Messages

551

Living Room / Re: The town where WiFi, TV, radio, and cellphones are banned

« on: August 12, 2013, 11:49 PM »

Well it is an article from the Daily Fail. They've never let facts get in the way of their reporting before. No reason to start now.

-Vurbal (August 12, 2013, 11:15 PM)

Well, at least they have good role models to aspire to be like:

https://duckduckgo.c.../?q=cnn+faked+photos
https://duckduckgo.c.../?q=bbc+faked+photos

-Renegade (August 12, 2013, 11:47 PM)

Nah, they're way better than CNN. They're more like the Weekly World News. Now there was a tabloid you could trust. 

552

Living Room / Re: The town where WiFi, TV, radio, and cellphones are banned

« on: August 12, 2013, 11:15 PM »

Wikipedia states they have TV and several FM radio stations - sending with low power only: "Most broadcast transmitters in the Quiet Zone are forced to operate at reduced power and use highly directional antennas. This makes cable and satellite all but essential for acceptable television in much of the region."

http://en.wikipedia....nal_Radio_Quiet_Zone

Besides, maybe these children are more being protected...

-Curt (August 12, 2013, 03:17 PM)

Well it is an article from the Daily Fail. They've never let facts get in the way of their reporting before. No reason to start now.

553

General Software Discussion / Re: What audio software is best for medical transcription?

« on: August 12, 2013, 09:49 PM »

Unless every transcription comes with free "product placement" ads.

-4wd (August 12, 2013, 08:46 PM)

That could be interesting. Ads for mail order Viagra and "dating sites" randomly inserted into every transcription. Not so much useful but potentially damn funny.

554

Living Room / Re: P3005 HP LaserJet printer questions

« on: August 12, 2013, 01:33 PM »

^Once again proving^ that sympathy is in the dictionary, right between shit and syphilis.

(Old expression my dad used - That made mom furious - which is why I memorized it at the age of 6).

-Stoic Joker (August 12, 2013, 11:53 AM)

My wife and kids hate it when I say that, which just encourages me of course.

555

General Software Discussion / Re: What audio software is best for medical transcription?

« on: August 12, 2013, 07:58 AM »

Maybe it's just me, but it seems counterproductive to promote a transcription service with a spambot.

556

Living Room / Re: P3005 HP LaserJet printer questions

« on: August 12, 2013, 02:40 AM »

^^ Interesting. In Canada rubbing alcohol is 70% isopropyl alcohol, and not ethyl alcohol.

-Renegade (August 12, 2013, 02:16 AM)

That's what I get for not paying attention to what I'm writing.    I meant isopropyl but my mind wandered off to other alcohol fuels and my fingers followed.

557

Living Room / Re: P3005 HP LaserJet printer questions

« on: August 12, 2013, 01:20 AM »

I've never bothered much with refilling inkjet cartridges, especially HP's since I was never a big fan of their inkjet printers in the first place. However I have quite a bit of experience with alcohol burning backpacking stoves.

There are 2 primary factors in the flammability of any alcohol. The first is purity. Standard rubbing alcohol is 70% isopropyl alcohol and 30% water. This mixture is used specifically to reduce the chance of ignition for medical applications. However it is also available in concentrations as high as 99% alcohol (90% is probably more common) which, of course, increases flammibility.

The other variable is environmental temperature. 70% alcohol solutions in particular are relatively difficult to ignite at standard room temperatures. 90% or higher solutions are obviously easier to ignite at the same temperature, but particularly in air conditioned rooms may still be a lot less flammable than you would expect.

558

Living Room / Re: Licensing Developers?

« on: August 12, 2013, 12:31 AM »

Typically the kind of regulation you're describing doesn't happen as a result of government overreach on their own behalf, but rather as a protectionism for some industry to limit competition. That's not because there aren't advocates for that kind of overreach for its own sake. Obviously there always are. It's simply because it's usually easier to rally the public behind such a naked power grab.

OTOH if you can confuse the issue enough to make even a specious public safety argument your chances of controlling the debate increase exponentially.

559

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

« on: August 11, 2013, 02:15 PM »

On the other hand, Obama is a much weaker leader domestically (not having a control over congress). He was supposed to have much bigger sway internationally, but it doesn't seem to be happening, especially by not being able to communicate with another major powerful leader directly.

