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1651
Living Room / Re: I need your help...
« Last post by app103 on November 27, 2012, 11:53 PM »
Other than all who donated DC credits and/or stated here what items they purchased from amazon, I'd like to know who else has made a contribution, either by donating to my paypal directly, or purchasing an item from amazon.

Amazon doesn't tell me who bought what, and I have had many boxes arrive that didn't even have a packing slip in them, a couple with things that weren't even on my wishlist, and some names/email addresses from paypal donations are unfamiliar to me.

I have already thanked those that have sent DC credits and through paypal, individually, and my thanks to all who have posted here, but I'd like to do a tiny something special to thank all of you, including those that I might not know helped.

You can send me a private message if you'd like (or you could continue to remain anonymous/unknown, if you prefer).
1652
General Software Discussion / Re: Keyboard shortcut of the day
« Last post by app103 on November 27, 2012, 06:28 AM »
- Win-Break to open System Properties

For a long time, I didn't know there was any other way to get to that.  ;D
1653
Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS
« Last post by app103 on November 27, 2012, 01:19 AM »
This is the one I have (this color, too): http://www.amazon.co...elain/dp/B004WLJAJU/

Is this the very same kettle I linked to on Amazon? Why, yes...yes, it is! Even the same color!

Screenshot - 11_27_2012 , 2_12_57 AM.png

This is a screenshot of an ad that was shown to me on Facebook just moments ago. They are starting to get really creepy.
1654
Living Room / Re: Off-the-wall ideas for Christmas presents?
« Last post by app103 on November 26, 2012, 02:41 AM »
How about a hand sharpened pencil?  ;D

http://www.artisanal...encilsharpening.com/

Maybe I need to rethink this whole how to earn a living thing. Between the guy that charges $2 for a hug and the guy charging $20 for a hand sharpened pencil, I am beginning to think I have been going about it all wrong.  ;D
1655
Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS
« Last post by app103 on November 25, 2012, 01:54 AM »
Well, if you want to do it like a real pro, this might help: http://www.home-bari...e-frothing-milk.html
1656
Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS
« Last post by app103 on November 24, 2012, 11:26 PM »
One thing that I do is to run steam through it after I've used it. This flushes out anything that has gotten up into the pipes there.

Not exactly practical to flush it out after every use when we are talking about a high volume environment that the machine is almost in constant use. It was flushed out every 6 hours, though.

Does skim milk froth better? I tried some different milk, but forget which worked best. I only buy full cream milk now.

Technically, very cold skim milk can be frothed to a level where it resembles whipped cream, using a very powerful hand blender and a good whipping attachment. In fact, this can only be done with skim milk or heavy cream. As far as in an espresso machine, I don't know, but nobody ever complained about it while I was working there.

I only shared this tip in case anybody wanted to know how the "pros" do it with those large expensive commercial quality high-tech automatic espresso machines, how they keep them from getting gunked up to the point of breakage. If using skim milk extends the life of their machines and cuts down on repairs and down time, it should do the same for home equipment, too.
1657
Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS
« Last post by app103 on November 24, 2012, 06:48 PM »
Now I've owned espresso machines that have come with milk frothers but they always end up gunking up like mad and it's the first thing to go.

A trick I learned from working in a deluxe Dunkin Donuts that had a $20,000 combo espresso machine/milk frother (this was before the awful stuff the chain now calls espresso was introduced):

Always use skim milk.

Using anything else would gunk up the machine and cause it to break down. If the boss caught you using whole milk, 2%, 1% or light cream, it was grounds for immediate dismissal.
1658
Living Room / Re: Disaster Survival Kit
« Last post by app103 on November 24, 2012, 06:19 PM »
Just a few things to add, learned over the years from personal experiences and those of friends and family...

If you have a generator, make sure you have a heavy duty chain and lock. A lot of incidents of generator theft occurred right before and after Hurricane Sandy. Make sure you secure yours well, to protect it against theft.

If you don't already own one, get a car charger for your cell phone. It might be all you will have to charge your phone with, if the power goes out for an extended period of time.

If you have an asthmatic that needs to use an electric nebulizer or anyone else in the family that needs the daily or occasional use of electrically powered medical equipment, make sure you also have a power inverter for your car. Do not run anything plugged into the power inverter without the car running, or you will kill your car's battery.

Need to add this to your food list: Cans should either be pop-top or you must have a manual can opener, otherwise you will not be able to open the cans. You wouldn't believe how many people forget this and are left staring at their electric can opener that won't work during a power failure. Even the rechargeable can openers are no good, as they may run out of power and you can not recharge them till the electricity comes back on.

