(12:45 PM CST) Microsoft Admits It
I came across this Microsoft Knowledge Base article. The topic of this particular one is: Computer Hangs After 49.7 Days.

Hahahahahahahahahahaa!!! Let's try 49.7 MINUTES. Anyway, here's what they say:

The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Windows 95
Microsoft Windows 95 OEM Service Release versions 2, 2.1, 2.5
Microsoft Windows 98

SYMPTOMS
After 49.7 days of continuous operation, your Windows 95-based computer may stop responding (hang).

CAUSE
There is a problem with the timing algorithm in the Vtdapi.vxd file.

STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.
After all this time, they find that -one- bug...great going, MS. Thank god you don't write the code that'll be controlling my flight to Philadelphia...

(1:48 AM CST) TNT SLI? TNT SLI!
Hey, now this is interesting. It seems that Megabyte has created a way to SLI the TNT, or any other chipset that's out there. A few quotes from Sharky Extreme:
Here's where it gets good people, a large bomb is about to be dropped on the gaming world and the reason for the PCI and AGP versions of Metabyte's TNT is about to be made clear:

There's a fully functional SLI capable port on each of Metabyte's PCI and AGP TNT cards.

Metabyte's engineers have been working on an undercover technology that allows not only nVidia chipsets to be SLI'ed in tandem, but virtually any future chipset from any vendor that hits the market.

Although it's unlikely in Metabyte's mind that they'll do a Savage4 or Voodoo3-based SLI product, the TNT2 is a whole different enchilada.

Here's the way the system will work:

Metabyte is going to sell both PCI and AGP versions of their TNT SLI capable cards separately for between $125 and $150 for each 16MB card. Much like the Voodoo2 SLI setups that we all know and love, the Metabyte TNT SLI system works similarly but differs with two possible SLI combos: 1 AGP TNT + 1 PCI TNT, 1 PCI TNT + 1 PCI TNT

Pixel Fill Rates of Metabyte's TNT AGP and PCI Products:

Metabyte TNT AGP
200 Mpixels/per second
4M Triangles/per second

Metabyte TNT PCI
200 Mpixels/per second
4M Triangles/per second

Metabyte TNT AGP + PCI SLI
400 Mpixels/per second
8M Triangles/per second

Metabyte TNT PCI + PCI SLI
400 Mpixels/per second
8M Triangles/per second

Since the TNT chipset has been in production awhile, the ramp up to production on Metabyte's SLI-able TNT cards has been rapid. [We] should expect cards to see the new cards being available via Metabyte's online webstore as early as the first week of April.

(11:59 AM CST) ICQ 99a 2.13 Build 1700
This was actually released yesterday, but I didn't post anything about it because I really don't know if this is the final version of 99a, but download it anyway to get up to date. I've been running it for a little while and it's been behaving itself reasonably well. Everyone needs to upgrade, because the VERY convenient long message support (messages > 450 characters) only works with same or greator version numbers, so right now I can't send most people long messages. Love how that cross-beta compatibility works...

Download - 3.94 MB

(1:05 PM CST) Future Of Siskel And Ebert
With yesterday's passing away of Gene Siskel, one of the questions wandering around has been what will happen to the show. I think that they should go ahead and end it, leaving the past years to themselves, but here's the word from Ebert:
With Siskel's death, the show's future is uncertain. "The show will continue with revolving guest critics," Ebert said. "In the future, we will see."

(2:10 AM CST) *drool*
Well, the first sightings have been made of the new breed of PalmPilots in a couple of CompUSA's around the nation...the Palm V (the cool looking one) and the Palm IIIx (an upgraded version of the Palm III). Pricing (at CompUSA, remember, so deflate by $50 and that should be street price :) is $449 for the V and $369 for the IIIx.

