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4451

T-Clock / Re: T-Clock 2010 (download)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 14, 2011, 06:01 PM »

@Babis - About the Not Blinking. I have a theory I'm working on, but wanted you to try something for confirmation. Set you clock text color to something (Um...) jarring Red, Green, yellow *Shrug* something loud guarantees contrast. Then re-run the blink test and let me know what it does.

Here's why. The clock should blink to white ... and I suspect it's trying to "blink" to the same white you have your text set too.

*Crossing Fingers*

4452

T-Clock / Re: T-Clock 2010 (download)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 14, 2011, 12:04 PM »

I am running Win7x64 and my machine is a quite fast one (Core i7-860).

-xcopy (March 14, 2011, 09:51 AM)

Quite faster than mine by a mile or so ... I'm running a (4 year old) 2.4Ghz E6600 (Same OS)

Maybe we pick at the missing class name a bit...

4453

T-Clock / Re: T-Clock 2010 (download)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 14, 2011, 11:53 AM »

Dang, typed one and it is not here...must not have hit save.

Set to show 1-mo calendar on left click and keep it on top and close on lose focus
open cal
click in open app
cal closes (correct)
open cal
click in open app
app gains focus, cal stays open behind (oops)
close cal with x corner
open cal
click in open app
cal closes (correct)

It just alternates between closing right and just losing focus.

-movrshakr (March 14, 2011, 08:07 AM)

Hm... Okay [SJ Fiddles with calendar for 10min] that's interesting. Actually it isn't failing to close on loose focus, it isn't actually gaining focus it to start with. Even if you click on the caption bar (to give it focus) it doesn't go/show as active (red exit button etc.). You actually have to click back and forth between calendar and desktop (or other app) to get the thing to go/show as active (red exit button etc.).  Damn peculiar behavior I must say.

4454

General Software Discussion / Re: Favorite ZIP/RAR application?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 14, 2011, 11:09 AM »

Clear enough!

-Darwin (March 14, 2011, 10:38 AM)

Yahoo! ...And thanks for getting that clarified.

4455

T-Clock / Re: T-Clock 2010 (download)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 14, 2011, 07:24 AM »

Unfortunately even with the new build, I cannot make it to blink.
- I launch the new time through the keyboard shortcut
- I check the blink check-box
- When the timer ends there is only sound and not blink
I recorded all the above at a video, only 30 seconds long, which I hope you will take the time to watch.

-Babis (March 14, 2011, 07:06 AM)

Can you send me/post a copy of your registry settings I can use to try and reproduce this behavior?

Further please note that the keyboard shortcut: "Display Time Watch Hotkey" is not working. I pressed it a couple of times during the video (and other times during my testing) and it launches a new timer window (not the current running timer) completely blank, with only the window's title and the column names. This little window automatically disappears within one second, without displaying anything, eventhough a timer is actually running in the background. To properly display the timer I have to right click the clock, scroll up to the timers and choose the one running, except if I am doing something wrong.

-Babis (March 14, 2011, 07:06 AM)

Okay, now this part is (confirmably) broken. I'll see if I can figure out what happened tonight.

4456

T-Clock / Re: T-Clock 2010 (download)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 14, 2011, 07:08 AM »

Here is a real non critical one that just hit me...think about being able to open the help file from either the rt click menu or from inside properties (a Help tab or a link inside About?)  or it could be a link to the file as a page on your site.

-movrshakr (March 13, 2011, 03:15 PM)

Good one - With the number of features the clock now has, I'm starting to loose track of what all it does (and how). So I do believe it time to make a proper help file/system a priority.

It takes about 2 seconds on my machine to make the calendar pop up after I click. Is there a way to decrease the delay the calendar is shown, by configuration or such?  Or is it just the time the calendar dates need to be calculated?

