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1376

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by IainB on December 06, 2016, 08:41 AM »

...This tablet is perfect for paper lovers

-Arizona Hot (December 05, 2016, 09:59 PM)

Yes, when I first read about that pad/tablet on another website, I was seriously interested - that is, until I saw the price of US$700plus.   

UPDATE 2016-12-07 0407hrs: More information from:
their website getremarkable.com
their blog post: Better Paper. Better Thinking

1377

General Software Discussion / Re: cursor over image makes image blank out...why?

« Last post by IainB on December 06, 2016, 06:54 AM »

@holt: If the symptoms only occur when in a browser, then the cause would presumably/probably be in either a feature of the browser (but I have never seen such a feature as that as a default feature of a browser) or (and more likely) a feature of an extension/add-on.
Given that PaleMoon is a Mozilla-derived browser and SeaMonkey grew from the Mozilla Application Suite, I would suspect that a common extension/add-on (one that you are using in both browsers) is producing the symptoms - by design rather than by accident (i.e., it is probably not a bug).

What you should probably do is look through the extensions/add-ons and their settings in one of the browsers, to see if you can spot the likely culprit.
If that doesn't throw up any suspects, then try a process of elimination:

• Disable (do not delete) half of the extensions/add-ons in that browser.
• If the symptoms persist after you have restarted the browser, then re-enable the previously-disabled extensions/add-ons, and disable the other half.
• On restarting, the symptoms should have gone away.
• When the symptoms have gone away, you then re-enable the disabled extensions/add-ons, a few at a time, restarting the browser each time and checking to see if the symptoms have returned.
• When the symptoms do return (as they must, eventually), then the last few you re-enabled, as a set, must contain the problem, so you then disable all but the first in that set, restart the browser and keep that up- re-enabling them one at a time - until you identify the single problem extension/add-on that produces the symptoms.

Tedious, but pragmatic and it should eventually identify the causal problem extension/add-on.

Hope that all makes sense and is of use.

1378

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: DxO Optics Pro 9 available *FREE* until 2017/02/28

« Last post by IainB on December 03, 2016, 10:42 PM »

Thanks! Rather interesting. I have download and installed it to try it out.

1379

General Software Discussion / Re: Total Commander v9.00 Public Betas

« Last post by IainB on December 01, 2016, 08:59 AM »

He is not allowed to (...) l shave his face, for the entire 3 weeks.

-IainB (November 30, 2016, 10:01 PM)

I wish anyone would see a difference anyway.
______________________________

-Tuxman (December 01, 2016, 02:00 AM)

Yeah, well give me some credit. I didn't want for the DCF Aufseher to make the punishment too harsh/punitive  - I mean, let's face it, for anyone who thought TotalCommander was f##k-ugly, Sumatra's standard opening screen is not gonna be an easy study, so 30 unblinkimg minutes of that is gonna be pretty unpleasant, so to mitigate that and from your persona icon I figured you were probably one of those people who wandered around the place unshaven and in bare feet anyway (like myself), and if you weren't, then the experience might do you some good. So, overall, the punishment might provide some developmental dissonance, like it is meant to do in Guantanamo Bay - right?

Like the Rivet City security guards in Fallout 3 keep telling my character Rebecca2 (she has low karma):

"You're a low-life, and I've got my eyes on you, but as long as you don't do anything funny, we'll let you stay."

Rebecca2 feels that's a pretty tolerant approach, all things considered, and is grateful for the opportunity it affords her to rehabilitate herself.
And, similarly, so should you be, or any other deplorable forum creep for that matter.

I should probably add here the explanatory note that this approach is not an original idea of mine, but is very much based the on the approach taken by my own Aufseherin, who assures me that she only wants what's good for me.

1380

General Software Discussion / Re: Total Commander v9.00 Public Betas

« Last post by IainB on November 30, 2016, 10:01 PM »

Since Tuxman unquestionably falls into the "basket of deplorables" category - and I think we're all agreed there, so, no debate about that - I would suggest that, instead of inhumanely locking him in the sin-bin and throwing away the key, we exhibit some tolerance and at the same time help him to rehabilitate himself and restore his reputation in our eyes.

Put him on home detention for 3 weeks, on the condition that he sits and stares at the Sumatra PDF reader opening screen for a half-hour each morning, without blinking, and meditates upon his deficiencies and what to do about them in the 30 minutes. He is not allowed to wear shoes of any kind, nor shave his face, for the entire 3 weeks.

