Friday, December 31, 2010

PLANET ZERO Goes Down Before The Year Ends

With the year nearing its end, I am suddenly slapped in the face a few times by a stroke of bad luck with computers, specifically my desktop.


There's a reason why I still stick with Windows and keep Linux on the netbook. I still like playing games from time to time and am still not overly proficient with the nuances of Ubuntu. After more than a year running the desktop for 24 hours and I guess 4 or 5 reinstalls due to software issues, my primary drive decides to go down. I have never owned a Western Digital drive in my life but since they were cheaper I opted to get a 1.5TB for storage purposes and rarely access it except for downloading new stuff. Thankfully it hasn't gone down yet but it is currently going through a file consistency check which appears to take more than a few hours the maximum wait time to finish.


My main issue is the 320GB Western Digital which still has an IDE interface. My 40GB seagate still works but I had to format that as well due to software issues which caused my torrent files and a few files becoming unreadable. It sucks that I have to redo everything but I hope that the 1.5TB data is still intact.


I may need to build a new box dedicated to storage and P2P soon and start a RAID system to avoid this situation from happening again. I am thinking if I can do this on Ubuntu or FreeNAS but the latter is using ZFS which is used mostly by Solaris or FreeBSD, I may need to do more research on that.


In my opinion, Western Digital sucks and I am sticking to Seagate on my next system.


Anyone want to buy all my Western Digital HDDs?

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Useless Anecdote



Yes, There is nothing interesting today and I am bored.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Holiday Greetings!

And they'd like to greet you HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

'Twas The Night Before Christmas (The Politically Correct version)


Politically Correct Santa by Harvey Ehrlich


'Twas the night before Christmas and Santa's a wreck...
How to live in a world that's politically correct?
His workers no longer would answer to "Elves",
"Vertically Challenged" they were calling themselves.

And labor conditions at the north pole
Were alleged by the union to stifle the soul.
Four reindeer had vanished, without much propriety,
Released to the wilds by the Humane Society.

And equal employment had made it quite clear
That Santa had better not use just reindeer.
So Dancer and Donner, Comet and Cupid,
Were replaced with 4 pigs, and you know that looked stupid!

The runners had been removed from his sleigh;
The ruts were termed dangerous by the E.P.A.
And people had started to call for the cops
When they heard sled noises on their roof-tops.

Second-hand smoke from his pipe had his workers quite frightened.
His fur trimmed red suit was called "Unenlightened."
And to show you the strangeness of life's ebbs and flows,
Rudolf was suing over unauthorized use of his nose

And had gone on Geraldo, in front of the nation,
Demanding millions in over-due compensation.
So, half of the reindeer were gone; and his wife,
Who suddenly said she'd enough of this life,

Joined a self-help group, packed, and left in a whiz,
Demanding from now on her title was Ms.
And as for the gifts, why, he'd ne'er had a notion
That making a choice could cause so much commotion.

Nothing of leather, nothing of fur,
Which meant nothing for him. And nothing for her.
Nothing that might be construed to pollute.
Nothing to aim. Nothing to shoot.

Nothing that clamored or made lots of noise.
Nothing for just girls. Or just for the boys.
Nothing that claimed to be gender specific.
Nothing that's warlike or non-pacific.

No candy or sweets...they were bad for the tooth.
Nothing that seemed to embellish a truth.
And fairy tales, while not yet forbidden,
Were like Ken and Barbie, better off hidden.

For they raised the hackles of those psychological
Who claimed the only good gift was one ecological.
No baseball, no football...someone could get hurt;
Besides, playing sports exposed kids to dirt.

Dolls were said to be sexist, and should be passe;
And Nintendo would rot your entire brain away.
So Santa just stood there, disheveled, perplexed;
He just could not figure out what to do next.

He tried to be merry, tried to be gay,
But you've got to be careful with that word today.
His sack was quite empty, limp to the ground;
Nothing fully acceptable was to be found.

Something special was needed, a gift that he might
Give to all without angering the left or the right.
A gift that would satisfy, with no indecision,
Each group of people, every religion;

Every ethnicity, every hue,
Everyone, everywhere...even you.
So here is that gift, it's price beyond worth...
"May you and your loved ones enjoy peace on earth."

Notice:  This poem is copyright 1992 by Harvey Ehrlich.  It is free to
distribute, without changes, as long as this notice remains intact.
All follow-ups, requests, comments, questions, distribution rights, etc
should be made to  mduhan@husc.harvard.edu .

'Twas The Night Before Christmas (The Dieter's Christmas)

Just at the right time when I think the world is getting fat, I found this excellent parody of the poem The Night Before Christmas penned in 1823 allegedly by Clement Clarke Moore or Henry Livingston, Jr (depending on who you trust)


I hope you get to read this before you take the first bite of your Christmas dinner.


Enjoy!



‘Twas the night before Christmas and all round my hips
Were Fannie May candies that sneaked past my lips.
Fudge brownies were stored in the freezer with care
In hopes that my thighs would forget they were there.

While Mama in her girdle and I in chin straps
Had just settled down to sugar-borne naps.
When out in the pantry there arose such a clatter
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the kitchen I flew like a flash,
Tore open the icebox then threw up the sash.
The marshmallow look of the new-fallen snow
Sent thoughts of a binge to my body below.

When what to my wandering eyes should appear
A marzipan Santa with eight chocolate reindeer!
That huge chunk of candy so luscious and slick
I knew in a second that I’d wind up sick.

The sweet-coated santa, those sugared reindeer
I closed my eyes tightly but still I could hear;
On Pritzker, on Stillman, on weak one, on TOPS
A Weight Watcher dropout from sugar detox.

From the top of the scales to the top of the hall
Now dash away pounds now dash away all.
Dressed up in Lane Bryant from my head to nightdress
My clothes were all bulging from too much excess.
My droll little mouth and my round little belly,
They shook when I laughed like a bowl full of jelly.
I spoke not a word but went straight to my work
Ate all of the candy then turned with a jerk.
And laying a finger beside my heartburn
Gave a quick nod toward the bedroom I turned.
I eased into bed, to the heavens I cry–
If temptation’s removed I’ll get thin by and by.
And I mumbled again as I turned for the night
In the morning I’ll starve… ’til I take that first bite!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Fun With Google Translate

Boredom And Its Chilling Effects

Doing nothing and just randomly search the hivemind for something interesting I found this but do not know what to make of it.


Ah well, enjoy!



Sunday, December 12, 2010

State Of Being

This is what I need to be doing right now.






But I am peeved by the fact that I am in this frustrated state and I need the above so that I can be doing this.




I am still searching for my creative muse...

Friday, December 10, 2010

Writer's Block & The Importance Of Grammar, Punctuation And Capitalization

Whilst I try to fight off writer's block I opted to bring back some little nuggets of knowledge fun via twitterverse.

Enjoy!

"From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put." - Winston Churchill

"You can be a little ungrammatical if you come from the right part of the country."  - Robert Frost

"Punctuation is important. For instance, commas save lives: Let's eat grandpa. Lets eat, grandpa" - Unknown

"Capitalization is important. Capitalization is the difference between helping your Uncle Jack off a horse and helping your Uncle jack off a horse." - Unknown