Archive for February, 2004

Due my recent hosting problems, I’ve discovered that my david (at) rationalmind.net address has lost a ton of email. If you’ve sent me anything during the last week(s) and I didn’t reply, please send it again, and CC it to capt_david (at) hotmail.com just in case. Hopefully, things should be back to normal soon.

Interesting NY Times story:

Roy and Silo, two chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan, are completely devoted to each other. For nearly six years now, they have been inseparable. They exhibit what in penguin parlance is called “ecstatic behavior”: that is, they entwine their necks, they vocalize to each other, they have sex. Silo and Roy are, to anthropomorphize a bit, gay penguins. When offered female companionship, they have adamantly refused it. And the females aren’t interested in them, either.

What implications does this have for humans? None:

Infanticide is widespread in the animal kingdom. To jump from that to say it is desirable makes no sense. We shouldn’t be using animals to craft moral and social policies for the kinds of human societies we want to live in.

Check out the new computer I put together. I think I’ll call it “The Ghost”

The Specs:

Case: Aspire X-Dreamer II
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2800+ Barton
Cooling: Thermaltake Volcano 9
Motherboard: MSI K7N2 Delta-L (nForce 2)
Memory: 512-MB PC3200 DDR (w/shims)
Hard Drive: 120GB Generic 10K RPM
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon 9600
Speakers: Altec Lansing 251 5.1 Surround
DVD-ROM: Pioneer 16X Slot Loading
CD Burner: 48x16x48
Monitors: Mag 19″, NEC 17″, & Gateway 14″ (+ tv out as needed)
…and last but not least:
Mouse: Logitech iFeel Optical
Keyboard: Logitech Internet Navigator

Here’s the scoop:

The good news is that my website surpassed 5 GB of
traffic 2/3 into the
month.  According to my webhost, this should be enough for a “high
5-digit” number of visitors.  According to my own calculations, if
each visit consumes 50K of bandwith, I should be good for approximately
100,000 hits/month.  So, passing 5GB halfway into the month means
that I was getting about 150,000 hits/month.  I say style="font-style: italic;">was because the bad news is that my
host shut down my site when I went over the 5GB bandwith limit, and
becuase of my technical arrangement, I was not able to purchare
more. 

Normally, I could just switch to a backup server, but my site happened
to go down at the same time that I was putting together a new computer,
so I can’t access any of my files either.  So, I’m out of luck
until the 12th, when my monthly quota is reset (or so I hope). 
Till then, I’ll be sitting on my ancient Pentium 233 (with MMX!)
Mandrake Linux pc and checking the FedEx tracking website every 5
minutes to see when all the components for my new computer will
arrive.  Or maybe I’ll actually go spend some time outside.

…Your deity wills mass death during the grand finale:

Nearly 250 Muslim worshipers died in a hajj stampede Sunday during the annual stoning of Satan ritual in one of the deadliest tragedies at the notoriously perilous ceremony.
The stampede, during a peak event of the annual Muslim pilgrimage, or hajj, lasted about a half-hour, Saudi officials said. There were 244 dead and hundreds of other worshippers injured, some critically, Hajj Minister Iyad Madani said.
“All precautions were taken to prevent such an incident, but this is God’s will. Caution isn’t stronger than fate,” Madani said.

…Last year, 14 pilgrims were trampled to death during the ritual and 35 died in a 2001 stampede. In 1998, 180 pilgrims died.