That would be enough to break anyone and is in fact the very treatment reserved for prisoners in Guantanamo Bay who were able to resist waterboarding - not a lot of people know that. One wouldn't wish it on one's worst enemy. I kid you not.

1381

Living Room / Re: grab urls - try GetRight?

« Last post by IainB on November 30, 2016, 07:27 AM »

You could do worse than try GetRight - http://getright.com/ (from Headlight Software - http://headlightinc.com/).
I think it might have been a forerunner or led the way for meeting all/most downloading requirements, including batch downloading from a text list, passing logon credentials, etc. It works with major browsers too.
GetRight also includes the incredibly useful GetRight Browser, which enables the user to browse/view the directories of accessible download sites.

Some people (not me, you understand) might say that, with a bit of experimentation, it is surprising how much stuff one can find to download with GetRight that might not be apparently available to the casual/inexpert enquirer, by back-dooring weak/nonexistent access control and apparently locked directories ...       - however, I couldn't possibly comment.

1382

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: filter_alias - FARR alias filter autohotkey helper script

« Last post by IainB on November 29, 2016, 11:15 PM »

I missed that. Thanks for cross-posting.
Nice workaround script.

-IainB (November 29, 2016, 11:13 PM)

1383

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Feature request(s)] Aliases

« Last post by IainB on November 29, 2016, 11:13 PM »

I missed that. Thanks for cross-posting.
Nice workaround script.

1384

Living Room / Re: This time of year I'm reminded how thankful I am for you folks

« Last post by IainB on November 28, 2016, 01:40 AM »

Thanks @mouser.
I consider that we forum members are probably equally lucky in having the First Author/Admonistrator      that we do, on this forum, and that, for all us oddballs, it's probably another case of "Vive la différence!"

I recall how, when I was first at college, years back, I went to the canteen to grab some lunch, but when I had my tray loaded and paid for, there were no empty seats at any of the tables - except, conspicuously, for 3 seats at a 4-seat table where an old codger - the scruffy-looking janitor - was sat, eating his lunch. Yuck. He cleaned the toilets, wore grubby-looking clothes and a cloth cap, and walked with a shuffling gait. People avoided him. Nobody wanted to sit next to him. So, I went and asked him if he minded my sharing the table, he said it was fine, so I sat opposite him. I forget how we started talking, but something he said sounded like he'd been in the military. I asked him if he'd been in the military, and he said yes, and told me his story. He'd enlisted in the Army towards the end of WW2 as a Private, under-aged, but lied about his age, so they accepted him. He had survived a couple of battles with the Germans and was sent home after being wounded in the leg/hip (thus explaining the shuffling gait).

I was overcome with a sense of humility and saw him in a completely different light. He was one of the hundreds of thousands of ordinary men and women who had left their families to bravely risk their lives to save their country (Britain) from being invaded by the Fascist German National Socialists (Nazis) and to protect and preserve Britain's national sovereignty, freedom, liberty and democracy for later generations. The guy wasn't just a lowly decrepit-looking college janitor, he was a jewel and the salt of the earth and I was lucky enough to be sat opposite him, talking to him. I had him and many others like him to be grateful to for the fact that I could get and enjoy my education and a life of liberty, free from the jackbooted heel of oppression under a Fascist German Federal Socialist State that was presided over by a maniacal dictator and run by his lobotomised unelected bureaucrats.

After that, whenever I met a stranger, I would try to assume nothing and would wait with expectation to see what sort of jewel I might be able to discover. The experience started to teach me the lifelong lesson that we are all self-imprisoned, shackled by chains made from the nonsense that is in our heads. We are so bound up in our own little discrete universes, unable to perceive a "reality" or see Others except through a set of filters which are our paradigms, propaganda, conditioning, bigotry, false assumptions and absurd beliefs - thus making the Other seem almost alien and "I" and "the rightness of I" seem to be all that really matters. If the Other does not conform to this perception, then the Other may even be perceived to be somehow variously bad/evil, deserving of death, etc.

That janitor is often in my mind and he is typically one of the people I think of on Remembrance Day (Poppy Day) - and when I see the national sovereignty, freedom, liberty and democracy of a country at risk of being trammelled by a plebiscite seemingly ignorant of, or despising their hard-won heritage left by their forefathers. I wonder what he would have made of it, or whether he would have given his life for that. I suspect he would.

