Recent Posts

6501

General Software Discussion / Re: Google's Chrome browser gets a stable tag in version 5

« Last post by Deozaan on June 04, 2010, 04:14 PM »

I thought Chrome always allowed you to drag a tab in and out of the main window to open in a new window or consolidate into a single window.

Chrome is and has been my primary browser for some time now. I don't even like opening Firefox anymore because it takes way too long just to open.

But there are two extensions I really miss from Firefox: Adblock Plus and All-in-One Gestures.

6502

Living Room / Re: 10 Suicides at Apple factory this year.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 04, 2010, 03:54 PM »

In that case, it's certainly easy to "turn a blind eye" to something you didn't even know existed until just hours ago.

6503

Living Room / Re: iTunes Store Alternative?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 04, 2010, 03:14 PM »

What about those watch online sites? Such as Crackle or Hulu?

6504

Living Room / Re: 10 Suicides at Apple factory this year.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 04, 2010, 01:51 PM »

I can happily say I have no guilt about this. I don't support Apple and I don't want any of their "cheap" electronics.

And who said anyone is being exploited? The factory is "pretty nice" after all.

'You go in this place and it's a factory but, my gosh, they've got restaurants and movie theatres and hospitals and swimming pools. For a factory, it's pretty nice,' he said.

6505

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: HDMI Cables: $0.60

« Last post by Deozaan on June 04, 2010, 01:28 PM »

Weird. I thought I replied to this again after Carol's response, but I guess I forgot to submit after previewing it or something.

I don't think I'd mind paying a little extra (a matter of a couple of dollars at MonoPrice) for gold plated HDMI cables if it makes them last longer. After all, the best price isn't necessarily the best value. You might spend more replacing the cheap ones than if you had just bought a gold-plated cable for $3 more.

I already bought 2 of the $0.60 cables (which are now being displayed for $0.53 from another 3rd party vendor) so if/when these ones wear out I'll use MonoPrice in the future for the gold-plated but still cheap (less than $5) cables.

It sure beats when I didn't know any better and bought my first HDMI cable for $60.

6506

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 04, 2010, 12:00 PM »

First Self-Replicating Synthetic Bacterial Cell

First Self-Replicating, Synthetic Bacterial Cell Constructed by J. Craig Venter Institute Researchers

-40hz (June 04, 2010, 08:08 AM)

That sounds like an article I read recently, except the headline was something like "First biological life form made from scratch" and as I read it it became increasingly obvious that it was not made from scratch. The genome was copied from another "simple" lifeform, then modified, then created and injected into a "host" lifeform, which then split, creating one of the original lifeforms and one of the synthetic lifeforms. Then the researchers killed the original lifeform and let the synthetic one proliferate. I wonder if that article was about the same you just posted.

Be really cool if they could relocate their facility to either the moon or the international space station until they're absolutely sure about the safety and ramifications of what they're doing. From the documentary running on the Science Channel, it doesn't look like they practice a high degree of containment at their labs. No 'bunny suits' or isolation rooms to be seen anywhere. And the staff gets to go home at night so there's also that vector for something getting out.

[...]

Sorry if I sound paranoid. But in the wake of Three Mile Island, the Exxon Valdez, Chernobyl and BP's latest fiasco in the Gulf, I'm no longer comforted when an expert says "Trust us! We've though of everything that could possibly go wrong - and planned for it."

-40hz (June 04, 2010, 08:08 AM)

I'm with you on that! It really is an amazing discovery, but potentially a very dangerous one. Obviously someone could create a new biological weapon with this technology, but even if it was only used with good intentions, such as creating a bacteria that "ate" carbon dioxide gases to reduce global warming (which is what the article I read said they wanted to do with it), unintended side effects could still destroy life as we know it.

What if the population of these bacteria gets out of control and all the carbon dioxide is removed from the planet, first killing all plant life, then without plant life to supply oxygen, all animal life dies? Or perhaps the atmosphere breaks down because of an imbalance in the gases and whatever else it's made up with, letting dangerous space/sun rays murdilize us all? Those are probably extreme ideas, but even something simpler such as causing birth defects or some sort of unintended disease-like function of the bacteria could cause big trouble.

There are so many possible scenarios of things that could go wrong. It's both awesome (grow back amputated limbs, or diseased/damaged/destroyed organs!) and frightening (biological warfare) at the same time.

