The machine hosting this blog has an AMD K6-3D processor, running at 333 Mhz. It’s in a full tower AT case. If it takes a while to load the blog in your browser, the problem isn’t the slow speed of this machine, but the tiny upload speed of our Internet connection.
By the way, it’s absolutely ridiculous the way Internet access providers artificially and arbitrarily limit the upload speed in relation the the download speed of the link we pay for. I think it begins further upstream than the ISPs that end-users deal with. Whether you realize it or not, the access providers we know also buy access from other companies, and I think outgoing traffic often costs more for them than incoming traffic. Unless, perhaps, your access provider is a company like Embarq. I suppose they own large chunks of the basic Internet infrastructure in the US, and will charge whatever the market will bear.
Imposing artificial limits on the upload speed betrays a certain conception that Internet users are all only consumers of content, not creators and providers of content. It may be a widespread misconception, but it is nevertheless absolutely false. The Internet is really just a huge network of computers, and as such, it should be equally possible and practical for any of the computers on it to receive or send information to any of the other computers. So as it is, the Internet “access” we pay for is a one-sided access. Yes, there is plenty of access to consume information, but only a severely hamstrung access to provide it. That’s why it takes a while for the Plucked Chicken to load across the Internet. End of rant.
Anyway, the machine hosting this blog is old, and the power supply fan has begun moaning and groaning every 5 to 10 minutes or so. It’s a replacement itself, which I salvaged from an old IBM XT case. I was thinking to replace it this morning, but I don’t have any other fans that size. It’s my biggest fan. Since I’m heading to Minneapolis today for the ELS General Pastoral Conference, it will have to wait until I return. We’ll see what happens. I hope it lasts until I return, so I don’t end up with a toasted power supply. There’s life in these old bones yet, and I’d rather keep using them as long as possible.
If the Plucked Chicken becomes unavailable in the next few days, at least you’ll know why.