Weird Al's parody music videos. Nerds, unite!

It's All About the Pentium


White and Nerdy

This is freakishly groovy:

Upcoming title for EA's popular FIFA series: FIFA Fighter!

Sierra has released the multiplayer portion of F.E.A.R. for free. You will be able to play online with people who own the full retail version. Warning: this game requires a very beefy machine to run. Radeon 9800 or better recommended.

Click here for official site.

Direct download locations (1.76GB):

• Fast mirror, no lineup
• Sierra official FTP

Two funny japanese pranks:

• Video 1
• Video 2

What's faster than a Porsche Carrera GT, but costs the same as a family sedan? Say hello to the Ariel Atom.

• Click here for video

Parts ready to assemble.

My boss found out I was sort of a minor computer geek so he asked me to build him a new computer. He wanted the computer for mainly video capture/editing and PVR functionalities. I chose the following parts for him:

• CPU: Athlon 64 X2 +3800 S939 (dual core)


• Heatsink: Zalman 7000B Al-Cu


• RAM: 2 x 512MB (1GB) PC3200 DDR RAM


• Motherboard: ASUS A8N-VM CSM (integrated video, LAN, audio)


• Hard Drives:
  1. 36GB Western Digital Raptor 10,000RPM
  2. 320GB Seagate 7200.10 7,200RPM


• Case: Antec Sonata II with 450W PSU


• Tuner/Capture Card: Sapphire Theatrix (ATI Theater 550 chipset)


• OS: Windows XP Professional Media Center Edition 2005

The new computer (on the left) beside my own older Sonata I computer.

Because of school and work, I haven't followed the computer scene for the last couple months. As the result, I made a few bad choice of parts. I warned my boss this would happen, but he was persistent in having his computer built as soon as possible.

My first mistake was choosing the S939 socket. This socket is getting phased out and being replaced by the AM2. They are equally priced but the AM2 is more future-proof as newer CPUs will use the AM2 socket.

Choosing the Raptor hard drive was worst though. I believed all Raptors dominated the single non-SCSI drive category. Some Raptor models still do, but the 36GB model I chose - the smallest in the line, has since fallen from its throne. When I benchmarked the drives, I found the Raptor's 62MB/sec transfer rate totally obliterated by the Seagate 7200.10's blazing fast 78MB/sec. Superior spindle speed, it seems, is no longer an accurate gauge of raw performance.

To be fair, the Raptor still sports enterprise-class ruggedness and reliability, and it has low seek latencies, which interrelates to increased responsiveness in certain applications, that no 7200RPM drives can match, but in light of this new information, the premium for this drive is simply too high.

All in all, it's still a decent computer. It's extremely quiet - practically silent when the hard drives are idle, and it's definitely fast enough for whatever my boss needs to do. And judging by his response, he is certainly happy with the computer, which is ultimately all that matters.

Uber micro can also be applied to everyday activities, such as flipping burgers. (Photo by Dan)

Guybrush Threepwood and Herman Toothrot on Dinky Island

Herman: "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, what color is the tree?"
Guybrush (after exhausting all colors): "All colors?"
Herman: "Exactly. Now, what has this experience taught you?"
Guybrush: "That philosophy isn't worth my time."
Herman: "I'm very impressed. It takes most people years to reach this point."

-- Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge

Guybrush Threepwood and Wally in the map room

Wally: "I'm a cartographer."
Guybrush: "You do open heart surgery? In here?"

-- Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge

My bike was stolen a few weeks ago while I was at Ryerson. I locked it up to a bike rack outside the Student Centre - under a security camera no less. Campus security reviewed the tape and concluded the thief cut through the cable lock with a bolt cutter and made off with my bike in 14 seconds. Unfortunately, no identifiable facial features were clear on the tape.

Because my bike was rather old, I can only imagine the thief stole it for the saddle, which was recently purchased and expensive. I guess it was easier for him to steal the whole bike rather then spend the time to unbolt the saddle.

