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invitations
5 April 2024 21:11there are things now I cannot tell even upon the deepest torture
but perhaps I'm inviting that
but perhaps I'm inviting that
yeah, there was only one, because he/she kept hanging around on the roof for a few days looking for a way back in, I got some close looks, and photos, and,
yeah, I did evict the squirrel,
via the application of cash and multiple phone calls, that's how I roll
yeah, I did evict the squirrel,
via the application of cash and multiple phone calls, that's how I roll
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use a new technology called "messenger RNA" or mRNA.
They've manufactured these little bits of RNA that look like they've been created by human DNA with a little message attached to each bit that signals to the cell's factory: build this protein, please.
The protein the factory builds looks like the "spikes" on the outside of a COVID virus. These spikes then "bud" on the surface of your cell, and your immune system sees these spikes and says, "FUCK NO, THAT AIN'T HUMAN" and then builds antibodies to get rid of the spikes. When you later encounter real COVID viruses, your immune system is already geared up to attack their spikes.
But the cute bit of these new vaccines is how they get the mRNA into your cells. They wrap the mRNA inside little balls of fat, they call these balls of fat "lipid nanoparticles". Think of them as spherical globs of butter, as if you've just eaten a butter-slathered bagel, and your bloodstream is full of little globs of butter, and your cells are all going, YUM BUTTER YUM, WE MUST EAT THEM. So your cells happily engulf these little butterballs, and gleefully digest them, releasing the mRNA which directs their cellular factories to make COVID-like spikes.
It's genius! I hope the real viruses don't figure out how to make themselves look like spherical globs of butter.
They've manufactured these little bits of RNA that look like they've been created by human DNA with a little message attached to each bit that signals to the cell's factory: build this protein, please.
The protein the factory builds looks like the "spikes" on the outside of a COVID virus. These spikes then "bud" on the surface of your cell, and your immune system sees these spikes and says, "FUCK NO, THAT AIN'T HUMAN" and then builds antibodies to get rid of the spikes. When you later encounter real COVID viruses, your immune system is already geared up to attack their spikes.
But the cute bit of these new vaccines is how they get the mRNA into your cells. They wrap the mRNA inside little balls of fat, they call these balls of fat "lipid nanoparticles". Think of them as spherical globs of butter, as if you've just eaten a butter-slathered bagel, and your bloodstream is full of little globs of butter, and your cells are all going, YUM BUTTER YUM, WE MUST EAT THEM. So your cells happily engulf these little butterballs, and gleefully digest them, releasing the mRNA which directs their cellular factories to make COVID-like spikes.
It's genius! I hope the real viruses don't figure out how to make themselves look like spherical globs of butter.
You've heard of DNA, the genetic code inside each cell that is used to replicate proteins, the genetic code that we pass down to our children via the sexual combination of female egg and male sperm. RNA is a simpler version of DNA that can also replicate proteins, but with a much higher error rate. RNA lacks the ability to proofread the replication process, whereas DNA has a proofreading function. Think of the "D" in DNA as standing for "Double-checking NA", although that's not what it really stands for. Think of the "R" in RNA as standing for "Reckless NA".
With DNA's double-checking proofreading function, it makes replication errors in one step per 100,000,000 on average.
RNA makes replication errors in one step per 10,000 on average. That's 10,000x as often as DNA's error rate.
-----
The COVID virus variants use RNA to copy themselves after they've successfully infected a human cell. Creating a new copy of a COVID virus requires about 10,000 replication steps. As RNA makes mistakes in one step per 10,000 on average, the average new copy of a COVID virus contains a mistake. On average, each COVID virus that is produced looks slightly different from the previous one.
In other words, most COVID virus particles contain mutations. In the universe of RNA viruses, mutations are the rule not the exception.
As a result, most COVID virus particles don't work. This is typically true for viruses in general -- most virus particles don't work. They're born broken, unable to infect new cells, destined to disappear rather quickly as they erode under environmental pressures (heat, light, hungry neighboring cells, etc.).
This is why a single virus particle is unlikely to cause an infection. To get infected, you need to be exposed to a large number of virus particles. Sometimes dozens, sometimes hundreds, sometimes thousands. When your coworker sneezes on you, the vast majority of those virus particles ejected from her mouth and nose are duds.
