The Mystery of the Beeping Motherboard

My new Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB hard drive finally arrived yesterday, and without delay I proceeded to pop it in. I couldn’t have asked for a smoother install – the drive’s power and SATA connectors were hooked up in the span of a few minutes. Powering on the machine, I start thinking about how I’m going to move my data over when BAM! the computer/motherboard suddenly starts emitting a buzzing/continuous beeping sound from the system speaker. I quickly shut the machine down. Thinking it might be the new hard drive, I fully disconnect it and restart the system. Bzzzzz….at this point I was getting pretty worried as the computer was now in its original configuration yet still making that incessant buzzing noise. My next thought is that the power supply might be slightly overloaded; I disconnect a couple of case fans and turn the rig back on. No luck. I then go into the BIOS and start fiddling around, thinking it might be some random setting that needs to be flipped. Only after visiting the “PC Health” section, which shows all the temperature readouts, do I see the issue. I had the CPU temperature warning enabled. The alarm was sounding for good reason - my processor was running in excess of 70C! Clearly, something was wrong with my CPU cooling. I’m running a Corsair H50, so that means the pump must not be working. I connect the pump to another 3-pin connector on my PSU, and upon rebooting the beeping magically stopped. It seems that the old connector that the pump was connected to must have died.

Moral of the story? If your computer starts buzzing non-stop, take a look at your CPU temps. Your computer is trying to tell you that it’s dying…

Z-Alarm 2 (version 2.2) released

Time for a new Z-Alarm release. Version 2.2 brings:

• overhauled timer management and more responsive user interface
• randomized alarm buzzer tones (you’ll never, ever get used to it)
• Spacebar shortcut to hit the snooze button (no more stumbling around drowsily trying to move the mouse)
• Detailed artist-title tag info display (for supported file formats)
• More attractive-looking snooze button

More information and download:
Z-Alarm 2 (version 2.2)

A Smattering of Good (and BAD) Pickup Lines

These are some of the funnier/ridiculous pickup lines I’ve come across. Some of these are just so bad you wouldn’t be caught dead using ‘em in real life. For the same reason some are more offensive than funny. Here they are in no particular order:

1. Nice shoes, wanna fuck?
2. Your legs are like two theme parks, what time do they open?
3. I want to be DNA helicase so I can unzip your jeans.
4. I know what you're thinking and the answer is 'Yes, that is a 64-bit driver.'
5. Are you Jamaican? cause jamaican me boner.
6. I wish I were sin^2 and you were cos^2, because together we could be 1.
7. Does this rag smell like chloroform to you?
8. I'm an astronaut and my next mission is to explore Uranus.
9. Hi, my bank account is over 7 figures. What's that? You want to marry me? But you didn't hear my cheesy pick up line yet!
10. How do you like you eggs in the morning, scrambled or fertilized?
11. Is your dad a baker? Because you have a lot of rolls.
12. Is your dad a dentist? Because it looks like he stole all your teeth.
13. Is your dad a cop? Because I don't want another restraining order.
14. Does your dad work for the RIAA. FUCK THE RIAA!
15. I'm not sure of your name, but I'm sure I've come across your face before.
16. That dress sure is becoming on you. Then again, if I was on you, I'd be coming, too.
17. Pardon me, do you have a vagina? Because I'd like to put my penis inside it.
18. Ever been to Alaska? No? So you've never seen pipes like these.
19. Hope your firewall is down, cause I want to flood your ports.
20. Hey, are you constipated? Cause I wanna fuck the shit out of you.
21. Do you work at Subway? Because you're giving me a footlong.
22. You wanna go back to my place, eat pizza and screw? What, you don't like pizza?
23. If you were my homework I'd do you on the table.
24. Roses are red
    Violets are green
    I like your legs
    And what's in between.
25. You must be my homework; I don't know if I'm gonna do it, but I'm getting an extension.
26. You smell just like your bicycle seat!
27. Hey baby, are those space pants? 'Cause your ass is out of this world.
28. Hey baby, wanna come over to myspace so i can twitter your yahoo until i google all over your facebook?
29. Do you sleep on your stomach? "Can I?"
30. You must be a general, because my private just snapped to attention.

Hackers Targeting Windows XP-Based ATM Machines

 

Hackers Targeting Windows XP-Based ATM Machines | Maximum PC

Wow, whose bright idea was it to put XP on a highly sensitive, mission-critical machine that processes privileged information and holds large sums of money? It would really, really suck to have a BSOD right before the cash drawer was supposed to open. This takes spyware to a whole new level…yikes. Windows belongs nowhere near an ATM.

