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2176

Living Room / Re: This Just in: From the You Gotta be Shitting Me Dept.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 10, 2013, 12:46 PM »

According to all of Gecko's commercials (about 80 times a day), they have the best customer support of all the insurance companies.  Of course they don't tell you that only applies when they're opening a new account.....

-Tinman57 (July 09, 2013, 06:59 PM)

Actually I have geico.  My wife recently totalled the car, and the customer service was stellar.  And the one time that it wasn't, I called and asked to speak to a manager.  He rectified the situation immediately.

-wraith808 (July 09, 2013, 08:00 PM)

The did much better a few years ago when the wife's care got totaled (she too was rear-ended, but by a guy that was awake with faulty breaks (and no insurance)). The handled that one acceptable but not lightening fast. For fast service I recall Progressives performance; the agent got there before the cops did, assessed the damage, generated an estimate...and cut us a check on the spot. Now that was stellar service in my book.

...Answer to next obvious question is we switched due to price/budget constraints. *Sigh*

Not sure what's going on in SJ's case... but I'd ask to speak to a manager and see about getting an earlier appointment if it was me.

-wraith808 (July 09, 2013, 08:00 PM)

While it had crossed my mind, I'd rather take the time to get under the truck and do my own assessment regarding what the options are. I suspect that one of the "Crumple Zones" that are built into the frame may have given way (as it's designed to) causing the alignment anomaly. As I'm in no hurry to part with the truck I plan to use the time to do some research on how best to argue (assuming I have a leg to stand on) on its behalf if the decision is made to total it.

2177

Living Room / Re: This Just in: From the You Gotta be Shitting Me Dept.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 09, 2013, 05:41 PM »

But what took the cake was, the drunken driver opens his door, staggers to the driver's side window of our car, leans in and says "Hey!  Wassa' Matta' wit' ya'??  Didn't ya' see me comin' ?

-MilesAhead (July 09, 2013, 04:14 PM)

Oh dear...that would have gotten him "damaged" if he'd been the one that hit me today.

   One option, if it's a rare truck, you can buy the truck from the insurance company for dirt cheap and have it put on a frame straightener.

-Tinman57 (July 09, 2013, 04:43 PM)

At this point I just have to wait for the 25th to take it into the appointment the insurance company (Geico (incredibly not fast)) set up. Then it's fate will be decided (close race).

My favorite part of the ensuing discussion thus far was when the insurance lady -- Who had already been informed that I had stopped at a traffic light, and the person behind me...did not -- asked me if "I was hit in the rear from behind"? (after a short pause) I simply responded with "I really don't think there's another way of doing it".

2178

Living Room / This Just in: From the You Gotta be Shitting Me Dept.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 09, 2013, 03:26 PM »

So my brother and I are coming back from the DMV. Our purpose there was to finally get the Tag and Title for a custom Harley Davidson, That I'd started building over 15 years ago. We're talking Thousands of dollars sitting in the back of my pickup truck...

As we're discussing where to go for tag bolts...hardware or auto parts store, I stop at a red light. With the myriad of truly insane (and completely issue free) 90 mph power slides (and etc..) I've done in my truck, I'm being excruciatingly careful due to the current cargo. However...

The mildly brain-dead, complete &*#!*&^$ Airhead behind us doing ~50 mph did not stop (because she was asleep <- direct quote)) ... Until she hit me.

So...sadly, while the bike is okay (yes that is a plus), my truck (2002 Dodge Dakota R/T 5.9 - Translation very fast/very rare) is I suspect totaled. Which pisses me off to no end as -- it's friggin' paid for -- I really liked it.

So here I am playing adventures in frame damage ... And I'm supposed to be on a much needed vacation.

...Can you think of a four letter that starts with F and rimes with truck??

  Damn it.

2179

Living Room / Re: Worth Reading: Trevor Pott's editorial on NSA PRISM and its real ramifications

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 08, 2013, 10:39 PM »

PRISM v2.0 will be fun, colorful, and voluntary. Come one, come all, and submit all your email data. We will figure out who you know and communicate with, even if you don't volunteer. We are pretty sure your friends will think the infographics are cool looking and want their own....and you'll be on it.

-app103 (July 08, 2013, 08:37 PM)

First 300 to sign up get a free "I was water boarded at Gitmo for posting something stupid on FaceBook" T-Shirt!

