Terremoto -Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

While a lot of hardware junkies may be lusting over a shiny new dual-core Pentium machine from Alienware or Dell it could soon be the requirement for workstations running MS Windows. For the technically inclined the imagination conjures up all manner of use for the second core. How about processing that flight data from your recent rocket launch or maybe even compute winning lottery numbers while you're working on your doctoral thesis. These are valid reasons to purchase one of these hot-rod wonders but to require one for running all the system utilities that keep your Windows box free of vermin sounds too much like the wrong reason. But..., that's exactly what PCMag suggests in their recent review of the Dell XPS Gen5.

As PCMag so nochalantly puts it, "One of the complaints we've heard from readers is that "protection" programs, like Norton Internet Security, are useful for safeguarding their systems. but slow their computers to a crawl. Dual-core Hyper-Threaded processors, such as the Pentium EE 840, can help, improving your computing experience because the processor's dual cores can process tasks simultaneously. While most of the system is "concentrating" on making sure your Internet or gaming experience is fulfilled in the foreground, the reserve power that the dual cores provide protects you in the background, running Norton or other antivirus or firewall programs."

Anyhow..., until I make a whole lot more money than I'm making off of this site the best I'm ever going to be able to hope for is an aging dual Alpha EV68/1.0 Ghz number cruncher. That would still be way more than what I would require to do what it is I do. Curiously enough, when Windows NT ran on dual processor Alphas one processor handled nothing but the GUI.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be 'perfectly good dual Alpha nugget' picked up at government auction for a song.

Censorship is alive and kicking at the headquarters of the Calgary Police Service. It's would appear that Police Chief Jack Beaton has used a rare legal tactic to seize a computer from a private home that was believed to have been used as a webserver discrediting the Police Chief. Not only did he get the webserver seized, he managed to get a complete and suffocating gag order issued that prevents anyone from talking about the case or reading any documents related to it. This has rubbed city media the wrong way and they have put up legal arguments to have the order lifted.

Curiously enough Alderman Craig Burrows has no problem with this extreme form of censorship. Burrows tells CBC News, "I think any time you go after the morale of a service or the morale of a city that takes pride in its service, the chief has a right to act." Fair enough, but that doesn't give Beaton the right to act like a bully.

Anyhow..., I guess I'm a bit of an Anarchist so that's why power, and especially it's abuse, irks me to no end. I'm pretty sure this isn't the last we'll hear of Police Chief Jack Beaton and his detractors.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be 'censored'.