Facilitating my Stargate SG1 obsession.

Although, I was a television child, dubbed "The Walking, Talking TV Guide" by my cousin, I am not a television adult. Not only do I not currently own a tv, but I have never owned a television as an adult. How, then, am I a Stargate SG1 addict?

Back when SG1 was in syndication, I lived with someone who owned a tv. It would come on at midnight, Saturday night on Fox, following MAD tv, which, at that time had Will Sasso, the only cast member worth watching. (As an aside, Kenny Rogers Jackass was the most random, funniest thing I had ever seen because it would be a couple of years before I heard of the real, not so funny, MTV version.) Scifi saved SG1 from certain death, I guess, but it also confined it to cable, which I refuse to pay for or to watch; too many other things to do.

And then came BitTorrent, sweet, merciful BitTorrent. Thanks to this incredible program and to other dedicated fans, I have seen every episode in order. At 41 minutes a pop, that's a lot of time, but this really is the only television worth watching. (Okay, the Daily Show is too, but, again, it's on cable and it isn't as available due to its timeliness.)

What I don't understand is why it can be considered illegal to download and watch something that was freely broadcast, if no one is profiting from it. Isn't it like borrowing a tape from a friend? (This is something I could do, but it's a much bigger hassle.) If Scifi posted episodes for download at a reasonable price, say $1 each ($19-$22 a season), I would do it. I am not going to buy a tv (minimum $100 for a decent one) and cable (minimum $40 a month, but Scifi is more, I think) so that I can watch one 41 minute episode a week for 19 weeks out of the year.

Recently, thanks to the new BitTorrent search, I found the entire 8th season for 400MB. That's two thirds the size (and one quarter the quality, but I so don't care) of what one episode used to be. Much better for speed.

The best way to fry.

As I made myself a cripy cheese quesadilla last night in my cast iron skillet, I wondered why chemically-coated non-stick pans are so prevalent. They are usually lighter and some can be washed in the dishwasher, but if the coating gets scratched food sticks, and despite what all the official websites say, I can't believe that ingesting chips of teflon is harmless. With a cast iron skillet, the worst that can happen is increased iron intake.

They do require special care; they must be scrubbed under hot water, but never washed with soap and they need to be completely dry before wiping them down with a thin layer of vegetable oil.

My own private resevoir.

After a year of relative inactivity, I am once again moving my body around. It's not exercise because the purpose is to remove myself from everyday life and think, feel the weather, see the trees and the lake, overhear snippets of conversation, and move through space. The eastern half of Lake Johnson, here in Raleigh, is perfect for this. The 3 mile loop is paved, leaving me to pay attention to the surroundings instead of my feet.

The western half of the lake is suitably unpaved and ill-maintained for the illusion of remoteness. The trail isn't marked well so it is possible, as I found out this week, to lose it (twice) and take alternate trails. If this is what you're looking for, remember to stay as close the water's edge as possible and wear boots to slog through the mudholes.

In the evenings and on weekends the two main parking lots overflow, so visiting in the morning is a good idea.

My laptop is cool again!

My Dell Inspiron 5100 heatsink saga is over--for the moment. Thanks to Dan's post I was able to take my laptop apart to find that the heatsink grease had baked into a hard, white-out like substance, effectively gluing my heatsink and CPU together. Not good. (It's no longer under warranty so I didn't void anything by opening it up.)

After prying the two apart, gently so as not to scratch either, I cleaned them both with alcohol and Q-tips before applying a new, even layer of grease on both. Now my laptop is down from 60-70C (CPU temp) to 40-50C and from 50-55C (Hard drive temp) to 35-40C. (How do I know? Because I run I8kfanGUI.)

And to think it only cost $20: the grease, Q-tips, alcohol, and canned air. Any computer repair place would have been much more expensive.