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4/05/2011

iMac G3

While driving over a month back i noticed this computer by the side of the road. It looked like it was fairly new so i threw it in my trunk. Ya i took a computer out of the trash.

I started reading about it and learned that it was an iMac G3 and they stopped making them in 2003. On ebay, when they work, they are only worth about $300.

I plugged it in and amazingly, nothing happened! I kind of figured that since it was in the trash. So i went about trying to fix it.

The short version of the story is I didn't fix it. These iMac's are impossible to work on. It took probably 2 hours of me removing screws and trying not to break plastic before i could even look inside of the thing.
disassemble iMac G3 computer, case, screen

disassemble iMac G3 computer, case, screen

iMac G3 parts, case, disassemble, repair

My only hope was a fuse i saw on the motherboard that might have blown. I checked it but it was fine. So i said forget it, there's no way i'm going to get this to work so i started taking everything apart. That took another hour or so.

I realized why they probably threw it out. It's one of those things where the broken part might only cost a few dollars but the cost to pay someone to fix it might be a few hundred dollars.
salvage parts, computer, iMac, G3

I ended up throwing most of it out but i did get the 80Gb hard drive, DVD drive, 2 small speakers and 2 ram cards. I'm using the hard drive in the new computer i built.

But if anyone asks for your help in fixing a Mac, just tell them to throw it out, it isn't worth it.
useable parts from and iMac G3 computer

Winter Seeds

During the same time that i was trying to get the lotus seeds to sprout i also tried growing some other plants. First i ordered a banana tree online for $4. It showed up in the middle of winter and looked pretty hopeless.

banana tree, ordered online from amazon, came dead in a box

But since then it seems to have recovered. It shoots up with 2 new leaves every 2 weeks.

banana tree back to life, amazon, winter, grew indoors

Also i tried planting garlic and an onion. They are both growing great so far in a small pot by the window.

how to grow an garlic plant, indoors, garlic seeds sprouting

I also brought home palm tree seeds from when i was in Las Vegas and Phoenix. I'm not sure what type of palm it is, but here's what it looked like. You can see the seeds near the bottom and on the ground.

palm tree in las vegas, seeds on the tree

I couldn't get the seeds from the really big California Palm trees, they were too high up and most of them weren't ripe yet.

But i took the smaller palm seeds home with me, then removed the outer "fruit" part.

palm tree seeds, remove shell, husk, how to grow

I soaked the seed for a day in water then put it in a plastic bag with a damp paper towel. Out of probably 15 seeds that i did this with only 4 sprouted. The rest showed no signs of doing anything. But it turned out that they just took longer, around a month and a half they began to sprout.

how to grow a palm tree, sprouting seeds

Firefly

I just started watching the show Firefly. It came out in 2002 and was canceled half way through it's first season. Later they released the rest of the episodes and even made a movie called Serenity in 2005. It's still rated by some as the best sci-fi tv show ever. Wikipedia says, "Firefly is an American space-western."

The best way to describe it would say that it's kind of like Star Wars meets Indiana Jones meets Oceans 11.