Monthly Archive for March, 2008

Netgear WGR614 v6 is on its last legs

Published
by
Eengstro
on March 27, 2008
in Technology
. 2 Comments

My Netgear router that I wrote about previously is acting up again. I’m seeing the same symptoms as before: dropped connections, etc. I know it’s the router because:

  • When web pages stop loading, I can’t access the router itself either (at 192.168.1.1). Once webpages start loading again, I can also access the router.
  • I’m seeing no slowdowns or stalled loading of pages when I connect the computer straight to the cable modem (bypassing the router).

It’s probably time to shop for a new router. First though, I’m going to try and open the case to see if there’s dust accumulation; that could keep it too hot.

More fun with Team Fortress rendering glitches

Published
by
Eengstro
on March 26, 2008
in Technology
. 2 Comments

Maybe I should start a new Gallery dedicated to Team Fortress 2 rendering glitches. I saw these glitches tonight:

Dispenser rendering glitch This engineer’s dispenser is showing the same type of glitching that I’ve seen before.

Team Fortress missing water texture This is a new one: There should be water in the bottom of this sewer. Instead, all we see is wireframe polygons where the water is supposed to be; obviously, those polygons are missing their “water” texture map.

The Windows desktop itself continued to glitch after I closed Team Fortress, so I had to reboot my machine. After that, TF2 ran fine.

Previous TF2 rendering glitches.

Oops

Published
by
Eengstro
on March 24, 2008
in Guns etc
. 1 Comment

I spotted this story today:

DENVER - A gun belonging to the pilot of a US Airways plane went off as the aircraft was on approach to land in North Carolina over the weekend, the first time a weapon issued under a federal program to arm pilots was fired, authorities said Monday.
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The “accidental discharge” Saturday aboard Flight 1536 from Denver to Charlotte did not endanger the aircraft or the 124 passengers, two pilots and three flight attendants aboard, said Greg Alter of the Federal Air Marshal Service.

I’d be interested in finding out how this pilot fired his weapon. I should point out that a gun doesn’t “just go off”. Someone fires it by pulling the trigger. Incidents where a gun is fired unintentionally are more properly called negligent discharges since they result from an act of negligence.

This quote at the end of the story pisses me off, since it comes from an “aviation expert” who really should know better:

“If that bullet had compromised the shell of the airplane, i.e., gone through a window, the airplane could have gone down,” he said.

Explosive decompression due to gunfire is a myth. Obviously this guy needs to watch fewer movies and more MythBusters.

As for the negligent discharge, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the democratic Congress use it as an excuse to strip pilots of their ability to defend themselves and the passengers.

Update: More here, including photos.

Fisking the New England Journal of Medicine

Published
by
Eengstro
on March 24, 2008
in Guns etc
. Closed

Rachel Lucas mentions an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that trots out all the typical gun-grabber baloney. This drew a most excellent fisking from one of her regular commentators:

Amazing Beliefs:

That 1 firearm owner in 10,000 will commit an act of violence in his or her lifetime, and this is far more frightening than the 25% of drivers who will cause a serious or fatal accident.

Heh. It’s a long comment, but definitely worth the read.

New camera

Published
by
Eengstro
on March 24, 2008
in Photography
. Closed

I recently acquired a used Sigma SD10 and several lenses. This is exciting, as I can now get into “serious” photography with a digital camera. My Sony DSC-W1 is a great little digital camera, but like any point-and-shoot, it doesn’t offer the control that a good SLR does. I do own an SLR, a Minolta X-700, but it hasn’t been out of its bag in a few years since it isn’t digital.

I took my first photos with the Sigma yesterday: around my house with the macro lens, and around Cal Poly with a wide-angle lens. Unfortunately, my Cal Poly trip was cut short by dead batteries, but I still managed to capture a few interesting shots. Lesson: carry spare batteries!

I’ve posted a new photo gallery on my pictures site. That gallery will be dedicated to photography for its own sake, rather than the more typical family or travel type of gallery.

Quote of the day

Published
by
Eengstro
on March 12, 2008
in Quotes
. Closed

“All you nonconformists are all the same.” — bumper sticker

Hypocrite

Published
by
Eengstro
on March 11, 2008
in Politics
. Closed

Do I really need to say this? No I don’t, but I just can’t help myself: If you’ve prosecuted and jailed prostitutes as Attorney General, it’s probably not the brightest idea to patronize them.

