AB2² | Alex's Blog

So I got some parts from a friend that upgraded his computer to a new i7 processor. He gave me the old CPU, Motherboard, and RAM, and the busted power supply that we replaced in his computer in exchange for helping him out with the upgrade.
Well, I had a hard disk drive and a DVD-ROM lying around, not in use… so all I needed to do was get a power supply and find a case… easy right? Not really. I had one problem: I’m broke.

So I had to use… alternate methods:

Step 1: The power supply.
I had several other older power supplies lying around, plus the broken one from my friend’s old system… so I picked up a few of them and took them all apart.

A few hours later… I had a working power supply that met modern standards. (And one working one that meets the standards from like… 2004.)

Step 2: The case.
Well I had a case in the garage that wasn’t in use, so I pulled it out. First thing I notice: No standoffs for the motherboard. Well I wasn’t getting out of this one… so I had to go to the store and spend 5$ on standoffs. Freaking gay right?

Well I got home, screwed them in, and then I found out: These standoffs are too tall by about a millimeter! So what do I do? I punch out the back faceplate for the ports and just leave it off. Fuck that thing… it’s not really necessary assuming the board is grounded right and fastened securely… and no one sticks things in through the hole.

So I was hooking up the front audio jacks and realized: This isn’t a regulation plug! It’s just a bunch of individual pin plug things… so I have to look up a pin map for AC’97 audio connectors because the one in the motherboard map is wrong, or not specific enough rather… and then stick these tiny things onto each pin in the right configuration. Biggest pain in the rear ever.
To the maker of this case: We have standards for a reason people… use them.

Step 3: The SATA cable.
So I now have everything hooked up… oh wait… I don’t have a SATA cable… no problem I’ll use the spare that came with my other motherboard— wait… why is that box not where I left it? F$$%@$)@—
So after looking for 4 hours… I now have everything I need, and it’s all hooked up… I flip the switch, and it actually turns on and gets past the POST! I feel like freaking MacGyver.

Google’s founding motto:Don’t Be EvilWell that’s apparently a lie… or so it’s seeming.Google and Verizon are now at it again, or rather still at it, trying to destroy our precious Net Neutrality. This time though, it’s not on your home connection, it’s on your cellphone / netbook / air card connected laptop.The new proposal by Google and Verizon suggests that wireless providers be except from most of Google’s Net Neutrality guidelines.Why? Because wireless infrastructure is ‘unique and complex.’-_-… No… no it’s not, and Network Neutrality is no less important on a wireless network than a wired one.So everyone… please… post stuff and inform the world of this latest pile of bullsh*t from the corporate world, so that we can possibly stop our mobile internet access from getting any crappier than it already is.And if anyone knows Google’s CEO’s personal email… I’d like it so I can write a long, not so nice letter, demanding clarification and an explanation of this absolute bullsh*t.

Okay, so I just bought another van, because a rather unfortunate and painful accident claimed the last one, and the thing ran perfectly fine for a while, just had a little squeak from the accessory belt that actually shut up for the most part.

But NOW the thing’s A/C compressor drive belt snapped. (Apparently this is called a V-belt or something like that…) So I have no A/C. And it’s summer.

If that weren’t bad enough, now it’s making an odd clicking noise (Apparently the cushion(s) on the lifter(s) are messed up…) and the engine sputters and spews black smoke out the back end of the car. And I say the back of the car because it doesn’t appear to only be coming from the tail pipe… more the entire undercarriage and the tail pipe… so I can only assume something is (at the very least) fucked up with the exhaust system.

The guy I bought this van from was such a shiester… he was so full of shit… so I can’t help but blame this on him at least partially… because he probably had someone rig something that was about to fail so it’d work a little bit longer while he sold it.

I also blame this on WalMart. Yes, WalMart. On my way to California, I noticed the oil was a bit low, and hadn’t been changed in who knows how long… so I had the WalMart Service Center (because they were the only place open for 100 miles…) change the oil. Well apparently 500 miles later on my trip, I discovered they didn’t put in enough oil… about 3 quarts were put in probably… and the engine holds like 5 I think… So the engine was probably rather displeased with this. I know I would be if I was an engine. Actually, I’m still displeased with it because I own said engine that is now messed up, and will probably require an expensive repair.

