Recent Posts

201

Living Room / Is this funny

« Last post by Fred Nerd on August 24, 2008, 07:23 AM »

I was talking to someone on Windows Live Messenger and made the following joke. She didn't think it funny, so I said I'll post it on a tech forum and see what they say,
so whats the verdict:

After another dropped message I said:
I want Bill Gate's head, on a silver platter.....
.....with an Apple in his mouth.


Should she dump me for bad humour?

202

Living Room / Re: DC Social Club Love-In

« Last post by Fred Nerd on August 16, 2008, 02:52 AM »

anyone else on digital rodeo?

Redeck alert..... Actually I have an account but never use it, just interested to see if anyone else is.

PS, I would list my MySpace, but that is in my real name, and I like anonimity.....

203

Living Room / Re: Skimp or splurge?

« Last post by Fred Nerd on August 04, 2008, 07:55 AM »

SPLURGE ON MILK.....
Seriously, I live in a dairy area......I grew up on fresh milk from our house cow...
For starters, taste, I wouldn't feed home-brand milk to my dog, you might as well drink whitened water, and it would be healthier as well..... The cheaper milk comes from dairys with lower health standards; it is cheaper for them to filter and disinfect the dirty milk than to keep it clean from the start.
And they will uses as many chemicals as the law allows in the process. And this is a lot.

As an old dairy farmer said to me, "the milk you buy from a shop has been pasteurised, homogenised, and buggerised"

When I had the time I used to get it straight form the dairy, pay twice what he's getting, and I get the best milk you can get, at the cheapest price.

204

General Software Discussion / Re: Monster Cables- The World should know!

« Last post by Fred Nerd on June 21, 2008, 07:00 AM »

Think speaker cable is ridiculous....
New Scientist magazine reported that someone in England has been shut down after selling mains cable for up to 1805 pounds a metre......

That would really help.......


But as for SpinRite, I have never tried it, but I noticed one of my favourite internet techs, Leo Notenbloom seems to like it. www.ask-leo.com  good site with a lot of handy tricks. A lot of it is basic, but if you work in support, it is good to get a professional opinion.

205

Living Room / Re: U.K. growing more peculiar by the day. What's happening in your area?

« Last post by Fred Nerd on June 21, 2008, 06:04 AM »

Here's something bright from Australia:

A scientific study has shown that if one of our major rivers will be be irreversably damaged if flow is not restored before October.

Our government acted swiftly......... they have scheduled a meeting to look into it in November  

206

Living Room / Re: Spore Creature Creator Released - Make Cody Creature Contest!

« Last post by Fred Nerd on June 19, 2008, 03:21 AM »

I was thinking of having a go, but be warned, it is a huge download to get the creation program.
I gave up when I saw the size (can't remember the exact size, but if you have to ask, you won't want it)

And to think God did it even better without Spore


 

207

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox 3 Released

« Last post by Fred Nerd on June 19, 2008, 03:04 AM »

Thanks Lashiec for the cake link....
Very funny

   
    If you look at the T in "the", it's written the same way. It's a cursive T, not a 7, unless it's supposed to read "Love, 7he IE 7eam"


Great, they can't even write a standards-compliant cake.

It will be interesting to to see the new IE

As for themes, I'm learning to live with this.....
I would hate to have to skin, it means things look different when you have to fix friend's computers.

But it really has impressed me, I can open heaps of tabs, and they all open quickly (not load, just open) and don't bog down the system.

And remember about:mozilla
The book of mozilla now says:

Mammon slept. And the beast reborn spread over the earth and its numbers
grew legion. And they proclaimed the times and sacrificed crops unto the
fire, with the cunning of foxes. And they built a new world in their own
image as promised by the
sacred words, and spoke
 of the beast with their children. Mammon awoke, and lo! it was
naught but a follower.



from The Book of Mozilla, 11:9
(10th Edition)

Fits in with the cake

208

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox 3 Released

« Last post by Fred Nerd on June 18, 2008, 06:18 AM »

Yippee, I am running the latest and greatest.....

So far.... (10 minutes later)....
Firstly, I had to restart my computer before it would open. This may have had something to do with having FF2 open when I installed them. BTW I tried to install them together (2 & 3) by setting the installation folder to something else, but it doesn't seem to work and I only have 3.

It seems slower, but probably just because it has an empty cache as yet, should pick up.

All my addons work, flashblock, adblock, forecastfox.

