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Messages - barney [ switch to compact view ]

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201
Living Room / Re: Internet Sales Tax Passed
« on: May 18, 2013, 08:05 AM »
... they do have representation in the state in which they live.

That could be debated ... difference 'tween representative 'n representation  :P.

202
Living Room / Re: Now you can "Log-In with PayPal"
« on: May 14, 2013, 12:39 AM »
Last time I looked - been a while - oAuth didn't seem all that secure to me.  But, I'm sure as Hell not gonna log in with financial username/password.  I've been called - and probably was - a fool before, but not that big a fool  :P.

203
AV?  That stands for audiovisual  :huh:.  Anti-virus?  Nonexistent save for virii that have already been identified.  Some of the removal systems seem adequate - MalwarBytes comes to mind - but I've yet to find any anti-virus system that could be trusted.  I'll set up a firewall, but it is only as effective as my imagination.  To my mind, anti-virus software is totally useless - it's a safety blanket that doesn't work, that gives a false sense of security.

I read raymond.cc's review.  It was comprehensive.  I appreciate the amount of effort he put forth to create it.  But, in the long run, it's basically useless.  You never know how adequate your security system is until it fails and you know that it failed.

This is common throughout history.  Examples?  Hadrian's Wall, the Great Wall of China, the French Maginot Line, all were circumvented at some point.  Not defeated, circumvented.  And any anti-virus solution will, in like fashion, be circumvented, not by a head-on attack, but by an end run, a circumvention not anticipated by the protection authors.

It is a given.  It's a challenge to some.  And they will not let that gauntlet lie on the forest floor.

204
Living Room / Re: The Coffee/Caffeine Thread!
« on: May 08, 2013, 12:41 AM »
(I do have to wonder, however, how the cowboys managed to transport [unbroken] eggs  :huh:.)

Maybe they didn't. Maybe they only brought some empty shells along, perhaps already washed, dried, crushed and mixed in with their pre-ground coffee. It would make more sense. Lighter, takes up less space, not as fragile, no worries of spoiling on a long trip, and a lot less fuss & bother to make while out on the trail.

And even more convenient, would have been to use the old "sock method" of brewing coffee, where one uses a cloth bag (usually silk) or a clean sock to hold the grounds, ties a knot in it and drops it into the pot of boiling water. (early permafilter technology  ;D)

Nope.  They/We used broken egg shells - more or less halves - 'cause the crushed ones don't work.  You boil the coffee, then you throw in a dash of cold water - mebbe an ounce - and the egg shell halves.  The bag thing would probably work, but socks?  After a few days on the trail, there just ain't no clean socks  :o.  Ya wear the oldest used, rotationally, but they ain't clean  :'( - they're just somewhat dried out  :-\.  Serious camping don' 'low for nothin' clean  :P.

205
Living Room / Re: The Coffee/Caffeine Thread!
« on: May 07, 2013, 06:46 PM »
Great for when you run out of filters, and I hear you can add the shells as well to cut the cloudiness. :shrug:

Eggshells were a common thing in the old southwest (US) to settle the grounds after boiling coffee over a campfire.  Still is, if you camp a lot.  Eggshells (left over from breakfast, of course) and a dash of cold water do wonders for keeping grounds out of your cup - until you're about two-thirds of a pot down, anyway  :P.  (Personally, I don't care for boiled coffee  :o, but it does have its place  :-*.)

(I do have to wonder, however, how the cowboys managed to transport [unbroken] eggs  :huh:.)

206
OTOH, I've had some good bargains from them.
-cranioscopical (May 05, 2013, 08:34 PM)

So?  How much is your time worth  ;)?!?

In regard to speed, I'm occasionally in contact with folk my age in rural Missouri and Illinois in the US, their parents/family having been friends with my parents/family.  Some of 'em are so remote that they are still on party lines  :o!  Can't even use a modem, there.  Only option is [questionable] satellite service - ain't too many cell towers in that area  :(Steam is not in their immediate - or not-so-immediate - future.  A few of 'em have purchased games that required online updates.  They got 'em, but they cannot play 'em.  I'm not much of a gamer, but that situation steams [any puns intended] them - and me  >:(.  Seems a shame that the nation that developed the Web infrastructure cannot seem to provide access to all its residents.

