What troubled webs we weave with a simple hardware upgrade...

[Sorry if this looks different form my normal posts, but the Blogger for Microsoft Word plugin is having issues tonight].

Ok, this all started out as an attempt at a hardware upgrade. I wasn’t going for all the latest bling-bling. Just a better video card. Then I realized that I had to get a beefier power supply for it, as I was getting crashes and reboots while playing Flight Simulator 2004. So I put a 300w power supply in. Then I realized the new power supply doesn’t have a fan. Heat was building up, and I was getting crashes and reboots while playing Combat Flight Simulator 3. Solution:

1. With 300w power supply and Radeon 9250 installed (actually the easy part), take side off the computer tower.
2. Take nightstand fan off of nightstand.
3. Set fan next to tower, pointing at the processor and video card.
4. Turn fan on, and set to maximum.
5. Finally enjoy your games with better graphics and no more reboots.

I know it doesn’t look pretty. But it works. Or better yet, the next time I go by a CompUSA store, I’m just going to run away screaming, “Get Thee Hence, Satan!”

The lesson I’ve learned for this is that there are three ways to part with your money:

1. Gambling is the quickest.
2. Women are the most fun (generally).
3. And IT is the surest,

Ramen.

One last Ramen before I retire for the night...

The Flying Spaghetti Monster is starting to reveal Himself to swimmers in Rhode Island. How blessed are they.

For once, an honest man gets his due

That homeless guy in Detroit who returned $21,000 so far has gotten over $4,000 from across the country.  My hat goes off to him.  Honesty does have its rewards.  Too bad not every one is capable of doing the Right Thing (like politicians and elected officials, for example).  

The obvious being restated.

I know this is restating the obvious, but Lance Bass is gay.  Who would’ve figured?

Calvin And Hobbes finally gets it.

All your base are belong to us.

A bunch of stuff in one post.

A lot has happened this week:

1. So I added a second monitor today. I should’ve done this a long time ago (btw, I ditched the Nvida video card for an ATI Radeon 9250. Yes, I know I’m going with the cheap-ass, budget series, but I can’t afford top-of-the-line components). Out-of-the-box, it has two ports: one vga 9for crt monitors, and a dvi for lcd monitors. Since I have a dvi to vga adapter (from the original AIW Radeon that was the first to get yanked), it was simple matter to add a second monitor. I can now run the TV application in the second monitor, and use the first monitor for important stuff, like writing blog entries.


2. The Anti-Christ has officially ended support for Windows 98/ME. This means no more patches, updates, or support. You’re on your own. Windows update is still up (as of this morning, when I was able to check it from my Mom’s computer, who still run WinME).


3. The history of Windows. From the Anti-Christ itself.


4. For once today, I was able to get a day off with out my boss trying to call me in. After being told no three days in a row, I guess they got the point. I don’t mind coming to work (in fact I look forward to it). But, when I’m not the schedule, I do make plans, and I like to follow through on them. I’m willing to work six-day weeks, and go sun-up to sun-down, but it needs to put on the schedule.


5. The Hobby Shop in the South Hill Mall is now closed. Bob and Ray, the owners, are my best friends, and I think I’ve single-handedly funded their retirements with all the models I’ve purchased and ruined over the years. They say they will reopen in a while (either in downtown, or on South Hill).

Coincedence or??????

Is it me, or does Davy Jones look too much like Kit Fisto? Perhaps it is possible for Jedi to still have careers after getting killed by the Sith.

The Mariners are winning?!?

The Northwest Regiment of The New World Order, Mind-Control Division are at 18-7 this month. Overall they’re .513 and two games out of the division lead. It almost makes the game interesting. Wait a minute… <changes Tin-Foil hat>….. It’s still a boring game.

The Anti-Christ is in the news again

The Anti-Christ is getting sued over the Windows Genuine Advantage fiasco. I can tolerate Product Activation and ensuing telephone call to India every time I rebuild my system. But calling home every day is going too far. If my operating system is legitimate when I activate it, how is it going to become pirated the next day?

Oh, and IE 7 Beta 3 is out.

Take the pledge!

Have you taken the pledge yet?

<quote>

Under no circumstances will I ever purchase anything offered to me as the result of an unsolicited e-mail message. Nor will I forward chain letters, petitions, mass mailings, or virus warnings to large numbers of others. This is my contribution to the survival of the online community.

<\quote>

This is why Best Buy, Amazon.com, Cingular Wireless, KISS, Classmates.com, and various other companies will no longer see any of my business. My email inbox is private property, and is not there just for you to advertise in it. Spamming is theft. I don’t do business with thieves.

