Recent Posts

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Living Room / Re: Buying a 125CC Motorbike...Your Opinions Wanted!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 03, 2014, 03:40 PM »

SJ...How do you get anywhere?  Are you not constantly sat at the side of the road fixing your Harley?

-Stephen66515 (September 03, 2014, 01:59 PM)

Nope she runs just fine, as did the other two before her going all the way back to the early 80s when I got off rice and never looked back (much to the relief of local law enforcement..).

I am looking for a Sports/Sports Tourer style ride

-Stephen66515 (September 03, 2014, 01:59 PM)

Ah! Nuff said ...(totally biased answer)... Excellent choice (my bike pictured above is Harley's version of Sport Turing).

When it comes to the 125cc, I won't be able to get a huge amount of speed as we are very strict on power output available for learner riders, and seeing as 125cc or lower are mainly sold to those riders, they are built specifically with those regulations in mind.

-Stephen66515 (September 03, 2014, 01:59 PM)

*snicker* ...We had a 5 break horsepower limit back in the day here too ... But since it was basically impossible to enforce much latitude was had by all. Besides, it's all about the gearing...and the Japs are really good at getting tons of power out of teacup engines. In an 1/8 mile race I'd still put my money on the 125 (e.g. they're fast - really fast off the line).

I am leaning currently more towards the Varadero 125.  I am thinking this purely because of the size of the bike itself.  It is much taller than normal 125's and looks rather comfortable and not a 'pocket rocket' in the sense that I am not going to be in over my head with no real riding experience.

-Stephen66515 (September 03, 2014, 01:59 PM)

Somehow missed that pic earlier. It does have a more relaxed seating position, and shades of the Enduro style with a bit longer travel suspension so it'll probably handle fairly well off road to. It should easily be the most fun mount out of the options listed above (and it's a Honda).

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Living Room / Re: Buying a 125CC Motorbike...Your Opinions Wanted!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 03, 2014, 01:14 PM »

I started riding on the street in 1977 - Here's the wife and I on a poker run last month:



...So yes I have a preference for Harleys...but they don't (currently) make a 125cc anything.

I can't really speak effectively about specific models as I haven't really kept up on that much since the late 80's. But as far as brands go: For the Jap bikes I've always had a soft spot for Kawasaki, but Honda has a solid reputation and track record for reliability ... Yamaha and Suzuki, not so much. You basically can't go wrong with a Honda. They rocked the industry back in 1968 with the first CB750k, and have maintained a respectable reputation ever since.

Are you looking for a sport bike style ride...or is that all that is available these days? The do have a wee bit of habit of attracting the wrong kind of attention...and they're not as comfortable on longer rides as something with less aggressive ergonomics (like a cruiser).

Back in the day we used to say that anything under 750cc was a girls bike (we prided ourselves on being assholes back then..). But the reality (especially these days) is that more people get killed o the smaller bikes because they don't realize just how fast the things really are. 0 to 60MPH in the sub 4 second range is normal...and 100MPH doesn't take much longer. So don't worry about looking funny on a smaller bike. Because it's far better to be laughed at than cried over in a casket.

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Living Room / Re: The One Word Game!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 03, 2014, 06:40 AM »

returns

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Post New Requests Here / Re: Finding the path of a file on your computer

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 01, 2014, 12:37 PM »

There seems to be one rather critically salient point that is getting missed here. In that all of the recent file activity/MRU lists deal with sessions that have already been closed. The OP appears to be more interested in verifying what the target(s) of file I/O sessions that are currently active is/are...before the relevant application is closed. Which is when it would be committed to historical MRU style lists.

I want to be sure I can find it again before I feel I can close it.

-spectrekitty (August 30, 2014, 05:53 PM)

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Living Room / Re: My Stinking, Rotten ASUS Router Died Overnight!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 29, 2014, 11:47 AM »

@SJ:  I read where others have found problems like that. However I don't have the tools oreequipment to test it unfortunately.

-J-Mac (August 29, 2014, 08:43 AM)

It doesn't take anything fancy. Just a couple of straight pins and a volt meter. Stick the pins through the wire (1 for each conductor), connect the volt meter, and see if the voltage drops off badly when you plug in the router.