-xcopy (March 13, 2011, 04:47 PM)

Delay? There's not supposed to be one...   ...Which calendar config are you using (1, 3, or 12 month), all should be fairly instant. Let me know how you're configured (and on what OS etc.) and I'll see if I can reproduce the behavior.


If anyone else is also experiencing this behavior, do please chime in.

4457

T-Clock / Re: T-Clock 2010 (download)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 13, 2011, 02:43 PM »

Okay build 95 is now available. Explination for the new (.pcb) files is in the help file, but I thought I add it here also:

How to Use the PC Beep (.pcb) Sound Files - For Those Without Sound Cards

   For those that do not have sound T-Clock 2010 includes the option to use .pcb files to play a series of tones through the PC’s system speaker. The .pcb files are in a plain text format, and have a straight forward (duration, frequency) simple syntax. So they can be created or edited with any plain text editor (like Notepad).

   There is one demo.pcb file included in the Waves directory. Set “Files of type” to “All (*.*)” to select it. Content of the file with line by line explanation is below:

100, 400   Creates 100ms long 400Hz tone.
100, -1      100ms Pause between tones.
100, 500    Creates 100ms long 500Hz tone.
100, -1      100ms Pause between tones.
100, 600    Creates 100ms long 600Hz tone.
100, -1      100ms Pause between tones.
100, 500    Creates 100ms long 500Hz tone.
100, -1      100ms Pause between tones.
100, 400    Creates 100ms long 400Hz tone.
500, -1      500ms Pause at end of file for smoother looping.

   The first number (duration) is in milliseconds. It controls how long the tone or pause will be.

   The second number (frequency) is in hertz, and controls the pitch of the tone being played. Valid values are from 37 to 32767.

4458

Living Room / Re: Which cartoon character do you most relate to (and why)?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 13, 2011, 02:21 PM »

Bugs Bunny

4459

General Software Discussion / Re: Favorite ZIP/RAR application?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 12, 2011, 08:43 AM »

Mine upgraded fine...license still shows as valid for v4.x

-Josh (March 12, 2011, 06:40 AM)

Same here, old license still shows as valid.

4460

Living Room / Re: The March 2011 6th Anniversary Fundraiser Has Begun! Cheer for Victory Thread

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 12, 2011, 08:33 AM »

18 bucks and we'll be OVER NINETHOUSAND!!!111

for those that remember this meme

-housetier (March 12, 2011, 08:03 AM)

I've been trying to figure that one out for awhile now. Any chance of a thumbnail sketch?

4461

Living Room / Re: Safe use of USB drives? Is there anything like a USB sandbox application?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 11, 2011, 11:07 PM »

WRT AutoRun, one of the latest Windows updates, (KB971029), disables it completely for USB with XP onwards.

-4wd (March 11, 2011, 10:25 PM)

Yes! That's what I was thinking of earlier, but I didn't have time to look it up ... Thank you.

Conversely, can Security/Group Policy be used to set USB drives to write-only so there's no chance of reading anything off of them?

-4wd (March 11, 2011, 10:25 PM)

I don't think so, about the only thing they could leverage there is the NTFS permissions, and that would (not work on FAT drives) tend to make a mess.

4462

Living Room / Re: England Is Grinding To A Halt.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 11, 2011, 09:40 PM »

199mph is the record *for a hydrogen powered vehicle*. I'm not sure what your point is as the record for gasoline vehicles is over 400mph and even non-specialized road-legal cars can go over 200mph (e.g. McLaren F1, Bugatti EB110, etc, etc.). So I think the point that hydrogen is a less efficient fuel holds pretty darn strong.

-JavaJones (March 11, 2011, 06:51 PM)

Indeed, but the point is it will work in an internal combustion engine...And frankly I doubt in could be much worse than the ethanol contaminated shit they're selling at the pumps now.

