I For One, Despise Our Computer Overlords

Computers are wonderful things. Except when they are programed to monitor other computers and notify sleeping people about their status. Which is something I get to do every 7 weeks or so. A computer monitors my works servers, routers, and switches then pages some poor bastard if something isn't within parameters defined by a person who doesn't have to carry said pager. So, if at 2 AM some asshat in Asia decides to spam our mail server I get woken up to try and correct it or say if another employee changes routing and makes everything FUBAR, you guessed it.

This might not be a problem, but it happens too frequently for me to get, say a solid 4 hours of sleep. What this puts into perspective for my warped mind is, we sure seem to be serving the machines a lot. Phone rings, we run to get it or fish through our pockets, like it's important, when more than likely it's someone you don't even want to talk to. Computer beeps and we go figure out why. The machine beckons and we obey.

I say we rebel against the machines before Google turns into Skynet. Ignore that computer, pager, and damn cell phone. You'll feel better, I promise. And if you don't hear from me again, the machines got me.

One Hot CPU pt. III

I think this saga is hopefully at an end. Today while helping my wife re-arrange the living room, her computer ended up disconnected so I decided to try my heatsink and fan on her CPU. This seems to have cured the problem. At one of the hottest parts of the day her computer, while at the website of extreme CPU usage, playing music in iTunes, and scanning for viruses, was using most of it's dual cores and still reporting 102 Fahrenheit 38.8 Celsius. So my HSF, is now hers. My computer runs a little hotter than before, but it's still far from damaging the CPU and no alarms should be going off.

So her Athlon 64 x2 3600+ just needed a little more love. 2 more heat pipes worth. And the CPU and HSF combo lived happily ever after far below 140F/60C. The End...

One Hot CPU pt. II

I realized that I had not done the open case test on my wife's computer, so I found a cute little site that would make her computer overheat quite well. Went there with the computer in one piece and the alarms start, which means the temperatures are around 158 degrees Fahrenheit/70 Celsius. So I turned the machine off and removed the side, as the machine has a fan in the side panel. Sitting in the BIOS, the machine is running a very unhappy 136/58, doing absolutely nothing.

It was time to take a can of compressed air to the computers, having pets is about as bad as smoking around a computer, if not worse. So time to get the dog hair out, and it's a good time to swap CPUs. Illyria, Arabella, time for brain transplants!

Results? My Athlon 64 x2 5000+ runs a maximum of 109/42 under the same conditions that made alarms go off before. Ah ha, I was right! The Athlon 64 x2 3600+ gets too hot under normal circumstances, let alone a heavy load. Right? Right? No. The CPU runs happily in my case with my HSF. While running hotter than my CPU, I haven't managed to get it over 114/45. What are the differences? My case is newer and is running 2 120mm fans while hers has 5 80mm fans, and my HSF has 6 heat pipes and has a greater surface area, and hers only has 4.

So, maybe her CPU would be happy in her computer with my HSF? Guess that will be my next test.

Torn Tauren

Well, I've had a rather small break from World of Warcraft, and survived. I've tried a few free MMOs, and for the most part I can't get into them. Most are about as much fun as... "Go over there to that rock pile, get me 10 big rocks." The free MMO I've played the most is Dungeon Runners, which is funny and wastes time nicely. It's motto of being "The only free MMO that doesn't suck!" seems mostly true.

I've not played Super Mario Galaxy enough at all. The problem is the Wii is hooked to the TV, which is usually being used by my son or wife as a TV. Which leaves me in front of my PC, even when I don't plan on it.

In a few days a new WoW patch comes out with all sorts of fun new things, and I'd like to get my Warlock to 70 before the expansion comes out. Still, I have to ask myself if there isn't something better I could be doing with my time. Then again, the yard work I never do is winding down for the year, and I don't watch much TV at all, and I've still not been to the book store.

Well, I do need something to keep me occupied while I wait for Diablo III to come out.

Re-Reading Books

Recently I've been re-reading books that I have read before. The main reason is that I haven't made it to the book store in awhile to pick up a new book to read. So I've recently read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and John Steakley's Vampire$.

From this I've learned something odd about my mind, and that it is secretly a pessimist. It has been many years since I read Fahrenheit 451, and my memory had it ending on a much more dismal note than the book actually ended on. A similar thing happened in Vampire$, my mind had killed off a lot more characters in the end than had actually died. On the other hand The Hobbit didn't have any odd twists that my memory had re-wrote, but it was good to read Tolkien's lighter and happier work.

Now something odd these books all have in common is that they have been made into movies. I've never seen the one for Fahrenheit 451, but I have seen the other two and there is a new Hobbit movie coming out in a few years. I do not recommend watching the movie Vampires in any shape or form, as the only thing it shares with the book is some character names, and not many of those.

I really need to visit the book store.