The Best April Fools' Jokes on the Web

Finest Internet Jokes for April Fools' Day 2009 | The Underwire from Wired.com

Well now...it's 11:05 pm, April 1st...that means that you need to go check out this nice, long
list of April Fool's jokes.

A Car in the Sky

 Beat the traffic: take the flying car

This. is. awesome. The Terrafugia Transition is perhaps the world’s first viable flying car as it just completed its first road test…err, flying test. It seats two and is said to have a range of 4 hours at 180 km/h. Two caveats, though: it’s expensive, at $194,000, and requires a pilot’s license (for the flying feature, anyway). And for those of you who are bad drivers/pilots, there’s the option for a “full vehicle parachute”. Intense. It’s a car! It’s a plane! It’s…both!

Windows 7 will only have three versions

 

» Microsoft simplifies the Windows 7 lineup | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com

Finally, Microsoft has pulled its head out of the sand and simplified the Windows 7 edition lineup (for those of us who don’t lived in a third-world country, at least). There will be 3 clear-cut and easy to understand editions: Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate (also called Enterprise for volume buyers). Unlike Vista, each edition will contain all features of the edition(s) below it: for example, Professional’s features are a superset of Home Premium’s features, and Ultimate will have all of Professional’s features. Yay! Now slack-off workers can play videos through Media Center will being connected to the corporate domain. Just what we need. But seriously, this is a much more elegant move on Microsoft’s part – no more confusion over what edition to get and heated discussions about which edition is most suitable. And no more hilarious parodies like this:

Microsoft Certifies 8-Year-Old Sysadmin

Microsoft Certifies 8-Year-Old Sysadmin | Maximum PC


They just keep getting younger and younger. I wonder...if a company hired this kid, how would the IT department respond?

Parallel parking done right

From our college friends at the University of Toledo comes a pretty awesome automated parallel parking device, created for a 2006 mechanical engineering project. Really, car manufacturers should integrate this as a standard, or at least an optional feature - just imagine the anger and frustration caused by trying to parallel-park in New York or something. This mechanical method is much easier, not to mention WAAAYY sexier.

Check out the build team's blog over at utppd.blogspot.com.

Holiday Food Drive Horror Stories

Dallas - City of Ate - Pulp Charity: Holiday Food Drive Horror Stories

Seriously, people, I know this is a food drive where you get rid of stuff you don't want, but surely you can think of something better?!

English Video Project - Supreme Court and Gratz v. Bollinger

My group's video for the English class project is now up on YouTube...check it out! Inspired by The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin.

Narcoleptic Cat - CollegeHumor video

If there's a narcoleptic dog there must be a narcoleptic cat.

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

Video: Hillary's Downfall

(Embed)YouTube - Hillary's Downfall

Man, oh man...an absolutely beautiful dub job.

Anti-Drug Dog Parody

(Embed)Anti-Drug Dog - CollegeHumor video

Classic.

AP Tests: What to do When You Have Extra Time

Checked all your answers, done with the entire test but still have extra time? Consider the following (I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR LOWER SCORES):

1. Write "THIS IS SPARTA!!!" in the middle of an essay. Then cross it out just enough so it's still visible.
2. Draw random stuff...people, places, things.
3. Calc: make a noose complete with hanging person out of an integral
   
4. Tape money inside your booklet and write, "Got change for a 5?"
5. US History: write crazy revisionist stuff. Claim that Mormons view ejaculation as a sin or something (no offense intended, Mormons!)
   
6. If you're taking AP Spanish, write "Hay una fiesta en mis pantalones" (There is a party in my pants)
7. Write a letter to the College Board and complain about the wasted, extra time. Then tell them to shorten the exam for next year.
8. Put "r u ready fur me, Harvard?!" at the end of your essay
9. write curses in a foreign language
10. diss Scientology (I know someone who got a 5 for doing this on English Language!)
    
11. draw crude stick figures making out
12. sketch male/female genitalia (not recommended)
13. quote soundbites from [insert favorite popular TV show here]
14. write "I'm the juggernaut, BITCH!"
15. For AP Computer Sci: draw pictures in ASCII
16. For all foreign language tests: make animal noises for the oral
17. Bio: write "I wish I could be helicase so I could unzip your jeans"
18. diss the College Board
19. trace your hand
20. draw a lolcat
    

10 Insulting Words You Should Know

Neatorama | Blog Archive | 10 Insulting Words You Should Know

Enjoy this 10-word crash course in wit...

Austalian Police Caught Illegally Pirating Videos

Austalian Police Caught Illegally Pirating Videos | Tom's Hardware

Oh, the irony...at least now they have something to do during long, boring patrols. (after all, laptops in cop cars don't do much anyway).