Messages

151

Living Room / Re: This Just in: From the You Gotta be Shitting Me Dept.

« on: July 09, 2013, 06:59 PM »

But what took the cake was, the drunken driver opens his door, staggers to the driver's side window of our car, leans in and says "Hey!  Wassa' Matta' wit' ya'??  Didn't ya' see me comin' ?

-MilesAhead (July 09, 2013, 04:14 PM)

Oh dear...that would have gotten him "damaged" if he'd been the one that hit me today.

   One option, if it's a rare truck, you can buy the truck from the insurance company for dirt cheap and have it put on a frame straightener.

-Tinman57 (July 09, 2013, 04:43 PM)

At this point I just have to wait for the 25th to take it into the appointment the insurance company (Geico (incredibly not fast)) set up. Then it's fate will be decided (close race).

My favorite part of the ensuing discussion thus far was when the insurance lady -- Who had already been informed that I had stopped at a traffic light, and the person behind me...did not -- asked me if "I was hit in the rear from behind"? (after a short pause) I simply responded with "I really don't think there's another way of doing it".

-Stoic Joker (July 09, 2013, 05:41 PM)

  According to all of Gecko's commercials (about 80 times a day), they have the best customer support of all the insurance companies.  Of course they don't tell you that only applies when they're opening a new account.....

152

Living Room / Re: digitising slides

« on: July 09, 2013, 06:54 PM »

Finally. In looking over my the photos I have taken in my life so far I was really shocked to discover that there have been really important people in my life that I have either no photos or only one or two bad quality snaps. Record your friends and lovers while you can!

-elvisbrown (July 09, 2013, 05:05 PM)

  I hear that.  I went through all the same thing, but years ago before there was more specialized apps.  A fair amount of times I'd have to go into "Touch-Up" mode, but I solved a lot of those problems with plug-ins for my photo editing software, one of them iPhoto Plus 5 all the way to version 8, which actually lost some useability from Vs 5.  I've had quite a bit of graphics software going back to the C=64 days.  I pretty much turned it into a hobby even before I started using a PC.  I've scanned hundreds and hundreds of pictures as well, which calls for more touching up depending on the condition of the picture, and most all of mine were family photo's that went back into the 1800's.  I spent a lot of extra time with those and damn near have them all as perfect as they'll could ever be without taking out the antiqueness.

  Needless to say, no matter which way you go, it's going to take a lot of time and effort to get it right, and one way or another, if your serious about getting all your family/friends pics digitized, your going to have to make it a hobby.......

153

General Software Discussion / Re: looking for a Win XP x64 beep.sys

« on: July 09, 2013, 05:02 PM »

Got the issue sorted out

-gjehle (July 09, 2013, 02:10 AM)

  Something I said?   

154

Living Room / Re: Adblock Plus Letting Ads By

« on: July 09, 2013, 04:58 PM »

It's hard to see how any user can reasonably complain. All the ads that Adblock Plus permits have to meet the criteria here, even the companies that pay. Moreover, if you don't want to see any ads, you can still block all of then, even the whitelisted ones, as explained here. Only someone who hasn't bothered to inform himself of the facts, or a hopeless churl, would complain that free software isn't made exactly as he would make it. Perhaps such people should rechannel all the energy they expend on expressing their unjustified pique into producing something that suits them. Or else perhaps they should just....

-CobbleHillGuy (July 09, 2013, 04:36 PM)

  Spoken by a true adblock fanboy, ad company or adblock associate?  I find it hard to believe that anyone would make such a rant unless they have either personal association with the software, or are just trolling.

155

Living Room / Re: digitising slides

« on: July 09, 2013, 04:48 PM »

Software for use with a scanner: see brahman's review: Review/Tips: "Scanning - VueScan and Associates" Pt.I: Intro & Bookscanning.

Flatbed is what's usually used for reasonably high-quality scanning of negatives or slides - but dont the better ones use a holder as opposed to just laying the negatives directly on the glass?
(No, I've no experience here either :p)

-tomos (July 09, 2013, 02:24 PM)

 The scanners with the negative plates (holders) is basically to put the negative in the exact place it needs to be during the scan and keeps it straight.  The negative still makes contact with the glass, or at least mine did....

156

Living Room / Re: This Just in: From the You Gotta be Shitting Me Dept.

« on: July 09, 2013, 04:43 PM »

   One option, if it's a rare truck, you can buy the truck from the insurance company for dirt cheap and have it put on a frame straightener.

157

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« on: July 09, 2013, 04:33 PM »

And if Snowden winds up someplace in South America, he'll be "extracted" sooner or later. Count on it.

