Spacehamster’s Blog

Although Blogsome is great for beginners (not to mention free), I now feel ready to use the more advanced features available to Bloggers. If you want to see an example of what I’m talking about - visit Wil Wheaton’s Blog.

So I’ve decided to start up a new blog using Typepad. You can find it here.

Since I’m unable to import my posts from Blogsome into Typepad, I’ll keep this old site as an archive for my old posts (I had no idea there were so many!). I might also reprint some of my favourite posts in my new blog when I feel the need.

Last Monday, another vehicle ran plumb into the back of my car when I stopped at the traffic lights. As a result, my car is now being perused by the insurers. What’s worse - as the car insurance policy is under my father’s name, I can’t use a hire car while my car is being repaired.

Which means I’m forced to use **shudder** public transport.

I haven’t used public transport since I left Melbourne in 2004. And I haven’t used Tasmanian public transport in more than a decade. From all reports, it’s gotten much worse. And god only knows what it’ll be like for an Asian-looking guy getting onboard a bus. Hopefully, I’ll only have to put up with this for a few weeks. And then I can get back to using a car…like civilized people.

I was originally going to title this “Thank god I’m an Australian”, but considering my parent’s migrant background that probably would’ve antagonised a few too many narrow-minded racist mugwumps.

I’ve just read Jeremy Clarkson’s latest article, and it appears as though he’s put his entire pension savings into…wait for it…AIG. And it appears there are plenty of UK’ers who are in exactly the same boat - whether it be AIG or one of the Icelandic-based banks.

Thank goodness I live in Australia. My superannuation might be hemorrhaging money, but at least it’s still there. And my bank account isn’t likely to go up in a puff of smoke anytime soon…touch wood. It’s odd how so many conservative voters were extolling the virtues of an unregulated market only a few months ago. And yet, it’s now Australia’s regulatory system that’s now being praised for our position in relation to the rest of the world.

And in another indication that the Global Economy is in dire straits, the Reserve Bank has cut interest rates by 100 basis points (that’s 1%). Which is just lovely for mortgage holders (like me), but it’s important to remember that the RBA’s actions are directed more towards jittery Stockmarkets than the little people. The Stockmarkets have always been driven by fear and greed - it’s one of the reasons I’m a subscriber to the Warren Buffet philosophy of investing.

Thank goodness I assumed interest rates would go as high as 15% when I took out a mortgage (that’s about $2000 a month for me) four years ago. People thought I was stupid when I made that assumption. But considering developments over the last 18 months, it doesn’t seem so silly now, does it?

In regards to the “Global” financial crisis, I think this article sums up my feelings perfectly.

There has been a good deal of talk in recent weeks about imminent economic armageddon. In fact, this is far from being the end of capitalism. The frantic scrambling in Washington marks the passing of only one type of capitalism - the peculiar and highly unstable variety that has existed in America over the past 20 years. This experiment in financial laissez-faire has imploded. While the impact of the collapse will be felt everywhere, the market economies that resisted American-style deregulation will best weather the storm.

I’ve always been a believer in Market regulation, and these events prove that support may have been justified. Hopefully, lessons will be learnt from these events. But somehow, considering the nature of those involved, I doubt it.

I had a perfect example this morning of how badly educated some young people are nowadays.

Good grief - young people - I’m only in my mid-thirties and I’m already using that term.

I was walking down Liverpool St on my way to work, when I my path was blocked by two young drunk men staggering out of the local pub.

Them: “Hey, you wanna trade Pokemon cards?”
Me: “Won’t work on me mate, born here.”
Them: “Bastard - go back to your own country.”

It just shows how badly the education system has degenerated over the past 10 years - an example of the neglect of both State and Federal Governments. Perhaps if they’d put more funding into hiring more teachers instead of waging a class war and giving out tax bribes - we would’ve gotten better educated and more civilized students graduating from our schools. Rather than the kind of uneducated louts that almost mugged me on the way to work.

This story caught me a little short. Why would a man with everything a person could ever want - family and wealth - want to end it all? If he’d lost everything, he could’ve started all over again. Perhaps its a psychosis that only happens to men of a certain generation. They’ve spent years of singleminded hardwork and determination getting to where they are, but they don’t have the mental and emotional flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances. Something which younger generations have to cope with on an almost daily basis.

It’s just too damned bad when that self-control snaps, and lives are lost.

I’ve never had much problem with getting up early in the morning. Although I do find that as I get older, it does take longer to get my brain into gear. Especially when it’s 6am and the sun has barely risen yet.

It was even harder when I was living in Melbourne. Ever tried taking a breath of fresh air in the morning, and getting a mouthful of smog instead? In Tasmania, the morning air still smells fresh - even in the city. And you can still see the sun rise over the mountains, because it’s not blocked by a layer of smog. It’s moments like those that make me happy that I’m living in Tasmania.

I discovered last week that the radio signals from Remote Controls can interfere with the radio frequencies used by wireless mouses and keyboards. Which explains why my mouse would freeze up in the evenings, but never in the mornings - because of people watching the evening news.

I’ve replaced my much loved wireless mouse with a Logitech MX518. It’s not the latest/greatest gaming mouse, but it’ll do me just fine. And it’s no coincidence that the freezing mouse cursor problem has dissapeared as well.

I upgraded my PC at the very beginning of 2006. I’d done my research, had verified that it was a stable build, and was confident it would do me for the next 4 years.
My current build:

• Motherboard: Asus A8N-SLI Premium
• Videocard: Leadtek 8800GT 512MB
• Soundcard: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi
• HDD: Seagate 200GB 7200rpm IDE
• Pioneer DVD-RW and a Pioneer DVD-ROM
• Power Supply: Silverstone 600W

I think you’ll agree that these are all pretty reliable quality parts.

Well…I was right…mostly.

A few months ago, while playing high-spec 3D computer games (eg. C&C3, Company of Heroes, Mass Effect…) the PC would either crash to desktop, or display the Blue-Screen-of-Death (or BSOD). I re-installed Windows XP, but the problem still persisted.

At first, I thought it might be a problem with the videocard overheating. The 8800GT models are renowned for heating problems. Under idle load an 8800GT’s average temperature is 50-55C, while under load it can go higher than 85C. That being the case, I’m investigating wheter an Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Passive Cooling fan might solve any overheating problems.

A more serious possibility might be a problem with the latest NVIDIA drivers. On the one hand, it’s great to know I’m not the only one with the same problem. On the other hand, it’s a bloody outrage that Nvidia allowed the release of drivers that were so buggy with such a popular brand of card. Just google “8800GT BSOD” or “175.19 BSOD” to see the problems some owners have.

I’m not sure what the solution is. The best hope is that Nvidia release a new set of drivers that fix this annoying problem.