Recent Posts

7076

Living Room / Re: Amazon.com toastabag

« Last post by wraith808 on August 23, 2012, 11:46 AM »

Oh the pane of bad puns!

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Living Room / Hyperrealism in Action

« Last post by wraith808 on August 23, 2012, 11:40 AM »

The left side is a ball point pen rendering of the image on the right.  Yes, I said ballpoint pen... and only 8 colors!

http://www.thisiscol...pens-by-samuel-silva

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

« Last post by wraith808 on August 22, 2012, 12:29 PM »

F*ck the Children

(sorry if the video doesn't show up... youtube is blocked from work but I'll fix it later if necessary)

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

« Last post by wraith808 on August 22, 2012, 09:47 AM »

In the end, the success or failure of a movie depends on critical mass and the ability to hit a cross-section a combination of things, not the opinion of one particular person.  Even hitting that, it still doesn't allow for individual tastes.  It's sort of like that conversation we had on why people make new software.  I usually try to find a couple of critics that seem to grade and think the way that I do, then follow them.  It's better to me than some random cross section- whether it is critics or the general masses.

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Living Room / Social Networking explained via Groundhog Day

« Last post by wraith808 on August 22, 2012, 09:03 AM »

This is classic!

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

« Last post by wraith808 on August 22, 2012, 07:28 AM »

But the picture alone is still funny.

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

Not to the woman and her husband. 

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

« Last post by wraith808 on August 21, 2012, 04:24 PM »

You can already do this.  What's so different other than the packaging?

7083

General Software Discussion / Re: VLC - Is it worth it still?

« Last post by wraith808 on August 21, 2012, 01:33 PM »

Wraith, do you mean it handles video well also?

-J-Mac (August 21, 2012, 12:38 PM)

Yes.  I've started ripping my DVDs to mkv, and I'm indexing them all in MMG with the codec pack.

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General Software Discussion / Re: VLC - Is it worth it still?

« Last post by wraith808 on August 21, 2012, 11:50 AM »

As for audio output being sub par, I wouldn’t know as I use it only for video. I use MediaMonkey Gold for my music, and it sounds just fine for me! It's output is to my computer speakers which is a set of Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 and it does fine for that.   

-J-Mac (August 21, 2012, 11:31 AM)

If you already use MMG for your music, with the codecs installed, it becomes quite good for managing everything...

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Storybundle

« Last post by wraith808 on August 21, 2012, 11:38 AM »

Thanks!  That's a great find!

UPDATE: After looking at it, I noticed that the books are available on Amazon, Smashwords, etc., for pretty decent prices, so it's not as good a deal as the indiebundle type software deals- especially if you pay the minimum to get the extra books.  But they have pretty good reviews, and you can always pay less if you don't want the extras so it comes out OK in the end.

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

« Last post by wraith808 on August 21, 2012, 08:18 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.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Simple online ToDo/GTD lists

« Last post by wraith808 on August 21, 2012, 07:34 AM »

Interesting... and good for him!  The same principle he refers to is found in many spaces, though the area I hear it most is in writing, and I have a hard time with it also.  Start small, release often, and grow.  There's a lot to be said for that cycle.

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

« Last post by wraith808 on August 21, 2012, 07:31 AM »

Again, not taking sides... but how is this doing otherwise?  If their search results are still based on relevance, but they also have a shopping results tab, then it seems like its two different parts of the service.

I'm just not feeling the righteous indignation here...

-wraith808 (August 21, 2012, 06:45 AM)

Because the plan is that only merchants that pay will be listed. Payment won't guarantee that one will rank well for any particular search terms, but without payment, you won't be listed at all. Free placement is being phased out.

I am sure that I don't have to tell you that before Google came along, that's pretty much how most search engines used to work. What Google is doing is taking a step back in that direction with their Google Shopping service. I think what people fear most is them not stopping with just Google Shopping and going ahead with that same kind of "stone age days of the internet" paid inclusion model with their regular web search.

-app103 (August 21, 2012, 07:17 AM)

Ah... so it's the fear of collateral damage.  So there was a difference in interpretation of what 'search results' included- Google apparently looked at it as the standard web search, but others took it to mean all search products period.  So when they changed it for one, it breached trust; even though that might not be what they ever intended, it's the law of unintended consequences. And now with that trust breached- people fear that it might spillover.