Also, test your manual can opener and make sure it actually works and isn't worn out...before a storm hits. I should have done that and replaced all the ones that I own before Hurricane Sandy. It was not fun (and quite dangerous) trying to open cans with a punch type opener.  :-[

Keep in mind that pop top cans do not last as long as regular ones for long term storage, as fluctuations in temperature can cause them to pop over time. Many people have packed plastic storage bins full of pop top cans of fruit, only to find that they popped during storage and all they had left was a big dried out, moldy, sticky mess.

Add chewing gum and hard candy to the list, and maybe some nicotine replacement patches or gum. This is with smokers in mind. If you can't smoke, either because you don't have anything to smoke (ran out), or because a shelter won't allow it, this might save your sanity.

Always keep your freezer and refrigerator filled with bottles of water...as many as will take up the empty space. Not only will this make your refrigerator/freezer cheaper to run when you have power, it will hold the cold longer when you don't. And the 1.5 liter bottles I keep in my freezer take much longer to melt than ice cubes. Plus, when the bottles in your freezer do melt, there will be no mess like you would have with ice cubes...and you can drink the water if you have to.

Also, might want to add some non-electric entertainment to the list. Decks of cards, board games, a few tiny travel sized games in case of evacuation, a ball of yarn and knitting needles or crochet hook, latch hook kits, cross stitch, coloring books and crayons, puzzle books, etc. Anything that can keep you busy and entertained while you go through TV and computer withdrawal might save your life by keeping you from getting on everyone else's nerves. Make sure to include things you can do by yourself, as you can't rely on the people you live with to always want to play a game to keep you entertained.

Dominoes are good for playing in very dim lighting if they are the white ones with the black dots. The black ones with the white dots are more difficult to read in dim light.

And if you want the mother of all disaster preparation lists, try this one:  https://spreadsheets...id=0&output=html

This is what you pack in the trailer that you hitch to your vehicle, as you drive away from the city, when the zombie apocalypse hits. This has some more serious survival stuff on it, things you probably won't need if you are just being evacuated due to a storm. Consider each section a collection to be packed into one or more labeled heavy-duty plastic tote bins, stored in a safe place, ready to grab on a moment's notice to pack your survival trailer.
1659
Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS
« Last post by app103 on November 24, 2012, 04:06 PM »
Re: Hurricane Gadgets -- I agree April -- we were out of power for a week and thank god we have gas stoves and pans or we'd have been dead. Chris was making coffee using our coffee pods from our Keurig using water heated from the stove -- all coffee pots are pretty useless in power outage so you need to at least have a French Press!

I was going to post this one as my gadget of the week. Glad it fits in nicely with the discussion of emergency low-tech gadgets.

Here is how I make coffee, one cup at a time, right in the cup, without electricity.  I use it for brewing loose tea most of the time, because it filters better than a traditional tea ball. :D

You don't need to use it in the microwave as the item description suggests, just use a bit more coffee in it. I have a large cup, so I fill mine almost to the top.

I bought mine in a dollar store and got a package of 2 for a buck, about 15 years ago.

coffee maker.jpg

http://www.wdrake.co...yItem.aspx?id=337095
1660
Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS
« Last post by app103 on November 24, 2012, 03:29 PM »
I'm really baffled as to why people still use non-electric kettles.

What would you suggest people use when the power goes out? If I had not owned a stove top kettle, we would have gone through Hurricane Sandy without tea or instant noodle soup. Yeah, sure I could have just boiled the water in a small pot, but the small pot I had died a horrible death at my husband's hands and he threw it away without telling me, because he knew I'd freak out over him destroying the very pot my father heated the water for my tea when I was a little girl. I didn't know we didn't own it any more till the power went out and I needed it to heat up some canned vegetables (couldn't use the microwave).

This is the one I have (this color, too): http://www.amazon.co...elain/dp/B004WLJAJU/

The whole thing can be submerged and scrubbed down, inside and out, to remove mineral deposits and gunk that builds up (don't try that with your electric kettle). The enamel finish is on the inside as well as the outside and the quality is very good, so there is no issue of it rusting like you get with the cheaper ones. It is very well made and worth the price. So far, it seems to be "husband proof".  :D
1661
Living Room / Re: Off-the-wall ideas for Christmas presents?
« Last post by app103 on November 24, 2012, 02:40 PM »
I accidentally came across this 2006 post in your (app's) blog today, makes for a nice read:
[url=http://cranialsoup.blogspot.de/2006/12/perfect-gift.html]The perfect gift

I have a confession to make...

