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Messages - holt [ switch to compact view ]

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1
I already have a few song files which were recorded in .cda format. My laptop 'thinks' they are either 'invalid' files, or blank CDs, so I can't even see what the original format was.

2
General Software Discussion / Re: no VLC bookmarks
« on: May 29, 2020, 11:01 AM »
I reset all my vids from playing with VLC, to play with MPC-BE instead, and if I just left click on any vid file, it does.
But if I want to play a whole folder of short music vids, it stubbornly wants to play using VLC. If I right click on the folder and go to the drop down menu, it refuses to give me the option to always use MPC-BE instead.
The only way I have of getting it to use MPC-BE to play a whole folder of music vids, is to right click and hold on the folder, and drag it across Desktop to the MPC-BE shortcut.

I found my original .exe download of MPC-BE, and reinstalled it, and this gave me the option to 'associate' all video files with it. Now, when I right click on a folder of vids, the drop down menu gives me both choices; VLC and MPC-BE. :)

3
Living Room / Re: freeware reader?
« on: May 29, 2020, 05:30 AM »
I've just discovered that my excellent but vintage text-to-speech MindMaker, TextAssist 4.0 works in Windows 10; all you have to do is to highlight and copy the desired text, paste it into a blank Microsoft Office Word 2003 (or newer version) .rtf, .txt, or .doc file window, and it plays the text. BTW, I have my own complete purchased download copy of MindMaker TextAssist 4.0, but it does not seem to be available anywhere as a download anymore.

This may be a downloadable link, but I did not join in order to test it;
https://textassist.s...ftware.informer.com/
It may be abandonware by now.

When I clicked on the big rectangular green 'Download' button, it gave me this pop-up mssg; 'Would you like to install Software Informer Client and receive up-to-date information about TextAssist and other programs?'
I really feel chary of the words; 'install Software Informer Client', so I left it alone.

4
General Software Discussion / Good Freeware Audio Editor?
« on: May 29, 2020, 05:10 AM »
What is a good program for editing .wav sound only files?

5
General Software Discussion / Re: no VLC bookmarks
« on: May 29, 2020, 05:03 AM »
I reset all my vids from playing with VLC, to play with MPC-BE instead, and if I just left click on any vid file, it does.
But if I want to play a whole folder of short music vids, it stubbornly wants to play using VLC. If I right click on the folder and go to the drop down menu, it refuses to give me the option to always use MPC-BE instead.
The only way I have of getting it to use MPC-BE to play a whole folder of music vids, is to right click and hold on the folder, and drag it across Desktop to the MPC-BE shortcut.

6
How the first Internet forum got its name.
"Don't be such a computer nerd and quit stammering. Relax! Who's the message to, already?"
"It's for... Um..."

8
The bathtub. About two to four times per day.

9
As per the attached photo and web page, what he calls a 'compression valve' but which I call a 'valve seat', made of brass, keeps eroding across the 'face' of the valve, where the rubber gasket presses against to shut it off.

The same thing happened to me. You put in a brand new valve seat, and within half a year or a year, it erodes across the 'face' and a runnel or groove is formed, resulting in an unfixable leak. It does not matter if you use a 100% brass valve seat, or a nickel-plated one. They both erode.

How to fix. The 'fix' is simple to describe, but a little tricky to perform, but my 'fix' has been going strong for five or six years now with no sign of quitting.

Take a new valve seat, and rough up the 'facing' (where the rubber presses against the flat circle of the valve seat), using about 200 grit sandpaper. Don't try to reform it; just rough up the 'face'.
Next, take electrician's solder, and create a ring-shaped layer of solder on the surface of the valve 'face'.

This is the 'easy to describe, but tricky to do' part. I had to use a big old-fashioned electric soldering iron, mounted in a big bench vise, pointed straight up, to put the brass valve seat on and heat it up. Before you do that, you need to apply a thin layer of soldering acid paste to prevent a micro-thin layer of corrosion from forming when heated up, which would prevent the solder from bonding. At the same time, you want to avoid getting solder on the valve seat threads, which could interfere with screwing it back into place in the valve body. If you get it in the threads, just heat the entire valve seat up and drop it on the bench a few times to shock it physically and knock the excess molten solder off.

