Building Student Computer

People think I spend all my time documenting the exploits of the Just Us Brothers which just ain’t so. I spend most of my day with computers but mostly I’d rather be building them.

Recently I had to make a new computer for my daughter. She is an aspiring teacher about to enter her first year instructing third graders. I went to visit the classroom and found that the student computer in her room was a veritable antique. It was a 350 MHz computer with 198 MB of RAM running Windows 98 with a Novel network client. It was not connected to the school’s network. It was clear that this private school was living off the donations of others and needed some help.

I did a lot of research and decided that my best bang for the buck would be to get an AMD A8 processor—since it had CPU and video on the same chip—and then get a compatible motherboard and 4 GB of RAM.

I wanted a 32 bit version of Windows 7 as I deemed it would be the most backwards compatible. I went to my local Fry’s Electronics and bought these items plus a DVD Writer for $15. My budget was $200 and I spent $222 including tax for the four items that I purchased.

The computer was housed in an old case with a 430 watt power supply that I had out in the garage. Everything when together well until I tried to install the operating system and then the BSOD (blue screen of death) appeared about 14 percent of the way through the installation process. I tried two different hard drives and got the same result. Not knowing if the drives were bad, I had my wife pick up a new drive at Fry’s. The ones at my house were living for many years in the garage so they might be bad…

My wife got a 1 TB drive for about $50. I installed that and hoped for the best. BSOD.

I tried a different DVD drive and got the same result. BSOD.

A that point, I removed part of the RAM, and tried the installation with only one 2 GB stick of RAM. The installation worked! I then tried to install the drivers from the motherboard DVD. BSOD. Finally, the computer refused to boot into Windows; even after trying all restore points.

I then ran the memory checker on the Windows DVD. For the first time ever, the on screen message said that I had a hardware problem. I don’t run that utility very often but that was a disturbing result.

Instead of taking the time to troubleshoot the motherboard, CPU and RAM, I decided to return the whole mess, get a store credit and start over.

I checked Fry’s weekly ads and saw a motherboard/CPU combo for about $222. It was and Intel i5 with onboard video and an ASUS motherboard. I decided to go with this since it was $75 cheaper to get this combo than purchasing the items separately. I then had to get a 4GB memory stick. This set-up cost me an additional $81. (Of course the Fry’s closest to my house did not have the CPU in stock so I had to run to Roseville and get it there.)

I took everything home and installed it in the case. I turned on the power and surprise, it booted up into Windows 7. Yeah, the Windows install created on the AMD processor booted up on the Intel motherboard. (By the way, this has worked every time I have tried it. It’s a testimony to the diversity of Microsoft.) After a few reboots to load additional drivers, I installed the network drivers from the motherboard DVD and ran Windows update.

The hardest part was finding a 32 bit copy of Office in my house. We all use 64 bit programs when possible. I found an unused copy of Office 2010 and loaded that.

So now my daughter has an up to date computer. The computer even has the flag in the bottom corner asking if I wanted to upgrade to Windows 10. My own computer doesn’t even prompt me for that.

My take away from this is that AMD has a quality control problem. Anybody can manufacture a motherboard for their processors but whether it works properly or not is completely out of their control. All the AMD motherboards for which I could find reviews for the A Series processors were in the same situation. 60 percent of the reviews rate the motherboards as good and the other 40 percent were reporting that the boards were junk. AMD needs to get this issue in hand.

Oh, all motherboards mentioned in my review are by ASUS.

CRA Legal Defense Vote

Two rumors are circulating about the delay in announcing the results of the online vote conducted by the CRA Board to create a legal defense dream team.

First, they stopped counting votes because the vote was so overwhelming that the obscure Bylaw provision for the “mercy rule” was invoked by President Hudson.

Second, the delay might be due to Craig Alexander holding the vote until the new bank can create an account for the legal defense fund. Did Alexander insist that the $7,000 from the old legal defense account be deposited into the new one in preparations for imminent action?

Stay tuned.

Casting Park’s Pearls

Yesterday, Aaron Park fired off another missive about the CRA online vote to create a Special Litigation Committee. In his post, Park asked a few questions to which he probably doesn’t expect an answer; however, since I find myself as the voice of the “loyal opposition” I thought I would briefly chime in.

Is this related to Tom Hudson’s ego being bruised?

NO

Is this related to Tom Hudson needing to go back to the State CRA’s board after-the-fact in order to get them to sanction his rogue actions?

NO

What does the CRA hope to gain out of this? Members? Good Press?

