Using AHCI to install XP on new computers

I have a retail copy of Windows XP Home (Service Pack 2) which I use to run my home-made Home Theatre PC (HTPC). With my latest build I ran into a new problem -- it wouldn't install! Instead I kept getting a BSOD. Eventually I realized that the new motherboard probably wasn't recognized by the old (circa 2005?) OS. Fortunately, there was a solution, though it took me a while to make it work.

I knew that my new motherboard AND my new SATA drives were configured for the newer 'AHCI' drive-mode. The existing SATA drivers on my XP-SP2 disc didn't support AHCI. So my first thought was to use the F6 boot-option to include the new drivers. But despite attempts to load various versions of the 'Intel Storage Matrix Manager' drivers it continued to either hang or BSOD.

Ultimately the solution was to slipstream the drivers into the CD image. While I was at it, I also added the SP3 update. (Actually, the first thing I tried was slipstreaming SP3 in the hopes that it included the AHCI support; it didn't.) I already knew how to slipstream SP3 but had no idea how to added the Intel drivers. Fortunately, this web page explained how to use a nifty utility called 'nLite" which automated it.
www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/resolving-setup-did-not-find-any-hard-disk-drives-during-windows-xp-installation/

So, in summary, what did not work:
- using WinXP Service Pack 3
- using F6 with Intel drivers on a floppy

What did work:
- using nLite to slipstream both SP3 and the Intel drivers onto a new CD
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Bad news is 'good' for prenatal DS test?

Last June 2008 I mentioned a new prenatal test for Down Syndrome that could potentially eliminate new DS births. Now, the newspaper says that the company, Sequenom, probably faked the research tests.
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/sep/30/sense-anxiety-sends-sequenom-stock-down-39

The CEO, CFO, and two VPs of Research have all been fired, and the company stock has dropped by nearly half. They still insist the test works but admit that they need to start from scratch in proving it. So that's at least another few years before it ever comes to market (if at all).

I'm not sure how to feel about this, still. Yes, I think it's a good idea to have such a test. But I also know that over 90% of expectant parents choose to abort if/when they learn that their unborn child has DS. Hopefully, continuing research will find a way to significantly offset the negative effects of DS and then there won't be so much concern about it. Wouldn't it be wonderful if DS could simply be considered a treatable condition, like diabetes?
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Turning the defamatory tables on Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck is the latest right-wing demagogue to attack the 'left' and has been particularly nasty in comparing Barack Obama with Adolf Hitler, as well as other assorted absurdities. As with most of these right-wing attacks, it doesn't matter if there's any truth to the attack -- it's merely mud-slinging. Now, someone has turned the tables on him by using the Internet to sling mud back at him.

My new favorite web-site is glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com. No one seriously thinks he ever did any such thing but the site is starting to turn up in web searches for his name, potentially casting a defamatory pall over him. Frankly, I think he deserves it. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

A further irony is that his success is entirely dependent on his abuse of the First Amendment, to protect his hate speech. Now this web-site is practicing a similar form of hate speech but he's suing them, claiming that it's not protected.

Here's a short discussion of the case from Political Irony.com
http://politicalirony.com/2009/09/08/did-glenn-beck-murder-httpglennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990-com/
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TV schedule for UCSD Thornton hospital

For some reason I can't seem to find a valid TV schedule for the hospital here. I've been staying here with my mom for the past week and I'm starting to watch more and more TV, so I'd like to know what's on. Currently, I'm stuck just channel surfing.

I've tried doing some Internet searches but the best I've been able to come up with are some old (but still cached) hits for a "erctv" page on the campus' UCSD.edu web-site, now gone. Here's the channel listing I found, and which seems to be correct:

CH NAME	CH NAME
07 NBC	37 ESPN
08 CBS	38 ESPN2
09 IND	39 TLC
10 ABC	40 HBO Family
11 PBS	41 HBO West
12 XEWT (Tijuana)	43 HBO
13 HDH Info	44 MTVU
18 SRTV	45 Comedy Central
19 All College TV	46 TBS
20 ERC TV	47 WGN
21 CW	48 Cartoon Network
22 UCSD TV	49 BET
23 FOX	50 MTV2
24 History	51 VH1
25 Univision	52 Food Network
26 MyNetworkTV (primetime only)	53 Travel Channel
27 FX	54 E!
28 Lifetime	55 Spike
29 Nickelodeon	56 AMC
30 MTV	58 SciFi
31 CNN	59 Discovery
32 Headline News	60 Fox Sports
33 TNT	61 Current TV
34 Fox News	62 USA
35 BBC	63 Sundance
36 A&E

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Cleaning up the Obama-rhea of the No We Can't crowd

We need a new 'meme' to describe the rabid anti-Obama crowd. I got the idea from reading Roger Ebert's excellent blog entry regarding memes and the anti healthcare reform crowd,
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/08/death_panels_an_excellent_phra.html

The general idea is that certain phrases are so perfectly self-encapsulated as to gain a life of their own, independent of whether or not they actually mean anything. The latest example is "Death Panels" which will probably live on and define the argument forever. I really think we need to counter it with a comparable meme to describe and undermine the wackos who are pushing "Panels". And it probably goes without saying that it needs to be a meme with the name "Obama" as part of it. Hmm...

Clearly, there is a die-hard group of people who believe that President Obama is the anti-christ and who vehemently and reflexively oppose anything he supports. I suspect there's unacknowledged racism at work here but I don't know if there's any point trying to pin that on them. Still, my first idea for a meme to describe them is "The Obama Lynch Mob". Or, if that's too blunt, maybe call them "The Obama Mob"

Alternatively, maybe we should label the reaction rather than the people? Maybe "Obama Vomit" or "Obama (Gag) Reflex" ? Even better: "Obama-rhea" oooh yeah, that's juicy! (eww) On second thought, though, diarrhea is something that's justified, as if his policies are so unhealthy as to be automatically rejected by the Body Politic (gotta love this analogy though :- )

Obama-spite. Whiners. Gotta think of another analogy... Something tantamount to children and temper tantrums? How about "Anti-Hope Tantrum"? Or, the "No We Can't" crowd? Since these people frequently claim that Obama is part of 'secret' conspiracy maybe they should be diagnosed with "Obama-noia".
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End The Federal Budget Shellgame!

Here's a modest proposal:
Forbid federal agencies from 'purchasing' each others' debts!

The BIG BIG BIG one is the so-called Social Security "Lockbox". All those trillions of dollars of 'savings' have really just been used to prop-up our deficit spending, through the SSA 'purchasing' Treasury bills. Instead, I propose they be required to only purchase home loans. In this way, the "lockbox" would actually own tangible assets and would also provide a steady market for home mortgages.
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Another great parody - about 'public' health insurance

I know, I know, this is turning into a lazy-man's blog but this Salon.com parody is just so spot on,
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/06/30/police/

Obama has said, if he had the chance to do it all from scratch he'd setup a single-payer system of healthcare. So why is he caving-in to the entrenched private insurers who are doing such a terrible job? Would anyone seriously question the need for universal -- publicly paid-for -- police service?

Here's something unique I can add to the discussion: Fire protection used to be privately funded, but everyone now agrees that it is better as a public service. How is medicine any different?

UPDATE: I wanted to make sure I wasn't blowing smoke about the private fire depts. I found some other recent articles making the same comparison,
http://open.salon.com/blog/bill_beck/2009/06/21/better_burnt_than_red
http://theamericanscene.com/2007/10/26/private-firefighters