The giver of that gift wasn't mentioned by name in that post because I didn't think that most people that would read it would really care, because they don't know him.

But you all know him. It was mouser.  :-*
1662
Living Room / Re: Why did it never occur to me.. You can wash a keyboard in water.
« Last post by app103 on November 24, 2012, 02:54 AM »
Got a friend that sent me something to publish on my blog awhile back, mainly because he's too lazy to start a blog of his own. Brief instructions on how to dry and repair circuit boards using a toaster oven. His rule of thumb is if it's already toast, you have nothing to lose by toasting it.

You'd be amazed at the things you can fix with a toaster oven
1663
General Software Discussion / Re: Are you going to wait for Windows 9?
« Last post by app103 on November 23, 2012, 03:06 AM »
Yes, I am waiting for Win9...to decide if I want to continue being a Windows user. If Win9 inches closer to this nightmarish vision, I will probably go Linux and run XP in a VM for the rest of my life.
1664
Living Room / Re: Why did it never occur to me.. You can wash a keyboard in water.
« Last post by app103 on November 23, 2012, 02:28 AM »
I also open the keyboard, just like eleman does.

I used to keep my keyboards sealed in heavy duty plastic wrap (it stretches better without tearing and you can heat seal it instead of using tape) and never actually had to clean one till I gave up that habit. Bonus with the plastic wrap method of keeping your keyboard clean is that the characters don't wear off the keys. Might have to go back to doing that, as my daughter is a bit upset over the fact that since I started sharing a PC with her again, the E, A, S, and N keys are now blank.  :-[
1665
Living Room / Re: Google Hack Gives Free Access to Premium Newspaper Articles
« Last post by app103 on November 23, 2012, 02:07 AM »
Didn't work for me. Even spoofing the Googlebot didn't work. Only could read the article from Google's cache.
1666
Living Room / Re: Off-the-wall ideas for Christmas presents?
« Last post by app103 on November 22, 2012, 10:25 PM »
During the power failure of Hurricane Sandy, I started a crochet project...slippers for my husband. He was complaining that his feet were cold while we were all playing board games.

They are of my own design and are a little sneaker-like, navy blue with white tongues and orange laces. They are made from the leftover yarn from a project my stepmother was working on a long time ago and never finished. I acquired the less than finished afghan, along with the remaining yarn, when my father was cleaning the junk out of his house.

I plan on giving him both, as the afghan is big enough to keep him warm while watching TV, except for his feet, which will be covered in the matching slippers.

As far as odd gifts, I gave my daughter an enormous 5 lb jar of peanut butter last year. This was after they had announced a peanut shortage and some brands began increasing their prices. I immediately went and bought it for her, knowing how much she loves peanut butter and how she was worried that one of her staple foods might become unaffordable. Not knowing that I had got one for her, my husband got her one, too, so she ended up with 10 lbs of peanut butter! She loved it...one of the advantages of raising an incredibly practical daughter with a love of food. It also brought up memories of the giant gallon jar of pickle slices I bought for her one Giftmas, when she was about 11. You should have seen the look on her face when she unwrapped that one. She had an expression as if she had just unwrapped a live pony.  ;D
1667
General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a Mouse/Cursor restriction tool ... ?
« Last post by app103 on November 21, 2012, 10:07 PM »
I can verify that this is typical Windows behavior and seems to be a built-in "feature".

Running XP here, with classic themes and I also have an old WinME pc in which I observed the following:

I keep my taskbar on the right, fully extended, on autohide, always on top, on both systems. There is a 1-2 pixel border below the tray icon area. The area containing the icons is recessed. Only within the recessed area can you click anything or show a tooltip. Clicks on the border below it does nothing. If you move your mouse to that border area, you probably won't see much of your cursor showing.

This is also the case with the far right of my taskbar. But this time, there is no visible border or recessed area.

The issue doesn't bother me, as that tiny offscreen area where my cursor disappears to when I move to the far right, is the activation zone that makes my taskbar pop out for access. So, it serves a useful purpose, in my case.
1668
Living Room / Re: I need your help...
« Last post by app103 on November 20, 2012, 11:16 PM »
Thank you mouser & Renegade.  :-*

And yes, the list does update and removes the items already purchased.
1669
Living Room / I need your help...
« Last post by app103 on November 20, 2012, 10:54 PM »
For those of you that don't know, my family has been going through a really rough patch lately. My husband has been out of work since July, when the company he gave the better part of his life to, over 25 years, shut down. Then he was hit by a car on Oct 4th, while looking for work.