You're not looking for any real specific variance, you're just trying to see if it hits close to zero under load ... Hell lacking a volt meter, you could probably just use a low voltage (like 12v) light bulb for the level of accuracy the test would require. I've had to do worse in a pinch.

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Living Room / Re: My Stinking, Rotten ASUS Router Died Overnight!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 29, 2014, 06:44 AM »

Sounds like there is a problem with getting the required power to the router. Open the box and check if a capacitor (or other component) blew in the section where power is converted from AC mains to the required DC voltage (usually 5 or 12 volts).

-Shades (August 29, 2014, 01:20 AM)

Working from this angle it couldn't hurt to verify the output of the "wall wart" power supply. Chances are good that it's on the edge and dieing under load.

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Living Room / Re: Mystery of Death Valley's Sliding Rocks Solved

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 29, 2014, 06:39 AM »

That principle could well be in action with these "moving rocks" also.
Empiric method. Innit great?

-IainB (August 28, 2014, 08:46 PM)

You betcha! Saves endless speculation and "explanations" of how it had to be aliens and UFO technology that made it possible.

This rube has made a career of it:
 (see attachment in previous post)

-40hz (August 28, 2014, 09:57 PM)

Huh? But it was. The article is just yet another colossal government cover-up to hide secret Pleiadian anti-gravity technologies that they got from a downed UFO in New Mexico in 1957. (They've been unable to locate the downed spacecraft in the desert in the article - that's the real culprit here! It probably crashed hundreds of years ago and is still pumping out anti-grav fields from it's worm-tractor propulsion drives.)

-Renegade (August 28, 2014, 10:48 PM)

Oh Yeah! Much better ...(Damn Heretics)... I'm gonna go with Renegade's version on this - Mystery saved - Good man!

 

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Living Room / Re: My cat needs your thoughts | RIP Saffron my dearest cat

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 29, 2014, 06:35 AM »

So sorry for your loss. It's terrible losing a loved one

-Dirhael (August 29, 2014, 01:41 AM)

+1 - They are family after all.

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Living Room / Re: Mystery of Death Valley's Sliding Rocks Solved

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 28, 2014, 06:54 PM »

First the Crystal Skull is declared a fake, and now this!

Earth sucks...

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General Software Discussion / Re: method of network drive-mapping regulated by location

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 28, 2014, 06:37 AM »

Split zone DNS - which requires zero moving parts - would allow the target's name to resolve to the internal IP at the office, and the external IP when not.

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 28, 2014, 06:32 AM »

I ran into a banking institution yesterday that did not allow special characters or spaces, but did required a number be included in the user name.

Like the outcome of that isn't going to be predictable as hell ...(y0ur N4m3)... Derp!

-Stoic Joker (August 27, 2014, 10:19 PM)

If a username/password is actually printed on paper, then it makes sense to not include beginning or ending spaces. But with the incredible invention of monospaced fonts, there's no reason why "a     b" couldn't be a valid username or password. I have never understood why "spaces" aren't allowed.

-Renegade (August 27, 2014, 11:07 PM)

...And then just for a giggle, I turn on the news this morning to find out that said banking institution just got hacked ... Wow, who'd a thunk that would happen..

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 27, 2014, 10:19 PM »

I ran into a banking institution yesterday that did not allow special characters or spaces, but did required a number be included in the user name.

Like the outcome of that isn't going to be predictable as hell ...(y0ur N4m3)... Derp!

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General Software Discussion / How Safari, Chrome, and IE handle SSL

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 27, 2014, 06:57 PM »

So I was working with a client today, trying to get their Gmail account forwarded to Exchange Online. They were using their preferred Google Chrome browser to access their Gmail account to perform this seemingly simple action ... But it kept failing..

The error message was completely uninformative, and seemed to imply that the address to be forwarded to was not valid for some reason. However the address was indeed quite valid.

