So I finally got all of the components for the computer that I'm building for my children. I cheated a little and cannibalized CD-ROM drives and floppy drives (shut up) from some old systems that I'm certain my wife would like to chuck out the window. Anyway, I thought that I'd be clever and pull off the old direct cooling fan as well and simply use that on the new motherboard/CPU combo. Funny thing, though: I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to attach the fan to the new motherboard. I finally gave up and ordered a new one. When it arrived, I discovered why the old fan wouldn't fit. The new fans are freaking ginormous. Two huge levels of radiating fins and a fan that, frankly, I could use as a small ceiling fan, at least in our dog house.

Anyway, I plan to take pictures of my latest PC project and post them here. The first photo will be of the two cooling fans sitting side by side just to give you an idea of how much things have changed in just a couple of years. The rest will be of the entire project, from empty mini-tower to booting the OS.

When will all of this happen? Beats me. Family obligations keep intruding. But my kids are getting antsy and my wife is tired of getting kicked off of her machine. My guess is that it will be sooner, rather than later. Stay tuned.

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So Cassy Fiano has moved into fresh, new, non-Blogsplat digs. Cool. Please update your links accordingly.

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Because I've got nothing -although I'll have a couple of lengthy tech posts up in the near future- today, I'm going to go with what I like, and what I like is beautiful women. Let's find out who the boss is today:

more...

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So Big Brown is now one victory away from winning the Triple Crown. I hope that he gets it. I remember watching Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed (poor Alydar- would have been a great horse in any other year) all winning the Triple Crown in the 1970s. I got so used to seeing a winner that I forgot how difficult such a feat is. The current period between champions is the longest in history.

Anyway. Everyone raved about Big Brown's huge victory on Saturday. While it was impressive, every race that I've seen since 1973 has been colored by what Secretariat accomplished on June 9 of that year at the Belmont Stakes. I've embedded a video below the fold. For the record, Secretariat won the Belmont by a mind-boggling 31 lengths. Other notable records:

• Secretariat's Kentucky Derby record of (1:59 2/5) still stands. Also, Big Red ran each quarter-mile segment faster than the one before it.
  
• At the Belmont, Secretariat ran the first 1 1/4 mile faster than any horse had run the entire race before
  
• Secretariat's record at the Belmont of 2:24 is still the world record for the distance; no other horse has every broken 2:25 at that distance
  

Posted by: Physics Geek at 07:05 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Or maybe not. Excerpt:

The global warming gurus assure us that a decade without, you know, global warming, has a perfectly rational explanation, and that humanity's wasteful standard of living is still a sure bet to replace Canadian winters with Las Vegas summers by the end of the century. The Pacific Ocean's La Nina current, a cooler-than-normal expanse of water, is responsible for milder temperatures in the normally balmy equatorial region. China and West Asia have cooled off as well, the WMO reported.

The La Nina current is expected to hang around the rest of the year. After that, we're back on the express elevator to Hades.

"For detecting climate change you should not look at any particular year, but instead examine the trends over a sufficiently long period of time," said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud. "And the trend of temperature globally is still very much indicative of warming."

The La Nina current is "part of what we call 'variability,' " he said.

But as Investor's Business Daily wrote in a Friday editorial: "Why can't the Pacific's El Nino current, which played a large part in the warm reading for 1998, simply be seen as a 'variability' and not part of a greater warming trend?" Variability is code for "data that don't support our cause."

Read the rest.

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Next stop: Linuxville

Check out this article at Tech Radar on one guy's move from Windows to Ubuntu. Except:

One of the main problems with Microsoft's Windows OS is that virtually everything on your motherboard, and anything you want to install, requires an appropriate driver. This used to be the case with Linux, but like AppleÂ’s OS X, a large number of drivers are now built into the Linux kernel.

For instance, once you install Windows, you normally need to install all the motherboard drivers. When I installed Ubuntu, this wasnÂ’t necessary.

Even more impressively, Ubuntu detected my wireless USB stick. All it required was the WPA password and it connected straight to the Internet. In Windows, a specific driver is needed.
...
So far IÂ’m impressed. Setting up Ubuntu has been easier than Windows XP or Vista, and IÂ’ve had to install far fewer drivers. Over the next four days, IÂ’ll find out how Ubuntu copes with a range of everyday tasks, from Internet shopping to productivity and playing games.