I didn't shed too much tear over losing my bike though. The shifting had not been working too great after I bent a couple teeth in the cog in a fall, the brakes were failing, and the frame was starting to rust. It was simply time we parted ways.

In talking to people, I am discovering that Toronto has a major bike theft problem. I am shocked by the number of people I have talked to that shared a similiar tale; either somebody has had their bike stolen, or they know somebody who did. The campus security guard that took my statement lambasted about having on average two people report stolen bikes a day!

As the following video shows, stealing a bike is obscenely easy.



To prevent having my bike stolen again in the future, I have been educating myself about bike security. Let me share with you several things I have learned:

• Cable locks, irrespective of their price, are for the most part inferior to U-locks. Bolt cutters are known to have defeated even the thickess cable locks that are advertised with misleading monikers like "airplane-grade."
• The recommended way to lock a bike is to have a U-lock pass through both the frame and rear wheel. Even better if you have a front quick release wheel is to move it to the rear wheel and pass the U-lock through the frame and both wheels.
• The object to which you secure the bike should be carefully examined to make certain it does not have bolts that are easily removed or otherwise tampered with such that the bike can be removed without breaking the lock.
• Because thiefs are becoming more bold, bolted seats and wheels are not as safe from theft anymore. Consider replacing bolts with quick releases to facilitate locking the wheels and removing the saddle.

Anyhow, I just bought a road bike. I tried posting the picture but Blogger(TM) is having none of it. The bike needs major tuning. Shifting is horrid on climbs, the crankshaft is making all sort of wonderful grinding noises, and the drop handlebar is way too low. Apart from those problem, the bike is incredibly quick. Now, let's just hope my U-lock does its job.

The Super-Kamiokande neutrino observatory in Japan.

• Click here for more information

We are on the dawn of a new era in gaming. Soon, the boundary between the virtual and the real will get much closer than ever as games promise real-time experience with near Hollywood-production quality.

Ushering in this new era is Crytek's upcoming game, Crysis. Unveiled at the E3 Expo this year, its graphics is nothing short of revolutionary. Here's a gameplay clip:



There is a higher quality version of the clip here (select 'Gameplay 2').

Funny A&P commercial

More hilarity at www.engrish.com.

'Wrong Guy' interviewed on the BBC:

This is the funniest video I've seen in a while. It's the BBC interviewing a supposed Guy Kewney, editor of newswireless.net and IT expert, about the Apple vs Apple case on live TV - however, it's not Guy Kewney. It's actually Guy Goma, a recent graduate who was there waiting for a job interview.

Mr Goma said his appearance was "very stressful" and wondered why the questions were not related to the data support cleanser job he applied for.

You can find the full article here.

Money Saving Guide For Computer Experts

DI-524 Wireless Router - Wolf In Sheep's Clothing:

One of the dirty secrets in electronics manufacturing is in order to save manufacturing costs, different products often share the same underlying hardware, but have various features turned on or off using software. This is the case with the Dlink DI-524. Not only is it a great router, it's actually a firmware-crippled DI-624, the faster, more expensive brother of the 524.

One guy at the DSLforum discovered both routers shared the same Atheros chipset and brilliantly figured out how to fool the 524 into thinking it's a 624. Specifically, this only works with revision 'C' of the DI-524. To change it to a 624, you need to flash with the hacked firmware. After the flash, your DI-524 will behave identically to a 624. It will even accept non-hacked official DI-624 firmware. DI-624 firmwares are also more regularly updated than DI-524's.

Your router will now have the following upgrades:

• double the speed with Super-G 108Mbps
• more features such as Turbo and Extended modes
• cable testing feature
• more configurable properties

The greatest thing with the 524 is you can often find them on sale at Futureshop and other computer hardware retailers. I got mine for $35 at Compusmart after mail-in-rebates.

Exam time is here. Time to lock and load.

Best fight scene ever. From the movie, "Undefeatable". Warning, it's a bit gory.

Real life Simpsons.