Category Archives: LiveJournal Imports

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead

The RIAA continues its fight against filesharing and all its evils, suing a 12-year-old and forcing her into a $2000 settlement. Breathe easy, Madonna — you’re safe now.

Bill Joy, perhaps the greatest computer scientist who has ever lived, is leaving Sun Microsystems. (And here’s a link to why the future doesn’t need us, for those who have yet to read it.)

Also leaving us is Leni Riefenstahl, the brilliant Nazi propaganda filmmaker who wrote and directed “Triumph of the Will“.

And finally, our third brilliant departure for today is Warren Zevon, as remembered by Dave Barry. (Who once performed Werewolves of London with Zevon, Carl Hiaasen, and Stephen King.)

Reaction time is a factor in this, so please pay attention.

Researchers who ‘proved’ that Ecstasy equals Parkinson’s gave monkeys the wrong drug. (Prediction: This announcement will have zero effect on drug policy/propaganda, and substandard research will continue to serve the status quo. It’s a pretty wacky theory, I know….)

Voight-Kampff Test administered to San Francisco mayoral candidates.

Direct-to-DVD Family Guy might happen soon.

White Wolf sues the shit out of Sony for making a crappy movie in the World of Darkness without permission.

Trifid M20 and IC 443.

gang stories part one

Sometimes I think that I must be miserable in order to be happy — or that this once was true, and the remaining vestigial parts of who I once was seek to sabotage the now, if not by action then by emotion.

How do you war against your shadow?

…

I’ve never known if insomnia is the condition, or the symptom.

…

Noted for future reference: There have been helicopters and fighter jets in my area, these past weeks. Driving back from Toronto a month ago, I saw an unmarked bomber refueled in midair, both planes grey. Two weeks later, I saw them there again.

I can hear them now, circling overhead.

178

Attention!

Leslie and I are going down to Toronto to host the side room at r351570r this weekend, and we could desperately use a second car to transport deco and people. If you’d like to come down for the event, and you have a car, we’ll cover your gas and entry and such.

The event is Saturday night, so we’d be going down Sat day and coming back sometime Sunday. We can arrange somewhere to sleep, if you’re into that whole sleep thing.

Also, we have cookies.

Are you taking any steps to keep shit real?

From a Dave Eggers rant on ‘selling out’:

“I really like saying yes. I like new things, projects, plans, getting people together and doing something, trying something, even when it’s corny or stupid. I am not good at saying no. And I do not get along with people who say no. When you die, and it really could be this afternoon, under the same bus wheels I’ll stick my head if need be, you will not be happy about having said no. You will be kicking your ass about all the no’s you’ve said. No to that opportunity, or no to that trip to Nova Scotia or no to that night out, or no to that project or no to that person who wants to be naked with you but you worry about what your friends will say.

No is for wimps. No is for pussies. No is to live small and embittered, cherishing the opportunities you missed because they might have sent the wrong message.

There is a point in one’s life when one cares about selling out and not selling out. One worries whether or not wearing a certain shirt means that they are behind the curve or ahead of it, or that having certain music in one’s collection means that they are impressive, or unimpressive.

Thankfully, for some, this all passes. I am here to tell you that I have, a few years ago, found my way out of that thicket of comparison and relentless suspicion and judgment. And it is a nice feeling. Because, in the end, no one will ever give a shit who has kept shit ‘real’ except the two or three people, sitting in their apartments, bitter and self-devouring, who take it upon themselves to wonder about such things. The keeping real of shit matters to some people, but it does not matter to me. It’s fashion, and I don’t like fashion, because fashion does not matter.”

Moving over and making room

Starbucks was hit by a well-organized culturejam last night. Locks were jammed, ‘For Lease’ signs were hung, and fake notices on Starbucks letterhead were attached to the windows:

“The global economy requires a relentless substitution of quantity over quality and shareholder value over human values. At our current market level, Starbucks cannot in good conscience guarantee all of our beans meet both our rigorous quality standards as well as our commitment to social responsibility. We are moving over and making room for local coffee bars.”

Less than 1% of Starbucks coffee is fair trade, and if you try hard enough, you can taste the jet fuel they use to roast the beans.

Pooter Madness

Looking to trade away some computer parts.

