My Gaming PC died :(

Well, all good things must come to an end I suppose. I have pieced out a 64-bit processor when they were hot on the market and ended up with a nice machine. It lasted a good 2 years or so, but something has gone awry. It has performed like a champ since day one and just all of the sudden started having reboots out of nowhere. I don't have time for these things, as I run a WoW guild and have lots of websites I am working on now.

I am not sure if it is the motherboard or what, but I have ordered a new mobo and video card as it seems I cannot buy one that will fit all of my components anymore. I guess I could have tried Ebay, but I have heard too many bad things about it lately. I have ordered a newer ASUS board that will fit my 3800+ 64bit Athlon processor. It should arrive in the next few days as it is only being shipped from a state away.

The plan is to figure out if it is the motherboard or processor that is the problem. I figured getting a known-good, or hopefully known-good component in the mix would be a good idea. It turns out I needed to buy a new PCI-E (PCI Express) video card as AGP boards are a dying breed now if you want other performance benefits. I should be able to figure out if I need to buy a new processor from this or if it was the motherboard.

One thing I overlooked was the fact that my RAM could be the problem. I hope to run a memtest86 on the old system before I try to install the RAM into my new setup. I have gotten a new power supply within the last year, and I just bought a new Hard drive as I thought that was the original problem with the way the computer was acting. I had a similar problem in the past and it ended up being the motherboard.

Well the parts are on their way and it is only a matter of time until I figure out what is the REAL problem with my system. I have a secondary one, though it is not that great. I am pushing a whopping 768MB of ram and an AMD 1600+. It is not going to set any MIPS records, but it is getting the job done for now to at least updated some of my sites. It's not bad for an E-Machines.

War Costs Soar by a Third; Total Could Top $1.4 Trillion

It's not just the troops that are surging. War costs are up for American operations in Iraq -- way up, more than a third higher than last year. In the first half of this fiscal year, the Defense Department's "average monthly obligations for contracts and pay is running about $12 billion per month, well above the $8.7 billion in FY2006.

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This war has become a cash cow for corporations like Halliburton and other Military contracting companies like Security companies (Mercenaries) and Defense contractors like GE (General Electric) I just read an article that showed GE making over 100 billion in profits last year but did not spell out how much of that was through their Military contracts for building and maintaining fighter jets, the Abrams tank and other equipment being used in this war. When will it become evident to the people of this country that we are heading down a very windy path to hell. We need to separate church and state but we also need to separate big business and the state. Which is worse? I feel that having a corporate state is because money is what makes the world go round. Look at the whole Jack Abramoff scandal, it is a perfect example of why big business is in Washington and they have the power. You can be a religious fanatic all you want, but you will never do anything without money at this stage in the world. Hopefully Jesus remembers to bring his dad's ATM card when he returns, he is going to need it.

The Pirate Bay Wants MediaDefender to Walk the Plank to Bankruptcy

The BitTorrent trackers sitting in the depths of The Pirate Bay are there for the benefit of the people, to help them distribute bandwidth intensive media worldwide at no cost. But when anti-piracy companies like Media Defender of MiiVi infamy abuse that service, it's time to bring out the plank. They're not welcome.

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This just seems so wrong in many ways. First they movie industry doesn't want you to download movies, then then they have one of their minions setup a "honey pot" for what looked to be some sort of STING type operation. TPB is taking the right approach and hitting them in the pocket as law does not seem to apply to them either. I know that downloading files it is not the most upstanding thing to be doing on the internet, but there could be a lot worse. I don't see how any of this will accomplish any good for the industry as people have already given up on the RIAA and have just stopped buying music. The same could follow suit for the MPAA if they keep up these dirty tricks. Laws are laws and according the law of their home country, The Pirate Bay is doing nothing wrong. It is way within their reach to collect payment for the usage of the network from certain parties, especially if they are dumb enough not to read the fine print. Finally, someone got big business with their own fine print instead of the other way around. Even Pirates have some rules it seems, haha! Major props to the guy who wrote the title for this as it is just great.

Virginity For Sale - Offers start at £10,000

Baby-faced Carys Copestake, 18, has offered her virginity for the price of £10,000 to help her pay for university tuitions.

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Well, at least we are not the only ones desperate for money for college. It just goes to show how crazy tuition costs are to get a good education. It should not have to take a woman to sell her virginity for knowledge. That sounds like some sort of Satanic ritual, in fact it probably is. I find it a sad day in the world when people have to resort to these types of things just to get tuition money.