Not that long ago, the United States went into an independent nation called Panama, hauled out it's freekin' president, shipped him back to the US to stand trial, and incarcerated him. So I doubt going in and grabbing one of its own citizens charged with espionage is going to give the US much pause or concern. It has the tools. It has the talent. And it wrote its own law that said it's legal for the good ol' USA to do things like that - even if they won't let anybody read it.

-40hz (July 08, 2013, 09:54 AM)

If this were true though, then why doesn't the US let Snowden leave Moscow, so he could be more easily apprehended in Latin America? Quite the opposite is happening. Everything the US has done so far had contributed to Snowden staying put in Moscow. So either a dilettante is directing this entire operation (whoever he or she may be) in the US, or it might not be that easy or convenient to seize him in Latin America after all.

-dr_andus (July 09, 2013, 12:41 PM)

  It would be better for the U.S. gov't if he did go to Latin America.  He can be taken care of a lot easier there than he could in Russia or China.  In S. America you can have someone killed for $50 or less.....  For $100 they can guarantee the body would never be found.  Those Caimans are pretty hungry critters....

158

Living Room / Re: Your thoughts wanted: The right way to honor the passing of a DC forum member

« on: July 09, 2013, 04:22 PM »

  Not having mention of a passing is like saying the person never existed.  Most folks want to be remembered in one way or another when they're gone, which is what motivated many great people in our history.  It's like going out with a bang, or a whimper.

159

Living Room / Re: Why you should record video of the everyday people in your life

« on: July 09, 2013, 04:11 PM »

  There have been many times that I have tried remembering the name of a friend from my youth.  This would surely solve that problem....   

160

General Software Discussion / Re: looking for a Win XP x64 beep.sys

« on: July 08, 2013, 08:11 PM »

  Wouldn't that be somewhere in the Windows installation disk?  Anytime I need to replace a .sys, .dll, etc, I just put my installation disk in and have ZipScan run through all the zipped and CAB files to find what I need and manually extract it.

161

Living Room / Re: Adblock Plus Letting Ads By

« on: July 08, 2013, 08:01 PM »

I know this is a stupid thing to say, but I'd like to see the day when lame things like ads don't generate so much revenue.

-superboyac (July 08, 2013, 07:05 PM)

  Between over-saturation of ads, misleading ads and ad company spying, the ad industry has only ruined it for themselves.  They deserve anything negative as a result....

162

Living Room / Re: Worth Reading: Trevor Pott's editorial on NSA PRISM and its real ramifications

« on: July 08, 2013, 06:50 PM »

This is priceless: [url=http://mobandmultitude.com/2013/07/02/the-nsa-comes-recruiting/]

-IainB (July 07, 2013, 10:35 PM)

  OK, I didn't get the "This is not a tampon" part????

163

Living Room / Adblock Plus Letting Ads By

« on: July 08, 2013, 06:40 PM »

Advertisers can pay AdBlock Plus to look the other way

07.08.2013 9:53 AM

Large companies like Google can pay the popular ad-blocking extension AdBlock to let their ads through.

http://www.techhive....k-the-other-way.html

164

Living Room / Tech Tax Avoiders

« on: July 08, 2013, 06:38 PM »

Governments to target U.S. tech tax avoiders, says leaked draft action plan

A leaked action plan seen by Reuters suggests an impending crackdown in tax avoidance by Western governments on major technology firms, which seek to lower their tax bills through less-than-ideal — albeit legal — methods.

http://www.zdnet.com...tion-plan-7000017766

165

General Software Discussion / Re: How to handle those really awful "endlessly scrolling down" web pages?

« on: July 07, 2013, 08:11 PM »

One little trick, but not the answer to your question: always open "secondary pictures" in a new tab. This way you don't leave the old tab which is where you scroll and click, and the new tab is to be closed in a second when you have seen the picture.

-Curt (July 07, 2013, 05:48 PM)

Lol, exactly what I was going to say.  I do this a lot with websites loaded with hundreds of pictures.  I have my browser set up to open anything I click with the MMB to a new tab, so it's pretty easy for me....

166

Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS

« on: July 07, 2013, 07:56 PM »

Very interesting. I wonder why pointing (green) lasers at aircraft is illegal in the USA, but doesn't seem to cause any problems in Egypt. . .

-Deozaan (July 07, 2013, 05:41 PM)

  It's illegal because lasers, like any other bright light, will temporarily blind the pilot.  Even with the headlights of a vehicle shining directly into a pilots eye will reduce his/her night vision up to 30 minutes, the time it takes a humans eye to re-adjust to the dark conditions.  This is why any flight-line vehicle MUST turn off their headlights when approaching an aircraft in the dark, with the exception of emergency vehicles.  A laser only has to contact the retina for a fraction of a second to hinder night vision.  Depending on the power and distance from the laser, you can even be permanently blinded by laser light.

