Recent Posts

1401

Living Room / Re: Milestones

« Last post by nudone on April 21, 2009, 03:52 AM »

Hold on a 'mo.. Has someone gone and shown Chris how to start his own threads now?

Seems like a bit of a risk to me..

-mouser (April 20, 2009, 11:09 PM)

i knew there was something unusual about this thread but couldn't think what it was. Let's see a few more topics started by cranioscopical.

1402

Site/Forum Features / Re: Ignore Thread and Improved Bookmark Mod Implemented

« Last post by nudone on April 19, 2009, 04:37 PM »

ooh, that's nice.

1403

Living Room / Re: for the past 50 years, American students were taught bullshit

« Last post by nudone on April 19, 2009, 06:09 AM »

i'm out of touch, but having read things like Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct some years back i don't think it's right to say grammar is an artificial construct. Seems quite innate, with an underlying "universal" grammar that all languages grow from.

(i'm sure there will be DCer's around here that know far more about it. i bet Mr. Pinker isn't even the champion of that movement anymore.)

edit:
Erm, is "universal grammar" Chomsky's thing? i know i've heard it somewhere.

1404

Living Room / Re: for the past 50 years, American students were taught bullshit

« Last post by nudone on April 18, 2009, 11:45 AM »

as a native English man, i can tell you that my grammar skills are almost zero. just another example of the arrogance we have on these shores, i.e. it's "our" language, we don't need to know how it works.

i've also found that a lot of things i thought were "correct" english are just colloquialisms. i can thank Tim Smith for making me aware of all that - not that i can remember any of it now.

1405

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by nudone on April 18, 2009, 04:57 AM »

I have now removed locate and use Everything almost exclusively.

The only problem I have with "Everything" is that it doesn't seem to be able to cope with removing external drives.

-Carol Haynes (March 10, 2009, 04:18 AM)

i'm been using Everything for a few weeks - i never really got on with any other of the search programs.

what's the problem with the external drives? are you wanting the drives indexed when they are connected or just not indexed at all?

1406

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: move small dialog windows to cursor position

« Last post by nudone on April 16, 2009, 10:02 AM »

Well I enabled the shortcuts and clicked the one for
> MakeNotDetectableTitle
when the popup window was visible (& presumably had focus) and it's remained in it's corner since (good window!)

-tomos (April 16, 2009, 09:34 AM)

that is the correct procedure. if that doesn't work - because the title isn't recognised you can then try just MakeNotDetectble (without title).

the shortcuts for the hotkeys are the same as autohotkey's so:

# is winkey
! is alt
+ is shift
^ is control

eg. you want to use the winkey plus F11 to initiate MakeNotDetecableTitle, so you put the following into the dialogmove options:

#F11

or if you prefer...

1407

Living Room / Re: Gothic's New Blog on Server Administration and a cool console-y wordpress theme

« Last post by nudone on April 16, 2009, 02:42 AM »

very clever idea for a theme. top marks there.

(i shall have proper read through the web log later.)

1408

Living Room / Re: Tweenbots: A Social Experiment with Human-dependent Robots

« Last post by nudone on April 15, 2009, 04:11 PM »

It would be interesting to try this experiment in some other cities and compare the results.

-40hz (April 15, 2009, 01:48 PM)

i'd like to see it done in the UK. and, i'd hope that i'd be proven wrong that some little sod wouldn't jump on the tweenbot within about 5 minutes of the experiment starting.

1409

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: move small dialog windows to cursor position

« Last post by nudone on April 15, 2009, 04:06 PM »

is that a suggestion for the screencast or are you stuck with that problem, tomos?

if you are stuck, then yes, you'd try one of the shortuts - though, i can't remember now if some windows just won't behave.

1410

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: move small dialog windows to cursor position

« Last post by nudone on April 15, 2009, 08:00 AM »

good point, tomos. i always switch the hotkeys to include the winkey.

maybe a few of us can list what we think is worth mentioning to newcomers of dialogmove and i'll try to include them in the screencast(s).

i currently have about nine annoying dialog windows in my list that pop up on my vista system, a few more and i'll make the screencast.

UAC in vista also seems to prevent dialogmove from saving changes made in the options panel - i have a work around for that (i believe without disabling UAC) so i'll include that in the screencast too.

1411

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: move small dialog windows to cursor position

« Last post by nudone on April 14, 2009, 01:06 PM »

excellent. i'm glad it's not just me that appeciates the benefits of dialogmove.

as for vista. it's more a case of when using something like notepad the open/save dialog windows do try to open up close to where you want them, i.e. near the 'file' menu. it definitely doesn't do it correctly everytime - sometimes it just remembers the position of the dialog when it last appeared - which could be at the opposite side of the screen. meaing 'dialogmove' would have corrected it if it was enabled.

i'm compiling my list anyway. i've got four annoying dialog boxes on it so far. the quest continues.

1412

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: move small dialog windows to cursor position

« Last post by nudone on April 14, 2009, 12:15 PM »

i've been looking at what would best demonstrate 'dialogmove' when recorded in a screencast - and now i'm wondering if i'm losing my mind.

i thought i'd turn dialogmove off and record how things are without it, which would then make a good comparison with a second recording with dialogmove enabled; a before and after type of thing. the problem is, i can only find one regular dialog window that gets moved by dialogmove - all the others i thought were being moved by the util are actually just moved by vista by default: things like save and open dialog windows.

there are occasions when vista doesn't move the dialog; which dialogmove must then be catching - otherwise i would have noticed this non moving behaviour sooner. when i say vista, i mean the programs i'm using really.

now that i've looked at what i'm doing it seems that there are very few dialog boxes in vista that are annoying enough to need regularly moving. so far i can only find the 'do you want to empy the recycle bin' dialog. vista just doesn't seem to throw up many small dialog boxes.

so, what i'm trying to say is, until i can find more dialogs that need moving i can't justify doing the screencast. i'm even doubting the use of dialogmove now. i can't understand it. there must have been lots more annoying little dialogs in xp - or maybe the save/open dialogs didn't behave as well as they do in vista. maybe it was just the programs i was using back then on xp.

i shall investigate and make a list of annoying dialog windows that popup in vista over the next few days.

