An End to Upgrading CPUs?

It is ironic that I would be reading about the end of upgrading CPUs in home PCs a week after doing just that. Over at Ars Technica, there is an article about how Intel is planning to move to soldered on the motherboard processors and probably abandoning sockets.

To those few remaining hobbyist builders who do buy a low end CPU to be upgraded later this is something of concern. Unfortunately for them, this is no longer the norm in home building PCs. Instead we see most people swapping out the entire guts of a system when they upgrade, so this isn’t a big deal to them.

For me, I have always operated on the cheap side of computing and have upgraded processors on most rigs I have had. The three PCs in the house all have had more powerful CPUs dropped in that have extended their lives out considerably. The real world performance gains have been nothing to sneeze at either.

So I’m a little sad to see this kind of change to the industry being talked about. It is far from the first computer component category to implode with dedicated sound cards and video cards becoming niche products made only by a few manufacturers. With most PC users content with the onboard gear, only gamers have kept those two items afloat.

Combine this with the talk of AMD being in serious trouble and we have a recipe for returning to the bad old days of computing where PCs cost two to four grand to buy. Maybe ARM can start making inroads as an architecture against x86, but…

Ever Feel…

Like you’ve been run over by a Mack truck? That’s how yesterday felt thanks to a cold that leveled me. It was so bad my vision blurred forcing me to quit halfway through watching a movie. Today is better, thankfully.

In the process of writing the review for Spirited Away, I took just over 400 screen captures and now am choosing 40 to use. After that, more will be taken for the extras and narrowed down to ten. Then I have to get The Last Starfighter screen captures underway. With a lot of luck and perseverance, both reviews will be up by Saturday.

Meanwhile, I present a video I found on YouTube of another 1950’s jet fighter since I have been waxing nostalgic since Thanksgiving:

The F-89D Scorpion all weather interceptor used unguided rockets instead of guns!

It is a rare thing to find color footage of forgotten jets like the F-89D. It is a pity the massive volley fire of rockets was not shown.

The Canadians had a more successful jet in the same role, the Avro CF-100 Canuck. Fortunately, there is more footage of it around:

Check out Part 2 on YouTube too.

They look like Mk. 4 models to me and here you do get to see rocket pods fired as well as guns. Early F-89’s were gun armed with six 20mm cannons, but the Delta model on only carried rockets or guided missiles.

I am perpetually amazed at what engineers and designers pulled off with the technology of the time.

How to Survive Black Friday

Massive swarms of shoppers bustling about like yellow jackets on the prowl for meat or sugar is not my idea of fun to deal with. It has been many years since I braved a store during the Black Friday weekend and so far I’ve succeeded at avoiding the perilous locations. For those of us (mainly of the male persuasion) who consider shopping boring and/or painful, the Web has given us a way to safely survive Black Friday.

Online sales.

In my case, there usually isn’t anything I’m even interested in the big store sales, but there is gold to be found at online vendors. Yesterday, I snared Iron Man 2 on Blu-ray at Amazon.com for under $4 along with a couple more heavily discounted BDs. My little Christmas present to myself, now that I have taken care of required gifts to others.

Not once while browsing did I get crowded away from a display, though a cat did jump on me. Spending long minutes if not hours standing in line to get in and also to check out? Did not happen. Only a few mouse clicks were required, which is not terribly taxing. It was bitterly windy and I did not feel it at all.

I have come to the conclusion this is the manly way to shop. You can be as under dressed as you want while lounging around with food and drink, yet still score a decent deal. This isn’t just surviving Black Friday – it is surviving it in total comfort without any stress.

You should try it.

Happy Turkey Day!

Here in the States, it is the holiday of Thanksgiving tomorrow.  Festivities mean I won’t be online, so I’m wishing everyone a safe and thankful holiday a little early.