Stay tuned for future installments in this series.

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So some borderline retarded douchbags think that Cassy Fiano is fat? Really? I mean, WTFing really?! I guess that if your ideal woman is one that you can hold up to a light buld to see if she's pregnant, then sure, Cassy might appear chunky. Here on planet Earth, she's actually a lovely, sexy woman, with appealing curves. She doesn't even fall into the Rubinesque category of curvaceous. Anyway, I'll give Cassy the last word:

Um, yeah. Compared to that, I guess I am a whale. Heaven forbid I eat three meals a day, get moderate exercize, and wear a size 8. And I can't help the fact that God gave me really, really big breasts. They started growing when I hit puberty and kind of never stopped -- and they don't get smaller, no matter how much I work out (believe me, I've tried). So, it's a little bit beyond my control.

I lied: I've got some final thoughts on this subject. If your ideal woman is the Skeletor-looking cadavers so prevalent among today's fashion models, who look like they survive on a diet of heroin, coffee and cigarettes, then sure, a real woman will look like someone eating food for an entire Third World nation. The rest of us will continue to enjoy women who actually look like women.

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And by worse, I mean colder. Globally. Read the PDF at this link, courtesy -again- of Jerry Pournelle. I've excerpted some of the salient points, but it's worth reading. Anyway:

Do we live in a special time in which the laws of physics and nature are suspended? No, we do not. Can we expect relationships between the SunÂ’s activity and climate, that we can see in data going back several hundred years, to continue for at least another 20 years? With absolute certainty.

In this presentation, I will demonstrate that the Sun drives climate, and use that demonstrated relationship to predict the EarthÂ’s climate to 2030. It is a prediction that differs from most in the public domain. It is a prediction of imminent cooling.

To put the solar – climate relationship in context, we will begin by looking at the recent temperature record, and then go further back in time.

Then we will examine the role of the Sun in changing climate, and following that the contribution of anthropogenic warming from carbon dioxide. I will show that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is not even a little bit bad. It is wholly beneficial. The more carbon dioxide we can put into the atmosphere, the better the planet will be – for humans, and all other living things.
...
When I asked at the beginning of this presentation if we lived in a special time, well that is true in relation to the last three million years. The special time we live in is called an interglacial. Normally, and that is 90% of the time, the spot I am standing on is covered by several thousand feet of ice. Relative to the last four interglacials, we may be somewhere near the end of the current interglacial. The end of the Holocene will be a brutal time for humanity.
...
2008 is the tenth anniversary of the recent peak on global temperature in 1998. The world has been cooling at 0.06 degrees per annum since then. My prediction is that this rate of cooling will accelerate to 0.2 degrees per annum following the month of solar minimum sometime in 2009.
...
We have to be thankful to the anthropogenic global warming proponents for one thing. If it werenÂ’t for them and their voodoo science, climate science wouldnÂ’t have attracted the attention of non-climate scientists, and we would be sleepwalking into the rather disruptive cooling that is coming next decade. We have a few years to prepare for that in terms of agricultural production.

We won't prepare, of course, because it isn't politically expedient. I look forward to President Obamamessiah's State of the Union addresses being given from South Florida during his second term.

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That time of the year is once again upon us. I will participate in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure as a way to raise money to help eliminate the scourge of breast cancer. If you're participating in the race, or have already donated, thanks. If not, and you would consider sponsoring me, please drop me an email and I'll send you the link to my personal page. As someone whose life has been touched by breast cancer, I hope for the day when this disease has been eradicated.

For the record, I receive no benefit from donations in my name. My picture won't appear in the paper, my ugly mug won't be on TV and I don't get a paid vacation or any such thing if I receive a certain amount of donations. Sponsoring me only gets your money routed to the right people.

Thanks for your attention. This post will remain at the top of this blog until race day, which is May 10 here in Richmond.

Update: People are very generous. I've reached my, admittedly modest, fund raising goal. However, there's nothing to stop you from giving more. Really, it's a great cause.

Update: Thanks, Bill. It's much appreciated.

