90888 visits - and some rambling

Yeah, so I noticed the Sitemeter hit counter hitting the pseudo-auspicious-like number. And also remembered that I haven't said a word about "Happy Chinese New Year", beside pointing out that the Chinese are carrying out their "two billion trips" feat this year once again, just like they did last year, and so on. Okay then, Happy CNY! *grunt* - no accompanying cute doggy photos or whatever though, visit "Cute Overload" if you want some.

As for the hit counter? Doesn't mean much, it's just hits, which will include Real Live Humans (tm) as well as spammers and bots. Statcounter, on the other hand, tells me that there are usually over 100 "unique returning visitors" every week. You know who you are, the regular readers, friends, colleagues, and ... lurkers.

If you have really been keeping track, you might notice a lack of postings just around CNY eve. That's when the PC nearly successfully blew up on me leaving me PC-less for the entire 4-day break. It took 2 visits to Sim Lim Square (the local geek shopping mall), Biow's AMD64, a new 200 GB HDD, a SATA PCI controller, a plea for help on the forums, and probably all 2 decades of PC troubleshooting experience to determine that : 1. the DDR400 RAM is fine and running properly in 128-bit dual-channel mode (phew), 2. the AMD64 CPU itself is fine (phew), 3. the old 200 GB HDD is fine (phew), and 4. the SATA controller chipset on my motherboard is blown (crap) - probably from the blackout and subsequent initial power surge some months back. So now I have to use an old 40 PATA GB salvaged from an older PC lying around the house as the boot drive, and use the new, lightning-quick, Seagate 7200.9 SATA 200 GB HDD with Native Command Queuing and whatnot as ... bulk storage. Sigh.

I tell ya, SATA is troublesome. Try installing WinXP from a boot CD and you'll find you need a 3.5" floppy drive (#@!#!^$!). PC's don't even come with 3.5" drives nowadays, and they want you to insert the "driver disk" in A: - darn. HP in their wisdom decided to supply their AMD64 PC's with ordinary PATA (aka IDE) drives - should be no problems there for those with the "free" Starhub PC's.

So now I have to decide whether this is fine as it is, working as per normal from restored drive images and whatever was on the old HDD - which apparently is still working but which refuses to talk to my onboard SATA *nor* my new SATA card (weird huh) - or, do I pull out the motherboard and see if Abit honours their 2-year warranty, or do I borrow that spare Starhub AMD64 PC from my brother - further downtime re-shuffling everything around, and going back to SLS again.

Once upon a time, I could do that. There was a time when I could go back and forth as many times as it took to get things fixed right, and *just so*. Well, no longer. At least, it paid to be paranoid. I do have my *daily* drive image backups, and the digital photos are in 4 *different* locations, so they're safe enough. The constraining factor seems to be time. I don't even have time to sit back and gloat on how well my energy stocks did (re: earlier posts on "making money from peak oil").

Damn it takes enormous quantities of time to be a geek ...

(... of course, it will only take just 7 subsequent share price doublings (2^7) such that I can have all the time in the world once again ... well, one can dream, right? lol)

(2006-01-31 00:57:30 SGT) [Musings] Permalink

Monday January 30, 2006

Scramble to unlock Arctic's energy potential

news.yahoo.com :

With huge natural resources under its melting ice pack, the Arctic has moved into the front line in the scramble for new energy supplies. Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, analysts and key industry figures argued that unlocking the region's potential could help ease global concerns over assured energy supplies. But difficult questions remain about the impact on the environment and the fraught subject of exactly who owns what, with up to eight countries claiming some interest in the Arctic and others racing to catch up.

"It will never replace the Middle East" as an oil source, said Helge Lund, head of Norway's Statoil energy group, but "it has the potential to be a good supplement." Lund said the Arctic may account for as much as 25% of undiscovered oil and gas resources worldwide, the equivalent of 375 billion barrels. Analysts say the Arctic is highly attractive because it is closer to Europe and the United States, reducing transportation costs, and offers the prospect of more stability and supply security than the volatile Middle East. Moreover, global warming has reduced Arctic sea ice - which last year was the lowest on record - and opened the way for increased marine transport and access to natural resources.

