So as we all know, fun is dead. No one is allowed to have any fun anymore, what with the news shoving constant drudgery down our necks (I haven't watched, read or listened to the news in a very, very long time, with the eception of what makes its way to my facebook page. Regardless, I am confident that I am correct in this assertion, and that the news is still a parade of misery) and everything being just the worst at all times.
On a more personal note, Summer Holidays (tm) have ended, so I'm back at work.
That is the real tragedy.
Also, my school has bought in a new load of laptops which have, after close inspection with a ruler, 12 inch screens. 12 inches. In a laptop. They're fully laptops too, the screen doesn't unclip like a tablet, all the connectors are in the base. And they have touchscreens.
What on earth.
Someone at the municipal service for education was scammed (see: bribed) into buying these shit sandwiches.
The keyboard is miniscule. I can cover half the keyboard with two fingers which makes typing a nightmare. The screen is god knows what resolution because who can tell as everything is tiny. WHO WOULD USE TOUCHSCREEN ON A LAPTOP WHEN THE MOUSE IS RIGHT THERE?
The whole thing is a terrible piece of deign.
So now you're thinking, 'what's the point of this little rant?' To be honest I haven't thought that far yet.
Anyway. My second book is coming along nicely. This one might actually see a release. Once I'm at the final editing stage I'll start looking for an illustrator to do the covers (I draw like a four year old) and I'll start the self-publishing process.
Unfortunately I have a pretty solid idea of what I want out of the whole thing, which might make the self-pub system somewhat more annoying and substantially less accommodating.
My big target, my life goal, is to sell a hundred copies. I want to sell a hundred books in my lifetime. That is my aim. If it takes me writing fifty books and getting my mum and dad to buy a single copy each then so be it.
Digital or physical doesn't matter, just one hundred books.
Is there any way a touchscreen laptop with miniscule keys could help me in writing? I'm struggling to find a connection... No, I really can't think of one.
Anyway, in other news, I went to the same festival I went to last year. You might say I'm a regular, now that I've been twice. Last year was incredibly disappointing in terms of pictures and this year was only marginally better. I've started the process of editing them and have found a couple I like so far. I don't know whether they'll go into the 'best of,' folder I keep, but they're decent enough to stick on here at the very least. (Truth be told one or two of them might go onto the Japanese calendars I make for Christmas, but don't tell anyone).
Those updates will come about when I get home and don't immediately fall asleep on the sofa. We've just installed new aircon and it's glorious. It also uses 3.2kw/h at peak load, so it's very much a luxury that should not be used every day, but almost always is.
Frugality is not my strong suit.
On an entirely unrelated note, I really, really need a new PC now. This one is huffing and puffing and often refuses to boot. It's being a real pain in the derriere which wouldn't matter if I were a millionaire, but I'm not, so it is.
Hey, when I sell those 100 books though...
Showing posts with label computer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label computer. Show all posts
Thursday, 1 September 2016
Wednesday, 24 December 2014
A Merry Hacking!
So someone in Holland has tried to hack my Hotmail account.
Obviously, he's not actually in Holland (or he's a really bad hacker), but Hotmail detected the intrusion and told me someone from the Netherlands was trying to access my account.
This is nothing new; Hotmail gets hacked weekly by some botnet sending out e-mails about viagra (if you've ever wondered where all that spam you get comes from - hacked e-mail accounts!). They're pretty good about fixing stuff, to be fair. They won't jump all over the news and warn you, but they fix intrusion weaknesses quickly enough.
I've decided my password library needs an update. If you use a-z 1-9 and all the other stuff on your keyboard and have an 8 character password there are 3025989069143040 possible combinations (roughly) (I think).
That's a lot of combinations, but computers are pretty quick so I've decided to upgrade my passwords and whatnot. The best way to make a password, jam on the keyboard! Write it down and after a few inputs you'll remember the combination. You need three or four passwords for all the things you do, so as a service to the internets, here you go:
password 1: eirgbp347b3iubi3g4igbs
password 2: 432982h2uifdwnhifbuwib
password 3: huisghsdfsdfaoujbfamn83
password4: asikudfb3671bsdhfbsdhfbv3
Now you don't even have to come up with your own passwords!