The theme is as ugly as sin, and the 'awesome bar' may have to be skinned away if possible, so far I hate it. Simply, I can remember the address of my bookmarks (I have a good memory for that) so why waste space and tell me all there is to know about a site. Who cares?

More updates as I find problems.

Oh wait, I haven't got web accellerator in yet, not that I thin it helps, just looks good having a speedo on my browser.

209

General Software Discussion / Re: Let go of your bookmarks!

« Last post by Fred Nerd on June 16, 2008, 05:56 AM »

One of the major Geeks site slogans is "we're your ctrl+D site, right?"

I use a few bookmarks, for things I visit once a month or so. It is quicker than typing it in, and searching is just more work. Also you can bookmark the Forum section of a website when google gets the homepage.

Sometimes I bookmark things which look interesting to check out later, but I never do, and just have to keep ignoring it, until some upgrade accidentally cleans up my bookmarks 

Basically, if I need help to remember it, it isn't worth remembering.....

210

General Software Discussion / Re: The LiveCD List

« Last post by Fred Nerd on June 16, 2008, 05:50 AM »

I was more thinking along the lines of most people know Windows, and probably Mac, and some have heard of Linux,
But I was looking at all the various different live OSs (although most of them are just different flavours of Linux) and thinking "so many options...but I don't know anyone else who would know anything about any of them and they would all look at me like.."huh?"'"

Who wants to start a thread on all the OSs they have used/tried out and a brief opinion.
Saw something about Plan 9 somewhere, which looked cute enough to try out Only, I haven't the time or spare computer. But, again.... how many people have even heard of it??   

211

General Software Discussion / Re: The LiveCD List

« Last post by Fred Nerd on June 15, 2008, 05:29 AM »

You realise most of the computing population don't know of any of them? and almost all of them can be really useful in the right place....

Excellent find.

I didn't see EBCD there, but its probably changed its name. Good repair/ diagnostic cd with the ability to wipe xp passwords if the administrator forgets (or is a school teacher wanting to block access)

212

General Software Discussion / Re: Do we need a Linux and/or Mac child board?

« Last post by Fred Nerd on June 15, 2008, 05:17 AM »

I think it is better as it is. Simply because people like me who only use windows read these mixed forums and enjoy reading "this is easier in Linux/Mac" or "this is why I haven't switched to linux yet"
it lets us see the other side of the world.

I mean, where would you put a "linux vs Win" thread? in the general area where only Gatesians would read it, or where only followers of the cute penguin would see it?

I don't really believe in multiculturalism, but I still like to see OSs discussed together.

213

General Software Discussion / Re: Where to suggest / request Firefox Addons?

« Last post by Fred Nerd on June 15, 2008, 05:07 AM »

I second that. And third it etc.....
Often there is no way to shut it up either, other than close the page.

I was actually looking for something similar when I found this thread: does anyone know how you can completely stop a page loading?
In specific I mean can you stop a Myspace page when all the text has loaded and not have it go on and download plenty pictures, slideshows, videos, glittery things...... when all you want to do is find  out who this person is.

The stop button only stops some of it, blocking java/script sort of works, but too many things need it.....

And add to what kaon wants.... can the sound be blocked?

214

Living Room / Re: The 10 most annoying programs on the Internet

« Last post by Fred Nerd on June 14, 2008, 05:55 AM »

I just found out that Foxit will open secured PDFs which Adobe blocks saying license expired. Foxit also prints them, etc. Not that I should be doing it, but that doesn't stop me


(I needed to know the Australian Standards for my schoolwork, the school license means every time I want to look at the PDF, I have to re-download a 5mb file, sounds great so I used Foxit and don't have to bother with red tape......)

215

Living Room / Re: Friday the 13'th...!

« Last post by Fred Nerd on June 14, 2008, 05:49 AM »

Repent Czechboy, believe in the power of 13 and all your goods will be saved.......

Sorry, no, I was only joking, my sympathies, hope you get it back no matter what you believe.

I don't believe in it either.....

Unless it is on full moon.....

216

Living Room / Re: Where does the power go when I save it?

« Last post by Fred Nerd on June 09, 2008, 02:43 AM »

On the subject of batteries, I don't know if it is mentioned in any of the articles, but a common storage practise is to use it to turn water into Hydrogen and oxygen, to be later burnt in place of coal.

I'm not too sure how common this is, since I only learned it as a sideline in high school physics.

They also want to use superconductors to create a endless power ring for storing huge amounts of power.