6507

Living Room / Re: 10 Suicides at Apple factory this year.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 04, 2010, 11:41 AM »

Steve Jobs: 'Oh, that suicide factory? It's pretty nice. And oh yeah, **** Adobe Flash too.'

-Renegade (June 04, 2010, 07:04 AM)

I had initially included that part in the quote because I was thinking the same thing, but decided to remove it and let others discover that for themselves.

6508

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: HDMI Cables: $0.60

« Last post by Deozaan on June 04, 2010, 11:37 AM »

I didn't know that. Would you mind explaining why the gold plating is better?

6509

Living Room / Re: Linux based E-book reader with two touchscreens about to be released.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 04, 2010, 04:51 AM »

That looks amazing! It's like every sci-fi story ever with children in the future with their own personal study tablets.

Almost makes me wish I was back in school again with one of these. . . almost.

6510

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 04, 2010, 04:11 AM »

I have this memory / image-in-mind of a jar that has a bottom piece (which has a blade attached) that can be unscrewed from the jar.  Perhaps such things used to exist (still exist even), though I wonder about leakage...

-ewemoa (June 04, 2010, 03:35 AM)

The blender we just replaced does that. And it leaked on us quite a few times when it unintentionally became unscrewed while simply inserting the jar onto the motor.

6511

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: HDMI Cables: $0.60

« Last post by Deozaan on June 04, 2010, 03:41 AM »

Would you really buy a 60 cent HDMI cable?

-Carol Haynes (June 04, 2010, 03:34 AM)

Why not? There have been other threads here at DC talking about how the $130 are major ripoffs. Since it's digital it's either all or nothing. Just ones and zeros.

Am I wrong?

6512

Living Room / 10 Suicides at Apple factory this year.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 04, 2010, 02:37 AM »

It's gotten so bad they have installed a net to catch the jumpers!

Since January this year 10 young workers have killed themselves by jumping from the roof of the factory building at Foxconn in southern China.

Jobs today described the worker's deaths as 'troubling' but insisted that the factory 'is not a sweatshop'.

-http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1283389/Apple-boss-Steve-Jobs-defends-China-Foxconn-factory-conditions-10-suicides.html

6513

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 04, 2010, 02:02 AM »

You have a square jar too? I know a couple people with VitaMix blenders and theirs are all really tall, skinny, circular jars.

I wouldn't want to risk removing the bottom portion (I assume you mean removing the blade and the gear thingy part that goes into the motor) since the Blendtec has multiple warnings about the proper care of that seal.

6514

Living Room / Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"

« Last post by Deozaan on June 04, 2010, 01:32 AM »

Were those last 2 searches followed by clicks on Amazon links?

- Oshyan

-JavaJones (June 04, 2010, 12:28 AM)

One of them was. But the other one I can't imagine why it would be. I was using Google to convert 6 feet into meters (due to an item I was viewing on Amazon). Like I said, I may have inadvertently searched from within Amazon, but I'm pretty sure I would have remembered seeing the strange Amazon.com results for that conversion search. I guess it was probably PEBKAC.

6515

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 03, 2010, 11:43 PM »

We received the blender this morning

-Deozaan (June 03, 2010, 01:13 PM)

Cool!  Thanks for sharing the details of your experiences  

May I ask how the experience of cleaning is and also the noise level when blending?  We have a VitaMix [1], and the cleaning experience of it (particularly near the blades) leaves much to be desired.  Although in retrospect, it has helped me to consider the issue of cleaning and maintenance when considering new additions to our household

-ewemoa (June 03, 2010, 03:44 PM)

Blendtec uses a square shaped jar rather than the standard circular jar. I didn't clean it and I wasn't paying close attention. I was putting away the dry dishes while my wife washed the jar and some other dishes. She cleaned the jar in a matter of a few seconds though, and didn't seem to have any troubles. The bottom of the jar has lots of space around the blade so it's easy to reach in all the way to the bottom and wipe around if you had to.



As for the noise, I didn't think it was particularly noisy (for a blender) but it did make my wife jump when I showed her. To be fair though, she is a bit jumpy at sudden noises. I believe the motor has more horsepower than the Vitamix, but to be honest I don't know if that would make a difference with the noise levels.

EDIT: Added pics

6516

Living Room / Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"

« Last post by Deozaan on June 03, 2010, 11:29 PM »

So I was just on Amazon.com and I noticed at the bottom of the page it showed a "Recent Searches" section which displayed the last 2 Google searches I made.

