As you know, my old computer’s motherboard died. When shopping for a new motherboard/CPU/Memory, I thought, damn, that would be a nice watch. Something that won’t die in 5 to 10 years. Not be outdated before I unwrap the packaging. When I did get the new parts, I just replaced what was broken and moved on. No tinkering, no new OS. I just wanted my computer to work again, that’s all. I have always loved technology, but I have learned it doesn’t love you back, not like a loving wife or child. Those are the things that really matter. That all being said, I really love my new computer. At least 4 times faster than my old one. Linux does REALLY well under multi processors. One processor encodes video while the other lets me surf the web and listen to music with no skipping or slowdowns. Pretty cool. Running full screen video takes 3% of processing time now 🙂

Steve Ballmer, head of Microsoft, predicted the end of print media in 10 years. Yeah, right. I’ll remember that the next time a drop a magazine or paperback book and just pick it up, not worrying about if I cracked the screen or damaged the battery. Portable electronics are fragile. I know all about e-ink, we have all been hearing about it for the past decade. The new screens are nice, the batteries are getting better, and they will still all fail in less than 10 years. That is the way electronics is. It fails. If it has a battery, expect it to last 5 years, TOPS. Take it from somebody whose whole professional life is electronics. My degree is in electronics. It is not like paper and ink. They can’t make them last. With ROHS, they will have even shorter life spans. I am reading the Lord of the Rings novels right now, 1971 reprinting. A PAPERBACK no less. Try to find working electronic media from 1971, no less a working computer. Plus, no worrying about formats changing. It’s ink on paper. Just what I want every few years, worrying about if my book collection will have to be repurchased. Enough venting for now.

In other news, wow, wild weather here. Tornadoes ripping through a few suburbs and rain coming down in buckets everywhere else. April storms in June. As the night hours go on, it is getting HOTTER. It was 77 at 6:00 P.M. It is over 84 now at 11:00. Hope everyone makes it through the night OK.