Recent Posts

2476

Living Room / Define passive-aggressive

« Last post by Edvard on May 23, 2007, 02:56 PM »

Passive-Aggressive notes from Roommates, Neighbors, Coworkers and Strangers.

For the purposes of this project, we’re using a pretty broad (and to some extent, arbitrary) definition of “passive-aggressive” that roughly correlates with how the term is popularly used. (most people don’t go diving for the dsm IV when someone describes his or her roommate as “so passive-aggressive” — or “so antisocial” or “so sadistic” or “so schizo,” for that matter.)

Some of the notes here are really more aggressive in tone, and some of them are more passive — polite, even — but they all share a common sense of frustration that’s been channeled into a written note rather than a direct confrontation. while it may be more accurate, “@$$hole-ish notes from roommates, neighbors, coworkers and strangers” (or “well-deserved notes from roommates…”) just doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as easily, you know?

http://passiveaggres...enotes.wordpress.com

from Admit-One.net

2477

Living Room / Hack to search google without ads

« Last post by Edvard on May 18, 2007, 04:54 PM »

Sssh... Don't tell...

http://google.com/se...h?output=googleabout

(although I'm sure everyone but me already knows this, right?)

2478

Living Room / Re: Microsoft takes on the free world

« Last post by Edvard on May 18, 2007, 01:10 PM »

Ok, I'm going to drop 2 cents here...

I don't normally get into these kind of discussions because, even though I use Linux and have for a few years now, I have nothing against Microsoft and it makes no sense to me to constantly tear down the ones who (for better or worse) made the most headway into making computing available for the masses (even if it's fun sometimes).
Besides, I am usually perfectly happy minding my own business, tinkering with my Linux box at home, glad that MS is mostly out of my way.

But sometimes somebody annoys you, like a mosquito around your head in the night, to the point you gotta just SWAT the damn thing.

May I present my Mr. Mosquito, aka Bill Hilf, Microsoft's "Platform Strategy Director". He is head of Microsoft's Linux lab and he so clearly doesn't get it that it's annoying, maddening, and pitiful.
Someone whose job it is to understand these things should know better than to make statements like these publicly:

Microsoft director out to 'debunk mythology around open source'
http://www.bangkokpo...09May2007_data05.php


Wait a minute, hold the phone:
I was going to go into a full-blown rant on this, but I just got a message pointing me to his blog.
Apparently, he was clearly taken out of context on some things, and according to his own words:

http://port25.techne.../clarifications.aspx

he even said he may have spoken too soon.

My opinion still stands that he should think before he speaks, but at least I am dispelled of the notion that he is a complete idiot.

2479

General Software Discussion / Re: Web Mail Recommendation?

« Last post by Edvard on May 17, 2007, 03:57 PM »

If you're more concerned about speed & reliability over a pretty interface, try fastmail.fm.
More features than you can shake a stick at, and many domains to choose from.
http://www.fastmail.fm

2480

Living Room / Re: unhealthy amounts of image generators

« Last post by Edvard on May 07, 2007, 02:57 PM »

and a fun little blog to show you some previews (and maybe some not on imagegenerator.org)

http://generatorblog.blogspot.com/

2481

General Software Discussion / Re: Don't call it "the tray"!

« Last post by Edvard on April 26, 2007, 06:36 PM »

As yet another example, the origin of the word "f**k" comes from a word meaning "to thrust", as in to thrust with a sword. (Old Anglo-Saxon)

I remember in Junior High School looking up dirty words in the oldest dictionaries I could find in the library. One of them said the word in question was a verb that meant "to hit".

Gives new insight to the phrase "I'd hit that..."

:duck: :run:

2482

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you use 7-Zip files?

« Last post by Edvard on April 26, 2007, 06:19 PM »

(or if you want to support even really old quirky architectures, .tar.gz)

Geez, I can't swing a dead cat around open-source-land without smacking a .tar.gz. In fact, Slackware packages are nothing but a populated directory tree wrapped in .tar.gz and renamed .tgz.

I use 7-Zip (the application) because it has proven reliable and fast for quite a while, and I use it constantly at work to sling files off to clients and fellow employees.

I tried using the .7z format for archiving, and found it painfully slow, although I do agree it's a decent format if you've got the time.

2483

Living Room / Re: Are Optical Computers as PCs on the horizon?

« Last post by Edvard on April 26, 2007, 05:14 PM »

And, secondly, what everyday applications will such powerful computers, using A.I., be put to in those two years, respectively?

As fast and powerful as computers may get in the future, they will never outstrip the bounds of human nature.
In other words, I strongly suspect folks will still be finding ways to use computers (in whatever incarnation they may be then...) to find pictures of naked people and play some (incredibly fast) tetris.
  

2484

Living Room / Re: Funny small software company names

« Last post by Edvard on April 24, 2007, 02:17 PM »

http://www.oneguycoding.com/




Maker of Vern, a very full-featured virtual desktop program.

