Compressed

While checking through Evernote for items containing the word, compressed, I came across an article which talked about ten things you can do to improve your computer's performance.  I immediately tried one, that of dealing with some of the items in the start-up of the computer.  Skype has been insisting on starting up when I open up the computer, and getting a call from a relative when you're still in your pyjamas and haven't put your teeth in is a bit disconcerting.  So that's been sorted. 

I've was interested to note however that the article also talked about opening up your computer and cleaning its inside.  Crikey.  That sounds a bit scary.  Making the computer work without opening anything extra up is enough at the best of times; opening the machine itself sounds too technical for words.  Not that I haven't been inside a computer a few times in the past, but that's usually been out of necessity, not for a spring clean. 

Anyway they suggest, among other things, using a can of compressed air to dust the interior parts.  Don't touch anything!, they also warn; just let the air do the cleaning.  You don't need to set out and buy air compressors for the task; that's overkill (or is likely to kill your computer dead, from the inside out).  A small can is all that's needed. 

Continuing on with the subject of compression, I was reminded that there's talk of using cassette tapes as data storage, in this case, big data storage, like all the information that floods through Facebook on any one day, or the 1 petabyte of info (that's a million gigabytes to you) from the world's largest radio telescope.  Now presumably, just as you won't be using a full scale air compressor to clean out your computer, you won't be using one of those manky old cassette tapes you've had stuck in a box since the 80s to store any data on.  These tapes will store "35 terabytes of data - about 35 million books worth of information - on a cartridge that measures just 10 centimetres by 2 centimetres."  The tape will be coated with particles of barium ferrite.  Of course you all know what barium ferrite is, but I had to look it up on Wikipedia, and truth to tell, I wasn't any the wiser when I had. Anyway, this fancy stuff seems set to change the way we store data.   As long as the cat doesn't get hold of the tape, and play at running around the kitchen with it, unravelling it as it goes...

What links to what

I don’t often check out the Digxa Mini Stores links that show up on my posts but I’d no sooner published the last post when three appeared on it. Curiously the third only turns up when you click on the particular post and separate it from the rest of the page.

Anyway, linked to the phrase Love Vacuum Cleaners is an eBay ad for 10 genuine vacuum cleaner bags Numatic Henry George. I had no idea what Numatic Henry George is, but it turns out that the Numatic Henry is a kind of vacuum cleaner, so cute that he couldn’t help but turn all your negative feelings towards vacuum cleaners upside down. The George bit of the name seems to be another member of the same family. (There's a picture of one of the family at the side.)

The second link appears on ‘Hate Humans Association’ and leads to a book called From Hate Crimes to Human Rights. I hope it isn’t also going to get me comments from people who hate other people. Ouch.

The third link came up in relation to the phrase: having your innards emptied regularly. And was for Nurofen Tension Headache Caplet! I seriously doubt that Nurofen Tension Headache Caplets would really do much for you after you’d had your innards emptied, but I guess they’d be better than nothing.

I still hate vacuum cleaners

Sometime ago I wrote an article entitled I Hate Vacuum Cleaners. I haven’t changed my mind.
The vacuum cleaner we bought some time before we went to England last year has now pretty much conked out on us, and we’re having to borrow our daughter’s cleaner. (Fortunately she lives upstairs.) I notice that even on her relatively new cleaner bits are falling off left, right and centre.
Yes, I understand that vacuum cleaners lead a hard life and are very much under-appreciated (it’s certainly more difficult to lift all your carpets, haul them outside, throw them over a handy line and then beat them for a morning). But they deserve what they get. I won’t go into all the reasons now, because I talk about them in my article, but suffice to say that the people from the I Love Vacuum Cleaners Association (ILVaCA) get very little change from me.
I’ve just been reading a piece on Kirby vacuum cleaners, and their claim to be very reliable and light to move about. They should be reliable; here in New Zealand they cost a fortune. I didn’t realise they’d been around so long (1907); I thought they were relative newcomers to the vacuum cleaning field. Reliable or light, personally I don’t think it matters whether you use Sebo vacuums, or Kirbys, or Dysons, Hoovers, or Electrolux or any of the other dozens of brands. They’re all tarred with the same brush.
You see, vacuum cleaners have an association themselves: the I Hate Humans Association (IHHA – yes, I know it’ not easy to pronounce, but vacuums have more ability with the letter H than humans have – it’s something to do with having so much air sucked through them). From the IHHA Manifesto (which I've managed, by devious means, to acquire) we learn that their underhand methods are simply part of a plan to be released from all work that involves suction, being pulled around, and having your innards emptied regularly.
Next time your vacuum gets stuck on the corner of a door, don’t just assume it’s accidental. It’s not; no machine could get caught up in the ways vacuums do.
It’s a conspiracy.

Photo courtesy of www.butkaj.com on Flickr.com

In the eye of the beholder

While we were on the Continent, we had the experience of seeing many luxury homes; mostly from the outside. On the bus tour we took in Hamburg, we went around streets where the homes had once had gardens rolling down to the water. In Barcelona we stayed in what was basically a luxury apartment – we were scared to touch anything much in case we broke something.

And in Luxembourg we stayed in what I would class as a luxury home – except that the people living there don’t see it as such.

Up to a point, luxury is in the eye of the beholder. The homes that the National Trust now administer in England are certainly luxurious, but where’s the luxury in having to have dozens of servants to keep the place clean? Even if you do pay them a pittance.

It’s the same with the house in Luxembourg: it’s so large it’s too much for the owners, and they have to get someone in to clean.

It rather takes the edge off the luxury, to my way of thinking, if you have to employ someone to clean up after you. Think I’ll stick with the home I’ve got - which we can manage to keep up by ourselves.