Archived News starting from 02-02-2007 and earlier
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After seeing Ultra 1024MB PC3200 memory was
$50 after rebate, I couldn't resist bumping my system memory from 2GB up to 3GB. I use same-model memory in my system for reliable
dual channel operation, and so far the ULT31664 chips have been good to me. Last week I learned exactly how good when I was re-educated on dual channel memory controllers. After my upgrade, I booted into Vista and had to re-run the Windows experience tool. I was shocked to find my memory score dropped over a point from
4.9 to
3.6. My
total worth as a person was below
MorlockPrime and the
Elder. My motherboard had fallen back to single-channel memory speeds since there was an odd number of chips. This was obviously unacceptable, so I scammed
Stavos into getting me another $50 rebate memory chip (one per household) which bumped me up to 4GB. Apparently the extra addressing operations take their toll on the controller, as I now only get a
4.6 score, placing me on par with MorlockPrime. An excellent example of how effective dual channel technology really is, how much of a sucker I am for good deals, and yet another look into the strange world of the nerd ego.
Stavos discovered some
very detailed photos of my house in
Virtual Earth. The angle and clarity of the shot (obviously taken from an aircraft) is amazing, and beats the crap out of all the (previously) amazing satellite photos. The car you see in my yard belonged to
Morlock #2, so I'm guessing early 2006 for the timeframe. Virtual Earth is also apparently hooked into
Snow White as it was able to confirm the Morlocks
originate from Morlock Street, as has been theorized.
Even though a morlock
beat me to it, I feel it's worth double-blogging on
Google Apps for Domains. They are that friggin exciting. My first attempt at appeasing
Grandpa and
MorlockPrime and their SMTP/POP3 lust was to use the Microsoft services included with
Server 2003. While the
SMTP service was straightforward enough, the
POP3 service was a joke. It felt like it was included as an afterthought, and the under whelming configuration screens seemed to support this theory. Fortunately, a determined morlock proves very resourceful and pointed me to the Google service. Once again Google delivers another shockingly free service that works like a charm. Just point your
mail exchanger records to Google and you can give your SMTP/POP3 worries over to them, just like every other problem you don't want to solve. Long live Google apps for domains! Long live Google! Obviously, if you have a domain on this server, I can hook you up. You know what to do.
Melanie has been infected with the Jaird disease for quite some time now, so they decided to celebrate the growing parasite with a
baby shower. But this was no ordinary baby shower; while the women got drunk on baby gifts, the men got drunk on hard liquor. There was even a
high resolution cake of which my request for the zebras slice was denied. I do miss those zebras.
With less than 2 months of winter left, mother nature is making up for lost time. Last night, the temperature hit a new low for this year at 7.7 °F. The depressing gray-death clouds of Michigan that slowly suck your life away
contributed to this low, but in a meteorological irony helped keep it above zero at night. You learn these things about clouds when you're haunted by them
constantly. The Morlocks might not be as warm as they're used to, but I'm betting they get more sun in their underground caverns than I do in Michigan.
+7.7 °F at 23:11 on 25 January |
Over 1,000 Gnomes were
brutally murdered near Perth, Australia in "Gnomesville," a sanctuary for oppressed Gnomes. Obviously perpetrated by someone suffering from Gnomophobia, it's a shame to see how once again societies misunderstanding and fear were translated into destruction.
Butt the Gnome, a long time supporter of Gnome rights, had this to say about his recent loss of brethren: "It's goddamn cold out here!"
This
Jan LAN was going to primarily focus on
Battlefield 2142, but technical difficulties prevented widespread use. Two unnamed individuals persisted in playing Battlefield despite rounds of Farcry and Unreal 2004 going on around them, they will be called pansies.
Mississippi Elder, Chris, and Huggins all made an appearance after an extended absence from the LANs, along with the regulars: Whiney,
The Kelleys,
Ron, and the soon-to-be-regular:
Lisa. Only one Morlock was present, leading me to believe they are from different clans, which would explain why they seem to avoid each other. Jaird understandably did not make the 4 hour drive, but Jeffords broke my heart by remaining in Ann Arbor without even a call. He will not be getting a valentines day card from me. Senator Kelley blatently
drank all my Mountain Dew, and the pansies will be holding a BF2142 specific party in the near future, stay tuned. Meanwhile here's the
timelapse from the
Gnome Cam.
What can I say about
NAIAS 2007 that hasn't been said about the past 5 NAIAS events? Somewhere around 2002 it just stopped being exciting, due mostly to the sagging economy and it's growing popularity as a disillusioned teen hangout. I’m sure my status as a non-buyer is also a contributing factor. The
senator and I make an effort to attend every year, expecting very little but unwilling to risk missing something interesting. This year had a few highlights such as a
weird rally car and a
650HP Viper. They also offered an early entry for people with cameras this year, which made for
lots of room instead of the usual jammed floor, a nice change from the last few years. I’m not holding my breath for next year, but the idea of my car being
hackable for 2008 may just bring me back into the excitement zone.
While I was sunning myself in Cancun, the furnace went out allowing inside temperatures to bottom out at
just below 53°. Morlocks are accustomed to hot temperatures from the blast furnaces they use to do whatever it is they do in addition to eating Eloi, so the resident Morlock was not happy with the situation. Having recently replaced the heat exchanger and blower, I was left with the logic board and
ignitor for possible failure points. I took a gamble on the ignitor and won, the old one was pretty far gone. The house is now on it's way back to a Morlock acceptable temperature, and Eloi Lisa is safe (for now).
A prescription for Cancun was given to Lisa and I for our
SAD and we recently
filled it. Unbeknownst to me, January is the coldest and windiest time of the year in Cancun, so we were treated to cloudy and windy days more than half the vacation. Still, a cold day in Cancun is better than any day in Michigan. Despite the weather, we managed to go
horseback riding and snorkeling in addition to a fair amount of beach time. Firsts for me this trip were: de boarding a plane
via stairs (guy behind me obviously a pro),
stick shift buses,
different vehicle lines,
attack iguanas,
permanent sewage smell (look closely, you can see the smell),
street chimps,
pizza bikes, and
horse recycling. When Lisa wasn't
playing Sudoku she was hanging out with
this guy so I was free to join the
Mexican circus. A good trip nonetheless.
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