I updated my Hackintosh to 10.6.3 without issue today — I figured if I’d spent all that time & effort into making my machine “just work”, what was the point if I didn’t try updates? (I have Windows as a reliable backup on another disk). Anyway, it worked flawlessly — so, one anecdote in the “plus” column.
Archive for March, 2010
Carl Edwards put on probation for 3 races
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010Well, NASCAR has responded to Carl Edwards’ retaliatory wrecking of Brad Keselowski: he’s been put on probation for the next 3 races. Practically speaking, this has no effect. Sure, Edwards will have to be “extra careful” (whatever that means) the next few races, but this really will just force him into biding his time until he gets the right opportunity. That, honestly, is what he should’ve done in the first place. I’m not really sure how what Edwards did was as effective as, say, talking it over with Brad after the race and letting him know “you’re next”, and then waiting it out until you get a competitive chance to settle a score when it matters, with both of you actually racing (rather than just wrecking). (Time also gives you the ability to really consider what had happened earlier and decide if it was what you thought it was, which still remains unclear to me in this case). We’ll see if NASCAR’s lack of action here sends a signal to open up the floodgates for similar actions by other drivers.
Cynics would say that NASCAR is endorsing this behavior for ratings. I’m not so sure. That may be a component of it, but I think they’ve kind of painted themselves in a corner with their pre-season statements that they’d be more “hands off”. I think they concluded that suspending Edwards would be somehow inconsistent with their previous statements (which, frankly, they should not have made, for exactly this reason), but they had to put forth the appearance of protecting their fans’ safety. Suspending Edwards for recklessly and intentionally risking the lives of several people would not have been inconsistent with a general encouragement of heated — and bumpy — competition, but it’s fair to say that many NASCAR fans would not agree with me about that one. If nothing else, I think NASCAR does know their fans.
An Apple ad that will make you want to vomit
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010The mac/pc ads were cute & funny. This 8-minute long navel-gazing circlejerk just makes me want to punch these dudes in the junk. If the iPad “exceeds your ability to understand”, that doesn’t make the device “magical” — it makes you an idiot. Is this the Apple target market now? Okay, maybe I’m the idiot for even asking that question.
“Dances with 3D-blue-cat-people-in-space” finally put in check
Monday, March 8th, 2010Suck it, Avatar.
Carl Edwards is a douchebag
Sunday, March 7th, 2010Carl Edwards and like-minded fans will point to any number of incidents prior to his intentional wrecking of Brad Keselowski with 2 laps to go at Atlanta today as a means to justify it. Here are the facts:
- Carl Edwards was 156 laps down.
- Carl Edwards attempted to hit Keselowski on the previous lap and missed. He went at him again in the next lap, ultimately succeeding.
- Carl Edwards’ hands can be seen turning the wheel right into Keselowski. (This just in: There are no right turns at Atlanta Motor Speedway).
- Carl Edwards took the lives of Keselowski, other drivers, and fans into his hands for no reason.
- Carl Edwards could’ve also wrecked any other number of drivers trying to make a top-10 finish. Unlike Edwards, there are guys in the Cup series going race-to-race, trying to keep a sponsor, and a wrecked car could’ve easily broken them. If Edwards is to be taken at his word (“I didn’t mean to flip him”), then clearly he had no control over the impact of his actions.
I get that Keselowski wrecked Edwards at Talladega (while they were both going for the win, and in a situation that both drivers and all observers agreed was not intentional). I get that Edwards was mad that Keselowski’s minor nudge on lap 40 wrecked Edwards’ car. I get that there are some people who don’t like Brad Keselowski as a person. But, none of that changes the above 5 facts. Hey, I’m all for settling scores on the last lap if you’re both going for the win. What Edwards did was careless, dangerous, and contemptuous of the fans who actually go to the races.
Successful replacement of my Macbook Pro’s keyboard – some tips
Monday, March 1st, 2010Last week, my wife left her (red, non-diet) soda next to my Macbook Pro on our kitchen counter, and the inevitable happened: my 2-year-old son tossed something up on the counter and knocked the soda over right into the keyboard of my laptop. (This is the third laptop-spill incident that my wife has been involved in — the previous 2 were on her Dell, which I’d fixed and replaced. Here’s hoping she actually listens to me about not putting liquids next to laptops this time). Fortunately, the laptop was still functional, though the keys were sticky and the “f” key in particular was completely nonfunctional. I tried taking the key apart, cleaning underneath with rubbing alcohol, and replacing the key, but it didn’t work. (As a side-note to all of you out there learning this the hard way, one thing you should do if this happens to you is to unplug it, remove the battery, turn it upside down with the display opened at a 90-degree angle after toweling it off, and let it dry out. My wife toweled it off, but didn’t do any of the other stuff, risking electrical damage. Thankfully that didn’t happen).
