Shutdown or Overclocking

March 17, 2007 by
Filed under: Uncategorized 

A couple of guys from Montreal (Denis Bystrov and Michael Taylor) have declared next Sunday (March 24th) to be Shutdown Day – they want everyone to all their computers off for one whole day.

Over on the Engadget website there is a post suggesting that, far from shutting down, we should double our computing consumption.

I’m not sure I could go 24 hours without my online fix, so I consulted the Internet Addiction Test (because the Internet has all the answers!) and it said:

You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage.

I think Kerri might disagree with that :)

What would I do next Saturday if I did switch off? I presume video games count, so I wouldn’t be able to play Halo. At least there’s no F1 race that weekend, or I couldn’t do my usual posts. There’s the Toronto Wine & Cheese Show but it’s being held out by the airport, which is a pain to get to. (Wait, wait – there’s a shuttle bus service.) Any other suggestions?

I like the idea of a patch for web junkies – attach screenshots of your favourite websites to your arm to get you through your withdrawal pains.

Now if only this was on a work day not a Saturday… ;)

Update: There’s now a poll for you to cast your vote – will you shutdown?

Tags:

Comments

14 Comments on Shutdown or Overclocking

  1. Andrea on Sat, 17th Mar 2007 8:55 pm

    2. I decided that I was going to try to go Saturdays without my computer. I did it last Saturday, but I was also kept busy with other things. Then this morning I had to turn it on to see of someone had emailed me about something particular.

    There’s always next Saturday, right?

  2. Andrea on Sat, 17th Mar 2007 8:59 pm

    3. …I should clarify: I made this decision last Saturday, before I heard about Shutdown Day. I think it’s nice to take a break from it once a week and I also think that it would have an affect on power consumption.

  3. Lonita on Sun, 18th Mar 2007 1:41 am

    4. I can’t really go without it, as it’s crunch time for getting assignments done. Otherwise, though, I *could* go without it for a day.

  4. Insaniac on Sun, 18th Mar 2007 9:06 am

    5. Shutting down the computer completely sounds like a good idea to me.
    I’m for going to the Wine and Cheese if you are! Let me know :)

  5. paul on Sun, 18th Mar 2007 12:34 pm

    6. That’s just way too keen – one day would be a struggle for me, but doing it more than once means you’re either a glutton for punishment or just not a true techie :)

  6. paul on Sun, 18th Mar 2007 12:35 pm

    7. Sure – I can give it up any time … just not now :)

  7. paul on Sun, 18th Mar 2007 12:39 pm

    8. I don’t know if I can be bothered with the trek over to the airport for it, but we’ll see. (I think it’s a fairly low likelihood though.)

    If the weather’s good, I’m thinking of walking down to the Beaches, seeing my chiropractor and then taking some photos. If not, then I’ve got a huge list of chores that I’ve been ignoring :(

  8. blog.henman.ca » Definitely not Shutdown Day for me on Sat, 24th Mar 2007 8:53 am

    9. [...] I posted about Shutdown Day last Saturday I was unsure if I’d be able to take part, mostly because I’m a geek and I can’t [...]

  9. paul on Sat, 24th Mar 2007 8:56 am

    10. I’ve got a tonne of work to get done, but Kerri’s going to be working there today.

  10. Andrea on Sat, 24th Mar 2007 4:50 pm

    11. I failed. My computer’s been acting ill so last night and this morning I was backing up files. I was going to look into buying a new computer but my best friend reminded me that a hard drive reformat might be the way to go.

  11. paul on Sat, 24th Mar 2007 5:07 pm

    12. I failed too – my excuse is that I’m working. :(

  12. paul on Sat, 24th Mar 2007 5:08 pm

    13. Hope you get your PC fixed up. Even if you end up having to replace the drive, it’s cheaper than a whole new PC … but new toys are fun :)

  13. Andrea on Sat, 24th Mar 2007 5:15 pm

    14. This is true.
    I can’t remember if this copy of Windows is the one that came with the PC or if it’s a ** copy. I know that my copy of Office is **. In fact, I think I have to take inventory of my software to figure out where it all came from and make sure I’ve got serial numbers for everything I’ll need to reinstall!

    That said, I was looking at early 2008 to replace my computer – perhaps with a laptop – and if I do need to get a new one sooner all I’ll really need is a drive or a barebones machine.

  14. paul on Sat, 24th Mar 2007 5:34 pm

    15. Dell have some nice laptops and they do frequent promotions/deals. We’re still talking of replacing our laptop and I keep trying to resist, but I don’t think that’s going to last for long. :)

Tell me what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!