-dr_andus (August 11, 2013, 11:22 AM)

This is exactly what I consider the big problem with Obama. It's not a question of his intentions so much as his lack of experience playing DC politics and inclination to avoid rocking the boat. I tend to believe he has a lot of good ideas but lacks the temperament for leadership necessary to turn them into policy. In fact I would go so far as to say people like James Clapper, Eric Holder, and Joe Biden are actually the primary policy makers in the Obama administration.

That's too bad because I think he actually believes in the rhetoric of change that got him elected. I just think his history, up to and including his tenure as POTUS, consistently paints a picture of someone who fears failure too much to push his own agenda effectively. It's a shame too because I think he has a lot of good ideas. If he had the courage of his convictions I think he would do a lot of good.

For a pretty good overview of his history I recommend the piece Frontline aired during the 2008 election:

Since I can't seem to get the embedding code correct (maybe just my browser) here's a direct link to the Frontline page:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/choice2008/view/

560

Living Room / Re: Summon the NSA

« on: August 11, 2013, 12:51 PM »

Hell, what do I care about lists... pretty sure I'm on most of 'em by now anyway!

-J-Mac (August 10, 2013, 10:47 PM)

Any chance that you've made it onto the list of people that aren't on any lists?

-Renegade (August 10, 2013, 11:09 PM)

You do realize that's probably not a joke right?

The NSA has 3 lists:
1. Problem people.
2. Solution people.
3. people that need to get pigeonholed into one of the other 2 categories.

-Stoic Joker (August 11, 2013, 08:16 AM)

Can I be on list #6? I'm not a number, I'm a free man!

-Renegade (August 11, 2013, 09:06 AM)

Cue maniacal laughter...

Be seeing you.

561

Living Room / Re: Bitcoins Can Be Regulated

« on: August 08, 2013, 11:53 PM »

Needed a correction. Anarchy is not chaos.

-Renegade (August 08, 2013, 11:36 PM)

Definitely not. Constructive anarchy is the natural state for human society.  Unfortunately there's always some douchenozzle waiting to take advantage of it and we haven't worked out a solution to that yet which doesn't involve a government.

562

Find And Run Robot / Random thoughts: Launcher search

« on: August 08, 2013, 11:43 PM »

Today I was working out how to use FARR as a sort of compound replacement for Search and Run in my LBC based Start Menu alternative. Really the only thing I miss about the Start Menu alternatives is the ability to search the Start Menu itself as a shortcut to clicking 2 or 3 times. The extra clicks aren't really a problem with the LBC configuration I created. In fact that was part of the point, but it occurs to me that if you had a launcher with a text-based configuration file (XML ideally) you could do some really cool things by taking advantage of metadata.

The obvious use, like the Start Menu, would be simply finding a program which you could do by name or mouseover hint or executable, or whatever other metadata might be available. That wouldn't necessarily be a huge timesaver except that if you had something like a list of batch files or scripts you use for configuration or maintenance or whatever you could have them at your fingertips whenever you wanted.

Or maybe you might want to use FARR to bring up an entire menu rather than an individual item. Depending on what (and how much) metadata was in your configuration file you could perhaps even assemble a list from multiple menus so you don't have to track down each one individually.

Obviously LBC isn't currently setup for that kind of access but it would be an interesting idea. And of course you would have the flexibility to use some other launcher entirely instead of the 2 components being integrated together.

Sadly I'm a long way from being a programmer and not the kind of person likely to finish a project like this. Things like this just pop into my head and I'm compelled to see where they lead.

563

Living Room / Re: Edward Snowden's Email Provider Shut Down Rather Than Comply With Feds

« on: August 08, 2013, 11:39 PM »

Damn damn damn damn 

Lavabit was MY email provider.  I used it because they were a small, relatively unknown email provider (read: smaller target), they used Linux servers (gotta support the flock ), but more importantly, they kept your email encrypted, with no master key.  Only YOU could read your email.  Ever.

-Edvard (August 08, 2013, 11:24 PM)

That sucks. Sorry to hear it.

So, this is what it comes down to.  Submit to being spied upon at whim or else no goodies for you.

This is no longer a matter of whether it's not the United States I and millions of others used to know.  This is no longer the United States of America as defined by it's founding documents, period.

It's a basic lesson people need to learn and pass on to future generations (who will eventually forget it just like every other generation). Liberty and democracy are not something that can be bestowed, bequeathed, or inherited. They must be taken - not necessarily by force but always by force of will, and they must be maintained the same way.

Revolution does not have to mean war. But it always means standing up to the government and saying no.

In the words of Thomas Jefferson, "I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical."

