I Get the Wrong RAM

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I really wish I’d read the specs a bit more closely on that PC I got. Why did I blithely assume that what I needed for this machine was 184-pin SDRAM? The Netvista M41 uses old, slow 168-pin PC133 SDRAM. Not that you’d know that from the product page which is for the wrong computer anyway. And 168-pin RAM, for some reason, is really pricy.

Here I have 1GB of 184-pin SDRAM and an IBM Netvista M41 which is too old for it. Should cut my losses and just re-sell this box on Craigslist before it costs me any more in dollars and grief? Then I can get something compatible with the SDRAM sticks.

Update: My brother dug up two 256MB sticks of 168-pin PC133 SDRAM and is sending them over to me, so I guess the Netvista stays. Since all the cool geeks are naming their boxes, I figure I’d better name this one. I name it Fezzik.

Tiger Direct Sends Me the Wrong PC

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Those of you who saw the Cheap And Tiny entry on cheap small form desktops probably had a clue that I posted it because I was looking for, well, cheap small form desktops, since my iBook is getting on in years, but I want to wait for the Intel Macs before I get another Apple PC.

I was all set to order a refurbished Asus AE3 Pundit barebone kit with a Sempron 2800+, along with an old salvaged HDD and a stick of RAM, but then I found an almost fully equipped IBM Intellistation E Pro P4-1600 (that would be a 1.6GHz Pentium 4) for a low $170 (after rebate) on Tiger Direct, and I decided on that instead.

I really, really wish I had read a bit more on Tiger Direct before going through them.

Ordering was straightforward, and the box arrived in under three days. It was a bit bigger than I expected, but that was okay. I unpacked the PC and set it on my bed (my desk was a bit messy), checked the box label to make sure I was not going mad, and gasped in shock and horror. (Well, not really “gasped”; more like whined to the air in peeved annoyance.)

Take a good look at this photo of what I thought I was buying, and the box label I expected. Remember, the product page specified an IBM Intellistation E Pro P4-1600. Now, here’s what I got:

Yes, they sent me an IBM Netvista M41 P4-1800 instead. Actually, when you order a P4-1.6 and your mistaken order is a P4-1.8, that’s not too bad, eh? But I was ordering as small form a box as I could get for cheap, and this Netvista M41 is definitely not small.

I did a little more reading, and discovered that Tiger Direct is not so much a store as it is an online frontend to other third party computer retailers — in my case, Joy Systems — who provide the text and photos to Tiger Direct. That’s why there’s a tiny line of fine print at the bottom of every page:

“TigerDirect is not responsible for typographical or photographical errors. Prices and specifications are subject to change without notice.”

So I looked at the rather draconian return policy, looked at this BIG HONKING IBM NETVISTA M41, made a decision … and filled out and mailed the rebate forms and set up the box on my desk.

Hey, it’s not what I ordered and it’s not small, but it’s still 0.2GHz faster than what I expected. I can live with that. I ordered a WinXP OEM CD and a 1GB stick of RAM for it, but I did it on NewEgg. No more Tiger Direct for me. But I hope that rebate comes at the end of 14 weeks anyway.

New Desk Layout

So here’s my new desk layout. And if anyone asks, it was a typographical and photographical error on Tiger Direct’s part, after all, and they’re not responsible.

Wider

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Notice anything different? Yeah, a wider weblog div, slightly larger text, and no more serifed type. Mostly I tweaked things because Flickr doesn’t provide 400px photo width (and they don’t seem to be planning it as an option), and I was tired of having to post 240px photos because the standard 500px width was too wide for my existing format. So, I added about 70 pixels to my weblog div’s width (Good bye, legacy of accomodation for 640×480 resolution!), found I didn’t like the serifed body text anymore, and embiggened things till it looked like they fit. Do you find it more readable?

(When in doubt, Shift-Refresh.)

Cache Clearing

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Sitting on my computer desktop at home I have a little text file which I use as a scratch pad for notes, journal posts, to-do lists, copy-pasting, and other such things in need of quick mental buffering. It has been filling up with incomplete weblog entries lately, so it’s time to hunker down and dump the cache, just to get these unfinished thoughts and links out of the way in a messy and disorganized yet cathartic fashion.

Garver on “personal relationship” with Jesus Christ.

Holy Office on “spiritual but not religious” cliché.

Aaron abandons presuppositionalism as an exclusive apologetic method. I’ve never been comfortable myself with a philosophy of faith which begins by begging the question.

A bit old, but important: InternetMonk’s Christian Humanism category. What I like about his specific approach to the faith is the implication that the centrality of Christ’s incarnation directly addresses the age-old dialectic between “spirit” (pneuma) and “flesh” (sarx) which for years has caused Christians to either lean to the gnostic error of equating the physical with evil and the spiritual with good, or to descend into hedonistic antinomianism excused by unconditional forgiveness. In the Incarnation, both spirit and flesh are glorified, with the promise of a Resurrection which unites both in a future kingdom without sin.

Mary, Mary.

More on MARC “Soviet Russia” posters.

Review of Boogie Nights, which I watched and found gritty and intriguing, but less than satisfying for its portrayal of redemption at the end.

The Dane on democracy and manifest destiny.

