Recent Posts

2226

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 24, 2013, 06:54 PM »

Next step will be to start extradition on sex charges, terrorism or anything else they can dream up.

When are the American people going to stand up and say 'not in our name' .... 'no more'.

-Carol Haynes (June 24, 2013, 05:39 PM)

I dunno, the "mood" of this one feels different. They can't make a sex charge the *only* one. That's got shades of Clinton all over it. Guy says "Hai, I hav ur secrets from the nsa, naanaaa", They can't switch to the sex angle this time because it's too close to home. So they are certainly trying to spin him as a terrorist, but it's different.

Watch it be another 3 year campaign to spill over into the elections!

2227

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 22, 2013, 08:08 AM »

I particularly appreciate the spin doctoring when they chose to use the weasel-worded phrase: "It has been suggested..."  when it would have been far more accurate, and in keeping with the the nature of the original concerns to say: "Skype has been accused..."

-40hz (June 22, 2013, 06:39 AM)

Oh! I know this song!
"I called the Spin Doctor and what did he say? I called the Spin Doctor and what did he say? He said, "Ohh, eee, Ohh Ahh Ahh, Microsoft Bing, Walla Walla Ching Chang!"

2228

General Software Discussion / Re: The Non-Notepad(MS) Thread!

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 22, 2013, 06:38 AM »

Aranaea used to be a lightweight editor that was already head and shoulders above notepad when I first encountered it (version 1 or so). Now it is at version 5.

If you really want to go barebones and oldskool...there is always edxor. The installer is less than 50KByte! Or get the portable one (30KByte) if you find that excessive. This is a very decent text editor with quite a lot of extra functions (but no tabbed interface).  

HiEditor does tabs is also very small (about 3 times the size of edxor) and has functions you will likely not use as it comes from a site dedicated to "good old" ASM (assembly) coding.

Still want more? There is always Zeus. This is an expensive and extensive text editor, but they offer a lite version of their software for free.

-Shades (June 21, 2013, 07:18 PM)

Heh okay, a couple fans for Notepad2 and forks.

I couldn't get to HiEditor because it seemed to want a registration and I'm not in the mood for that right now. Gnu Nano felt a little TOO old school DOS - I grew up just past that era.

Aranea looks like a nice backup, though having found Notepad2 which looks fine I won't spend too much time micro-analyzing them both.

Edxor looks fun/funny because I like small programs! Yet it seems to do as much as the other entries, so that's neat for 35k!

2229

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 21, 2013, 04:45 PM »

So... Idle hands being the devils workshop. The obvious solution is to pair them down to a more manageable size. This greatly enhances communication as there would only be two groups that would need to share with each other. And the best part is that with only the two groups - and such a big scary world out there.. - they would be far too busy doing their actual jobs for a F'ing change to have time to be futzing about in everyone's underwear drawers.

-Stoic Joker (June 21, 2013, 11:52 AM)

Not so obvious. They WERE smaller 15 years ago. Then they complained that they couldn't stop crime because they were understaffed. They used that as part of their marketing pitch to add more people and hardware.

2230

General Software Discussion / Re: The Non-Notepad(MS) Thread!

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 21, 2013, 03:55 AM »

TaoPhoenix, I like very much Jarte: http://www.jarte.com

-Giampy (June 21, 2013, 03:42 AM)

Hi Giampy!

Fascinating entry - though I think it's just barely beaten out so far by Notepad2 on very nebulous grounds - vague look and feel stuff. But I'm glad you mentioned it!

2231

General Software Discussion / Re: The Non-Notepad(MS) Thread!

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 21, 2013, 02:49 AM »

I suppose it would make it easier to get things back the way I like if another program 'stole' those extensions, but that hasn't happened in my experience.

-mwb1100 (June 21, 2013, 02:48 AM)

That's happened to me a fair amount, just recently with the office programs. But I'll put that as a topic for some other day!

2232

General Software Discussion / Re: The Non-Notepad(MS) Thread!

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 21, 2013, 02:44 AM »

What do you mean by "wasn't handling line breaks properly"?

Instead of notepad, I use notepad2 (http://www.flos-free...are.ch/notepad2.html) or notepad++ (http://notepad-plus-plus.org/) - a couple of lightweight, free text editors.