217

Living Room / Re: ENGADGET: 95% of returned products still work. Manuals not read

« Last post by Fred Nerd on June 08, 2008, 05:04 AM »

Hmmm, I don't like to disagree because they've probably done a lot of research here, but I would like to know how thoroughly these returned products were tested.

 I work (part time) as a small engines mechanic, and there are a lot of problems which seem to be totally non-existent, but are still there even if they only show up once a month.

Just sounds too high for my liking. Although I could imagine it when I think of some people I know......

218

Living Room / Re: $10 cell phone?

« Last post by Fred Nerd on June 08, 2008, 04:56 AM »

Can't you just write your numbers on the back in white out?

Or use the free space from where the screen was to stick a piece of paper.

I'd get one, I bought a new phone early this year, still no camera/music player, but at least it has fast response time and is hard to break. I know, I've tried

219

Living Room / Re: Drinking Vinegar?

« Last post by Fred Nerd on June 03, 2008, 12:49 AM »

Apple Cider vinegar is actually one of the healthiest things you can get. I used to shot it as a kid, and still do it every now and then. Try peppermint herbal tea with 3 sugars and a dash of vinegar......

AC Vinegar has many medicinal uses, most of which I can't remember, it is, however, a strong aphrodisiac and can be used to bring cows into heat. A few tablespoons in their food should do it, also increases lactation.

220

Living Room / Re: Best Programming Jokes

« Last post by Fred Nerd on May 25, 2008, 06:07 AM »

Check out www.rinkworks.com/stupid/

Some beauties there. Only problem is no-one else gets the joke.

221

Living Room / Re: Pirating abandoned content?

« Last post by Fred Nerd on May 17, 2008, 04:54 AM »

it could even turn out that a certain amount of piracy would be tolerated specifically because it prevents the demand for free/open source alternatives from reaching a critical mass.  that's a scary though.

As far as I know, Windows used to do this, they knew how many pirate copies of 98 were being installed in the private market, but allowed it because then businesses would run the OS that most employees already knew.
Same with Photoshop, this might have changed, but it used to be the 2nd most pirated software, simply so that it could be the standard, and businesses (and people with more morals) would buy it.
Office was that way as well,

So I think there is a point that pirating is playing into the hands of big business.

222

Living Room / Re: What to do when you receive bootleg videos?

« Last post by Fred Nerd on May 16, 2008, 06:21 AM »

Hit them hard, fair enough if they were selling pirate stuff (see thread on abandoned content) but if they
a) pretend it is authentic
b) don't even do a go job of it

That stinks, they deserve all they can get.

PS return obvious copies of the tapes, i.e. if you can, copy them to some old blank tapes and just write the names on them, that'll teach them, and you'll have the originals for evidence.
And if you can't copy VHS since it is outdated, put them on DVD.

223

Living Room / Re: Pirating abandoned content?

« Last post by Fred Nerd on May 16, 2008, 06:16 AM »

2 things to say:
First, the world cannot function on donationware alone: it is the poor who will donate the little they can, and the rich generally hang onto what they have. As a tradesman, you soon realise which people pay you fairly, and who will haggle and drag things out.
Not to mention people like me who simply forget to donate, the manyana syndrome. Sorry, someday soon I will fine a credit card somewhere.

Second thing, back to topic, how about bringing music into it? There is that much deleted content on P2P that it is crazy. So what if I have all the albums I can get of an artist, but want what is not available elsewhere? I know what I do, but is it ethical?
Or even more confusing; what about bonus tracks which you, missed by being a good fan and buying the album the day it came out.

Any answers?

224

General Software Discussion / Re: BEWARE: IE7Pro and OrbitDownloader

« Last post by Fred Nerd on May 11, 2008, 08:39 AM »

Someone mentioned DAP, I did use it for a while, but then it got too full of itself and started taking over everything and starting automatically even when I had set it not to.

Then it had a very messy uninstall. Wouldn't touch it again.

225

Living Room / Re: The Rule of 3 Drives: How to Build your Next PC

« Last post by Fred Nerd on May 11, 2008, 08:15 AM »

Techie alert
I thought I was a power user, but I only have one HD in my laptop, and my backups consist of the odd DVD of really important files, and a promise that one day I will buy myself an external drive.

I don't want to think about a disk failure, it gives me chills just imagining it.

BTW, I would love to run multiple drives etc. but our house is alternative style: the solar panels only have enough power to run a laptop. 60w as opposed to 600w.