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76
Living Room / Hallow-e'en
« on: October 19, 2007, 09:18 AM »
Hallow-e'en is a big event here, in Canada.

It's also my son's birthday.
We didn't celebrate Hallow-e'en in the U.K. so, when we moved here my son, who was five at the time, was thrilled to find that everyone in his world would hand him a 'birthday' treat if he just knocked on their door.

The picture is of what my wife just created from a pumpkin.
We and others donate decorated pumpkins to a local organization that sells them and puts the proceeds towards food for some who are less fortunate than ourselves. It's fun and mildly useful at the same time.

Does anyone have Hallow-e'en favourite images/stories to share here?

Does Cody eat pumpkin seeds?

77
Living Room / Conserving energy
« on: September 19, 2007, 06:20 PM »
With all the buzz about global warming and energy conservation, I wonder what positions members here are taking.
I see that a lot of us leave our computers running 24/7 for example.

Personally, I have mixed feelings about the situation. The principle is fine. The implementation leaves something to be desired.
Here's where I'm at.

1) I've replaced all of the incandescent light bulbs in my house with low-energy bulbs.
Pros:
Certainly saves some power, which is good for the community. That's fine because it's not all about what's in it for me.
Cons:
The initial outlay was considerable (over 100 incandescent bulbs were changed).
I honestly doubt that I'll see a financial return.  That's because the quoted life of low-energy bulbs is totally inaccurate.  Within 2 years, 5 of my '6-year' bulbs have failed.

2) I've lowered the level of my heating and raised the level of my cooling.
Pros:
Saves some money.
Cons:
Takes a lot of acclimatization.

3) I've changed the big (old) second fridge that I keep in my basement for a new low-energy model.
Pros:
Saves some energy.
Cons:
Long payback period.  Realistically it'll be about 6-8 years to reach the break-even point.

4) Sometimes I now turn off my computers overnight.
Pros:
Small energy savings.
Cons:
A distinct sense of unease   :)

78
Living Room / Acceptable expletives
« on: August 17, 2007, 09:42 AM »

At times I am forced to eschew my favourite Anglo-Saxon oaths.
In what passes round here for polite company I still have a need to express extreme frustration, and there are times when "Oh bother!" just doesn't seem to cut it.

When hard pressed, my expression of choice is "Castor and Pollux." 
For example,
Castor and Pollux!  The data say that we have been wrong all along!
So, your mother is coming to stay for a week... Castor and Pollux!"

On what favourite expressions do others rely?


79
General Software Discussion / Preview web pages at different resolutions/sizes
« on: July 28, 2007, 05:44 PM »

I have to update my wife's (very simple) web site.

I know there exist various tools to let me easily preview a page/site at various resolutions and/or browser sizes.
I don't know what they are.

Can readers please point me to any such utilities that they find to be the simplest and best?

Thanks in advance!

80
Post New Requests Here / IDEA: Watch for specific drives, at intervals, after a certain hour
« on: February 17, 2007, 08:52 PM »
I have a couple of external drives which might be on or off, depending what I'm doing.

I really don't want them running all the time, especially overnight, but I can easily forget about them.

At the moment I have a few lines of AHK to tell me if they're on during shutdown.

What I'd like, for the (majority of) times when I don't shut down, is this:

Something that can run after a time I choose (let's say 22:00) and look periodically (let's say every 30 minutes) to see if specific drive letters are in use (let's say Q: and X:).

If one or both of the drives are on, I'd like to be reminded about it/them.  Then, when I wander off for the night, I won't leave them running.                                                                               

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