I got the dreaded “power calibration” error while trying to burn a backup disk on this three-year-old IBM T43. As this was the first time I had encountered it (and half past midnight really isn’t a very good time to encounter problems for the first time) I had to go ask my good buddy Google for help.

It appears that there are three main causes of the power calibration error.

1. The drive doesn’t like the media. With the proliferation of cheap blank media there will be instances when the blank cd itself is the problem. I thought this was my problem at first, having bought a stack of 100 cd’s from a local dealer that prides itself on very affordable prices, but consequently offers little if any warranty.
2. Power consumption. In this era of usb hubs that look make your peripherals look like sucklings on a sow there may be a chance that your cd recorder is not getting the power that it needs to burn your cd’s. So off went the usb hub and I suffered the eraser-head pointer tool on the T43 keyboard. Still no go.
3. Dirt. Yuk. Yep, this was actually the culprit in my case. I live in a country where dust and grime is part of everyday life and I remember again that this laptop was assigned to a heavy smoker before it ended up on my lap. I took out my bottle of micro clean and spritzed a q-tip, swabbed the lens (very gently) and then gave it a few bursts of the rubber dust blower. THAT fixed it.

Am burning happily again now, and I’ve passed the tip on to my buddies at work. Hope it helps you too.

Text messages that have been circulating in the Philippine regarding an earthquake that is to hit the country on the 18th of July 2008 has absolutely no scientific basis.

This is according to Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) director Renato Solidum Jr. Director Solidum said that while it does not hurt to be prepared, there is no scientific basis for such prophecies.

According to the messages, the “prophecy” came from a supposed Brazilian psychic named Jucelino Nóbrega da Luz.

“Dapat tanungin kung totoo ang taong nagsulat. Napakaraming sinabi na event na nangyari pero walang katibayan (First of all we should ask if the supposed psychic exists. There are a lot of supposed prophecies that did not come to pass),” Solidum said.

While the supposed psychic does exist on the Internet and has quite a few detractors, there is actually NO prophecy for an earthquake in the Philippines scheduled for the month of July 2008.

A quick visit to the English translation of Nóbrega’s prophecies reveal that while there have been predictions of flooding in the Philippines in February and July of 2008, there is no foretelling of an earthquake for the country. There is however, one earthquake prophecy for Chile (Item #63).

“Di po iyan prediction kasi wala yang scientific basis. Ito ay sinasabing prophecy o hula. Kahit sinong organization sa buong mundo walang kakayanan na makapagsabing exact magnitude at exact araw (The message circulating via email and text is not a prediction, it has no scientific basis. It is a prophecy that anyone can make),” Solidum said in an interview on local Philippine radio.

He said that to date, there is no organization in the world that can predict the exact date, time and magnitude of an earthquake.

What may prove to be the biggest EntreCard contest prizes is up for grabs on the EntreCard blog, courtesy of Fantasy Baseball. All an EntreCarder has to do is to:

1. Write about this superlative contest on your blog and just mention the one prize you want to win. Then leave a comment with the URL to your blogpost on this blog post. Doing so will entitle you to 1 Entry

2. Write about the contest on your blog, mention the prize you want to win and copy all of the sponsors. Then leave a comment on the EntreCard contest blog post with the link to your post. This will entitle you to 2 Entries.

The prizes (and their generous sponsors) are:

SPONSORS

Fantasy Baseball - 10,000ec — You can trade in 10,000ec for, like, Graham’s car or something.

Q3-n - 5000ec — Q3-n is selling their 1950s dinette furniture to finance this contest. They say, “You’re welcome.”
Øblog - 4000ec — Wow! 4000ec is going for like $30 on the Entrecard market. Thanks, Weird Oh.

Evil Woobie - 3000ec — Hey, maybe she’s not so evil after all! Or is she? You make the call!
Turnip of Power - 1001ec — He was going to go with 1000 then he found an extra credit in his couch. Thanks, Turnip!
Celebrity Pictures - 1000ec — Credits were acquired through legal means. Supposedly.
Evil Entrecard Kid! - 1000ec — Entrecard trivia: Evil Woobie and Evil Entrecard Kid are not related. Yet.
Modern Glam - 1000ec — With the 1000ec, perhaps you’ll buy an imaginary 1000ec pashmina and hang it around your virtual neck.
Dot Com Mogul - 1000ec — With this 1000ec, you might be able to buy back Q3-n’s dinette furniture.
Blabberwocky - 1000ec — It’s a play on Jabberwocky.

Looking For Scoop - 1000ec — Nothing says “I can buy one popular ad” like 1000ec.
Eyespi20.com - 1000ec — And she’ll teach you how she does that weird signature thing. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, look at her site.
Travelin’ Show - 1000ec — Message from the year 2012: Macy’s is now taking credits and a 1000 gets you one earring.

The Hypnotist - 1000ec — She will put you under a spell. Recognize!
Diet Pulpit - 1000ec — You can buy a lot of imaginary rice cakes with 1000ec. Side note, imaginary rice cakes taste better than real ones.
The Realtor - 500ec — You want insight. Listen to her write. It’s like magic beans growing in the backyard of your brain.
Romelo - 500ec — Romelo, Romelo, wherefore art thou 500ec?

WebATBP.com - 500ec — With gas prices soaring, it won’t be too long before 500ec goes for 501ec.
Inspire Emotion - 500ec — Almost pay for your favorite 512ec ad!
Sue Doe-Nim - 500ec — She’ll probably give you the credits then mock you for wanting them. That’s right — bonus!
Thailand Land of Smiles - 500ec — Actually, that’s 500 smiles.
FitnessLifeClub - 500ec — You’ll have to promise not to blow these credits on any fattening foods.
Lisa Cooking - 500ec — Surprise the whole family with 500 Entrecard credits.
JunkieYard Dot Com - 500ec — If you put these credits in a 401K, in 45 years you’ll have enough credits for a free e-card.
Movie Reviews - 500ec — You can’t buy a movie ticket with Entrecard credits. Yet. (Graham twirls his mustache. Contemplating world domination.)

PRIZES THAT ARE NOT CREDITS (BUT STILL WONDERFUL):

Aerten Art - She’s donating a painting. Seriously. Go look at her site and tell me you wouldn’t want a painting. Now. We’ll wait.
ImpNERD - 125×125 ad for a month — Let’s see, ImpNERD usually sells advertising for 256ec/day. You get this for a month. Um, yeah, you want this.
PoemsofQuotes - A cheesy poem about the winner’s topic — Win this and then ask them to rhyme something with, “Orange.”
Eyespi20.com - A custom made 125×125 card. Some of you need this. You know who you are.
Diet Pulpit - One week ad spot right below the banner and a personal greeting from Lady Rose saying, “Congratulations!”
JunkieYard Dot Com - Three blogroll links. Okay, the thing is, you can’t just get these. They’re prizes only won here.

The Hypnotist - A Hypnotic Audio - I don’t think this will simply be trance music. I could be wrong.

Together this is a virtual truckload of credits and prizes. (But who’s counting?) There will be ONE WINNER for EACH prize. (Caps are for emphasis, not aesthetics.) So that means there will be hundreds (or maybe dozens) of winners. Wow. Okay, again and backwards — wow.

From Bambit: I would like to win the 1001 Credits from Turnip of Power — because Turnip is one of my TOP idols in the blogging world (yeah, really and truly), and would like the opportunity to be able to say I won something from him.

There you go — head on over to the EC Blog and join up!