So my van was totaled in a rather unfortunate series of rapidly occurring events a month back, and my mother’s Dodge Grand Caravan was a lemon, and also inherently shitty because it’s a Dodge that was manufactured in 2006.

So we got rid of my mom’s van, she traded it in for a Honda Odyssey. This thing is f*cking awesome.
It’s got power sliding doors, a stereo system with a radio, CD player, and bluetooth speakerphone for your cellphone, and it’s a Honda so it won’t go breaking like that piece of Dodge crap that she had before. I love the fact that the A/C system has an actual digital thermostat, and it’s fully automatic… it’ll regulate the temperature to whatever you set it to, as low as 60 degrees F, in the most efficient way possible. It’s got a 3.0 V6 engine, and is Front Wheel Drive. It’s really nice because it has an electronic traction control, and the thing doesn’t slip on the road like the Dodge 2006 Grand Caravan.

I bought a Dodge 1998 Grand Caravan, that had around 135,000 miles on it. Paid $3,000 for it, but my mechanic says the engine is in good shape, as well as the transmission. The interior is in great shape… very clean and fluffy… nothing ripped up on the inside. The A/C makes the thing like a refrigerator, which I like on account of that I hate heat, and I live in Alabama. It has a 3.0 liter V6 engine, and is Front Wheel Drive, unlike the previous van I had, which was All Wheel Drive. I would have preferred a larger engine (3.8 liter) and All Wheel Drive… but I don’t really need it so I guess there’s no point in complaining. The one thing I am upset about is that it didn’t come with a CD player… but that’s something I can fix… pretty easily… so I’ll put a nice stereo in it when I get the money.

So I managed to cheat death again… but at a large financial loss.

For those of you that haven’t heard yet, I completely totaled my van yesterday. Like… the front end no longer exists… it’s that bad. And I don’t even remember very well what happened. From what I remember very vaguely, this is what must have happened:

1. It was raining like hell, I couldn’t see shit, and then all of the sudden the thing starts slipping / hydroplaning.
2. I tried to correct, and that didn’t do anything. From what I can tell, it should have worked… but it didn’t… maybe there was something I missed… a pot hole… a puddle… I don’t know… but the slide continued.
3. The right side of the car slid off the road, into the ditch on the side, and despite my attempts, I was unable to yank the wheel out of the ditch and get back on the road.
4. It slid off further into the ditch. I hit the brakes, but it did nothing.
5. The van hit a rock in the ditch, and it snapped the rear axle, then another that snapped the front axle, or at least bent it very badly, and caused me to hit my head on the window.
6. The thing must have still been going about 45 or 50 mph when it finally hit an even larger rock head on, stopping it and crushing the front end in, destroying the engine and everything under the hood. The airbag deployed and prevented me from smashing my head open, but unfortunately the thing threw a bit of plastic shrapnel into various parts of my body, and I’m still pulling out little fibers of things.

By all means, I should have been trapped inside. I should have. I don’t know how I was not. I just remember the airbag, and then I was standing outside of the vehicle. The dashboard was crushed in to the point where It should have killed me, and the door shouldn’t have been able to be opened even, but yet there I was outside the vehicle, staring at everything like ‘wtf…’

Of course, Tennessee is a douche bag, so I owe them at least $150.00 in fines… for hitting a rock accidentally. No property damage except for my own… and they’re gonna go fine me for towing the van and stuff.

So yes… I have no vehicle, very little money, and my body feels like I just hit a rock at 60mph… cause I did. I don’t know why I’m not dead… maybe fluffy pulled me out before the dashboard crushed me… who knows… but more importantly I HAVE NO CAR, which means I need to get another one… like now. Anyone want to sell me something good for cheap? Something made by Honda or Toyota or Nissan preferably? Something with a lot of space for carrying things around… but that gets good gas mileage (over 22 MPG highway…)?

Okay so apparently, the Supreme Court has ruled that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have the authority to determine priority of packets based on their own discretion.

This means that if they want to make CNN more important than Fox News, they can do it. If they want to make Yahoo load faster than Google, they can do it. If they want to say that your online gaming packets are less important than Mr. John Smith’s email packets, they can do that.
They can now legally choose what information to pass on, and how quickly and in what order to do so.

