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Recent Posts

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701
Living Room / Re: Fast Track To Nitwit
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 06, 2013, 08:05 PM »
Reminds me of a paper by an oft talked about author, though virtually nobody ever even reads his paper, much less understands anything in it. He has some interesting things to say:

https://duckduckgo.c...ciety+and+its+future

It hits this topic head on. With a 2x4. Really hard. Repetitively. :P

FWIW - It's an excellent read. I'm not saying that it's gospel truth or anything - just that it is a good read. (Gotta get that in before someone reads too much into things...)

-Renegade (February 04, 2013, 08:23 PM)

Kaczynski was a genius.  It's just too bad that he bastardized his name and ideals by resorting to terroristic acts.

  It's kind of funny that most all geniuses have proved to be mad in one way or another.  Guess it's the consequence of using so much brain power....  :o
702
Living Room / Free Nationwide WiFi
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 05, 2013, 08:54 PM »
[ And of course us taxpayers would be paying for it all....]

 Is a free nationwide WiFi network coming to the U.S.?
The U.S. government proposed a massive public WiFi network that's causing excitement for some industries, anxiety for others.

As you can imagine, support of the proposal is split between two major industries. On the one hand, the telecomm industry is lobbying the government to keep those airwaves in the hands of businesses.

Tech giants like Google and Microsoft, however, see a nationwide public WiFi network as a catalyst for innovation (and increased sales of their products). Though Google, at least, isn’t waiting for the government to act to offer free public WiFi. In New York City, the company recently launched free public WiFi in the Chelsea neighborhood.


 
 http://www.smartplan...ming-to-the-us/11994
703
Living Room / Favorite Websites Serving Malware
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 05, 2013, 08:48 PM »
Guess what? Your favorite websites are more likely to serve malware than p0rn sites

A new report may change your perception of websites and malware. Michael P. Kassner ferrets out what Cisco is excited about.

http://www.techrepub...than-p0rn-sites/9009
704
Living Room / Re: Global Warming & Statistics
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 04, 2013, 07:36 PM »
Um... how big is an acre where you're from? Because a 1/4 acre for a family of 4 would leave them in a tent best I can tell.
So a 1/4 acre is a ~52' square ... Zoiks!
-Stoic Joker (February 04, 2013, 12:00 PM)

  I know, right!  My house takes up 1/4 acre.  Good thing I have 20 acres of land, eh?    ;)
705
Living Room / Re: 50's military computer porn
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 04, 2013, 07:29 PM »
  I remember in the late 70's, the CD's the military used were about the size of a garbage can lid.  And I don't think they stored as much information as a regular CD does today.
706
Living Room / Re: Suggestions for low vision problems while working on a computer
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 04, 2013, 07:18 PM »
so now for another question:  Is there a difference between flat screen computer monitors and flat screen televisions?  other than the connectors on the back maybe?
-techidave (February 03, 2013, 04:49 AM)

Flat screen TVs typically max out their resolution at the HD resolution of 1080p, which I believe is 1920x1080, whereas monitors can (and do) have higher display resolutions than that. A TV might be a better solution since a bigger display would mean the image would appear bigger on screen, since the resolution would stay the same no matter the size of the display.
-Deozaan (February 04, 2013, 02:38 PM)

  This is assuming that her graphics card (GPU) has an HDMI output.
707
Living Room / Re: Gummiboot restructured to allow Linux to work on SecureBoot systems
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 04, 2013, 07:15 PM »
  And they had to replace the whole motherboard just because of this!!!!  Holy Mother Mary!!!  Now if MS is the one that's in charge of the boot loader, well......we can already see what's happening.
  But this is just yet another reason why I'm dumping Windows for Linux and keeping XP as my secondary boot.....  And if I can't replace this MB in the future, there are other ways around installing XP WITHOUT MS's permission.  Yeah, you read that right....   >:D
708
Living Room / Fast Track To Nitwit
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 04, 2013, 07:06 PM »
Twitter, Instagram, Vine: Fast track to nitwit

There are those who would call our social media streams a new form of consciousness and the future of computing. I would suggest they spend more time interacting with actual human beings.

http://www.zdnet.com...to-nitwit-7000010716
709
Living Room / Java - Critical Patch Released
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 04, 2013, 07:03 PM »
Forget the Super Bowl. Critical Java patch released; update now

Oracle has released a critical Java update that fixes more than 50 security vulnerabilities. Considering the ruckus over the past fortnight, along with repeated warnings from the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, you should update Java as soon as possible.

http://www.zdnet.com...pdate-now-7000010732
710
General Software Discussion / Re: How much have I downloaded?
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 03, 2013, 08:38 PM »
  Bitmeter http://codebox.org.uk/ is a pretty spif program that I've used for years.  But I like NetSpeedMonitor much better.  It resides in your system bar and gives you up to date transfer info, and even has a database of usage that you can look at with just a right mouse click.  http://www.floriangi...ware/netspeedmonitor
711
General Software Discussion / Re: 2013 Version: Browser Wars
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 03, 2013, 08:27 PM »
 I get the best of all 3 worlds by using Avant Browser which incorporates Chrome, Firefox and IE.   :P
-Tinman57 (February 01, 2013, 05:28 PM)