The really tricky part, is that, as you apply the solder to the valve 'face', there will be a persistent tendency for the solder to form a 'bump' on one part of the ring of the valve face, and a dip or dimple either next to it, or opposite it, on the ring of the face. I had this happen repeatedly. It was so persistent that it was positively mystifying. I tried getting an extra-thick buildup of solder and sanding it all down flat, and I kept wearing through the thin layer of solder and exposing tiny areas of brass on the valve face. Time and time again, over and over, and over and over, I ran into this problem. Finally, after about an hour, I succeeded in getting a uniform layer of solder on the ring of the valve face that was smooth and flat. Then, I had to do it to the other valve; because there are two valves; 'hot' and 'cold'.

I did this about five or six years ago, and I have not had to service the valves ever since. Just that tiny layer of solder, bonded to the brass valve seat. That's all I did. This has been the result.  :Thmbsup:

edit: If you must, you can try to salvage and reface an old valve seat with a groove in it. Just rough it up, including the groove, and refill the groove at the same time as you reface the valve face. Come to think of it, that's what I did, but mine wasn't as bad as the one in the photo. I fixed the leak and it stayed fixed.

10
Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS
« on: May 05, 2020, 09:08 AM »
Woops, I neglected to read the Gadget WEEKENDS thread rules more closely, which I'll repost in lieu of my off-topic book inquiry;
(#1 thread post by Mouser)
begin Quote:
I propose we have a thread where we can recommend gadgets that we like, but I suggest we follow some strict rules to make things more interesting.

Here are the rules:

    1. You may ONLY post about ONE gadget per week, and only on a FRIDAY WEEKEND.
    2. Every gadget item post must include an attached image of the gadget.
    3. Every gadget item posted about should be for sale somewhere; you may include a purchase link with an affiliate/referral id.
    4. You must personally OWN the item you are posting about.
    5. The goal is to introduce gadget addicts to new discoveries.

NOTE: You can make posts on this thread on any day to discuss the items posted about by others - the rules and restriction above only apply to making new posts introducing new gadgets.

The first Gadget FRIDAY WEEKEND starts in 3 hours!
(remember, you can't post on any other day except when forum time, in upper-right corner of page, says it's a Friday).
close Quote.

11
irkregent
Hi Debi, Some like to say, 'Laugh, and the world laughs with you; cry, and you cry alone'. But others say (as I'm fond of telling my wife), 'A joy shared is twice a joy, and a sorrow shared is half a sorrow'.
So, somewhere in there, is hopefully a bit of wisdom, and a few smiling faces, and maybe a broken heart or two, all looking to share, and live, and find a bit of laughter amidst the tears. :)

irkregent, Welcome aboard!...and the same again to you Debi!
DonationCoder can always use another programmer and code writer. :)

12
Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!
« on: May 04, 2020, 11:28 AM »
Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell
Yes I Willhttps://www.youtube..../watch?v=-xo1tZLUZG0
Make it with you In 'Make It With You', from 2m53s to 3m02s, a well-dressed couple in formal attire can be seen on a deserted beach holding hands and spinning.  :)

13
General Software Discussion / .cda music to 24bit wav format?
« on: April 27, 2020, 03:21 PM »
I have some original .cda audio music files (for which I own copyright) which I want to upload.
It looks like I need to convert .cda to 24bit wave format.

15
Living Room / 2TB USB Drive under $10 - Fake + Malware
« on: April 20, 2020, 08:17 PM »
...2TB USB Drive and Got More Than Just Malware
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2mDGIFl0DI
A youtube user paid $3 for 'zero' capacity & trashed his OS.

2TB USB FLASH DRIVE MEMORY STICK from ebay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odLsOM_FsxY
Another YT user paid about the same and got no malware but only half GB capacity.

Moral: As of this post, 04-20-2020, I seem to be seeing a ton of dirt cheap 2TB flash drive offers. But as seen in the above sample videos, 2TB 'no name' flash drives for under $10 are too good to be true and potentially dangerous to your OS.

One name brand I've known to always be reputable is Kingston; you will pay about $17.95 for 128GB plus shipping on Amazon, or $24.95 plus free shipping on Ebay. This is not spam, just fair comparison pricing to the above 'too good to be true' 2TB offers.

