Recent Posts

5901

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Some Thoughts on Sony's DPT-S1 (Digital Paper System)

« Last post by mouser on June 28, 2015, 05:33 AM »

Thanks for posting! For those who aren't familiar, this is a large format e-reader that is appealing for those of us who have been looking for a digital replacement for reading full-sized (i.e. academic) pdfs and ebooks:
http://store.sony.co...-catid-digital-paper

Doesn't appear to be any auto-cropping of whitespace

that's too bad -- i've found it's a useful feature when space is limited on a mobile device.

Didn't expect to use the stylus to create notes, but much to my surprise I've come to use it

nice.  so will it remember notes you write in the margins while reading pdf files?

5902

General Software Discussion / Re: Software for planning wood bookcases/cabinets/tables etc?

« Last post by mouser on June 27, 2015, 06:25 PM »

Are you using gloss for the build-up coats?

yep -- i've read it's best to use gloss for all but final coat.

wow, aryq's a real woodworker!! nice!

5903

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by mouser on June 27, 2015, 02:47 PM »

Haven't read this yet, but it sounds neat:

Just My Type by Simon Garfield
http://www.amazon.co...-Fonts/dp/1592407463


"Simon Garfield’s Just My Type presents an entertaining history of fonts, from font "pirating" dating back nearly as far as Gutenberg to the creation of Comic Sans and Ikea’s font-change controversy. With a variety of recent, news-making examples and font samples throughout, Just My Type explains how and why certain fonts can elicit emotions or gut-instinct reactions. Garfield’s humor and historical anecdotes add to his deep understanding of how something as simple as font choice can speak volumes about our cultural climate--and why it’s so easy to agonize over what font to use on a party invitation. Whether you’re already a font aficionado or can’t tell the difference between Times New Roman and Arial, this entertaining history will give you a greater appreciation of the typefaces that surround you every day. --Malissa Kent"

More info here: http://gadgetopia.com/post/9282

5904

General Software Discussion / Re: Software for planning wood bookcases/cabinets/tables etc?

« Last post by mouser on June 27, 2015, 02:38 PM »

Finishing has begun.. I'm using standard brush-on polyeurethane on the insides, and a thin wipe-on poly (General Finishes Arm-R-Seal) for the top and face frame.  I decided to go with the wipe-on poly for the top and face frame because i wasn't confident in my abilities to brush on a smooth coat. Given how slowly it's going on and how expensive it is, i'm having second thoughts, but i'm committed.

Will take me a few more days to put on all the coats, and then a week to dry.  I'll take more photos when it's done.

It's even more dark looking now -- I've resigned myself to it.  It's not out of place in my living room, where i have a dark wood coffee table, it just still seems like a waste since you can barely see the wood grain..

I'm thinking to go with "satin" as the final coat.  Any finishers have preferences for gloss vs semi vs satin?

5905

PBOL / Re: Requests: count workdays only and show workdays remaining

« Last post by mouser on June 27, 2015, 02:24 PM »

Someone knows how to sweet talk me

I will put it back on my todo list, shouldn't be very hard to add.

5906

Living Room / Re: Be prepared against ransomware viruses..

« Last post by mouser on June 27, 2015, 01:22 PM »

Does anyone know of any mainstream security software that uses a "honeypot" approach of watching for certain files being modified?  i.e. which tries to catch these kinds of ransomware evils by catching and killing them as soon as they try to modify a document that the security software knows should never be changed/deleted.

5907

Living Room / Patent your mom tips

« Last post by mouser on June 27, 2015, 12:12 PM »

http://www.onionstud...arenting-tricks-2833

The closing statement is great:
"Remember, an idea is like a seed -- it can only turn into a tree if you kill all the birds that are trying to eat it."

5908

Living Room / The joy of seeing a first time forum poster

« Last post by mouser on June 27, 2015, 10:44 AM »

The regulars on a forum like this one, make it what it is -- they create a tone and personality and make it a fun place to hang out.  This place is a little family to those of us who spend time here.

But it occurred to me today that infrequent visitors may not realize how nice it is for us when we see a "first time poster" -- a person who has decided to make their first post on the forum.

It's especially nice for us coders when we see a new person post about a program we've written -- whether it's to say they like it, or report a bug or suggest a feature.

It's just always a really nice thing to check the forum and see that someone new has decided to join the conversation. 