A valid fear if they were not kept in check.  But they aren't unassailable, and Bing is a good alternative, as well as others, so I think that if they did make that change, they'd be shooting themselves in the foot.  They're doing to a certain extent it seems what Microsoft has done to such good effect- and gotten 'slapped on the wrist' a few times for doing- leveraging the popularity of their platform to gain traction.  The difference is that they are now trying to turn that traction into actual dollars, and I don't think that Microsoft was ever as obvious about what they were doing when they made that transition.

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Living Room / Re: TV Technology Dilemma

« Last post by wraith808 on August 21, 2012, 06:58 AM »

So, I found a Panasonic TV that looks like it would be nice... it has an IPS picture, 120hz, and the ports that I need.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

(Added Link from Panasonic)

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

« Last post by wraith808 on August 21, 2012, 06:45 AM »

So they're going to force people to use google laptops, google storage and now google browser only. I am sure apple and google fanboys will defend this with yet another excuse.

-mahesh2k (June 03, 2012, 03:27 PM)

...?  Where did Apple come into this?

Google previously stated that it would only base search results based on relevance.

-Renegade (August 21, 2012, 06:19 AM)

Again, not taking sides... but how is this doing otherwise?  If their search results are still based on relevance, but they also have a shopping results tab, then it seems like its two different parts of the service.

I'm just not feeling the righteous indignation here...

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

« Last post by wraith808 on August 21, 2012, 06:44 AM »

^ Not taking one side or the other, but that says nothing about the US Govt calling for his assassination.  That's... quite the leap in logic.

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Living Room / Re: When you make your 100'th Post

« Last post by wraith808 on August 20, 2012, 03:57 PM »

Looks like you're above me in rate at least, Stephen...

Name: wraith808
Posts: ... (1.412 per day)

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Living Room / Re: TV Technology Dilemma

« Last post by wraith808 on August 20, 2012, 10:51 AM »

Yeah... I'm looking for picture quality and number of HDMI ports period in a TV.  Convergence doesn't impress me much- that just makes for you to have to replace more as tech changes.  As I said, I've had my TV for 7 years, and the picture quality still goes up against anything out there.

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Living Room / TV Technology Dilemma

« Last post by wraith808 on August 20, 2012, 10:14 AM »

So, I currently have a Samsung 4667W which is a 46" DLP that I've had since 2005.  Picture is still killer - it just doesn't have enough HDMI ports for me.  Add to that the fact that the lamps are fading, and I've decided to get a new TV.

Then I got a bit confused by the technologies out there... the salesperson told me that if I was using a DLP, that I was likely to notice the motion blur on anything other than a Plasma, and also to notice the difference in viewing angle.  I know all of the tricks they use when putting TVs on the floor, so wasn't going to go by the picture there... has anyone had a DLP or a Plasma then gone to an LCD?  Did you notice a big difference?

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Living Room / Re: Go dark for IE - October 26, 2012

« Last post by wraith808 on August 19, 2012, 02:25 PM »

I decided to try putting in "www.google.com"

Seems it worked...
 (see attachment in previous post)

-Stephen66515 (August 19, 2012, 01:34 PM)

They already removed it.

Nevermind... I saw that the links that they show are random.  Why wait until closer to 10/26 to show the whole list at one time?

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

« Last post by wraith808 on August 19, 2012, 09:54 AM »

And it's just how the government wants it. They use the expendable character- the elected president that they can claim we're responsible for choosing as the scapegoat for the messes they make, enabling the behind the scenes crews to get away with murder.

-SeraphimLabs (August 19, 2012, 09:21 AM)

Exactly.  There's no much power to be had at being behind the scenes... the presidency is a dead end job.  Stay an incumbent as a senator and you'll make much more money over the lifetime of your office, and wield much more power- especially if you get a good juicy committee like appropriations.  Senators and Representatives need to be similarly time limited to cycle out the old entrenched politicos.  And... maybe this is getting to be more basement material, so I'll stop.  

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

« Last post by wraith808 on August 19, 2012, 07:29 AM »

Obama has laid the groundwork for a surveillance state, which draws suspicion on even mundane actions and uses it against its citizens.