564

Living Room / Re: Edward Snowden's Email Provider Shut Down Rather Than Comply With Feds

« on: August 08, 2013, 10:53 PM »

I hope you're right. The "fringe lunatics" have been screaming at the tops of their lungs about these issues for decades. There is literature on related topics going back to the 1910's & 1920's.

-Renegade (August 08, 2013, 10:42 PM)

What we have that they didn't is the Internet. It's not that the technology is somehow special. It's just that the propaganda only works to the extent that censorship allows it. Humans, as irrational as we are as a species have this bizarre ability to create a sort of social supercomputer that is ultimately greater than any of us separately.

Censorship disrupts that so propaganda can mislead us. Except that we, you and I, aren't affected by it when we route around the error. That's really what the Internet is if you think about it. A simplistic model of human communication.

565

Living Room / Re: Edward Snowden's Email Provider Shut Down Rather Than Comply With Feds

« on: August 08, 2013, 10:20 PM »

I wouldn't be too worried about "the industry." Have you noticed how all the people running around, appearing on news shows, and holding press conferences just keep repeating the same things over and over even though nobody believes them? It's not because they think they're fooling anyone. They're just so out of touch with the rest of the world they literally don't know how to do anything else.

What matters is that the masses have realized the emperor has no clothes and suddenly the spell is broken. A month ago people were scared not to go along with the government. Now they're just scared of the government. And now they're looking back at what we've been telling them for years and suddenly it makes sense. At the end of the day that's all people are looking for. Somebody to fill in the blanks they can't fill in for themselves.

No matter how charming or convincing or threatening you are sooner or later you have to deliver. Almost everyone can tell the difference between the real thing and a fake. Some people just take a lot longer than others.

566

Find And Run Robot / Re: FARR as Windows 7 startmenu search replacement

« on: August 08, 2013, 07:51 AM »

I was going to start a new thread but I think it may be better to jump into this one instead.

For those of you who haven't seen my previous posts on the subject, primarily on the LBC forum, I'm working on a project for AfterDawn to sort of redesign parts of the Windows desktop environment. The first part of that is getting away from the traditional Start Menu and replacing it using LaunchBar Commander. Because the search feature is so tightly integrated with the Start Menu, and also because Windows 8's search is just as tightly integrated with the Start Screen, that functionality (at least the interface) will have to come from outside Windows.

FARR has definitely become my go to tool for the job and I'd really like to use it here. That means working out a sort of baseline configuration that's intuitive for someone used to searching on the Start Menu. Obviously the Windows Search plugin is a major step, but I'm not sure what other options might be useful or necessary. I'm not looking to duplicate those searches. I just want to make sure the result they would have picked off the Start Menu is somewhere on the list.

That probably seems backwards to most people here. It's certainly backwards for me but IME the reason the greatest barrier to learning a program like FARR (for most people) is simply finding a comfortable starting point. From there it's simply a matter of showing them how to learn the rest. Once you understand some core concepts most things are very intuitive. If you don't find them intuitive you probably don't need them anyway.

If you have any suggestions for setting FARR up that way I would be extremely grateful. As much of a power user tool as it is, FARR also does simple well if that's all you need. Some people will want to learn more and I think I can get them ready for that. The rest will learn a little and either use it or not. Anyway I'm open to any ideas you might have.

567

LaunchBar Commander / Re: Windows key as a modifier using Sendkeys?

« on: August 08, 2013, 05:54 AM »

Okay now that I've gotten that solved my last major hurdle is incorporating Windows Search. The more I think about it, the more FARR (with the Windows Search plugin) seems like the best solution. Despite all the power user features it's actually the closest solution I can think of to the built-in Start Menu search interface.

My ultimate goal is to use more or less the same launcher for Win7 and Win8. In Win8 one of my goals was to eliminate being jerked from the desktop to the Start Screen. Using FARR solves both problems without sacrificing any compatibility with the standard Windows Search.

And since I'm greedy it also occurs to me if I'm getting rid of the Start Menu entirely what I'd really like is to eventually remap the Winkey from Start Menu/Start Screen to unhiding my launcher.

Not today though. I've got enough to keep me busy already.

568

General Software Discussion / Re: Rufus: Bootable USB Device Tool

« on: August 08, 2013, 05:25 AM »

That first link may be the comparison I was thinking of. It doesn't look familiar but all the details match what I remember. Hard to say for sure since I have the visual memory of an infant. 