2180

Living Room / Re: Your thoughts wanted: The right way to honor the passing of a DC forum member

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 08, 2013, 10:32 PM »

So, my vote goes with a wisely-worded mention here in Living Room, with some indication in their profile of their passing and a link to the relevant post.  May be especially nice if immediate family/friends could be passed the link as well.

-Edvard (July 08, 2013, 09:57 PM)

I'm good with that.

2181

Living Room / Re: Your thoughts wanted: The right way to honor the passing of a DC forum member

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 08, 2013, 10:45 AM »

Only thing I've ever seen done is along the lines of what OP has already accomplished. I'm not really sure a dedicated Obit section is really needed. It's too much the constant reminder, and a bit dark (as in tends to dampen mood).

Also begs the question as to what associative range qualifies for inclusion. If extended to board member families...I can think of a few posts I rather not be reminded of on a daily basis.

2182

Living Room / Re: Worth Reading: Trevor Pott's editorial on NSA PRISM and its real ramifications

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 07, 2013, 03:05 PM »

Ah yes ... We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. Especially if the happen to be making it difficult for our compatriots that are trying really hard to take over the world...to make it a "better place" of course...for everyone. But especially us...'cause it was our idea and all, ya know.

I say take a page out of history, what's the only attempt at secure communication that didn't get broken? Navaho radio operators. Now matter how they tried to decrypt it, it didn't work ... Because it wasn't F'ing encrypted. Der...! That's the answer. Do it Old School.

Take a page from the spammers handbook -- and you thought they were totally useless... (hehe) -- The whole point of the psudo story random word based Emails was to get green mail server admins to break their own Baysean filters by constantly tossing these clutter word Emails into them.

Well...

If the NSA wants to log, catalog, and sift through everybody's everything. I say make it fun for everyone (e.g. us...). Glob together a huge block (like a Gig or so) of clutter text that will just barely pass for a conversation (if a computer is looking at it...) and upload it a few times a day. Preferably through a Fly-by-night looking VPN service to make it look nice and really interesting. Or alternate, the encryption is really pointlessly optional. In a nutshell, it's basically spamming the internet. if enough people did it, it could artificially spike the volume of cruft they have to sift through.

Hay it's our (the tax payers) money that paid for all that friggin hardware ... Let's use the storage as we see fit. I thing the list of all the words I could think of when I was stoned as shit is an extremely important document. That should be backed up as often and in as many places as it can be ... So as to protect it for posterity...or something..


...And yes...somebody has been drinking. (Hic!).

2183

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 07, 2013, 08:38 AM »

Okay, one more:

2184

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 07, 2013, 08:19 AM »

Are gun jokes okay?



j/k How about this one instead?



...Okay, I give up.



 

2185

Living Room / Re: No country for amateurs - the danger of supposedly secure messaging

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 06, 2013, 02:07 PM »

Yes another sterling example of why encryption and magic should not be construed as synonyms.

There seems to be a (feel good) movement in the industry that want's people to believe that as long as X is encrypted it is magically impervious to anything. Frequently these are the same retards that hawk Antivirus Security Suites.

Reality: Encryption is slightly less effective than the car alarm on a Ferrari that is left in a ally in a bad neighborhood overnight. It's flashy, draws attention, and tends to have glass windows.

Bottom line: If you feel that you can't Speak Freely unless the conversation is encrypted...then you cannot speak freely...period.

2186

General Software Discussion / Re: Enables/disable internet access based on a time schedule

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 05, 2013, 08:33 AM »

^Just out of curiosity...have you tried telling your son what the acceptable hours for internet usage are first?

Reason I ask is because there really isn't a simple "technical" solution for what you want to do if he doesn't want to respect your wishes.

-40hz (July 05, 2013, 07:30 AM)

+1000 - Because if you try to make it a game by pitting your child against a security device. You'll most likely soon find out the kids are really good at games.

Talk to your kids...as parents, we're supposed to be doing that anyway.

Standard User as defined above can't change System settings that affect other users - does that include time, network and tasks?

-4wd (July 05, 2013, 07:46 AM)

Can std user change system time (in Windows), no. Especially on a domain. However, std user is allowed to change the Time Zone. Not to mention that "System Time" really is BIOS Time and trying to password protect the BIOS is basically pointless.

