Going from the Mesozoic Era up to the Stone Age!

I’ve had my trusty computer now for close to 5 years. Its a good ole 1.0 GHz AMD Athlon T-Bird with 512MB of PC133 SDRAM and a top-of-the-line (at the time) ATI Radeon 8500 that supports AGP x4 !!! Its gone through numerous reinstalls, a CD-R, a DVD-RW, and several hard drives. Its gone from windows 98 to NetBSD, to Mandrake Linux, to Windows 2000, to Windows XP Pro(Pirated) and finally Windows XP Pro(Legit). As far as computers are concerned its a dinosaur. This Christmas I’ve decided to upgrade.

Now, I was hoping to hold out for an AMD 64bit processor, but then they came out with a 64-bit dual core, now they are talking about quad cores. Unfortunately I haven’t had the funds to take the plunge into a top of the line PC. So I’m going Budget. I was hoping i could just upgrade my processor however the highest processor speed i can get is a 1.3 GHz. I have v1.0 of my Abit KT7A mobo which doesn’t support the Athlon XP’s, however if i were lucky enough to have v1.3 of my mobo I could have just purchased a new processor. But I can’t. I’ve done some looking around on the net and came across some new trends that have perked my interest. The SFF (Small Form Factor) PC’s which are barebones PCs that are tiny cubes. The cases are so small that the motherboard has to be integrated into them. Some of these PCs can hold their own against top of the line home made pcs and are a fraction of the cost. The advantage is having a small portable PC, but the disadvantage is that you can’t expand much. You get integrated sound and LAN and only two slots for expansions. The Shuttle seems to be the most popular SFF.
Another trend that seems up and coming (maybe it already came? I’m so out of touch in the PC gaming world…) is the Micro ATX cube cases. MicroATX form factors have been around for a while but now computer case manufactures are emulating the SFF PC’s and are making MicroATX cases in the shape of cubes. However since the size of a Micro ATX mobo is still larger than a SFF PC the cube case is also going to be larger. But not too much larger, check out the pic . At first I wanted to get a shuttle, but eventually decided to get a MicroATX. The Case you see here in the picture is actually the one that is on its way to my house right now! The cool thing about this case is that it can hold 3 hard drives and has a built in micro card reader. I ‘m thinking that this may one day be my file server sporting a RAID-5 configuration. This link is the only real review i was able to find on this case.
I bought this case from buy.com since it was cheaper than newegg.com and had free shipping. I also have an Epox EP-8RGM3I Micro ATX mobo and 1 GB of 400 DDR RAM on its way to my house from NewEgg.com. At first I plan on recycling Christi’s old AMD 1700XP until the price of the 3200XP’s come down to about $150. Then I’ll get that and another stick of RAM.
Hopefully I’ll get all my goodies before the end of the week!

I hate waiting!

I wanted to post up what my grades were for this past semester, but two of my teachers haven’t turned in the grades yet, and casper web is closed for christmas break… What a POS system! Sierra College’s system for checking grades is much better. Anyways, The two grades I do know are Coms 103, which I got a C+, ugh… I was hopping for a B, but I did horrible on the exams so I should proabably be thankful it was a C+. In my Law Class I already knew I was getting a B so that was no suprise. So I’m still waiting for Marketing and Programing…

Anthonares: “The P.I.G. to Science”: Bethell’s Evolution Misunderstanding

Anthonares: “The P.I.G. to Science”: Bethell’s Evolution Misunderstanding

Revealed: the pill that prevents cancer

Independent Online Edition > Science & Technology: “A growing body of evidence in recent years has shown that lack of vitamin D may have lethal effects. Heart disease, lung disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis are among the conditions in which it is believed to play a vital role. The vitamin is also essential for bone health and protects against rickets in children and osteoporosis in the elderly.”

BREITBART.COM – Abortions in Spain rise by 72 percent in 10 years

BREITBART.COM – Abortions in Spain rise by 72 percent in 10 years: “Abortion was decriminalised in Spain in 1985 for certain cases: after rape, in the case of malformation of the foetus and if the pregnancy represents a threat to the physical or mental health of the woman.

The report said 95.7 percent of abortions were carried out for the last reason.”

I hope you all had a….

