Recent Posts

3026

Official Announcements / Re: I want to try an experiment on the site for March 2012

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 02, 2012, 06:53 AM »

...because I think the comments exposed that I didn't have a good reason for doing it other than basic curiosity.

-mouser (March 02, 2012, 03:21 AM)

Sorry. Yo no comprendo. When is that (basic curiosity) not a good reason for running an experiment?
The conclusions/evidence that you might be able to draw from such an experiment could help to develop a hypothesis or idea, no?

-IainB (March 02, 2012, 03:38 AM)

Agreed, and being a have your cake and eat it too kind of guy. I'd say why not do both... Leave the main page/site intact and untouched. Then put up a separate (but site accessable) Ad experiment page that clearly says this is an experiment at the top...and contains only ads below. That way participation could be complete voluntary for those that could/would/did go to said page periodically to effect the necessary traffic.

3027

Living Room / Re: Stiff sentence for sending child to wrong school district

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 02, 2012, 06:40 AM »

The woman has committed no crime. The prosecutor should be shot for concocting such a stupidly trumped up charge.

-Target (February 29, 2012, 08:57 PM)

Actually she did. At least according to current laws.

-40hz (March 01, 2012, 03:58 PM)

Just to keep the record straight ... The statement you quoted above was mine, not Target's.

Having a law against something doesn't make it a crime, as the books are full of special interest/blue 'law' nonsense. Just because there is a text based rationalization...doesn't make it (criminal) 'right' ... I just further proves how totally broken the system really is. Murder is a felony. Rape is a felony. However, Florida has decided that letting your tag get 6 months out of date...is now also a felony ... Which is completely stupid. As it detracts from the whole point of having certain acts identified as felonies.

As a rule I detest the "what about the children" defense ... however I believe it does apply here as mentioned above. No 'justice' has been done by incarcerating this woman. The situation has simply been made worse ... Much worse.

3028

General Software Discussion / Re: Superboyac is throwing in the towel: I'm going to transition to Linux

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 29, 2012, 07:22 PM »

Because if you don't you'll eventually end up morphing into a BOFH!!!!!

-40hz (February 29, 2012, 06:41 PM)

I fear it's far to late for me...

Just this afternoon I set the PFY about the task of breaking out the testing department into an isolated subnet. This is to avoid having customer and test machines creating (ghost entries) noise in the new printer tracking software.

There are two racks of ~50 printers each with a table containing two computers. One for the USB printers, and one for the network printers.

The PFY was to statically assign addresses in the .4 network, leaving the rest of the office on the .5 network ... But was confused as to how to get back and forth between them during the configuration. The network test machine was already on the .4 network, which meant he couldn't get to the .5 network to pull the machines over via the EWS (Embedded Web Server) for easy access.

So he asked me what to do...

I gave him several options like multi-homing, super-netting, adding a static route, and etc. until his eyes crossed (tehehe). ...Then he asked the right question ... What's the easiest way to do it?

I barely managed to contain myself long enough to say, use the other machine next to you that's still on the .5 network to push them over... before erupting into maniacal laughter. The PFY rolled his eyes, threw his hands in the air, and gave me the finger. He's a good kid.  

3029

Living Room / Re: Stiff sentence for sending child to wrong school district

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 29, 2012, 05:41 PM »

Well that's completely absurd. The woman has committed no crime. The prosecutor should be shot for concocting such a stupidly trumped up charge.

3030

General Software Discussion / Re: Superboyac is throwing in the towel: I'm going to transition to Linux

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 29, 2012, 05:27 PM »

I gotta make popcorn for this show...


There are times when CLI/scripting really is easier than a GUI ... Especially if you have to drill through 900 dialogs to find setting X.

While not a recommendation (I'd go with 40 for those), I do like, and periodically play around with Slackware.

3031

Living Room / Re: Amazon pulls thousands of e-books... and the SFWA strikes back

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 28, 2012, 08:46 PM »

+1. Boycott. 

Oh wait! I can't. I never bought an ebook reader because I knew this would eventually happen. 

-40hz (February 28, 2012, 07:03 PM)

+1

3032

General Software Discussion / Re: Need Disk Imaging tool that can restore from external HDD

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 28, 2012, 06:40 AM »

Do they?
[url=http://www.paragon-software.com/home/rk-express/download_old.html]Paragon Rescue Kit free Edition

-4wd (February 27, 2012, 10:44 PM)

Hm... Not quite entirely Scot-Free, as it requires a registration for the 'free' serial number before allowing install.