The CRA expects to protect themselves and their chapters from being pillaged by rogue members who ignore the Bylaws and abuse their office by misappropriating tens of thousands of dollars of other people’s money, deleting membership information belonging to the corporation and not anyone named Park, and behaving like horse’s asses on the Internet. In short, CRA has a right to defend its reputation and corporate assets from abuse.

Do the board members of the CRA think that the timing of this will help their efforts to stop the bleeding in the organization?

Wrong question. The bleeding stopped on May 30th.

Does Tom Hudson think that the Placer GOP and Tom McClintock are going to gain from this as he is publicly tied to both…

Tom McClintock is irrelevant to any of this. This is the second blog post in a row where Park has invoked Tom McClintock when attacking Hudson. The previous day he wrote,

“This is why Mine and George’s ouster from the CRA was centered around the non-endorsement of Tom McClintock…”

Really?

From April 17th until the end of May, their whole campaign was that Aaron and George were blowing the whistle on Fraud in CRA—remember the data breach where Aaron put private membership records on the Internet (including their bank routing and account numbers) claiming this was their evidence?

As more information because available, we learned that the data breach on April 17th was the most miraculous technological event since Al Gore invented the Internet; especially considering that the Parks later claimed that all the membership records had been lost a month earlier when their computer crashed and they had no backups.

Never fear. A dead hard drive couldn’t keep Aaron down. Despite its mechanical failure, Aaron was able to bend electrons and computer bits to his will to reveal their darkest secrets and lead him to the truth about conspiracies within CRA. This is how Aaron learned that Alice’s full name when translated into Greek has a numerical value of 666. Aaron’s attacks on Alice were based on his understanding that the devil can appear as an angel of light and unsuspecting CRA members would be beguiled by her charisma. Hence his “Black Widow” comments.
wink

Mr. Park, the CRA Board removed you and your bother for not following the Bylaws and abusing the power that had been entrusted to you. The real irony is that had you acted ethically and followed the rules; you, George and John Briscoe would be running CRA now. Most folks that voted for your removal in May were ready to quit CRA after the Spring Convention. The Sith Lord convinced us to stay and fight one last battle.

Logic is out the window. Political insiders will think about the California GOP’s rules about lawsuits and ask questions from that paradigm, but the pattern of behavior has more resembled a sociopath on a rampage to get his next victim.

Aaron, you and your brother are the ones moving on to their next victims.

“…the pattern of behavior has more resembled a sociopath on a rampage to get his next victim”

yet another admission against interest. You frequently project your motivations onto others. Limbaugh pointed this out about Democrats years ago and you frequently do the same thing.

CRA is trying to remove the knives from their backs that ya’ll put there and figure out how to become whole; financially and otherwise.

Who said the Special Litigation Committee was Hudson’s idea? The Board governs CRA not one man.

Tom has done things that may deserve criticism but his treatment of Aaron and George Park has been measured and reserved.

Aaron, he is about the only person on the Board not calling for your heads on a pike. Tom Hudson is your best friend on the CRA Board and all you do is dump on him. Tom has been urging the Board to leave you alone. The Litigation Committee may act and if they do, Tom will not be leading the charge.

You both owe Tom an apology; sadly one that will never come.

Windows 10 Upgrade Hiccups

Yesterday I received an email from Microsoft about upgrading my computers to Windows 10. (I’m on their Insider’s list so I get access to some things quicker than the general public.) If after reading my story you wish to try your hand at Windows 10, here is the link
Windows 10 Download

Anyway, I downloaded the tool that they had linked on the webpage to install Windows 10. Things didn’t quite go as advertised.

I downloaded the 64 bit version of the program (19 MB) and ran it.

The Upgrade this PC now option did not work. Once the program tries to download, it crashed.
Use the second option Create installation media for another PC

It will allow you to pick language. English (United States) worked well for me.

Windows version (Home or Pro). Don’t use choices ending in “N”

Architecture is 32 or 64 bit OS

 

I downloaded the ISO image to my windows 8.1 computer. When download was completed, I copied file to my son’s gaming computer.

Once copied, I mounted the installation file as a drive. For any newbies reading this, Windows 8 can make an ISO image into a virtual drive. The ISO image will then act as DVD player complete with drive letter.

I double clicked on the setup executable file and selected upgrade. After a few prompts Windows downloaded some update files and began installing. On the Internet I kept reading that it takes 20 to 40 minutes to run. This is rubbish. My best guess is an easy two hours. After nursing the computer for an hour and a half, I went to bed to let it finish. The installation progress was at 32 percent.

Then this morning, I spend another 20 minutes just to get it up to the normal desktop. Upon initial boot, the second monitor was not working and the primary monitor was the wrong resolution. Lots of background activity on the hard drive indicated to me that the OS was still downloading and installing updates and passes. I ran Windows Update and got confirmation that the NVidia drivers were finally loaded and then by doing a restart everything was as it should be.