-mwb1100 (June 21, 2013, 02:10 AM)

I've seen Notepad++ before, and again on a 17 second look, it's got "too much of the wrong hardware" in it. Like handing me a flying car - yay flying car, but I'm not rated for flight, so all that stuff doesn't do me any good! (I don't program).

So Notepad2 it is - not yet sure what all those "little tweaks" do yet, but A, I don't need a ruler (though it might be in there), and B, the "whitespace counter" is a great initial selling point, so away Wordpad goes!


DC 1 - MS 0 again! : )

2233

General Software Discussion / Re: The Non-Notepad(MS) Thread!

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 21, 2013, 02:30 AM »

mwb, I'm not sure what that code does - usually I go to rightclick/open with/always use this program if I'm reassigning stuff. Does your code help when two programs "fight" for the extension and don't want to give it up?

2234

Unfinished Requests / Re: Daydreaming of a Coding Snack

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 21, 2013, 02:28 AM »

That's completely in the realm of normal coding snack request, and such requests are more than welcome.. Just be nice and note when you make such a request that it's not something you desperately need just an idea you came up with that you might not even actually use.

-mouser (June 21, 2013, 01:46 AM)

Noted, though theoretically whatever I come up with *would* be something I'd use, just I'm right now in a bit of a "I don't know what I don't know I need" dept. : )

2235

Living Room / Re: Messed Up in Miami

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 21, 2013, 01:51 AM »

Miles, do you have access to a computer say at the local library where you can do stuff? While I was kinda rambling in that Snack post just now, I'm on the verge of asking you if you are interested in a "Coding Lunch" where it's bigger than a free snack and paid by a medium donation.

Mouser/Miles, if I donate via here, can you/he get it?

Kinda differently, depending on what you have for phone access...
(For example wifi via McDonalds, then some kind of "free via internet" calling?)

I am in need of a sort of virtual assistant and a lot of it is/can easily be phone based. For example, stuff like just calling an agency and asking what their rules for X are, then converting that to a typed list of stuff. I'm only 1 step ahead of you here in NY - no job, though I do have family support on housing. But I have pretty bad ADD/other. And it turns out to my dismay that the "professionals" here charge (insert adjective here) amounts when X % of what I need is so "easy", but it's like Alice in Wonderland here just getting that done.

I can't afford much, but I think I can swing $10 an hour for at least a small-ish bunch of hours.

Genius Developer/Smart Guy -> Homeless = Waste!
We'll have to put a little work into "documentation" so that I can try to apply some payback-services for this, but that's cake. Anything you create for an invoice has to be better than the funny invoices at my old job from contractors!

2236

Unfinished Requests / Daydreaming of a Coding Snack

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 21, 2013, 01:42 AM »

I am posting this in "Unfinished" because I don't want to clutter the official thread!

Most snacks come from "Hi. I am a desperate user who wants something. Please help me. I'll pet my cat in your name if you do."

I just got the random sorta-social idea of wondering "who is bored and feels like making a somewhat strange coding snack?" Aka "Supply Push" rather than "Demand Pull". I haven't even thought about *what* I would want as a snack, but if there's a bored developer (developer developer developer!) around, I might go into "Daydream mode" and see what pops up! "Gee, what am I doing a zillion times a week that would be reeeeealy fun to have a snack for?"

2237

General Software Discussion / The Non-Notepad(MS) Thread!

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 21, 2013, 01:38 AM »

Sometimes I like "simple" - "low level" programs that sorta do a few things ultra-simple. (But then I want features! Though it's just features behind the simple interface.)

So this week I finally left Notepad as my favorite no-nonsense text pad. In too many cases it wasn't handling line breaks properly. So today I went to the "complicated" WordPad for text files!

So I'm just curious what other people use for the simpler side of text processing. RTF is okay in this thread too, but I am purposely leaving off the page MS-Word Doc/Docx/ and other higher end needs.

I haven't gone off to one of my pet "surveys" - I am pretty sure in my other years I drifted across at least 5 text editors that did different things. This was just a 5 minute switch to "always open with wordpad" after 100-too-many lines quit formatting properly after some cut and paste op.

