That’s a gently used Asus Zenbook that eBay seller zzyzzx1130 is trying to unload. But give him credit – he’s totally up-front about the ‘puter’s condition. While it works perfectly, it does exhibit one rather prominent sign of wear. I’ve heard Irvine can be a tough town, but it looks like it could give Chicago a run for its money. About that bullet hole…armoryblog.com titters at the the explanation zzyzzx provides: “a firearm discharged accidentally while being maintenanced.” Do you think it was the firearm or the computer that was being “maintenanced” at the time of the gunshot in question? No matter. Seeing as how it’s a Windows machine, I’m surprised it isn’t sporting even more bullet holes. [h/t thegunwire.com]
“Seeing as how it’s a Windows machine, I’m surprised it isn’t sporting even more bullet holes”
Them California organically grown Apple machines are darn lucky since their owners are known to be vegans and gentle yoga types.
I have a MacBook Pro. I eat plenty of meat and am not flexible enough unable to suck myself off.
tmi,dude,tmi.
My guess is that the fellow was reading up on how to disassemble and reassemble a weapon and forgot to remove the round in the chamber. I’d suggest starting with some sites that discuss safety, then moving on to ones that talk about how to use the English language correctly–maintenanced, oy my gods…
I am tempted to buy the laptop and set it up near my PC. See what happens when you ask me, “Are you sure”?
While I personally would prefer to use “maintained”, Webster says:
Definition: Maintenanced
Part of Speech Definition
Verb Past Tense 1. Past tense conjugation of the verb maintenance.[Eve – graph theoretic]
Sources: compiled from various sources, (under license) copyright 2008. Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, WordNet 3.0 Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
This is why I favor older dictionaries whose purpose was to tell what words mean, not accept the lousy usage of the Common Man (TM). Strunk and White–where are they when we need them most?
Bartleby has The Elements of Style online. When I’m not too lazy, I prefer to refer to it.
http://www.bartleby.com/141/
the gun went off while he was cleaning it? fortunately for him the laptop was tucked into his pants at the time.
I’m surprised it works perfectly, that’s one crazy shot.
I’ve shot up a few computers and other electronic items, then I turn ’em in to a E-waste disposal company I know. I get some crazy looks, I just shrug my shoulders and say something like “I don’t tolerate crashing during my greatest world of warcraft session ever”.
I should note, I shot them on purpose in a safe enviroment… Unlike this dude.
Several 7.62 X 39 rounds through a removed hard drive is one simple (enjoyable?) way to secure it prior to diposal.
(And as noted, done safely at an outdoor range.)
Family fun AND securing personal data all at once! Who could ask for more? 🙂
Having worked around the E-waste industry, it’s amazing how some people don’t protect their personal data when it’s soooo easy to do so.
It’s also amazing about how many make their money just based off the paranoia of said identity and data thieves.
Don’t get me wrong. We do need to protect personal data, and there are thieves out there that will, given the chance. But the way these paranoia sales based companies work, they tend to over-exaggerate and make it seem like the percentage of thieves trying to do this is 100x larger than what it really is.
Most of the time, a good wipe of the harddrive will be enough to prevent data recovery (Wipe the data, wipe the file system, wipe the partitions: zero them all out to a specific value.) Deletion is relatively easy to undo with the right software, and most thieves won’t want the cost of going to some data recovery place to retrieve your data on a completely wiped drive or even a damaged drive like the one you put a hole in.) For most instances, unless you work for someone or someplace with highly valuable data (ie. Gov secrets, contracts, etc), a good wipe is enough, For the aforementioned instances you need to follow government guidelines to make absolutely sure in that case that they are irrevocably wiped. For some, a good reformatting, NOT of the quick kind is plenty good enough.
Also be aware that the range you use, unless it’s yours personally, may have issues with shooting up electronics on the range.
You make an excellent point Will. I only ventilate my old disk drives at a private range. The carcasses are then taken to my local hazardous material drop off, along with circuit boards (unharmed) and other electronic gear. Much of the electronics are shipped off to foreign countries where desoldering is done to reclaim components and the minute amounts of precious metals from the boards (unfortunately, usually by young children).
Everything you say is true Will, sadly there are unscruplous people in pretty much every area of life who will lie to your face and take your money.
The only thing we consumers can do is arm ourselves with knowledge, do our own research and decide for ourselves. But for a lot of people… That seems to be waaaay too hard.
And it’s always privately owned land that I ventilate my E-waste on.
Sheesh…I personally refrain from owning property formerly touched/graced by unlucky, or rather, idiotic people. Something about not wanting their “luck” (even via their former possessions) anywhere close to me.
Wow. It usually takes a solid year for an Asus to be completely shot.
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