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6576

Living Room / More Chilling Effects? Let's Start Gay Bashing~! =P

« Last post by Renegade on November 04, 2011, 06:22 AM »

So... the war on ideas continues...

http://www.smh.com.a...-20111103-1mwwy.html

Speedo wins fight to shut down porn websites

The websites featured Speedo swimming costumes and domain names using the company's trademark. Photo: Danielle Smith

The Federal Court of Australia has ordered a central coast blogger to shut down a number of salacious and pornographic websites because they featured Speedo swimming costumes and domain names using the company's trademark.

...

Federal Court Justice Geoffrey Flick ordered that Mr Evans shut down the offending websites and transfer the domain names to Speedo.

It also ordered that he refrain from registering any new domain name using the Speedo trademark, or operate any website that featured Speedo swimwear.

This does not bode well for fan sites, or much of anything for that matter.

Face it, "Speedo" has transcended into the realm of "Coke", "Kleenex", and "Google".

These same people use sex to sell all the time. The level of hypocrisy is simply astounding.

So, for anyone that was listening, you are no longer allowed to say, endorse, or be a fan of any brand, because you're infringing on their trademark, and that's damaging to them. You'd better pay damages if you do...

What I'm wondering now is when the Coca-Cola Company will go after all the little go-go bars on Bangla Road in Phuket... 

I just want to puke.

6577

General Software Discussion / Re: Help me get some irregular screenshots on Mac.

« Last post by Renegade on November 04, 2011, 05:02 AM »

Irregular? I think you'll need to do that in an image editing program. I've never seen any image that's not a rectangle or square. Contents? Sure. Basic image format? No.

You can try the GIMP. That should let you do what you're looking for.

6578

General Software Discussion / Re: We are heading towards a sandboxed future, with apps coming from apps stores.

« Last post by Renegade on November 04, 2011, 01:34 AM »

Ah... sandboxed development vs. sandboxed deployment... Big difference there...

6579

General Software Discussion / Re: We are heading towards a sandboxed future, with apps coming from apps stores.

« Last post by Renegade on November 04, 2011, 12:58 AM »

I think the original article is somehow lumping the notion of sandboxes in with 'walled gardens.'

One does not imply or require the other. Sandboxes are (almost always) a force for good. And you can run 'sandboxed' in a completely open and free environment with no need to let yourself be forced onto a captive platform or through a portal to do so. No need to even install anything. Just boot off any 'live' Linux distro and you're there.

 

-40hz (November 03, 2011, 02:44 PM)

Excellent distinction.

I don't mind a sandbox if it's reasonable. Sure, protect the user, but don't be an idiot about it. e.g. Providing read access to a media library isn't too much to ask, is it? (iOS does not allow this last I checked.)

Walled garden... Not down with that.

Regarding that story by Stallman...

I once heard how science fiction eventually becomes science fact. We've seen it in our lifetimes. 

I believe that the same goes for horror stories... And we're seeing it right now. All the terror of the dystopian novels is becoming more and more real.

When Stallman wrote that, he wasn't a story-teller. He was a prophet.  

6580

Living Room / Re: The Inside Story on How Microsof't Tablet Didn't Happen?

« Last post by Renegade on November 03, 2011, 11:58 PM »

Y'all better be nice to me... If I'm willing to renegade my own thread... imagine what I might do to yours...

Answer: I might stephen it! I've done it before...

I so wish that they'd have kept the courier... It really was just so uber-sexy... But... Leave it to MS to drop the ball...

6581

Living Room / Re: Supernatural MacBook Destruction

« Last post by Renegade on November 03, 2011, 03:22 AM »

Link? (I don't watch TV, except the odd show from Hulu or YouTube that gets recommended to me).

-Edvard (November 02, 2011, 08:32 PM)

Season 7 episode 6 - "Slash Fiction". Sorry, I don't have a link for YouTube.

It's about 12 minutes in.

6582

Mouser's Zone / Re: DC and dotNet

« Last post by Renegade on November 02, 2011, 06:29 PM »

Have a read here:

http://blogs.msdn.co...06/05/30/611355.aspx

It might help... YMMV.

6583

Living Room / Re: Products designed to fail, a documentary

« Last post by Renegade on November 02, 2011, 10:17 AM »

I didn't know that "lifetime" meant 7 years for a car... Sheesh...

-Renegade (November 02, 2011, 07:27 AM)

...and so, another example of 1984's Doublespeak taking over our language. Not only will the younger generation(s) expect built-in obsolescence to be the norm, they have an accompanying language to help them think appropriately about it all.

Free = not free.
Lifetime = when you've finally paid enough to own it.
Warranty = find terms to invalidate your guarantee.

