Recent Posts

1501

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by 40hz on July 15, 2014, 06:26 PM »

@Ren - This one was made for you. Francis Black singing the Ewan McColl song Legal Illegal

Lyrics...

Every time you pick up a newspaper,
Every time you switch on the T.V.,
You can bet your old boots that at some point you'll see,
A high ranking Garda or else a T.P.
Calling on all who are meant to be free,
To stand up and defend law and order.

It's illegal to rip off a payroll,
It's illegal to hold up a train,
But it's legal to rip off a million or two,
That comes from the labour that other folk do,
To plunder the many on behalf of the few,
Is a thing that is perfectly legal.

It's illegal to kill off your landlord
Or to trespass upon his estate
But to charge a high rent for a slum is O.K.
To condemn two adults and three children to stay
In a hovel that's rotten with damp and decay
It's a thing that is perfectly legal.

If your job turns you into a zombie
Then it's legal to feel some despair
But don't get agressive and don't get too smart
For Christ's sake don't upset the old applecart
Remember you boss has your interest at heart
And it grieves him to see you unhappy.

If you fashion a bomb in your kitchen,
You're guilty of breaking the law,
But a bloody great nuclear plant is O.K.,
And plutonium processing hastens the day,
This tight little isle will be blasted away,
Nonetheless it is perfectly legal.

It's illegal if you are a traveller,
To camp by the side of the road,
But it's proper and right for the rich and the great,
To live in a mansion or own an estate,
That was got from the people by pillage and rape,
That is what they call a tradition.

It's illegal to kill off your missus,
Or put poison in your old man's tea,
But poison the river's the seas or the skies,
And poison the minds of a nation with lies,
It's all in the interest of free enterprise,
Nonetheless it's perfectly legal.

Well it's legal to sing on the telly,
But make bloody sure that you don't,
To sing about racists and fascists and creeps,
And those in high places who live off the weak,
And hose who are selling us right up the creek,
The twisters, the takers, the conmen, the fakers,
The whole bloody gang of exploiters.

 

1502

Living Room / Re: South Park moves behind Hulu paywall starting Sept 24, 2014

« Last post by 40hz on July 13, 2014, 08:22 PM »

“This is a natural partnership for us,” said Matt Parker and Trey Stone, creators of South Park. “We are excited that the entire library will be available on Hulu and that the best technology around will power South Park Digital Studios.”

-------------------------------------------------

It is a little weird to see Matt Parker and Trey Stone happily chatting around the change as if nothing happened and it's all a big win for their fans. Especially after their original discussion about why it was so important for them to be able to make the entire archive of past episodes freely available when they first started doing it.

The real problem with a Hulu Pro subscription isn't the cost (about $8 USD/mo. last I checked) but the fact that what's included in their subscription isn't the same the whole world over. Hulu bows to local government censorship conventions regarding propriety. So there's every good likelihood SP will have certain episodes "redacted" (or the entire show embargoed) depending on which country the subscriber resides in.

Then there's all the commercials and region lockout you get with Hulu. That's something nobody in SP or Hulu will even acknowledge, let alone talk about.

Sad.

Commenter seaborgium over at Ars Technica said it best: Locking your show behind only one method of streaming is a big reason why people torrent.

1503

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by 40hz on July 13, 2014, 12:38 PM »

Remember the concept of the self fulfilling prophecy, and add to that the knowledge that no one really has any power over you unless you give it to them. If we continuously function solely based on the assumption that TPTB have total control over everything ... Then they very soon really will. And we will all die very quietly whenever and wherever we are told too.

-Stoic Joker (July 12, 2014, 01:16 PM)

^ THIS!

-Renegade (July 12, 2014, 07:33 PM)

Lest what I am saying be misconstrued, I'll spell it out a little more bluntly...

As a product of the anti-war (Viet Nam) era I too say "speak truth to power."

...

As Franklin so succinctly put it: We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

Something to think about when it comes to pushing for disruptive change.
 

-40hz (July 13, 2014, 08:01 AM)

40... This is turning into almost conditioned response to Ren and I getting together on something.

-Stoic Joker (July 13, 2014, 12:17 PM)

  Ok...If that's the way it's being taken, or starting to sound, then perhaps I'd best just leave the two of you to it.

I'm out.  

Onward!  

1504

Living Room / South Park moves behind Hulu paywall starting Sept 24, 2014

« Last post by 40hz on July 13, 2014, 12:30 PM »

It was bound to happen sooner or later...



