CharmingGeek.net Funness

Here’s the second nerdy post of the weekend. After installing my RAID controller (it’s the red PCI card with my two SATA connectors running into it above), I decided the fan on my graphics card was too loud. So I went to CompUSA to get a new fan and came back with this. Definately quieter than a fan, this enormous heat sink has no moving parts and looks totally geeky! This’ll do until I get the water cooling system to replace my other 5 fans.

About a year ago I bought my first SATA hard disk. I spent about a week trying to copy everything from my old disk to that one and make it boot. No luck. Then I found Casper XP from Future Systems. Casper XP will make an entire backup of whatever disk you have to whatever other disk you have (be it larger, smaller, different interface, even connected by USB), that is bootable so you can swap in the copy and continue working from the new disk. After the hassle I had been through, I thought it would be worth the $50 purchase to finally get my disk working without having to reinstall everything. With Casper XP, 5 minutes of configuration and an hour of disk activity, I did what I could not do in an entire week without it. I was satisfied with my purchase.
Since then, I’ve been using Casper XP to make scheduled backups of my entire hard disk. It’s nice to know that if my disk ever fails, I can just put in my backup drive and in five minutes loose no more than 2 days worth of changes.
Just today I tried to install a RAID controller and a second SATA hard disk, but before reconfiguring anything, I made sure I had a current backup from Casper onto my external drive. In the process of configuring my RAID drives, my primary disk became unreadable. No problem! I just swapped in my backup disk and I’m up and running again in no time! I’m pretty excited about the way Future Systems keeps saving me from myself.
I just wish they had a product that would keep me from cutting myself while shaving.

Endorsing Treehugger.com, a blog of stuff we environmentalists like to get into a frenzy about.
Next stop, adding this to my Google Portal

I finally got my full-length mirror up. No more excuses for the way I dress. Oh! And I got a new monitor that doesn’t attract the neighborhood dogs.

I may have inadvertantly not posted this before. Even if I did, you can never have too much of David Hasselhoff. Here’s Hooked on a Feeling

It’s still raining. It’s been raining for about 26 hours now. We’ve been through all different kinds of rain, leading right up to the very depressing premature-dusk rain. On a positive note, the temperature outside is perfect, and I’ve had my window open all day. The dinner I cooked while watching “Top Chef” was a complete failure. Well, I guess it wasn’t a complete failure, because I’m not as hungry any more. Clearly I need a new way to fry corn, though.
Here’s a story that I want to tell everybody I see. Nobody really wants to hear it, but you came here to read what I have to say, so I can’t be blamed if you have to read a boring story.
Last night I left my house to go to the carnival in the mall parking lot. It was raining, which means that already DC area drivers are prone to drive slow and swerve. Well, when I got to the first stop light, I noticed it was green. And flashing red. Granted I haven’t read the Virginia DOT traffic manual, but I had no idea what that meant. I thought maybe I could get a clue by looking at the light facing the other street. It was red. And flashing yellow. That didn’t help. So I decided green and red means get around the corner without letting anybody hit you. I left the other drivers there, cycling on and off the brake, to fend for themselves.

Mmmm. Shopping online is fun.

This totally makes my day. I just checked on a forum that I put up ages ago and realized that it had been compromised. I think it’s actually much better now. Here’s the hacked page.
Those crazy Turks. There’s music and a slide show now. Enjoy while I decide if it’s worth putting the forum back up or not.

Clearly I’m not up on my epidemiology. I had no idea the bubonic plague [Wikipedia] was still around.
MSNBC reports on this recent case of what is commonly called “The Plague.”
In a related story, people have pretty much stopped dying.”

Check out Martha’s big bunny.

I’d like one of these, please.

Now will somebody please help me with this crashing application?