I have a right to know! I'm getting married in four hundred and thirty years!
Tuesday, November 30
Over the weekend I finally got around to installing all my essential software on my rebuilt Windows box, and so I at last got a chance to play with Sims 2.
For about fifteen minutes. Then my computer crashed. And again ten minutes after that. And again twenty minutes after that, and five minutes after that, and... so on. The screen freezes, or goes black, or drops me back to Windows, or when I'm really lucky the machine just reboots.
I thought maybe the power supply wasn't quite coping, what with the three new hard disks I added. I pulled out a couple of cards I wasn't using (video capture and second network card) and it seemed to be going longer between killing my sims, so yesterday I ordered a shiny new 480W power supply and this morning I installed it.
As you can probably guess, it wasn't the power supply.
So, now I have a problem. This is the second video card I've had trouble with in that machine. The first one locked up all the time, even when I was just scrolling a web page. The replacement has been reliable enough until now; I can use it all day for applications and web stuff and watching videos without even the hint of a hiccup. But it sure doesn't like Sims 2.
I could buy a fancy new video card, which would make things faster - except that AGP, which is what I have, is fast being replaced by PCI Express, so if I buy an expensive video card now it's not going to have a very long life. And this is the second time I've had problems with video cards in this machine, so what if it's not the card? If I spend hundreds of dollars on a new card and it doesn't work either, I won't be a happy bunny. Now, a few times I have got actual errors back from the video drivers, so I'm sort of confident that it's the card, but what if the chipset on my motherboard is slightly wonky? But then, it runs fine for days when I'm not using 3D graphics.
Mrble.
Fortunately, I'm currently building a couple of systems for work right now. So I've ordered myself a cheap Radeon 9250, and if that works at home I can then put it in the new work machine and expense it, haha! And then go on the waiting list for an Nvidia 6600GT, which is currently a yes, we have no bananas sort of thing.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
06:57 PM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
| Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 432 words, total size 2 kb.
Sunday, November 28
Ever since I rebuilt my Windows box, back in... whenever it was, I've been looking for my old Sims CD cases. Not The Sims 2, but the original ones, along with the 37 (approximately) expansion packs. Because I had all the CDs, you see, in a great big CD folder, but the cases, because they have the activation codes stuck on them. I actually went and copied all my activation codes into a file, but somewhere along the line I lost the file.
And just now, while looking for more CDs to mp3ify, guess what I found? Guess what was hiding under a pile of Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller and the Andrews Sisters?
Yup. (Also Rise of Nations, C&C Generals, Sim City 4 and Microsoft Office.)
Now I'll just toddle off and install them all. Back in a tick.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
05:40 AM
| Comments (3)
| Add Comment
| Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 150 words, total size 1 kb.
Saturday, November 27
It's probably not a good sign when one of your more important servers comes up with the error:
Uhhuh. NMI received. Dazed and confused, but trying to continue
You probably have a hardware problem with your RAM chips
It's been one of those weeks. Actually, it's been two of those weeks, but who's counting?
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
10:30 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
| Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 62 words, total size 1 kb.
I got nothin'.
Fortunately, even when I got nothin' there's always the anime version of that Apple ad. And other goodness.
This comes from a longer piece called AMV Hell that you can find (along with an amazing amount of other stuff) at AnimeMusicVideos.org.
Note: This little clip is work safe, but the full video isn't quite.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
10:22 PM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
| Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 75 words, total size 1 kb.
Saturday, November 06
I've been getting this sudden rush of Google hits, and I just realised why. Here you go, boys and girls, the complete lyrics for TISM's Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me, translated from Pub Strine into fairly standard English for your convenience:
Everyone else has had more sex than me.
Everyone else has had more sex than me.Everyone else has had more sex than me.
Does anyone else get that feeling?
Teenagers, naked, couple in threes
Grandparents swing from the ceiling.Everyone else has had more sex than me.
Everyone else has had more sex than me.Corporate capers and office amore.
Shenanigans outdoor and in.
Resist and then later your find out there's more
Regret in not doing the sin.Our lives have to die
Of that there's no help
My favourite way to end them
Is the orb-weaver spider's whose pedipalp
Enters the female pudendum.Then dies on the spot
His corpse there still stuck,
Left for his rivals to curse at.He would rather die than not get to fuck
Personally I reckon it's worth it.Everyone else has had more sex than me.
Does anyone else get that feeling?Everyone else has had more sex than me.
Does everybody else get that feeling?...
Does everyone think...
