Recent Posts

4126

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

« Last post by Renegade on December 05, 2012, 08:57 PM »

Seminole High School locked down after student brings mercury-filled thermometer to class for chemistry project

http://www.wtsp.com/...own-over-thermometer

One student brought in mercury -- contained within a thermometer -- and the school went into lockdown.

Deputies say the thermometer was discovered as the substances were checked before going through the school.

No one was put in harm's way, but a hazmat crew was there as a precaution.

In-fucking-sane... 

While it's absolutely hilarious... god... these people seriously... I'm just waiting for them to turn up for their Darwin Award!

Kind of on that topic, the Joe Rogan video above comments on the same thing - good for a laugh. Well, unless you think that forks should be banned because people could use them to stab themselves in their eyes...

4127

Living Room / Re: 3D Printing Under Attack

« Last post by Renegade on December 05, 2012, 08:11 PM »

And more, but I'll let y'all imagine how disruptive it can be.

-TaoPhoenix (December 05, 2012, 07:54 PM)

Disruptive = beautiful!

I wonder if all the 3D printer material will be made in China...

4128

Living Room / The 16% - Shop-Till-You-Plop

« Last post by Renegade on December 05, 2012, 08:09 PM »

Apparently, about 16% of holiday gift shoppers truly give a shit about the gifts they buy (appropriately, #2):

http://www.marketwat...ay-gifts-2012-12-05#

Rest rooms

 It’s no secret that more and more holiday shopping is now done online, but apparently many Americans buy loved ones gifts while on the toilet. Some 16% of mobile-device owners do their holiday shopping in the bathroom, according to a recent survey by CashStar, a digital gifting company. The survey of 2,000 adults, which was taken by polling company Harris Interactive last month, found that the shop-til-you-plop approach was more prevalent among men than women. “Smartphones and tablets have enabled consumers to shop and gift on the go in more ways and places than ever before,” says David Stone, co-founder and CEO of CashStar. Other odd places consumers have done their online gift-buying, according to the survey: during business meetings and, despite the safety warnings about texting and driving, while stuck in traffic.

 

4129

Living Room / Re: Anti-Addiction Drug

« Last post by Renegade on December 05, 2012, 07:48 PM »

Well-l-l-l ... a little - lot of? - longevity would help  .

-barney (December 05, 2012, 07:43 PM)

Reminds me of that little aphorism about administering medicine to the dead.

It's no different than how the MAFIAA continually demand that copyright expiry be lengthened continually.

-Renegade (December 05, 2012, 07:39 PM)

It is sorta different, but in weird and complicated ways I have trouble putting a finger on. No less evil, more like "Differently Evil". 

-TaoPhoenix (December 05, 2012, 07:44 PM)

Well, true enough. I should have weakened that statement to "similar" instead. But like you said, it's just "Differently Evil!" (I like that one - differently evil~!   )

4130

Living Room / Re: Anti-Addiction Drug

« Last post by Renegade on December 05, 2012, 07:39 PM »

The nice thing about pharmaceutical patents is that they DO expire in 12 years, and then the market can be flooded with cheaper generics, at about a 30% to 80% reduction in cost to the patient. 

-app103 (December 05, 2012, 07:26 PM)

That's *kind of * true... but not really.

In reality, when a patent is up for expiry, the pharmaceutical companies run out, do some quack study, add some kind of condition that the medication can be used for, then get their patents extended. It's no different than how the MAFIAA continually demand that copyright expiry be lengthened continually.

So, while in "theory" pharma patents may only last 12 years, the reality is that they get extended and the prices stay high.

i.e. You're only going to get low prices on these drugs if you are a very, very, very patient patient.

4131

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

« Last post by Renegade on December 05, 2012, 06:16 PM »

If you rob a bank and steal a car, don't confess on YouTube:

http://www.ketv.com/...222upbz/-/index.html

York County Sheriff Dale Radcliff said a copy of the video will be turned in as evidence against Hannah Sabata of Stromsburg. The 19-year-old was arrested on Wednesday in connection with a robbery the day before at the Cornerstone Bank branch in Waco. She faces robbery and theft charges.         

The video was posted the same day Sabata was arrested. It shows a woman holding handwritten signs that say she robbed a bank and stole a car. The woman then holds a large bundle of cash, what she says is $6,256, in front of the camera. She also holds up what appears to be a bag of marijuana.

The video caption says, "I just stole a car and robbed a bank. Now I'm rich, I can pay off my college financial aid, and tomorrow I'm going for a shopping spree."

