Upgrading Computers

"Right now upgrading a PC is like brain surgery with a risk of an accidental lobotomy..."

From This article on 100 Tech predictions. Personally, I'd argue the point -- the biggest trouble is when you need to upgrade the processor to a higher pin count than your motherboard supports, but for simple upgrades the largest factor is just going out and getting the part(s) (or, in some cases, figuring out what parts you need to get). Of course, this is me talking, and I've built a half-dozen computers from scratch, so maybe I shouldn't be talking.

AIDs Prevention

From This article on an increasing trend in AIDs infections:

Simply focusing on treatment or politically uncontroversial prevention methods will not suffice. "You can't put all your eggs in the abstinence basket," said Hays. "We need a menu of strategies for real people," he said, adding that condom distribution as well as new methods, such as a vaccine, are needed.

OK, so we all know my personal stance here, but I'm honestly curious: I hear a lot of talk about condoms and the like as a means of 'safe sex,' but I've never seen any statistics on it. Generally I take all statistics with a grain of salt anyways (too many ways to bend the numbers, in my opinion), but I know there's still a chance of pregnancy when using condoms, so I'm just curious what things look like numerically on AIDs prevention.

And I'll be honest, what bothers me the most about the "can't put all your eggs in the abstinence basket" quip is the implication that we as humans generally lack the self-control to not sleep around. I mean, we're not really talking about a religious issue here any more -- the answer to "what's wrong with having sex" is no longer "God doesn't like it," it's "you could get AIDs and die." One would imagine that's a big enough stick to get most people to at least think about who they're sleeping with -- at the very least you shouldn't sleep with someone you know is sick, right? And you certainly shouldn't sleep with someone you can't trust is being honest about their sexual history. So... yeah. That's my thought for the moment.

Swarmbots

One of these days I'm going to finally get down to writing a Snippet about all of the interesting things these articles on Swarming Robots make me think.

MPAA Lobbying against Home Theatres

This article is satire on the MPAA and copyright but, much like 1984, it's funny 'cause it's true.

From the article:
"Just because you buy a DVD to watch at home doesn't give you the right to invite friends over to watch it too. That's a violation of copyright and denies us the revenue that would be generated from DVD sales to your friends," said Glickman. "Ideally we expect each viewer to have their own copy of the DVD, but we realize that isn't always feasible. The registration fee is a fair compromise."

Swallow your keys?

This article made me think alternately of Anastasiya ('cause the guy was Russian) and my buddy Marcin (for, well, everything else). Which I guess tells you something about my buddy Marcin.

QotD

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.
- Abraham Lincoln

Ghosts in the Machine

Ghosts in the Machine

This article, about the interaction of networking sites and violent death, struck a chord with me. I can't finish it right now, despite being at home, but I wanted to post the link. I think others can sympathize.

(no subject)

I logged into MySpace today for the first time in a while. I'm not really a big fan of the place, gaudy and ill-formed as it is. Give my Facebook or LiveJournal any day. I was just logging in to check some messages and stuff from my little cousin. I hadn't intended on going over to Ben's page, but I found myself there anyways.

It's kind of blank now. Whoever was hosting his style sheet must have left or something. "Weapon of Choice," with Christopher Walken walkin' is still up there. He's still getting comments which, while I would feel incredibly ridiculous and/or out-of-place/presumptuous if I did likewise, makes me a little glad to see. It seems like at least a few people don't know he's gone. That makes me a little sad.

I'm the same man I've always been; I haven't changed since I was six. That's not true, I change a lot. I grow. I generally like who I'm becoming, though there are still things about me I'd like to change. The sorts of things I never talk about, because I don't want to admit to them and I don't want to point them out to others. But they're there, and I still wrestle with them. And on nights like tonight, when I'm feeling... whatever this is, the weight of my personal inertia just seems insurmountable.

I should go do something, but I can't think of anything worth doing. I'd go crawl in bed -- I'm really tired -- but I don't feel like sleeping.