1385

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Problem: CHS consistently very slow to display clips. Need workaround or fix.

« Last post by IainB on November 27, 2016, 01:04 PM »

Sorry. This post made in error and retracted.
Had not got all my facts right.
Working on it.

1386

Living Room / Re: How do you tag (or even organize) your files?

« Last post by IainB on November 26, 2016, 03:22 AM »

Cross-posted from: Re: Interesting: Tag2Find, Tagging for All Filetypes for Windows

Bump

Almost a decade on.

Still searching but has anyone discovered a good way of tagging files in windows?
____________________________

-Daleus (November 25, 2016, 02:31 PM)

+1 for tagspaces
____________________________

-wraith808 (November 25, 2016, 09:24 PM)

Interesting you ask! I have abandoned my quest a long time ago, but I just googled tag2find, etc. and found this

https://www.tagspaces.org

It's open source -- a great thing for that type of software...

The funny thing is that it implements the same solution I implemented myself 8-9 years ago. Basically, to avoid compatibility problems, writing the tags directly in the file names, using specific tag delimiters, etc. I described my method somewhere on DC. (Wonder if someone in their team read my description of if they just reached the same conclusions after an analysis of the situation.)

After at least 8-9 years tagging my files this way, I'm still finding it convenient. Using it every single day. People laugh when they see my file names, but I smile... they don't realize that I can group files on "any" subject (or combinations of subjects) in just a few seconds... in any OS or file system.
____________________________

-Armando (November 25, 2016, 05:55 PM)

@Armando: Yes, tagging the filename currently seems to be the only easy and practicable/feasible approach for meeting all one's tag/search requirements, and for a whole bunch of reasons. Essentially, the problem is solved by putting meta-data codes/keys (strings of A-N text) into the filename.

The main advantages of this approach would seem to be:

• Tagging can more easily be made reliable, available, consistent and visible at the lowest common denominator (the filename, visible in any file browser and not locked-in to a separate/proprietary viewer; no use is made of the ADS, Registry, or a proprietary indexing system).
• The file tags are persistent and easily changed if required - individually, or in batches (any filename editing utility, or mass filename editor will do; no proprietary tool is required and no use is made of the ADS).
• The index database for the tags can be a common and non-proprietary utility already on the Desktop - e.g., the index database of (say) WDS (Windows Desktop Search), or other file indexing/search system of choice - e.g., I often use Everything.
• If required, the tags searched can be treated as being in a structured notional/virtual hierarchy (regardless of their location on disk) - which can enable very powerful/useful filtered searches.
• The structure of a notional/virtual hierarchy can be easily changed at any time, as required and without necessarily invalidating the tags already in use.

Aside from the perhaps visibly sometimes odd-looking filenames, the main disadvantage would probably be that tags make file names longer, potentially causing the LFN (Long File Name) or "path/file name too long" problem at some stage - where (say) nesting of files/folders occurs where longish file names have been employed. This PITA can especially occur in backup/archive directories/subdirectories, even though the original file paths may have no LFN problem.

However, the LFN hack in Windows 10 (only) apparently overcomes this problem in NTFS systems, though I am unsure whether it applies also to FAT file systems under all conditions, and certainly it apparently only works for Windows 10, and not the earlier Windows OS versions.

I recall there was a freeware app ("Tag-something" - maybe it was Tagspaces, but I forget the name) that ran as a Firefox extension, or something, enabling a tagging system in the file names. Out of interest, I tried it out and found it quite good, but it felt a bit clunky and was kinda superfluous, given that the filename tagging tool can be whatever tool one uses to edit file names - singly or en masse.
It used delimiters to identify the tags (thus potentially making the filename even longer), and I could never quite see a solid reason as to why delimiters might be mandatory, never mind desirable. So, I use tags in the filename, but not delimiters.
I am therefore curious to know your reasoning on this, as you write that you use delimiters. Could you please describe that?
(Thanks.)

EDIT: By the way, I, like you, have used tags embedded in the filename for years - starting in 1998, whilst needing a tagging capability on a large document management exercise. The users had differently (non-standard) configured PCs and we badly needed an LCD (lowest common denominator) approach, so that any user could use the tagging system, regardless of PC configuration or Win0S. Using filename tags was simple/easy for the users to understand as well.
____________________________

-IainB (November 25, 2016, 09:34 PM)

Hi IainB,
I generously described the method I use there .
IMO, delimiters are fundamental if you want to have tags in file names and some flexibility -- e.g. modifying tags in batch -- or any part of the file name -- without ruining your file names.
I actually use several types of delimiters and use regex and software like Renamer to batch modify file names. Geeky, but works well.
 