-----
Although viruses are mutating all the fuckin' time, the vast majority of these mutations produce broken copies that don't work. A small fraction of these mutations don't affect the functioning of the virus -- think of them as different color paint jobs -- a purple virus instead of a green virus -- virus particles that otherwise work exactly the same as their parent. An even smaller fraction of these mutations somehow improve the functioning of the virus.
-----
With respect to the Original COVID-19 that emerged from China, there are countless variants that work pretty much the same as the original -- they differ only with respect to their "color".
Each person who is infected with COVID-19 carries around 10,000,000,000 functioning virus particles at peak infection, on average. Each of these functioning virus particles creates thousands of copies of itself before its host cell bursts, releasing these new copies into the body. Most of these copies are broken, but enough of them work well enough to infect more cells, using those cells to create thousands of copies until they burst, etc. Without our immune systems, COVID-19 would kill us every time, bursting and infecting and bursting its way through our body until we're dead.
Currently, on any given day, tens of millions of humans around the world are actively infected with COVID-19. This means the active population of COVID-19 virus particles at this moment is somewhere around a quintillion, and each of these virus particles is in the midst of creating thousands of copies of itself.
This huge population of virus particles, making mostly mistaken copies of themselves, is bound by the laws of statistics to come up with some random mistakes that actually work better than their parent virus particles.
This has now happened at least three times.
Once in the UK by September 2020, once in South Africa by December 2020, and once in Brazil by January 2021. These three variants of COVID are each some combination of more infectious and less susceptible to antibodies/vaccines than the original China variant discovered in December 2019, and they've each gone global thanks to continued air travel.
You could call the UK variant COVID-20a, the South African variant COVID-20b, and the Brazilian variant COVID-21a.
-----
Scientists are working to figure out how much more infectious and how less susceptible to antibodies/vaccines these new COVID variants might be.
In general, they seem to be 50% more infectious, and 50% less susceptible to antibodies/vaccines. But we do not know precisely yet.
We know that some people who have already been infected with COVID-19 have been reinfected with one of these three variants.
We know that the vaccines we've already approved are less effective against some of these variants.
As a result, the vaccine manufacturers are already working to update their vaccines to match these variants.
-----
Meanwhile, a quintillion COVID particles are busily making thousands of copies of themselves at this moment, and most of these copies will be mutations. Most of these mutations will not work. Some of them will work just the same as their parent, but with a different "color" coat. Occasionally, one of them will work better than their parent, and a new variant will have emerged. Maybe the next new variant will appear in the US, maybe in India, maybe in Sweden, maybe in Mexico. Who knows, the process is entirely random. But there's no reason to think we're done with COVID mutations after three new global variants have emerged in a matter of months.
This is why COVID is not going away anytime soon. This is why even if you've had COVID before, or even if you've been vaccinated, you may get COVID again. This is why we're probably going to need annual booster shots for COVID like we do for influenza. This is why I wonder whether we'll ever go back to the old normal, or whether we'll just get used to some average number of daily deaths from COVID, like we're used to an average of 100 daily deaths from influenza in the US.
The chances are you'll get COVID someday, or you'll get COVID again someday. So what will our new normal look like? And for how long will you remain in Quarantine?
With DNA's double-checking proofreading function, it makes replication errors in one step per 100,000,000 on average.
RNA makes replication errors in one step per 10,000 on average. That's 10,000x as often as DNA's error rate.
-----
The COVID virus variants use RNA to copy themselves after they've successfully infected a human cell. Creating a new copy of a COVID virus requires about 10,000 replication steps. As RNA makes mistakes in one step per 10,000 on average, the average new copy of a COVID virus contains a mistake. On average, each COVID virus that is produced looks slightly different from the previous one.
In other words, most COVID virus particles contain mutations. In the universe of RNA viruses, mutations are the rule not the exception.
As a result, most COVID virus particles don't work. This is typically true for viruses in general -- most virus particles don't work. They're born broken, unable to infect new cells, destined to disappear rather quickly as they erode under environmental pressures (heat, light, hungry neighboring cells, etc.).
This is why a single virus particle is unlikely to cause an infection. To get infected, you need to be exposed to a large number of virus particles. Sometimes dozens, sometimes hundreds, sometimes thousands. When your coworker sneezes on you, the vast majority of those virus particles ejected from her mouth and nose are duds.
-----
Although viruses are mutating all the fuckin' time, the vast majority of these mutations produce broken copies that don't work. A small fraction of these mutations don't affect the functioning of the virus -- think of them as different color paint jobs -- a purple virus instead of a green virus -- virus particles that otherwise work exactly the same as their parent. An even smaller fraction of these mutations somehow improve the functioning of the virus.
