrary loan program to help him complete a research paper on Communism.

He was, instead, treated to a visit from a pair of Department of Homeland Security agents.

This is utter bullshit. It's to the point where they're investigating anyone with "Significant Travel Abroad," although who gets to define “Significant” is anyone's guess, and who happens to check out a book that's on a "Watch List?" What happened to freedom of the press, free exchange of ideas, freedom of speech? I personally think it would be nice to NOT have to worry about Federal Agents paying me a little visit just because I read something they don't agree with!

What has our country become?

UPDATE: This story was fake. What an asshole. News article here. My thoughts on the story are posted as the second item on this post

We're Getting a Spaceport!

Virgin Galactic, the company whose name is kinda cheesy, is building a commercial spaceport in New Mexico. Read the AP Article here at CBS ews.

Nothing really stunning, but we are getting something named Spaceport, officially. My goal of flying around in an Millennium Falcon-esque somethingorother comes one day closer.

Rock on, kids.

Video Game Myths Debunked

A nice piece on video game myths by Professor Harry Jenkins of MIT. Give it a read.

And in other news...

...A professor at the University of Kansas had the living bejesus kicked out of him by two guys for calling Intelligent Design "Mythology."

In a related story, two Kansas men proved they were hypocrites for kicking the shit out of a professor in the name of one Jesus of Nazareth, a historical man known for his dedication to pacifism.

Nice job guys. Way to display your lack of intelligence. You can't defeat someone in debate so you assault them to show your devotion to your religion. Congrats!

I hate hypocrites.

Cloudstrider Post

I put something over on Cloudstrider, a philosophy / debate community blog I'm a member of.

Go ahead on over to CS and read the piece over there.

Join up if you want, as well, we can always use new people.

Rock on, kids.

The Revolution Comes Cheap!

Apparently, the Nintendo Revolution will be quite inexpensive, with price estimates ranging from $99 to $200. Sure as heck beats the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, which retail (or will retail) at roughly three times the midline estimate of the Revolution.

So, the Revolution will be dirt cheap, and I could potentially play the entire backlog of Nintendo games on it? Sold, man. Even with the whacko controller, I’m all for it.

Rock on, kids.

Hey, Where Did I Go?

I don't know either! Just never seemed to get around to updating it these past few days. Which is a real pity, because I actually have some decent essays burning around in my brain, and all you guys (my blessed three readers!) get is gibberish.

But five things I have learned on my unintentional hiatus:

1) Stitches itch. To answer Leigh Ann's question of "What the heck?" to my last rambling post, I had a biopsy done to the top of my skull. Stitches and cauterization. Blah! The cauterization, i.e. the thing that sounded like an electric arc welder being used on my skull, stung a bit. And the stitches itch.

2) I am not done with homework. I seriously thought my homework days were done after I graduated college. As I sat redoing scripts at my desk at home yesterday, I realized that I was really, really wrong.

3) Apparently, I need more sleep. Tonight will have marked the fourth time in about a week I basically dropped dead at 7 o’clock. Evidently my body is not appreciative of my current four hours of sleep a night.

4) Murphy’s Law is still in effect. As is evident by me breaking the hood release lever on my car minutes before I was supposed to take it in to have the oil changed. Stupid cheap plastic.

5) Escapa! Flash games are awesome. Play this! Sometimes it’s the simple games that are the most addicting. Also, if you beat 41.25 seconds, you beat my current best score.

Okay, so that wasn’t really something that was particularly illuminating, but I didn’t have a fifth thing to say. So just play the game already!

Anyway, back to bed. Rock on, kids.

Ouch!

So instead of going to work today, I was getting sliced up by a doctor.

The needles didn't really hurt. The scalpel really didn't hurt, surprisingly enough. The stiches didn't hurt. But the cauterization! Now that stung more than a little. They had this thing that sounded like an electric welder, except instead of metal it was being used on me. Roasting flesh is not a good smell, especially when its your own.

Ahh, the smell of cooking Knighterrant in the morning. Smells like... OW! SHIT! OW!


Rock on, kids.