207
Clipboard Help+Spell / from PC World ...
« on: May 03, 2013, 07:35 AM »
   The latest from PCWorldDaily
    5.3.2013
      

Free Clipboard Help+Spell adds a lot of power to your clipboard

Apr 18, 2013 9:19 AM

On their own, X, C, and V are just three random letters. But combine them with the Ctrl key, and you get one of the most iconic keystroke trios in the history of computing. Cutting, copying, and pasting data is something we all do on a daily basis, so doing it more efficiently can translate into major time savings. Clipboard Help+Spell is a donationware utility by Mouser that does just that. Note: The "Download Now" button below the full review and on the Product Information page will download the software to your system.
»Keep reading the review and try it now
»Check the product specs or try it now

208
Living Room / Re: Have you ever gone Geocaching or Letterboxing?
« on: April 25, 2013, 08:11 PM »
Kinda like the much later 'rave' parties, except ours weren't so heavy on sex, drugs or general weirdness.

  Gee, but what's a party without drugs and general weirdness?  Oh, I know, a "meeting".   :P

I don't recall too many meetings with overt sex - although there were some where folk might get screwed  :o.

209
Living Room / Re: The Coffee/Caffeine Thread!
« on: April 23, 2013, 08:34 PM »
moderation

Sorry, don't recognize that usage.  Isn't a moderator someone who kinda oversees a discussion, [/i]i.e.[/i], performs moderation?  Don't see one (1) here ... yet, anyway.  So moderation is out of the scope of this thread  :P.

210
Living Room / Re: The Coffee/Caffeine Thread!
« on: April 22, 2013, 10:42 PM »
Now stressing out about what the latest health craze wants everyone to do more/less of ... That'll kill you.

Personal current stressing is lager.  I'm told that'll kill me, as well.  But, considering all the warnings I've seen - e.g. olive oil is bad, use corn oil, then canola oil, then, oh yeah, olive oil is good for ya! - over the years, I'm not too worried  ;D.

To my mind, the health craze of the {day|year|decade|century} is just that - a craze.  Most of 'em, like diets, work for a while, then die.  So I'll take my chances with caffeine, alcohol, all the foods that are bad for me, all my other bad habits, crazes notwithstanding.

Thimk I'll go stress with another lager - then a cup of coffee when I awaken.  I love stress  :P.  G'night.

211
Living Room / Re: The Coffee/Caffeine Thread!
« on: April 22, 2013, 06:39 PM »
Some while back - late 2012, methinks, but not certain - there was a blurb about [medical] research redefining the benefits of coffee/caffeine.  Seems that two (2) cups a day aids some physical/mental functionality.  Been trying to find it ever since  :(.  The actual paper - at least the part that was published - described the benefits, but, of course, I read it, thought, "Hey that's good," and promptly ditched it.

[Edit]
No, I didn't ditch it. 
A study finds that older adults who drink java are less likely to die than those who don't. Subjects who averaged four or five cups per day fared best, though it's not clear why.  source
However, at the time, I found other resources for validation that I cannot remember now.  Obviously, I'm not drinking enough coffee  :P.

212
Living Room / Re: Getting Things Done revisited
« on: April 21, 2013, 03:06 AM »
Never had much use for the GTD stuff.  When in the military, it kinda made sense, as well as - at times - in the corporate world.  Problem, for me, is that a GTD schedule ignores the fact that some things have to get done, regardless of artificial time limits/constraints/schedules.  GTD seems mostly - again, to me - a matter of preferences.  It's also a way of avoiding onerous tasks in the name of time.

213
Living Room / Re: You Want Targeted Ads!
« on: April 21, 2013, 12:50 AM »
Old [Aristotlean] logic problem:
Nothing's better than ice cream;
crackers are better than nothing;
(conclusion) crackers are better than ice cream.

That pretty well epitomizes the argument.  Logic, as with statistics, can be manipulated to do/mean almost anything.  If you're/they're smart enough to phrase the right question, the desired answer is about 98% assured.  And there are a number of folk around who have studied how to phrase that question.

214
Living Room / Re: You Want Targeted Ads!
« on: April 20, 2013, 09:10 PM »
Interesting, albeit somewhat unbelievable  :o, article.  Comments, methinks, were better than the article  ;).  The article fails to mention, of course, the transactions whereby the tracking information is sold to other marketers kinda goes unmentioned, as does the reliability/reputation of those buying marketers.  As well, I'd kinda like to see the bona fides of the pollsters, ya know?

Edit
'Nother post snuck in while I was composing, but I'll let this stand.

215
Living Room / Re: The Coffee/Caffeine Thread!
« on: April 20, 2013, 06:03 PM »
Funny, but I used to drink iced coffee all day long - close to a gallon a day - at work.  Then, about a decade+ ago, I couldn't drink it w/o my vision being affected.  Today, I drink one (1) or two (2) 10 oz. cups max a day.  More than that gives me the jitters.  Strange changes, no?


