Linkety links

While I was watching TV earlier the lights went dim for a fraction of a second (as in waned to almost nothing as opposed to the occasional flicker) and the aircon unit also briefly switched off and then back on again. So coming into the study I wasn’t surprised to see my computer off, even though the other one was on. However when I went to switch it on it beeped a few times and there was an error message about the “Computer Fan” overheating or somesuch thing. Thinking my CPU fan had died I quickly wiped all the dust out between the fins, but I still got the error, and the CPU fan was spinning fine. I immediately looked at the BIOS fan and found it difficult to spin with my finger. Hoping that the bearings hadn’t seized (are BIOS fans standard items or specific to each mobo?) I looked for a way to prise the heatsink/fan assembly off, and quickly unscrewed some tiny screws I could just get at between the fan blades. The fan started moving around but it was trapped between the heatsink cage and a cheap looking aluminium shroud that only covered the edges of the fan, but seemed impossible to get off.

It wasn’t until I shone a lamp into the case that I could see that the fan was screwed in from the otherside, which would require unscrewing the entire mobo – yeah fuck that -_- So i took my little cutter/pliers and cut the shroud at the thinnest points and then fatigued the four sections off, which left a surprisingly clean break right at the base where it was fixed to the heatsink. The fan came out easily, only being held in by the screws, but even after unclogging the dust it was stiff to move. So I unpeeled the back sticker and added in a drop of WD40, and then some proper machine oil (since WD40 evaporates too quickly to lubricate for a long time) and Lo! the fan was spinning OK. Putting it back in everything started up just fine, so thankfully it seems the bearings had only dried out, not completely seized up – but let this be a warning to you – next time you clean out your PC think about taking a few more minutes to peel off the central stickers on all of your fans and just add a few drops of machine oil (Singer is what I used).

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And now the real reason you’re here:

Dick in a Box
(You’ll need to click on the movie to bring you to the Youtube page – it has been officially removed from Youtube, but as always England the internet prevails)

Comedian Movie Trailer
….while we’re on Youtube links – the announcer is Hal Turner. I don’t remember hearing anything about this movie – it came out in 2002.And I figured these belong here too, since I’m just passing them on from an email Slay sent me:

The Herald Sun’s 25 Best Newspaper Headlines of 2000

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Experts Say

Include Your Children When Baking Cookies

Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers

Drunks Get Nine Months in Violin Case

Iraqi Head Seeks Arms

Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?

Prostitutes Appeal to Pope

Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over

British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands

Teacher Strike Idles Kids

Clinton Wins Budget; More Lies Ahead

Plane Too Close to Ground, Crash Probe Told

Miners Refuse to Work After Death

Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant

Stolen Painting Found by Tree

Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half

War Dims Hope for Peace

If Strike Isn’t Settled Quickly, It May Last a While

Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide

Man Struck by Lightning Faces Battery Charge

New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group

Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Space

Kids Make Nutritious Snacks

Two Sisters Reunited after 18 Years in Checkout Counter

Things to talk about – A heart-warming tale of one man’s memory

So this is more of a meta-post than a real post since I haven’t had the time to actually update this blog since my initial post. And when I say I haven’t had the time, what I really mean is that I’ve been lazy. Lazy as all get out, if that makes any sense.

So this is a post to remind me of what I could potentially talk about as soon as I can next be bothered to make the two or three clicks it takes to create a new post, because frankly the effort-to-return ratio just doesn’t pay the dividends I expected. In fact it doesn’t seem to pay any dividends at all. O! the failure.

So I seem to be ranting. It would probably help if I posted that list now :

•    Furniture exhibit THE EDGE is coming up, I need my piece ready by the 8th of Feb – right now I’m about to email some dudes about getting most of the ply cut by computer aka CNC cutting.
• I really need to look into using my dad’s friends Fujifilm S2 Pro which he has kindly loaned to me, but the manual is at least 70 pages…
• I want to put up an essay I did on Slush Casting on Wikipedia – damn my altruisim!
• I’ve been exercising a bit – supposedly daily but it’s more like 3 or 4 times a week.
• Having ay kind of portfolio ready to hand out at THE EDGE would probably make sense – I think I need to treat these few weeks before like I am actually at work.
• Speaking of which the most stressful period of work I have ever experienced at Bunnings is finally over and I probably need to rant about that a few times before it’s all out of my system.
• Finally, random stuff I’ve been doing to pass the time in lieu of doing any of the above, including posting here. My life seems to exist as a series of fantastically interesting distractions. And now I must go and get my hair cut!