2485

Living Room / Re: What's your pet's favorite toy?

« Last post by Edvard on April 24, 2007, 11:47 AM »

If I had a dog, I would want this...

http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=vRi0m329iL4

BTW: My favorite? Fake mouse and a fishing pole!!

p.s. no hooks...

2486

Living Room / Gizmodo has gone too far...

« Last post by Edvard on April 23, 2007, 01:49 PM »

O.
M.
G.

Hotdoll: The Sex Doll for Dogs
...Are you constantly having to pry your promiscuous pooch off the legs of guests, parents and members of your church? Protect your leg from a hump attack by getting Scruffy a Hotdoll. Yes, it's a sex doll for dogs. It's shaped like a dog and it'll allow your tension-filled pet to go to town as much as his little heart desires...

http://gizmodo.com/g...-for-dogs-253334.php

from Admit-One.net

2487

Living Room / Re: OMGLOLWTFBBQ! They set us up teh b0mbs!!11

« Last post by Edvard on April 23, 2007, 12:46 PM »

hrm?

can they hack the gibson?

not even Chuck Norris can haxor teh gib!!!!11!!1

(for those who don't know what "teh gib" is or what this has to do with Chuck Norris...
http://www.google.co...h?q=chuck+norris+can
http://www.grc.com/default.htm )

2488

General Software Discussion / Re: Don't call it "the tray"!

« Last post by Edvard on April 20, 2007, 02:09 PM »

Curt: Your post has just made me think of how the English language resembles Mandarin Chinese in that we use accents instead of tonal variation. For example, the difference between garbage and a verb meaning "to turn away something offered" is the difference between "refuse and refuse. See?
And so many more of those examples can be attributed to "borrowed" words, archaic terms that have changed meaning, etc, etc, ad nauseum.

gjehle: Hooray! Something that MS can't threaten to sue Linux users for! All your systray are belong to us!!11!!!

2489

Developer's Corner / Re: pywinauto

« Last post by Edvard on April 19, 2007, 11:35 AM »

Wow, that and Easygui and Python will almost replace Autohotkey! w00t!

2490

Living Room / Re: 14 Surefire Ways to Annoy Users

« Last post by Edvard on April 17, 2007, 11:48 AM »

They forgot one:

• Make changes to our file associations in the registry that don't revert when we un-install.

 

2491

Living Room / Re: Why Linux is better

« Last post by Edvard on April 17, 2007, 11:44 AM »

Touche' f0dder, well done.
Though I greatly prefer GNU/Linux, I'll confer that the fud will fly as long as folks are allowed to choose their OS. While most folks are looking for Linux alternatives to Windows software, it's refreshing to see the vice-versa. Vista even has aliases for Linux CLI tools (ls, cat, etc.)
I remember a blog post a while back called the Linux Tolerance Point where the blogger ranted about how most Linux folks go about their jolly way until someone with a real problem (installing an ATI video card and drivers) attempts to find a solution, and they will suddenly blow up at some point because you're poking at their sacred balloon.
I've seen it happen, and I've seen the reverse (at least 3 folks on IRC simultaneously hand-holding a new Linux user through a re-compile of ALSA when a new kernel broke an older version and the new version binary mysteriously refused to run...)
Right now at work, I'm on a Windows NT4.0 Workstation (2.3 GHz 512 MB) running as a Scan-to-File and Print workstation for a small reprographics place. NT4 is actually a pretty stable platform. Any Windows that starts with "9" or "M" is poison.That's from personal experience.
My errors come from attempting to install the latest whoop-de-doo software that's supposed to do incredible things but needs *gag* .NET or some obscure entry point in user32.dll (I tried installing .NET on this, and I cannot begin to describe the headaches...) and the System Requirements posted on the webpage doesn't even say it's not compatible. (Eventually I give up and realize all I need is PowerPro anyways )
All else besides, the tech support for this printing system says my Boss will have to pay $8000 to upgrade to "XP Embedded". Nice, eh?

2492

General Software Discussion / Re: PowerPro development to cease this month

« Last post by Edvard on April 17, 2007, 10:34 AM »

 

Folks:
My current plans are to stop all PowerPro development at the end of
April.

Hopefully he hand down source code to someone?
Unfortunately, the answer is no.

POWERPRO IS DEAD! LONG LIVE POWERPRO!! HUZZAAAAHHHH!!




(in other words, I am deeply saddened by this event, but as long as I am forced to use a windows platform in any capacity, I will use PowerPro. I will bravely soldier on under the PowerPro banner. I will never surrender.)