Merry Christmas

eBay: Epox Shuttle EX5.Micro PC.AMD2100+,120gb,512mb,dvd/cdrw (item 8740182760 end time Dec-21-05 20:11:01 PST)

*Is this my next computer?*
Tune in tomorrow to find out!

eBay: Epox Shuttle EX5.Micro PC.AMD2100+,120gb,512mb,dvd/cdrw (item 8740182760 end time Dec-21-05 20:11:01 PST): “Current bid: US $225.00 (Reserve met)

(PayPal account required)

Time left: 1 day 6 hours
3-day listing, Ends Dec-21-05 20:11:01 PST
Start time: Dec-18-05 20:11:01 PST
History: 6 bids (US $49.99 starting bid)
High bidder: mikefarinha ( 14Feedback score is 10 to 49)”

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day: digerati

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day: digerati: “Word of the Day for Tuesday December 20, 2005

digerati \dij-uh-RAH-tee\, plural noun:
Persons knowledgeable about computers and technology.

As high tech spreads outward from Silicon Valley to American society at large and people spend more and more time in cyberspace, the journalist Paulina Borsook steps back to look at the digerati and their view of the world.
–Michiko Kakutani, ‘Silicon Valley Views the Economy as a Rain Forest,’ New York Times, July 25, 2000″

King Kong – A Tragedy

About a month ago Christi and I got two free movie tickets through Albertsons. We used them last night to go see King Kong.

If I were to describe the movie in one word it would be ‘overwhelming’ and ‘fantastic’ would be a close second.
Yeah, it was long (180 minutes) but like Peter Jackson’s last movie, Lord of the Rings, it was directed so well that the length didn’t seem to be an issue. IMO it just added to the depth of the story to make it more involving. It has been a long time since I saw the original but from what I remember, comparing the two, this one seemed to spend a lot more time on Skull Island than the original one, proportionally. Which is a good thing. From what i remember of the old one was that the first half of the movie was good and the second half was boring. The first half being on Skull Island and the second half being in New York, of course I was probably 10 years old or younger and my attention span was about as long as … Um… Something really short…

Despite the fact that this movie was completely stunning, there were some parts in the beginning that seemed overly dramatic, probably due to the fact that we didn’t really know the characters that well to have deep feelings for. It felt kinda odd to me, but I also missed the first 10 minutes of the movie since nature was calling. But that’s just my opinion, those parts may be more meaningful when rewatching it thus adding to the movies longevity.

Now I don’t want to give away too much, but there was one part that I remember from the original that I was hoping would be reproduced in this remake, how Kong killed the T-Rex! Thankfully Peter Jackson didn’t disappoint!

Before Christi and I went to see it I told her that she would cry, she didn’t believe me. She also didn’t believe me when I told her the movie was 3 hours long. Sufficed to say, she cried for almost the last 40 minutes of the movie and 10 minutes before the movie ended, since she knew how it was going to end, couldn’t watch anymore so she waited in the lobby for me. She just seems to have a thing for big hairy animals… *wink-wink*
Of course, she also has cried each of the four times we’ve watched the movie Elf. So assuming she was going to cry while watching King Kong was a no-brainier.
But I’m glad she sat through as much as she did, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much if i had to watch the last half by myself. Love ya toots

Media Bias Is Real, Finds UCLA Political Scientist… 12/14/2005

Media Bias Is Real, Finds UCLA Political Scientist… 12/14/2005: “Media Bias Is Real, Finds UCLA Political Scientist

Date: December 14, 2005
Contact: Meg Sullivan ( msullivan@support.ucla.edu )
Phone: 310-825-1046

While the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal is conservative, the newspaper’s news pages are liberal, even more liberal than The New York Times. The Drudge Report may have a right-wing reputation, but it leans left. Coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media. Meanwhile, almost all major media outlets tilt to the left.

These are just a few of the surprising findings from a UCLA-led study, which is believed to be the first successful attempt at objectively quantifying bias in a range of media outlets and ranking them accordingly.

‘I suspected that many media outlets would tilt to the left because surveys have shown that reporters tend to vote more Democrat than Republican,’ said Tim Groseclose, a UCLA political scientist and the study’s lead author. ‘But I was surprised at just how pronounced the distinctions are.’

‘Overall, the major media outlets are quite moderate compared to members of Congress, but even so, there is a quantifiable and significant bias in that nearly all of them lean to the left,’ said co‑author Jeffrey Milyo, University of Missouri economist and public”