The last three or four weeks, the CPU in my PC has been hitting 105 degrees (centigrade) when it is busy, which is obviously hot enough to boil water!
I was getting a little concerned, as I believe the safe limit quoted for this 3.6GHz processor is 75 degrees. As it turns out, the main problem were a few (relatively small) dust balls that had formed under the fan, above the heat sink. Having learnt that a fan spinning at 3500 revolutions per minute does not get on very well with human flesh, I eventually got around to actually turning off the PC. I removed most of the dust with a funky little USB vacuum that Losha’s family recently gave us (powered by an externally powered USB hub, so I didn’t have to worry about slicing the vacuum to pieces instead of my finger 🙂 ).
Anyway, short version is that although the room temperature has also dropped by 3 or 4 degrees, to 28, that the CPU itself is now idling around 62 degrees, and no longer breaching the 80 degree mark, even under heavy load.
Jul 08 2007
PC No Longer Boiling
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Jun 21 2007
Cat + Window = Heart Attack
The title pretty much says it all. A little background before the photo though, the temperature over here is now steadily rising. Today it was around 32 or 33 degrees (centigrade 😉 ) outside, and tomorrow’s forecast is for 38.
As we still do not have an air conditioning system here, the only option really is to have the windows and balcony doors open in the evening and over-night, when it is cooler, and then keep them shut in the daytime, to try and preserve the cooler air in the flat.
The main problem with this is our kittens. I can not help but imagine them trying to chase a fly right out the window, and as we live on the 4th floor (3rd to UK readers), that would not be at all healthy for the cats.
We can open the doors on the alternate hinges, so they open at the top, rather than the side, but this does not allow as much air in. So, we have recently had ‘supervised’ sessions with the kittens, where we sit on the balcony and try to ensure the cats do not do anything silly. Irina seems a lot more comfortable with this than me, I keep getting so nervous that my palms sweat. Ira does raise a good point though, if we do not have a stool near the window, the cats are liable to try and jump up on the narrow internal window ledge, which would not be good.
Anyway, enough of the talking, here is a photo from this evening, with Karra watching the traffic go by…
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Jun 09 2007
Tornado near the Caspian Sea 7th June 2007
Irina sent me a few photos on Friday, of a tornado on the Caspian Sea, not sure where exactly.
I would happily give credit to the photographer, but we don’t know who took them. We are assuming it was a worker for some sort of oil-related company based over there.
The tornado is quite visually impressive, click the images below to see a larger version. If anyone is particularly interested in them, I have higer-res versions for the 2nd and 3rd shots – the online versions have been resized and compressed to save my server’s bandwidth.
In this picture, you can see a second tornado, so perhaps cyclic tornadogenesis has taken place – yes OK, I went and Wiki’ed tornadoes, as I didn’t want to appear too ignorant 🙂
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May 30 2007
British Humidity
In the winter, one of the main reasons that Britain seems colder than it is to many people not born there (my wife included!) is the dampness (humidity) in the air. Although Kazakhstan can occasionally dip as low as -40 degrees centigrade, when it hovers around the minus 10 or 15 region, I can honestly say I’m happy in ‘standard’ British Winter clothing. (Obviously my in laws think I’m mad and about to catch a cold, but there you go…)
The opposite is also true – come summer time in Britain, anything above 25 degrees, at least in Cheltenham, just feels so muggy and close that you do not feel at all comfortable.
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May 14 2007
Ira’s Dad Is Back From China :)
He was away in China on another business trip, but we’ve just heard he has returned safe and sound. We’ll be meeting up with him tomorrow evening to say a quick ‘hi’, and so he can say good bye before Irina leaves for Moscow (see two below this post).
Hopefully, he will have grabbed us a silk duvet over in China, as such items have had glowing reports from him and Ira’s mum. They have the same issues we have, except the genders are reversed… He gets cold without a lot of layers, she doesn’t like being over heated. According to them, the silk duvet seems like a good compromise – everyone ends up the right temperature!
(btw, no this isn’t a bizarre sponsored post to further the global sales of Chinese silk duvets 🙂 )
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May 12 2007
Whether The Weather Will Settle Down
OK, so as I previously mentioned the weather has been a little changeable recently, however this week saw even more contrasts. First we had weather where you could walk around in t-shirt and shorts again, almost time to start retrieving the sun-block from the back of the cupboard. Nice.
Then, it starts to snow again! Having had such (relatively) high temperatures just previously, the snow obviously didn’t settle. I’m just hoping the weather is just getting all the gunge out of its system before Alex arrives, towards the end of June. She has hopefully sent off the form to get her visa, so we’re all really looking forward to her visit 🙂
Just hoping we don’t have weather like this when she gets here…
OK, I’ve just looked at the picture properly, and you can’t really tell it was snowing, but trust me, they were proper, big snowflakes!
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May 04 2007
Dust Storm
Wednesday turned out to be quite windy.
One minor, short term effect was that a lot of dust from the surrounding desert around Astana was blown into the city.
As a comparison, I’ve included a shot from last year…
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This is basically how it looked early Wednesday morning – nice and clear, and the temperature was around the same as your average British summertime.
Two hours later, this was the scene…
There has been no treatment to the second photo, it was that dark and murky, in the space of a few hours!
I wouldn’t have fancied driving about in it, especially as no one seemed to slow down, despite the distinct decrease in visibility.
One slightly longer-term effect is that our satellite dish on the roof appears to have been blown over, so there is no TV to keep me sane during the day.
Apr 30 2007
Kazakhstan Humidity
In the summer, one of the main reasons that temperatures of 40 degrees Centigrade and higher are bearable, compared to occasional low 30s in Britain, is the humidity – in Britain, the amount of water in the air is always higher. This means your body is less able to give off heat, in the form of sweat. If you are in Kazakhstan, as the humidity is lower, when you sweat, the water can evaporate a lot quicker, so you can cool down quicker.
This is great, EXCEPT, the lack of humidity can play havoc with your carefully styled hair (more of a problem for me then my wife LOL) and also with your skin. So whilst in Britain, many people use de-humidifiers in their homes & offices, this country could actually use a bunch of humidifiers. Air conditioning is great in reducing the temperature in a room, but also tends to lead to low humidity.
Some people tend to see a whole house humidifier as the only proper solution, but this does tend to cause issues, such as less control over individual room environments, and also uses more energy; due to the way whole house humidifiers work in conjunction with central heating systems, any room with central heating vents will also be humidified. Not a problem in a small apartment, but in a large house, where a third of the rooms may not be in common usage, you’re still paying the electricity bill to ‘treat them’.
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Feb 18 2007
Astana Weather in Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astana – check out the climate section in the Wiki for Astana
Is it just me, or do the average temperatures for Astana in the summer seem completely unrealistic?
I’ve left a comment in the discussion section ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Astana#Climate ) for Astana’s entry in Wikipedia, or have I misunderstood the figures?
Nov 22 2006
Daytime Piccies of the Snow
As promised here, these are a couple of quick snapshots of the snow in the daytime…
View from straight out the middle balcony’s windows and then further to the left…
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