Great satire. I guess Big Blue isn’t as humourless as they used to be – or at least they’re attracting the right kind of fans . 
Macbook Air vs. Thinkpad X300
April 30, 2008 — GJSan Fran again, TUCON2008
April 27, 2008 — GJI’m in San Franciso again for the TIBCO User Conference. Last year I was able to get a lot of useful information, “talk shop” enjoyably, and see old friends.
As last year, I’m struck by just how pleasant the climate here is. The comfortable temperature, low humidity, and quality of sunlight all combine to provide an immediate mood lift, particularly neede after ofttimes trying flight experiences.
I’m starting to really look forward to this trip.
Zalman lacerations
April 23, 2008 — GJ
I currently use a Zalman CNPS9500 heatsink/fan combo for my workstation (pictured above), and I’ve been very happy with it. I liked it enough to bother migrating it from my previous workstation, instead of using the stock heatsink/fan combo that came with my new system. It makes a very significant difference in noise and heat levels.
Having operated on two computers with that heatsink present, I finally solved an enigma and discovered a hazard of Zalman’s product. Those thin copper “leaves” (closeup below), so good at dissipating heat, are also good at giving “paper cuts”.
Sometimes when I operated on my previous workstation, I would end up with cuts on my working hand. I’d wonder why – after all, the reason I buy Antec cases so obediently is because all the cutting edges have been smoothed away – but I chalked it up to some unknown point that I’d dragged my hand across. In retrospect, cuts made by points hurt a lot more than “clean” cuts made by knife-like edges, which would explain why I never noticed the injuries until later when they were bleeding and/or itching.
I guess idly playing with the heatsink (it’s fun, like bubble wrap!) wasn’t a good idea.