Thoughts? Ben Stein Fans?

2238

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Scrubby

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 21, 2013, 12:13 AM »

Heh Remember this?

I'm just now getting back to my project, so that just illustrates why I like Per-Use stuff rather than time limited!

Meanwhile, I think I'll be using Kingsoft Office Spreadsheet rather than LibreOffice for a while, so I don't yet know what Scrubby does to that program.

Chris, are you around so we can see which potential features and stuff to hone in on? At one point you were planning a re-write. I re-downloaded the Beta, and by this point my "15 uses expired", so I don't know anymore what was in there!

2239

General Software Discussion / Re: Worst Javascript/other intrusions?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 20, 2013, 06:40 PM »

New entry!

Career Builder has this big nasty box that slides down over 10% of the job ad you're reading! Yes, later I might "Apply now" but it's really bad design!

I am really liking QuickJS 1.1 as a fast and ruthless way to toggle that crap off and then only later if I want maybe to apply to something I can temporarily let it back on!

2240

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 20, 2013, 06:10 PM »

But here's the rub...when voting someone out...who steps in to fill the void?

-40hz (June 20, 2013, 04:35 PM)

That is the question, is it not?  And there's no way to answer it really.  In our current system of politics, you have to have money in order to serve.  Either yours, or someone else's.  That's indicative of a larger problem.  And the people that would be best for the job in general don't have any aspirations towards it.  That's how you usually tell that someone would be good for the job.

So that was my point in the whole don't start talking boot people out.  What fills the void will probably not be any better... and may just be worse.

-wraith808 (June 20, 2013, 05:49 PM)

Let's use Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan for an example. Theoretically let's say "a billionaire" (pick one besides from Microsoft!) decided to jump into this "Prez gig". He'd need 10 of his friends on the Congressional side to be able to have a hope of getting any actual bills through. Obama is far from perfect, but the general Republican Stonewalling wouldn't be ANY better for an "outsider". Because then you'd have BOTH parties doing their damnest to go all "temporary alliance on his a$$". (Dollar signs intentional!)

2241

Living Room / Re: clever and easy music distribution ideas

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 20, 2013, 06:06 PM »

Hmm...lots of food for thought here.  Thanks guys!
I was not aware of most of these things.  I wonder what my best approach is.  Do I expect to get signed?  Good question.  I didn't even think I was good enough to get signed, but if it's really a possibility, I'll consider it.

What if I do something where I put teaser tracks online (which is me doing all the parts), and then I record an album with all the parts played by the respective musicians, and that's the one I sell?  that way, for the free stuff, I do it with a certain set of procedures, and the stuff for sale I do with the more formal procedure.

But it sounds like 40hz is saying that even then, the labels may take issue with such an arrangement.  I'll have to look into this with the pros I have contact with.

-superboyac (June 20, 2013, 06:02 PM)

I'd recommend you get some high grade help on this, if you can find someone/group who has some of this stuff down to a science. My instinct says that you make teaser *songs* and later record other ones "for the big boys".

I did listen briefly to the initial one up there, and I honestly didn't like it enough to listen to it much more than twice. But I don't think I'd be a fan of a "limited" version of a song, with the "real thing" for pay. Freemium doesn't work well for music!!


After you get a bit of better equipment, I'd much prefer like 5 promo songs and then your big album of 14 might be for sale with different ones and maybe the "favorite" of the promo ones.

2242

Living Room / Re: clever and easy music distribution ideas

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 20, 2013, 06:03 PM »

Damn, I'm gonna have to go into literary studies and do the Collected Works of 40hz!

Yes, I was speaking from a "consumer" standpoint based on the culture of fear on the consumer side in current copyright law. To address 40hz's point I'd say that it A, goes into my first comment of "ponder the licensing side", but you're also right, it seems to be different if someone has their eye on the Big Boys. I don't have a good answer on that. Sorry for getting too fierce on "nope, not having that". That was born of the too-simplistic of "I want to get my music out there free" theme. I'm just especially wary of Bait and Switches on "it's freeeeee" (copyright notice below).

2243

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 20, 2013, 03:35 PM »

That's viral gold if they'll let it!