(BTW, the reasons I described back then -- numbered and all... -- for using filenames are almost the same as yours!  )
____________________________

-Armando (November 25, 2016, 10:45 PM)

@Armando: Ah, thanks for that thread link. I think I understand your rationale a little better now. I didn't realise that you are using Regex and that you probably need to be using delimiters and sometimes using tags that may even contain meta-data about the tag hierarchy.
I consider that you are using a system with the potential for a high degree of granularity/definition, but it has the potential to defeat one of my earlier objectives, which was that the tags needed to be simple/easy for the users to understand and use.
Having said that, I reckon your approach may turn out to be the only way to go - using the available common technology.

Food for thought!   

By the way, it's probably not surprising that the reasons you described in that old thread, for using filenames, are almost the same as those that I gave. If it's a common problem in a common OS, with common constraints to a solution, then - given the nature of filenames - the solutions are probably going to be few in number and closely similar.

Rather than take this Tag2Find thread off-track, it might be worth bumping that old thread to discuss anything else about this: Re: How do you tag (or even organize) your files?

EDIT: I have cross-posted the salient bits to that thread anyway, just in case they might be useful.
____________________________

-IainB (November 26, 2016, 02:53 AM)

1387

General Software Discussion / Re: Interesting: Tag2Find, Tagging for All Filetypes for Windows

« Last post by IainB on November 26, 2016, 02:53 AM »

@Armando: Ah, thanks for that thread link. I think I understand your rationale a little better now. I didn't realise that you are using Regex and that you probably need to be using delimiters and sometimes using tags that may even contain meta-data about the tag hierarchy.
I consider that you are using a system with the potential for a high degree of granularity/definition, but it has the potential to defeat one of my earlier objectives, which was that the tags needed to be simple/easy for the users to understand and use.
Having said that, I reckon your approach may turn out to be the only way to go - using the available common technology.

Food for thought!   

By the way, it's probably not surprising that the reasons you described in that old thread, for using filenames, are almost the same as those that I gave. If it's a common problem in a common OS, with common constraints to a solution, then - given the nature of filenames - the solutions are probably going to be few in number and closely similar.

Rather than take this Tag2Find thread off-track, it might be worth bumping that old thread to discuss anything else about this: Re: How do you tag (or even organize) your files?

EDIT: I have cross-posted the salient bits to that thread anyway, just in case they might be useful.

1388

General Software Discussion / Re: Interesting: Tag2Find, Tagging for All Filetypes for Windows

« Last post by IainB on November 25, 2016, 09:34 PM »

@Armando: Yes, tagging the filename currently seems to be the only easy and practicable/feasible approach for meeting all one's tag/search requirements, and for a whole bunch of reasons. Essentially, the problem is solved by putting meta-data codes/keys (strings of A-N text) into the filename.

The main advantages of this approach would seem to be:

• Tagging can more easily be made reliable, available, consistent and visible at the lowest common denominator (the filename, visible in any file browser and not locked-in to a separate/proprietary viewer; no use is made of the ADS, Registry, or a proprietary indexing system).
• The file tags are persistent and easily changed if required - individually, or in batches (any filename editing utility, or mass filename editor will do; no proprietary tool is required and no use is made of the ADS).
• The index database for the tags can be a common and non-proprietary utility already on the Desktop - e.g., the index database of (say) WDS (Windows Desktop Search), or other file indexing/search system of choice - e.g., I often use Everything.
• If required, the tags searched can be treated as being in a structured notional/virtual hierarchy (regardless of their location on disk) - which can enable very powerful/useful filtered searches.
• The structure of a notional/virtual hierarchy can be easily changed at any time, as required and without necessarily invalidating the tags already in use.

Aside from the perhaps visibly sometimes odd-looking filenames, the main disadvantage would probably be that tags make file names longer, potentially causing the LFN (Long File Name) or "path/file name too long" problem at some stage - where (say) nesting of files/folders occurs where longish file names have been employed. This PITA can especially occur in backup/archive directories/subdirectories, even though the original file paths may have no LFN problem.

