computers hate me

So today I was using my desktop, and the screen froze, and the tower started making clunking noises.

"Huh," I thought, "That sounds like a hard drive failing. But that can't be possible, because this machine is only about 8 months old. And I paid a lot for it."

Try to reboot, ten seconds into windows, clunking noise again. Blue screen of death.

Shit. Bad hard drive, for sure. And I haven't backed up my stuff for months. All my email, all my pictures, my taxes, you name it. Shit shit shit.

So I try to reboot the machine, and start grabbing things off of it before it can die. No good, Windows doesn't like bad disks, it hangs the second I try to do anything like burn a DVD to get my data off. Or start up an FTP client.

I load up Knoppix, a linux distro CD, and it's COMPLETELY unable to read my disks. Apparently Knoppix doesn't do RAID yet (my two drives on my box are in a RAID 0 config. Yeah, it's dumb, but that's how it came, and I was too lazy to change it. Look what that got me. RAID 0 is so freaking retarded. R means REDUNDANT.). So even though the machine is completely stable booted under a linux CD, the OS is completely unable to read it.

I get the smart idea of trying to share my home machine and grab the files off of it with my work laptop. Oops, my work laptop is under the "tellme.com" domain. No problem, I switch it over to the MSHOME workgroup and reboot.

Holy shit, now I can't get in my work laptop. I'm in my home workgroup, it still asks me for a username and password. I try my work account to no avail, but my home workgroup HAS no usernames or passwords. I reboot the machine, but now that it's in the MSHOME workgroup, it's not EVER going to let me back in. I have no idea why the hell not. But it wants a username and password.

So now I'm typing this on my work laptop booted under Linux. My home desktop is totally hosed, and I can't keep it up long enough to get my files off it. My work laptop won't boot Windows anymore because I changed its workgroup. And I have work to do this weekend.

I'm so pissed off that I want to slam my head through a wall.

God DAMN it.

WWII as MMORPG

This is old, but I'd never seen it before, and it's hilarious. Especially for any of you who have played any online games, and talked to the mental midgets that inhabit them.

It's a really well written fictional chat screen, if World War 2 had been an online game. One of my favorite parts is this, when Roosevelt died and Truman took over:


*Roosevelt has left the game.*
Hitler[AoE]: wtf?
Eisenhower: sh1t now we need some1 to join
*tru_m4n has joined the game.*
tru_m4n: hi all
T0J0: hey
Stalin: sup
Churchill: hi
tru_m4n: OMG OMG OMG i got all his stuff!
tru_m4n: NUKES! HOLY **** I GOT NUKES
Stalin: d00d gimmie some plz
tru_m4n: no way i only got like a couple
Stalin: omg dont be gay gimmie nuculer secrets
T0J0: wtf is nukes?
T0J0: holy sh*tholysh*thoylshti!!!111
*T0J0 has been eliminated.*
*The Allied team has won the game!*

Freakin brilliant.

fear engine

This is the single greatest threat I have ever read, in my entire life.



Every time I read it, I can't stop laughing.

I will lash together a machine made of BONE AND BLOOD.

I need to memorize this, and use it at the next meeting when someone won't let me have my way. I'll probably be fired and be dragged kicking and screaming from the office, but my god will it be worth it.

The tears in the last panel are fucking brilliant, too.

numbers

A couple minutes ago, it was 01:02:03 04/05/06.