2187

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 03, 2013, 11:49 PM »

...
You're probably right ... But it just infuriates me that people can't get together and behind this thing and force the government to blink. WTF is it gonna take to get people off their asses?!? Christ we had more outrage expressed in the MSM when Janet Jackson's titty popped out FFS.

If the overlords can't be made to blink now, with something this mind-blowingly blatant...they're never going to. We might as well pack up the flag -- I'm sure they'll be making a new one soon anyhow ... Something with more red, and a scepter. -- and leave.

-Stoic Joker (July 03, 2013, 01:48 PM)

But exactly how do we make them blink? They're pretty close to a lockdown.

-TaoPhoenix (July 03, 2013, 11:18 PM)

Flood every Email server in Washington DC with messages from "We the People"... What say let Edward Snowden go, he's a true patriot and deserves a medal for reporting rampant corruption in our government.

Give Snail Mail the same treatment.

Put it on banners, billboards, and bumper stickers to make triple thick friggin sure that can't get away with saying they didn't notice.

White people suck at protesting (seriously, we do - Occupy Wall Street...Fail!), so get the African American population on board, and put them in charge (Million Man March...Hello!). The rest of us will just have to stay quiet, follow them up to the white house, and try not to do anything stupid (Occupy Wall Street - Yes I'm harping on that train wreck again.).

Now if the overloads look out the window and see several million of all of us (black/white/red/brown/yellow) together standing on the same singular point.

I'm thinking they just might blink ... or shit their pants ... either is acceptable.

2188

Living Room / Re: 10 signs you may have OCD

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 03, 2013, 05:17 PM »

15 years ago I hated computers and thought they were evil. Now (thanks to a pivotal event) I'm the admin for one of the largest IT companies in the area. That's not OCD ... That's setting a goal and going for it.

-Stoic Joker (July 03, 2013, 06:41 AM)

Wow, talk about an about-face!  You've got to explain this one...was it the typical "computers are taking our jobs" thing, or something different?

-superboyac (July 03, 2013, 04:57 PM)

Simple really, I made a deal with the devil...and stuck to it.

A long time friend of over 30 years had a bike shop that I was helping him at. He was getting into computers at the time but just for user level play toy stuff. I adamantly hated them ... But he decided to give me one for Christmas. I was totally bummed when I opened the box because I thought he'd gotten me the custom rims I wanted for the custom Harley I was building at the time (Hay bike shop...Ya know..?).

To be polite -- as he is a father figure level friend -- I let him set it up and show me all the "really cool" stuff it could do ... Which at the time I didn't give a shit less about.

However I did bitch about it a bit at work where I was managing an optical lab at the time. One of the staff (young college guy of the time) was trying to explain to me what value the idiotic contraptions had. "They can answer virtually any question" he said ... Which got me thinking. I can be extremely dangerous when thinking at that level. I said "Okay ... Tell it to find my mother"...because I was adopted, and while I can't really say that it bothered me...I was excruciatingly curious.

He got me online, and gave me the basics of how to do web stuff, and I started digging. I was looking for two things at the same time. The first was a straight up web search for mom. The second was anything I could find about how these things were put together, and something called "Hacking" (the movie helped...) that appeared as an excellent plan 'B' if the search didn't pan out.

Six months later I got an Email from one of the sites I'd found for that sort of thing ... Two hours later I was on the phone with Mom.

Ultimate question, was answered ... Deal had been made ... The rest is history..

2189

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 03, 2013, 01:48 PM »

I'm betting he'll be in US custody in less than six weeks.

-40hz (July 03, 2013, 01:30 PM)

You're probably right ... But it just infuriates me that people can't get together and behind this thing and force the government to blink. WTF is it gonna take to get people off their asses?!? Christ we had more outrage expressed in the MSM when Janet Jackson's titty popped out FFS.

If the overlords can't be made to blink now, with something this mind-blowingly blatant...they're never going to. We might as well pack up the flag -- I'm sure they'll be making a new one soon anyhow ... Something with more red, and a scepter. -- and leave.

2190

General Software Discussion / Re: Ad blockers, newspaper sites, etc.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 03, 2013, 01:26 PM »

...you should randomly click on anything you see anywhere to make it as hard as possible for the advertisers to make sense of their click data.

-vlastimil (July 03, 2013, 10:11 AM)

 

2191

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 03, 2013, 01:00 PM »

Loved the - I'm sure quite accurate - letter, but..