-----
With respect to the Original COVID-19 that emerged from China, there are countless variants that work pretty much the same as the original -- they differ only with respect to their "color".
Each person who is infected with COVID-19 carries around 10,000,000,000 functioning virus particles at peak infection, on average. Each of these functioning virus particles creates thousands of copies of itself before its host cell bursts, releasing these new copies into the body. Most of these copies are broken, but enough of them work well enough to infect more cells, using those cells to create thousands of copies until they burst, etc. Without our immune systems, COVID-19 would kill us every time, bursting and infecting and bursting its way through our body until we're dead.
Currently, on any given day, tens of millions of humans around the world are actively infected with COVID-19. This means the active population of COVID-19 virus particles at this moment is somewhere around a quintillion, and each of these virus particles is in the midst of creating thousands of copies of itself.
This huge population of virus particles, making mostly mistaken copies of themselves, is bound by the laws of statistics to come up with some random mistakes that actually work better than their parent virus particles.
This has now happened at least three times.
Once in the UK by September 2020, once in South Africa by December 2020, and once in Brazil by January 2021. These three variants of COVID are each some combination of more infectious and less susceptible to antibodies/vaccines than the original China variant discovered in December 2019, and they've each gone global thanks to continued air travel.
You could call the UK variant COVID-20a, the South African variant COVID-20b, and the Brazilian variant COVID-21a.
-----
Scientists are working to figure out how much more infectious and how less susceptible to antibodies/vaccines these new COVID variants might be.
In general, they seem to be 50% more infectious, and 50% less susceptible to antibodies/vaccines. But we do not know precisely yet.
We know that some people who have already been infected with COVID-19 have been reinfected with one of these three variants.
We know that the vaccines we've already approved are less effective against some of these variants.
As a result, the vaccine manufacturers are already working to update their vaccines to match these variants.
-----
Meanwhile, a quintillion COVID particles are busily making thousands of copies of themselves at this moment, and most of these copies will be mutations. Most of these mutations will not work. Some of them will work just the same as their parent, but with a different "color" coat. Occasionally, one of them will work better than their parent, and a new variant will have emerged. Maybe the next new variant will appear in the US, maybe in India, maybe in Sweden, maybe in Mexico. Who knows, the process is entirely random. But there's no reason to think we're done with COVID mutations after three new global variants have emerged in a matter of months.
This is why COVID is not going away anytime soon. This is why even if you've had COVID before, or even if you've been vaccinated, you may get COVID again. This is why we're probably going to need annual booster shots for COVID like we do for influenza. This is why I wonder whether we'll ever go back to the old normal, or whether we'll just get used to some average number of daily deaths from COVID, like we're used to an average of 100 daily deaths from influenza in the US.
The chances are you'll get COVID someday, or you'll get COVID again someday. So what will our new normal look like? And for how long will you remain in Quarantine?
I went ahead and tackled the rats nest of electronics and cables inside the TV cabinet. Wow, so many cables, so much dust, from however many years since the last time somebody cleaned it up. I put away every last unnecessary cable, verified that the Blu-Ray player still works and then unplugged it, and then updated the ancient Xbox 360. I'm gonna play some Civilization Revolution on it for a bit, then I'll go get supplies for the rest of my day.
Tomorrow's morning project will probably be cleaning and dusting the various surfaces -- bathroom floor, sink, & toilet; counters & furniture, main room floor. Not sure yet whether I'll get to the music business much this weekend, I'm trying to focus on settling into the condo first, and enjoying my Time to Self. I found all the piano instruction booklets I bought last time around. I will need a keyboard at both house and condo if I'm really going to do this.
I'll meditate after I return from my supply trip.
It's a good day, and K has been in touch -- he arrived in Portland, but I don't think they have their stuff yet.
Tomorrow's morning project will probably be cleaning and dusting the various surfaces -- bathroom floor, sink, & toilet; counters & furniture, main room floor. Not sure yet whether I'll get to the music business much this weekend, I'm trying to focus on settling into the condo first, and enjoying my Time to Self. I found all the piano instruction booklets I bought last time around. I will need a keyboard at both house and condo if I'm really going to do this.
I'll meditate after I return from my supply trip.
It's a good day, and K has been in touch -- he arrived in Portland, but I don't think they have their stuff yet.