However, the LFN hack in Windows 10 (only) apparently overcomes this problem in NTFS systems, though I am unsure whether it applies also to FAT file systems under all conditions, and certainly it apparently only works for Windows 10, and not the earlier Windows OS versions.

I recall there was a freeware app ("Tag-something" - maybe it was Tagspaces, but I forget the name) that ran as a Firefox extension, or something, enabling a tagging system in the file names. Out of interest, I tried it out and found it quite good, but it felt a bit clunky and was kinda superfluous, given that the filename tagging tool can be whatever tool one uses to edit file names - singly or en masse.
It used delimiters to identify the tags (thus potentially making the filename even longer), and I could never quite see a solid reason as to why delimiters might be mandatory, never mind desirable. So, I use tags in the filename, but not delimiters.
I am therefore curious to know your reasoning on this, as you write that you use delimiters. Could you please describe that?
(Thanks.)

EDIT: By the way, I, like you, have used tags embedded in the filename for years - starting in 1998, whilst needing a tagging capability on a large document management exercise. The users had differently (non-standard) configured PCs and we badly needed an LCD (lowest common denominator) approach, so that any user could use the tagging system, regardless of PC configuration or Win0S. Using filename tags was simple/easy for the users to understand as well.

1389

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Key combination tally

« Last post by IainB on November 25, 2016, 07:48 PM »

Snap.
Sorry, I should have waited for @skwire to respond.   

1390

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Key combination tally

« Last post by IainB on November 25, 2016, 07:43 PM »

Use AutoHotkey to detect/capture whatever key combo you desire, and then simply pass/send the relevant trigger key(s) to KeyCounter, or, you could write a key-counting routine in AHK instead - but then, why reinvent an otherwise presumably perfectly good wheel?

1391

Living Room / Luna Lee plays rock on the 6th century Korean Kayagum stringed instrument.

« Last post by IainB on November 25, 2016, 09:07 AM »

I have always been interested in musical instruments, including those from other cultures and ages.
I don't know whether people reading this will have seen/heard this rock music played by one Luna Lee on the 6th century Korean Kayagum stringed instrument, but I hadn't.
See the openculture.com blog post:
Three Pink Floyd Songs Played on the Traditional Korean Gayageum: “Comfortably Numb,” “Another Brick in the Wall” & “Great Gig in the Sky'

Check out especially: Pink Floyd- Another Brick In The Wall Gayageum ver. by Luna

Having tried to play a sitar, I was always impressed with how well the Beatles incorporated and fitted the sitar neatly into some of their instrumental music. I gather that Ravi Shankar had introduced them to the sitar, but their use of it generally retained the style and tradition of the sitar instrument in its Indian music context, whereas the modified Korean Kayagum, as played by Luna Lee, is a completely transformed instrument. It seems to have been imaginatively and almost violently pushed into the era and culturally foreign context of Western rock music. However, I think it works surprisingly and exceeding well, and sounds stunning in the "Wall" rendition (one of my favourite pieces of music).

Anyway, I think I might prefer it to K-Pop - which my half-Asian daughter has recently become a fan of and has introduced me to, and which I am listening to and entertained by, though I can't help feeling that it seems to be formulaic MTV stuff, too artificially Japanesey-cute, lacking in originality and seemingly borrowing variously from and blending the Spice Girls, Nikki Minage, Pussycat Dolls, Sugababes and others. Not much different to, but probably harmonically nicer-sounding than the majority of the current crop of pop music, I suppose.

1392

Living Room / Re: SCAM: Binary Options Trading - a WARNING and a real-life tale.

« Last post by IainB on November 25, 2016, 02:55 AM »

@Stephen66515: Sounds like something has hijacked the browser. Probably a PUP loading the hijack with the ASK toolbar, or something.
Are you running a licenced copy of MBAM PRO (Malwarebytes) in real time? Shouldn't have happened if so.

In the past, I have used MBAM to scrub browser hijacks like that, off of other peoples' PCs. Worked a treat.

1393

Living Room / Re: Why Does Everything Have To Be Video?

