Underground Allure, or The Silent Libertarian Killer

As a [relatively] recent college grad I can still remember the smell of piss-drunk baseball-cap-wearing douchebags and the nasal voices of this-jacket-ironically-doesn’t-fit-well my-hair-is-ironically-the-same-as-it-was-when-I-got-out-of-bed indie fucks. Countless experiences with said groups have been etched into my psyche. This isn’t me on the psychiatrist’s bed unloading, though. It’s no longer harrowing; just stay with me for a moment.

One of the great many tropes I witnessed first-hand so much was the classic “It’s popular; now it sucks”. That link to TVTropes is an excellent article summing it up and I suggest you skim it now. It’s particularly funny to anyone who’s seen friends or idiots at parties do it because of how true it is.

New PC specs: wedding performance with practicality

Computers can fill many roles in our lives, and their flexibility and adaptability is part of what makes them so ubiquitous. The basic design hasn’t changed much since von Neumann and the market has simply grown and grown meeting every conceivable need. You’ve got ultra-portable netbooks, home and office laptops, family desktops, power gaming rigs, and various flavors of file and web servers.

In my case, we had just about all the good stuff already. A decent laptop to use on the couch, a slightly aged performance desktop for gaming use, and a Windows Home Server for backups and media storage. I set out to build a gaming and developer machine that would last for many years to come, plus so I and the missus would both have a full desktop to use. As such, I did not attempt to skimp on quality, but I was practical and wise where necessary.

Welcoming a new family member

Isn’t it adorable?

In my many years of using computers, I’ve never truly gotten to build a “dream machine”. I’ve always made do with Frankenstein monsters that I’ve cobbled together with a part bought here or there to keep going as the technology progressed. Or the dreaded “family computer” that’s shared and was purchased by parents without so much as a keen eye for specific hardware.

Mostly it has been a matter of money, which I did not have previously at my disposal. Even after getting a job, necessities took priority like mattresses, furniture, appliances, etc., and before you know it I’m still without a decent home computer of my own.

Well, this Christmas, I decided to change that finally. I would build exactly what I wanted, with little compromising.

My goal, as you’ll soon see, was future-proofing. I intend to spend well, but wisely, in order that this last for many years to come by anticipating future upgrades.

In the next few posts, I’ll cover both the specs and why I picked what as well as a fun adventure with photos as I put ‘er all together.

Facepalm

The media:

Within an hour of Saturday's tragic shooting in Arizona, the Twittersphere had quickly seized on a map put out by Sarah Palin's political action committee last year that had gun-sight images over the congressional districts of House Democrats she wanted to win for the GOP in 2010.
[…]
"The way that she has it depicted has the cross hairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they have got to realize there are consequences to that action."

My reaction:

The weather outside is frightful

It always amuses me to watch the local collective freak-out whenever the weatherman declares “Snow’s a’comin’!” Bread, milk, and eggs go into zombie apocalypse rationing and schools and banks close faster than a cock-tease’s legs.

What can explain this mass hysteria? It isn’t like snow is unseen in these parts — in fact, we usually get a good dusting once or twice a year at least. And yet, without fail, it’s always like this.

Well, I suppose I can’t complain too much. My employer is one of those that shuts down at the first sign of ice, so I do get a free paid holiday…

More photos here.