And on, and on, and on...

(edit: is it Doublespeak? It's Newspeak and Doublethink in 1984.)

-nudone (November 02, 2011, 08:44 AM)

Good point.

I forget a lot of the details, but propaganda has been refined since the 1920's or so into a very fine science.

Basically, truth is irrelevant. If you repeat a message long enough, people *WILL* accept it as truth. The in/sanity of the claim is irrelevant.

In the 1930's or 40's, Long Range Penetration Strain was developed to shape perceptions of reality in large populations. i.e. Mass propaganda.

Changing or shifting the meanings of words is a typical tactic.

Whether or not you are sickened by this, it's just a fact of life.

The question is whether you want to accept the system, or change it.

6584

Living Room / Re: Products designed to fail, a documentary

« Last post by Renegade on November 02, 2011, 07:27 AM »

It makes me wonder... Are there premium markets out there that're willing to pay 5x as much for a product because it's going to last for-bloody-well-ever?

-Renegade (November 02, 2011, 06:58 AM)

Yes, but... Legal won't let them. Think about it; marketing a product that is guaranteed to last forever (hehe). And who's going to warranty that how exactly? "Forever" must be legally defined first. Kinda like car parts that are guaranteed "for-the-lifetime-of-your-car". In the US your car's lifetime is (legally) defined as 7 years ... but you will never see that little detail printed on the box. Marketing assumes that said car will get flipped right around (3-5) the same time it's paid for...or at least down to the point where the next loan won't be too far upsidedown.

-Stoic Joker (November 02, 2011, 07:09 AM)

Sorry. I didn't mean that literally. I meant it in the sense of extreme durability is engineered into the product so that it lasts far beyond what current products do.

I didn't know that "lifetime" meant 7 years for a car... Sheesh...

6585

Living Room / Re: Products designed to fail, a documentary

« Last post by Renegade on November 02, 2011, 06:58 AM »

^Nudone - I hear ya!

Regarding:

If things were genuinely tight we'd regard our possessions more valuable and expect them to last longer. We'd demand that they last longer.

-nudone (November 02, 2011, 06:19 AM)

We've come a long way as far as wealth goes.

Off track...

My grandfather had 1 pair of shoes. That he was only allowed to wear in the winter because he'd wear them out too fast if he wore them in the summer. I think he had a rock to play with, and maybe a stick.

My dad's generation was much better off. He had enough toys when he was a kid that you could count them on 1 hand. Funny enough, those toys still work and are still around. (I inherited them, and they're on a shelf.)

I had enough toys that I'd run out of fingers and toes if I counted them. A lot of them are still stored away. And they're not broken. And they're still in good condition despite my constant abuse of them.

For anyone that has kids now -- how long do their toys last?

I wonder how durable a Tonka truck is today...

But I stray there... Back on track...

It's now more costly to repair things than it is to replace them. Huh? Yeah. Try to repair a 10 year old washer. Heck. You can buy a functioning 10 year old one for $50 or something stupid. Why spend $300 to have a new drum installed?

Off track again

But I'm not sure that demanding anything will work. We have laws... oh god... and we're expected to abide by them... shoot me now, please...

The law is the primary problem. We've become a society of laws, and that just doesn't work. There are no more communities. There are no more neighbors. There is no sense of decency. What could decency be? Impossible to tell. We're a multicultural society now with values all across the spectrum.

Here's an example of value differences... A silly one, but never-the-less... an example...

Is it poor table manners to pick up your bowl when you eat? (This is mostly applicable to rice bowls.) Yeah. Dumb. I know... In some places picking up your bowl is bad manners. In most places, it's perfectly acceptable table manners, and in many places, it's expected.

It's a radical difference though. Albeit one that hardly matters much...

Defaulting to laws seems to be the norm now, as we just can't figure out what common decency is.

Does anyone know a SUCCESSFUL and LARGE company that behaves "decently" towards it customers, and really creates fantastic products that stand the test of time? I can't think of a single one off-hand.  Not one.

I'm soooo off-track...

Demanding durability... On track...

I think that companies would just tell you to go **** yourself. Really. They'd be polite about it, but that's what they'd do.

It makes me wonder... Are there premium markets out there that're willing to pay 5x as much for a product because it's going to last for-bloody-well-ever?

6586

Living Room / Re: Anyone got an iPad and like it?

« Last post by Renegade on November 02, 2011, 06:27 AM »

I found a fantastic new use for my wife's iPad~!

I use it as a mousepad to prove to myself that my Logitech Performance MX mouse's DARK FIELD^TM technology really works!