« Last post by IainB on November 25, 2016, 02:32 AM »

The video about "why video converts better than plain text" essentially describes what was implicit in what I wrote above:

(b) A lowering of the lowest common denominator for the messaging in the whole system of communication, so that people with basic or no literary skills could reach out with and be reached through communication at the audio-visual level - which utilise our natural senses - rather than have to try to use an artificial encoding system (text) for communication.
______________________________________

Regardless of what the presenter in that video says he thinks, he would seem to be unaware of the research and psychology involved in perception and marketing and communications theory and which explains how video "converts" better than plain text. Since the '20s, psychology has been a fundamental tool used in developing marketing communications that create successful advertising and propaganda - stuff that sells an idea or concept. This is communication that gets through to the limbic system - a complex system of nerves and networks in the brain, necessary for our survival, controlling the basic emotions and drives, influencing the ego but generally having little or no influence on our higher level thinking centers.

Watching videos is a passive exercise that, because it employs our natural senses and has the potential to excite the limbic system, seems to slip around our critical thinking gates. Having to mentally decode text necessitates mental effort (not exciting the limbic system) and that would be more likely to engage our critical thinking capability - which is an artificial, learned skill (Edward De Bono).
These are the reasons why communicators who may want to condition an audience to believe that something is, for example (say) necessary or good or true or useful or desirable - when in fact there may be no rational basis for it if one thought critically about it - use persuasive multimedia, the most powerful being audio-video. But large staged events (e.g., Hitler's orchestrated rallies and speeches) are just as effective - if not more so - than video, because you're there in the midst of it all, experiencing it firsthand, getting carried away by it.
It's all about persuasion and "let your limbic system do your thinking for you" - and, depressingly, that's often just what we do, existing in the illusory state of ahamkara, imagining that we have rationally thought things through to get to this point, so we cannot be anything other than correct/right.

Americans would be familiar with this, having had a barrage of this sort of marketing communications for about a year now, in the election process. The very last thing the communicators probably wanted to trigger was the arousal of the audience's critical thinking potential, hence all the rousing BS, the flags, the staged strutting of the virtue-signalling film-star advocates (as if that even matters), the echo-chambers, the rabble-rousing pejorative labelling, the stigmatisation and demonisation of the Other, and the divisive identity politicking, etc., ad nauseam. It had to be like that and that's probably the only way it could be, if the objective persuasion was to be achieved - or, as one of the campaign operatives so aptly put it on camera:

“It doesn’t matter what the friggin’ legal and ethics people say, we need to win this motherf#cker."

For those as might want to follow this up, the topic of political persuasion in this election has been interestingly explored and analysed on the SCOTT ADAMS' BLOG (of Dibert fame).
 
This all goes a long way to providing an answer to the question in the OP:

Why Does Everything Have To Be Video?

- the general answer probably being, "Because it sells by not burdening our little heads".

Absolutely classic that @Stephen66515 demonstartes this by using a video to communicate his POV on the matter, by "qouting" (showing) us a video that sorta says what he thinks, but doesn't bother articulating in text:

I want to throw my 2c into the pot here
So here is a video that sums up what I think: ...

Love it. Very droll.

1394

Living Room / Re: Why Does Everything Have To Be Video?

« Last post by IainB on November 24, 2016, 05:27 AM »

@mouser: Hey, that's great - thanks.   

FWIW not so bothered about this being off-topic, as thinking it's worth it's own thread

-tomos (November 24, 2016, 04:24 AM)

Yes, I reckon so too. I find it very interesting and a potentially wide-ranging topic..

1395

Living Room / Re: Why Does Everything Have To Be Video?

« Last post by IainB on November 23, 2016, 11:44 PM »

@Deozaan: Yes, I consider you have raised an important and salient point there ^^. The demand for such things is still evolving, is very natural, real and easily understood, and potentially infinite. The Internet has enabled the release of that demand and its satisfaction on the supply side.
(By the way, I think this is all off-topic and maybe we should pull the salient comments into an appropriately-named thread.)

I suspect that the English scientist Tim Berners-Lee would see that things have certainly come a long way from the CERN scientific
information-sharing system as he probably imagined it when he invented the World Wide Web in 1989. The Internet is apparently one of the largest markets on the planet - if not the largest - and has (or had) no borders. It's ubiquitous.

The embryonic "Internet" - "www", as it was then - initially seemed to be for techos and scientists and those as could read/write - kind of exclusive of those who could not, and effectively a barrier to entry into this New Thing. However, the founders of Google (now become "Alphabet" or something) perceptively and disruptively transformed the scene - e.g., with the acquisition and/or experimental introduction and then promotion of seriously useful email, personal blogging services, "channels", YouTube and various other services. Also, as @wraith808 refers, the introduction of blanket commercial "incentivisation" (enabling "monetisation") to use Internet media such as blogs, webpages and YouTube videos, for example, to carry and disseminate advertising, would probably have been a powerful motivating factor on the supply side.

