Author Archives: Marius

About Marius

Owner of Henriska Technology and Project Manager by profession.

Greatodds .. not a good weekend :-(

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As mentioned previously, I am playing around on Greatodds and the past weekend was not a good one. The bets, 6 and 7 in the graph are the bets from the past weekend.  Bet 6 I can still accept, that was on the US Masters and I took a bet predicting the winner and reducing my risk a bit by including a side bed for that person to be in the top 5 if not the winner. Well the person being Tiger and he ended tied for 6th.

Bet 7 was on the Super 14 and consisted of predicting the winning team in 4 matches.  Here I had 2 right and 2 wrong.  The 2 I had wrong was SA teams that went 100% against the trent.  Who would have though the Bulls winning against the Thars after losing the previous 2 weeks against lessor teams.  The other bet is the one that really threw me, maybe Greatodds paid the Sharks a small fee to loose 🙂  I was expecting the Sharks to looses sometime but against the Cheetahs of all teams.  That just does not make sense.

Ah well, their still is some money in the kitty and I will just have to build it up again from next weekend onwards.

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Installing original (Gold) Windows XP on new PCI/PCI-e based motherboard

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I was asked to install Windows XP on a new PCI/PCI-e based machine.  I tried to convince the person to install Ubuntu but since this person is a photographer, she wanted Photoshop. Yes I did explain that GIMP can do everything Photoshop can do.

I only had an original (Gold) Windows XP and when trying to install this on a new PCI/PCI-e machine, the dreaded BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) happens.

Here is how to solve:

  • Ideal solution – convince the person to install Linux (Ubuntu).
  • Easy solution – find a Windows XP install disk that includes either Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3.
  • If you do not have that then you will have to make your own Service Pack slipstreamed Windows XP install disk.  I had a copy of Service Pack 3 lying around and this is what I had to do:
    Follow the instructions at http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp3_cd.htm to create the install disk.  Be sure to follow the instructions to the T, particularly the one that say something about Emulating a Floppy in Nero when you burn the CD.  If you leave that default, the CD will not Boot.

This slipstreamed CD should boot fine and the Windows install should now go through without BSOD.  It still boggles my mind that the original Windows XP (even with SP 1) did not know anything about PCI interfaces.

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I am a gambler — for fun :)

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Greatodds is a sport’s betting site and a while ago I decided to have some fun with it.  Now they have 1000’s of different bets one can do and it will probably take me a year to understand what is going on so I take the simple route.  I have invested a small amount (very small – one round of golf cost me more) and place some bets about once a week or when I see something that take my fancy.  Mostly it is betting on who the winner will be between 2 competing teams like the Super 14.  Here is my track record so far:

The blue bar is how I did in the individual bets.  The 3rd one is when I got it right in predicting Retief winning in America that week.  So far I had 2 winning bets and 2 losing bets.  The orange bar shows how I am doing overall .. currently I am down about 25%.

So instead of playing the lotto week in and week out, I took that bit of money and have some fun with it.  Ok, I will not get stinking rich by winning a jackpot but at least I have fun playing and who know’s where it will end.  As they say, maybe a little bit everytime will end up being a big lot :).

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Hoe oud voel ek nou – Durbanville HS Reunie

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Daar was ‘n reunie (wat ek nie bygewoon het nie) van die 1976 Durbanville HS Matrieks en ek het nou net na fotos van die reunie gekyk.  Terwyl ek so deur die fotos blaai, dink ek by myself.  EK herken nie een van die mense nie. Uit 163 matrieks behoort mens seker darem so een of 2 te onthou.  Daar was geen name by die fotos nie so het die mense so baie verander oor die 32/33 jaar dat ek geen een van hulle herken nie.

As daar enige 1976 Durbanville HS Matrieks is wat hier lees, laat gerus van julle hoor.

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