You missed Opera so you actualy get  the worst of the 3 xD
-Stephen66515 (February 02, 2013, 10:16 PM)

Opera?  Isn't that where the fat lady sings?   :P
712
Living Room / Re: Schumpeter's Demon
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 03, 2013, 08:17 PM »
That was quite interesting! (Gotta remember to stay sober, or more sober than others. :) )
-Renegade (February 03, 2013, 07:10 PM)
  Or rub olive oil on your forehead before drinking....   :P
713
Living Room / Re: Internet freedoms restrained - SOPA/PIPA/OPEN/ACTA/CETA/PrECISE-related updates
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 03, 2013, 08:09 PM »
"Our allies in the House and Senate?" This sounds like they are at war - they have allies in the US Government.
If it is a war, then who is the enemy? The US Government?
But that can't be right, can it?    :tellme:
-IainB (February 03, 2013, 06:36 PM)

  Others in the house/senate that have the opposite opinion...
714
Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 03, 2013, 08:04 PM »
  A wife texted her husband on a cold February morning "Windows Froze".
  The husband texted back "Pour luke warm water over it".
  The wife texted back 5 minutes later "Computer completely messed up now".
715
Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 03, 2013, 06:45 PM »
  The Do Not Call List just sucks, so I just bought one of these....

Call-Blocker.jpg

Blocked calls are hungup on after Caller ID is received
Invited calls ring through like normal with Caller ID displayed on phone
3-Line Display shows Name, Number, Time, Date, Total and New Calls
Wildcarding of selective area codes, exchanges and trunk groups
80 memory slots for blocking whole area codes or single numbers

http://www.amazon.co...TONE+Call+Blocker+10
716
Living Room / Re: Apple trademarks its retail store design
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 03, 2013, 06:34 PM »
Tables, shelves, and a bar... Sounds like a typical watering hole to me. Perhaps "Ye Olde Tyme Tavern of Yore" should close up shop now before they get sued. :P

Next in the news... Sesame Street patents the letters D, U, M, B, and the number 3.
-Renegade (February 03, 2013, 07:03 AM)

  Quick Renny!  Patent the square and circle before someone else does!!!
717
Living Room / Re: Global Warming & Statistics
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 03, 2013, 06:32 PM »
While everyone else debates whether climate change is real or not, whether to call it climate change or global warming, whether it's caused by man or just a natural cycle, and everybody argues over statistics, people in the South Pacific (and other regions) are facing losing their ancestral lands, the only home they have ever known, their culture, their livelihoods, their language, their history, their communities...everything. They are being forced to find somewhere else to live.
-app103 (February 02, 2013, 10:47 AM)

  Whether it's humans global warming or nature's climate change, I don't see any country giving part of itself to the natives for a new home.  Would you sign over your back yard so a family can move there to live?  But that don't mean they're doomed to drown, there will be countries that will be more than willing to give them citizenship if or when that happens.
  Somalia's people are, and have been starving for years during droughts, so what about them?  Should we give them a state-sized chunk of land for free and say "Here you are, live long and prosper"?  I don't think so, but the U.S. and other nations allow them to immigrate.
  Cultures have been created and died a thousand times over on this rock we live on, usually from either disease, tectonic plate shifting and volcanic activities, but that don't necessarily mean it's the end of their culture, especially in these modern times.
  It's not something that we can control, it's part of the never-ending changes of the Earth.  We either adapt or perish.
718
Living Room / Re: Mp3 File Format Issue Split From Silly Humor Thread
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 03, 2013, 04:50 PM »
Was it made on a stock system with no extra codecs installed, using only software or components that ships with Windows?
-app103 (February 02, 2013, 08:18 PM)

  It's been soooooo long ago.  I encoded these years ago, back in the W95 days.  The reason I'm thinking it was already a codec in Windows is because I used sndrec.exe to encode, which is the original default .wav sound player.  I renamed the file to .mp3 and Windows Media Player won't play it, so I don't know what you did.
  What this codec does, you select any .wav that's been encoded, and no matter what player you use, whether it supports .mp3 or not, it will play it as a normal .wav.  I only used it for all the small sound files that cluttered up the system's "Media" folder in W95, including the Windows system sound files.  If I remember correctly, any .wav file above 30Kb could be encoded.  And of course, depending on what bitrate you select is how big the file is going to be.  For the normal Windows sounds, which were all mono, could be crunched down quite a bit before you would notice any difference.  During the period, this codec would make much smaller files than the normal .mp3, even at the same bitrate.
719
General Software Discussion / Re: 2013 Version: Browser Wars
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 02, 2013, 08:22 PM »
  I get the best of all 3 worlds by using Avant Browser which incorporates Chrome, Firefox and IE.   :P
-Tinman57 (February 01, 2013, 05:28 PM)

monitoring, memory leaks, insecurities ?