371 uselss fact and other stuff.

Here are 371 totally useless facts.  I make no guarantee for accuracy.  But then again, Elvis does love and Belgium doesn’t exist.  Speaking of Belgium not existing, one should also be on the lookout for the Black Helicopters, and be shiny side out.

To all the Dads out there....

I hope you have a happy Father's Day. Anybody with the right hardware in their shorts can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a Dad. I think I'll give mine a call.

Another lawyer discovered

The bbc is reporting that a news species of shark was disocvered in America. No details yet on the name of the species or wheher or not it has already been admitted to the bar.

If you still insist on ruunning Win9X..

Like i've been known on occaision, at least depoly a firewall. Seriously. The Anti-Christ has stopped supporting it early.

Microsoft is at it again.......

I saw this over on slashdot. It’s just plain stupidity on the part of The Anti-Christ, if you ask me. For those of you who aren’t running a recent copy of Windows, The Anti-Christ requires you to ‘validate’ your Windows installation with Windows Genuine Advantage before you can download, say security updates. The problem is, after you’ve validated, WGA will still call home daily. This wouldn’t be the first time they’re gotten into trouble (like here). Activation is one thing. I can live with that (after all, they’re just trying to make sure that your software is used only on your computer. If they wanted you to share it with the world, then Windows would’ve been released under the GPL, like Linux). But there is a difference. Activation is a one time deal. WGA is every single farking day. That’s going too far.

Laser Guided Kitty

So I was at my Mom’s house Saturday.  She gave a mini-flashlight (I don’t know where she got it; probably mail order) that also had a laser pointer on it.  My roommate’s cat will recover.  Eventually.  But she needs the exercise.

Goog God Almighty! It has happened!

Anna Nicole Smith is pregnant. Nothing really to report, I just have to raise the voice of warning that she's breeding. Ugh.

A Half-Arsed Review of WMP 11

I tried the new Windows Media Player 11 recently.  Hated it.  Out of the box, the default view is the thumbnail view (the view that you experience when you install Windows XP out of the box.  My first change is to set to ‘icon’).  It took me some time to get it to display my playlists without the thumbnails.  Another issue I have is how the items are arranged.  Yes, I know they’re arranged alphabetically, but I could do without the prominent categorization (that’s the best way I could put it.  The wikipedia article describes it better than I could).

I like the to panes.  I like that category trees.  It is much faster for me to navigate my mp3 library and go from one song to another in Windows Media Player 10.

Or I could just wipe my drive and go back to Windows ME.  Microsoft is still supporting it until July 11.

How to make an ATI TV Wonder Pro work in Windows ME

Ok, I should probably stick with Windows XP, but what can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment, and I like 'going retro'. That being said, the driver cd that comes with the ATI TV Wonder Pro only has drivers for Windows XP. The instruction manual that comes with it has instructions for Windows ME (and on the box, it says that it will work with WinME), but there are a couple of drawbacks. The main one is that the instructions for WinME installation refer to a directory on the CD-Rom that no loonger exists. OK, so here's how to make it work:

Go to the ATI website, and download the software here. Put your ATI cd into your computer's cd-rom drive, when the installation program starts, exit out. First, run the program "mmc-8-1-0-0-dao-mdac.exe". This will run and end silently. Then, run the program "tv_wonder_pro_wdm.exe". When this program runs, it will prompt you to restart your computer. So, restart it, idiot. When it restarts, right-click on 'My Computer', and then click on the 'device manager' tab, and see the 'pci multimedia device'. It may not be named that (to be honest, I really can't remember what it's called, but you'll know what I'm talking about, as it will be the item with the yellow question mark by it). Right-click on the item, then click on 'properties', then the tab 'driver'. Now, click on the button 'update driver' (or, it could be 'find driver'. I'm not sure). The next window that comes up, click on button 'specify location'. Make sure the box marked 'removable media' is checked. Click 'next', and windows should find the driver off the cd-rom. WHen it finds it, windows will install the driver automatically. You'll get a bunch of rude messages from windows about missing files (after all, this cd was originally meant for windows xp, remember). Just click on 'skip file', and move on. Afterwards, your TV card dirvers should be installed (it should work, I did it twice on my system). Now, install the program "mmc-8-9-0-0.exe". Reboot, rinse, repeat.

Ramen.

Window Vista Requirements released

The Anti-Christ has released the requirements for Windows Vista. I'm shocked. My six-year old system can fill the requirements. Just barely, though.