Nothing of importance was taken this time, but you never know.
Also merry christmas.
Obviously, he's not actually in Holland (or he's a really bad hacker), but Hotmail detected the intrusion and told me someone from the Netherlands was trying to access my account.
This is nothing new; Hotmail gets hacked weekly by some botnet sending out e-mails about viagra (if you've ever wondered where all that spam you get comes from - hacked e-mail accounts!). They're pretty good about fixing stuff, to be fair. They won't jump all over the news and warn you, but they fix intrusion weaknesses quickly enough.
I've decided my password library needs an update. If you use a-z 1-9 and all the other stuff on your keyboard and have an 8 character password there are 3025989069143040 possible combinations (roughly) (I think).
That's a lot of combinations, but computers are pretty quick so I've decided to upgrade my passwords and whatnot. The best way to make a password, jam on the keyboard! Write it down and after a few inputs you'll remember the combination. You need three or four passwords for all the things you do, so as a service to the internets, here you go:
password 1: eirgbp347b3iubi3g4igbs
password 2: 432982h2uifdwnhifbuwib
password 3: huisghsdfsdfaoujbfamn83
password4: asikudfb3671bsdhfbsdhfbv3
Now you don't even have to come up with your own passwords!
Nothing of importance was taken this time, but you never know.
Also merry christmas.
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
Hey There, Big Spender
SO I've been talking about purchasing a new PC for a while, holding off until I returned to England, or moved elsewhere. The reason for the delay was my ineptitude in product searching and internet usage.
Everyone told me to look in Korea, because surely everything would be cheaper there. I did look, and I honestly came up short. Everything I found (cameras, PC parts, even power supplies and heavy duty converters) turned out to be an almost perfect match in price to the UK counterparts.
Then, yesterday, Amanda showed me a website. My eyes were opened to the possibilities of cheap Korean goods. I feverishly gad about the internet looking for the cheapest components I could source, comparing them to their UK brethren. I sourced a similar PC to the one I submitted on my blog a few months ago and, to my amazement, found it to be no less than six hundred pounds cheaper here than in England.
I went about sourcing modern components, and have found an £1800 PC for, wait for this to blow your goddamned minds, £1,100. Everything is top spec bar one omission, an SSD.
Let me explain this omission:
I have witnessed the performance increase, and usability increase obtained through utilising an SSD. The whole computer becomes more responsive, and, frankly, more pleasant to use. In picking top notch parts however, I have also opted for a motherboard that has a 6gb/s hard disk interface, and USB 3. No current SSD's can saturate a 6gb/s line, or even fill up half the bandwidth.
I've read a number of reviews regarding the new sandforce controller, and the new Vertex 3 SSD, which is a native 6gb/s part. This will enter the enterprise sector shortly, if it hasn't already; and desktop parts will become available in the next few months. Therefore, I will buy a 2TB drive, use it as my main for now, and swap it into pure storage when I get the new SSD. Of course, this also has the added benefit of me being able to build up my reserves of cash once more. While not a full months pay, this computer isn't far off, and I need a substantial amount to relocate for my next job, wherever that may take me.
Another fact that blew my mind, was that it's cheaper to source parts from a brick and mortar shop, than on the internet. I know my track record with internet surveillance isn't particularly strong (see above), but I searched for a number of hours last night, finding the best prices I could. I marched into the shop, with the thought of saying 'beat this, if you dare,' and the clerk simply smiled, phoned up some people (back of a lorry, anyone?) and came back with universally cheaper prices. I couldn't source the RAM from him (he insisted it doesn't exist, we shall see) but this is included in my budget anyway.
On a side-note, I gave him a 500,000 won deposit for him to acquire the parts by tomorrow at 5pm. What are the odds of him never turning up, and my 500,000 won going walkies? I think they're pretty high, actually. Somewhere in the region of 25%.
At least I didn't give him the full amount, eh.
Specs and pictures incoming, when the final thing is built.