 

4132

Living Room / Security, Law, Ego, and Patheticness

« Last post by Renegade on December 05, 2012, 10:19 AM »

This is just bonkers...

Via:
http://tiny.iavian.net/h71

http://www.washingto...9b7e29c5_story.html?

Hacker locates John McAfee through smartphone tracks

Weeks of international intrigue about the whereabouts of tech millionaire John McAfee ended Tuesday after the Internet pioneer made an elementary digital mistake that highlighted the fraught relationship Americans have with what they once quaintly called “the telephone.”

That homely communication tool, wired into walls everywhere for the better part of a century, has become an untethered e-mailer, browser, banker, shopper, movie viewer, music player and — to an extent that few appreciate — digital spy of extraordinary power.

McAfee, 67, who founded the popular antivirus company that bears his name, has been wanted for questioning by police in Belize since a neighbor turned up dead of a gunshot wound near McAfee’s beach-side home Nov. 11. The troubled tech savant, insisting that he had no role in the shooting, went on the run and has been taunting police by blog, Twitter and occasional podcast.

Authorities couldn’t catch him. But a hacker called Simple Nomad learned McAfee’s location shortly after journalists posted an image of him from his supposedly secret locale under the provocative headline, “We are with John McAfee right now, suckers.”

Embedded in that image, apparently taken by one of the journalists, was the sort of detailed data routinely collected by smartphone cameras and often transmitted along with images wherever they go — on e-mail, Facebook, online photo albums and, it turns out, to Vice magazine’s Web site.

Security: Duh... Cameras embed EXIF data.
Law: Oh god...
Ego: This is just funny!
Patheticness: Hacker? God... It's called looking at EXIF data...

Meh... Whatever. This whole McAfee thing is just one long string of laughs!

4133

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

« Last post by Renegade on December 05, 2012, 07:35 AM »

Joe Rogan on pot:

Some funny stuff in there.

4134

Living Room / Re: Anti-Addiction Drug

« Last post by Renegade on December 05, 2012, 05:54 AM »

Who will this therapy benefit?

-cmpm (December 05, 2012, 05:30 AM)

I belive the answer is here:

MediciNova...
...a $1,000/month price point for a six-month course of treatment was reasonable.

$1,000 a month? Yeah. This exactly benefits MediciNova.

The Hegelian Dialectic in action. You get somebody hooked on drugs... then you offer to help them get off drugs for a fee (with other drugs)...

Where is the help for the addicts that don't have $1,000 a month, which is the majority of those who need help.
It's not in this 'plan'.

-cmpm (December 05, 2012, 05:30 AM)

*** Deleted super-cynical post ***

Help will come after they lobby for it to be covered by socialist medical care. That way, they can get a much bigger pay day courtesy of tax payers that are probably smart enough not to get hooked on drugs.

4135

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Ron's Editor (excellent CSV editor) and Ron's Renamer (batch file renamer)

« Last post by Renegade on December 05, 2012, 04:07 AM »

Finally, I am fundamentally a C# developer so if anyone wants to pop me any questions feel free.

-Aaron Stewart (December 05, 2012, 03:43 AM)

YAY~! Make sure to drop in at the developer's forums here.

In the meantime, I'll check out what you have there above.

4136

Living Room / Re: putting politics before lives ...

« Last post by Renegade on December 05, 2012, 02:35 AM »

Yeah, I know, it's a far-fetched, hard to prove claim. And yes, you're free to call it a conspiracy theory.

-eleman (December 03, 2012, 07:46 AM)

If anything, you didn't go far enough down that road.

I wouldnt mind, it almost sounds reasonable to me - they just want to see who you emailed, not what (content) you emailed.

-tomos (December 03, 2012, 07:57 AM)

And therein lies the problem... Today they want to let the police know WHO. Tomorrow, it's every agency. The next day, they demand that they know WHAT was said. The next day, the prisons are full. The day after that, they solve the prison overcrowding problem with rifles and mass graves.

Today they want an inch. Tomorrow they will TAKE a mile.

4137

Living Room / Re: Warp field mechanics 101

« Last post by Renegade on December 05, 2012, 12:37 AM »

Can doping graphite trigger room temperature superconductivity? Evidence for granular high-temperature superconductivity in water-treated graphite powder

-Arizona Hot (December 04, 2012, 11:59 PM)

Time to get your your pencils~!

(I have GOT to read this. Sounds pretty interesting!)

If I find a site with blueprints for a device for traveling into the past, I will post it also.