Videos here (pure brilliance), website here. Grab yourself a copy of the White Albun today!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
09:44 AM
| Comments (36)
| Add Comment
| Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 245 words, total size 2 kb.
Monday, November 22
So I select the items I don't want, and I click on Trash. And then I open the Trash Manager, and I select them again, and I click on Delete. And then I get a page saying that these items will be deleted, and I click on Delete again. Then I get a pop-up asking me if I really want to delete these items, because if I delete them they will be, like, deleted.
YES I BLOODY WANT TO DELETE THE BLOODY THINGS YOU PIECE OF CRAP!!!!
If you design your software so that it treats your users like morons, you will soon find that only morons use your software. And you will have to take all the support calls because everyone else will somehow contrive to be at lunch when the phone rings. Even if it's 8 am.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
10:15 PM
| Comments (3)
| Add Comment
| Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 147 words, total size 1 kb.
Saturday, November 13
Just testing something, don't mind me...
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
06:47 AM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
| Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 16 words, total size 1 kb.
Thursday, November 11
"It can't have been me trying to kill you - I've never been to London. Besides", I added, "you're still alive."
That seemed to do the trick. I was told to report in as soon as possible.
I pushed the button, and rockets flared beneath the house... Beneath half the house. Bricks and mortar are fine under compression loads, but not so great under tension. We watched as the other half of the house broke away and started its fall back to Earth.
"Deploy parachutes!" A small parachute popped up from the falling half of the house, but did nothing to slow its descent.
"Deploy full parachutes!" No reaction.
"Deploy cushion!" Airbags inflated out from the basement, but I doubted they'd do much to soften the landing.
Crunch.
I wasn't the only one summoned to the meeting:
"So what do you do for a living?"
"Computer consultant. When times are good, I pick the fun projects. When times aren't so good, anything to do with computers.
"Lead and gold."
Her eyes widened.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
"My power is to get some sort of idea of other people's powers. Probably why they brought me here. From you I'm picking up lead and gold."
By the way, whoever does the catering for those secret government gatherings of super-powered mutants should be shot. The food was terrible.
And I didn't even have the pizza.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
10:01 AM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
| Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 240 words, total size 1 kb.
Tuesday, November 09
Okay, so discovering a hidden fourth floor in my own house wasn't so surprising. And the fact that there was a girl - actually a university student - living there didn't worry me too much. No wonder things are never where I left them! No wonder I can't keep chocolate in the house!
I was a little ticked off that she was bringing her boyfriend home - but at least he called the police when the ninja broke in. Of course, it was me and the girl who actually captured the ninja. (Take that, Frank! Your ninjas aren't so tough!) But then when the police told him they were on their way and we might hear some shots, so don't worry, he didn't find it the least bit odd. Dumbass. So they shot the ninja first, and then the boyfriend.
We escaped out the top-floor window, swinging from a long extension lead. (So that's where that got to!) Unfortunately, we were facing a crooked police captain who had his entire precinct and a SWAT team hunting us. We managed to kick a couple in the head and steal their assault rifles (amazing what you can do while swinging from a fifteen-metre electrical cord!) but we were still terribly outnumbered even before the army of zombies and sorcerers arrived.
So thank God for our mysterious allies, who showed up just in time, with their zippy little armoured cars (all tinted bulletproof glass and swoopy curves, plus four-wheel-steering!) and their flamethrowers! You should have seen it! Burning zombies everywhere! The tables were turned, despite an army of ninjas joining the fight - until we discovered that when you kill a sorcerer, unless you cut out his eyes, you get an unstoppable zombie sorcerer!
And then I woke up. I've gotta stop eating pizza just before bedtime.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
10:28 AM
| Comments (9)
| Add Comment
| Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 324 words, total size 2 kb.
July 8, 2004:
Who won the 2004 USA presidential election?The what? Oh, politics. I'll look it up. Hmm. It says "George W.
Bush". Does that sound right? It's in the chapter on the Great
Insanity Epidemic of 2005.
That, for those new to this blog, is my grand-daughter Trixie reporting by chronosynclastic infundibulum from the 22nd century.
You can put your trust in Trixie.
Other Trixie tips:
2009: Good time to buy shares in Electronic Arts.
2017: Avoid the border between California and Nevada. Better yet, avoid California and Nevada.
2049: Avoid France. Seriously.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
02:35 AM
| Comments (4)
| Add Comment
| Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 101 words, total size 1 kb.
59 queries taking 0.2193 seconds, 426 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.