Wednesday 3 October 2012

Microserver

My HP ML116 G5 is dead. It had a "thermal Violation" when the heat sink mounts snapped while I was on the company away weekend. Even a new heat sink can't seem to revive it for more than a few minutes.

HP microserver seems to be the way to go. Recommended by everyone at work.

About 25% power consumption of the ML115, smaller and quieter, and I will stick 16Gb of RAM as compared to the 6Gb I had in the ML115.

So for reference,


and memory



Monday 20 August 2012

The Low carb Choice

I have been on a low carbohydrate lifestyle. I choose not to use the word diet as this imply's a temporary situation, and form how I feel, and everything I have researched, I think this as a permanent lifestyle choice is far healthier in the long run. So here is a quick bunch of resource links for my reference and anyone else who wants more information:



http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=ketostix&_sacat=0
To check to see if you are actually in ketosis and burning fat...

Steve Gibsons low carb page:
http://www.grc.com/health/lowcarb.htm

An interview with one of the authors of the "art and science of low carb.. living"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkdFkPxxDG8

And finally, they low carb podcasts (both) for your listening pleasure, well your info at any rate.
http://www.grc.com/health/lowcarb-podcasts.htm


And finally finally, some personal advice:
Stick to it really strictly, or don't bother. There really is no half way house on this. And I miss Pizza.

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Enabling the Aux audio on my Honda Jazz

I used to use a iPhone windscreen dock with integrated FM transmitter to listen to the audio from it on the car's Radio. It did the job, but I got lots of 2G phone static, as well as low fidelity and just interference from actual radio stations and the occasional passing car set to transmit on the same frequency. By far the worst was the 2G interference from the phone. But I knew that I should be able to have an aux audio input for the radio, as there was a little blank area next to the cigarette lighter that was the right shape, and the radio had a button labeled CD / Aux, so it should be do-able. I was going to compile a blow by blow account with pictures on how I enabled and wired an aux audio input, but all I did was pretty much follow this: http://hondafitjazz.com/audio.htm, the deviation I made from this was to route the cable so that it come out to the center console of the car and not the glove box. And it works great! I have had to turn down the treble as its very high fidelity, with great overall frequency response. I don't get any cutting with the low frequency base which used to push the limits of the FM transmitter, and the high frequency are crisp and clear.

Monday 12 March 2012

Honeycomb

Tried to make some Honeycomb



But I didn't know that the damned stuff carries on cooking once you take it off the hob. So the outside 5mm was a perfect yellow crunchiness, while the inside burnt to a bitter cinder.


Next time, I will cool the stuff off first then add the bicarb.

Neutrinos not so fast...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17139635

Looks like a crap connection may be to blame, and if you don't get it just right, you can get bad information about what time it is. And when you're measuring time in billionths of a second, there's almost no room for error.