Really though, the hydrogen refit for current cars/engines would only be a stop-gap solution to ease the transition. Very high performance pure electric cars are a real possibility (Tesla Motors). Only draw back? Damn batteries are too heavy. Lighter high output battery == hydrogen fuel cell. Now you got a race car that only emits water as a byproduct. Not to mention that hydrogen fuel cells don't "die" due to outlasting their shelf-life. It's a process that can be turned on and off at will ... Guess maybe that's why they are so handy for spacecraft.

You are worried about a 30% production disparity. But what about the 80% mechanical loss between combustion pressure and the rear wheels, inherent in the design of even the current generation of gas powered vehicles? 4 wheels, driven by 4 electric motors = 0% mechanical loss. So hell even the "down-side" is a 50% gain. Only hold ups?

1. the (current) damn batteries are too weak, heavy, and die.
2. (Don't tell me you didn't see this coming) Greed!

4463

Living Room / Re: England Is Grinding To A Halt.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 11, 2011, 09:21 PM »

Jaguar is a famous British brand who made a nice looking "green" car, which uses concepts that would please Stoic Joker's mindset...I think.

-Shades (March 11, 2011, 07:25 PM)

Oh baby Oh baby...Now that's what I'm talking about!! 

Green is fine, but only if you don't castrate the vehicle in the process!

Mind you I'm already damn near def in my right ear from years racing with open pipes... (it's a fair trade (hehe))

4464

Living Room / Re: Safe use of USB drives? Is there anything like a USB sandbox application?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 11, 2011, 06:36 PM »

Which program could be used for such a scheduled transfer?

-Lutz_ (March 11, 2011, 05:13 PM)

To keep it native and safe sounding just use task scheduler and a batch file.

4465

Living Room / Re: England Is Grinding To A Halt.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 11, 2011, 06:23 PM »

Stoic, looks like a different test. I had assumed it was the same as the one I'd seen before, sorry about that. The one I read about previously was actually much more real-world and realistic though, which is more compelling to me. In any case the results are similar, just more horse power in your version.

-JavaJones (March 11, 2011, 05:48 PM)

Hm... Interesting, I'd be interested in seeing your's too if you can find a link to it. Especially if it was a more serious test with similar results.

Hydrogen is not a "drop-in" replacement for gasoline by any measure. It's *less* energy dense in combustible form, it does not store easily in vehicle-portable tanks (it needs to be stored as a liquid) and is, as I said, volatile, etc.

-JavaJones (March 11, 2011, 05:48 PM)

Depends on what you're calling a "drop-in". They were offering kits to convert commercial vehicles (delivery van type stuff) to propane years ago (with limited success). So it is do-able. Granted performance may be affected...but it won't be crippled.

Now on the volatility issue... Hydrogen might be a liquid under pressure (like propane), but it don't come out that way. Fuel tanks exploding on impact (outside of the Ford Pinto) don't really happen out side of Hollywood. So if the tank did rupture on impact and the vehicle flipped, what would really safer? Gasoline which pours out all over the vehicle saturating everything including the occupants, and gathering in a vapor that hugs the ground which can spread out and be ignited blocks away? Or Hydrogen which escapes as a lighter than air gas and quickly dissipates (harmlessly...) into the atmosphere?

Yes I'm familiar with the term BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion) ... They are however quite rare and usually involve heavier than air vapor clouds that stay close to the ground where ignition sources can be found.

For fuels, the energy per unit volume is sometimes a useful parameter. Comparing, for example, the effectiveness of hydrogen fuel to gasoline, hydrogen has a higher specific energy than gasoline does, but, even in liquid form, a much lower energy density. So it's really not a direct replacement for gasoline at all. The closest we have to that is biodiesel, which again suggests more widespread adoption of diesel as a stepping stone. I continue to be dismayed at the lack of support for that option.

-JavaJones (March 11, 2011, 05:48 PM)

Really? ...Good thing nobody ever told Jessie James about that:  Land speed record of 199.712mph set by hydrogen powered car.

4466

Living Room / Re: England Is Grinding To A Halt.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 11, 2011, 05:09 PM »

Don't forget to calculate how much extra they charge you for the "Hybrid" technology into your "savings" plan.