What I have:

– Pentium III 800mhz Slot 1 CPU
– ABIT BX6 Slot 1 Motherboard (Built for overclocking)
– Module # CT32M64S4D75, which is 256MB of Crucial Registered PC133 SDRAM

What I’m looking for:
-Crucial PC2100 DDR
-7200RPM HD
-Monitor
-350W+ Power Supply

Everything works great, but I just upgraded to an AMD system. I’m willing to trade as a package, or separately. Feel free to offer me some combination of the items above, or cash, or other items of interest.

168

“While there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”

– Eugene V. Debs (1855 – 1926; Five time Socialist Candidate for US Presidency, and the only candidate to run for President from prison)

…

Sometimes, when I cannot sleep, I’ll spend hours awake next to her, breathing her in. I do this, so that she knows she is loved.

you were always fiction

Dearest ghosts:

I’m starting again, now. From this point on, I have one focus, one goal, and I will not hesitate to ensure my own success. I expect conflict, but discord has only ever had impact when I had something to lose, and there is nothing here that I will hold on to.

Once you make the decision to look forward, it becomes very easy to leave everyone behind. Once you start moving, you know who’s keeping pace with you.

There is so much of importance in the world, and you are not part of it.

…

(removed)

…

Higher, she said. Just a little more, I can almost reach.

Just a little more, now.

Inventory: Living Room

Computer 1: (Phucky)

AMD Athlon XP 1900+ w/512MB DRAM
A7V266-E Motherboard w/integrated audio, 250W PS
Asus V8170 MX GeForce4 DDR w/TV-out
80GB Western Digital w/8mb cache (system/mp3s)
20GB Maxtor in removable tray (movies)
HP CD-Writer 9500
10Mbit NIC (3Mbit DSL)
10/100Mbit NIC (Network)
SB Audigy Platinum (inactive, need bigger PS)
ZIP Drive (inactive, need bigger PS)
Floppy Drive (inactive, need bigger PS)
Wacom Tablet (mostly inactive, need bigger PS)

This is my PC, and acts as a firewall/NAT, and serves www/ftp/pop3/smtp/imap/etc to the rest of the network and the outside world. I blew my last PS, and I need a new one in order to connect the rest of my peripherals. Lack of peripherals makes me sad.

Computer 2: (GlipGlop)

Intel Pentium III/800 w/512MB SDRAM
GeForce2 MX
10Mbit NIC (Rogers@Home)
10/100Mbit NIC (Network)
Quantum Fireball 10GB (system)
Fujitsu 6GB (misc)
SB Live! Value

This is dirtybunnyLeslie’s PC, and acts as a firewall/NAT, handling backup services for if/when Phucky goes offline.


Computer 3: (Oogah)

AMD Duron 1Ghz
K7S5A Motherboard w/integrated audio, 250W PS
512MB SDRAM / 256MB DRAM
GeForce2 MX / ATI Rage AGP

This is my mother’s PC, and will not boot due to a stubborn 0x0000008e STOP error during XP/ME/2K/NT/98/95 setup. I have just about given up on this machine, I’ve swapped out every part (except the MB/CPU), and it simply fails to work. This is pretty interesting, because the MB/CPU works fine in another system.


Computer 4: (Iszotrash)

AMD Athlon 1800+
GA-7VRX Motherboard
256MB DRAM
This is error853Yann’s old dead PC. It seems to have some hardware damage, I’m hoping to salvage something from it.

Computers 5 through 8: (???)

5:
Unknown Slot A CPU (K6?)
MVW-VM(?) Motherboard
No RAM

6:
Unknown PII CPU
P2B(?) Motherboard
3 sticks of SDRAM

7:
Unknown CPU
Unknown Motherboard with Daughterboard (!!)
3 sticks of (72 pin?) RAM

8:
Unknown CPU
Unknown Motherboard
Unknown RAM

These are the infamous mystery floor computers. They are on my floor. I don’t know how they got there.

Random Parts
3 IDE Hard Drives
1 ISA Sound Card
4 NICs
1 Modem
1 BJC-4300 Printer (no parallel cable)
1 Flatbed Scanner (no parallel cable)
1 Glass half-full of PC screws

These parts are the wreckage that inevitably follows when you have mystery floor computers.