Thanks, Joe!

Joe Allen saved me money and high blood-pressure last night, putting in a phone call to walk me through the process of fixing that audio bug after putting in a full day working for a client who, I can only assume, was probably actually paying him money. On New Year's Eve, that's pretty good service.

Thanks, Joe!

(I think it turned out in the end that I didn't have all of the old audio drivers gone--there was one I hadn't found, maybe from the old motherboard. Whatever it was, the drivers installed and the sound works, so I can listen to the Gun Nuts over on my sidebard again.)

Ninjas and Topless Models? Tune In and Find Out.

Set Your DVR to Awesome.

Apparently, I'm going to be on TV tonight. Check out the Outdoor Channel to see the footage Michael Bane and Downrange TV shot at Blackwater with the bloggers (and me.)

Were there really ninjas in the trees?
Spies doing awkward judo behind every closed door?
Topless gun-calendar models wandering around?
Shirtless, sweaty SEALs rappelling down from shoot towers to bring Tam magazines?

If you don't tune in, you'll always wonder. Personally, I don't have cable TV, so I won't be watching. Luckily, Para was nice enough to send a DVD with our footage. You can also see all the segments (well, I think it's all of them) at the Downrange.TV link. So, in conclusion, I'm not going to watch it, but you totally should, because that in no way implies any value judgment of the show. I'm just too lazy to call a TV company. I have three rabbit-ear, fuzzy channels, and if I'm being honest, there's a good possibility I'll have zero channels in February because I just keep putting off calling.
On the other hand, I have a LOT of books and a high-speed internet connection.

The New Motherboard Has Not Solved My Problem

UPDATE 2: Googling the error code actually may have helped. I found this post on the Wisetechie Blog where the author had exactly the same problem. He was trying to install the same drivers I am, and it kept aborting, and he got the same error message. It turned out that the driver install checked for later versions. When it sees XP Service Pack 3, it thinks there's a newer version of itself already installed and aborts without giving the user the choice of continuing to install the patch. The problem is that SP3 does not contain an updated patch, so you're stuck. I'm going to try his solution as soon as I can figure out how to do it--he changed some registry value so that the installation program wouldn't see SP3. I was thinking of doing a System Restore back to before SP3 was released, then going and getting SP3 again once the audio driver installation is done.

UPDATE: OK, so I checked the BIOS/CMOS settings, and I have the onboard audio enabled. I unplugged the front panel leads just in case (found a forum post where that helped someone for some reason.) I then went to the FoxConn website and downloaded their updated audio driver--it's old enough that I think it's probably the same as the one on disk, but it was worth a shot. Same as the one on the disk, it goes through most of the installation and then gives me this error message. I have no idea what this means. I'm going to go Google "installation error message 0xE000027" (I'm assuming that a "0" is a zero.)


The good news is that the new mobo has not caused me any serious problems so far, and it appears to be allowing me to use things I couldn't before. For instance, both memory slots are functioning, so I have 2GB of RAM instead of 1.

The bad news is that I missed the Gun Nuts Radio Show tonight . . . again . . . because I still have no sound. I don't understand it. I just checked the System tab on the control panel, and under "Sounds and Audio Devices" it just says "No Audio Device." What gives? The thing's got to have some kind of audio installed. It's killing me.

I've got something I'm going to try, and then I'm fresh out of ideas. Anybody else got any?

Burris-for-Senate Update

Well, I guess I haven't been paying attention. I'm hearing now that Roland Burris was "the only politician actively lobbying for the vacated seat even after Blagojevich was arrested." I suppose Blago is just giving him what he wants, huh? Still seems like it'll end up being a gift of rope as far as I can see. The Democrats in the Senate cannot seat this guy now no matter what happens, and they know it. They've already committed, in public, to keeping Burris out.

A friend of a friend was on the radio a little while ago. He's known Burris for a long time, apparently (I shouldn't be surprised; this guy seems to know everybody) and he was trying to explain what Burris might be thinking here . . . . but he was struggling. Burris was semi-retired from public politics for awhile, and he was what passes for highly respected in Illinois. I had no use for him, but then again he and I disagree on some basic political principles. For one thing, I think that if you're going to convince--or compel--people to give up their guns, you should give up your own first. Set an example and all that.

(Hat Tip to Codrea at the War On Guns)

Wow--Why Does Rod Blagojevich Hate Roland Burris?

Roland Burris, for those of you from other states, is a Blagojevich supporter and advisor who's been with Blago for awhile, but has been largely out of the public eye for years now. He was the Attorney General here for awhile. And now, according to the Chicago Tribune, he's about to be appointed to Lord Obama's senate seat.

I can't quite suss this out. Do they think that because Burris was "never seriously considered" for the seat before, that means there are no incriminating discussions about him on tape--and that somehow means he can still be seated as a Senator? Surely not? I've been wondering if Blagojevich would appoint someone as a final kick in the jewels on the way out the door, but I don't see that here. I haven't heard of any friction between Blago and Burris. I don't get it, but I think it's clear that anybody Blagojevich appoints is out of the running, period, whether there's a special election in our future or not. He'll have Blagojevich stink all over him.

In other news, Ed Genson, Blagojevich's lawyer, continues his campaign to piss off everyone in Springfield. I still maintain that this is part of a well-defined plan between Genson and Blagojevich. Genson handled the R. Kelly case and the Conrad Black trial, so he's not new to working with the press or managing public opinion. I'm of the opinion that he and Blago have agreed that there's nothing to be gained from trying to suck up the public at this point, and therefore it's time to make the public scream for Blago's head even louder in order to increase the value of the only card Blago still holds--the resignation-from-office ace in the hole. Blago sees his resignation and slinking away to be quiet as a bleepin' valuable thing, a thing you don't just give away for bleepin' nothing. He needs Illinois politicians to put pressure on Fitzgerald to offer him something in return for resigning, and in order to get that to happen, he needs a public clamor for his head.

Yesterday Genson told reporters that he doesn't like staying in the Executive Mansion--for free--because it's drafty, the bed's cheap, and the Lincoln Bedroom is too small anyway. He was "insulted" that he was offered such lousy--free--accommodations. But it's not just the Lincoln Bedroom or the Executive Mansion that don't measure up--he had to mention that he doesn't like Springfield, as well. If someone can tell me another good reason why this creepy vision of Michael Moore's future would talk this way to the press as he's supposedly trying to save Blagojevich's career--and why Blago would let him talk this way without firing him immediately--I'd be glad to hear it.

A Tout Le Monde . . . . A Tous Mes Amis . . . .

I have two DVD's and one CD of backup compiled, so tonight is the night I pull everything out of my desktop and replace the motherboard. I'm hoping this will let me use minor features like sound . . . and video cards . . . . and onboard ethernet . . . . you know, the little things. There is also, of course, the possibility that I'll just screw everything up. I won't be terribly surprised if I hook everything back up and the operating system rebels at finding itself dealing with a different motherboard, though the processor will be the same. Luckily, I haven't been using this desktop long, so I don't have a lot of data other than family photos and my emails.

It's Like I Don't Even Know You Anymore

Wait, what?

"And that's when I realized: I'm not here to convince him. It's okay for someone to be wrong on the internet."

Seriously, what happened to Tam?