 ;D
-4wd (February 01, 2013, 07:27 PM)

  Well, it's only as good as the browser engines, though it has stripped out the Chrome spying crap, and the last two versions of Firefox has cured the memory problems.
720
Living Room / Re: Homeland Security: Disable UPnP
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 02, 2013, 07:40 PM »
(my fiber connection is 40Mb symetrical).
-Stoic Joker (February 01, 2013, 06:58 AM)

  YOU
Spoiler
DICK!   :P

721
Living Room / Re: Phone unlocking ban could hit you in the wallet
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 02, 2013, 07:35 PM »
Created a whitehouse.gov acct, signed the petition...
-kyrathaba (February 02, 2013, 06:33 PM)

  Cool beans!   8)  Perhaps if they get enough people to sign, this crap will be resolved.  It's already getting to be a big thing in the news now.
722
Living Room / Re: Mp3 File Format Issue Split From Silly Humor Thread
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 02, 2013, 07:32 PM »
Where did you get that info from? That sounds like something from an AOL wav trader chatroom, where they compress the crap out of sound files till they make a distinct "sucking" sound when played, and only because files over a certain size or with a different file extension will not play in AOL chatrooms. But they will tell you there is no difference in sound quality and what they do is better, because the file size is smaller.

They are wrong.

MPEG Layer-3 is essentially the same as MP3. They are not smaller files than MP3's unless they are compressed more, which doing that makes them lose more quality, just like you'd lose quality doing the same to an MP3.

The .wav file extension causes the file not to support ID tags, unless you use crapware that makes the files support it, in which case the files will become playable only in that crapware unless you change the file extension to .mp3.

Now I don't know what you mean by this part:

don't require special players once installed, it decodes on the fly in windows.

Do you mean you can use it for system sounds? That it works in Windows Media Player? Something else? What is "once installed"? What exactly is being installed?

The truth is that the file will only work for system sounds if the file size is under a certain threshold. I know this because I used to do this to make full song wav files to use as startup wavs on my old snail PC. I would select songs of a length near the same as how long it took for the system to startup and be ready for use, then set them as the startup wav, so I could use it as a timer. Turn the power on and walk away till the song was over. But if the file size was too big, it wouldn't play at all, and I'd have to compress it some more. Since the speakers on that PC were crap, it didn't matter how good the file sounded, it would end up sounding like crap any way. :D

The wav file you have will not automatically work in various players, just simply because it's a wav. In fact, it will probably work in more players if you simply rename the file, changing the .wav extension to .mp3. Try it and see how it works in all the players where it didn't before. And once you do, it will magically support ID tags, too.

Those three letters, W-A-V are sometimes magic, but sometimes the two letters M-P and the number 3 are even more magical. And in the case of your compressed wavs, that's the only difference between them and MP3's...the three characters after the dot. There is no magic in the file itself.
-app103 (February 02, 2013, 07:11 PM)

  It's actually different from a .mp3 and won't work if renamed to .mp3.  Once the codec is installed you can use it with system sound files.  Small sound files won't crunch down, which is true for just about any cruncher.  You can choose what level of crunching so as to not take too much away, but for mono files it really don't make a difference.
  Once the codec is installed, it works on anything that you have set your .wav files to be played with, whether that's Window Media Player, Windows Sound Player, or whatever.  The L3enc works in the background when called upon by the system.
723
Living Room / Re: Suggestions for low vision problems while working on a computer
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 02, 2013, 07:13 PM »
  It just depends on how far away from the screen the eyes are.  The newer LED's are crystal clear and have adjustments for the background lighting with the O-LED's being better.  A 23 inch wide-screen monitor should be all she will require unless she sits far from the monitor.  As far as pointers go, you can configure your pointers in the mouse properties.

  Most video cards are just fine for everyday 2D applications.
724
Living Room / Re: The Cost of Rudeness
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 02, 2013, 07:04 PM »
  When I get a downright rude person calling me, no matter for what reason, I tell them to piss off and call me back when they want to be civil, and hang up.  Why should I have to listen to their rant, especially when it's not my fault?  When talking to angry people, there just about isn't any resolution because they're so pissed that anything you say or offer goes in one ear and out the other.  They just want to rant at someone to blow off steam, so it's not even worth my time to listen to them.
725
Living Room / Re: Mp3 File Format Issue Split From Silly Humor Thread
« Last post by Tinman57 on February 02, 2013, 06:24 PM »
I forgot, I have all of my .wav files l3enc encoded.  It keeps them in the wav format, but they're crunched down using MPEG Layer-3.  That's why it's so small.  With XP, you can open it in the default Windows .snd player (sndrec32.exe) and select "Properties", then "Convert Now".  Click the "Save As", give it a name, then "OK" and "OK" again and it will restore it back to a normal huge .wav.  Sorry bout dat.   :-[
-Tinman57 (February 01, 2013, 05:03 PM)
Out of curiosity: why keep them in .wav instead of native .mp3? You lose ID3 tag support, and need specific codecs in order to play those .wavs, and not all software that can handle .wac supports chunks that aren't raw pcm audio.
-f0dder (February 02, 2013, 05:30 AM)

The MPEG Layer-3 wav's operates much faster than .mp3 and don't require special players once installed, it decodes on the fly in windows.  If I remember correctly, they also make much smaller files than .mp3's.  I only use mp3 format for actual music files.
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