Last I heard, the "Hybrid" model Prius costs something like $10,000 more than the non-hybrid model Prius. Do you think you'll save $10,000 in gasoline over the lifetime of the vehicle? Things like that make Stoic Joker right when he says people are just pretending to save the environment.

-Deozaan (March 11, 2011, 03:58 PM)

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Give That Man A Prize! A few years back when the prices spiked, people were flocking to dealerships begging for an "Eco-tastic" vehicle (Prius). Problem was they were all jumping out of existing car loans and going radically upside down with a spiked interest rate (because of the banks "risk") to boot. An economist on the news said that with that kind of buy-in, they'd have to drive the car for 20-30 years just to break even!

I've got a Dodge Dakota RT with a 5.9L (360ci) V8 (oh hell yeah it's fast). It'll be paid off in a few months...and I'm keeping it.

4467

Living Room / Re: England Is Grinding To A Halt.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 11, 2011, 03:38 PM »

For the record, the Prius vs. BMW was an *M3* with *4 cylinders* and 177HP (0-60 time about 8 seconds vs. the Prius at 11). It's also a *diesel*, far more efficient than most gas engines.

-JavaJones (March 11, 2011, 03:14 PM)

Did you even watch the video? The BMW is a 4L 414HP V8 (I was rounding from memory at 500 - but still alot closer)

http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=dKTOyiKLARk @ 1:20

4468

Living Room / Re: Fox Sends DMCA Takedown To Google To Remove Link To DMCA Takedown Sent By Fox

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 11, 2011, 03:15 PM »

4. Labratory staff occasionally get attached to the rats...

Q: What's the difference between a bad lawyer and a good lawyer?

-wraith808 (March 11, 2011, 09:47 AM)

The US Center for Disease Control has announced they will no longer be using rats in their scientific research. Going forward, all experiments will be conducted using attorneys.
 

The reason for this change in protocol is threefold.

After an extensive study, the CDC concluded that:

1. Attorneys are easily bought, and available in almost unlimited supply.

2. Close observation has proven beyond any doubt that they are completely indifferent to pain and suffering.

3. The CDC occasionally conducts behavioral studies. And when it comes to individual behaviors, there are some which are so dirty, and utterly disgusting, that a rat will flat out refuse to do them.

-40hz (March 11, 2011, 03:01 PM)

4. Labratory staff occasionally get attached to the rats...

4469

Living Room / Re: England Is Grinding To A Halt.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 11, 2011, 03:04 PM »

^^He's got a point there.^^


40Hz and I are frequently on the same page ... But he insists on being adult about it. 

 

4470

DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: Stoic Joker's (File & Folder) Fix When

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 11, 2011, 02:42 PM »

@rjbull - Cool!


Okay guys (you win), I'm trying to work on T-Clock ... But I'll put some notes in FixWhen's project file and put it back on the To-Do list.

4471

Living Room / Re: England Is Grinding To A Halt.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 11, 2011, 02:30 PM »

Sure, we have the Prius, but it's mostly a gimmick.  They put that out there for the people who make an extra effort to save the environment.

-superboyac (March 11, 2011, 01:12 PM)

Don't you mean it's for people that want to make a show of pretending to save the environment?

-Stoic Joker (March 11, 2011, 01:18 PM)

I've never even heard of them before, but at 70+ miles per gallon according to wikipedia, and petrol being about 6 euro per gallon here, I'd be willing to make some sacrafices (are they really that slow to take off though lol)

-tomos (March 11, 2011, 02:25 PM)

Well... In a drag race between a Toyota Prius, and a 90 year old woman on a tricycle ... My money is on Granny all day long.

Oh and 70+ mpg... Ha! not on this side of a laboratory. Try to get through town in a hurry and that thing will hit the 20s in a flash.