He is currently unable to look for work while he is healing from his injuries, and I am having a lot of trouble finding work that I can physically do (I have my own share of health issues). We have no money for anything, not even the basic necessities of life like food and shelter.

We have been getting most of our food from church run emergency food pantries. The biggest problem with this is that my husband has Type 2 Diabetes and they don't give out much diabetes friendly food. Most of the stuff they give is very high in carbs and would be toxic to him. It has become difficult to find food to feed my husband.

This is where you can help. I have made an Amazon wishlist of some things we could use, most of which are things my husband can eat...meats, green vegetables, tomatoes, brown rice, eggs, etc. There are also a few things for the rest of the family, like ramen and spaghetti. And a bag of dry cat food at the top of the list because our cat needs to eat too, and we have less than a week's worth of cat food left, with no money to buy more.

If you can help us by buying an item from my wishlist, it would be most appreciated.

We are also $600 short for the rent money that is due on December 1st. I don't have anything of value left to sell...already sold everything, including my wedding band.  If you can help us with that, too, I'd sure appreciate it, as well. You can give DC credits or donate direct to my Paypal through my website's donate page.
1670
Living Room / Re: How Much Do You Trust Wikipedia?
« Last post by app103 on November 18, 2012, 05:23 PM »
With the understanding that the quality is directly related to the sources of information and those that edit the page, my trust is on a page by page basis. I treat Wikipedia as a starting point and nothing more, a summary of the links provided in the sources. Those links and the information they contain must be examined in order to know the true story about any page on Wikipedia. To me, the value of Wikipedia is about equal to a search engine and can enhance your search for information by at least helping you to ask the right questions, find the right keywords, for the info you want.
1671
N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: NANY 2013 Withdrawn: Bead Designer
« Last post by app103 on November 18, 2012, 12:58 PM »
Been messing around a bit while I avoid the big issue, switched to StringGrid to see if it somehow makes things easier (not entirely sure yet), and managed to get image export working (png), so that's a step in the right direction.

@wraith: Thanks for the help...I'll see if I can wrap my head around what you did, later, when things are a lot quieter here, probably late tonight when the noise makers are all asleep.
1672
N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: NANY 2013 Withdrawn: Bead Designer
« Last post by app103 on November 17, 2012, 09:29 PM »
Working in Delphi 6 here, and the project has 2 DrawGrids...one is the color selector and the other is the design area...the cells are filled with images from an ImageList, with the image in the selected cell of the color selector being copied to the selected cell in the design area.

I have never worked with grids before, not done much with images other then simple decorating of a form, and not saved much user data to files other than lines from a Memo and strings from a ListBox.

If anyone wants to take a look at what I have so far, it's attached.
1673
N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: NANY 2013 Pledge: Bead Designer
« Last post by app103 on November 17, 2012, 06:22 PM »
As wonderful as I hope this project will be when I can finally finish it, I am at a point where I am stuck and even Google can't help me, so this project will be nowhere near finished in time for this year's NANY.

I can't figure out even the first step towards being able to access or save the design data from the grid, which so much of the features planned, depends on.

So, I am withdrawing this project till further notice. It may return in a few years...or it may not.

Unless I cut most of the good stuff planned from it and release it as something that you'd need to make a screenshot to be able to keep a record of a completed design idea, which is pretty much all it is right now.

It's fun to play with, can plan a small project in one sitting, but that's about all. Not really what I had hoped to be able to release.
1674
Living Room / Re: Hurricane Sandy Discussion Thread
« Last post by app103 on November 17, 2012, 05:07 PM »
I know it was an alien plot to meant to mask the departure of that giant submerged UFO 100 miles off the coast of New Jersey. :Thmbsup:

Crap! My family left without me!  :o

Hush! Don't let anybody know. They left without paying some bills. ;D

Yes, I know. Most of the bills they forgot to pay were mine.
1675
Living Room / Re: Hurricane Sandy Discussion Thread
« Last post by app103 on November 17, 2012, 11:05 AM »
I know it was an alien plot to meant to mask the departure of that giant submerged UFO 100 miles off the coast of New Jersey. :Thmbsup:

Crap! My family left without me!  :o
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