Eight nations - Canada, Denmark (via Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Russia and the United States - have Arctic interests. Of those, all bar Sweden and Finland enjoy Arctic coastlines, and border and sovereignty disputes, such as between Russia and Norway, Russia and the United States and the United States and Canada, are hampering cooperation.

Accident cuts power to parts of Russia

radioaustralia.net.au :

Gas supplies have been cut to parts of the Russian republic of Chechnya after an accident damaged a pipeline. Night-time temperatures in the Russian region have fallen to minus 20. Schools in the affected districts have been closed; Patients from local hospitals have been taken to their homes. But in many cases the residential heating has broken down, too. The authorities are investigating the cause of the damage.

Scientists discover frozen methane gas deposit off California

peakoil.com -> montereyherald.com :

Scientists have discovered an undersea deposit of frozen methane just off the Southern California coast. The size of the deposit is unknown but the researchers believe it to be substantial. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in tapping methane hydrates, ice-like crystals that form under seabeds and Arctic permafrost. Scientists estimate that the methane trapped in previously known frozen reservoirs around the globe could power the world for centuries. But finding the technology to mine such deposits has proved elusive.

Methane hydrates, which resemble sugar crystals, form over hundreds of thousands of years when methane gas and water are at freezing temperatures and under intense pressure. The hydrates contain methane, the primary component of clean-burning natural gas, in a highly concentrated form. By some estimates, they contain twice was much carbon energy than all other fossil fuels combined.

Although scientists say a new source of natural gas would provide a near-limitless energy source, some worry about the environmental effects of the gas. Gas hydrate deposits contain about three times the amount of methane currently in the atmosphere, and some scientists say an increase could lead to global warming and a significant change of the world's climate.

(2006-01-30 23:44:48 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

Sunday January 29, 2006

Another two billion trips

mg.co.za :

Massive waves of humanity were travelling on Friday for the Chinese New Year holiday - an annual movement of hundreds of millions of people that's much larger than the migration inspired by the Muslim hajj. China's government said it expects people will take a total of two billion journeys - including plane, train, ship and automobile trips - during the 40 days around the holiday. To avoid the travel crunch, millions of people - mostly migrant workers - began heading home weeks ago.

In Taiwan, another mass migration was kicking off on the island of 23 million people. About 7.5-million Taiwanese - or nearly one-third of the island's population - are travelling home or going on holiday in the next few days, officials said. "The spring festival is one of the most important festivals of the year, and everyone wants to get home for family reunion as early as possible," said Transport Minister Kuo Yao-chi.

Highways are expected to be so crowded that only cars taking at least three passengers will be allowed. Mobile toilets have been installed along the way for travellers caught in the snarled traffic. Taking a bathroom break on cramped trains in mainland China can also be difficult. Some savvy travellers are packing adult diapers to avoid queuing outside the often stinking toilets. Diaper sales have been soaring at supermarkets, Chinese media reported this week.

Losses spiral at United Airlines

peakoil.com -> news.bbc.co.uk :

United Airlines' parent company made a $21 billion loss last year due to charges arising from its bankruptcy. It suffered pre-tax losses of $16.6 billion alone in the last quarter after it recognized many unsecured claims. United was one of several US carriers to seek bankruptcy protection due to soaring costs and flagging demand.

UAL Corp is due to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy next month after three years of restructuring. It has cut its workforce by a quarter and secured huge pay concessions from pilots and other staff. It is radically restructuring its business in an effort to reduce annual costs by $7 billion by 2010. CEO Glenn Tilton admitted the company must do more to reduce costs and boost revenues. He also warned that fuel costs would be $885 million higher in the current year than previously thought.

Google Base:
american airlines

(2006-01-29 13:13:44 SGT) [Biz] Permalink

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