I have yet to hear about any problems running games and that is a good sign.

Frank Look at Republican Platform Changes

This Saturday, August 1st, the Platform Committee of the California Republican Party will be meeting near LAX. The Committee will have an opportunity to change the wording of the Platform and perhaps reshape the Party. Chairman Jim Brulte will preside at the meeting. Will the same folks that embraced the Log Cabin Club show-up in force to build on their recent victory? Some pundits say, “Yes”.

Recently, Steve Frank published an article on the Republican Party Platform and changes that he expects will be made.

Here are a few of his predictions

Marriage and Family: “At the same time the California Republican Party recognizes the right of same-sex couples in California to enter into a State sanctioned marriage that affords them all the civil legal protections the State offers to heterosexual couples”

Right to Life/Abortion: “Most Republicans pro-life and pro-choice believe the difficult decision to have an abortion in the first months of pregnancy is best left as a private personal and family matter.”
Last Remnant In California of Republicanism is GOP Platform Will It Change

The question I asked was, “Does Steve have inside information that ‘the fix’ is in on these changes?”

The Sith Lord says “No”. He says that what happens Saturday will depend on who actually shows up to the meeting.
• He feels that Brulte would like to see the status quo maintained within the Party.
• Many possible changes have been floated by both Liberals and Conservatives but he knows of no consensus on either side for any particular changes.
• With dwindling registration, it’s not a good time to have a platform fight that will likely result in the Conservatives withdrawing from an active role in the Party.

If Frank is right, the Party will likely split over social issues. Brulte may want the Platform unchanged but the myriad of socially agnostic young folks that were the force behind adopting the Log Cabin gang may not be under his control when they sense victory over the old order (Conservative social issues) is within their grasp.

If the Platform proposal on Saturday is a marked departure to the Left, it will likely pass in September. The Liberals have already proved that they have the votes.

What happens Saturday has the potential to shred the Republican Party to the point of extinction in California. Finally, Charlie Munger has victory within reach but to what end?

Told Ya—Judge Blocks Baby Parts Videos from Release

Two days ago I said this:

It’s a safe bet that the full power of the State will be brought to bear on the Center for Medical Progress. I hope they have some powerful friends or these guys will be doing the “perp walk” real soon. Perhaps they should release the rest of the videos before some judge issues an order to “cease and desist” or some such nonsense.

Today I get home from work and see this on Fox News website

Court bars anti-abortion group from releasing new videos
LOS ANGELES –  A temporary restraining order has been issued preventing an anti-abortion group from releasing any video of leaders of a California company that provides fetal tissue to researchers. The group is the same one that previously shot viral covert video of a Planned Parenthood leader discussing the sale of aborted fetuses for research.

The Los Angeles Superior Court order issued Tuesday prohibits the Center for Medical Progress from releasing any video of three high-ranking StemExpress officials taken at a restaurant in May. It appears to be the first legal action prohibiting the release of a video from the organization.

The Center for Medical Progress has released three surreptitiously recorded videos to date that have riled anti-abortion activists. The Senate is expected to vote before its August recess on a Republican effort to bar federal aid to Planned Parenthood in the aftermath of the videos’ release.

In a statement Wednesday, center leader David Daleiden said StemExpress was using “meritless litigation” to cover up an “illegal baby parts trade.”

“The Center for Medical Progress follows all applicable laws in the course of our investigative journalism work,” he said.

StemExpress is a Placerville-based company started in 2010 that provides human tissue, blood and other specimens to researchers. Planned Parenthood is one of the company’s providers of fetal tissue.
Fox News

Please note that StemExpress is in Placerville, CA. Placerville has a history looking the other way on issues of infanticide. Some of us still remember Julice Luke.

Anyway, more proof that I’m Really Right.

American Eugenics in 21st Century

Eugenics, the social movement claiming to improve the genetic features of human populations through selective breeding and sterilization, based on the idea that it is possible to distinguish between superior and inferior elements of society, played a significant role in the history and culture of the United States prior to its involvement in World War II.

Eugenics was practised in the United States many years before eugenics programs in Nazi Germany and U.S. programs provided much of the inspiration for the latter. Stefan Kühl has documented the consensus between Nazi race policies and those of eugenicists in other countries, including the United States, and points out that eugenicists understood Nazi policies and measures as the realization of their goals and demands.