Comment spammer tries to gloss over his own failure with bluster that his program was too successful. I’ve said it before: spam makes money, but it still can’t buy brains or morals. Refer also to Spammers, Stickers, Shirts.

Shark-shaped shark cage.

An “intelligent” debate with Sassy Lawyer on Roman Catholicism and intelligent design in Kansas.

That is all for now. Thank you.

Lost 2.06

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This week’s “Lost” Comprehension Quiz is an analogy question. Please circle the correct answer:

Dumbledore is to Shannon as Snape is to:

(a) Sayid

(b) Walt

(c) Ana Lucia

(d) Voldemort

Some quick notes from Wednesday’s Lost episode, “Abandoned,” which mostly failed to sustain my interest. Spoilers follow; highlight to read.

  • We don’t see Jack, Kate, Dharma Initiative, Hanso Foundation, Marvin “One Hand Clapping” Candle, or The Hatch. Not once. Hurley and Rose only mention the hatch in passing because she prefers line-drying clothes in the sun to using the time-displaced washer and dryer.
  • For someone convinced that The Hatch and The Button are the stuff of fate, faith, hope, and destiny every 108 minutes, Locke sure doesn’t seem to be spending a lot of time down there. I know they’re having alternating shifts with the other survivors and all (I guess this episode was Jack and Kate’s shift), but Locke seems to be back to business as usual, wandering the beach as Wise Old Mystic Island Shaman Who Swaddles Crying Babies.
  • By the way, Locke is crummy at intervention. “So, uh, let’s play some backgammon … YOU DRUG ADDICT!”
  • A very trigger-happy Ana Lucia shot Shannon. She made the Iraqi guy angry. But on the up side, Nadia now has no competition.
  • Lesson learned: when HallucinoWalt says “be quiet,” do not run off into the woods.
  • And speaking of HallucinoWalt, the Whispers in the Woods make a return in this episode. We know from Sawyer’s experience that the Whispers can be drawn from one’s own thoughts, and now from this episode that the Whispers are a sign that someone’s about to disappear or die. This could mean The Others have some kind of telepathic affinity towards people on the island. Or it’s possible that they just have sore throats.

More from Mostly Muppet, and check out all the mourners.

Anyway, I don’t really feel like entertaining Lost-related threads on this post, so comments are closed. You can, however, crash into DCeiver’s Pompatus of Lost 2.06, where the recaps are funny and the comments are open.

Housing Market Leveling Off?

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A bit late on this, but: DCist last month on local real estate. All the signs point to a slowing in the housing market around here — not a popped bubble just yet, but at least a leveling off which gives young urbanites time to catch up with prices that shot up far too high, even for a crowded, high-demand urban center. Given this slowdown, plus the news of thousands of new condos being built in the DC metro area starting next year, I might actually be able to live the so-called American Dream sometime in the near future, without being priced clear out of the District to Nebraska or something.

To those of you who sold before now, goody for you! (Thumbs up to Terrapin.) To those of you who bought $800K houses in gentrified neighborhoods on variable rate no-mortgage loans, my condolences, and let me know if you have a pre-foreclosure open house.

Update: Joint Strike Weasel: It’s a renter’s market. Over on Volokh, David Bernstein says DC markets are starting to take a pounding.

Asterisks for Rates

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Are you an internet professional on the verge of leaping into independent self-employment as a web designer and developer? Are you wondering how much you should charge clients for your services? Do you want to know how to find out other developers’ rates without going through the awkward or risky routes of meatspace networking, direct questioning, or smalltime corporate espionage?

Google Search wildcards to the rescue! By just plugging an asterisk into where the value would be, you can get a quick overview of the gamut of web pro hourly rates worldwide, thanks to forum posts from random designers and developers out there with nothing to hide! (The trick also seems to work for a variety of other professions and currencies.)

So, how much will you charge?

Assorted Weekend Snaps

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Just clearing out a backlog of photos from the last three weekends. Here’s a sampling for you. (Click on the thumbs to get the larger photo on Flickr.)

IMG_3864 IMG_3842 IMG_3876 IMG_3877 IMG_3888 IMG_3879 IMG_3883 mall-sunset Stand Far From Disembodied Head Wearing Cap IMG_3929 IMG_3935 IMG_3939 IMG_3936

Fall is definitely upon us.

The Coin Set

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Hey, print and web designers, you know how once in a while you need to do a layout for an article on money or economics or investments or something, and you need a quick thematic header graphic, like, a photo of coins or something, and even though you come across photos of coins all the time, suddenly you can’t find any good public domain, royalty-free photos anywhere to use for your design? I’m solving that problem right now. Meet The Coin Set.

I was about to cash a year of accumulated pocket change in the Coinstar machine last week, and I figured I’d take some photos of the coins first, just in case I ever need photos of coins. I’m releasing all the coin photos into the public domain for anyone else who needs closeup photos of piles of American coins. Get them here.

I’ll add to that set as I get more photos: always in the public domain, which means no more flipping through Clipart.com or Image Bank while reading the fine print on each photo, and you don’t need my permission to use, reuse, edit, or redistribute them. Some of the photos are kind of dark (no flash), but nothing a quick Levels job in Photoshop can’t fix. (This is probably a trivial drop in an ocean of public domain photos out there, but oceans need drops too, and these are my drops.)