Recent Posts

29226

Living Room / Re: Xerces Panic Error .... help ...

« Last post by mouser on October 15, 2006, 11:28 AM »

the plot thickens!!!
i'm watching this thread with great interest.. it's better than a soap opera.. i only wonder how it will end..

29227

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows XP Myths

« Last post by mouser on October 15, 2006, 11:11 AM »

you can mail me at [email protected] or send me a pm message through the forum.
i have the utmost respect for the long time members on this site - i consider myself good friends with f0dder and in fact.  i'll let them speak for themselves if they feel i've treated them unfairly.  i respect your views - i might suggest though that you may be reading too much into my criticisms of them.  i'm pretty sure they understand through my other conversations in private with them how much we value them.  it's more of giving them a friendly little rap accross the knuckles here to let them know that as long term members they are expected to lift up the forum in terms of friendliness and professionalism and courtesy, and not get drawn into the muck even if their tempers get riled up.

we do make an extra effort to make new visitors feel welcome, and try hard to keep things friendly and respectful, and make new visitors feel comfortable posting.  in general i think people know by now that i don't like locking threads - i tend to feel like it's better to let these things burn out on their own, which they inevitably do, rather than end with people still feeling like they wanted to get in one last word..

29228

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows XP Myths

« Last post by mouser on October 15, 2006, 06:59 AM »

dk70 you had to stir up the pot again just when it was cooling down..
this post has gotten needlessly personal,though there are still some interesting technical arguments going on.

the regular members here are the ones who should be asking themselves why they are getting all worked up about posts.

you should know by now that someone is going to step in and remind new posters that we try to be more respectful and polite here, and you should know by now that the way we deal with such situations is by treating people who we believe may be crossing the line with the respect we want them to show in kind.  that's the way this forum works.  if you think someone is out of line, then you don't start engaging in name calling, you politely point out that we try to be more respectfull here and in your reply they will see that it is true.

there's no danger of this forum degerating into flame wars, so if you see someone acting out of line, you don't have to engage in a heated battle to the death with them.  especially new visitors.  just show them by example that we take a different tone on this forum.  in time they will either realize that they like the way we do things, and tone down their approach, or they will decide they don't want to be part of the discussions, or in the worst cases we may have to ask someone to leave, but there's no need to go to defcon 1 at the first sign of trouble.

so let's take a deep breath and return to normality.

I really think that f0dder and dk70 could have taken this opportunity to demonstrate more restraint and set a better example - come on guys, lead by example!  And Mastertech I would also ask you to try to express your opinions in a more respectfull way as well, even if you feel like someone is not correct in what they are saying.

29229

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows XP Myths

« Last post by mouser on October 15, 2006, 04:03 AM »

nudone you took the words out of my mouth 

29230

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows XP Myths

« Last post by mouser on October 15, 2006, 01:20 AM »

Let's at least all agree that WinXP is miles ahead of WinME in terms of stability.
When i think back to the old days of having to reboot win9x and winME frequently to knock some sense into my computer i feel dizzy.

* mouser hugs his WinXP

29231

Developer's Corner / Do the Simplest Thing That Could Possibly Work

« Last post by mouser on October 15, 2006, 01:08 AM »

I've had a bit of a gripe with 43 folders lately, but Merlin blogged today a pointer to a wiki page that's really a useful read, advocating for the idea of building the simplest thing that could possibly work, and going from there.

This follows in the spirit of Design One to Throw Away advocates.

From the Wiki page:

So when I asked [KentBeck], "What's the simplest thing that could possibly work," I wasn't even sure. I wasn't asking, "What do you know would work?" I was asking, "What's possible? What is the simplest thing we could say in code, so that we'll be talking about something that's on the screen, instead of something that's ill-formed in our mind." I was saying, "Once we get something on the screen, we can look at it. If it needs to be more, we can make it more.
...

Wikie Page: http://c2.com/xp/DoT...uldPossiblyWork.html
Original Article: http://www.artima.com/intv/simplest.html

from www.43folders.com

29232

General Software Discussion / Doodle - super easy web service for scheduling/polling participants

« Last post by mouser on October 15, 2006, 12:53 AM »

Merlin at 43 folders reblogs about a web service he really likes, and it's easy to see why.  Nice clean useful idea:

Doodle helps scheduling meetings – it's simple, quick, and free.
How does it work?
1. Create a new poll with a title, description, your name, and possible dates and times.
2. You get a link to your new poll. Send this link to all participants.
3. The participants use the link to visit the poll and select suitable dates.
4. You use the same link to watch the poll's progress and the result.

http://www.doodle.ch/

from www.43folders.com

29233

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Now it's Paragon for FREE!

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 09:35 PM »

nice!

29234

Living Room / The Good Ghost: Flash Game of the Day

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 09:33 PM »

Here's a lovingly done very cute and fun indie game, which is dripping with personality and fun.  Love the charm of this game.

http://www.gotoandpl...dGhost/goodGhost.php

Bouns: See if you can identify the song played when you die.