Now, feel free to grant me the 2011 Innovator of the Year Award~!


In other news, a detailed report on Microsoft killing the Courier tablet:

http://news.cnet.com...ontent;siu-container

So sad... That was one uber-sexy beast~!

6587

Living Room / Re: Products designed to fail, a documentary

« Last post by Renegade on November 02, 2011, 05:37 AM »

I think that's just being dramatic...

-Renegade (November 02, 2011, 12:10 AM)

No, honestly, I only intended to be scathing about the video.
Sorry, my point was probably not clear: The subject was so well-known as being a "natural bodily function" within the Capitalist system that I was astonished that anyone could refer to it as:

...the secret mechanism at the heart of our consumer society

- which seems to me to be a laughable statement.

"Secret"?! How the heck could that be a "secret"?
It seems to me that it could no more be a secret than that the characteristic of water running downhill is a secret or a "new discovery".

The film-makers would surely have known this, but were presumably deliberately fostering alarmism, to get publicity for their documentary. (I think it seemed quite well-made, by the way.)

-IainB (November 02, 2011, 01:36 AM)

Meh. Not sure. It seemed to me like they were simply shocked when the found out, then trying to communicate that same sense of outrage.

...the fact that it goes on is utterly beyond comprehension.

-Renegade (November 02, 2011, 12:10 AM)

Well, I'm not so sure that you could substantiate that statement at all.
For example, I find it easy to comprehend, and it is arguable that probably most people would if they had a passing sense of history for the theory and practice of the development of capitalism in western economies - especially those of us who have been alive and awake and living in those economies for most of our lives.

Failing that, would it not be easily comprehended if you had read Vince Packard's book, and especially if you had watched and understood The Corporation?

-IainB (November 02, 2011, 01:36 AM)

I think you give people to much credit.

Yeah... I've known about this for years. You've probably known about it for longer. But I don't think that most people are aware. Or rather, I don't think that anyone is *CONSCIOUSLY AWARE* of it. It's like crossing the road - you never consciously think about the possibility of getting hit, but you do know that it is a possibility. The *realization* of something you know... I think that's more what I'm talking about above there.

Like, how in Hell do we allow this to go on? It's insanity.

And these same people will try and tell me that they're "green" and "environment-friendly"? WTF? Ahem. BS. They're the worst enviro-terrorists on the planet.

My take on it is this... No. Not appropriate. Skip it.

Suffice it to say that I find it fraudulent, deceitful, malicious, and lower than drug dealers. At least with drug dealers, they are honest in their business. PO is far from that.

6588

Living Room / Re: Products designed to fail, a documentary

« Last post by Renegade on November 02, 2011, 12:10 AM »

I have to say that I am surprised at such apparent naiveté in a film-maker and it makes me suspect a potentially deliberate attempt to mislead on their part.

-IainB (November 01, 2011, 10:24 PM)

I think that's just being dramatic as the fact that it goes on is utterly beyond comprehension. I don't think that they're trying to mislead. (I don't speak or read Swedish or any of the other languages used in there though, so I could be at a disadvantage in trying to determine that.)

+1 for The Corporation. Wicked video! A must see. 

6589

General Software Discussion / Re: Fractal Trading Indicator

« Last post by Renegade on November 01, 2011, 11:54 PM »

@Niceperson: I added code tags around your code snippet for readability.
@Renegade: Line 47 was the red coloured line before I added the code tags.

-skwire (November 01, 2011, 11:41 PM)

Thanks for that.


For the code, you have sound now, so that's good. It's just in the wrong spot.

Comment out that line by placing "//" at the front of it. That will disable it.

Next, sift through the various methods and see if you can read enough of the names of variables to find an "alert". When you find that, paste in the sound code that you'd commented out before. (Make sure it's not still commented out.)

Test to see if you've put it in the right place. If not, look around again and repeat.

Make sure to search for "alert" in the code as that should be faster & easier than just reading through. Do make sure to skim it though for words that you recognize as possibly being relevant.

6590

General Software Discussion / Re: Fractal Trading Indicator

« Last post by Renegade on November 01, 2011, 09:53 PM »

Try copying the wave file to another location under "My Documents" then try that. (In case there's a permissions problem.)

Next, if that doesn't work, remove the code I had there before and insert this:

Code: C# [Select]

1. PlaySound(@"C:\mySound.wav");

From: http://www.ninjatrad...x.html?playsound.htm

Fix the path there as well.

If you post the code itself rather than a screenshot, that makes it easier. (e.g. I'd like to see what's in the "using" directives.)