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Found this link via Jerry Pournelle and couldn't resist sharing some excerpts:

The UK Telegraph reports on April 30: “Global warming will stop until at least 2015 because of natural variations in the climate, scientists have said. Researchers studying long-term changes in sea temperatures said they now expect a "lull" for up to a decade while natural variations in climate cancel out the increases caused by man-made greenhouse gas emissions. The average temperature of the sea around Europe and North America is expected to cool slightly over the decade while the tropical Pacific remains unchanged. This would mean that the 0.3°C global average temperature rise which has been predicted for the next decade by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change may not happen, according to the paper published in the scientific journal Nature.”

...

“This whole climate change issue is rapidly disintegrating. From now onwards climate alarmists will be on the retreat. […] All indications are that we are now on the threshold of global cooling associated with the second and less active solar cycle.” – May 2, 2008 - By Professor Dr. Will J.R. Alexander, Emeritus of the Department of Civil and Biosystems Engineering at the University of Pretoria in South Africa and a former member of the United Nations Scientific and Technical Committee on Natural Disasters

...

“Their entire global warming scare was based on around two decades of warming in the late 20th century so if that is followed by 20 years of stasis and cooling, which one of those two episodes represents the trend? How can we be sure that there is ANY trend?” - Australian John Ray, Ph.D., who publishes the website Greenie Watch said on May 2

...

3) UK Astronomer Dr. David Whitehouse, who authored the 2004 book The Sun: A Biography, said on May 1, 2008: “Isn't it curious that over the next decade man-made global warming will be cancelled out by natural cycles. It's nice that Mother Nature (not the journal) is helping us this way but it does beg the question as to whether the man-made effect was all that significant if it can be nullified this way.”

...

4) Astrophysicist Piers Corbyn, founder of the UK based long-term solar forecast group Weather Action, said on April 30: “It is noteworthy that this 'prediction' in the journal Nature coincides pretty well with various solar-based predictions including the solar-magnetic based prediction we issued from WeatherAction in Jan this year - i.e. cooling till 2013 at least. It seems like the 'Anything But the Sun' faction of UN IPCC works by copying what has already been predicted by a number of solar-based forecasting techniques and then attributing the cause to something earth-based. That way they hope to save the lie that man's irrelevant earth-based efforts could cause climate change. Of course the long term cooling change expected in sea temperatures referred to in this paper in Nature as 'cause' is nothing of the sort it is a consequence of the changes in sun-earth magnetic and particle links. The Nature article is in effect saying that 'Climate Change causes climate change'. Give us a break! Why is there a 22 year cycle in the solar magnetic links and also the same cycle in world temperatures? The reason is that the earth-sun magnetic links drive world temperatures (and this understanding enables successful long-range weather forecasts to be made). The pillars of pseudo-science writing in nature believe their 'sea cycle' is the driver of what happens so they will have to tell us that that the sun's magnetic field is driven by the Earth's oceans. Does anyone buy this? Application of the scientific method to science would be a good idea!”

There's a lot more there which you might want to look at, unless your brain is so calcified with the answer you know to be correct that you can't be bothered to look at any actual data.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 11:51 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I predict that Hillary will win Indiana by 10 tonight. Also, I predict that Obama will survive in NC, despite the water that his campaign has been taking on. So call it Obama by 2 tonight.

If my predictions are off, well, what did you expect for nothing? Anyway, feel free to weigh in with your predictions in the comments.

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From LC Brendan at the Emperor's site comes this missive which simply must be read if you believe that you have the right to protect yourself. If you don't believe that, well, I hope that all is well in the land of pixies and fairies which you currently inhabit. Just hope that the goblins don't come out after dark.

Entire article is included below the fold, owing to its length.

more...

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Or maybe it's dead trees. Yes, definitely dead trees.

An idea whose time has come: increasing your carbon footprint. Excerpt:

Carbon Debits - Increasing Your Carbon Footprint...

Making a carbon debit is a delicate matter taking both skill and time. Our carbon debiting process starts with our FECON spinning shredder and a driver who has vendetta against trees. Add any tree and about 20 seconds and a carbon debit is born!

On a Mission - Taking Away Al Gore's Carbon Credits...
We are on a mission to take away every one of Al Gore's meaningless carbon credits by simply providing carbon debits. Help us make this dream a reality by purchasing one of the packages below. Don't let Al Gore assuage his guilt with meaningless penance, heap it back on with carbon debits – every one of which we will let him know about.