I don't think I've had 72 hours to self since before Quarantine, I don't think so, I've always felt the need to share condo time with K, and to respect T's need for companionship during Quarantine ... and even then ... before Quarantine T hadn't traveled anywhere in a while, and when he did travel I'd have people over to the house every few days ... was it Moogfest 2019? I think that was a three-night stay for me in Durham. Yes, my calendar confirms, that was a three-night stay, all by myself! 18 months ago. I tried to hookup with some local fellas, though, LOL. And that was during the short period when Sir Brandon was my surprise keyholder, before he realized he was too busy to devote a proper amount of time to the job, so we were in touch. And I was at a multi-day multi-venue concert event! I didn't just stay indoors with myself, even if I was there on my own. I danced with a guy, I remember, just barely touching him ... just barely ... I'm pretty sure he was even more high than I was ;-)
-----
I talked for years about taking a long weekend by myself to the mountains, and never got around to it. This is the next best thing, I guess. A long weekend at the condo during Quarantine. Sort of like being in the mountains, because no socializing.
I still need to meditate today, I'll do that after posting this entry.
-----
Today begins the process of Bug trying to make the condo feel like my own place, although without unduly disturbing K's stuff. He left the place fully furnished and fully functional, as he plans to return from time to time. We've got Internet, dishes, towels, toiletries, etc. Some of his excellent & expensive decorations remain, and I won't touch any of those. He left a bunch of his clothes, so I'll never have to go outside naked or cold LOL, although he's generally a size smaller than I am. He did swap the bed frame and the dinette table for pieces from his apartment, but that's OK, the replacements still match. The bed sleeps two, there's a love seat, and two chairs for the dinette table. I can have a guest over as soon as I feel it is safe to do so.
Oh, and a helluva lot of sex toys, not just butt stuff either :o)
Making the place feel like my own mainly means -- if there's stuff sitting out that I'm not using, I'll put it away, and I'll try to rationalize the electronics a bit. With the HomePods we're pretty much stuck in the Apple Streaming Universe for Music and TV, but that's OK. I'm a little irked that I cannot connect directly to the HomePods from my laptops unless I upgrade the Apple TV to 4th generation for $149. There's no other reason to upgrade that component, and there's no other way to accomplish the goal of simply streaming directly to the HomePods from my laptops unless I route stuff through the Music or TV apps, or my iPhones/iPads. So, for example, I cannot stream to the HomePods from GarageBand or another DAW on my laptop, or from any browser anywhere. Unless I upgrade the Apple TV, LOL.
A higher priority is funding my little music creation hobby, for now. And figuring out how much stuff to duplicate at both condo and house. Do I want a keyboard in both places? A high-quality mic at both?
But while I'm here I'm going to see what else is hiding under the electronics cupboard -- there's so many cables, and an old BluRay player, and an ancient XBOX 360 that hasn't even been turned on in years. Neither of these items can use the HomePods, but they can use the built-in speakers in the two TVs. Yes, two TVs, one a 65-inch plasma HDTV, another a 27-inch Apple LED Cinema Display. Along the way, are there things plugged in that don't need to be? And can I install a kill switch to turn everything off when I'm not here?
-----
The music I'm planning to create is running far ahead inside my head -- I need time to learn how to make it happen on a DAW. It's like learning a new language. I can speak music inside my head, but I have to learn a DAW's language to record the music. This could take a while. But I've got 72 hours now, and a week later this month, and the rest of Quarantine.
-----
I talked for years about taking a long weekend by myself to the mountains, and never got around to it. This is the next best thing, I guess. A long weekend at the condo during Quarantine. Sort of like being in the mountains, because no socializing.
I still need to meditate today, I'll do that after posting this entry.
-----
Today begins the process of Bug trying to make the condo feel like my own place, although without unduly disturbing K's stuff. He left the place fully furnished and fully functional, as he plans to return from time to time. We've got Internet, dishes, towels, toiletries, etc. Some of his excellent & expensive decorations remain, and I won't touch any of those. He left a bunch of his clothes, so I'll never have to go outside naked or cold LOL, although he's generally a size smaller than I am. He did swap the bed frame and the dinette table for pieces from his apartment, but that's OK, the replacements still match. The bed sleeps two, there's a love seat, and two chairs for the dinette table. I can have a guest over as soon as I feel it is safe to do so.