-Arizona Hot (December 04, 2012, 11:59 PM)

This is Renegade from the future... I know I'm going to read this, so... DO NOT MAKE ARABIC COFFEE IN THE MORNING! You'll take a sip, burn yourself on the boiling water like you always do with tea, then trip, spill it all over your computer and completely monkey the whole thing up! Got it?

That's odd... I just stepped out for a cigarette and that message was there... Hmmm... Must be an impostor. I wouldn't have given a crap and would have given myself the winning lottery numbers for all the upcoming lotteries. Now the mystery is... Who was it?

4138

Living Room / Re: Reducing Scales - Recurring numbers & Patterns

« Last post by Renegade on December 04, 2012, 11:22 PM »

This video goes through a lot of architecture and history to show recurring numerical patterns:

http://www.secretsinplainsight.com/

Playlist of 23 episodes: http://www.youtube.c...6A&v=JTA_EkGwUE0

Full video:

http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=L777RhL_Fz4

I won't comment on the conclusions or content, but he does an excellent job of showing numerical patterns.

4139

Living Room / Re: Free Energy, Plant Energy, & My Energy Fixation... etc.

« Last post by Renegade on December 04, 2012, 11:07 PM »

I'm not so sure that a direct approach to plant efficiency is the best one. After all, even if you get less electrical output from plants, you can still eat them! So, as Ricky would say, you can get 2 birds stoned!

As for genetic engineering...

I'm pretty much dead set against it at this point. So far it has only produced pain and misery. Just because you *can* do something, doesn't mean you *should* do something. Until there is some kind of sanity, accountability, responsibility, and actual moral conduct in the scientific world, genetic engineering will only continue to bring on misery and destruction.

This will never happen. The current system is fixed by design to work towards greater and greater evil. Doing good inside the current system is not possible. You cannot have a system that is designed to create conflict of interest actually work towards good. It doesn't work.

Cripes... we have a system where the patent holders sit on the committees to approve of things as safe, etc. etc. Broke. GE cannot be trusted in this environment.

There is some good coming out of GE, however, it's kind of like some guy giving you a handful of gold (a good thing), then when you peer behind him, you see piles of corpses and smashed teeth.

So I'm pretty much closed to hearing about the 1 good thing GE brings amidst the mountain of evil.

And, I've simply read too much on the topic. The process itself is technically (i.e. intrinsically) destructive, not to mention the problems of cross-contamination, patents, etc. If Satan were a scientist, he'd be a genetic engineer. 

I've been looking into solar power a bit, and from what I can tell, it all boils down to cost per output weighed against that cost per square meter.

When you think about biomass, it's a pretty stupid approach to energy. i.e. Grow stuff > ferment stuff > burn stuff > turn generator > get electricity > rinse & repeat. It's a long process where you lose energy at every step. COP << 1.

The plant energy in the article above is pretty interesting as you're getting energy from the plants that they naturally give off, so wherever you have plants, you have energy. That could be a lawn, a farm, or whatever. Basically, you're just harvesting energy.

THAT seems like pretty exciting stuff!

Still, I like the Bearden/Bedini stuff best. Still reading there though... there's a lot of math and physics that I don't know and have to learn. e.g. Hamiltonian quaternions (Deozaan had mentioned this math in a post about 3D gaming a while back - it's pretty wild stuff).

4140

General Software Discussion / Cool Planetarium Software

« Last post by Renegade on December 04, 2012, 10:24 PM »

If you're a stargazer, these will put a smile on your face!

http://stellarium.sourceforge.net/

http://www.shatters.net/celestia/

They're both for viewing stars, and have different approaches, but both are GPL and a lot of fun.

Happened across them, tried them out, liked both, and thought that I'd pass them on for others to enjoy!

4141

Easy Screencast Recorder / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - Easy Screencast Recorder - v1.12.01 - Apr 22, 2015

« Last post by Renegade on December 04, 2012, 10:06 PM »

The idea is a mode where it records continuously, but deletes anything older than say 1 minute.

With that mode, you could basically start recording in anticipation of some event, without worrying about file size growing too large, and just stop recording after the event occurs.

It would be useful for capturing events that are somewhat unpredictable, like a bug that crashes a program, etc.

Darn good idea. Innovative.

-kyrathaba (December 04, 2012, 07:04 PM)

+1

I've had a few situations where that would have been helpful. I'd want the 1 minute to be configurable, but yeah - wicked cool feature!  

4142

Living Room / Re: Anti-Addiction Drug

« Last post by Renegade on December 04, 2012, 08:38 PM »

Hmmm... So what you're saying is that first they create the problem, then they create the cure? Interesting...

