It was a bad day. A lot of bad stuff happened. And I'd love to forget it all. But I don't. Not ever. Because this is what I do. Every time, every day, every second, this: On five, we're bringing down the government.
Tuesday, August 29
Nearly Almost
My new office PC has moved from "parts allocation" to "invoicing". They had to swap the memory as well as the motherboard to make it work, but now they've done a 72-hour burn-in with all 4GB and it's working.
So I'm sitting here trying to get it to move to "shipped" by sheer force of will.
Doesn't seem to be working.
Update: Just needed to concentrate a bit harder. Eet hes sheeped!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
11:13 PM
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Posted by: Wonderduck at Wednesday, August 30 2006 03:18 AM (CJ5+Y)
2
It's some kinda 'strilian thing, I guess ....
Posted by: Kristopher at Wednesday, August 30 2006 10:25 AM (O5Ju8)
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Dual core goodness.
Crunchy and oh so good for you.
Posted by: Andrew at Wednesday, August 30 2006 08:52 PM (t8tOu)
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ahhhh, tech bliss. hope it continues well into the drivers install phase.
Posted by: Michele at Friday, September 01 2006 02:59 PM (y9UuV)
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Pixy,
Can you offer advice for someone new to RAID? My home computer has nothing on it but software that I have available on cd. I regularly back up my personal files once every couple of years, since losing them would not be a very big deal.
In my position, would you go with RAID 0? Or one of the safer modes? I'd like 500G of space, but only have the spare cash for 2-300GB drives.
Thanks in advance,
The guy who's not a fan of Anime ;)
Posted by: Kevin at Friday, September 01 2006 08:49 PM (++0ve)
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My experience with RAID on a budget is: If you are running Linux, software RAID-1 works beautifully. Software RAID-5 sucks abominably. RAID-0 works fine too, but of course offers no protection.
On Windows, software RAID in general sucks. Spanned volumes are okay, though.
And any RAID controller that costs less than $500 is
not hardware RAID, no matter what it says on the box. Likewise the controller on anything but a high-end server motherboard.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, September 02 2006 12:10 AM (FRalS)
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Darn, thanks for the info. I assumed that RAID was built in to my $78 motherboard. Oh well :(
Posted by: Kevin at Saturday, September 02 2006 08:24 AM (++0ve)
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It's actually a sort-of-RAID sort-of-thing. Most of the work is done in software, usually badly.
The 3Ware controllers work brilliantly - we use those in the servers at work. But they ain't cheap.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, September 02 2006 08:41 AM (oFrbW)
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Darn again :)
It turns out that my ASUS P4P-800 motherboard does do RAID, but as you suggested, it does it badly according to online reviews (eats 30% of cpu on a P4 2.8 when hitting the drives and a few say it doesn't really increase the read speed noticeably!). I guess I'll just use them as separate volumes since joining them no longer offers me any value.
Thanks again for the help/opinion.
Posted by: Kevin at Saturday, September 02 2006 10:44 AM (++0ve)
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Monday, August 28
Percussive Maintenance
I was fussing around with my iPod, and ended up just giving it a ding over the head and plugging it into the Firewire cable.
And the light came on, and then the Apple logo, and then the infamous DO NOT DISCONNECT message. The battery is completely flat, in spite of being plugged in for several hours the other day.
Windows can see it as a disk. iTunes doesn't seem to want to know, though. I'll see if I can sort that out.
In other news, I got a delayed write error on my external disk drive... But that's on the same Firewire card that I was plugging and unplugging the iPod on, so might just be a glitch. Yeah, I'm sure it's just a glitch.
Update: Swapped the iPod to my other Firewire card, and dinged iTunes over the head, and now that's working. And I got a whole bunch more delayed write errors on the external drive, so I swapped that to USB, and now that's working too.
Hmm.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
10:17 AM
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http://ipodbatteryfaq.com/iPod batteries have always been a major problem ... Apple has been sued over this issue.
They are user-replaceable for the adventurous.
Posted by: Kristopher at Tuesday, August 29 2006 10:18 AM (O5Ju8)
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Saturday, August 26
Coolness!