Oh, and a helluva lot of sex toys, not just butt stuff either :o)
Making the place feel like my own mainly means -- if there's stuff sitting out that I'm not using, I'll put it away, and I'll try to rationalize the electronics a bit. With the HomePods we're pretty much stuck in the Apple Streaming Universe for Music and TV, but that's OK. I'm a little irked that I cannot connect directly to the HomePods from my laptops unless I upgrade the Apple TV to 4th generation for $149. There's no other reason to upgrade that component, and there's no other way to accomplish the goal of simply streaming directly to the HomePods from my laptops unless I route stuff through the Music or TV apps, or my iPhones/iPads. So, for example, I cannot stream to the HomePods from GarageBand or another DAW on my laptop, or from any browser anywhere. Unless I upgrade the Apple TV, LOL.
A higher priority is funding my little music creation hobby, for now. And figuring out how much stuff to duplicate at both condo and house. Do I want a keyboard in both places? A high-quality mic at both?
But while I'm here I'm going to see what else is hiding under the electronics cupboard -- there's so many cables, and an old BluRay player, and an ancient XBOX 360 that hasn't even been turned on in years. Neither of these items can use the HomePods, but they can use the built-in speakers in the two TVs. Yes, two TVs, one a 65-inch plasma HDTV, another a 27-inch Apple LED Cinema Display. Along the way, are there things plugged in that don't need to be? And can I install a kill switch to turn everything off when I'm not here?
-----
The music I'm planning to create is running far ahead inside my head -- I need time to learn how to make it happen on a DAW. It's like learning a new language. I can speak music inside my head, but I have to learn a DAW's language to record the music. This could take a while. But I've got 72 hours now, and a week later this month, and the rest of Quarantine.
I first learned to program in BASIC back in the 1970s on my father's TRS-80 Model I personal computer, when I was about 10 years old and we lived in Wichita, Kansas. I taught myself this programming language, budding polymath that I was. It's amazing how much you could do with 4kB of RAM back in the 1970s! You could play Chess in 4kB! (The very basic Chess program that comes with OS X nowadays requires 50MB of RAM just to launch.) Though it wasn't long before we upgraded our TRS-80 to 16kB of RAM, LOL.
Well, today I found a BASIC interpreter that runs on modern Macs w/ OS X. It even has graphics and file I/O! I haven't had time to tinker much with it yet, but I will probably use it to write some simple programs for my own use. The programmer is actively supporting the software, making bug fixes and adding new commands. This is exactly the sort of thing I need to create my own little apps for my aging MacBookPro(s)! It looks like there are similar interpreters for iOS, but not from this programmer. I went ahead and paid the $3.99 for the unlimited version of this one, this programmer deserves my support :-)
Well, today I found a BASIC interpreter that runs on modern Macs w/ OS X. It even has graphics and file I/O! I haven't had time to tinker much with it yet, but I will probably use it to write some simple programs for my own use. The programmer is actively supporting the software, making bug fixes and adding new commands. This is exactly the sort of thing I need to create my own little apps for my aging MacBookPro(s)! It looks like there are similar interpreters for iOS, but not from this programmer. I went ahead and paid the $3.99 for the unlimited version of this one, this programmer deserves my support :-)
All the broken laptop's logic board temperature sensors are back online, and now the CPU is running at full blast!!
I'm glad I held off on ordering a new logic board. Now I have two very similar laptops, LOL. Mine has twice the RAM (16GB) and twice the hard drive storage (1TB), but T's old laptop is perfectly fine (with 8GB and 500GB). Otherwise these are the same age, same model.
Now I don't know whether I should unhack the OS. But there's no need to update the OS right now. I'm still just going to use it as a spare porn screen, LOL.
So, I fixed it. Or enough time went by that the interior finally dried out and fixed itself. Or some combination of factors.
OK, I won't have to spend $250-$400 trying to fix this thing. And now I have an extra laptop, LOL.
Here's one thing I did that may have made a difference -- as the temperature sensors were broken, I manually set the fan speed to run continuously at a low level. This continuous fanning may have helped to dry out the innards. Maybe. I never got around to popping the hood, so I don't know that the status of the innards were. I may still do that when I have a block of free time, perhaps while T is on his vacation next month.
I'm glad I held off on ordering a new logic board. Now I have two very similar laptops, LOL. Mine has twice the RAM (16GB) and twice the hard drive storage (1TB), but T's old laptop is perfectly fine (with 8GB and 500GB). Otherwise these are the same age, same model.