So I had them open IE in in-private mode to ensure a clean browsing environment. In the hopes of at least gleaning something in the way of an at least somewhat informative error message. IE handily obliged, and informed us that the certificate being provided by the next popup window was not valid. So Google's browser was rejecting the certificate that Google's own mail server was trying to use ... Impressive? ...Not!

Now here's the really sad part. Knowing that the client had an iPad, I told them to try and perform the same action using the Apple Safari browser ... Because it's security was such total crap that it would most likely accept anything ... And horrifyingly I was right. It sailed straight on through like it didn't even bother to look at the cert let alone ponder it's validity.

FireFox was not readily available for this test...(so wasn't included)...but I did find it rather darkly comical watching Safari fail a security check in such a spectacular fashion.

 

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Living Room / Re: The Movie and Book Writing Thread

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 27, 2014, 06:17 AM »

That's just one of my pet peeves.

-Renegade (August 25, 2014, 01:24 PM)

@R - Out of curiosity....just how many of this pets do you have? It must be hundreds. 

-40hz (August 26, 2014, 06:17 AM)

I see what you did their.

-Stephen66515 (August 26, 2014, 06:24 PM)

All right now, you guys is just being mean.

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Living Room / Re: Ice Bucket Challenge...You all got nominated!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 26, 2014, 07:01 PM »

Wondering why I bothered posting this now...

-Stephen66515 (August 24, 2014, 09:22 PM)

Most likely because you felt it was worth sharing ... And many of us liked it.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Weird issue with computer: Volume spontaneously going to 100% at random

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 26, 2014, 06:38 PM »

I have seen multimedia keyboards do that sort of thing when they get a bit of age on them (crank/drop the volume, fire app key X, or just put the computer to sleep), so if you have one it could be worth investigating.

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Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 25, 2014, 10:21 PM »

And this is what happens when you completely lose you freaking mind:
 (see attachment in previous post)
The 2 S3 440 GH/s machines are turned to pull cold air out of the room, and - yes that is Dryer Vent Hose - then push the hot exhaust air out through the attic. The other S1 180 GH/s machine only has one fan and no outer housing (rather odd I thought), so it's still dumping a ton of hot air into the room ... But it's at least half assed tolerable in here now.

If these are the "Quiet Ones" (and they are), I'd hate like hell to hear the noisy ones ... Let's just say the wife is not thrilled with this latest development..

-Stoic Joker (August 17, 2014, 10:39 AM)

Like living on a tarmac, eh?

-Renegade (August 25, 2014, 09:31 PM)

hehe not quite that bad. Actually after the temperature stabilized with the exhaust pipes it isn't too bad in here now. A bit warm...yes. But I can turn off the two extra fans I had initially put in the room to keep the system temps down.

I brought two 1TH/s AntMiner S2's online at the office today. The boss got them on eBay for $2300, and we're splitting the take. Plan is to kit both of them with the 1.8TH/s upgrade in September when it comes out.

So now that I've got 1.2TH/s here, 2 headed for 4TH/s at the office, and that friend of mine pushing 6TH/s+ there is a whole string of little monsters you've created...

Actually I think there is a 500GH/s upgrade for the S1 we're running available..

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Living Room / Re: Robots could murder us out of KINDNESS unless they are taught the value of human

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 24, 2014, 01:19 PM »

it would be a challenge to teach them these so-called "human values." Especially since we're so bad at teaching said values to humans.

-40hz (August 24, 2014, 12:10 PM)

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General Software Discussion / Re: Wordpress and Hackers

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 24, 2014, 01:09 PM »

Wordpress.com didn't let you install custom plug-ins last time I checked.

-Tuxman (August 24, 2014, 12:02 PM)

Just because they aren't "custom" doesn't mean they've been thoroughly vetted for security. It just means that they're popular enough to be on everyone's radar..

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General Software Discussion / Re: Wordpress and Hackers

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 24, 2014, 12:00 PM »

My rule of thumb here is to use only commonly used plug-ins with a record of security. I have to blindly trust them because checking is too expensive for me.

-Renegade (August 24, 2014, 11:21 AM)

I usually try to replace plug-ins by simple functions.php snippets around twice a year. Works well. I know it sounds a bit harsh, but if you don't understand PHP, you shouldn't install WordPress. Better use the wordpress.com hosting service.

