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Lazarus the Laptop. Recently, my trusty Acer Aspire 5100 developed a problem staying connected to my CD drive. After many times of having the drive fall out (due to the screw I didn’t put in to keep it in place) the internal connector on my laptop’s mainboard no longer made a solid connection to the optical drive.
Let’s face it: most people can’t unsolder a connector and replace it with a good one. I am one of the most. So my solution was to go to eBay and buy an identical laptop and slide in my Lightscribe, memory and HD into it, and sell mine at a discount reflecting the lack of an optical drive. The one I selected had a “screen problem” and I took this to mean the LCD needed some work, perhaps an inverter board or maybe the fluorescent tube was bad. Maybe both. They’re easy to replace.
Except when the “new” system arrived, the “screen problem” wasn’t the screen, it was the motherboard! The video was bad. The seller gave a credit.
But now I had 2 broken laptops. So, back to eBay I go, and buy yet ANOTHER system. The price was too good to pass up, and the system had a 14 day guarantee AND offer of an extended warranty.
Now here’s where I learned a critical piece of information: Acer made (at least) 2 versions of my laptop. One uses SATA, which is what I have…but my #2 buy on eBay doesn’t.
So, now I’m pissed. I’ve spent well over the cost of a repair and it’s not repaired.
Earlier I was stumbling and found a blog where a guy took his high end video card that fritzed out and baked (yes BAKED) it to reflow the solder.
So I did the same to the mainboard with the video issues.
Yeah, it worked. And I now call the laptop Lazarus.
XKCD is generally good, chock full o’ geekly goodness, but today’s edition is especially good:
The text that appears when you pause the mouse over the comic makes it even funnier.
Ordinarily I wouldn’t take a deer out of the wild, except dressed and ready to butcher/cook, but recently the above fawn was rescued from certain death in the wild (probably moments after the author saw it on the road, as it was nearly hit by a car) and now has a chance to live into adulthood, possibly be released into a park in Michigan where albino deer seem to be more common.
Not only is this fawn notable, but the tree-hugger’s comments on the author’s page just pissed me off. Sometimes people get so locked into a way of thinking that their knee-jerk response is so obviously wrong that they don’t see it.
I lived in an area with lots of whitetail, but I have NEVER seen an albino deer EVER. We tend to take rare examples of species and place them in zoos to preserve them.
If it’d been a regular fawn, then I’d be “that’s not cool, man.” but here?
Well Played.
Yeah, read it and weep, Zune luvers. It sucks so hard that it blows.
1. HALF a GIG??? download to install the crapware that Micro$oft expects you to use for the thing. Are all the Zune freaks out there so devoid of testicular/ovarian fortitude (ie: Lack the BALLS!) to come up with an alternative yet? FFS, the iPod has had more than one 3rd party application for years.
2. DRM. ‘Nuff Said.
3. Windows/MacOS only client. I mean, c’mon. Linux is out there, Stevie and Billy need to recognize that while they may not LIKE Linux, perhaps a client for it would be nice. If for no other reason than to see how many of us ARE using Linux. Might make them wet their pants to see the real numbers.
The rant started because I’m re-loading my oldest daughter’s computer. It’s a Toshiba laptop (No, I didn’t buy it, their mom did. I have more sense than to buy a ToSHITba, TYVM.) that thru an odd set of circumstances, my oldest wound up with.
I’ve preloaded it with Open Office, VLC, Firefox, Spybot S&D, Javacool’s Spyware Blaster, AVG, drivers, all on Windows XP SP3. ALSO it has a custom GRUB gfxboot screen, as well as a rescue/salvage/backup partition. Oh, and let’s not forget, it has a PartEdMagic image to boot and troubleshoot from as well.
Aside from the XP ALL the SOFTWARE together, to download is LESS than this “simple” client for the Zune. Bloatware, anyone?