Now I don't know whether I should unhack the OS. But there's no need to update the OS right now. I'm still just going to use it as a spare porn screen, LOL.
So, I fixed it. Or enough time went by that the interior finally dried out and fixed itself. Or some combination of factors.
OK, I won't have to spend $250-$400 trying to fix this thing. And now I have an extra laptop, LOL.
Here's one thing I did that may have made a difference -- as the temperature sensors were broken, I manually set the fan speed to run continuously at a low level. This continuous fanning may have helped to dry out the innards. Maybe. I never got around to popping the hood, so I don't know that the status of the innards were. I may still do that when I have a block of free time, perhaps while T is on his vacation next month.
I established what sorts of things I could and couldn't do with the barely functioning old laptop (nevertheless, better than the non-functional old laptop it had been before my software hacking) -- it will come in handy when I have Time to Self at the house, basically as an extra porn display. I think if I'm going to fix the hardware problem, I will try doing it myself first. But I'm not ready to schedule that yet, and I want to pop the hood on the laptop to see the insides before I spend $260 on a replacement logic board.
-----
Meanwhile, as I'm on this tech OCD trip, I decided to fully reprogram the Nest (thermostat) at the house. This caused some distress for T, who has typically been in charge of the Nest. But I said I'd intended to sit down with him and go over my plans, after I'd snooped around with all the settings.
I've radically simplified the operation of the Nest, and I've rebalanced which vents are open throughout the house, and T approved of my changes after I explained them to him.
-----
I have these two old iPads, one is so old it doesn't update anymore and barely works. I've turned this oldest one into a beautiful clock using an ancient app that doesn't even exist anymore.
I'm on a roll!
-----
Meanwhile, as I'm on this tech OCD trip, I decided to fully reprogram the Nest (thermostat) at the house. This caused some distress for T, who has typically been in charge of the Nest. But I said I'd intended to sit down with him and go over my plans, after I'd snooped around with all the settings.
I've radically simplified the operation of the Nest, and I've rebalanced which vents are open throughout the house, and T approved of my changes after I explained them to him.
-----
I have these two old iPads, one is so old it doesn't update anymore and barely works. I've turned this oldest one into a beautiful clock using an ancient app that doesn't even exist anymore.
I'm on a roll!
After tinkering with T's old laptop for a couple days, I've got a tentative diagnosis of what's wrong with it. It started misbehaving after a water accident -- a cat knocked water onto it. It looks like the spill damaged all the temperature sensors on the logic board, aka motherboard -- none of these sensors are returning temperature data. All the other temperature sensors inside the laptop are working. Without this logic board temperature data, the OS presumes that the logic board is overheating, and uses software interrupts to drastically slow down the CPU, making it unusable.
This is similar to what happened when the fan inside my own laptop broke, But the fan inside T's old laptop is fine. T's laptop isn't overheating, but without working temperature sensors, the laptop assumes it is overheating.
I spent a lot of time trying to defeat these software interrupts, and I succeeded, but there are still hardware interrupts that continue to slow down the CPU, because even the logic board's hardware cannot tell its temperature. These hardware interrupts aren't as bad as the software interrupts, but they slow down the CPU by somewhere around 85%. A 5-year-old laptop that is operating so slowly isn't worth anything to anybody.
I can open the laptop case and take a look and clean it up, but it probably won't help. If it doesn't help, then the laptop needs a new logic board. This would cost at least a few hundred bucks, when you can buy a working used MacBook Pro of the same model for not much more than that.
I might, as a hobby, try installing a new logic board myself. I was surprisingly good at replacing the fan in my own 5-year-old MacBook Pro, and now it is working much better. With the tools I bought for that fix, and the experience I gained (same model laptop), I could potentially install a new logic board. I could even upgrade the RAM along the way, heh.
-----
Back when T's laptop was first acting up, I wanted to try diagnosing the problem for him, but he didn't want to give up control over his laptop and he had a lot of files that he needed to backup. He just wanted a working laptop ASAP, so we got him a new one -- the old one was 5 years old -- most people would just get a new one. I asked him if I could have the old one after he transferred all his files, and when he gave it to me over the weekend I became intensely interested in trying to fix it myself.
But now I'm at a decision point. It probably needs a new logic board. I could try to replace it myself for a few hundred bucks. I could pay someone else to replace it -- but I don't even need another old laptop, what would I do with it?