From Ars Technica (full article here)

Since 2008, fans of the Comedy Central cartoon South Park have been able to stream the show’s entire library (minus a few permanently redacted episodes) from the South Park Studios site. But according to a new post on the show's official blog, this fan-friendly unlimited streaming arrangement will soon be ending: South Park is moving to Hulu. Folks who want to watch more than a limited selection of old South Park episodes will either have to resort to physical media or begin paying $7.99 per month to subscribe to Hulu Plus.

Under what the blog post describes as an "exclusive, multi-year" agreement, the current offering of streamable South Park episodes will remain available until September 24 at both the show’s official site and also on Hulu. After September 24—the start of the show’s 18th season—new episodes will be available to both standard Hulu and Hulu Plus customers the day after they air (Variety’s writeup says that the official South Park Studios site will also have next-day streaming, but that isn’t mentioned in the blog post).

The big change is the paywalling of past episodes. After September 24, free Hulu users and visitors to the show’s official site will only be able to watch "a revolving selection of free episodes." Unlimited access—which today is free—will only be available for Hulu Plus users....

 

1505

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by 40hz on July 13, 2014, 08:01 AM »

Remember the concept of the self fulfilling prophecy, and add to that the knowledge that no one really has any power over you unless you give it to them. If we continuously function solely based on the assumption that TPTB have total control over everything ... Then they very soon really will. And we will all die very quietly whenever and wherever we are told too.

-Stoic Joker (July 12, 2014, 01:16 PM)

^ THIS!

-Renegade (July 12, 2014, 07:33 PM)

Lest what I am saying be misconstrued, I'll spell it out a little more bluntly...

As a product of the anti-war (Viet Nam) era I too say "speak truth to power."

But with the caveat you know what you are getting into if you are genuinely serious. (I don't count 99.999% of the blog and forum crowd in that category.) Real revolutions are not conducted quietly over a cup of tea while online with a laptop. They eventually show up on the street (e.g. the Occupy movement, Ukraine, etc.) once they really start rolling.

And when they do, the odds and rules shift dramatically.

Most movements that want disruptive change are long on verbiage, sometime good on tactics, and absolutely pitiful when it comes to long-term strategy.

Most are also extremely impatient, and attempt to push their agenda through without gaining broad and vocal public support. (Why must so many would-be revolutionaries be such closet elitists? More worthwhile social movements have been sunk by somebody's ego and big mouth than ever were by "the Man.")

This sort of attempt is not a genteel parlour game." To borrow from the Declaration of Independence:

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

As Franklin so succinctly put it: We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

Something to think about when it comes to pushing for disruptive change.
 

1506

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by 40hz on July 12, 2014, 12:31 PM »

He also brew up a helluva fine Ginger Ale! (Thanks for the recipe and suggestions btw!)

-40hz (July 12, 2014, 07:47 AM)

Give 'er a shot & tell me what you think. Expect it to be dry though. I actually picked up some ale and champagne yeasts to give it another shot with a more polished approach.

-Renegade (July 12, 2014, 10:16 AM)

Trying it with a very nice pale ale yeast I've had some very good luck with in the past. S/B interesting to see how it comes out.

Also thinking of trying for a honey-ginger mead...hmm...

Maybe we should start a separate homebrew thread for this?

1507

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by 40hz on July 12, 2014, 07:55 AM »

You can regulate what PEOPLE do. But the Bitcoin cat is out of the bag.

Bitcoin is FLOSS software. Can anyone regulate Apache or Linux?

-Renegade (July 12, 2014, 07:42 AM)

Hate to say it, but they most certainly can. FLOSS is not immune to government interference and regulation. Both directly and (more insidiously) indirectly. (see: China, Russia, N. Korea, New Zealand, Australia, the USA, ...)

Just like that other great piece of technology that was supposed to liberate us all and serve as the absolute check on the power government: the Internet.

The intelligence agencies of the world are still laughing themselves to silly over that one.

1508

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by 40hz on July 12, 2014, 07:47 AM »

and skews the conversation to things that just ain't gonna happen. Bitcoin cannot be regulated. The game is over. It's done. Insert another quarter, but you don't get to continue.

-Renegade (July 12, 2014, 07:42 AM)

So says Renegade - who is wise and can predict our collective future with 100% accuracy.  

A prophet is always without honor in his own country. 

----------------------------

He also brew up a helluva fine Ginger Ale! (Thanks for the recipe and suggestions btw!)

1509

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by 40hz on July 12, 2014, 07:26 AM »

It's happening.

-Renegade (July 12, 2014, 06:54 AM)

It's being embraced by a channel broadcaster of (pop. 5 million) Finland? Now that is a major breakthrough.