5909

General Software Discussion / Re: when Google fails..DC! Cut and paste text adding double carriage return option

« Last post by mouser on June 27, 2015, 10:29 AM »

you should be able to do this with my Clipboard Help+Spell utility -- just create a custom format that adds the CRs or whatever, then you can access it from quick paste menu of CHS.

5910

Living Room / Re: Be prepared against ransomware viruses..

« Last post by mouser on June 27, 2015, 09:49 AM »

Only the file extensions changed!? So MouserRulez.txt becomes MouserRulez.zzx? Was the content still there, so if you as a test manually changed it back, it would reappear?

no no. the extension change is just a symptom, the actual file contents are strongly encrypted -- so there is no way to retrieve the contents without being told (by paying the culprit) the secure passphrase used.

For more information see http://www.2-viruses...rypt-encrypted-files

5911

Living Room / Documentary film online: THOSE WHO ARE JESUS (2001) - 3 people with god delusion

« Last post by mouser on June 26, 2015, 07:42 PM »

Very interesting watching:

A documentary which presents four compelling individuals who have each had profoundly religious or revalatory experiences and have extraordinary stories to tell.

With a tolerant and inclusive approach, the film offers different positions of explanation of such experience by featuring such experts as Dr. Peter Fenwick (Institute of Psychiatry), The Very Reverend Colin Slee (Southwark Cathedral), Prof. Eileen Barker (Sociologist at LSE), Dr Trevor Turner (Homerton Hospital) and the Hearing Voices Network, alongside of the points of view of the subjects.

The result is an examination of conflicting and convergent discourses surrounding what psychiatrists term "delusions of grandeur".

http://boingboing.ne...ut-people-who-h.html

Original page: http://www.pinkpink.....co.uk/paradogs.html

from http://mindhacks.com...-palms-of-your-hand/

5912

Find And Run Robot / Re: Alias - Display <string> in description?

« Last post by mouser on June 26, 2015, 07:22 PM »

how strange.. i might have to look into this.

5913

Living Room / Be prepared against ransomware viruses..

« Last post by mouser on June 26, 2015, 06:48 PM »

I got a call a couple of days ago from a relative in a panic -- all of their documents, images, etc. suddenly had new random file extensions and could not be opened.  Did I know what had happened and how to fix it?

Unfortunately it was all too obvious what had happened and there was no easy fix.

They had fallen victim to a ransomware virus -- some variant of CBT, and the only real way to recover the files was to pay the criminals (they wanted ~ $600 USD) to provide a password to decrypt the files.

What made this attack particularly damaging is that this relative, who is pretty computer savvy and a heavy pc user, had a bunch of additional hard drives connected to the pc -- a few backup drives, some download archive drives, etc.

And the virus encrypted everything on all drives. Ouch.


And that's what brings me to this post.

Many of us who perform frequent backups may get lazy and leave our backup drives (with backup drive images, document backups, etc.) connect for prolonged periods.

This is a huge risk when it comes to things like viruses/trojans/ransomware.

While there are lots of things you can do to protect yourself from being attacked, one thing all of us who regularly make backups should do is keep external backup drives DISCONNECTED except when being used to update our backups.

5914

Screenshot Captor / Re: [BUG] Pixelate sometimes fails on pixelating text

« Last post by mouser on June 26, 2015, 06:40 PM »

The window's position changes when the black border is displayed thus the "shadow" of the text.

getting back to this for a second -- do you know why this happens? Is it because the window is too close to an edge of the screen and SC is trying to move it?  Perhaps I need to add some code to delay after moving the window to give the window time to update..

5915

Screenshot Captor / Re: [BUG] Pixelate sometimes fails on pixelating text

« Last post by mouser on June 26, 2015, 06:37 PM »

aryq's clue was significant and your follow up explained the problem; here's what's happening:

SC is trying to determine which backround areas of the window are (semi) transparent.  Whatever this bug is that is causing the window to move during this, is making SC think there is some partial transparency over that entire area of the window, so that the text all appears as semi-transparent to SC (even though when you look at it you dont see the effect).

So when the pixelate effect occurs, its not "clearing" the transparency, and so the pixelatated regions have some partial transparency where the text was.