TopGear did a brisk driving gas milage test between a Prius and a 500HP BMW M5. The Prius Lost by 3 miles per gallon.

4472

Living Room / Re: Safe use of USB drives? Is there anything like a USB sandbox application?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 11, 2011, 02:25 PM »

What does the action (disabling USB ports) intend to protect the system from? Are they worried about a bug jumping off the drives on it's own? Disable autorun of USB drives.

Or are they worried of an intentional act (e.g. someone sets off bad program X)? Was the staff ever screened?

How often does what need to be copied off? Would a CD burner be an option?

4473

Living Room / Re: England Is Grinding To A Halt.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 11, 2011, 02:06 PM »

I think you're getting my comments about hydrogen wrong. I'm all for alternative energy sources, especially *truly renewable* and *primary* sources of energy. When I say "primary sources" what I mean are sources where you are directly converting an environmental resource (wind, sun, even coal) into energy that is then *directly* used.

-JavaJones (March 11, 2011, 01:29 PM)

All of which suck in the readily accessible department. Wind isn't exactly a constant, sun is only there for half the day, and coal is just too heavy to lug around. But all of these are good for making more portable fuels. Oh, and you missed water (hydro-electric damns anyone)

The problem with hydrogen as a "fuel source" is it is *not* readily available in a directly extractable form which can then be used directly as energy. As it stands now it is an *intermediary* or "secondary" energy source, in other words you have to produce energy in the first place *to* produce hydrogen which you then use to fuel something.

-JavaJones (March 11, 2011, 01:29 PM)

You see, I'm okay with that. If it's done properly, it creates jobs and utilizes materials that can't be run out of (hydroged<->water).

That introduces inefficiencies in the process, inefficiencies that are potentially unnecessary. Instead of having a hydrogen powered car (burning hydrogen) or even a hydrogen fuel cell car, instead use a pure electric car with modern battery technology. The Nissan Leaf is one example and it does fine for mileage and speed (for example it would handle my daily ~2hr, 90 miles total commute).

-JavaJones (March 11, 2011, 01:29 PM)

Okay, and the electricity to recharge the grossly underpowered vehicle comes from?

On the subject of "more difficult oil extraction is not my problem", you have to keep in mind that more difficult extraction generally also means more damaging to the environment, e.g. the reason the "Deep Water Horizon" spill was so bad and went on so long is it was drilled in *deep water*, which meant enormous pressures at the depth of the water where the entry was made, and hence much more difficult to repair, and also higher oil outflow rate. Another example is what is necessary to extract oil from "oil sands": http://en.wikipedia....Environmental_issues

-JavaJones (March 11, 2011, 01:29 PM)

Um... no. The reason the oil is more difficult to extract, is because of the environmental safety constraints. (Note: I live in Florida...)

That whole fiasco was caused by (once-again-from-the-top-of-the-thread) greed.
- Oshyan
[/quote]

4474

Living Room / Re: England Is Grinding To A Halt.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 11, 2011, 01:18 PM »

Sure, we have the Prius, but it's mostly a gimmick.  They put that out there for the people who make an extra effort to save the environment.

-superboyac (March 11, 2011, 01:12 PM)

Don't you mean it's for people that want to make a show of pretending to save the environment?

4475

Living Room / Re: England Is Grinding To A Halt.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 11, 2011, 01:11 PM »

I sometimes almost wish they'd abandon fuel efficiency and conservation measures.

Because the way things usually work, we won't begin to seriously and collectively start identifying viable energy alternatives until we completely run out of fossil fuels.

"Necessity furthers. It is advantageous to have some goal in view." as the I Ching so nicely reminds us.

-40hz (March 11, 2011, 12:25 PM)

Man I'll sign that one in a heartbeat ... If I get stuck behind another jackass trying to peddal their Prius up a hill I'm gonna freaking loose it. For the love of DOYC there's 50 people trying to make it through the light in 8 seconds...Go!!! Erp-A-Derp....