Included is the image of your carbon footprint certificate, which I've placed below the fold.

more...

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Looks like Gandalf the Grey will return. Excerpt:

McKellen Reprising Gandalf In Hobbit

British actor Ian McKellen told Empire magazine that he will reprise the role of the wizard Gandalf in Guillermo del Toro's upcoming movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, the Reuters news service reported.

The 68-year-old star played the part in the hugely successful Lord of the Rings trilogy directed by Peter Jackson. Mexican filmmaker del Toro has been named to direct two films based on The Hobbit, which Jackson will produce and co-write.

"Yes, it's true," McKellen told Empire. "I spoke to Guillermo in the very room that Peter Jackson offered me the part, and he confirmed that I would be reprising the role. Obviously, it's not a part that you turn down; I loved playing Gandalf."

Del Toro, whose credits include Pan's Labyrinth, will move to New Zealand for the next four years to work on both Hobbit films with executive producer Jackson, according to New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios.

The studios have said that filming will begin in 2009, with tentative release dates set in 2010 for the first film and 2011 for the sequel.

Hmm. By 2010, my son will be 8 years old. Considering that I read The Hobbit for the first time at that ripe age, I think that I forsee a father/son outing. After, of course, he's finished reading the book. Lucky for him, I have a copy lying around the house.

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So Jeff Goldstein is going behind enemy lines at the Democratic National Convention. No word yet on whether Ann Coulter will show up as his room with a 6-pack of Mickey's Big Mouth again. Stay tuned.

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Received via email:

Here are 12 of the finest double-entendres aired on TV & Radio, some familiar but all the better for being collated into a handy package . . .

1. Pat Glenn, weightlifting commentator - 'And this is Gregoriava from Bulgaria. I saw her snatch this morning and it was amazing!'
   
2. New Zealand Rugby Commentator - 'Andrew Mehrtens loves it when Daryl Gibson comes inside of him.'
   
3. Ted Walsh - Horse Racing Commentator - 'This is really a lovely horse. I once rode her mother.'
   
4. Harry Carpenter at the Oxford-Cambridge boat race 1977 - 'Ah, isn't that nice. The wife of the Cambridge President is kissing the Cox of the Oxford crew.'
   
5. US PGA Commentator - 'One of the reasons Arnie (Arnold Palmer) is playing so well is that, before each tee shot, his wife takes out his balls and kisses them ..... Oh my god!!!!! What have I just said?!!!!'
   
6. Carenza Lewis about finding food in the Middle Ages on 'Time Team Live' said: 'You'd eat beaver if you could get it.'
   
7. A female news anchor who, the day after it was supposed to have snowed and didn't, turned to the weatherman and asked, 'So Bob, where's that eight inches you promised me last night?' Not only did HE have to leave the set, but half the crew did too, because they were laughing so hard!
   
8. Steve Ryder covering the US Masters: 'Ballesteros felt much better today after a 69 yesterday.'
   
9. Clair Frisby talking about a jumbo hot dog on Look North said: 'There's nothing like a big hot sausage inside you on a cold night like this.'
   
10. Mike Hallett discussing missed snooker shots on Sky Sports: 'Stephen Hendry jumps on Steve Davis's misses every chance he gets.'
    
11. Michael Buerk on watching Phillipa Forrester cuddle up to a male astronomer for warmth during BBC1's UK eclipse coverage remarked: 'They seem cold out there, they're rubbing each other and he's only come in his shorts.'
    
12. Ken Brown commentating on golfer Nick Faldo and his caddie Fanny Sunneson lining-up shots at the Scottish Open: 'Some weeks Nick likes to use Fanny, other weeks he prefers to do it by himself.'
    

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Useful list compiled here at Linux Planet: The Top 75 Open Source Security Apps. Excerpt:

Anti-Virus/Anti-Malware

1. ClamWin Free Antivirus

This Windows-only app uses the incredibly popular ClamAV engine to detect viruses and spyware. It includes a scanning scheduler, automatic downloads, and a Microsoft Outlook plug-in. However, it does not provide real-time scanning; you'll need to scan your files manually in order to be protected. Operating System: Windows.