6591

Living Room / Re: Products designed to fail, a documentary

« Last post by Renegade on November 01, 2011, 08:56 PM »

Not sure if it's that one or another one similar, but I've seen one of them before -- excellent video(s).

It goes across so many industries as well.

e.g. I have clothes that are 20+ years old and still very good. I still wear them. I also have clothes that are a year old and they're dying. ;-(

Edit: I think that's the one I saw.  A VERY worthwhile watch!

6592

Living Room / Re: NAS Recommendations?

« Last post by Renegade on November 01, 2011, 08:29 AM »

My purchase is on hold for a bit... I'm waiting for the price increases on drives due to the flooding in Thailand to blow over. I got too busy to get out and buy one, then the floods... bad timing. Oh well.

6593

Living Room / Re: Anyone got an iPad and like it?

« Last post by Renegade on November 01, 2011, 07:16 AM »

well a netbook is not a mobile device and does not have mobile software/hardware architecture, and usually has a much bigger battery! 

-lotusrootstarch (October 13, 2011, 07:04 PM)

I do a lot of work in the mobile sector, and most consider netbooks to be "mobile" to one degree or other. It depends on how you look at it. If you're a display manufacturer, whether it's a netbook or a tablet, it's all the same -- "mobile". Mobile and portable are often used interchangeably.

One of the terms used serves to divide things up nicely - handset. It's clear that you're talking about devices that are for 1-hand, e.g. not a tablet.

6594

Living Room / Re: Apple Patents Unlocking Touchscreen

« Last post by Renegade on November 01, 2011, 06:42 AM »

I know another gesture.

I'd like to share it with Apple.

-40hz (November 01, 2011, 06:11 AM)

Hahahahahaha~!

Gotta love the Trudeau salute~!

(Thanks for the laugh!)

6595

General Software Discussion / Re: Fractal Trading Indicator

« Last post by Renegade on October 31, 2011, 11:50 PM »

The second screenshot there has the sound code in it. Can you attach it here and post a link to the relevant documentation?

It looks like it may already have the necessary functionality in it, and that only needs to be enabled.

You can also try using this in the spot where you want to play the sound.

Code: C# [Select]

1. System.Media.SoundPlayer myPlayer = new System.Media.SoundPlayer();
2. myPlayer.SoundLocation = @"c:\some-sound-file.wav";
3. myPlayer.Play();

However, make certain to replace "c:\some-sound-file.wav" with the proper path to the WAV file that you want to play. It MUST be a WAV file though. You cannot use MP3s or anything else.

6596

General Software Discussion / Re: Fractal Trading Indicator

« Last post by Renegade on October 31, 2011, 12:14 PM »

Sigh... Skimmed through it. I didn't see where any alerts are. (Skimmed quickly, so a closer look might help.)

If you can identify WHERE the notifications happen, it's simple to add an audio alert.

It might be that there is no way to do it in the code you've supplied. Check the program docs to see about customization possibilities.

6597

General Software Discussion / Re: Fractal Trading Indicator

« Last post by Renegade on October 31, 2011, 12:08 PM »

Hi. I have 500 lines of source code. Please sort through it and give me an answer...

Seriously...

If you want an answer, lay out the problem and give some background.

If you had have laid out the problem neatly, I could probably give you an answer very quickly. However, I really don't want to sort through a bunch of code to give you what should be 10 lines of code or less for an answer.

6598

Living Room / Supernatural MacBook Destruction

« Last post by Renegade on October 31, 2011, 12:03 PM »

If you're a fan of the TV show Supernatural, you won't have missed the last episode where Sam Winchester's MacBook gets destroyed and replaced with a normal laptop.

Just my sick, evil side coming out. I blame Lucifer for it. You just need to hear his side of the story though...

6599

General Software Discussion / Re: Does your workplace group collaboration tool "suck"?

« Last post by Renegade on October 31, 2011, 08:30 AM »

I have limited experience in this area, but it's certainly a point of interest for me.

I used an issue tracking system for a large project and it worked well. The only problem was getting people to use it.

I've used Exchange in one environment where everything went through Outlook. I hated it. It was little more than clutter. Almost infinite folders and incredibly complex structures were simply horrible to use. Tracking documents was not fun.

On the more general topic of tools, I've found that lack of education leaves people frustrated, which leads to low productivity. i.e. Training helps.

6600

Living Room / Re: Magic thinking in Europe - Solving the EU debt problem.

« Last post by Renegade on October 30, 2011, 07:47 PM »

Everyone, understandably, ignores me and continues drinking their beer.

-johnk (October 30, 2011, 01:15 PM)

Yum. Beer.

-IainB (October 30, 2011, 04:50 PM)

+24 for me~!