I have been off of the road this week and have noticed that the leaves are turning here in Western Pennsylvania. The temperature has been dropping and got pretty cold overnight, so I tried out the furnace. As I switched the thermostat from cool to heat, I heard a click, some gas released, the normal… Continue reading I Fixed the Furnance
New Computer
I finally ordered a new computer. In the PC clone line of computers, my first computer was a 286 with MS-DOS. It was not a productivity machine, but I did play a stock market game and Duke Nukem quite a bit. I have upgraded a few times since then and my desktop now is a… Continue reading New Computer
Drake Equation
Frank Drake released an equation that predicts how many technological civilizations are in the universe. Here is the famous 1961 equation: N = R* • fp • ne • fl • fi • fc • L N = 10. Drake Equation detail at SETI
Commodore 64 Hack
My second PC was the Commodore 64 (the first one was a Timex Sinclair 1000). I often reminisce about programming into the late nights to make a pixelated wizard move around the screen with crazy 8-bit sound effects. I did waste a lot of time sitting in front a flickering screen avoiding exercise and women.… Continue reading Commodore 64 Hack
Windows Vista Optimization
A few months ago I upgraded an older PC with Microsoft’s newest Operating System (OS) called Windows Vista (Home Premimum Edition). My older PC has 256MB of dedicated video memory, 1GB of RAM, and a 2.4GHz Intel Processor. Vista ran very sluggish and gets unresponsive with a few browsers tabs open and couple of programs… Continue reading Windows Vista Optimization