So here's what to do:

1. I'll consider that a bug and have pixelate always completely clear any transparency when pixelating.  I'll try to have an SC update in the next week.
2. In the meantime, either fix whatever weirdness is causing the window to move, or to disable this transparency detection (which by the way will speed up capture), from here:


Let us know if that fixes it for new captures.

You could also do this for existing captures: Before applying pixelate or similar effects, choose 'Merge Background Transparency' from the objects menu.  That will remove any transparency from the image.

5916

Find And Run Robot / Re: Can't change alias of a plugin

« Last post by mouser on June 26, 2015, 10:19 AM »

skajfes has it exactly right -- i will try to have a fix soon.

5917

Screenshot Captor / Re: ShareX link in Options > Tools is defunct

« Last post by mouser on June 25, 2015, 09:50 PM »

You can't add imgur to SC built-in tool yet, but i'll look into adding it.
But you should be able to use ImageShack if you just clear any values in the Service Options tab of the SC Uploader.

5918

Screenshot Captor / Re: ShareX link in Options > Tools is defunct

« Last post by mouser on June 25, 2015, 09:20 PM »

ImageShack should work fine with Screenshot Captor, right out of the box.  No need to register, put any username, password, or pay anything.

5919

Screenshot Captor / Re: ShareX link in Options > Tools is defunct

« Last post by mouser on June 25, 2015, 08:57 PM »

Thanks, I will fix.
It's useful to note however, that SC now has a very good built-in upload to a free image hosting service, so there is little reason to need to use ShareX with it anymore.

5920

General Software Discussion / Re: Software for planning wood bookcases/cabinets/tables etc?

« Last post by mouser on June 24, 2015, 06:40 PM »

Latest cabinet photos:




Note 1: The cabinet has not yet been "finished" -- i just wanted to see what it would look like -- i have to remove everything and put many coats of polyeurethane on to give it some sheen and protect the wood.

Note 2: It's significantly darker than I planned/wanted -- I tested dozens of stain formulas but in the end i got carried away.  I think lighter would have been more interesting but perhaps this will turn out to be ok.

Note 3: You'll notice on the top view two black lines -- that was a last minute improvisation to fix what were white-unstained lines caused by wood putty between the face frame and carcass, and white glue connecting to strips of veneer on the plywood.

Note 4: If you look at photo 2 you can see gray dots where nail holes are -- I made a big mistake by filling nail holes and gaps with "stainable" (hah!) wood putty before staining.  Bad mistake.  I've since learned the proper way to do it is to sink the nails, then stain, THEN fill with colored crayon, etc.  I did what i have done when painting when the putty can be sanded down and covered -- not appropriate for staining.

5921

Screenshot Captor / Re: Path to ScreenshotCaptor settings can't be modified

« Last post by mouser on June 24, 2015, 05:07 PM »

What is your Screenshot path?  Can you change that to someplace in your documents?
(choose the first item in the GoTo menu to change it).

5922

Screenshot Captor / Re: Path to ScreenshotCaptor settings can't be modified

« Last post by mouser on June 23, 2015, 11:03 AM »

It does sound like you may have installed the portable version on your deskop -- or for some other reason it's having trouble saving files where it wants to.
The easiest solution might be to install the normal version of Screenshot Captor -- you can even tell it at the time of installation to erase any previous settings to start from scratch.
You can also just delete the ConfigDir.ini file in the Program Files x86\Screenshot Captor directory to use default.

To summarize, if you install Screenshot Captor and do not mess with the ConfigDir.ini file, it will store all settings and those subdirectories under your Documents directory.

You can also email if you still get stuck ([email protected])

5923

Living Room / Re: The Movie and Book Writing Thread

« Last post by mouser on June 22, 2015, 03:57 PM »

I read through the "game rules" -- very interesting!! I didn't quite follow all of the resolution rules stuff, but I loved the idea of an AI being at the center of it.. So I take it this is kind of a role-playing game where the AI player makes up scenarios and guides play and decides subjectively how to tell and interesting story full of conflict?  I think the subject matter of colonizatio and survival is a fascinating one for an RPG.

5924

Living Room / Re: Animal Friends thread

« Last post by mouser on June 21, 2015, 10:32 AM »

Dog plays on kids waterslide:

5925

Screenshot Captor / Re: (Beginner) Where is "Blend mode "Multiple"??

« Last post by mouser on June 19, 2015, 09:06 PM »

Where do you see the 'TIP: Use blend mode "multiple"'?