3033

Living Room / Re: @mouser, I have a small quibble about your donation system ...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 27, 2012, 10:49 PM »

So something along the lines of Outlook's (optional) delivery and/or read receipts?

3034

General Software Discussion / Re: ReImage: online Windows repair!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 27, 2012, 01:19 PM »

This laptop has Windows Internet Explorer 9 only. When I click "quote" on tomos' post, IE will say "Loading" for ever, and nothing else will happen. Would  such an error come from our forum or from IE or from the laptop? Never mind; it is just annoying.

-Curt (February 27, 2012, 12:51 PM)

Me things it's a forum bugg. It happens to me now and then, but I usually just do a forced refresh on the page and then retry the quote (I use IE exclusively).

3035

Developer's Corner / Re: Dealing with UAC in portable tools

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 27, 2012, 01:15 PM »

Ubiquitous Anguish Creator


(Actually I rather like it from an administrative standpoint)

3036

Developer's Corner / Re: Dealing with UAC in portable tools

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 27, 2012, 07:10 AM »

Now that is interesting...I didn't know MS had its own rabbit hole in UAC, thanks for sharing.

3037

Living Room / Re: YouTube Identifies Birdsong As Copyrighted Music

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 27, 2012, 06:45 AM »

The sad part is the amount of time and effort it will cost the guy to get the video cleared. Because once you get caught up in the system ... regardless of the outcome ... You lose.

3038

Living Room / Re: PrECISE - It's the New SOPA/PIPA/ACTA

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 26, 2012, 01:53 PM »

After giving the user time to read this dire warning, the program begins going through top-level files in the user's Music, Pictures, and My Videos folders, deleting files. It doesn't really delete any files, but sure looks like it is -- progress bar and all. The user can try escaping with Alt-tab, Ctrl-Escape, even Ctrl-Alt-Del then Task Manager -- all to no avail.

-kyrathaba (February 26, 2012, 01:23 PM)

Cool ... But it should have some type of kill code for emergencies. ...Either way I just know this will come it handy at some point. Thanks for sharing!

3039

Living Room / Re: Looking for opinions on changing ISP

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 26, 2012, 10:18 AM »

Idi Admin... ...I did not see that coming...

Nice cheat with the killer penguin...I like that one.

Tech support is so bad these days most of the replies wouldn't really shock me.

3040

General Software Discussion / Re: ReImage: online Windows repair!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 25, 2012, 10:21 PM »

Um... You can't 'upgrade' to a 64-bit OS from a 32-bit OS ... Once you pick a bit-ness, you're stuck with it.

3041

Living Room / Re: Looking for opinions on changing ISP

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 25, 2012, 03:12 PM »

...Gun toting admins, killer penguins, & a chopper ... This is a joke right?!?

3042

Living Room / Re: OpenDNS updates their censorship policy

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 24, 2012, 11:32 AM »

I can't switch to OpenDNS ... 'cause I'm already using it.

Most Excellent News!

3043

General Review Discussion / Re: Quick Review: Ghostery - Best blocker I've used since JunkBuster

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 24, 2012, 06:54 AM »

Hm...

Q. Will Ghostery affect my browser performance?

A. Ghostery initiates a scan and decision for several types of page elements, and in some cases, this scan may represent a slight increase in page load times. However, if users choose to block page scripts, our lab research suggests that pages load faster on average.

-Ghostery FAQ

Can anyone confirm, deny, or comment on this??


[edit] Damn that's a zippy install!

3044

General Software Discussion / Re: I Need DC Input

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 23, 2012, 01:19 PM »

SJ, (I know you were watching when I typed this   ), any comments/ideas/alternatives?

-4wd (February 23, 2012, 06:31 AM)

eek! ...You work for Google?!?

-Stoic Joker (February 23, 2012, 07:04 AM)

Nothing so evil...but I do confess to staring at the Who's Online sometimes  

-4wd (February 23, 2012, 12:38 PM)

I always forget about that.

Removing stuff is generally easiest ... So just unplug the IDE cable from the board, run the install with the SATA devices, and if all is well...pull the IDE device power cables. Device removal is optional.

I think the only way to get the SATA optical going in it's current position is to unplug both IDE power plugs - I think I can see an extra SATA power connector on that lead.  Otherwise there doesn't seem to be enough lead length between the any of the plugs, (molex/SATA), to enable both SATA devices to be powered.

But then after install it would need to be unplugged again due to the need to have the Maxtor working, so then the IDE optical would need to be powered again, (again because of insufficient lead length between plugs) - leaving that nice SATA optical sitting all by it's lonesome again.
Aarrrgghh!  