Some important things were enabled/achieved through the use of the developing technologies, including:

• (a) The technological "emancipation" of the newly-created market - the lowering of barriers to entry, so that now anyone (supplier or consumer) could enter the market if they had an ISP, a modem and a PC.
• (b) A lowering of the lowest common denominator for the messaging in the whole system of communication, so that people with basic or no literary skills could reach out with and be reached through communication at the audio-visual level - which utilise our natural senses - rather than have to try to use an artificial encoding system (text) for communication.
• (c) The collapse of the value-chain in the market, which in one fell swoop wiped out countless intermediate links that traditionally had acted solely as middlemen (adding no real value) in the B2C (Busines-to-Consumer), C2B (Consumer-to-Business) and B2B (Business-to-Business) transactions along the value-chain. This was a huge benefit for consumers and businesses alike, as it improved efficiency and enabled across-the-board cost (and price) reduction for most/many transactions, thus boosting demand (where demand was usually price-elastic) and corresponding supply. Amazon would probably be a prime example of this in operation, having formed itself into a self-regulated near-perfect marketplace (in terms of economic theory), where market entry costs are minimal and where genuine C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer) WOM (Word-of-Mouth) and feedback is generally encouraged/enabled. Ruddy brilliant.

I have a prime example of (b) A lowering of the lowest common denominator in the shape of my now 6 y/o son, who, with no literary skills and just my help, guidance and encouragement, at age 3 began using a laptop and playing online and downloaded games that I directed him to.
Pretty soon, by click-happy trial-and-error, he was finding other games that he wanted to play. Some that he particularly liked (and still does) were "Tower Defense" type games, but at first he couldn't progress very far through the levels, so I found a website that had walk-through videos which took one through successful strategies to win particular levels. After a bit of hand-holding, he was eventually able to independently do this and then go back and apply the winning strategy in a particular level of the game.
Then, after sitting beside his older sister and watching her playing them, he graduated to online games like Wizard101 and Pirate101, and suddenly, to her astonishment,  he was outstripping her achievements, using her wizards/pirates, and then starting on his own from scratch - i.e., he had begun to learn to think critically and strategically how to develop his game characters, without even realising it. This was all through audio-visual media, but at the same time he was incrementally learning to recognise the patterns of the odd useful word or three, and he thus commenced reading, without really trying - because it was useful to know these words for playing and winning a game, so he was motivated by the realisation that he needed to be able recognise certain words. Gradually, his vocabulary and list of recognised words expanded - it was classic learning by trial-and-error through play and experimentation - an instinctive, essential and basic human survival skill. We are all scientists at that age, though sadly it often somehow seems to get squashed during our school years.

1396

Living Room / Re: Why Does Everything Have To Be Video?

« Last post by IainB on November 23, 2016, 10:38 AM »

...Why does every explanation how to do something have to be a video now?...
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-MilesAhead (November 23, 2016, 06:55 AM)

Well, it's a bit of a digression, but I think I can answer your question.
I didn't know that what you refer to was the case until fairly recently, when a tech support guy in a PC hardware supplier shop told me that, if I wanted to find the latest workaround for a certain product (a TP-Link USB Wifi dongle), to get it working under Windows 10, then I should search YouTube, and NOT the discussion forums.
When I asked why that was, he said that it was easier/quicker to produce a short YouTube video than it is to document a solution.
Anyway, I followed his suggestion, and discovered that he was only about half right, and eventually I found a fix via a forum discussion that led to a new hardware flash update for the dongle, and new drivers.
Recalling the advice to search YouTube, I looked in YouTube for other fixes and workarounds for other problems, and I was surprised at the number of vids there were for supporting this and that, but most of them were mediocre.

My theory as to why this is is that a large number of people probably find it easier to make an amateur video on YouTube, and probably get more satisfaction from viewing their video and hearing their own voice, than there are people able to enjoy documenting a solution and seeing it in writing - because of relatively low levels of literacy.
Similarly, a large number of people probably find it easier to, and thus prefer to, watch a video - because of relatively low levels of literacy.