-zridling (August 19, 2012, 05:43 AM)

Statements like this irk me.  I don't care who's in office (Bush's war) but really, statements like this confirm to me the fact that people *really* don't know how the government works, and don't know/remember the lesson of Andrew Johnson.  Without the support of the Senate *and* the House, at least in part, the President can't do much.  That balance still works.  And so all of them are culpable in whatever happens, and all should be held to the same standard.  He has much responsibility- but not total.  He has the greatest power of any single person in US government- but not total.

Sorry... that just peeves me to no end whenever I hear it...

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Living Room / Re: Go dark for IE - October 26, 2012

« Last post by wraith808 on August 19, 2012, 12:20 AM »

Imagine my horror in 2008 when I woke up to find that my main PC had died a horrible death, leaving me with nothing to use but something built in 1997, something incapable of running the latest and greatest. Imagine my horror when I discovered that one of the sites I used for email locked me out because I was using IE6. Imagine my horror when switching to the latest version of K-Meleon didn't help me gain access to my email. Imagine my horror when I couldn't just run out and buy another computer. Imagine my horror when I had to use that old computer for almost a year.

I hate browser bigots. I hate when people propose punishing those that are less fortunate than themselves for their misfortunes.

I kind of put it right up there with the idea of beating up a one-legged man till he "upgrades" and grows another leg.

I don't care what you do, black out sites, cut off users, bomb them with popups and other notices, if they can't upgrade their browser, they can't upgrade their browser. If they can't upgrade their hardware, they can't upgrade their hardware. Nothing you do, short of buying them a new computer is going to change that.

I think a much better proposal, if you hate older versions of IE that much, would be to stick a form in the faces of users of outdated versions of IE that if they fill it out with their shipping info, you will send them a brand new computer. That would go much farther towards eradicating old versions of IE than just being mean to people who might not have a choice.

And why the hell does everyone choose to do these kinds of organized bigoted acts whenever I find myself forced to use an older computer? Anyone that doesn't like the fact I am currently not running the latest and greatest can fix that by going here and putting their money where their hatred is.

-app103 (August 18, 2012, 08:05 PM)

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

« Last post by wraith808 on August 17, 2012, 10:58 AM »

What was once the "intervention" methodology of the old (and often reviled) Soviet Bloc has now spread to the West, largely thanks to the Bush2/Cheney administration and 9/11.

-40hz (August 17, 2012, 10:24 AM)

Remember that until the US was caught, they were doing it too.  Why was their the need for an executive order against the assassination of heads of state?  To a certain extent, I think the Soviet Bloc was taking a page from *our* book, rather than inventing their own.  They were just less subtle about it- and more out of a lack of a need for subtlety than a lack of knowledge of how to be subtle.

Back in the day, nobody (including the US) would have dared storm any embassy for fear of what precedent might be set by doing so.

-40hz (August 17, 2012, 10:24 AM)

Right... I don't disagree... That's what I mean by it wouldn't have occurred.  But I still think it wouldn't have gotten to that point.  For all of the confrontational nature of the press of the 60s and 70s, there was still a certain level of trust and pride in the government that doesn't exist these days.  Not that there wasn't confrontation, but over this level of information?  These weren't a smoking gun... and there wasn't the media blitz and the thought that everything needed to be seen.  There was a certain respect for privacy and secrecy as long as it wasn't taken advantage of.  And I really don't think that these communiques even approached that level.

Amazing what the absence of the Cold War (and the threat of nuclear annihilation) can do for the levels of aggression many governments are now willing to indulge in.
 

-40hz (August 17, 2012, 10:34 AM)

+1

I think this is more about threat levels than respect. One would be hard pressed to find any level of respect in, well, I'll leave it at that and keep this polite.

-Renegade (August 17, 2012, 10:44 AM)

Unfortunately, I think you've hit the nail on the head.

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

« Last post by wraith808 on August 17, 2012, 09:09 AM »

No country threatens to storm an embassy for a rape

-iphigenie (August 17, 2012, 08:05 AM)

This.

Interesting article from former CIA man on Assange debacle: 'Not even in Cold War’s darkest days'

-wraith808 (August 17, 2012, 07:48 AM)

And thinking about it more, I wonder if the break down in diplomatic actions and language are just a mirror of the breakdown in communication in every other area in current times.  I think in the days of the Cold War, there was an unspoken etiquette between all sides in addition to a lack of a forum for such things, so the idea that a country would have even had to threaten to storm an embassy would never have even occurred because things would never have even gotten this far- a media outlet wouldn't have touched anything like this, and there was no open internet.