I think first I'll pop the hood and take a look inside, see how bad it looks. There's a small chance that cleaning up the inside will fix the problem, but I don't expect it to. But looking inside may lead me to make a decision about whether to give up or spend some money on it. There's a logic board on Amazon Prime for $270, that's probably my least expensive option.
Or we just trash the thing. Or I use it like I use my old iPads, as an extra porn screen when I'm playing with toys. It does a fine job playing a porn video from the file server, while I use this laptop for other stuff ;-)
This is similar to what happened when the fan inside my own laptop broke, But the fan inside T's old laptop is fine. T's laptop isn't overheating, but without working temperature sensors, the laptop assumes it is overheating.
I spent a lot of time trying to defeat these software interrupts, and I succeeded, but there are still hardware interrupts that continue to slow down the CPU, because even the logic board's hardware cannot tell its temperature. These hardware interrupts aren't as bad as the software interrupts, but they slow down the CPU by somewhere around 85%. A 5-year-old laptop that is operating so slowly isn't worth anything to anybody.
I can open the laptop case and take a look and clean it up, but it probably won't help. If it doesn't help, then the laptop needs a new logic board. This would cost at least a few hundred bucks, when you can buy a working used MacBook Pro of the same model for not much more than that.
I might, as a hobby, try installing a new logic board myself. I was surprisingly good at replacing the fan in my own 5-year-old MacBook Pro, and now it is working much better. With the tools I bought for that fix, and the experience I gained (same model laptop), I could potentially install a new logic board. I could even upgrade the RAM along the way, heh.
-----
Back when T's laptop was first acting up, I wanted to try diagnosing the problem for him, but he didn't want to give up control over his laptop and he had a lot of files that he needed to backup. He just wanted a working laptop ASAP, so we got him a new one -- the old one was 5 years old -- most people would just get a new one. I asked him if I could have the old one after he transferred all his files, and when he gave it to me over the weekend I became intensely interested in trying to fix it myself.
But now I'm at a decision point. It probably needs a new logic board. I could try to replace it myself for a few hundred bucks. I could pay someone else to replace it -- but I don't even need another old laptop, what would I do with it?
I think first I'll pop the hood and take a look inside, see how bad it looks. There's a small chance that cleaning up the inside will fix the problem, but I don't expect it to. But looking inside may lead me to make a decision about whether to give up or spend some money on it. There's a logic board on Amazon Prime for $270, that's probably my least expensive option.
Or we just trash the thing. Or I use it like I use my old iPads, as an extra porn screen when I'm playing with toys. It does a fine job playing a porn video from the file server, while I use this laptop for other stuff ;-)
Hacker Bug wins! After wiping the old laptop's hard drive and installing the old Mojave version of OS X, I was able to hack into the OS and stop the software from reading the broken temperature sensor that was causing an endless kernel panic.
Not "good as new" by any stretch, but usable again. Whereas fixing the underlying hardware problem probably would've cost hundreds of dollars -- probably a new motherboard.
Now ... what will I do with this old laptop? I hadn't thought this far ahead, LOL.
It can never be upgraded to a newer version of the OS. I'm skittish about even applying the latest security update, but, as I've proven the concept now I can always go back before the security update, though it would take about a day to redo everything ... applying the security update now ...
Ah, the security update overwrote my hack, so I'll have to do the hack again, but then, hopefully, I'll be done fiddling with it (until the next security update, but they aren't updating Mojave that often anymore). Unless the security update breaks the hack like Catalina does ... looks like I was able to redo the hack after rebooting a few times ...
Meanwhile, I ran 4 miles again, I'm loving this cooler weather! Now I can focus on running farther and faster instead of on not dying while running.
Not "good as new" by any stretch, but usable again. Whereas fixing the underlying hardware problem probably would've cost hundreds of dollars -- probably a new motherboard.
Now ... what will I do with this old laptop? I hadn't thought this far ahead, LOL.
It can never be upgraded to a newer version of the OS. I'm skittish about even applying the latest security update, but, as I've proven the concept now I can always go back before the security update, though it would take about a day to redo everything ... applying the security update now ...
Ah, the security update overwrote my hack, so I'll have to do the hack again, but then, hopefully, I'll be done fiddling with it (until the next security update, but they aren't updating Mojave that often anymore). Unless the security update breaks the hack like Catalina does ... looks like I was able to redo the hack after rebooting a few times ...
Meanwhile, I ran 4 miles again, I'm loving this cooler weather! Now I can focus on running farther and faster instead of on not dying while running.
