I do love my new PC. But the noise the Pentium 4 CPU fan makes when running intensive applications, or games like Half-Life 2 or Counter-Strike: Source, is just too much to bear. Ok, so it's not jet-engine noisy, but it's noisier than I'd like. I'll be ordering a replacement as soon as possible. Anyone have any suggestions?
The U.S. military is planning to deploy armed robot troops in Iraq. Take a look at the picture in the article - remember the awesome 1986 movie, Short Circuit, and the 1988 sequel, Short Circuit 2? See the resemblance? Number 5 is alive! Thanks to Vishal for the link, which I've been meaning to post for ages!
I'm so glad I had a late start at work yesterday otherwise I'd of missed the postman delivering my 6600GT! I'm really pleased with it - the Source Stress Test clocked it at well over 110fps! I can't wait to get Half-Life 2 installed again so I can replay it from the very beginning and enjoy the improved graphical experience!
It has been a while since I've done a sports round-up, so I'll kick it off with my beloved Villa. The 3-0 victory at home against Norwich two weeks ago was good, but the 3-1 defeat away against Manchester United last week was not so good. Some extra players are definitely needed, but where the hell are they?
Over the other side of the pond, the form of the Caps' AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates, continues to be erratic. A 5-2 loss to Lowell, and a 3-1 loss to the Monarchs, was followed by a 5-4 win against Providence and a 3-1 win against Worcester! The Pirates' next game is against the Monarchs on Saturday night.
I finally got fed up of waiting for Komplett to ship my 6600GT, so I cancelled my order with them. However, I managed to find the exact same 6600GT at Tekheads (who were more than happy to match Komplett's price for me) and best of all, they shipped my order this morning for delivery tomorrow! Komplett, take note.
I've recently heard It's Like That, the new tune from Mariah Carey, and I think it's absolutely brilliant! I'm predicting some serious dance floor damage in clubs across the country, not to mention a UK Top 10 position when it finally gets released here. There's a new album due soon as well. Welcome back, Mariah!
It looks as though W32.Netsky.Z@MM is enjoying a little resurgence at the moment. It has been a frequent visitor to my inbox over the past week and bit despite being well over nine months old. Thankfully, I have Norton Anti-Virus keeping watch, and there's a removal tool available for infected machines.
I'm still waiting for my 6600GT to arrive from Komplett. It appears as though they're having a lot of difficulty getting hold of it. I'm quite happy to wait a little longer for it (even though I ordered it over a month ago), as this particular card is rather good, and I can't get it from anywhere else that I know of.
Way Out West's latest album Don't Look Now, released way back in August 2004, is simply awesome. Their previous two albums, Intensify and Way Out West, are also very good, but Don't Look Now is definitely their best so far. Best tracks on the album are Anything But You, Don't Forget Me, Killa, Coming Home and Melt.
Oops! I don't mean to leave so long between updates. Honestly, I don't. So where should I start? Well, I recently went to see The Forgotten and (more recently) White Noise. Both movies could easily of been X-Files episodes, so naturally I enjoyed them both immensely. However, The Forgotten was the best of the two.
I'm starting to get extremely worried about Villa. They've lost their last two games (one of which was the awful 3-1 FA Cup defeat on Saturday) and they've won just one of their last nine games. A win against Norwich at Villa Park this Saturday is imperative, and some extra players soon would also be welcomed.
There's absolutely no chance of an NHL season any time soon, so I'm continuing to keep an eye on the Pirates in the AHL. In their last four games they've lost 6-3 to Lowell and 7-2 to Hartford, and beat Providence 4-1 and Springfield 2-1. The Pirates will be looking to make it three wins in a row against Lowell on Saturday.
Microsoft have released their very own Anti-Spyware program (never saw that one coming did we, eh?), and it's actually rather good! The program used to be called Giant Anti-Spyware, but late last year Microsoft got their paws on it by acquiring Giant Software. You can download the first beta from the above link.
My beloved Aston Villa haven't done too well over the festive period. They lost 1-0 (despite a good performance) against Manchester United, beat Blackburn 1-0 (thanks to a late goal) and lost 2-0 away to Crystal Palace on Monday. I really hope some extra players are on the way because they need them!
Over the other side of the pond the Pirates form continues to be erratic. Over the festive period they lost 2-1 to Manchester, beat Bridgeport 3-2, lost 1-0 to the Penguins, lost 3-0 to Providence on New Years Eve and got 2005 off to a good start with a 3-2 win against Lowell at home on New Years Day.
Last year was a great year for this website of mine - traffic trebled! 201,031 page requests were recorded, with April by far the busiest month. It's a Bank Holiday here in the UK, and I'm currently at work. I don't mind though - the extra pay will placate my bank balance, which is reeling from all that Xmas spending!
Happy New Year!