Minx just got its first
Instalanche.
Hmm. Problem. If you are using Firefox, the comment editor doesn't work until Sitemeter has loaded. Sitemeter is playing up right now, so you have to wait for it to either load or time out before the comment box works.
Doesn't happen in IE7.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
08:31 PM
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1
Or you can just use a proxy service ( or Privoxy ) to take sitemeter out t the backyard and shoot it.
Posted by: Kristopher at Tuesday, August 29 2006 10:19 AM (O5Ju8)
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Well, I can't do that, because I have to make it work for
other people.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tuesday, August 29 2006 12:43 PM (9OTrh)
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Exactly ... I can block it as a mere user/visitor.
Posted by: Kristopher at Tuesday, August 29 2006 02:44 PM (O5Ju8)
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That's true enough, but requiring people to manually block sitemeter just so that they can leave comments on your blog is also a bit questionable.
Maybe I could build a sitemeter proxy...
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Wednesday, August 30 2006 03:49 AM (FRalS)
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With Subtitles For The Thinking Impaired
Zoe Brain
explaining to a lefty that missiles do not punch neat little holes in the roofs of ambulances:
This is what a 2000lb laser guided bomb does. Hopefully you can agree that an ambulance with one of those through the roof would look distinctly second-hand.
Quote:
That's a big-ass hole.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
10:41 AM
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Galaxy Angel
Short Not-a-review:
This is - for the most part - a very silly show. There is - for the most part - no overall plot to the series. It is episodic to the point of regularly having to reset reality merely to keep the cast intact. It is at least chronological, in that things that occur in one episode that are not obviously reset do affect later episodes - except when they don't - and things that clearly could not have taken place do not get retrofitted into later episodes - except when they do.
It's not for everyone, but at least watch episodes two and three, in which they introduce Mint, Vanilla, and Normad. It's also in episode three that they really start shredding science fictional tropes. You'll see what I mean.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
10:11 AM
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It didn't take long for me to figure out that it was basically an extended Coyote-and-RoadRunner show, except with tits. One episode was enough.
Is Vanilla a robot? Or just the requisite Emotionless Girl?
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Saturday, August 26 2006 10:13 PM (+rSRq)
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Is Vanilla a robot? Or just the requisite Emotionless Girl?I can't say for sure, but I think she's just the emotionless girl. Except when she isn't, of course. (In fact, she's listed on that page. ;))
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, August 26 2006 10:17 PM (9OTrh)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, August 26 2006 10:21 PM (9OTrh)
4
It seems to me that the creators could not figure what to do with the show for a while. Is it tits? Is it slapstick/slap-stick/slap-with-stick? Conspiracy? Is there a main girl (e.g. Mint)? I have no idea when they settled into the episodic grove. Since Steven is likely to abandon this, I think I'll spoil a little and say that the best episode I saw was the one where Vanilla lost her religious artifact and decided to die. For all I know, it could be #20, if not #50 :-)
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Sunday, August 27 2006 12:29 AM (9imyF)
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I know the one you mean.
The show doesn't really get into gear until season two, and season three is even better.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sunday, August 27 2006 01:17 AM (9OTrh)
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I worship at the altar of Mint.
It's definitely a series you have to be in the right frame of mind for, though. I often can't remember the contents of an entire DVD of the stuff, but I know I had fun. Fluffy fluff, with a side order of fluff.
Oddly enough, the manga has a very strong plotline, extracted from the dating-sim structure of the game.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Sunday, August 27 2006 02:03 AM (0/vcb)
7
I worship at the altar of Mint.Heh.
All the girls have more to them than appears at first glance, except maybe Milfeuille, who remains the supernaturally lucky ditz throughout.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sunday, August 27 2006 02:07 AM (9OTrh)
8
Wait, Coyote and Road Runner, but with tits? What's wrong with
that concept? I loved Road Runner as a kid. :-)
Posted by: ubu roi at Sunday, August 27 2006 03:57 PM (81mnL)
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Galaxy Angel
Okay, having seen all four seasons of this one, there are some general points I can discuss without real spoilers. Though there are still (unavoidably)
some spoilers, so details in the individual entry. (I think I have extended entries working here; we'll soon find out anyway.)
more...