One of the most prominent feminists to champion the eugenic agenda was Margaret Sanger, the leader of the American birth control movement. Margaret Sanger saw birth control as a means to prevent unwanted children from being born into a disadvantaged life, and incorporated the language of eugenics to advance the movement.

Eugenics in the United States

Yeah, American social policy and the Nazis were going down the same ideological tracks together during the 1910’s thru early 1930’s. Social Darwinism was a big hit with the Aristocracy ever since Darwin provided the scientific basis that some races were superior (more fit) than others.

In this mix was Margaret Sanger, who frequently did the European cocktail party circuit with the leadership of the Nazi Party. She was right at home with these guys and so was her belief that the way to eliminate poverty was by eliminating the poor.

Is it any wonder then that Sanger’s ideological baby—Planned Parenthood—has people selling body parts from aborted babies? Why should that surprise folks?

Aborted baby parts have been used in women’s make-up for years. Why do you think labels about the source of collagen are on the bottles?

In this era of belief that stem cells can cure everything, why not sell the most ready supply? Taxpayers pay for abortions; California taxpayers pay for stem cell research. Why not sell the largest ready supply to the industry based on developing genetic cures? This is a logical result of a culture based on eugenic principles.

Many folks play verbal gymnastics with the tenants of eugenics but only so they can find acceptable ways of supporting them.

As barbaric as Eugenics is, it has government protection and funding throughout our country. Somehow many are comfortable that it is used at the beginning and end of life; however, it will not stop there. Soon we will be deciding who is fit or unfit as parents not on the basis of social class or income but on the basis of belief.

Home schooled children and those that are taught that homosexuality and abortion are wrong will soon be taken from their parents. Oh wait, in some places they are…not only in Germany or Indonesia or some far off land but here in the good ‘ole US of A.

Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.
Deuteronomy 28: 32

Hey folks, welcome to judgment day.

Kamala Harris Defender of Evil

If you want a great example of what is wrong with our country, the article below will serve as a prime example.

Last week, a California based group releases multiple videos of employees of Planned Parenthood, negotiating the sales price of body parts from aborted babies.

This is no different than a guard at Auschwitz offering to sell gold and silver confiscated from Jews to the local pawn shop. Or better yet, harvesting organs for transplant or other medical experiments; Nazi Germany or current day China, either is a true illustration.

Question: Why do Liberals tend to view the latter as barbaric and the former as a Constitutional Right?
All the above are equally evil.  The rational is the same; namely, why let these resources go to waste?

So, in the face of such evil what does the chief law enforcement official in California do?
Why she wants to investigate the whistleblowers to see if they violated any laws or violated the Constitutional protections that the State is giving to people making their money killing babies with taxpayer money.

Here is part of the article from the Sacramento Bee. I’m quoting it extensively both to make my point and also because the Bee tends to delete content from their website rather quickly.

Kamala Harris to review group behind Planned Parenthood abortion videos
July 24, 2015
By Christopher Cadelago

California Attorney General Kamala Harris will review whether the nonprofit organization behind controversial Planned Parenthood videos violated state law, her office said in a letter Friday.

Four Democratic congresswomen on Wednesday asked Harris and U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to determine if officials from the Irvine-based Center for Medical Progress broke any laws when they posed as workers for a biotech company while recording Planned Parenthood physicians without their consent.

Reps. Jan Schakowsky, Zoe Lofgren, Jerry Nadler and Yvette Clarke cited reports that founder David Daleiden filed paperwork to create a phony entity. They also asked the state’s top law enforcement official to look into possible violations of the Invasion of Privacy Act, which bars recording people without their permission…

The videos, in which officials from Planned Parenthood discuss the price and delivery of fetal body parts, have renewed debate about abortion and rocketed the issue into the 2016 presidential race…

Planned Parenthood contends the footage was “heavily edited” and falsely depicts the organization’s tissue-donation programs that support lifesaving scientific research. Democrats, including Harris, have come to its defense over efforts to strip its funding.

Read more here: Kamala Harris to review group behind Planned Parenthood abortion videos

Will Harris investigate the practices of Planned Parenthood? NO.

Will Governor Brown—who supposedly learned so much from his time with Mother Teresa—do anything? NO

It’s a safe bet that the full power of the State will be brought to bear on the Center for Medical Progress. I hope they have some powerful friends or these guys will be doing the “perp walk” real soon. Perhaps they should release the rest of the videos before some judge issues an order to “cease and desist” or some such nonsense.

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Isaiah 5:20

Tea Party Promotes Democrats

I’m minding my own business and reading my email.

I get stuff from all sorts of Tea Party groups but this advertisement is out of bounds or should be. I’m reading an article about a Florida gun store being a Muslim free zone and then scroll down to see this.