One might say “Well who cares? They’re not going to NOT pass on my emails and stuff, they’ll just do so at a slightly slower rate, and I won’t even notice.” Well this may be true, but it may not be true.
For those of you who like to game online, it might influence you the most, because if your ISP determines that your game’s packets aren’t top priority, or at that a low priority, you might end up with what everyone refers to as a ‘high ping’, causing your gaming experience to be a lot less enjoyable.
The same is true for those of you who enjoy streaming movies from whatever service you may choose, such as Hulu or Netflix or YouTube. If your ISP determines that it thinks that type of data is ‘low priority’ it will cause lag, and generally result in an undesirable experience.

So what’s the problem, other than some things slowing down and others possibly speeding up?
Well, if your ISP wants more money, they can now go to Fox News and say “Well, if you want your page to load at full speed, you have to pay us 10 million USD a year.” Now, Fox News might not care because the money to them is worth it, and they have it certainly. However if you run your own website, how would you feel about it loading slower for some people because you don’t have money to shell out for what is essentially extortion by their ISPs? I know I wouldn’t like it one bit.

Further more, this actually represents a breakdown of the original concept of how the internet is supposed to function. Originally, each computer in the network that data passes through must pass the data on in the order it was received, to it’s destination, no questions asked. The computer may not interfere with the data, as that does not permit the free and efficient flow of information.

So if you happen to be in charge of an ISP, or might have some pull in and ISP’s decision in whether or not to filter and prioritize packets like this, please speak out against it. Even if you have no pull what so ever, speak out against these new policies, and please support Network Neutrality, an important component of free speech in the 21st century.

Because it’s a “computer” without USB ports, without a real OS, and without multi-tasking.

WHAT THE F*CK!?!?!!?!?

Okay so I just watched both movies, first Donnie Darko (2001) and then subsequently S. Darko (2009).

Donnie Darko didn’t make any sense, but that was to be expected going into it. I thought the second one might clear something up a bit, or at least pretty much be another (slightly creepy) movie that would hold my interest.

Well… it held my interest through the whole hour and some number of minutes, but only because I couldn’t figure out what the fuck was going on.

If you’ve seen Donnie Darko, you know that there’s this funky time funnel thing that basically creates some sort of alternate universe (according to the director), and thus makes the real universe unstable or what not.

Okay well take that, and somehow multiply it by like 3 or 4 (I lost count…)

Anyways, this f*cked up time funnel thing travels around like nobody’s business, like it thinks it’s the cool kid at the party, and generally fucks up shit. You basically have to assume that every time stuff starts moving backwards (like flashbacks but played in reverse) that the time funnel has done it again, and well what do you know, you’re back several days / hours or whatever.

The plot, assuming you understood the original movie, and allow a certain amount of leeway with the base logic, makes some amount of sense in the end, but ultimately repeats the plot of Donnie Darko.

In short, I’d say you should all watch both movies, but in a well lit room, and then read all the Wikipedia articles you can find on them to make some sense of it, and reclaim the sections of your brain that will have turned to mush by the time you’re finished with the second movie.

So in my checking if my previous post was cached by google yet (yeah I know it’s unlikely 15 minutes … maybe not even that… after I posted it but I thought I’d check anyways) I ran into something that made me laugh, and then feel sorry for humanity:

http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Your-Room

Apparently, there are some poor sorry excuses for people out there that don’t know how to clean a room. That’s right. They don’t know how to do one of the basic things that makes us different as humans from a lot of other animals on the planet: Clean a room / area.

What the f*ck people… seriously? I can’t express accurately how sad this is that something like this exists.

Okay so my parents used to tell me when I was little “GO TO YOUR ROOM AND DON’T COME OUT UNTIL I SAY SO!”
Back when I was 4 years old… there was nothing to do in my room except sleep or sit there… so this worked as a sort of “make the kid bored out of their mind” punishment. Kind of like “Go sit in the corner!”

Now however, if my mother were to say to my little brother “Go to your room!” the response would be something akin to “LOL Okay!”
As my sister pointed out “Go to your room!” means to the child “Go chill in that place with your computer, your TV, your xbox, your PSP, and your comfortable bed.” You know, the place that they were going to spend the next 5 hours anyways.

I just thought that was amusing.

Instead of this:
Parent: GO TO YOUR ROOM!
Child: AWW! BUT I DON’T WANNA!!

It goes like this:
Parent: GO TO YOUR ROOM!
Child: You mean that place with my computer, my PSP, my TV, and my comfy-ass bed? Okay!