A few things that I am grateful for this year:

1. Completing my fourth straight workout on the home gym and finally getting back to where I was before the bout of Lyme Disease.
2. Being able to afford upgrading my PC so that it will run for a few more years. Intel Q9450 for the win!
3. Qualifying for my carry permit.
4. Finding and acquiring every Japanese made Godzilla movie. A task much harder than you would think!
5. Successfully repairing my beat up hiking shoes to give me more miles of treading.
6. Bad movies to watch on bad days.
7. Finding a permanent diet change that has helped my digestive tract to behave.
8. Fractale and C-Control actually put out on Blu-ray here in the U.S.A. Thank you, Funimation!
9. Discovering I am not the weakest link when online gaming with younger friends.
10. Having the Subaru back in action again.
11. The help of friends to get to church and providing a place to stay overnight for those long winter months without the car.
12. Having random strangers stop and actually read the posts on the blog. It may be a small amount of traffic, but it is nice to finally give back to the Web after years of reading others’ contributions.
13. Turkeys for being so edible.
14. The patience of God for putting up with me.
15. The number fifteen, so I can conclude this list in units of five.

So what is on your gratitude list this year?

Fractale Episode 7: Veneer Town

The series shifts into high gear and the social commentary into overdrive when Clain and Nessa are introduced to the last city where Fractale functions completely. Nothing is what it seems in an episode that reveals more about Phryne and Nessa. Fractale: Reiterated continues with updated HD screen captures and revised text.

Be warned, this episode isn’t shy with its critiques of urban living and the chattering middle and upper classes. The world that watches the Kardashians, Big Brother, and The Jersey Shore  is not that much different from what we see when the series finally depicts a city. What is portrayed is not flattering at all.

Veneer Town begins on the Danan, where Clain has turned into a photography addict taking pictures of life aboard the Granite’s airship. Living life through the narrow focus of the viewfinder lands him in trouble with the girls once again, since he doesn’t realize they are washing their delicates. Please, somebody shoot this dead horse  running joke!

An attempt to photograph Nessa fails, since she doesn’t show up on the camera.  Clain is apologetic, but the ten year old doppel doesn’t care because she loves fun, especially when he is having fun. A film noir style narration by the boy reveals he didn’t know at the time what lay behind her smile.

The Prisoner Episode 2: Free For All

Number 6 runs for office when election time hits the Village. Drawn in by the idea he might be able to engineer a mass escape, the nameless hero tries his hand at politics with the assistance of a new maid. Cold war paranoia meets campaign season in a fast moving and thought provoking second episode.

There is are differences of opinion on which episodes go where in continuity of The Prisoner, but I agree with A&E that this should be the second. Written by Patrick McGoohan under an alias, Paddy Fitz, and directed by him, it shows a Number 6 who still does not understand the ways of the Village which should place it near the beginning.

It all starts with a phone call that rapidly becomes creepy and thoroughly intimidating. Wait, I should back up and note that there is a new Number 2 (Eric Portman) in the opening credits. He even calls himself “the new Number 2.” Disorienting as always, the show rarely lets us relax.

How would you feel if the person on the other end of the phone call suddenly appeared on your turned off television set? Unnerved, perhaps? How about hanging up on said caller and having him walk in the door mere seconds later? That is what happens to Number 6 when Number 2 calls – what a way to start out a day.

Another Experiment

After only getting the two votes in the poll, I briefly put up another only to yank it down since it wasn’t going to get any votes anyway. So ends one experiment on the blog. Today starts another experiment with introducing ads to the blog.

I will try to have them be as unobtrusive as possible and am looking at tailored ads for the review posts -- if that can be made to work. There is much for me to learn about how all of it functions, which is half the reason for the experiment. The other half is to see what if any money can be made to support my DVD and Bluray addiction.

Since I use movies that I purchased or were given as gifts, there is an actual financial cost to writing those reviews. No rental discs are used and the only reviews that I didn’t own the discs involve one of my father’s DVDs and experiments using streaming from Crackle and Hulu. The latter two led to purchases and the reviews are being rewritten over time.

We will see if I even make it to my first dollar on the ads. Such are the perils of the mad scientist lifestyle.