In the time it’s taken to download the bloated, stinking corpse of crapware from Mickysoft, I’ve written this rant. My DSL may not be the speediest thing in town, but I’m sorry, 485+MB is too large for a sync client.
Geez, Windows XP Black Edition is smaller, I think. 
/rant
Another blogger had these (Chris Tomkinson) over on Wordpress, and I use them when I’m reinstalling here at home because I’m sick of the MS crap you have to deal with to reg a legit copy.
So, some XP VLKs for your use. I don’t condone piracy, so I post these to aid you in the LEGAL use of your Windows XP Pro.
Windows XP Pro VLKs continued…
Coming soon, a series of photos detailing the removal of my bone-stock transmission from the blue Spitfire (Yes, the one in the header) and the installation of the freshly rebuilt overdrive transmission into same. Also, some light engine work, replacement of freeze-plugs, check the thrust washers, etc
Spitfires, especially the earliest model, were more torque than speed. The fast feel of the car is likely generated by the fact that your arse is not more than 6 inches from the ground, so 50 miles per hour feels like 70. Top speed for a stock ‘64 Spitfire is around 90mph. I’ve had a Spitfire that fast, ONE time. Felt like the car was going to fly apart.
Don’t let that statement make you think I dislike the Spitfire. I have 2. I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
Well…maybe trade the 2nd car for a Jaguar E-Type. Yes, I know the XKE is worth more. I don’t care. 1 XKE for my 2nd Spitfire, and that’s final.
The overdrive that Triumph/BL selected is a Laycock De Normanville unit; The D (I believe) and the J-type (For sure) are the models used, the D in earlier cars, and the J in later. We’ve had a later-model Spitfire transmission with a J-type unit laying about in California for years, it’s a holdover from a previous car I had in a past life.
However, the transmission had seen better days in it’s life. My friend Michael tore down the unit, thinking that some gaskets and o-rings in the overdrive were all I needed. Well, it needed a lot more. Bearings, the front caged bearing for the pilot shaft was *gone* and others were similar. Syncros, a gear replaced, some gaskets, o-rings, etc. and there is now a freshly rebuilt transmission in a crate in a UPS truck heading from California to Florida with my name on it.
More to come, Soon.
I’m very proud of both of my daughters, but my eldest, shown below just after receiving her diploma, just managed to make me burst with pride again.
You see, my child might seem like a social butterfly with not a thought in her head, but even my recently-graduated daughter knows the truth, as posted on her MySpace page.
‘Nuff Said.
Les Paul died on 8.13.09. This is not what I had wanted for a birthday present (Oxy-Acetylene welding rig, please) but I think I’ll get over it.
Les Paul was one of the first, if not the first, creator of the solid-body electric guitar. He also invented multi-track recording.
If that all flew over your head, bacisally, as Nikola Tesla was the Father of the 20th Century, starting with AC power and radio, Les Paul is as close as you can be to being the father of modern music. He invented one of the main instruments used in music today, as well as THE method used to record it.
He and his wife had a string of pop-hits in the 50’s, and while he himself was more a Jazz man, many of the rock guitar players and others revered the man, and his guitar. He was the wizard behind the curtain, rather than the man on the stage, but without him, we’d all be listening to single-track noisy first-take recordings of “Country Cody’s Campfire Corale.” Many forms of music today depend on the methods he created.
He will be missed.
A federal judge orders Microsoft to stop selling some versions of Word in the United States, ruling that the program uses technology that infringes on a patent held by a Canadian company.
Isn’t Microsoft the company claiming Linux infringes on it’s patents? So, let me get this straight: MS infringes on a patent and it’s called “Innovation” but it’s called “Infringement” and “Theft” when Linux supposedly does the same?
Then again, the patent by i4i, the Canadian firm that sued, is very broad. Still, most patents are worded broadly to claim the widest possible “territory.”
Software patents are evil. Copyright is all software needs for protection.
Story here.
Found this here.
Gives a new meaning to “Smoking in the Bathtub” doesn’t it?
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