More Team Fortress 2 rendering glitches

Published
by
Eengstro
on March 8, 2008
in Technology
. Closed

As a followup on my previous post, I managed to capture more Team Fortress rendering glitches last night.

Team Fortress render glitch 2 The polygons in this sniper are all facing in odd directions. Notice the two long, thin polygons going down and to the left.

Team Fortress render glitch 3 This sniper’s head and rifle butt seem fine, but the rest of him is being stretched to infinity. What’s with the hook floating over his head?

I was running ATITool while playing last night, and saw the following temperatures in the log:

2008-03-07 22:50:34 I Temperature: GPU: 83.3°C GPU environment: 63.0°C
2008-03-07 22:50:44 I Temperature: GPU: 83.4°C GPU environment: 63.0°C
2008-03-07 22:50:54 I Temperature: GPU: 83.4°C GPU environment: 63.0°C

This seems pretty hot. Is it too hot for the graphics card?

Another factor is making me think that temperature is the culprit: when I switched out of the game to save my screen capture, the card temperature would drop. This is expected, since the game’s graphics aren’t rendered when the game is minimized:

2008-03-07 22:52:39 I Temperature: GPU: 82.8°C GPU environment: 62.0°C
2008-03-07 22:52:49 I Temperature: GPU: 69.3°C GPU environment: 62.0°C
2008-03-07 22:52:59 I Temperature: GPU: 67.0°C GPU environment: 62.0°C

When I switched back to the game, with the card now much cooler, the graphics returned to normal. It looks like I need to start shopping for a cooling solution.

I also saw this, which is probably a bug in the game. Unlike the glitches above, this is the only time I’ve seen this:
Team Fortress soldier glitch This soldier moved around the map and fired his weapons, but there was no animation: his arms and legs didn’t move. It was like fighting alongside a floating mannequin. Only his eyes were still animated, adding to the creepiness factor.

Encounter at Wal-Mart

Published
by
Eengstro
on March 6, 2008
in Guns etc
. Closed

I just ran across this blog post that nicely demonstrates why concealed carry is a good thing:

I became vaguely aware of two scruffy young men behind us as I stopped to look for traffic in preparation of entering the parking lot. They stayed behind us, rather than coming alongside.

I handed Little Darling her bag and took her hand as we began to negotiate the maze of parked automobiles. I glanced back and saw that the two young men had spread apart, one on either side of us and to the rear. That is when I felt it. They had matched my stride and were circling me. Like an antelope, I knew I was being stalked by jackals, only I did not know why. Time was accelerating at head pounding speed, and Little Darling, blissfully unaware, was along for the ride.

I saw our vehicle and began to approach it, but I wanted to be certain. I walked past, and cut between two unoccupied SUVs, grabbing a shopping cart to block the path from my front. The man on my right turned towards me and cursed as he saw his path was blocked by the cart jammed between the two vehicles sideways. I spun and drew my pistol from it’s holster, keeping it at low ready, facing off the other young man who was quickly approaching me from behind. My thumb had already snicked off the safety and Little Darling, confused, peered from behind me.

It seemed an eternity looking into the menacing, sneering face of the hoodlum who had began his approach from my rear. He sized up the man with the gun, a little girl behind him. I heard nothing to my rear. Not a word was spoken. Then “God damned mother fucker…….” he snarled as he sauntered away. I said nothing.

No shots were fired, but the fact that this poster was armed allowed him to prevent becoming a victim. Read the whole thing.

Update: The author has posted a follow-up which is also worth reading.

Team Fortress 2 rendering glitches

Published
by
Eengstro
on March 4, 2008
in Technology
. Closed

Team Fortress render glitch 1 I’ve been seeing more and more rendering glitches in Team Fortress 2 on my ATI X800 XT recently. The glitches always happen to characters or buildings only; the environment always renders correctly. Polygons will either stretch to infinity (sometimes as few as one, or every polygon in a character model), or they’ll “fan”, facing the wrong direction. The sentryguns in the screen capture here are doing both simultaneously.

Steam friends list glitch I’m not sure if this is a bug or a hardware issue, but I’m suspecting the latter, as I’m the only one I know of (so far) that is seeing this. My first step is to monitor the temperature of the video card with ATITool while playing. (I’m not overclocking the card, just monitoring the temperature.) The next time it glitches, I want to know if the card is overheating.

Also funny is what happens to Steam after quitting a session of TF2 that’s been glitching. As you can see, Steam’s glitching too!

Hopefully I’ll turn something up on this. In the meantime, I’ll post more screen captures as I manage to get them.

Update: Followup post here.

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