Archive for June, 2005
Thursday, June 30th, 2005
So my mini-ITX box arrived yesterday. Catherine was out this evening, so I set to building it. Can’t be too hard, I thought …
That was at about 19:30. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to fit all the gubbins a computer needs into a box about half the size of a shoebox. It didn’t help that the Travla C138’s case fan cable is too short to reach the SP 13000’s fan connector. It also didn’t help that the DVD adaptor’s audio cable doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen (or have to hand). And it really, really doesn’t help that the volume of internal cables in the box is only very slightly less than the total volume of the case itself; judicious squtcha, squtcha‘ing on the ATA cables was required to get everything in. I can tell you, there’s not an earthly chance of getting a PCI card in there, unless it’s a very tiny one that doesn’t mind getting bent out of shape.
With much apprehension, I turned the system on, and stuck the Ubuntu liveCD in. Wouldn’t you know, it all booted fine:
Sure, the resolution wasn’t great, and the timezone’s wrong, but I was expecting horrible POST feeping at best. All the hardware was found correctly, and the screenshot was transferred by USB key, which automounted to the desktop. Phew!
Thanks to Davey Laporte for the Ubuntu CD. It certainly saved my soy-bacon.
Tags: mini_itx, squtcha, ubuntu
Posted in computers suck | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, June 29th, 2005
I really think that Moulton have lost all sense of proportion. They’ve released a limited edition AM2 (with two-speed coaster brake hub) for a mere £2100 — that’s nearly $4700! Who needs a titanium-railed saddle on a roadster bike?
Tags: bike, expensive, moulton
Posted in bike stuff | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 29th, 2005
Nuclear Power’s Scorned Small-Scale Competitors Are Walloping It in the Marketplace (PDF-100k)
Lovins Debunks the Notion That Nuclear Energy is the Best Investment Against Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Global Climate Change
Snowmass, Colorado, June 20, 2005 — Rocky Mountain Institute researchers today doused the hype about “nuclear revival” in an icy bath of real-world data. They documented that worldwide, the decentralized, low- or no-carbon sources of electricity — cogeneration and renewables, all claimed by nuclear advocates to be too small and too slow to help much with climate change — are already bigger than nuclear power and are quickly leaving it in the dust.
Tags: lovins, nuclear
Posted in General, Wind Things | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, June 29th, 2005
I rely on you
I rely on you
like a Skoda needs suspension
like the aged need a pension
like a trampoline needs tension
like a bungee jump needs apprehension
I rely on you
like a camera needs a shutter
like a gambler needs a flutter
like a golfer needs a putter
like a buttered scone involves some butter
I rely on you
like an acrobat needs ice cool nerve
like a hairpin needs a drastic curve
like an HGV needs endless derv
like an outside left needs a body swerve
I rely on you
like a handyman needs pliers
like an auctioneer needs buyers
like a laundromat needs driers
like The Good Life needed Richard Briers
I rely on you
like a water vole needs water
like a brick outhouse needs mortar
like a lemming to the slaughter
Ryan’s just Ryan without his daughter
I rely on you
© H Presley 1994
Tags: obituary, poem
Posted in goatee-stroking musing, or something | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, June 28th, 2005
GO Transit —FYI
Pay phones on trains are out of service
We have just been notified that the company which provides the pay phones on board our trains has gone into receivership.
These phones are now out of service until further notice.
We regret the inconvenience.
June 24, 2005
So I guess nobody called after all.
Tags: go_transit, phone
Posted in goatee-stroking musing, or something | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 28th, 2005
Staples have all their Back To School! stationery stuff. I always hated being reminded of this just before school was even out for summer. Yuck.
Tags: ack, summer
Posted in goatee-stroking musing, or something | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 28th, 2005
Looks like I’ve won a copy of the new edition of Cheapeats Toronto, thanks to publisher Alexandra Clark. Seems my re-recommendation of the Detroit got into the draw for a free copy. All your cheap eats are belong to me!
Tags: cheapeats, food, toronto
Posted in General | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 28th, 2005
Had to revert to 2.4 again, as the suspend-to-RAM only worked for a short while, becoming a suspend-to-RAM-and-sit-there-and-do-nothing. Gr.
Tags: linux, thinkpad
Posted in computers suck | No Comments »
Monday, June 27th, 2005
I finally got my IBM T21 usable under 2.6. I’m stuck using plain ol’ APM instead of ACPI, but it’ll now sleep when I want it to. Which was nice.
Tags: linux, thinkpad
Posted in computers suck | No Comments »
Sunday, June 26th, 2005
Okay, so only after months of humming and hawing, I’ve finally ordered a VIA SP 13000 Mini-ITX system from Koonline.
Tags: mini_itx
Posted in computers suck | No Comments »
Friday, June 24th, 2005
The Glasgow taxi Troon trip is 60 today. I remember we used to get let out of Mearns Primary School to wave to the taxis as they’d head up the A77 in convoy. That would have been 30 years ago, oh my.
Tags: taxi, troon
Posted in the old country | No Comments »
Friday, June 24th, 2005
I’d hate to be the webmaster at St Claire, Inc this morning. Seems that dweebs like me have discovered Sign Builder 2.0, and are hitting it hard.
Tags: danger, fast-food, sign, spoof
Posted in goatee-stroking musing, or something | No Comments »
Friday, June 24th, 2005
a 3 month old St Bernard puppy at the vet next door
Tags: dog
Posted in General | No Comments »
Thursday, June 23rd, 2005
Licence plate of a hearse seen in Mississauga: R U NEXT.
Tags: mississauga
Posted in goatee-stroking musing, or something | No Comments »
Thursday, June 23rd, 2005
Tags: blog, funny
Posted in o canada | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 21st, 2005
Picked up some Old Credit Amber Ale. It’s good; comes in obscenely large bottles, so one will get you gently munted. Then, after dismantling the old shed (yeah!), we picked up some great beef noodle soup from Pho Vietnam on Kennedy north of Ellesmere. Yum!
Tags: beer, kennedy, mississauga, pho
Posted in goatee-stroking musing, or something | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 21st, 2005
The days only get shorter from here on in, sigh …
Tags: sad, solstice
Posted in goatee-stroking musing, or something | No Comments »
Monday, June 20th, 2005
Yeah, it’s kind of silly, but the magicwindy — a tiny wind-powered bike light — is kind of cute.
Tags: bike, led, light, wind
Posted in Wind Things, bike stuff | No Comments »
Sunday, June 19th, 2005
Today I built a shed, and put things in it. It wasn’t as if it was a difficult shed (just a Keter prefab), but I like to think of it more as a storage solution than just a shed.
Tags: shed
Posted in goatee-stroking musing, or something | No Comments »
