Recent Posts

5126

Living Room / Re: Tech support — why bother?

« Last post by Renegade on August 24, 2012, 10:58 AM »

I need tech support.

And I must admit one thing Microsoft does do extremely well is handle its Tech Support Incident requests. On the 'professional' and enterprise level Microsoft has been a lifesaver more than once when the voodoo required to fix some utterly esoteric server problem went beyond what I knew how to comfortably handle at the time it happened. Another plus with having your hand held through something godawful is it then becomes a "been there, done that" learning experience once it's over. For example, one thing I've learned is how much I hate SBS! (Absolutely hate it! )

Microsoft doesn't do everything right. But when it comes to 'real' tech support, I must say they do that extremely well. The only drawback is getting access to "the real stuff" if you're only on the consumer level.

-40hz (August 24, 2012, 10:46 AM)

I basically used DOS and UNIX and skirted around Windows until 1998 when I bought a computer. In Korean. Which I was still learning. And it had Windows 98 on it. And it tanked. And I called MS Support. And they were awesome! I knew NOTHING about Windows at the time (I used Windows 3.1 from the command prompt and skipped 95). I knew Fortran and Pascal and Basic (a few flavours) and DOS and UNIX and some then defunct systems (PET, CBM, C-64, VIC-20, TI-99-4A), but not Windows.

I have no idea what their tech support is like now, but that's a "consumer" story from 1998. Not sure if it counts for jack anymore though.

5127

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by Renegade on August 24, 2012, 10:50 AM »

Hilarious music video and terribly catchy k-pop. WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

everything.

P.S. he can perform it live:

-Edvard (August 23, 2012, 11:31 PM)

First shot and basically the whole video - That's exactly at Gangnam station looking mostly north. The stage is on the north east corner of the intersection. Wandered hammered around there more than once.

I cannot possibly express what Gangnam is like... Love the place. Probably why I lived there for almost a decade.

OPUM-CONDOM-SAH!!

-superboyac (August 24, 2012, 09:33 AM)

??? Don't get it... 

5128

Living Room / Re: Tech support — why bother?

« Last post by Renegade on August 24, 2012, 10:23 AM »

I can sympathize... It's really hard to deal with tech support that run off copy/paste or some other silliness.

As part of a past job I had, I did tech support as part of it. I was the only English speaker at the company. I worked very hard to create extremely detailed help for people with LOTS of screenshots (made with Screenshot Captor I might add), and so I had massive support resources available for people, and had very few "new" cases (i.e. unknown bugs). I damn near cried when after I'd left, I saw that they got rid of it from the web site.

So when I encounter crappy support... I see red... 

5129

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

« Last post by Renegade on August 24, 2012, 07:13 AM »

That was wonderful, but, listen very, very closely......

-4wd (August 24, 2012, 06:56 AM)

HAHAHA~!  

5130

Developer's Corner / Re: This reads like my life...

« Last post by Renegade on August 24, 2012, 01:34 AM »

One thing I loved doing when I was a kid -- I think like 9 or 10 -- was doing the ring-back on the phone. You dialed a variation on your telephone number, waited a moment, hung up, then your phone rang. I think my mom hated that.

5131

Developer's Corner / Re: This reads like my life...

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2012, 10:22 PM »

When I was a kid, other than breaking into the teachers files on the network, some typical piracy, and a tiny bit of fun phreaking, I really didn't do anything remotely like hacking. I was a pretty good kid. Not always sober, but good none-the-less.

5132

Living Room / Re: Hyperrealism in Action

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2012, 10:13 PM »

Uncanny. Some of the art at the above link look like photos with a mild filter on them.

5133

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2012, 11:31 AM »

I really have no idea where to post this - either here in this thread, in the joke thread, or in the Basement... But, it's a music video, so...

Anyways, it's a spin on an old Bee Gees tune (Stayin' Alive) and very political. I found it very entertaining, but some might not, so, it's in a spoiler.

-Renegade (August 23, 2012, 10:40 AM)

Funny I heard that on mainstream radio here - they dont pay much attention to lyrics when they're in English.
I wanted to look it up -
I hadn't even noticed the political content - just a big fan of disco BeeGee's
On a purely musical note, the Pink Floyd bit clashes badly imo.

-tomos (August 23, 2012, 11:02 AM)

I liked the Pink Floyd in there. I thought it worked pretty well. The original Bee Gees is here:

I think the drums make it work there. It comes in smooth. The middle part was a bit surprising, but seemed well done. Kind of reminds me of the old "Dr. Hook" stuff, e.g. Hooked on Classics, etc.

But seriously -- that was on a regular radio station? I'm shocked. Cripes, they even say:

Political

911 was an inside job

As a funny/sad aside, this one fellow, Brandon Raub, has basically been "disappeared" for saying "911 was an inside job" on Facebook:

http://rt.com/usa/ne...ok-miles-family-331/

5134

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2012, 10:40 AM »

I really have no idea where to post this - either here in this thread, in the joke thread, or in the Basement... But, it's a music video, so...