(Sounds like some sharp Finnish entrepreneurs are looking to become the Royal Caymans equivalent of cryptocurrency before the banks in Switzerland and Monaco decide to jump in on it. Somebody must have read The Mouse that Roared and got inspired.)

FWIW I'll agree Bitcoin is poised for something soon. I'm guessing that just as soon as it becomes fully licensed and government regulated it's adoption will be global.  

1510

Living Room / Re: What I mean when I say "I think VR is bad news".

« Last post by 40hz on July 12, 2014, 07:21 AM »

I think he might be conflating the "internet of things" with VR a little bit in places.

I have no major objection to VR technology in and of itself even if, like any technology, it holds the potential for abuse. And you can rest assured there will be those who will attempt to abuse it.

But VR is really no different than any other emergent technology in that respect.

I think Fabian is mostly speiling back (in a half-baked manner) some of the concerns VR pioneer Jaron Lanier expressed more eloquently and coherently several years ago; and which he eventually condensed into his One-Half a Manifesto.

Excerpt: Conclusion from One-Half of a Manifesto

I share the belief of my cybernetic totalist colleagues that there will be huge and sudden changes in the near future brought about by technology. The difference is that I believe that whatever happens will be the responsibility of individual people who do specific things. I think that treating technology as if it were autonomous is the ultimate self-fulfilling prophecy. There is no difference between machine autonomy and the abdication of human responsibility.

Let's take the "nanobots take over" scenario. It seems to me that the most likely scenarios involve either:

    a) Super-nanobots everywhere that run old software- linux, say. This might be interesting. Good video games will be available, anyway.

    b) Super-nanobots that evolve as fast as natural nanobots- so don't do much for millions of years.

    c) Super-nanobots that do new things soon, but are dependent on humans. In all these cases humans will be in control, for better or for worse.

So, therefore, I'll worry about the future of human culture more than I'll worry about the gadgets. And what worries me about the "Young Turk" cultural temperament seen in cybernetic totalists is that they seem to not have been educated in the tradition of scientific skepticism. I understand why they are intoxicated. There IS a compelling simple logic behind their thinking and elegance in thought is infectious.

There is a real chance that evolutionary psychology, artificial intelligence, Moore's Law fetishizing, and the rest of the package, will catch on in a big way, as big as Freud or Marx did in their times. Or bigger, since these ideas might end up essentially built into the software that runs our society and our lives. If that happens, the ideology of cybernetic totalist intellectuals will be amplified from novelty into a force that could cause suffering for millions of people.

The greatest crime of Marxism wasn't simply that much of what it claimed was false, but that it claimed to be the sole and utterly complete path to understanding life and reality. Cybernetic eschatology shares with some of history's worst ideologies a doctrine of historical predestination. There is nothing more gray, stultifying, or dreary than a life lived inside the confines of a theory. Let us hope that the cybernetic totalists learn humility before their day in the sun arrives.

(* Parts of this manifesto draw on material from two earlier essays. One appeared in CIO Magazine in English, and the other in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in German, as part of that newspaper's ongoing coverage of the Edge community.)

1511

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: NoteFrog lifetime license $9.95 - but no new licenses ever after??

« Last post by 40hz on July 11, 2014, 03:48 PM »

The terms of that offer make absolutely no sense.

There has to be an error or word or two missing in there somewhere.  

That or this is the prelude to the app becoming abandonware or hobbyware.

Not the sort of product I'd want to continue using to store my data.

1512

Living Room / Re: DonationCoder Recipe Sharing Thread

« Last post by 40hz on July 11, 2014, 02:12 PM »

Lately we've been enjoying something a friend introduced us to which she referred to as "how grown-ups eat watermelon."

1. Cube a medium sized seedless watermelon. Cubes should be about 1/2" - 3/4" square (i.e. big enough to be speared and stay on a fork.)

2. Put cubes in a large plastic salad bowl, sprinkle a generous handful of chopped fresh basil over the melon cubes, and (optional*) add about 2 cups of grape tomatoes (cut in half) to the mix.

3. Pour "a moderate quantity" (1/2 - 3/4 cup approx. and adjust to taste) of your favorite balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing* over all and mix gently so that everything is more or less evenly distributed.

4. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or two to let the flavors blend. (Especially good when left overnight.)

5. Remove from fridge, gently mix again and allow to warm up a bit. Salad should be served cool - but not too cold - for best flavor.

--------------------

Notes:



1. We've tried a few different readily available vinaigrettes and think Cardini's Light Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing works best. At least so far. (No MSG and low fat to boot!)  

2. My GF likes the contrast of texture and flavors the watermelon/tomato combination provides. I find it distracting. Fortunately, the tomato flavor doesn't invade the watermelon all that much, so I just pick around them when I'm filling my dish. This is a win-win since I don't care for tomatoes in this particular dish - and my not taking any leaves more for my GF, who really does enjoy having them in there.

