Time for some mod love, geeks and geekettes!
Last week, I had talked about a friend’s boyfriend’s tricked-out desktop. See what other modding aficionados have come up with:
Time for some mod love, geeks and geekettes!
Last week, I had talked about a friend’s boyfriend’s tricked-out desktop. See what other modding aficionados have come up with:
The cost of oil has soared up to $100 per barrel. This is almost unheard of and suggests that things have either gone very wrong indeed, or finally supplies of a very limited, finite resource has begun to run out. We can only, after all, take so much from the planet before it has nothing left to give. Here in the UK, petrol prices have gone above £1 per litre – this is a frankly shocking situation and given we have some of the highest fuel prices in Europe (and probably the world) it’s quite distressing.
Here in the UK, there’s quite a feeling of discontent – not least from hauliers who face massive hikes in the prices they pay for fuel. This is evident even just from looking at the start of the year when petrol cost only (only, ha ha) 88.32p per litre. As mentioned however, the UK has some of the most expensive prices, as 70% of the cost of a litre of fuel simply goes into the pocket of the Treasury. We actually get charged VAT on the duty on the fuel, but that’s another story best left for another time…
Now the real point of this article is the whole issue surrounding the use of fossil fuels, and particular the use of said fuels as an agent to power vehicles. Oil is used in all sorts of things from making plastics, to agriculture, to powering factories and of course powering cars in a variety of forms. Engines now are far more efficient than they used to be – churning out far less evil fumes and far more power per litre than their older counterparts. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if you’re driving a new V8 Mustang or a tiny Ford Fiesta – they are much more efficient than they used to be.
However, there are far more of them on the road in every country across the globe than ever, EVER before. We see more cars all over, whether it’s the country or the city. This has led to a variety of schemes in the UK, everything from congestion charges to toll roads. However, none of this is really going to take cars off the road – though it may penalise the poorest in society and deny them one of the best forms of transport in the world.
Another issue about the amount of fossil fuels we burn every day is that all around the world we have developing nations. Each one of them will go through a Second World stage – this means primarily that heavy industry is where a lot of investment will go. Heavy industry uses a lot of fuel in production and power. We have no right to deny any nation of this stage in their development – unless of course we can offer better and cheaper technology.
So going full circle, we return to cars. I have a personal dislike for vehicles such as the Toyota Prius – one of ‘apparently’ the most environmentally friendly and least polluting cars in the world. My dislike is for a few reasons (not least because I’m a sports car enthusiast) but my reasoning includes the fact that there’s a great myth going on. Surely, it doesn’t matter whether we run out of oil now or in ten years time. Even using the most modern technology of the Prius, we will still run out. Fuel will still be burned every day.
The point is, unless we start truly investing, and I mean with as much gusto as any human endeavour we’ve ever tackled together as a race, then we’re not going to progress any. It doesn’t matter whether cars become electric, gas or even if they start flying on hydrogen. Something must be done and the way forward is not a car that returns 10 extra MPG than my 03 reg sports hatchback.
Speaking of geeks and salivation, I had come across a picture of my friend’s boyfriend’s computer setup months ago, but the writing of the article itself was put off after mounds of work, mounds of lifestyle stresses, and moving houses, rooms, and what-not galore. So here it is, for all the world to see, my friend’s boyfriend’s PC setup.
I actually thought that this looked so much like an alienoid thing, but I was more fascinated than weirded-out in a girly way. Though I could not relate to his and my friend’s glee at his boyfriend’s having “Reached the CPU and vid card temp that he’s been targetting. So it rocks!” I sure could relate to the fact that this thing does look cool, and I do appreciate a great-looking tricked-out, pimped-out thing any time.
There are days when I just wish I were Bill Gates’ (rather, Steve Jobs’) daughter. With a tricked-out setup like his, I would so be beside myself, that if I were married, I won’t be paying hubby any attention because of being absorbed in my system.
When I first saw Bill Gates’s setup on CNN Money, I chuckled to myself because I was so amused how he could need three displays just to check mail. It was only until I had experienced and realized the need to work on two computers at once that I finally reconciled myself to the fact that multiple displays have more than salivation factors. They actually bring a productivity boost that is unparalleled. [Read more…]
While I was shuffling around in Sayuri to reorganize my files and make room for new articles to be written, I came across this old one. Written last September 14, 2007, I cannot believe how absent-minded I was. Well at least this would save me time from having to whip up another one. :p
Seriously, writing for SplashPress is more of therapy and sanity-salvation nowadays.
Well, enough pre-article banter. Read on for my experience with and addiction to… Two computers. :p [Read more…]
In the spirit of Halloween, here is a horror story, for all geeks and used-computer buyers out there.
On the 25th of October, I bought a Dell ultraportable (US company-owned and used) laptop from a certain tipidpc.com member, for only Php 5500 or $139 (cost of item+remittance fees). I gave the seller an option to go for PayPal or Xoom, outlining the advantages and disadvantages of either option. He chose Xoom, despite my fears that the transaction may fall through because as I’ve experienced, Xoom.com just cancels transactions without your clearance, simply because your case falls under their “customer protection policy” no-no.
To my chagrin, at 3AM the next day, as I was tracking the progress of the money transfer, I saw that the transaction was being canceled. So when that happened, of course I panicked, a little bit. Just a little bit, because the laptop wasn’t all that good when I tried it at home. When I had stuck an external drive in there that had been ravaged by Internet Cafe viruses BUT deleted those that I was able to spot before sticking it in the Dell lappie, the Dell won’t boot Windows XP SP1 in normal mode anymore. It can still be used in safe mode, even safe mode with networking, but just not in normal mode.
So later that morning, guy tells me to return his laptop coz the bank says *I* canceled it. Though my first instinct was to get the money someway, somehow, I decided not to put up a fight because it wasn’t worth it. Not only did the FRESH system break at the first sign of a virus invasion, the former owner was such a pain in the butt-tocks to deal with. [Read more…]