2244

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 20, 2013, 02:58 PM »

How about this wrinkle in light of the moving news stories?

Slashdot's title:
"Cornell Researchers Unveil a Virtual Notary"
http://virtual-notary.org/

From the actual site:
"Welcome to Virtual-Notary - a free and secure electronic notary service.
How does it work?

You select a factoid that you would like notarized. We check that factoid, create a record of it that you can refer to later, and issue you a cryptographically-signed certificate that attests to that factoid.

What would you like notarized?

*Web Page
Notarize the HTML content of a web page*"

(Emphasis Mine)

2245

Living Room / Re: clever and easy music distribution ideas

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 20, 2013, 01:12 PM »

On my new website, where I'll be posting my music, I want to make the actual songs available for free (for now) and I want to leverage the latest and greatest technologies we have available.  If anyone has suggestions, please throw them out!

the goal:
I want the music to get on the devices and pc's of users even if they can barely use a computer.

My ideas so far:
I have the mp3 file available as button download for desktop users).  For itunes (and other music management software), I'm hoping when they click on the button to download (links directly to the mp3 file), itunes will immediately pop up and add it to the library (is this correct?).
I also want a QR code with a direct link to the file so people can do the same with their mobile devices, whether it's an iphone, android, or whatever.. Once again, if the QR links to the direct file, it should always work, right?

edit, here's the website, for reference:
http://tbgentertainment.com/

-superboyac (June 20, 2013, 12:18 PM)

I suggest that you first put a little pondering into the "licensing" side. Because there is no such thing as "for free, for now". Something that you make free needs to BE free. Now, *other things* can be upsells/add-ons/premium/etc, but you walked into a microcosm of what we rail about with the "limits on digital rights".

"I want to get the music on devices and pc's of users even if they can barely use a computer".

But then you have the classic "lazy line" on the bottom:
"Copyright © 2013 TBG Entertainment."

Nope. Not having it! BizarroAC cackles, from his chair with his cat:
"Yesssss Userssssssss. Come download the Preciousssss Sssssong... get it on alllll your devicesssssss... that'ssssss it. Torrent and Facebook and Tweet and Youtube and ssssshare away... Now let me call in my copyright for 95 years on it!!!"

So I don't know what your "monetization" plan is, but make it one of the really permissive Creative Commons licenses, like maybe Attribution Only. (And then list who we are supposed to attribute it to!) Then spread it to the wind!

2246

General Software Discussion / Re: Opera 15 Preview

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 20, 2013, 12:59 PM »

Can we please talk about Opera not IE?

-allen (June 04, 2013, 11:09 AM)

Guess not. Development is SLOW. . . still so much critical stuff missing, why did they release it so early on in development?

-allen (June 20, 2013, 09:26 AM)

My guess is that because they made a big splash saying they were ditching Presto, they had to release a "placeholder" issue. It's fairly common when a company does big structural internal work - you release something a bit rough on the edges and hope to polish it later. The signature case is MS's Windows Vista.

2247

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 19, 2013, 04:07 PM »

Let me introduce our guest prophets from 30 years ago!

Wait for it ...

Styx!

I'll use this link because it has a couple of interesting mashed pics (next to a bunch of cheesy ones!) But it just shows someone was already thinking what I am and beat me to the next step.

http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=IHT382x8Foo

2248

Screenshot Captor / Re: Version 4.30 shows v4.03

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 19, 2013, 03:57 PM »

Hehe so upgrade to V4.5! : )

2249

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 19, 2013, 02:56 AM »

This is an epic response to a grumpy cease and desist letter!

http://abovethelaw.c...e-and-desist-letter/

2250

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on June 18, 2013, 10:44 PM »

Jesus has been known to appear in some pretty unorthodox (religion joke!) places, like in the bark of a tree, a frying pan or delicious Cheeto, and even in a damn blessed grilled cheese sandwich. J-C has been spotted once again… in this dog’s B-U-T-T. Homeboy is wearing his signature robe and everything!

(see attachment in previous post)
http://www.incredibl...d-in-a-dogs-bum-bum/

-app103 (June 18, 2013, 06:34 AM)

Hehe that image was so disturbing I decided to AdBlock it : )