Author Archives: Jeff Fitzsimons
Ebisu Beer and Katakana
While at lunch with coworkers, I was looking at an Ebisu beer flyer and noticed something odd: the katakana began with ヱ. But I’ve never seen that character before! As it turns out, it’s an obsolete character for ‘we’. In … Continue reading
AMD BE-2350 + k8temp == no worky?
The lm-sensors website says that recent K8 processors have ‘broken’ temperature diodes. I assume that this includes my shiny, new BE-2350 dual-core AM2 processor. Note: most recent K8 models have been reported to have broken thermal sensors so the k8temp … Continue reading
Posted in Technology
Tagged AM2, AMD, AMD BE-2350, CPU temperature, k8temp, lm-sensors, sensors
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Greasemonkey Script for Yodlee MoneyCenter
I use Yodlee MoneyCenter to track all of my financial accounts. It’s always bothered me that the Portfolio View, which breaks down your investments by fund or stock, doesn’t provide any links to information on each investment. I decided to … Continue reading
Posted in Finance, Technology
Tagged Finance, Greasemonkey, Mint, MoneyCenter, ticker symbol, Yodlee, Yodlee MoneyCenter
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Silencing the HTPC
The Antec Fusion Black HTPC case has two of their TriCool fans, which provide a three-position switch for speed selection. They flow tremendous amounts of air, but even at their lowest setting they’re audible, and they’re not controllable by the … Continue reading
Posted in Technology
Tagged 120mm fan, Antec, HTPC, S-Flex, Scythe, Silent PC, SilentPC, TriCool
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Biostar TF7050-M2 S/PDIF Digital Audio
As boxed, the Biostar TF7050 supports multi-channel analog audio, and HDMI audio, which is digital but encrypted. In order to pass-through AC3 streams (for Dolby Digital and DTS), I needed a standard digital audio output. The motherboard has headers for … Continue reading
Posted in Technology
Tagged 7050, AC3, Biostar, digital audio, Dolby Digital, DTS, HTPC, MythTV, SPDIF, SPDIF bracket, TF7050-M2
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Home Theater PC
I’m tired of wrestling with my Mini-ITX PVR/DVR/Media PC setup which has worked a total of three weeks in the last three years. So last night I ordered a new batch of much more standard items. All parts were ordered … Continue reading
Posted in Technology
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Ubuntu + Handbrake + AMD64 == “cannot find -lz”
Attempting to compile Handbrake using jam resulted in a strange error, something like: /usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lz error: C compiler cannot create executables According to the Internets, I needed to install the development version of zlib. However, zlib-devel does not … Continue reading
Posted in Technology
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Aeroflot comment
Cracked.com had a so-so article which mentioned Russian discount airline Aeroflot. The winning comment was by Kostanza:
Posted in Funny, Internet
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The Tale of Genji – choosing a translation
I’ve heard about The Tale of Genji, and thought I might like to read it. However, there are a daunting number of translations available! They’re enumerated in the Wikipedia article. Here’s my rough summary: 0) Murasaki Shikibu – the original … Continue reading