2493

Living Room / Re: WordSpy: Devoted to lexpionage, the sleuthing of new words and phrases

« Last post by Edvard on April 12, 2007, 04:58 PM »

Being a long-time semantics nut (Korzibsky, anyone?) I find this very interesting in a smack-your-forehead kind of way.

wonder if 'all your base are belong to us' will ever make it to webster's
would be a black day in history tho

Black day, indeed.

im in ur websters, spyin ur fraze...

2494

Living Room / Re: $2 Credit Bounty: Animation of Hamster on Wheel

« Last post by Edvard on April 12, 2007, 11:58 AM »

http://www.philkapla...rpages%20-%20tip.htm

I don't know the source, but I've seen the same one on 3 sites.
The only good one I could find, and I'm no animator myself or else I'd just make one.
Hope it helps...

2495

Living Room / Re: Favorite Sci-fi movies?

« Last post by Edvard on April 04, 2007, 06:11 PM »

I used to consider myself a connoisseur of this genre, let's see what I can dig up...

First of all, kudos to those who already mentioned some faves...

• Forbidden Planet (classic, classic, classic...)
• Cherry 2000 (and I thought I was the only one who liked this one...)
• The Thing (I loved the original, and John Carpenter's version was the only horror flick TO THIS DAY that I had to turn my head at MORE THAN ONCE)
• Tron (classic, classic, classic)

Now, for my own faves, starting with classics...

• Night of the Living Dead (George Romero's classic, fer sure)
• It Came from Outer Space in 3D (1953, starring Russell Johnson!!)
• Plan 9 from Outer Space (starring a posthumous Bela Lugosi)
• Body Snatchers (original and remake were both great)
• Die, Monster Die! (Vincent Price, need I say more? Although it's not exactly sci-fi...)

now for the more modern stuff...

• Buckaroo Banzai (classic, classic, classic)
• Hardware (ditto)
• Brazil (...)
• I Come In Peace (Dolph Lundgren, the intergalactic drug dealer, the jugular slicing CD gun, etc.)
• Existenz (wtf...)
• Society (again, wtf...)
• Night of the Creeps (Teenage Zombies and Alien Turbo Slugs, yeah!)
• Brainstorm (Christopher Walken, need I say more?)
• Runaway (Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons in the same movie, need I say more? oh, and creepy poison robots, too...)
• Battle Beyond the Stars / Space Raiders (same starship models, same intergalactic space battles, two very different movies...)
• Space Hunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (wtf? Molly Ringwald?...)
• From Beyond (pink squishy elder gods from the nth dimension, oh my...)

That oughta hold ya fer a spell...

2496

Living Room / Truly Beautacious Wallpapers

« Last post by Edvard on April 03, 2007, 11:50 AM »

Desktopography is an exhibition, a showcase of nature themed wallpapers created by designers worldwide.

Designers spend around 90% of their waking life in front of a computer, so the most appealing genre for a wallpaper would be one that has beautiful design mixed with the all important aspect of being outdoors.
This year we present over 40 new desktop wallpaper for you to display and enjoy.

-Warning: Large flash site-

http://www.desktopography.net

found at Admit-one.net

2497

Living Room / Oh no, not another social network site...

« Last post by Edvard on April 02, 2007, 05:49 PM »

So let me get this clear...

In the UK when someone is a little crazy, they are called "Nutter".
Which is a way to say someone is acting "like a Nut"

So people who use this site...

A global community of friends and strangers answering one simple question: What are you doing? Answer on your phone, IM, or right here on the web!

...um, I'll let you figure it out.
eesh.

2498

Living Room / Re: xRez - gigapixel images, Boston, MA image fully zoomable!

« Last post by Edvard on April 02, 2007, 03:05 PM »

I don't think any camera could capture such detail, but making it in parts would reveal some issues with shadows, right? (since they wouldn't reflect one exact moment)

Hmm, I wonder if latency happens in these kinds of cameras. I mean, what happened to this guy?

it could be interpreted as invasion of privacy, afaik.
Imagine if there was someone sunbathing nude on the top of a high building.

and, well, this guy aint exactly nude, but for what it's worth...


More extremely large art, but in a decidedly different[/] vein...
http://lenser.spb.ru...panoram/pixelart.htm

2499

General Software Discussion / Re: Strange Windows wallpaper trick

« Last post by Edvard on March 26, 2007, 03:29 PM »

Hmmm... Looks like the Photoshop community have loved and hated this type of trick for a while now...
http://www.google.co...+background+tutorial

2500

General Software Discussion / Re: Good pixel/bitmap editor?

« Last post by Edvard on March 26, 2007, 03:26 PM »

Hmmm...

CursorArts ImageForge:
http://www.cursorarts.com/ca_imffw.html

Ultimate Paint:
http://www.ultimatepaint.com/

I use the freeware version of Ultimate Paint a few times a week. Not a whole lot of bells and whistles, but a lot of "just works" features that you just WISH were in msPaint.
I tried ImageForge a long time ago and I didn't like it, though I can't remember exactly why...