Hegelian Dialectic: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and lots more here or here if you prefer the "problem, reaction, solution" moniker for it.

4143

Living Room / Re: Reducing Scales - Recurring numbers & Patterns

« Last post by Renegade on December 04, 2012, 08:24 PM »

Just thought of this as it's related to number patterns:

I wrote some gematria software a while back. The site domain name is NSFW, so here's the link.

The gematria software is the "Anti-Christ Hunter v6.6.6":



It does a few different versions of gematria. I've been thinking about doing another version with more analysis of things like roots, squares, triangle numbers, etc. One of these days I may redo a comprehensive gematria and numerology application.

Here's a little fun fact: Stone Henge encodes the square root of 153, which is the number of full moons in a year. Also the number of fish some of Jesus' disciples pull out of the sea in one verse. etc. etc.

4144

Living Room / Re: Microsoft Executive Wants You to Get High :O===::~

« Last post by Renegade on December 04, 2012, 08:15 PM »

Now that is a damn fine question.

I agree with Texas

-Stoic Joker (December 04, 2012, 08:02 PM)

+1 and +1.

4145

Living Room / Re: Reducing Scales - Recurring numbers & Patterns

« Last post by Renegade on December 04, 2012, 06:45 PM »

It is called repeating decimal or recurring decimal, so you were very very close. The infinity sign is not used - instead there should be a horizontal line above the digits that are repeating ( not easily done in html ;-) ).

-vlastimil (December 04, 2012, 11:00 AM)

But CSS works!

Code: CSS [Select]

1. .bar {border-top: 1px solid #000000;}

4146

Developer's Corner / Re: Game Engines and Apps

« Last post by Renegade on December 04, 2012, 06:39 PM »

A bit late, but...

An example is quaternions^w. I don't even understand what quaternions are or how they work. All I know is that they are 4-dimensional things that allow you to avoid something called gimbal lock^w that occurs when rotating in 3-dimensions (and I can't wrap my brain around them). I'm not sure I understand exactly what gimbal lock is either but I know it causes objects to not rotate the way you would think you are telling them to.

-Deozaan (August 22, 2011, 09:04 AM)

Don't feel bad. In the 1860's to 1880's the world of physics had only a few people that could understand the mathematics of Hamiltonian quaternions, which were a pre-requisite to understanding Maxwell's equations. Under pressure from other scientists and publishers, the equations were dumbed down to algebraic vectors so that us mere mortals could understand them. It had negative consequences in the same way that gimbal lock occurs and how Hamiltonian quaternions solve the problem. So, today we're stuck with electrodynamics that are partial at best. It's worse when in 1957 we discovered that we're doing everything wrong, and yet still plod on with flawed mathematics and physics. The problems that Hamiltonian quaternions solves echoes the same kinds of problems in the Einstein field equations and how they work by removing torque, which there echoes the gimbal lock problem of rotation. I'm still working on understanding the math for all of that myself, and don't expect to fully understand it for quite a while. The basics of a quaternion are pretty simple though, and very similar to how you might envision a complex number:

i^2 = j^2 = k^2 = ijk = -1

Still, it's a lot to wrap one's mind around, even in it's most basic formulation there. It messes with what one's idea of a square is.


On the game side, Monogame seems pretty decent. Still haven't given it much of a spin, but had a quick look at it. It covers a lot of ground.

http://monogame.codeplex.com/

4147

Living Room / Re: Reducing Scales - Recurring numbers & Patterns

« Last post by Renegade on December 04, 2012, 08:36 AM »

Here's a fun one:

1/81

4148

Living Room / Re: Reducing Scales - Recurring numbers & Patterns

« Last post by Renegade on December 04, 2012, 08:09 AM »

That's a funky little pattern there. (I love number magic and the like.)

4149

Living Room / Re: Patenting Human Genes

« Last post by Renegade on December 04, 2012, 06:18 AM »

You'd be on a gravy train for life.

-IainB (December 04, 2012, 04:06 AM)

Now I'm wondering when the patent troll with the patent on douchebaggery will come out of the steamy pile...

4150

General Software Discussion / Re: Convert PDF to DOC in a special way...

« Last post by Renegade on December 03, 2012, 09:29 PM »

If it's important, I would recommend recreating the file as a DOC from scratch. I have never seen any PDF conversion that was decent (I've tried out many, including Acrobat). Some will convert to pure text somewhat reasonably, but you'll still need to reformat everything and insert fields, images, etc. The image method you mentioned can work, but it will still be a pretty ugly solution.