Anyways, it's a spin on an old Bee Gees tune (Stayin' Alive) and very political. I found it very entertaining, but some might not, so, it's in a spoiler.

Spoiler

5135

Best Text Editor / Re: Notepad++ has Help file; hex editor plugins

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2012, 09:16 AM »

I've periodically used Notepad++ as I've been using Editplus for about 10 years or so now, and the last time I checked Notepad++ (a month or so ago), it was simply excellent. I'd recommend it to anyone.

The current version that I have is the portable version (ZIP file) and v6.1.5 and it has documentation - pure HTML files in directories. No CHM. And none of that online help nonsense that doesn't work when you aren't connected to the Internet -- a pet peeve of mine for documentation.

And hex editing can be had with a plugin - not a big deal. Though in Editplus the actual text editor displays the hex value for wherever the cursor is - which I've found valuable on more than one occasion. Notepad++ lacks that - is it in the hex editor plugin? I've not tried it.

There's really nothing to complain about in Notepad++. I don't know why someone would complain about the help file - the documentation is there...

5136

Living Room / Re: Raspberry Pi's $35 Linux PC

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2012, 06:09 AM »

Would any of you run MIT Scratch on a Raspberry Pi?  Would you do it if you had a lot of mosquito bites?

-Arizona Hot (August 23, 2012, 12:26 AM)

Fortunately, mosquitoes generally don't like me.

But no - I wouldn't install it. I just have no need for it. But if I did need it, I wouldn't see any reason not to.

5137

General Software Discussion / Re: Simplifying Your Computer

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2012, 06:02 AM »

My cleanups used to be:

-- Buy new computer.

Then I moved on to:

-- Buy new hard drives.

Now, I think I'm going to go with just restoring from backups. (This is the first system that I've run total system backups every day. I have a dedicated 2 TB drive for it.)

5138

Living Room / Re: The Googler Who Looked At The Worst Of The Internet

« Last post by Renegade on August 23, 2012, 05:46 AM »

Tech Confessional: The Googler Who Looked At The Worst Of The Internet

Sounds like he's "unhappy" about not becoming hired after some mental (-> emotional) disturbance. 

-mitzevo (August 23, 2012, 02:26 AM)

I can't say as I blame him. It must have been hellish to look at that all day every day. I don't think it would be unreasonable to expect some kind of reward for going through that, e.g. a job doing something different.

This is far less disturbing, but do a Google image search for some of the atrocities happening right now in different parts of the world, e.g. Palestine, Iraq, etc. Quite literally, it takes a lot of effort to not completely break down in tears knowing that each person you see is little different than you. And those are just the horrors that are not filtered out. Imagine what he had to go through.


Anyways, I can understand his frustration. I suppose it just illustrates how disposable "employees" are. After all, you aren't a person -- you are a "resource" - a "human resource", to be used, abused, and discarded.

"Human resource" is entirely an objectification of people. Those that freak out about the objectification of women as sex objects should be no less disgusted by "human resources" departments that treat people like "things".

5139

Living Room / Re: Need to store 5.5 Petabits long term? Try DNA.

« Last post by Renegade on August 22, 2012, 12:24 PM »

Doesn't DNA mutate if it's not part of a cell?

-f0dder (August 22, 2012, 12:18 PM)

Oh god... Imagine when someone's horror movie collection runs rampant...

5140

Living Room / Re: XKCD makes online ratings easy to understand

« Last post by Renegade on August 22, 2012, 10:03 AM »

I do not get Bollywood movies at all. The massive choreography and singing and dancing and bad rich guy fighting poor good guy for the girl... My eyes glass over and I move on to other things. Quickly. I've tried. Can't do it.

5141

Living Room / Re: XKCD makes online ratings easy to understand

« Last post by Renegade on August 22, 2012, 08:48 AM »

I'm skeptical of some ratings. e.g.: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1020885/

Lesbian Vampire Killers was hilarious. You can't take it seriously, which is why I suspect that it scored low. But it's just a riot. 5.3 at IMDB and 27% or 4/10 at Rotten Tomatoes:

http://www.rottentom...ian_vampire_killers/

Cherry 2000 - Scored 5.1: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092746/

Great flick!

America: Freedom to Fascism by Aaron Russo (Trading Places, etc. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0751567/ ) - Great flick! 7.8 - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0772153/ I'd say it's way under-rated.

Idiocracy - 6.4? Under-rated - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/

Titanic - 7.6? Really? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/

At the end of the day, I think my tastes just don't line up very well with popular opinion.

5142

Living Room / Re: Please (oh please!) let this be a joke...

« Last post by Renegade on August 22, 2012, 08:08 AM »

But the picture alone is still funny.

-Renegade (August 22, 2012, 03:12 AM)

Not to the woman and her husband. 

-wraith808 (August 22, 2012, 07:28 AM)

If she sues/sued the HP, she may very well laugh all the way to the bank.

5143

Living Room / The Final Nail in the Coffin for Privacy?