3. Since we started doing it up this way, my GF and I have probably eaten more watermelon in the last few weeks than we have in the last 10 years.

1513

General Software Discussion / Re: which forums you use for PC troubleshooting?

« Last post by 40hz on July 10, 2014, 10:39 PM »

I've generally found forums less useful than some of the better tech blogs and industry KB sites. Such places won't answer your specific questions - but the material found in the articles (and the reader comments) is usually enough to get you to where you can figure out the solution yourself.

(Note: I'll +1 on the Stackoverflow sites and EventID.net. An answer is not always found there - but when it is it's almost always correct. Which is more than you can say about many "tech" website's answers and suggestions.)

1514

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 8 Pro

« Last post by 40hz on July 10, 2014, 10:28 PM »

The behavior surrounding 8/8.1 implies that the paying customer must suffer the time/money loss to protect the poor starving corporation... This is simply unacceptable.

-Stoic Joker (July 10, 2014, 10:10 PM)

Agree. Hence I prefer to go with the alternative.

there are always those odd occasions where the OEM media has been lost - or was never provided - and the machine needs to be flattened/reloaded.

-Stoic Joker (July 10, 2014, 10:10 PM)

Oh I agree. What I meant was going through gyrations to get around doing a regular product activation. Using a valid product key with a different set of installation media isn't going around it in my book. If the product installs and activates (with or without having to call mother in Redmond first) I'd consider that a legitimate and acceptable hack. It's when you start doing registry surgery or "borrowing" keys that I draw the line.

I'm not a boy scout. But I do try to stay legal as much as possible while still getting work done and keeping my clients up and running.

1515

Living Room / Re: In search of ... botanical info

« Last post by 40hz on July 10, 2014, 10:10 PM »

For food gardening I'd suggest The New Self-Sufficient Gardner by John Seymour. First published back in 1978 (minus the "New" in the title) it's still as relevant and useful today as it was back then.

 

We (GF and I) also liked Garden Way's Joy of Gardening and Starter Vegetable Gardens: 24 No-Fail Plans for Small Organic Gardens . Both are excellent veggie gardening resources.

 

For plant encyclopedias, look no further than the publications of The American Horticultural Society. The American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants is about as definitive as it gets. Very reasonably priced too for something of this magnitude.



For wildflowers, trees, 'shrooms, etc. I think the Audubon Field Guides are excellent resources for good info.

These books are all standards and can be found in many (if not most) local libraries. A visit for an hour or two to page through their gardening collection would let you know if the above suggestions are what you're looking for.

Luck!

1516

Living Room / Re: maths anyone?

« Last post by 40hz on July 10, 2014, 07:07 PM »

All numbers in graph are HKD

YEAR4  80+420 = 500 HKD

500 HKD/4.5 = 111.11 SGD

111.11 SGD/1.6 = 69.44375 USD

So I'd say $70M USD is closest answer

1517

Living Room / Re: Cheap LED keychain light?

« Last post by 40hz on July 10, 2014, 06:29 PM »

Pop me a PM with an address and I'll send you some.

-40hz (July 10, 2014, 04:15 PM)

Thank you. 

-MilesAhead (July 10, 2014, 04:20 PM)

Yer welcome!

1518

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 8 Pro

« Last post by 40hz on July 10, 2014, 06:27 PM »

^Same here - and so I've been told. Never really tried to get around it because my clients are all businesses. If anything ever blew up over licensing issues, it would be my head on the block. So even when I do know how to get around activation or authentication controls, my official position is: "I don't know how to do that." If a phone call to Microsoft doesn't get it straightened out, you're SOL AFAIC.

Anybody who doesn't like what Microsoft is doing license or otherwise (and there's a lot not to like) is welcome to let me set them up for Linux. (I've had a few clients that did just that, and have been very happy with Nix and Libre so far.)

FWIW I also have a rule about always paying for the software I use. Or contributing to it if it's a FOSS title. I'll also abide by whatever rules the software author sees fit to impose. If I don't like the deal, I'll just buy something else. Or forget about it completely if there isn't any alternative available. Life is too short to get into a battle over software licensing. Or at least in my universe it is.
 

1519

Living Room / Re: Cheap LED keychain light?

« Last post by 40hz on July 10, 2014, 04:15 PM »

Pop me a PM with an address and I'll send you some.

1520

Living Room / Re: In search of ... botanical info

« Last post by 40hz on July 10, 2014, 04:06 PM »

It's a big topic. In what way is he interested?