1413

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: move small dialog windows to cursor position

« Last post by nudone on April 14, 2009, 02:36 AM »

for those of us not in the know,
could you describe briefly - or link to a description of what this programme does? (& how it does it?)

JG has no home page for his apps but I know he's a busy man too...

-tomos (April 13, 2009, 04:26 PM)

i'll try and get a screencast done of this program as i think it's undervalued. honestly, one day all operating systems will use this same dialogmove method - unless they're using a small screen.

1414

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: move small dialog windows to cursor position

« Last post by nudone on April 13, 2009, 02:53 PM »

Is it possible to exclude the window that pops up when I press alt-tab (in Vista)? Hotkeys don't seem to be able to catch it.

Thanks,
Eric

-ayryq (April 13, 2009, 02:27 PM)

i had the same problem. i don't think there is a solution other than using a different alt-tab program.

i'm using TaskSwitchXP http://www.ntwind.co...re/taskswitchxp.html so the standard alt-tab window nolonger appears. also, i think the standard vista alt-tab box is very annoying - it's very difficult to differentiate the icons and thumbnails.

if you do use TaskSwitchXP, you'll probably have to get the settings just right to make the most of it. if so, just ask and i'll go through the settings i'm using.

edit:
i probably should post my setting for dialogmove too. i don't think the default rules are quite right for the most enjoyable use.

1415

Site/Forum Features / Re: March 2009 Fundraiser Wrap-up

« Last post by nudone on April 13, 2009, 04:25 AM »

marvellous. looks like a very successful experiment to me. roll on the next four years.

1416

Living Room / Re: Tweenbots: A Social Experiment with Human-dependent Robots

« Last post by nudone on April 12, 2009, 02:10 PM »

Hey! Were I able to obtain one of those flags I could go out again!

-cranioscopical (April 12, 2009, 12:39 PM)

  fantastic.

1417

Living Room / Re: crisis of credit visualized by Jonathan Jarvis

« Last post by nudone on April 11, 2009, 03:13 AM »

nice video, mouser. not a lot you can say after that.

personally, i'm just looking forward to the next documentary film that Adam Curtis will (surely) make about the whole mess.

here's a quick clip he did for Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe in 2007 (if anyone is curious).

http://video.google....=7889586355561291332


but, really, you should watch these, i think they provide a nice (opionated) history of how we got to where we are today:

The Trap: What Happend to Our Dreams of Freedom (2007)
The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear (2004)
The Century of the Self (2002)

1418

Developer's Corner / Re: Dr.Dobbs Silverlight Programming Game Challenge

« Last post by nudone on April 10, 2009, 04:14 PM »

these files of cody walking using flash might help if anyone is interested, you'll have to convert or edit them somehow.

1419

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the new desktop?

« Last post by nudone on April 10, 2009, 04:06 PM »

If our economy and energy problems continue, I think that this might well be the new desktop for many people.
 (see attachment in previous post)

-40hz (April 10, 2009, 12:01 PM)

perfect! oh, wait, is there a portable version? nevermind, i think gluing a few of the items down will be good enough.

1420

Living Room / Re: crisis of credit visualized by Jonathan Jarvis

« Last post by nudone on April 10, 2009, 11:15 AM »

what about those of us who are already well into being incredibly angry?

-mouser (April 10, 2009, 11:09 AM)

erm, you'll just have to wait for the rest of us to catch up. hopefully someone will then make a video about how not to be angry. that's the best i can offer.

1421

Living Room / crisis of credit visualized by Jonathan Jarvis

« Last post by nudone on April 10, 2009, 04:09 AM »

Jonathan Jarvis has made a simple to understand video about the credit crunch. (i've ignored all the ones that have been on TV so maybe this is overkill for some of you that are sick to death of these things).

watch it, then you'll be able to transcend your confusion about this mess and simply start being incredibly angry instead.

http://www.crisisofcredit.com/

edit:
here's a more interesting link with background to the video: http://jonathanjarvi...com/crisis-of-credit

1422

Living Room / Re: Is your online life in your will? (Backups, passwords, etc.)

« Last post by nudone on April 10, 2009, 03:06 AM »

good point. we are the first generation that has a digital life of any importance - and i know if i died tomorrow my hard drives would probably end up in the trash not long after (or, at the least, wiped clean by the next owner).

1423

Living Room / Re: FDA Approves Depressant Drug For The Annoyingly Cheerful

« Last post by nudone on April 07, 2009, 12:44 PM »

now i know what's going on - some b*stard has been spiking my drink with that cr*p for years.

"Mother!.."

1424

Living Room / Re: Moar lightsabers plz

« Last post by nudone on April 07, 2009, 11:32 AM »

I AM, however, the first to do it and compulsively and then blog about it.

-Edvard (April 07, 2009, 10:16 AM)

that's good enough for me. just make sure your blog remains the best when all the copycat blogs appear.

1425

Living Room / Re: Moar lightsabers plz

« Last post by nudone on April 07, 2009, 02:46 AM »

looks like you've come up with the next internet craze, Edvard. very clever.

(you are the first aren't you?)