  As a pilot, when taxing at night and encountering another aircraft's lights along the taxiway/runways, I always close one eye to prevent it from being affected, which was taught in ground school and my flight instructor.

167

Living Room / Re: Worth Reading: Trevor Pott's editorial on NSA PRISM and its real ramifications

« on: July 07, 2013, 07:35 PM »

 It's just not this simple.....

How to hide text from NSA's automated surveillance

07.06.2013 11:50 AM

To keep supercomputers from reading your email, use a font the robots can't read.

http://www.pcworld.c...ed-surveillance.html

 I keep telling people that Americans have a short attentions span.....

The outrage about Prism spying is wearing off already

07.07.2013 10:20 AM

Some people are deeply upset about the latest incursions into our privacy. But as a society, we don't seem to care all that much.

http://www.pcworld.c...ing-off-already.html

168

Living Room / Re: Watch: Doug Engelbart and The Mother of All Demos

« on: July 07, 2013, 07:23 PM »

  And I'll bet that everything they did and showed is now patented by a big company that had nothing to do with it.....

169

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« on: July 07, 2013, 07:19 PM »

People!
please take gun conversations to a relevant thread,
thanks!

-tomos (July 06, 2013, 03:17 PM)

  So I guess, as a small example, these are OK then:
https://www.donation....msg326591#msg326591
https://www.donation....msg297249#msg297249

-Tinman57 (July 06, 2013, 09:23 PM)

Tinman, I do apologise for the tone in my post - I definitely got that wrong.
Re the message: out of a silly humour post there were a *bunch* of people posting about their guns - which I for one thought didnt fit in this thread.
Hence my post.

Re my posts - as you point out, I have no problem with going off-topic. I'm trying to think have I ever been asked to stop going off-topic - I'm sure I have - but probably much more tactfully than I have done here ;-)

-tomos (July 07, 2013, 04:03 AM)

  Everybody is guilty of going off topic at one time or another, especially me.  I think there's always going to be "drifting" (my word for it, nothing to do with cars), when you make a comment on the post, though not about the post, but relative to the post.  Just drifting a little is not a totally bad thing, makes things a little more interesting.  Of course when people start posting just about a different subject altogether, then that's where it's not drifting, but totally off topic.  Sometimes these drifts get drifted on a little more than usual and then really becomes off topic.  We all have to self-regulate to keep this from happening.

  Just my opinion for what it's worth.....  And TOTALLY OFF TOPIC!!!  Sorry

170

Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS

« on: July 06, 2013, 09:36 PM »

So the first step, in my opinion, is to get a pointing device so I can point it out to others.

-Deozaan (July 06, 2013, 03:20 PM)

  Uhm, I don't think that laser pointer is going to be powerful enough to mark a star.  Plus it would take the laser months to years before it reached the star in question, depending on the distance in light years.  If you did get a laser that powerful, it would be military grade and illegal to own.  Like, you could shoot down aircraft with it.   

  As far as green lasers go, according to all the experts, green lights up the target better.  Don't know if it travels further or not.  They're the "new" thing here in the states, but I'm not replacing the red lasers on my weapons.     But I do use the green light on the reticle scope of my AR15, it's much easier to see at night.

171

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« on: July 06, 2013, 09:23 PM »

People!
please take gun conversations to a relevant thread,
thanks!

-tomos (July 06, 2013, 03:17 PM)

  So I guess, as a small example, these are OK then:
https://www.donation....msg326591#msg326591
https://www.donation....msg297249#msg297249

172

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« on: July 06, 2013, 08:54 PM »

  It just don't seem right that the government can prosecute someone for reporting a crime.  They just give it a different name, aka; Whistleblower, and then go about business as usual.  Of course the government will argue that it's not his place to decide what's legal and illegal, to leave that up to the "professionals", ie; lawyers.  Personally, I think they should pin a medal on his chest and call him a patriot.

173

Living Room / Re: DonationCoder Recipe Sharing Thread

« on: July 06, 2013, 08:35 PM »

  I just happen to have a bottle of Vanilla Vodka in the bar, so I can just skip the vanilla bean part.   

174

Living Room / Re: No country for amateurs - the danger of supposedly secure messaging

« on: July 06, 2013, 08:30 PM »

If you feel that you can't Speak Freely unless the conversation is encrypted...then you cannot speak freely...period.

-Stoic Joker (July 06, 2013, 02:07 PM)

  Yes, sad isn't it?   

175

General Software Discussion / Re: How to handle those really awful "endlessly scrolling down" web pages?

« on: July 05, 2013, 09:09 PM »

  Using my browser (Avant Browser) I just click on the "Disable Pictures" icon.  The picture placeholder will show the name of the pictures.  If I think one is the pic I want, I RMC on it and select "Show Picture" and it loads up just that picture for me to view.