On a side-note: This picture made me laugh.
Everyone told me to look in Korea, because surely everything would be cheaper there. I did look, and I honestly came up short. Everything I found (cameras, PC parts, even power supplies and heavy duty converters) turned out to be an almost perfect match in price to the UK counterparts.
Then, yesterday, Amanda showed me a website. My eyes were opened to the possibilities of cheap Korean goods. I feverishly gad about the internet looking for the cheapest components I could source, comparing them to their UK brethren. I sourced a similar PC to the one I submitted on my blog a few months ago and, to my amazement, found it to be no less than six hundred pounds cheaper here than in England.
I went about sourcing modern components, and have found an £1800 PC for, wait for this to blow your goddamned minds, £1,100. Everything is top spec bar one omission, an SSD.
Let me explain this omission:
I have witnessed the performance increase, and usability increase obtained through utilising an SSD. The whole computer becomes more responsive, and, frankly, more pleasant to use. In picking top notch parts however, I have also opted for a motherboard that has a 6gb/s hard disk interface, and USB 3. No current SSD's can saturate a 6gb/s line, or even fill up half the bandwidth.
I've read a number of reviews regarding the new sandforce controller, and the new Vertex 3 SSD, which is a native 6gb/s part. This will enter the enterprise sector shortly, if it hasn't already; and desktop parts will become available in the next few months. Therefore, I will buy a 2TB drive, use it as my main for now, and swap it into pure storage when I get the new SSD. Of course, this also has the added benefit of me being able to build up my reserves of cash once more. While not a full months pay, this computer isn't far off, and I need a substantial amount to relocate for my next job, wherever that may take me.
Another fact that blew my mind, was that it's cheaper to source parts from a brick and mortar shop, than on the internet. I know my track record with internet surveillance isn't particularly strong (see above), but I searched for a number of hours last night, finding the best prices I could. I marched into the shop, with the thought of saying 'beat this, if you dare,' and the clerk simply smiled, phoned up some people (back of a lorry, anyone?) and came back with universally cheaper prices. I couldn't source the RAM from him (he insisted it doesn't exist, we shall see) but this is included in my budget anyway.
On a side-note, I gave him a 500,000 won deposit for him to acquire the parts by tomorrow at 5pm. What are the odds of him never turning up, and my 500,000 won going walkies? I think they're pretty high, actually. Somewhere in the region of 25%.
At least I didn't give him the full amount, eh.
Specs and pictures incoming, when the final thing is built.
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Jobs
So I was officially offered the English department head teacher position yesterday; along with the highest class in the school.
The caveat being I have to renew my contract.
They offered me some more money, and the additional pay that goes with being the head teacher.
It would be nice to stay for the following reasons: more money, a couple of good co-workers.
That is all.
It would not be nice to stay for myriad reasons.
I also had some time to make a wishlist, for the computer I would like to have. You can see it here. There are two problems with it. Firstly, it's been this computer for about three months, which means that it's probably only three months away from being updates in some way. Secondly, there's a component that's not up to scratch. Everything is completely top-end, except for one thing. You can try to figure out which one it is.
It also doesn't come with a case or peripherals. These would put me over two thousand pounds, which is a ludicrous sum; I'd prefer to just have it resting on a table instead of inside a case.
The wishlist isn't under my name - by the way.
The caveat being I have to renew my contract.
They offered me some more money, and the additional pay that goes with being the head teacher.
It would be nice to stay for the following reasons: more money, a couple of good co-workers.
That is all.
It would not be nice to stay for myriad reasons.
I also had some time to make a wishlist, for the computer I would like to have. You can see it here. There are two problems with it. Firstly, it's been this computer for about three months, which means that it's probably only three months away from being updates in some way. Secondly, there's a component that's not up to scratch. Everything is completely top-end, except for one thing. You can try to figure out which one it is.
It also doesn't come with a case or peripherals. These would put me over two thousand pounds, which is a ludicrous sum; I'd prefer to just have it resting on a table instead of inside a case.
The wishlist isn't under my name - by the way.
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