Computer Upgrade

After eight years with my beloved Pentium 4 system, I finally upgraded my computer. P4 with 1G memory was (and is still) fine for everyday computing. But for my simulation and modeling, it reached its limit. No, indeed my patience reached the limit: it took more than 10 minutes for the P4 system to simply open my data file, which is about 10 MB in size.

What I got?

1. CPU- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz
   Originally, I was thinking i7, but it was too much for me.
2. Memory- Kingston 2 G
   I was considering 4G, but 32 bit OS cannot recognize 4G. I will upgrade it later when I have Windows 7.
3. Motherboard- ASUS P5KPL-CM
   I have used Intel board, and wanted to use ASUS board. This board is one of the cheapest. Now, I slightly regret about this board because of all the problems that this caused to me.
4. Hard drive- Seagate Baracuda 500GB SATA
   I didn't plan to replace my old 40G IEDE drive. But somehow, new board could not recognize it. So, I had to replace it. 500G is too big to me.
   
5. Case- In-Win Z583 350w
   Because new board is micro ATX, I bought this at a local store. To be honest, I was kinda fed up with ugly outlook of old middle tower case.
   

So far, I am quite satisfied with the new system. Now, it took only 1 minute to open my data file. It took less than one minute to boot and shut down! Amazing to me. By the way, I am still using the same monitor, keyboard and mouse. Should reduce electric waste.

Well, faster computer cannot guarantee better research, but at least it can reduce stress level. That's what I appreciate.

My uncle

My uncles love fishing. I might be influenced by them about fishing, although I have had no chance to go fishing with them. Now I can say that I am a decent angler, but compared to my uncles, I look like a bait fish angler. One of the uncles, who is my favorite, is particularly a die-hard fisherman. Here are two picture that he took in Panama.


Yellow fin tuna. I didn't ask about how the taste was.


Marlin! The dream fish of all anglers. I am so jealous. Someday maybe, or never.

Superfreak Controversy

Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner's new book, Superfreakonomics is out and igniting some heated discussion. If you are not familiar with this, you can catch up with some blog posts below.

Their key argument is;

'Because reducing carbon emissions is too costly and somewhat not-so-feasible, instead let's try geo-engineering to solve the problem of climate change effectively.'

Their points are well taken. But they are missing one important thing, the big picture. The reason why many insist to reduce carbon emissions, not only because of the climate change, but also because of fossil fuel exhaustion (although it is not near future). These two issues always come together like twins. I wonder what they will respond to the question of running out of fossil fuel on earth.

Final thought. Levitt argues,

"~reducing carbon emissions, which is that it requires worldwide behavioral change, which will be hard to achieve."

You may be right. But isn't it the very topic that economists have to research on, how to cause behavioral changes in market through various incentives or penalties while minimizing adverse effects?



You can explore these blogs for more information.

Climate Progress

Krugman

DeLong

Union of concerned scientists

Marginal Revolution

Freakonomics blog

The Wonk rook

(Thanks to Carlos, who put these together)