-Tuxman (August 24, 2014, 11:46 AM)

That's not going to auto-magically protect someone from installing a defectoid plugin, or guarantee security. It might get you updates a little faster...but until a need for said update is known, you're still going to be just as exposed as any other vanilla install.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Wordpress and Hackers

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 23, 2014, 06:20 PM »

...Maybe even add an automated redirector that sent anyone with more than 10 failed login attempts in a minute to the FBI's home page...

-Stoic Joker (August 21, 2014, 05:47 PM)

Are you kidding? I don't allow any more than 2 failed attempts in an hour before I block the IP.

-app103 (August 23, 2014, 06:02 PM)

No - for an environment that is actually user friendly - I'm not. The average user that forgot their password will typically try between 3 and 5 passwords a minute. The typical automated attack will try between 2 and 5 times a second. So yes, erring on the side of caution so as not to risk piss of customers/clients/visitors ... I'd say 10 tries in a minute ensures their is indeed some funny business going on.

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Living Room / Re: IT Resumes

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 23, 2014, 07:17 AM »

^This!! And as an example, the comment I made in the first post about construction experience was based on one of the interviews, and a high percentage of why the applicant that was selected, was selected. They hadn't put it on their resume...but it came out during the interview. And since I've run into several situations where an understanding of how a building was constructed had a direct impact on the requirements for a solution ... This definitely peeked my interest.

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Living Room / Re: Animal Friends thread

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 23, 2014, 07:02 AM »

^^^^ Awesome!  But wtf is with the telegraph pole at 00:45?  Seems to defy the laws of physics for a moment lol.

-Stephen66515 (August 22, 2014, 09:11 PM)

Most likely the camera is behind the face shield of a 3/4 style helmet that is deforming in the wind as the person wearing it turns their head. If you watch carefully there are several (some rather subtle) odd distortions in the video visible any time they look to the side.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Wordpress and Hackers

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 21, 2014, 05:47 PM »

For something with that level of exposure, I'd rename the admin account to something that was meaningful only to me. Then to be a total ass I'd create a bogus (HoneyPot) account with the default admin name that triggered an event to log as much information about said visitor as a browser session allows.

...Maybe even add an automated redirector that sent anyone with more than 10 failed login attempts in a minute to the FBI's home page...

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Living Room / IT Resumes

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 21, 2014, 03:23 PM »

    So it's occurred to me as we're looking for a new body here in IT, that apparently they don't teach people how to do a resume properly in schools these days. And it seems that most people are going with the best friends interpretation of marketing tactics advice of doing as much embellishing as possible ... Which more often than not backfires horribly during the interview when the applicant goes blank after getting hit with a probing question regarding listed skillset 'X'.

    With that thought in mind - given the large cross section of talent we have here - I thought it might be nice to get a discussion started about what to and not to do when creating a resume for an IT position. I'll start by listing some of the don't I've encountered in the past few weeks:

Don't put things you are interested in learning in a list of existing skills.
Don't put certifications you are planning to get under existing skills.
Don't leave large unexplained - multi year... - gaps in you work history.
Don't get wordy trying to make limited experience sound like more than it is (Especially for an entry level position - which this is).


And on the other/do side:
Do keep in mind that the first person to see your resume is unlikely to be the guy that is in charge of IT, so lighten up on the technical jargon and just be friendly, concise, and professional (especially in the cover letter). If you come across as cocky, aloof, or arrogant...the rest of your resume won't matter.

Do research the company to find out what they do so your resume can be tailored to their needs.

Do list other skills (in short) that you have in your background that could be relevant to what the company does. Any idiot can clamp an end on an Ethernet cable, but if you have a background in construction...there's a good chance you can also handle the hard part which is to get the cable across a building and then down through a wall ... Without damaging the building. If the company systems control machinery, an mechanical background might be nice to mention (assuming you actually have one).

Anyhow, I'm running out of time. But I wanted to see what other folks thought about what makes a good IT resume.