How does Amazon know what the last two Google searches I made were?

I suppose it's possible I inadvertently searched in Amazon's website, though I usually just search from the address bar since I'm using Chrome.

6517

Living Room / Re: Wii blamed on Child's Death: Guns looks like Controller

« Last post by Deozaan on June 03, 2010, 11:23 PM »

This is the gun and the Wii gun: [link doesn't work] -- It does look pretty real.

-Renegade (June 03, 2010, 10:55 PM)

Yeah, I saw that picture in the article. But my point was where did he get that and why is he suing/blaming Nintendo when they don't make realistic looking gun accessories? None of the ones I've seen available to purchase look like that. My guess was that he bought one of the more realistic looking white ones from a 3rd party (Mad Catz or Nyko or similar) and then painted it black.

6518

Found Deals and Discounts / HDMI Cables: $0.60

« Last post by Deozaan on June 03, 2010, 10:01 PM »

I just came across these cables on Amazon.com.

6 foot (1.8 meters) HDMI cables for $0.60 + $2.98 shipping (each).

http://www.amazon.co.../product/B000M51NRM/


MonoPrice is having a Deal of the Day on a 6.5 foot (2 meters) cable for $1.97, but it's hideously ugly (bright orange) and shipping is over $2.50 for one cable or $6.35+ for 2 or more. So definitely go for the cables available (from a 3rd party) on Amazon unless you're ordering 3 or more cables, then it might still be cheaper on MonoPrice.

6519

Living Room / Re: Wii blamed on Child's Death: Guns looks like Controller

« Last post by Deozaan on June 03, 2010, 09:53 PM »

What Wii controller looks like a real gun, anyway?

This is the official one made by Nintendo:



If he owned one that looked more realistic than that, he ought to at least sue whatever 3rd party peripheral maker designed and sold it. Even the more realistic looking ones are mostly all white, with a particular black model that obviously has the Wiimote sticking really far out the end. It makes me think he got a realistic looking white one and painted it black, though that's just a guess.

It's really a tragedy for a child to be killed like this, especially because it is in no small part directly a consequence of the father's actions (both leaving the loaded gun out and owning a realistic looking gun accessory). And it's even further shameful that the father, instead of taking responsibility, is trying to shift the blame to video games.

6520

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 03, 2010, 01:13 PM »

We received the blender this morning and made our first smoothie. This is what went into it:



Looks like some Zuchini, Collard Greens, Chard, Frozen Mixed berries (Blueberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, and Strawberries), a Pear, and some water.

The blender has a smoothie setting, and it only took 12 seconds to blend! YES! Our old blender wouldn't blend and we'd have to try to tamp it down and it still wouldn't work and it would take sometimes 10-15 minutes just to get a smoothie made because it wasn't powerful enough to blend the ingredients.

It tasted slightly bitter which made us realize that we forgot to put honey in it. So we put in about a tablespoon or two of honey, a small handful of flax seeds, and a few frozen mango chunks.

This is what it looked like (some had already been poured out):



It's not green at all! Kind of a dark reddish/orange-ish/brownish color with a pleasant taste. Looks like the average color of the berries mixed together.

EDIT: Corrected ingredient list.

6521

Living Room / Re: install win7 32 or 64 bit on a 4 gig ram machine - opinions, please.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 02, 2010, 02:19 PM »

If you're going to go back to Vista, then there's really no loss (except time) if you at least try 64-bit Windows 7.

6522

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 02, 2010, 11:37 AM »

@Deozan - what's a green smoothie?  

-40hz (June 01, 2010, 10:00 PM)

Basically, it's a bunch of fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens (and sometimes other healthy things, like some seeds, nuts, oils and natural sweeteners like honey, agave, or stevia) blended together into a liquid drink, with the consistency of a smoothie. As ewemoa said, they don't always come out green, it really depends on the ingredients you put in. But the idea behind it (I'm guessing) is you can get a really good tasting smoothie that's full of things you might otherwise not care for. Like I said, it's about 15 servings of fruits & veggies in one smoothie, which beats the Food Pyramid's recommendation of 9 per day.