I guess our transformation into the Soviet Union has a ways to go, even under this President. In the meantime, perhaps the Tea Party needs a new webmaster.

Carl Baugh and His Book

Last night I finished reading “Why Do Men Believe Evolution Against All Odds?” By Carl Baugh. We were given a copy by Mr. Baugh when we visited the Creation Evidence Museum in Glenrose Texas. I think when he heard that we were from California; he had mercy on us and figured that we needed the help.

The book was a quick read. It was well documented and logically organized. I have seen similar works in the past but this one seemed more “modern” since it incorporated a section on biochemistry and the function of cells; something that literally didn’t exist too many years ago. See Darwin’s Black Box by Michael Behe if you want the full explanation of why cellular function disproves evolutionary theory.

My one complaint is that there are several blatant typographical errors in the book. Baugh could use a proofreader before going to press again.

As I prepared to write this blog I took a look at the book on Amazon.com. While Baugh has much praise on the customer reviews of the book, he also has his detractors. The attacks by one reviewer were not on the contents of the book but on the academic credentials claimed by Baugh. On Amazon the author biography reads

Dr. Carl Edward Baugh is founder and director of Creation Evidence Museum, Glen Rose, Texas; scientific research director for world’s first hyperbaric biosphere; scientific research director for water reclamation and energized plant systems; and the discoverer and excavation director of two major dinosaurs: Acrocanthosaurus in Texas and Stegosaurus stenops in Colorado. He holds a degree in theology from Baptist Bible College, a Masters in archaeology, and a Ph.D. in education, both from Pacific College of Graduate Studies.

I tried “Pacific College of Graduate Studies” on both Bing and Google. Surprisingly, this school does not seem to exist. However, I did get a hit on Carl Baugh.

A Matter of Degree: An Examination of Carl Baugh’s Alleged Credentials http://paleo.cc/paluxy/degrees.htm

This article by Glen Kuban eviscerates Baugh’s claims of holding a doctorate from an accredited institution of higher learning. Interestingly, Baugh’s biography on the Creation Evidence Museum makes no claims that he is a doctor. Accreditation is not the be all and end all of higher learning but it does limit where and how the claim of a degree can be used.

I know from personal experience that Texas has an extremely high bar for any college to be accredited. The library requirement alone is ridiculous. (At least 70,000 volumes and fulltime librarian) A decade or so ago, my church moved their Seminary from Louisiana to Texas. To get accredited in Texas would have bankrupted the denomination. Instead they made an arrangement with a college in England to grant some type of degree for theological studies.

I can see that Baugh or any other creationist might have trouble getting a scientific degree from a typical college. Even Baylor—to their shame—will run you off if you believe in a literal six-day creation…at least from their faculty.

Kuban, however, accuses Baugh of granting himself his degree. It’s an interesting read. What caught my attention was the footnote #40. According to the footnote, Answers in Genesis has tried to put some distance between themselves and Baugh. The URL in Kuban’s article was no good but I went to Ken Ham’s website and found this:
AIG discounts the claims that human footprints were found with dinosaurs at Glenrose. They say that it might be true but …

Given the ambiguity of the evidence and the fact that much of what may have once been present is no longer available for study, we do not believe those claims of coexisting human and dinosaur prints are wholly supportable. Dr. John Morris in 1986 reported similar conclusions, deciding “it would now be improper for creationists to continue to use the Paluxy data as evidence against evolution” unless further research brings new facts to light.
paluxy-river-tracks-in-texas-spotlight

I know that these claims pre-date Carl Baugh by several decades. Morris and Whitcomb cite them in Genesis Flood (1961).

While not on AIG website, I did a search on the article mentioned in footnote #40 and found this:

CSF does not defend Carl Baugh or his claims in regard to his qualifications. We do not regard Baugh as representative in any way of the mainstream creation movement.
plimer-book-our-point-by-point-rebuttal p. 145

My conclusion is that Carl Baugh does seem to have overstated his resume. I don’t rely on him for validating my beliefs in creation.

The artifacts that he has at his museum are persuasive. However, I think the Torah display and model of Noah’s Ark are unnecessary. The movie on how The Flood occurred and what brought it about is speculative and I would like more information before I’m ready to support Baugh’s whole framework.

As for his book on “Why Do Men Believe Evolution Against All Odds?” I think he nailed it. All Baugh does is introduce quotes from evolutionists that point out flaws in their theory.

The only thing Baugh lacks is Ben Stein’s interview of Richard Dawkins in Expelled, where Dawkins says life on earth came from extraterrestrials that seeded the planet.

Evolution is not a science issue, it’s a spiritual one.