Carol Rutz’s Annexe

I’ve installed a new graphics card, plus I installed Vista Business in my old hard drive.  Thank goodness I got Vista for free due to my college’s special arrangement with MSDN’s academy program.  I would not pay up for Vista, especially when my desktop box is not “optimized enough” for Vista Aero.

Anyway, when I booted up to Ubuntu, the Xorg.conf did not load up properly and I have a command line interface screen.  What should the Carol do?

It turns out that because I have added my new graphics card that Xorg freaked out. I just have to reconfigure the settings. Here’s how:

You log in at the command line interface and you are at the prompt.  Type in this command:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

You will have to enter the superuser password before you can configure.  Follow the instructions, and reboot.  I was successful…but YMMV in your situation.

Never, ever mount your motherboard directly onto a new tower. It will short out and you have to buy a new one. Remember kids…use your standoffs!

At least I get to purchase a new Pentium D processor with my new mobo. It’s a great deal for your dollar, and many has found success when they overclock this Presler chip.  But what makes this processor great is what you get for 100 dollars.  For many of us, we use the computer for homework, music downloading, and watching DVDs, and the Internet.  For general purposes, this fits the needs of the average consumer.  You can spend around 500 dollars for a Conroe edition of Core Duo.  Unless you are a hardcore gamer, this is too expansive.  But this Presler has the biggest bang for your buck and this will do what you want until the Core Duos go down in price.

No, not the book– but the color itself. What type of Purple are you?

You Are Grape

You are bold and a true individual. You are very different and very okay with that. People know you as a straight shooter. You’re very honest, even when the truth hurts. You are also very grounded and practical. No one is going to sneak anything by you. People enjoy your fresh approach to life. And it’s this honesty that makes you a very innovative person.

That guy has sheer guts to pull this stunt.  Thanks to Farker eve6grl02 for mixing the footage with Mahna Mahna.

As I mentioned some time ago, I’ve ordered three sets of Woot’s Bag of Crap (their grab bag special) and already, members of the Woot community are reporting various things. Wooter thcst8 has complied a list of things included in recent BOCs and it’s worth a look. Some claim that they got a Wii, but the claims were met with derision.

Now…if I have a list of things I want in my BOC parcel, this is what I would like:

• Those RCA little Nipper keychains- they are so cute.
• Those nifty pens from Cross
• Robo Reptile
• Roomba!!! (highly unlikely)
• and a Samsonite Camera Bag

The Theologian household has one too many phones and I’ve got reservations about those red thongs…overstocks? Or were they refurbished?

My package will arrive by the 14th, assuming that FedEx is doing its work.

If any of you grew up in the 80s, nothing is more scarier than Viacom’s logo.  Here is footage on what it could do to your TV.

My Newegg stuff came in today and I’ve decided to go all the way with Linux.  It turned out to be a much-needed, long overdue rehaul of my desktop box.
I have not used Outlook Express in ages and I’m impressed with Mozilla Thunderbird and Evolution Mail.  Internet Explorer 6 has leeched my virtual memory– and since Firefox, I have fewer hassles online.  Open Office has done well in my laptop, beyond my expectations.  XMMS plays my Ogg Vorbis music.  And since I’ve used Simply MEPIS 6.0, I’ve grown to enjoy and love how Linux offers so much options and creativity.  My 80 GB hard drive with Windows XP is still on my desk, ready to have its files transferred.  I’m still going to keep the XP on it, especially when I take Microsoft-related classes next year.

Right now, the desktop is running with Ubuntu 6.06 LTS.  So far, so good.  I’ll be making some tweaks in the next several days.

Growing up in the San Fernando Valley, we kids get to watch the Cheech and Chong movies, from Up in Smoke to Still Smokin’ and Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie.  We even watched the Corsican Brothers and Born in East LA.  Their Corsican Brothers movie was teh sukc, but the family loved Born in East LA.

Here is one clean clip from Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie, in which Chong played the guitar and blasted the neighborhood.

“My biggest joy in life iterates your insistence that I am not disordered. Other worldly to you, but to me it’s merely my everyday splendor.”

From the pages of Fark, with thanks to Oh_Enough_Already for submitting the Chicago Sun-Times article with a comedy gold headline:

“Popular among evangelical Christians in the teen abstinence movement are ‘purity balls,’ elaborate parties that young women and girls attend, gowns and all, with their dads.” It’s like a car show, but for hymens

The article from Betsy Hart is spot on with her view on the “Purity Balls”, and I want to extend a warm invitation to Ms Hart to read Luther’s Small Catechism. Here is one quote worth pondering:

In any event, what bothers me most is that these dads and daughters may be falling for the misperception that ‘’the sin is in the thing'’ instead of the heart, or conversely, that some sort of righteousness is inherent in the status of virgin, or any outward appearance of propriety.

For some reason, I find stuff in which I place in both Theology and WTF categories. I get most of my daily requirement of WTF from news regarding the Evangelical/Pentecostal subculture. Look guys, I was in the subculture and at that time I wished that my family was Born Again. I did not have anyone to stand by me and take the “True Love Waits” pledge. (In fact, I did not belong to a church until the summer of 1996. Will write about that later, in an article on how to find a church.) But even when I was in that subculture, the concept of the Purity Ball sounds way too Freudian.

Just look at that…the creepiness level is over 9000 with this pic. And I’m fighting the urge to make super-snarky jokes about their after-prom plans.

Besides, how are you going to prove that these virgins are virgins…or remain so until marriage? The track record is very poor, and young people do know the value of technical virginity. Making covenants and relying on personal willpower is NOT enough. The Theology of Glory is a very poor foundation for making and keeping promises. What would happen After the Ball? When one falls, where’s the grace in all of this?

From what I’ve learned, sin is not just outward behavior, it’s the inner attitude in one’s heart. Does controlling external behavior means that you conquered sin? By no means! Read Romans…the Old Man in us is alive, ready to take us down, and it is only through Baptism that this old nature is drowned. Our Baptism connects us to Christ’s death and resurrection. Mere promises and pledges are empty.

*Props to Farker Jument for that analogy.