« Last post by Renegade on August 22, 2012, 06:57 AM »

Can quantum computing reduce prime numbers and factorization to polynomial time? If so, does that spell the end of privacy and security on the interwebs?

http://www.naturalne...ernment_secrets.html

NaturalNews exclusive: US government developing ultimate cyber weapon; Prime-factoring quantum computing makes encryption obsolete

...

All this is very much a layman's description of the phenomenon of quantum computing, by the way. Physicists will get into far more detail about how qubits might actually work... although technically, nobody really understands quantum computing. The key thing to understand about quantum computing is that a qubit can store its states of zero and one simultaneously. A collection of eight qubits can store 256 variations or "values" simultaneously, unlike a traditional silicon "bit" which can only store one of 256 values at a time.

The upshot of all this, mathematically speaking, is that instead of decryption algorithms being exponentially more complex as the number of encryption digits increases, qubits allow decryption algorithms to process the problem in so-called polynomial time, meaning the problem becomes exponentially easier to solve. (Or, technically, it doesn't become exponentially harder to solve as the number of encryption digits increases.)

If I weren't so lazy, I'd look into it more. Instead, I'm posting here at DC for other people to do the heavy lifting.

5144

Living Room / Re: Wikileaks - Julian Assange Granted Asylum by Ecuador

« Last post by Renegade on August 22, 2012, 06:03 AM »

Putting people in jail in the US is a for-profit business; google UNICOR.gov and CCA.com

-zridling (August 22, 2012, 05:00 AM)

Pee-laugh warning...

Gotta love these taglines:





Partnership corrections? Oh, god, please! We're life changing? BWAHAHAHA~!

5145

Living Room / Re: Grab Free Desktop Syncing Plus 25GB Storage Space on Box (Lifehacker 2012-08-15)

« Last post by Renegade on August 22, 2012, 03:40 AM »

Offer still looks good...

5146

Living Room / Re: Please (oh please!) let this be a joke...

« Last post by Renegade on August 22, 2012, 03:12 AM »

Well...



And then...

http://lonestar1023....s-not-what-it-seems/
http://www.pregnantc...e-daddy-picture.html
http://fbihop.tumblr...nant-woman-welcoming

But the picture alone is still funny.

5147

Living Room / Re: Wikileaks - Julian Assange Granted Asylum by Ecuador

« Last post by Renegade on August 21, 2012, 10:39 PM »

Disclaimer 2. I'm Australian, not USA-an. And I hate the way USA culture has swamped Australian culture. (If I had the power I'd ban ALL tv and USA movies from being shown here) So I'm not a rusted on pro or anti USA person

-tsaint (August 21, 2012, 05:15 PM)

Hehe! Yes, here in Australia we can certainly hear the trumpeting of the American elephant off in the jungle. But try sleeping beside the elephant! Oh, poor Canada~!

Whatever, to me it seems a bit like mob hysteria with all sorts of wild, fanciful claims springing up. Most of them based on half truths or rumour or someone is reported as having said instead of actual facts. With our favourite govt to hate being the witch.

-tsaint (August 21, 2012, 05:15 PM)

Make no mistake. I am not a bigot. I hate them all equally. Well, maybe not equally... but all of them anyways~!

5148

Developer's Corner / Re: Help me think of a small ipad app idea to code

« Last post by Renegade on August 21, 2012, 10:21 PM »

Interesting to see this bit:

In fact, here's my estimate. Given the 16 or so clones of my one DaysTo Christmas app, I'd guess that for every "real" app, there are something like 10-20 bad clones. Apple's 500,000 apps claim? My guess is there are probably less than 30,000 apps of anything resembling quality.

-The Article

I'd always wondered about that myself.

-Stoic Joker (August 21, 2012, 09:51 PM)

Early on I noticed that the app store was full of complete garbage. Like how many "sexy bathing suit" apps do you need? I think those are mostly gone now though.

Hey! Maybe a "sexy kitty" app, eh mouser?

5149

Developer's Corner / Re: Help me think of a small ipad app idea to code

« Last post by Renegade on August 21, 2012, 09:05 PM »

This is mostly on topic, but humorous:

http://www.zdnet.com...eveloper-7000002761/

True confessions of a former iPhone developer

5150

Living Room / Re: Google Stabs You in the Back...

« Last post by Renegade on August 21, 2012, 09:05 AM »

The reason they can get away with this is complacency. If hundreds of thousands of people expressed their displeasure by no longer using Google Search, what would happen? But that won't occur, because the masses are ignorant.

-kyrathaba (August 21, 2012, 07:40 AM)

I just don't see the point, currently.  They haven't done anything wrong- there's just the fear that they will.  If they start charging for standard search, the quality of their searches will go down b/c they'll be missing great parts of the internet.  And they will go down in flaming ball of fire.  As they charge for their shopping searches, I'll look elsewhere?  Why?  Because they won't have the index of all of the places possible.  If people see that the quality of what they're doing declines as their greed increases, they'll quickly lose share.

-wraith808 (August 21, 2012, 08:18 AM)

I certainly hope that you're right.