216
Living Room / Re: Do not read this.
« on: April 19, 2013, 04:12 PM »
I promise I'm not reading ... I'm assimilating  :P.

217
Living Room / Re: What are your favorite movies?
« on: April 18, 2013, 04:05 PM »
Yikes!!!  That's a must see!

218
Living Room / Re: Do not read this.
« on: April 18, 2013, 01:26 AM »
rgdot, replying to what  :huh:?

219
IIRC, my router actually offered to change the default admin password when I first logged in.  I hear a lot about Buffalo routers being junk, but this one came pre-installed with DD-WRT and has worked like a champ since I first got it.  :Thmbsup:

Yep.  Most of 'em do.  But they don't let ya change the username.  There's a back door built in to most hardware - and a lot of software! - so that the vendor can tell you how to recover if you have a memory lapse - read, screw things up - and maintain their pristine reputation.

Back when I was overseas - Asia, mid-sixties, combat pending - a captain in charge of our group misplaced a password, i.e., he lost the scrap of paper it was on.  He had to contact what was then the equivalent of IT today, and IT promptly got him straightened out, restored his access.  They had a back door  :o.  (Mind, this was a radio network, not PC, but the principle ...)

I've encountered software issues where a user was locked out because of a forgotten password.  In every case but one (1), the vendor was able to provide a way back in.  That single case was such that no one - at that time  :huh: - could crack the database involved, not even the vendor.  And it was clearly stated in the documentation that if you lost your login, your data couldn't be recovered.  However, in every other instance, hardware or software, I've been able to contact the vendor, provide requisite bona fides, and regain access for the client.

If you cannot change the Admin username, any hacker is halfway to cracking the system involved.  Brute force and a decent dictionary can still resolve ninety percent of passwords when Admin is still a viable username.

220
Unfortunately, Admin is default for a lot.  And, while you can log to a new username, Admin is not disabled in most cases.  Routers come to mind, as well as a few other items of hardware  :(.  Unless you can actually disable the Admin user name, you're pretty much out of luck.  Had to nearly break my wi-fi in order to prevent an interloper from logging in with the default provided - on a number of Web sites  :o! - as an emergency access.  Prolly easier with Web-based, but don't think there're any guarantees  :huh:.

221
That is almost the single best defining characteristic of 'government' no matter what form the government ultimately takes. It alone holds the 'legal' authority to resort to violence to accomplish its goals.

Concur most enthusiastically  :up:!.  And if you resist or defend against such, you are guilty of treason by definition.

222
Personally, I hold no ruth for Web of Trust (WOT).  I played there for a while, but left when I could find no means whatsoever for redress.  That came about because a couple of acquaintances, separate instances, were basically kicked off the Web by WOT.  The only thing either of them did wrong was to make the wrong, vindictive enemies.

WOT is based upon the concept that [place your number here] people can't be wrong.  Well, Hitler got elected - and many of those can't be wrong people changed their minds ... but that mass of folk were wrong by today's standards.  The Salem Witchcraft Trials in early US were effective at removing folk, particularly women, from life - sometimes upon a single accusation that was supported by a jealous or vindictive populace [which couldn't, by definition be wrong].

WOT is just an example, as was pre-WWII Germany and Salem, of how a Wall of Shame can be corrupted and re-purposed.  Be cautious in advocating/implementing such, for it is a very, very slippery slope.

Mind,  I hold no ruth for spammers and their customers, either.  But once established, a Wall of Shame is extremely difficult to tear down.  However, it is very easy to corrupt from original intentions.

223
General Software Discussion / Re: Video conferencing
« on: April 14, 2013, 02:48 PM »
For investigation - and any relevant head banging  :P:

I've not tried any of these, as yet - well, I have used Google Talk a time or three (3) - but they're on my list of stuff to check out if I ever get time  :(  :-\  ;).  Maybe something here will click for you or perhaps point you somewhere effective.

224
Living Room / Re: Who's Going To Buy The Facebook Phone?
« on: April 07, 2013, 10:42 PM »
I'm trying to get off facebook.  ;D

There is no off, to the best of my knowledge.  You might be able to become inactive - I doubt it - but there just ain't no off  :( >:(.

225
Living Room / Re: Google Nose
« on: April 01, 2013, 08:54 AM »
(This would be more fun if there were to be a straight man.)

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