29235

Living Room / Blog Entry: The Field of Dreams Strategy

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 09:27 PM »

Jeff Atwood has posted a number of recent nice blog entries that are refreshingly against the current trend of focusing on monetizing everything and organizing everything to make money.  Here he introduces us to what Conant O'Brien calls the "Field of Dreams" strategy:

We have a tendency to fetishize audience metrics in the IT industry. Presenters stress out about about their feedback ratings and measure themselves by how many attendees they can attract for a presentation. Bloggers obsessively track their backlinks, pagerank, and traffic numbers. I see it a lot, and it's strange to me. I don't chase those numbers. I couldn't even tell you how many readers I have, or what my presentation ratings were. I don't mean to sound glib, but I don't care.
...

http://www.codinghor...archives/000702.html

29236

General Software Discussion / Re: Forum or any other review, improvment

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 09:13 PM »

do you know about RIGHT-clicking a link and saying "open in new window"?
Many of us use a tabbed browser and open links like this most of the time, in order to preserve where we are on the current page.

29237

Official Announcements / October 15th Deadlines !

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 08:42 PM »

Just to remind you all that Sunday October 15 is the deadline to enter the free software drawing this month:
https://www.donation...ials/freedrawing.php

It's also the deadline to take advantage of the seltzer maker discount:
https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=5598.0
(i know it has nothing to do with computers but i love this thing so much that i need to spread the word)

29238

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: I can't figure some things out in this program

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 12:32 PM »

open up the main CHS window, right click on Quick Paste group and say Edit this group

Look where it says:
(IsFavorite=true) OR (NOT (IsInRecyleBin) AND (ModificationDateTime>=DateTimeMinusOneHour))

This is what defines what clips qualify for quick paste.

So if you want clips to last longer, edit that line.  The Help box has more info if you scroll down.

You might try for example:
(IsFavorite=true) OR (NOT (IsInRecyleBin) AND (ModificationDateTime>=DateTimeMinusSevenDays))

29239

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: I can't figure some things out in this program

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 11:40 AM »

if you check the "favorite" checkbox for a clip it should always appear in quick paste.

the sentence case type stuff are from the Text Formatting Presets (which you can add to by the way).
if you dont want them shown in Quick Paste menu, go to Quick Paste tab in options and in far right select "Dont Show" or "Show as submenu".

as far as missing icon, i've heard of this before but i guess i have to investigate a bit more.

29240

General Software Discussion / Re: Outlook Nightmares...

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 11:08 AM »

just a friendly reminder to people that you might consider giving out credits when people post something helpful to you (remember you can give someone as little as 1 cent!).

29241

Mouser's Zone / Re: IDEA: Mobile Applications (no, not cell phone apps) USB-stick friendly

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 07:10 AM »

as jgpaiva says, you don't actually need to install my apps, the .exe installers are actually zip conpatible files, and so you can just unpack them using any zip compatible program, and run them from a usb drive, etc without installing

29242

General Software Discussion / Re: Forum or any other review, improvment

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 05:46 AM »

the "mark selected as read" mod has finally been added, for details see: https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=5774.0

29243

Living Room / Re: Smilies On Strike For Skrommel (SOSFS)

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 05:45 AM »

Allen if you leave I will send a horde of smilies to your house and post them all over your wiki.

29244

Site/Forum Features / New feature (forum mod) - mark selected unread posts as read

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 05:35 AM »

Due to popular request, a new smf forum mod has been installed.
If you click on "unread posts" link you can now select exactly which posts you want to mark as read (use top checbox to select all).

Thanks go to Jay Bacharo on the smf forum for writing this mod:
http://mods.simplema...rg/index.php?mod=472

29245

General Software Discussion / Re: Forum or any other review, improvment

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 04:24 AM »

the nicer solution for me, which i think relates to requests made before for the forum, is that i could view the 'unread posts' page and then select multiple threads at a time that i don't want to read - say, by clicking on a check box, then click a button to remove those threads from the list. other areas of the forum work like this already but i'm assuming there is a reason this can't be implemented at the 'unread posts' page.

yes, others have requested this - i will look into it.

29246

General Software Discussion / Re: Forum or any other review, improvment

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 04:05 AM »

what browsers do you guys use -
in IE6 when you go back you can see a focus rectangle around the item you last clicked.

ps.
you might also want to use the BOOKMARK button in the upper right of every thread to bookmark threads you might want to come back to.

29247

Developer's Corner / Re: Let's Make us some Games!

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 03:31 AM »

and make sure you don't miss this:  https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=5663.0

29248

Developer's Corner / Re: Let's Make us some Games!

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 03:30 AM »

good idea gothic.
what id really like to see is a flash game where we can all contribute by making levels for it.
ie some kind of game where there is a level editor.

maybe a lemmings style game with cody's instead of lemmings?

what about something with a "programming" twist to it?
(you have to program the cody's to get to the end of the level?)

29249

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Audio Book Set, 5 books/20 tapes

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 03:27 AM »

NeilS, it's yours, just send me shipping address to [email protected]

However, there is a price:
you have to tell me what your avatar is a picture of.

29250

General Software Discussion / Re: FindAndRunRobot anywhere!

« Last post by mouser on October 14, 2006, 03:24 AM »

Thanks broken85, you made my day