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Tim Powersy
CIA, NSA, Mossad, Albert Einstein, Charlie Chaplin, William Shakspeare, Albigensians, witches, Babylonian air spirits...
Yep, it's a Tim Powers novel all right.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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Friday, August 25
Plans For The Weekend
One of the reasons I like books is that, while they may be a huge pain (literally) when it comes time to move house, as I did twice last year, they rarely crash.
I have Dzur by Steven Brust and Three Days to Never by Tim Powers, two writers I greatly enjoy, and The Family Trade and The Hidden Family by Charlie Stross, who I usually like (though I found Accelerando unreadable).
I also have a cold.
I'm probably going to take tomorrow off. I'll email in sick, and spend the day curled up in bed with my books and my notebook and a bowl of peanuts. I have some reviews I want to write, so maybe if the pills kick in and the fog lifts a bit I'll do that too.
By the way, I've plugged in the Minx search thingy. It needs some work, because it doesn't quite interact with the templating system properly; in particular, the pager widget doesn't work. I really need to add some search results tags and generalise the form handling routines a bit more. I had planned to do all this last month, but, well, that didn't happen.
But the search function itself is working, so feel free to pound on it.
Also by the way, I turn thirty* next month. For my birthday I would like a large hammer with which to threaten my remaining appliances.
* Not actually thirty.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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"One of the reasons I like books is that, while they may be a huge pain
(literally) when it comes time to move house, as I did twice last year,
they rarely crash."
Ok, so I've been lurking for some time... I read that first paragraph as one of the reasons you like
boobs. No doubt stemming from a conversation about them with my wife in IMs on another window... Anyway, that little misread just brightened my day tenfold, so just wanted to say thanks. :) hahahah
Oh, and sorry about the cold, and the turning thirty*... It really is the best year isn't it... :( BLARF.
Posted by: Slack at Friday, August 25 2006 10:48 AM (KqRcD)
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Thirty years .... which planet's years?
Posted by: Kristopher at Friday, August 25 2006 05:00 PM (O5Ju8)
3
"Charlie Stross, who I usually like (though I found Accelerando unreadable)."
Great, and I just picked up Accelerando to read during my vacation. I guess I better bring a few backups...
Anyway, hope you feel better and I hope you get your birthday wish (seems like a reasonable request:P)
Posted by: Mark at Friday, August 25 2006 05:30 PM (aUPJJ)
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Thirty years .... which planet's years?Geographos. Approximately. ;)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, August 25 2006 06:21 PM (9OTrh)
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Feel better!!! Colds suck. :(
Posted by: pam at Saturday, August 26 2006 07:46 PM (l6NIn)
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Really? I thought Accelerando was great.
I had an amusingly disillusioning argument with Stross over Iraq in a forum on the subject on his site. He found my politely but firmly stated point of view (freedom and democracy are worth fighting for) so upsetting he eventually shut down the forum. Still, a great fantasist and sci-fi thinker, probably the best alive at the moment (though Barnes and Scalzi are also very good).
A hammer isn't bad, but for some appliances a crowbar or stripped electical cord (plugged in) are more menacing.
Posted by: TallDave at Tuesday, August 29 2006 04:43 PM (oyQH2)
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Oh, Glasshouse by Stross (just out recently) is also quite good. Interesting take on future memetic war.
Posted by: TallDave at Tuesday, August 29 2006 04:44 PM (oyQH2)
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Yeah, politically Stross is, well,
wrong, but a nice guy and a very good writer nonetheless.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tuesday, August 29 2006 07:45 PM (9OTrh)
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Still Waiting For A Pleasant Surprise
You remember how a couple of weeks ago I somehow destroyed my computer while trying to update iTunes?
The reason I was updating iTunes was so that I could load podcasts onto my iPod and listen to them that way rather than having to lug my notebook about.
On Tuesday I managed to get everything loaded up and my iPod updated and use it to listen to some podcasts.
Actually, it turns out that it kind of sucks for listening to podcasts.
So I guess I shouldn't be that upset that my iPod has now died.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
06:56 AM
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