I generally find watching a video for information to be a slow and tedious exercise, so I only do it as a last resort, if I can't find it documented somewhere.
Having said that, I do think that training videos - e.g., demonstrations showing how to use a piece of software - can be tremendously useful and often succeed in being the simplest/fastest way of communicating something, but the presenter has to be trained and skilled in communication and making presentations - and self-aware - for this approach to be successful.
Only today I saw a classic example of how NOT to do it, on a Microsoft website offering Office 2016 training videos - I was looking for something for my 15 y/o daughter to use for Excel training.
In this video (sorry, I didn't keep a link to it), the presenter was a young Asian-looking woman who sounded like a native English speaker. She spoke in what sounded like clear English, but with a very slight twang - possibly Aussie or Kiwi.
Unfortunately, even though she possessed a nice voice, her elocution was very poor. Not only did she speak too rapidly (maybe nervous, I don't know), so that she kept clipping some of her words, making them hard to decipher, but also she started sounding her vocal fry register about halfway through each sentence and continuing it to the end, and sometimes tailing the tone of her voice upwards at the end of the sentence, thus contorting a statement into a question.

So I rapidly switched off the video and hunted around for one presented by a better communicator, for my daughter.

The unconsciously-made vocal fry and the upwards tone would have to be two of the most annoyingly bad, distracting and avoidable bad speech habits a person can have - they are typically habits of immature girls with poor language skills, though I did once hear a young man unconsciously performing the upwards-tailing tone at the end of every single sentence. These bad habits can be learned by girls at school as a form of unconscious protective colouration to gain acceptance by a group, and can often be accompanied by excessive use of redundant words including "like" and the phrase "you know". They can be crippling habits, in terms of career development.

1397

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Problem: CHS consistently very slow to display clips. Need workaround or fix.

« Last post by IainB on November 23, 2016, 05:57 AM »

I used Process Hacker to restart RuntimeBroker.exe, as the latter has proven to be a constipating factor for the performance of several other processes, however the restart of RuntimeBroker.exe seemed to make no apparent difference to the performance of CHS.

I'm running out of ideas for performance tweaks for CHS now.

1398

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Problem: CHS consistently very slow to display clips. Need workaround or fix.

« Last post by IainB on November 23, 2016, 05:29 AM »

Out of interest, I set the Temp setting to force the Temp directory to the System temp directory: R:\Temp\ (2) <--{this is copied from the Statistics pane; I am not sure what the number (2) signifies.}
R:\ is a RAM disk with dynamically assigned size (created by ImDisk ToolKit). Is very stable.
I then restarted CHS.

The result seemed to be a much faster movement up/down the Grid, but still stuttering. with some pauses being about 3 or 4 seconds, and in those cases the difference between the clips seemed to be insignificant.

I have retained this setting to R:\Temp\ since it seems to be an improvement.
However, the problem remains.

1399

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Problem: CHS consistently very slow to display clips. Need workaround or fix.

« Last post by IainB on November 23, 2016, 05:09 AM »

Yesterday, I set CHS.exe to "Run this program as an Administrator" for all Users, but it seemed to make no difference then or later.
I have left it set as that.

1400

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Problem: CHS consistently very slow to display clips. Need workaround or fix.

« Last post by IainB on November 23, 2016, 05:05 AM »

Copy of CHS Statistics, as at 2016-11-24 0007hrs:
Information:
   Database File: C:\UTIL\Windows utilities\FindAndRunRobot\Plugins\Clipboard Help+Spell\Database\ClipboardHelpAndSpell
   Temp Directory: C:\UTIL\Windows utilities\FindAndRunRobot\Plugins\Clipboard Help+Spell\Database\Temp (0)

Totals:
   Text Clips Added To Database: 16437  (4.84mb)
   Image Clips Added to Database: 916  (224.55mb)
   Items Pasted: 2878
This Run
   Text Clips Added To Database: 61  (38.60kb)
   Image Clips Added to Database: 0  (0b)
   Items Pasted: 8
This Run, Total Detected Clipboard Events: 813
   DB Retryable Errors: 0 (0)
   ClipEvents Triggered: 836
   ClipEvents Processed: 805
   ClipEvents TooSoon: 661
   ClipEvents Identical: 18
   ClipEvents Duplicate: 3
   ClipEvents Ignore: 8
   ClipEvents TooBig: 0
   ClipEvents BadFocus: 66
   ClipEvents BadMutex: 0
   ClipEvents IgnoredEvents: 0
   ClipEvents TooFast: 0
   ClipEvents GetUrl: 35
   ClipEvents GetUrlException: 0
   ClipEvents Exception: 0
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