In return, our NSA agrees not to go public with all the information it has meticulously compiled on all the dirty dealings of your government - as well as the frankly criminal "activities" and questionable "lifestyles" of many of your elected officials.

-40hz (July 03, 2013, 07:21 AM)

That has got to be a two way street. Snowden must have some of that type of info in his stash that he could use to move a bit of the leadership into his corner. He doesn't need to release it to the world ...(that could be strategically bad)... Just quietly let the key relevant people know that there are records of their last frolic...and that he'd like to help them out...'cause the seem like nice people ... But he's just, Ya know ... Needin' a bit of breathing room.

2192

Living Room / Re: Making the most of your Microsoft Excel.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 03, 2013, 12:25 PM »

Now, That is incredibly cool!

2193

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 03, 2013, 07:02 AM »

Any chance that this made President Evo Morales mad enough to grant Snowden asylum out of spite? Hell I'll stick a Bolivian flag in my front yard if he does that!

2194

Living Room / Re: The real difference between a desktop pc and every other gadget you have.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 03, 2013, 06:52 AM »

Why do I feel like I'm never going to grow up?

-superboyac (July 02, 2013, 11:58 PM)

Growing up is highly overrated, I refuse to do it.

Hell, if they were offering that with a choice of OSs -- partial to the Windows phones as I am -- I'd go get in line for one now!

Assembled in the USA (no shit? Finally??) ...I may have to try a Droid ... Damn those pesky pivotal moments...

2195

Living Room / Re: 10 signs you may have OCD

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 03, 2013, 06:41 AM »

Sidenote, I first started being aware of this stuff when I noticed on my friend's bookshelf of The Greatest Books of Western Civilization or something like that, and included there was Faraday's journals.  And at the time I was writing my electrical engineering practice manuals.  So I started reading it and it just hit me how consumed this guy was with his experiments.  From my own experiences, I had always felt a degree of shame for getting "too into" things, and would either hide behind some humor or just hide it altogether.  So that helped me realize that getting super OCD about things is really the only way to figure things out well.

-superboyac (July 02, 2013, 11:52 PM)

That's not OCD...that's determination. I learned at a very young age, that I could do anything...if I really put my mind to it. Applying ones self I believe it's usually (/supposed to be) called. Ya know, nothing worth doing is ever easy and all that.

15 years ago I hated computers and thought they were evil. Now (thanks to a pivotal event) I'm the admin for one of the largest IT companies in the area. That's not OCD ... That's setting a goal and going for it.

Why has it become fashionable to be slightly damaged?? *Shrug* ...I'm guessing it just a side effect of the everybody gets a trophy school of "thought" (e.g. horse shit).

2196

Living Room / Re: 10 signs you may have OCD

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 02, 2013, 10:18 PM »

On a more serious note, I have been growing increasingly annoyed by the need for people to "diagnose" the psychological condition of everyone.  Depression, anxiety, OCD, etc.  I don't know why it bothers me so much (probably indicative of one of these conditions), but it does.  It seems to do more harm than good.  Like that person who points out the zit on your face, as if you're not already aware of it.  Just being a dick.  "What is that thing on your face?"  Shut up.

So what if someone washes their hands a lot.  Unless it's really a bad problem that is severely affecting their lives (how do you judge where the line is?) just leave them alone.  Some people organize things a little obsessively.  So what?  It's not bad!  There's some value to that!  Some people don't organize at all.  So what?!

-superboyac (July 02, 2013, 03:16 PM)

I think it's a down-side effect of the hyper-PC movement (speaking of another group that ought to be castrated with fishing knives). For some reason these idiots feel safer if they keep every(one/)thing labeled so the know exactly what to not offend them with (Can U say counter productive...).

Well, that and is seems to be somewhat trendy these days to be mildly damaged. Just look at some of the lead (hero) characters in the TV shows that have been coming out lately. ...Sure he carries on lengthy dialogs with his hallucinations...but he's a brilliant crime solver. O'RLY?

Not!

...The inmates are running the asylum, and they're starting to penalize people for being normal.