2. ClamAV

Numerous commercial and open-source products are based on the Clam Antivirus engine. Designed for protecting e-mail gateways, Clam AV offers automatic updates, a command line scanner, and more. Operating System: Unix, Linux, BSD.
...
Data Removal

14. Eraser

Want to make sure that file you deleted can never be retrieved? Eraser writes over your files with random data so that no one can snoop into your private files. Operating System: Windows and DOS.

15. Darik's Boot and Nuke

Also known as "DBAN," Darik's Boot and Nuke completely eliminates all of the data on a hard drive. It's an ideal way to clean up an old computer before you donate or recycle it. Operating System: OS Independent.

16. Wipe

Wipe erases all traces of deleted files from your hard drive so that they can't be retrieved. It relies heavily on the work of Peter Gutmann, one of the foremost experts in the field. Operating System: Linux.
...
Internet Security Suites

42. Winpooch

Calling itself "an opensource watchdog for Windows," Winpooch incorporates anti-spyware and anti-trojan capabilities with ClamWin Antivirus. It aims to give the user complete control over which programs are running on the system. Operating System: Windows.

43. DemocraKey

The DemocraKey tagline says it all: "It's like a condom for your computer." Install it on a portable drive and plug it in to any computer. DemocraKey scans for viruses and protects your privacy while you surf. Operating System: Windows.

There's a lot more to look at, if you're so inclined.

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In honor of the recent disclosure about Clemens' past, I submit the following:

Roger Clemens, disguised in sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat, snuck into the hotel. When he opened the door to his room, he saw that his girlfriend was packing her suitcase.

"What are you doing?, he asked.

"I'm leaving you,", she replied. "I just found out that you're a pedophile."

"Pedophile, eh? That's a mighty big word for an eight year old."

Posted by: Physics Geek at 06:56 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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More ancient than Calgon

A young man is wandering, lost, in a forest when he comes upon a small house. Knocking on the door he is greeted by an ancient Chinese man with a long gray beard.

"I'm lost," says the man. "Can you put me up for the night?" "Certainly",' the Chinese man says, "but on one condition." "If you so much as lay a finger on my daughter I will inflict upon you the three worst Chinese tortures known to man'". "OK," the man replies, and enters the house.

Over dinner, the daughter comes down the stairs. She is young and beautiful, with a fantastic body. She is obviously attracted to the young man and can't keep her eyes off him during the meal. Remembering the old man's warning, he ignores her and goes up to bed alone. During the night he can bear it no longer and sneaks into her room for a night of passion. He is careful to keep everything quiet so the old man wouldn't hear and, near dawn, he creeps back to his room, exhausted but happy.

He wakes to feel a pressure on his chest. Opening his eyes, he sees a large rock on his chest with a note on it that reads: "Chinese Torture 1....Large rock on chest.".

"Well, that's pretty crappy," he thinks. 'If that's the best the old man can do then I don't have much to worry about." He picks the boulder up, walks over to the window and throws the boulder out. As he does,he notices another note on it that reads: "Chinese Torture 2: Rock tied to left testicle." In a panic he glances down and sees the rope, getting very close to taut.

Figuring that a few broken bones is better than castration, he jumps out of the window after the boulder. Plummeting towards the ground, he sees a large sign on the ground that reads, "Chinese Torture 3....Right testicle tied to bed post."

See, it's true: too much unprotected sex can kill you.

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It Depends

Received via email:

One night, at the lodge of a hunting club, two new members were being introduced to other members and shown around. The man leading them around said, "See that old man asleep in the chair by the fireplace? He is our oldest member and can tell you some hunting stories you'll never forget." They awakened the old man and asked him to tell them a hunting story.

"Well, I remember back in 1944, we went on a lion hunting exposition in Africa. We were on foot and hunted for three days without seeing a thing. On the fourth day, I was so tired I had to rest my feet. I found a fallen tree, so I laid my gun down, propped my head on the tree, and fell asleep. I don't know how long I was asleep when I was awakened by a noise in the bushes. I was reaching for my gun when the biggest lion I ever seen jumped out of the bushes at me like this, ROOOAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!....... I tell you, I just shit my pants."

The young men looked astonished and one of them said, "I don't blame you, I would have shit my pants too if a lion jumped out at me."

The old man shook his head and said, "No, no, not then, just now when I said ROOOAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!"

Posted by: Physics Geek at 04:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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