What a wasteful society. A near top of the range desktop PC, with SATA hard disk, dual core processor, accelerated graphics card with digital output, almost thrown out because the power supply isn't working. Thankfully the owner thought to try and Freecycle it.
I took ages getting to the other side of town. My street is full of snow and ice so I tentatively drove out with the 4-wheel drive switched on. In town I had to negotiate Christmas shoppers and idiots driving whilst talking into their mobiles. My mobile rang, I ignored it. Don't people realise that using a phone whilst driving makes you as incapable as a drunk driver.
Once I got the PC home I spent an hour hoovering out the dust. The machine still smells of nicotine but that will pass. I have plenty of power supplies, from other machines I've picked up, and will either swap the whole unit or, more likely, just the board inside the power supply.
I tested the hard drive with my handy USB to IDE/SATA cable. I normally use it to back up my systems up with a spare 320GB hard drive I picked up but I also use the cable to test drives outside of PCs. I've never had a SATA drive afore as they cost a lot more than old parallel ATAs.
I am always worried that I may run into something dodgy on one of these hard drives I pick up. But beng a 160GB drive I thought to myself, "Anything remotely suspicious results in a reformat and not a visit to the corporate security service, I mean police."
I received an old laptop a few weeks ago. That was a week long challenge. The previous owner said broken CD drive. I discovered a boot sector virus on the hard drive instead. The machine was too old to receive the latest Ubuntu distribution so I put XP on for now. I only have an XP update disk so I had to get an old bit torrent Windows 98 copy first and then install XP on top of that.
The laptop is now in London, doing someone a favour. It will probably be replaced by this desktop, I'm working on, and then I can convert the laptop into a flat panel book reader.
I suppose I should say something about Copenhagen
Not much to say other than I never had high expectations. After all, we are dealing with suits who are thinking only of the next general election or (in some cases) which colonel is going to overthrow them. Why is it always colonels (and a pair of corporals) and never higher ranks?
Obama, as I said prior to and during his election, hasn't amounted to much. Elected for neither being a Republican or having the surname Bush. He gets a Nobel peace prize for doing nothing. I suppose not declaring any new wars amounts to being peaceful. He wears a suit and ensures the lives of other suits.
I gave up on politicians long ago. The climate issue is irrelevant and should be left to its own devices. When Mother Earth tires of humanity then she will heal itself. It is up to individuals to look after themselves. You can cling on to the old ways of doings things (and hope for the best) or you can experiment with your life and discover new possibilities. A little life hacking, if you want to give it a name.
Remember, buying something "green" doesn't make you green. Not buying something might make you green.
Obama, as I said prior to and during his election, hasn't amounted to much. Elected for neither being a Republican or having the surname Bush. He gets a Nobel peace prize for doing nothing. I suppose not declaring any new wars amounts to being peaceful. He wears a suit and ensures the lives of other suits.
I gave up on politicians long ago. The climate issue is irrelevant and should be left to its own devices. When Mother Earth tires of humanity then she will heal itself. It is up to individuals to look after themselves. You can cling on to the old ways of doings things (and hope for the best) or you can experiment with your life and discover new possibilities. A little life hacking, if you want to give it a name.
Remember, buying something "green" doesn't make you green. Not buying something might make you green.
A ticket to ride
I have a one-way ticket out of the country for January 1st. However, it started to snow today. Flights were cancelled and so fingers are crossed that I will have a window out of here in two weeks time.
There is an offer of a rent free house, in a small commuter town, near Madrid. Some building work needs doing on the house, which I can busy myself with. A yard for container growing, if I find myself still in the house in March.
I shall live in the downsized style that I have gotten used to. The house has all the mod cons but I won't make use of them. No fridge, a wasteful luxury. A local supermarket will act as my fridge. I will only take two bags with clothes and a few other items. I will take my home-grown onions and potatoes plus some of my never ending sack of rice. You will all be kept up to date on my progress via a netbook and my skills at piggy-backing on free (or otherwise) wifi connections.
As the winter passes, I shall work my way to northern Spain, on the look out for land and a liveable (for me, a roof and four sturdy walls) house.
Next week sees the solstice and the return of the Sun. The darkness has been getting me down for the past few weeks. Happy solstice / Christmas / New Year etc. etc.
There is an offer of a rent free house, in a small commuter town, near Madrid. Some building work needs doing on the house, which I can busy myself with. A yard for container growing, if I find myself still in the house in March.
I shall live in the downsized style that I have gotten used to. The house has all the mod cons but I won't make use of them. No fridge, a wasteful luxury. A local supermarket will act as my fridge. I will only take two bags with clothes and a few other items. I will take my home-grown onions and potatoes plus some of my never ending sack of rice. You will all be kept up to date on my progress via a netbook and my skills at piggy-backing on free (or otherwise) wifi connections.
As the winter passes, I shall work my way to northern Spain, on the look out for land and a liveable (for me, a roof and four sturdy walls) house.
Next week sees the solstice and the return of the Sun. The darkness has been getting me down for the past few weeks. Happy solstice / Christmas / New Year etc. etc.
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