And for some reason, it has been particularly prevalent in Los Angeles.  Maybe so in other places to, but I have really noticed it here lately.  Wives telling husbands all the little things wrong with them.  Bosses nitpicking every little thing here and there.  People are different.  Oh this person is antisocial, he likes to keep to himself, so creepy (me).  Oh that person is pretentious, always needing to talk a lot.  Where is this perfect balance they want?  Now, they'll hear me talking like this and say I have anger issues, why am I depressed?  Oh you're too negative (to me).  Oh you're too positive (me to them).  Sheesh.

I'll tell you one thing.  I haven't been able to do much really good things without getting pretty OCD about it.  Whether it's music, drawing, project management, etc.  I've read journals by great men who accomplished great things, and they were super OCD.  The Germans?  Please.

-superboyac (July 02, 2013, 03:16 PM)

I'm a German/Hispanic split ... So half of me gets what you mean...and the other half wants to take a nap.

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

Can I nominate SB for a best rant of the week award?

2197

Living Room / Re: Microsoft ending TechNet subscription activations effective august 2013

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 02, 2013, 12:23 PM »

I think a lot of the motivation is because Microsoft has been unable to convince people that Microsoft products are "licensed not sold." So their customer's perspective is still one that says "possession is 9/10ths of law." And that's despite 30 years of trying to "educate" people otherwise. Most people flat out refuse to accept the notion of 'intellectual property' when they're buying a physical product.

-40hz (July 02, 2013, 08:39 AM)

As well they should. The whole IP war drum thing is psychopathic corporate greed and laziness. They want to just sit back and gorge themselves with cash for doing absolutely jack shit. It makes about as much sense as an 80's one-hit-wonder walking around acting all butt-hurt because they're not still rich and getting top hat treatment.

Bill Gates became the richest man in the world during the peak of the casual copy "issue". Then MS concocted this activation BS and profits began to decline. and decline ... And decline. They are poring more money into nickel squeezing the thumbscrew based licensing schemes than they are into creating a product that doesn't suck. That's why they're profits are down ... But psychopaths really aren't trainable so they're not going to learn until they end up being bought out by the competition for a song.

They damn well better hope that cloud they're ascending into is iron clad. Because as the other companies follow them into said cloud...they are going to be giving birth to a very large crowd of very angry unemployed IT people.


Hack the Planet!

2198

General Software Discussion / Re: MS Windows Internet Explorer 8 Problems

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 02, 2013, 11:42 AM »

Also try flushing your DNS cache (CMD prompt and type IPCONFIG /FlushDNS ) - you will need to disconnect and reconnect again from the network after that (pull the wire or switch off WiFi for a minute - alternatively restart your computer).

-Carol Haynes (July 02, 2013, 10:11 AM)

Sorry about the side track, but... The whole point of the ipconfig /flushdns command (which I use constantly) is to eliminate the need for rebooting and unplugging things. Restarting the browser for the above yes, as IE does a bit of name lookup caching of its own ...But the rest should never be needed.

If a network disconnect/reconnect resolves anything, it is most likely an ARP table issue with a bad MAC address. The alternative there would be one of the ARP commands to either list the existing IP to MAC address lookups (to spot the bad one), or to just purge the existing lookups so the machine can get the updated/correct info.

To list existing lookups:
arp -a

To purge the current ARP table:
arp -d *

These are really handy for troubleshooting IP conflicts.

2199

Living Room / Re: Microsoft ending TechNet subscription activations effective august 2013

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 02, 2013, 06:41 AM »

... and that's why we can't have nice things.

That still leaves MSDN, however, right?  Or are they removing it from my ultimate subscription too?  It doesn't appear so...

-wraith808 (July 01, 2013, 08:50 PM)

This bit does make it sound safe for now..:

In addition, MSDN Subscriptions remain available for purchase and provide access to current and prior software versions for evaluation, development and testing. MSDN Subscriptions also provide priority support in forums, access to eLearning courses, and complimentary support incidents as part of the paid subscription.

...But it certainly has shaved all the hair off my warm fuzzy feeling.

I bet their download servers are getting hammered as people race to "stock up" before the end.

2200

Living Room / Re: KPMG: Say it ain't so.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 01, 2013, 03:48 PM »

Hopefully, this is an isolated incident.

-superboyac (July 01, 2013, 02:53 PM)

I'm sure it is, as the truly experienced crooks on Wall Street never get caught. This guy is just -- trying to help a buddy out -- low hanging fruit. Hell he was probably gifted to an SEC investigator by someone higher on the food chain to pay a turn-your-head-and-cough debt.