569

LaunchBar Commander / Re: Windows key as a modifier using Sendkeys?

« on: August 08, 2013, 05:17 AM »

So it turns out there's a reasonably good solution. Even though it's not part of the Programs list, there is a Run shortcut in the current user Start Menu folder. Like any shortcut you can set a keyboard shortcut for it. I can use that to create an alternate key combination which doesn't require the Winkey to run.

Sometimes I just have to take a step back to see the obvious.

570

General Software Discussion / Re: Rufus: Bootable USB Device Tool

« on: August 08, 2013, 04:58 AM »

I remember reading about Rufus in a comparison of bootable USB creators a while back. I don't remember what website it was but I do recall it got a rave review for having the most comprehensive feature set.

571

LaunchBar Commander / Re: Windows key as a modifier using Sendkeys?

« on: August 08, 2013, 04:54 AM »

Thanks for the link - I read that when I started using FARR but hadn't played with it yet.

However my problem for this project (not for me but for some tutorials I'm doing for AfterDawn) is figuring out how (or if) I can setup Winkey combinations at all in LBC. From the help file and my testing it seems that only Ctrl, Shift, and Alt can be used as State Modifiers in SendKeys which seems to rule out all Win+X combinations.

Or there's something I just don't understand about how SendKeys works which is entirely possible.

572

LaunchBar Commander / Windows key as a modifier using Sendkeys?

« on: August 08, 2013, 04:30 AM »

I was hoping I could use SendKeys to launch the Run dialog from LBC. Originally I was hoping there might be a shell command to do that but I can't find any reference to one. My next thought was to use SendKeys but from what I can tell that's not possible.

If I'm understanding the documentation correctly only the State Modifiers can be used in that way. I could combine Ctrl-r, Shift-r, or Alt-r, but not Win-r. Is that correct?

I also remembered that NirCmd has its own SendKey function which would probably work except that it doesn't seem to support the WinKey at all.

The really annoying part is that I'm only trying to include it as a sort of baseline option. My actual recommendation is going to be replacing it with something like Run-Command at a minimum. However I don't like it as a default simply because it doesn't handle symlinks properly. That really won't make any difference for most people and it doesn't actually matter to me since I'm hooked on FARR.

Mostly I just want to be able to reproduce everything I consider worth messing with from the Start Menu in LBC and it bugs me. Unless somebody knows another way to launch the Run dialog I think I'm probably out of luck.

573

Living Room / Re: Please help superboyac build a server (2013 edition).

« on: August 08, 2013, 03:10 AM »

Nope. The blood and the pain (and the risk of a tetanus infection) jogs some little grey cells and that one obvious beginner thing you thought you checked 200 tries earlier (but actually didn't) turns out to be the thing that needed doing.

-40hz (August 07, 2013, 09:10 PM)

I'm certainly not going to deny that's it some of the time. We all know I'd be lying.

But, at least for me, more often than not it was things like the fact IBM buried the compatibility notes for the ServerRAID III adapter in an obscure corner of their website and didn't bother to either include them in their server docs so I would know why the 8MB of free space that should have been at the end was at the beginning where the partition should have started. Nothing more fun than spending 6 hours beating your head against a wall only to solve the problem with a Win98 boot disk.  

No, I'm not bitter. Why do you ask?

THE BOFH STILL RULEs!

Hail to the Bastard!

574

LaunchBar Commander / Re: No hints for menu items and problem with rundll32 command

« on: August 08, 2013, 02:24 AM »

See first post for solution

575

LaunchBar Commander / (solved) Problems with RunDll32 command

« on: August 07, 2013, 10:20 PM »

I edited this post to clarify the problem and include the solution. You can ignore the 2 posts below.

Problem: Unable to get the Windows Features Control Panel to populate when launching it directly using the following rundll32.exe command:

rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL appwiz.cpl,,2

Solution: After a bunch of testing it appears the problem is in rundll32.exe itself. Populating the list of features is actually done by TrustedInstaller.exe which can only be run by the built-in System account. System fails to create the svchost.exe process to do this if rundll32.exe is launched by any process besides explorer.exe  (via the Run dialog) or cmd.exe (directly from the command prompt). I ran into the same problem attempting to launch it indirectly from the command prompt using NirCmd's exec feature.

As an alternative it can be launched using the built-in alias of optionalfeatures. Technically it's optionalfeatures.exe, but it only seems to work in LBC if I leave off the .exe file extension and doesn't even work with that syntax when launching via NirCmd exec.