The science? Practical gardening? Living off the land? Heritage gardening? Permaculture? Hydroponics? Habitat design? Ganja production? Deep-bed intensive or container gardening? Plant remedies? Natural dyes and fibers? Just a good book about plants in general for identification purposes?

 

1521

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Sublime Text Giveaway

« Last post by 40hz on July 10, 2014, 01:53 PM »

it's generally considered proper DC etiquette to disclose any personal interests you have in something you're posting. Most of us don't mind - as long as we're informed about it up fron

quite right, sorry

-ha14 (July 10, 2014, 01:44 PM)

That's quite all right.

I wasn't interested in the giveaway since I already own a copy and I'm more than happy to let the dev keep my money. However, I have since entered it using your link now that I know you'll get an additional three cracks at winning it. I'm always happy to help a fellow DC member whenever I can.

Luck!

1522

Non-Windows Software / The future of networking - resources for: SDN, OpenFlow and Mininet

« Last post by 40hz on July 10, 2014, 01:44 PM »

The notion of virtualization has been with us for a long time now. Virtual machines have liberated computing environments from their underlying hardware - with obvious benefits realized industry-wide.

Now that same virtualization model and discipline is finally coming to our network infrastructure with the advent of SDN (software defined networking) and OpenFlow.

If you're going to be working as a network professional in the near future, an understanding of network virtualization will be as much an essential skill for an IT professional as an understanding of machine virtualization is today. So now is the time to start getting up to speed.

The following Stamford seminar lecture by Scott Shenker gives an excellent overview of what SDN is, where it came from, and where it's going. Scott discusses the key players, the ideas behind SDN, its architecture, mistakes made along the way, lessons learned, and the design changes and conclusions that have since been drawn. At a little over an hour, this is one of the single best high-level introductions to this initiative, presented by somebody who is directly involved in bringing it to market. Although moderately technical in a few places, it's still very understandable for anyone who has even a tiny amount of home networking experience. Well worth a view - and highly recommended:

If a Stamford lecture is a little too formal for your taste (or you only have 25 or so minutes to spare) Eli the Computer Guy has a nice funky down-home introduction you may prefer to watch instead:

Either presentation is good. Watching both, however, will definitely give you everything you’ll need to be aware of when it comes to SDN.

***

Once you've got some SDN/OpenFlow basics under your belt you'll probably be anxious to put some of it to use - or at least play with it in a lab setting. But switches and networking hardware are awfully expensive, right? Well...luckily, there is a free virtual lab environment available for download called Mininet.

From the website:

Mininet creates a realistic virtual network, running real kernel, switch and application code, on a single machine (VM, cloud or native), in seconds, with a single command...

Because you can easily interact with your network using the Mininet CLI (and API), customize it, share it with others, or deploy it on real hardware, Mininet is useful for development, teaching, and research.

Mininet is also a great way to develop, share, and experiment with OpenFlow and Software-Defined Networking systems.

Full information, documentation, and instructional videos are available at the Mininet website. Mininet can be run on any operating system in Virtualbox or under Linux.

Want to see it in action? Watch a quick introductory video to Mininet below:

People with previous experience with the "terminal mode" found on virtually every professional router (Cisco, HP, etc.) should feel right at home in fairly short order.

SDN! Cool tool. VERY cool!

1523

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Sublime Text Giveaway

« Last post by 40hz on July 10, 2014, 12:07 PM »

ust FYI to any future readers of this thread, the link in ha14's message is a referral link that gives him 3 more entries for every person he refers.

-Deozaan (July 10, 2014, 11:47 AM)

@ha14 - it's generally considered proper DC etiquette to disclose any personal interests you have in something you're posting. Most of us don't mind - as long as we're informed about it up front.  

1524

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 8 Pro

« Last post by 40hz on July 10, 2014, 11:53 AM »

^ My bad. I just assumed he wasn't using a full retail copy. OP updated.

1525

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 8 Pro

« Last post by 40hz on July 10, 2014, 11:47 AM »

AFAIK If it's an OEM copy (as opposed to Retail) the answer is no.

Officially, you'd need to install Windows 8 first - then it's highly recommended you install all the available updates for Windows 8 - and then download and install the free upgrade via the Windows Store to bring it up to 8.1. 'Official' process is documented here.



Unlike previous versions of Windows, the Windows 8.1 upgrade (from Win8) is only available through the Windows Store. If you don't see it in the store, look here for possible issues with your copy of Win 8. Note: the rules can change depending upon how you licensed it. (Leave it to Microsoft to have such a muddy licensing model.)


However, the official process may not be the best for you. See following post by 4wd for better info...

Luck!