I ordered a replacement keyboard from applecomponents.com. Despite the amateurish web design, the service was solid, and I received my keyboard (in new, not used, condition) in a well-packed box in just 3 days from the west coast. I have a Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro (the late-2006 “Merom” edition, not the later “Santa Rosa” edition). The guys at ifixit.com have a nice, detailed guide for replacing such a keyboard. I’ve used their guides before for replacing my hard drive. I like that they have large, clear pictures for each step, and that they effectively highlight where the screws are.
Now, this is not for the faint of heart. Obviously I’ve done this a few times (including with my old G4 powerbook, which was easier to muck with). If you endeavor upon such a thing, you’ll want to make sure you have separate containers for the screws from each step, so that when you put it back together, you’re not wondering which parts go where. (I used baby-food cups). I will say that though ifixit’s guide got me most of the way there, there were a few minor issues with their instructions.
Specifically, step 9 is troublingly sparse on detail about how exactly to get the upper case free from the front of the case (near the optical drive). They mention “rocking it back and forth”. This is totally, completely insufficient. There are 3 or 4 HARD LOCKING SNAPS in place in this portion of the case. After lifting up the back portion of the case (which is screwed tight, after you’ve removed the screws) as described in the ifixit guide, you really, really have to pry this sucker open. The first time I did it, it took a long time. I thought it should come apart rather naturally given the instructions, but you have to apply quite a bit more force than is indicated in the guide. I honestly thought I was going to break it until it snapped apart, and everything was fine.
The other issue I have is ifixit’s pithy “follow these instructions in reverse order” reassembly instructions. Seriously, that’s all they give you. Sure, that’s sufficient to get the cables reconnected & screws back in place, but it tells you NOTHING about how to properly mount and install the keyboard. I had to assemble/unassemble/reassemble 3 more times before I got the keyboard sitting just right (not bowing). Also, the first time I screwed the keyboard back in place, I had forgotten to thread the backlight connector down through the tiny hole where it attaches. Regarding the proper mounting, one issue is that there are tabs on the back/top of either side of the keyboard that must be pushed fairly far into place to prevent upward “bowing” of the keyboard (ie, keys sticking up at an angle). It’s entirely possible to get the tabs into the proper slot, but for the keyboard to still bow up after reassembly — you’ll need to take it apart & then push the tabs further into place (mine had a bit of a “click” when they got all the way in — but I did have to force it). The other issue is that the “tabs” (which are really sharp pointed needles of metal rather than what one might think of as a “tab”) at the top of the keyboard have to be carefully aligned and pulled into place to get the keyboard taught and satisfactorily installed. (Unless you like bleeding, you’ll need needlenose pliers. This is not listed as a “required material” in the guide. Sure, I have them, but it’s a small nit about the guide itself).
One last thing you might want to consider when doing this is a can of compressed air for cleaning out the insides while you’re in there. Mine was fairly clean, but it doesn’t hurt to blow out the dust, since excessive dust buildup can lead to static discharges and shorts. Anyway, my keyboard is literally as good as new now. Hopefully the extra tips here will help out someone else in a similar situation.
Update on hackintosh build
Monday, March 1st, 2010So, 3 business days after ordering my parts on newegg.com for my new computer, Newegg has begun shipping some of them. (Note that their “policy” is 2 business days. They didn’t even begin the credit-card verification process until after 2 days had passed. (I know, because I called both them and American Express). Anyway, they shipped everything except the case from New Jersey, so I’ll have a collection of useless parts sometime this week via UPS “3-day select”. The case (an Antec Sonata Elite) is yet to ship, so I’m probably screwed on that front. If it ships today from California, it’ll be a 50-50 crap shoot whether it arrives this week at all. (Can you tell I’ve been through this song and dance before?)
I just hope everything works, but newegg, your service sucks so far.