Weblog
Articles
Film Reviews
Recipes
NMI Parity Check Error
Emerald Bay Photography
Resume
About
Contact

Archives for April 2003

April 16th, 2003

Here's an update to a topic I should have tackled a long time ago: the dreaded "NMI: Parity Check / Memory Parity Error" I've written about in my Computer Hell article last year.

I've been getting a surprising number of feedback from fellow error sufferers, most of them wanting to know if I've ever found a solution to my problem.

The sad reality is that in my book it really is still a mystery. I haven't been getting the error for over a year now, but I don't have a conclusive idea as to what exactly fixed the problem either. I do however download all the updates for XP religiously, and I think that definitely helps in keeping the system healthy and up-to-date with all the bug-fixes.

One guy who emailed me told me that he was advised by Dell to replace the RAM, and that seemed to fix it for him. For me, the error pretty much stopped occuring (with one recent exception) after I've removed the SCSI card, sold the Nikon scanner and got a USB-compatible scanner, as did another guy I talked to.

But looking at the fact that every single person I communicated with just upgraded to Windows XP, my suspicion that the fault is caused by the OS is deepening (go figure...).

It's definitely not the OEM hardware - the error occurs across all different brands (I have a Compaq, others have HPs or Dells). Yet in all cases, there's been new hardware added to the system (almost always an adapter of some sort - either for a scanner or a wireless network) that seems to cause the error within XP.

As costly or impractical as my advise seems then, I would have to say that the best thing you can do for your system (and your sanity) is to get rid of whatever hardware you just installed and get yourself another variation of the hardware.

Or go complain to Microsoft.
Ha ha. Next.

 



April 30th, 2003

Quote of the Day: "They should have saturated Afghanistan with liquid L.S.D. and got everybody goofed out of their minds. Then they should have sent in the military dressed as Teletubbies." - Johnny Depp

Ha Ha Ha. Good one.



April 26th, 2003

I have been working on scanning my complete slide collection. Not having seen a lot of the images for a very long time, I found myself stumbling over some pretty cool stuff - shots I took around San Francisco especially.

So here's one. Enjoy.

[Mirror Reflection]

After an exhausting day of shooting the colorful Gay Pride Parade on San Francisco's Market Street, I walked back to my car, parked a few blocks down. As I turned back for one last look, this mirror reflection of buildings within another building caught my eye.



April 23rd, 2003

In January, the AttaBoy 300 Dogsled Race came to town, and I ventured up to the Newberry Crater (10 minutes from my house) to take some shots of the teams and dogs.

Having just moved into the area, I was pleasantly surprised to find a world-class dogsled race happening virtually in my backyard. I'd never experienced one before, and had only limited knowledge through reading about the famous Iditarod in Alaska and seeing various dogsled-related documentaries and movies.

I found the dogs to be astonishingly small, lean, and of curiously exotic breeds. Not the bulky, strong huskys we see as the classic sled dog. Asking one of the mushers (the people who live and breathe dogsledding) about it, he answered deadpan, "We breed the dogs we like. I like 'em to be upbeat and energetic. That guy over there - he likes black dogs", as he pointed casually to his neighbor's stable of blue-eyed, raven-haired dogs.

[ATTABoy 300]

A team of dogs, turning the last corner before the finish line of the Newberry Crater leg of the race. Four more days of racing laid ahead of them, bringing the total of racing days to eight.

[ATTABoy 300]

An exhausted sleddog takes a rest in his travelling kennel. Their fates are balanced between the exhiliration of being able to do what they love - run - and frequent injuries, sometimes even death, on the track.



April 17th, 2003

Lately, it's been pretty damn grey and rainy here in Central Oregon. I'm ready for spring. So I thought I'd cheer myself up (and everybody else who is suffering the same never-ending-winter fate) with an image I took a few years ago on El Cerritos beach in Todos Santos, Baja, Mexico.

My friend Matt had just come back from a hour of surfing and plunged himself down in a small chair in the sand. The sun was just about to sink into the ocean, and the sky was quickly turning color, as the firnament coated itself with the most interesting cloud formations. I remember sitting and watching in awe, trying to capture it all on film before the light vanished and it got too dark.

[Matt on the Beach]



April 15th, 2003

I've been working on my site recently. If you haven't noticed yet, go check out my new sections: Articles, Filmreviews and Recipes.

I know there isn't a whole lot there yet, but you'll just have to come back and peek at them more frequently. The articles are, in any case, good for a chuckle.



April 10th, 2003

NYT: Internet over power lines? Really? After Enron, and all? Talk about placing our cyber futures into the hands of a corrupt industry. And California can't possibly think this is a good idea - with their history of blackouts...



April 9th, 2003

Think this image is real?

[Shark]

This image, which has been making the rounds on the Net, was credited as taken near the South African coast during a military exercise by the British Navy.

Supposedly, the German Magazine Geo (they're sort of like the Euro version of our National Geographic Magazine) crowned it as their "Photo Of The Year" - to the alert observer though the bridge in the background looks suspiciously alike to the SF Golden Gate...

And indeed - as it turns out, the image is a fake. A good one, but still a fake. National Geographic explains.

Long live Photoshop.