16
General Software Discussion / Re: youtube downloader?
« on: April 18, 2020, 08:18 AM »
^Thank you, 4wd. I picked up a copy of OpenShot.  :Thmbsup: Time to get on the ol' learning curve.

17
Living Room / Re: Funny Animal Videos
« on: April 17, 2020, 08:54 AM »

18
Living Room / Re: Corona curve/s graph/s math/s
« on: April 10, 2020, 12:29 PM »
HOW COVID-19 KILLS--I'm a Surgeon--And Why We Can't Save You 34m 47s
This video is very informative, but unfortunately interlaced throughout with four-letter words.

19
Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS
« on: April 02, 2020, 01:01 PM »
Post was off-topic so I deleted it.

20
General Software Discussion / Re: youtube downloader?
« on: March 30, 2020, 03:01 PM »
Re: 'repeat forever'; Okay, now that I know how to 'find' this option, how do I 'select' it? When I click on that 'option', the 'Apply' word does not highlight itself to confirm the choice.

Third image is where you can set a key shortcut for it, it's unassigned by default.

How do I add MPC-BE to my 'Open with' drop-down menu; all I show is VLC as an option.

Same way you add any program you want to the Open With... menu:
  • Right click the relevant file
  • Choose Open With...
  • If you don't see MPC-BE, click More apps
  • If you don't see MPC-BE, scroll down to Look for another app on this PC
  • Locate MPC-BE
I found this 'rotating galaxy' video,
4K Galaxy, Nebula Motion Background ,Milky Way, Free Video Background,
but it's rotating the wrong way (as countless comments point out). I searched duckduckgo on how to do it in avidemux; all I can find out is that -apparently- my later avidemux v.2.7.5 no longer has a 'reverse video' filter function/option, whereas earlier versions do.

21
Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!
« on: March 28, 2020, 11:25 PM »
Jesus Christ Superstar (letterbox - in English - subtitles appear below video; YT uploader posted it under the heading 'Jézus Krisztus szupersztár' but it is not overdubbed)

22
Laws of Computing

      1. When computing, whatever happens, behave as though you meant it to happen.
     
      2. When you get to the point where you think you finally understand your computer, it's probably obsolete.
     
      3. The first place to look for information is in the section of the manual where you'd least expect to find it.
     
      4. When the going gets tough, upgrade.
     
      5. For every action, there is an equal and opposite malfunction.
     
      6. To err is human...to blame your computer for your mistakes is even more human.
     
      7. He who laughs last, probably has a back-up.
     
      8. The number one cause of computer problems is computer solutions.
     
      9. A complex system that doesn't work is invariably found to have evolved from a simpler system that worked just fine.
     
      10. A computer program will always do exactly what you tell it to do, but rarely what you want it to do.

23
Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?
« on: March 26, 2020, 12:57 AM »
Announcing a National Emergency Library to Provide Digitized Books to Students and the Public
http://blog.archive....x=ntlemrlib%7cctalnk
To address our unprecedented global and immediate need for access to reading and research materials, as of today, March 24, 2020, the Internet Archive will suspend waitlists for the 1.4 million (and growing) books in our lending library by creating a National Emergency Library to serve the nation’s displaced learners. This suspension will run through June 30, 2020, or the end of the US national emergency, whichever is later.

During the waitlist suspension, users will be able to borrow books from the National Emergency Library without joining a waitlist, ensuring that students will have access to assigned readings and library materials that the Internet Archive has digitized for the remainder of the US academic calendar, and that people who cannot physically access their local libraries because of closure or self-quarantine can continue to read and thrive during this time of crisis, keeping themselves and others safe.

More info at the announcement's web page.

24
^Hi Debi! :) You're not boring at all. Your post reminded me of our Chihuahua-Dachshund mix we had when I was a young man; when he turned old and gray-muzzled and went totally blind, he would use his nose for a blind man's white cane substitute to bump his way slowly around in the house, and he actually seemed happier after he went blind than at any prior time in his entire life.

25
Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?
« on: March 24, 2020, 07:10 AM »
Cyril Of Scythopolis: The Lives of the Monks of Palestine (Cistercian Studies) Paperback – November 1, 1991
https://www.amazon.c...tudies/dp/0879079142
Translated by R.M.Price; Annotated by John Binns.
https://en.wikipedia...Cyril_of_Scythopolis

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