-4wd (February 23, 2012, 12:38 PM)

Oops! ...Caught me not paying attention. I was thinking the IDE was all done (and missed the power cable issue).

Pull the IDE optical drive, and move the SATA HDD to its position. Then just bolt it to one side (they don't torque-up that hard), and if it sags a bit it can't go far...it's already at the bottom. Put the SATA optical in the slot above it, now the cables reach ... And the IDE HDD can have the leftovers where it's at.

...Unless there is something else I'm missing.

3045

General Software Discussion / Re: I Need DC Input

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 23, 2012, 07:04 AM »

SJ, (I know you were watching when I typed this  ), any comments/ideas/alternatives?

-4wd (February 23, 2012, 06:31 AM)

eek! ...You work for Google?!?

Removing stuff is generally easiest ... So just unplug the IDE cable from the board, run the install with the SATA devices, and if all is well...pull the IDE device power cables. Device removal is optional.

Hell if it was my mom...I'd be lucky to get that far.

3046

Living Room / Re: Today is Your Last Chance to Remove your Search History from Google's New Policy

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 23, 2012, 06:54 AM »

@mouser - Thanks for the heads up ... But in the future can you put stuff like that in a full screen kiosk mode popup window? ...So us slower kids don't miss it. 

3047

Living Room / Re: Today is Your Last Chance to Remove your Search History from Google's New Policy

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 23, 2012, 06:50 AM »

It may be too late already.

-bob99 (February 22, 2012, 09:31 PM)

No, I think that simply means that your account's search web history was already OFF (by some prior default), and so you have nothing accumulated to delete.

-IainB (February 22, 2012, 10:20 PM)

Man I hope you're right ... I got (here late...) the same History Already Off message also.

3048

General Software Discussion / Re: I Need DC Input

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 22, 2012, 11:40 AM »

That's realy a strange (bad) configuration, as IDE will only run at the speed of the slowest device, and optical drives aren't usually that fast. So it's got to be holding the IDE HDD back performance wise.

-Stoic Joker (February 22, 2012, 06:49 AM)

But having only one IDE port on the motherboard kind of limits things

-4wd (February 22, 2012, 08:00 AM)

True, I was thinking of the $20 SATA DVD burners I saw on NewEgg and musing aloud.

I thought I read somewhere that they finally got around that slowest device problem, here we go from our friends at Wikipedia: Parallel ATA
So really only a problem if accessing both devices on the same bus concurrently.

-4wd (February 22, 2012, 08:00 AM)

I'll go with theory vs. practice on that one. It could be true...but I've never seen it happen. Come to think of it, I've never seen UATA-6 running at 133 either. *Shrug*

I'm hoping that the optical drive is sitting on SATA Channel 1 and not IDE Channel 1 but with my luck.....

-4wd (February 22, 2012, 08:00 AM)

Mine too ... But hay! ...Dare to dream! 

3049

Living Room / Re: Losing my e-Book religion

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 22, 2012, 11:19 AM »

Just to go against the majority(?), I'm very happy with my Kindle Touch. I find e-ink a pleasure to read, buying books easy and there's no problem backing up my books. If I wanted to I could keep my Kindle offline 24/7 and still put/pull books through USB. Software updates as well. No amazon fanboy, but this works very well for me, at least.

-TucknDar (February 22, 2012, 10:29 AM)

That's what I want.  And from my prior experiences with FictionWise before being bought by Nook, that's what I expected.  But the truth is far from this in the case of the Nook.

I think the biggest problem has with AmazonBarnes & Noble is the fact that he's trying to download books he has already paid for & yet AmazonBarnes & Noble wants to authorize his card again for the purchase. There's no sane reason for them to do that.

-Innuendo (February 22, 2012, 09:56 AM)

This!  (Other than the corrected Amazon)  Why should they have to use my CC on purchases I already made?  Thank you!

-wraith808 (February 22, 2012, 10:46 AM)

Indeed, it's like buying a car, taking it in for service, and then having them want to re-run the credit check before letting you pick it up. Then refusing to give you back your car...because your credit is maxed. And they wonder why piracy is such an 'issue'.

3050

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 22, 2012, 06:53 AM »

Introducing...
 (see attachment in previous post)

-kyrathaba (February 21, 2012, 06:41 PM)

and I'm guessing there's no 'safety' either...

-Target (February 21, 2012, 07:04 PM)

hehe good one. It also appears to be a left-handed model (note the clip release), so it's bound to confuse the hell out of people.