Microsoft deletes mass Xbox 360 crashing claims from Forza 2 forums

Nothing like a company already nailed for being a monopoly just going around erasing peoples rights to free speech. They are hiding a digital voice with their power and it is insane. Microsoft needs to be broken up like the Bells were, not just catered to because half of the government's PCs are running on windows.In what appears to be an effort to conceal the over 900 replies gamers provided on the official Forzamotorsport.net forums about Forza Motorsport 2 crashing on the Xbox 360, Microsoft has deleted the long thread, now stating that it’s “exclusive content for registered forum users” only. However, the thread was removed entirely, even to...

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Potential cure for HIV discovered

In a breakthrough that could potentially lead to a cure for HIV infection, scientists have discovered a way to remove the virus from infected cells, a study released Thursday said. The scientists engineered an enzyme which attacks the DNA of the HIV virus and cuts it out of the infected cell, according to the study published.
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The Pirate Bay finds permanent hosting solution!

"Today we announce that we're moving some of our servers to the North-Korean Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden." Wait. What? Those crazy Swedes!

This is just one of the funniest things I have ever seen for an April Fools joke :D

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Google's New TISP Service (April's Fool)

Get a head start and order your free TISP kit today ONLY

Get yours quick, while supplies last! :D

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Kid suspended for wearing Pirate garb to school, claims it's his religion

"A student has been suspended from school in America for coming to class dressed as a pirate. But the disciplinary action has provoked controversy – because the student says that the ban violates his rights, as the pirate costume is part of his religion. Bryan Killian says that he follows the Pastafarian religion...

Sounds like you can get away with just about anything in this country if you have the right excuse. So if this is kid takes this to court and wins, then people should by precedent be able to smoke ganja if they were to be Rastafarian. Interesting concept. It also means that Luciferians would able to actually do human sacrifices too I guess. Scary place to be when there is freedom of, or from religion. I wonder when the Church of the Pineapple Under the Sea will be up and going. All hailing their master and creator Spongebob Almighty.

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Heroic Secret Service Agent Takes Question Intended For Bush

WASHINGTON, DC—Agent Anthony Panucci dives in between the president and a hostile reporter.

I wonder what they classify CNN as, perhaps a terrorist organization.

RIAA Backs Down After Receiving Stern Letter from Defendant's Lawyer

In SONY BMG v. Merchant, in California, the defendant's lawyer wrote the RIAA a rather stern letter recounting how weak the RIAA's evidence is, referring to the deposition of the RIAA's expert witness, and threatening a malicious prosecution lawsuit. The very same day the RIAA put its tail between its legs and dropped the case.

Looks like someone has finally figured out how to go up against the big bully. I am glad that someone has figured out how to word their legal letters to make them think twice about litigation. This should become a template for all responses to RIAA accusations. They really have no clue how easy it is to use another IP to do sharing with and are probably even going after the people who had their IP's used during downloading by pirates. So many folks have unprotected proxies on the internet which allow you to hide your IP while viewing websites and more. Using one of these is just one way to fake out someone trying to collect IPs for the RIAA. I feel that it is just a stupid battle they are fighting and they should just figure out a way to make the digital world work for them rather, than make more haters as they go. Digital services like revamped Napster and the monopoly behind the movement, Itunes, are going to be the way all music is bought in just a few years. CD's and other disc media will be a thing of the past. The more that fiber optics are used these services will become more robust and able to offer more than just music content. Hi-Def movies and other high quality content is just on the doorstep. Perhaps they could spend more efforts in getting with the times and plan for the future rather than holding on to a medium that is dying anyway.

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A solar-powered Wii? Yes, a solar-powered Wii!

"With the TV and speakers requiring around 130 watts to operate and the Wii needing a smaller 40-45 watts, in direct sunlight, during a normal sunny day, they can get from 6 to 8 hours of game time out of this bad boy."

I just found this over on digg. A Solar Powered Wii! Ok so its not totally solar powered, but it is still a really cool idea. It seems as though they were only charging the battery that was running the Wii from the solar panels. A little misleading in the title on digg, but I agree that it is solar powered. I am all for alternative power, and I love gaming, so this is just a great gadget! Wii Tennis at the beach would be fun!

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