Here's an example green smoothie recipe from the book:

Spoiler

Tip: For beginners and those trying to convert children, consider using LESS greens and MORE fruit (especially berries and bananas) in the beginning, gradually working up to a 50/50 ratio as described here. Use just the mild flavors in this transition phase, like spinach, kale, collards, and chard. With kids, consider using only spinach the first few days, then gradually sneak in the other mild but excellent greens (chard, collards, and kale). Add other savory or bitter greens only when your family are “experts” in green smoothies! Add a bit more water if you feel the smoothie is too thick.

• 1. Put 2 C filtered water in the high-power blender.
• 2. Optionally, add:
  
  • ¾-1 tsp. stevia (herbal sweetener) or 1/3 C agave syrup (low glycemic index)
  • ¼ whole lemon, including peel (anti-skin cancer, high in flavanoids)
  • 2-3 Tbsp. fresh, refrigerated flaxseed oil (Omega-3-rich oil)
• 3. Gradually add the following greens until briefly puréed and the mixture comes up to the 5-cup line (or less, if you are “converting”), and then purée the mixture for 90 seconds until very smooth.
  
  • ¾-1 lb. raw, washed greens:
    
    • spinach, chard, kale, collards (your mainstays)
    • turnip, mustard, dandelion greens, arugula (use more sparingly, as they are spicy or bitter)
    • lettuces and beet greens (also good—use freely)
    • avocado or cabbage or 1-2 stalks celery (try, to see if you enjoy their inclusion)
    • edible weeds from unsprayed fields (For the adventurous! Purslane has a mild flavor and vines are along the ground everywhere. Use stronger flavors of lambsquarter leaves [not the woody stems], morning glory, and thistle sparingly.)
• 4. Gradually add the following fruit until the container is very full, then blend for 90 seconds or until smooth:
  
  • 1-2 bananas (for a creamy texture and sweetness)
  • 1-2 C frozen mixed berries (tastes wonderful and makes the smoothie purple rather than green)
  • any other fruit to taste: our favorites are pears and peaches, but can also use apples, oranges, apricots,
  • cantaloupe (with seeds—very high in antioxidants!), mango, pineapple, anything!

Makes approx. 8 C of 100% raw smoothie.

The more frozen fruit, the tastier your smoothie will be—and your high-power blender can handle it! You can
save your smoothie in the fridge for up to two days—just shake well before drinking.

EDIT: The one above is probably a recipe for those who have been drinking them for a while. Maybe this one would be better to start with:

Anyone will enjoy this easy first-timer’s concoction, including children and those with finicky tastes!

• 1¾ C water
• 1 Tbsp. honey or agave
• 1 10-oz. bag spinach
• 1 banana (preferably frozen in chunks)
• 2 C frozen mixed berries
• 1 peach, pear, apple, or orange
• Blend all until very smooth. Pour in glasses and enjoy, or refrigerate for up to 48 hours, shaking well before serving. Makes about 3 pints.

6523

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 XP Mode now doesn't require hardware virtualization

« Last post by Deozaan on June 02, 2010, 04:02 AM »

Before you switch over try allocating more RAM to the Virtual PC XP Mode. You have to shut down the Virtual PC first (ie. a full Windows XP shutdown) and then find Virtual PC in the start menu. You will see your machine listed and if you look at its properties you will see it has 512Mb allocated - assuming you have spare RAM try doubling it.

-Carol Haynes (May 31, 2010, 03:47 PM)

My Virtual XP Mode defaulted at 256MB of RAM. I probably wouldn't hesitate to double that if I had more than 2 GB in this machine and I used "XP Mode" for anything else.

But how do you shut this thing down, anyway? I only get "Log Off" from the start menu, and even from the Action bar it only gives Restart or Sleep. When I close it, it just hibernates.

6524

Living Room / Re: install win7 32 or 64 bit on a 4 gig ram machine - opinions, please.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 02, 2010, 03:46 AM »

I'd make sure all of your hardware has 64-bit drivers, and that they've been signed, at least if you intend on using it. I can't use my onboard LAN adapter because the 64-bit drivers haven't been signed and Windows 7 won't let me install unsigned drivers.

I'll let others with more technical knowledge answer the questions with regard to 32-bit software speeds on a 64-bit OS.

6525

General Software Discussion / Re: What to use to secure delete a HDD?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 02, 2010, 03:41 AM »

-1 for DBAN - all you need is a regular Windows format - be sure to do a full format (ie, not ticking the "quick format" checkbox).

-f0dder (June 01, 2010, 05:59 PM)

But how do you use regular Windows format on the only HDD in a PC?

Format the partition from the Windows installer disc?