(12:38 AM CST) Riddles...
...annoy me, because they pointing out how arrogant people (like me) can be. Here's a nice one:
Two cops are driving down a city street. Suddenly, they hear a women scream "John don't!!" and then they hear a gun shot from a window in a building. They jump out of the car, run up a stair well and kick open the door. They see a doctor, a lawyer, a judge and a priest. Lying on the ground is a dead women. there is a gun nearby. They imediatly arrest the priest.

How did they know that the priest shot the women?

The answer will come in two days. If it doesn't, admonish me and I'll post it. Enjoy!

(6:05 PM CST) Love User Friendly...


I love this strip...download the accompanying MC Hammer song here.

(4:58 PM CST) From the DUH! Study Dept...
"More children suffering from back pain, study says"

So reads one of CNN's headlines...I wonder if I could get some funding from the research division and make my own brilliant conclusions. Possible ideas:

  • Sleeping found to reduce mistakes, stress in students
  • Pornography - possibly accessable on the internet (pending lots and lots of additional research :)
  • Breathing: essential survival function, or a hard to break habit?

(4:27 PM CST) New Stuff
Released and soon to be released software to look out for:

mIRC 5.5.1 - Download
Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 Beta - Download
ICQ 99a Final - Tuesday
Winamp 2.10 - First .25 March

(4:13 PM CST) Vacation!
Woohoo! Finally, something to look forward to - I bought my ticket to fly up to Philadelphia over spring break next month. I think I'll write up a Day In The Life Of type of entry so you guys can compare/contrast how lives are in college. And no, Brian, you will never find out my flight information...you're just going to have to find another use for the plastic explosives...

(6:11 PM CST) India <-> Pakistan
Nice, maybe sanity is making its way back into Indian government.

The prime ministers of India and Pakistan will hold a summit this weekend aimed at improving relations between the two nations that have fought three wars against each other in 50 years.

India's biggest international policy initiative toward its neighbor in more than a decade will come less than a year after the two nations held nuclear tests that brought international sanctions against both nations.

While experts say neither side is looking for a miracle over the weekend, political observers nevertheless do expect Vajpayee and Sharif to reassure each other on the nuclear question. Both India and Pakistan have pledged to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty that forbids signatory nations from carrying out any nuclear testing.

(6:06 PM CST) Lookie
Okay, the decor around here is starting to get a little overwhelming...I'll throw on something else soon.

(4:25 PM CST) Iridium Flashes
Here's something cool that wasn't really expected - it seems that the Iridium satellites will give off a bright flash of light if the solar panels reflect the sun at a certain angle. The surprising thing is how bright the flash is...it's around magnitude -8. For reference, the sun is at mag.-27, and the brightest night sky star is -1.5. Oh, and it's supposed to last for anywhere up to 20 seconds...hope I can catch one out of Austin.

Update (4:56 PM CST): To find out times to see Iridium flashes in Austin, check out this link...note that you must be at 101 East 21st St. to see the flash correctly. You can find your own flashes, too, directions are here.



(2:36 AM CST) Incredible! Astounding! Gimme!
Andrew was kind enough to upload the intro to Final Fantasy VIII.

Incredible! Astounding! Gimme!

Damn, that is a SWEET video...it's in the New Videos section like the others if you want to take a look at it. They better be making a PC port of it...otherwise I see a Playstation in my future.

(1:44 AM CST) Music Videos
I've spent some time getting reaquainted with my video capture card, so I put up a couple new music videos, with more to follow. Probably the coolest one on there is Madonna's Nothing Really Matters video, but I'm sure a few of you will like the Flys- Got You Where I Want You...

*cough*Nick!*cough*...

But I have to admit that there are some great clips of her in the video (nope, I'm not a convert, watch the video and you'll notice which clip I'm thinking about :). New Radicals have a good video, too - I really love the way their song comes across. Very happy stuff. The .mp3 of it is up there somewhere, too.

(3:28 AM CST) Palm Pilot - The Next Generation
Not that I'm biased or anything for these things... :)

Here is a pic of the next version of it, the Palm V.


*sigh*

Makes mine look so outdated...