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7251

Living Room / Re: "We're Alive" - Online Radio Show Drama

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2011, 01:47 PM »

At the risk of going OT, here's another indy (via KickStarter) work produced for the web that I think is very promising. It's a thriller/scifi movie called Pioneer One.

Here's the first 8 minutes of episode one to whet your appetite:

Pioneer One is an independently produced drama series made for the Internet.  

...

In March 2010, writer Josh Bernhard and director Bracey Smith quit their jobs and set out to produce the pilot episode of Pioneer One as a proof-of-concept for how the series could be produced and released.  Funds were raised through a Kickstarter campaign, favors were called in, and much sleep was lost.  The pilot was finished shooting by the end of April 2010 and was released online on June 15th through VODO.net.

Then something unexpected happened.

Within two weeks, the pilot was downloaded nearly half a million times, and $20,000 was raised from viewer donations alone.  By the end of the summer, we had raised well over $30,000 from people all over the world whose sole interest was seeing the show continue and succeed.  We made plans to produce the next three episodes of our 6-episode first season with that money.

In October 2010, off the heels of the pilot’s win for “Best Drama Pilot” at the 2010 New York Television Festival, production began on episodes 2, 3 and 4.  These episodes continue to be released as we’re raising funds for the final two episodes of season one, with production planned for May, 2011.

They've completed 4 of the 6 episodes for their first season. Episodes 5 and 6 have recently finished shooting and they're asking for contributions to help get them finalized.

Full episodes are available free to either download in HD or watch online.

(I was impressed enough that I bought in.  )

 

7252

Living Room / Re: Want to see impressive numbers?

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2011, 08:53 AM »

I say write off the debt and start over!! I'll forgive me my portion of the debt... how about you folks?  

-J-Mac (July 19, 2011, 09:13 PM)

I don't have any debt. There are enough chains and shackles without adding a big iron ball to the chain...

-Renegade (July 19, 2011, 10:03 PM)

Renegade hits it spot on!

7253

Living Room / Re: FBI Arrests 12 in 'anonymous' raids

« Last post by 40hz on July 19, 2011, 10:54 PM »

Spokesmen from the FBI's national office in Washington and from its field offices in San Francisco and New York confirmed to Computerworld that the agency had carried out law enforcement actions related to an ongoing cybercrime investigation.

Yeah... I just can't get excited about double-speak.

-Renegade (July 19, 2011, 06:52 PM)

Somebody wrote a parking ticket during a donut run.

-Stoic Joker (July 19, 2011, 10:36 PM)

 

7254

Living Room / Re: anonplus: new, uncensored social network coming soon?

« Last post by 40hz on July 19, 2011, 09:57 PM »

Well, I love to be paranoid about government and corporate snoops as much as the next guy, but unless they're going to start preventing encrypted connections (which would require substantial portions of the Internet to be re-written from scratch) I don't see how they're going to "identify and shut down" every non-sanctioned activity. Just sounds like scare mongering to me.

-Jimdoria (July 19, 2011, 02:35 PM)

Oh...I don't think it's paranoia at all. I think it's more an acknowledgement of just how much the world has changed in the last 10 years. Stopping things and identifying troublemakers is only an insurmountable challenge for governments if they are required to play by generally accepted rules and obey their own laws.

You can no longer count on any government to do either if it feels seriously threatened.

Ultima Ratio Regum as the barrels of King Louis XIV's cannon said.

7255

Living Room / Re: "We're Alive" - Online Radio Show Drama

« Last post by 40hz on July 19, 2011, 09:41 PM »

Leave it to Canadians to insist that to avoid the infection people speak French and  NO English is to be spoken at all!

-J-Mac (July 19, 2011, 09:09 PM)

@J-Mac: ***gobsmack*** Would you believe me if I told you that little detail did not register with me until your mention of it right now?  

Anyway, glad you liked the flick. I thought it was very well done.

Note: if you want to read a good non-Zombie treatment of the "language is a virus" concept, check out Neal Stephenson's book Snowcrash. Hysterically funny book which makes you think. A big fav of mine.

7256

Living Room / Re: Win 7, XP mode, & other first install queries

« Last post by 40hz on July 18, 2011, 06:04 PM »

I use gparted to do my initial setups. But I'd strongly suggest running a Microsoft "fix master boot record" (i.e. run bootrec /FixMbr from the DVD on the harddrive prior to installing Windows7 "just in case." 

Details and how-to here if you need them.

7257

Living Room / Re: Post Your Funny Videos Here [NSFW]

« Last post by 40hz on July 18, 2011, 02:40 PM »

It's called: Dmitri finds out about Google Plus. (Do not invite Dmitri into your Circle.)

 

7258

Living Room / Re: anonplus: new, uncensored social network coming soon?

« Last post by 40hz on July 18, 2011, 12:05 PM »

Interesting idea. But the real censorship that's coming down the pike is of the "voluntary" and "cooperative" variety. And it will be the ISPs rather than the social networks that will be doing it after being "encouraged" to take on more "responsibility" by several governments.

So whether you're social site is on FB or G+, or it's hosted on some decentralized P2P system going through an onion router, it's only a matter of time before it can be identified and shut down. Because the backbone and conduits are provided by governments and corporations.

Many people assume there's nothing that can be done to effectively stop hackers. And while that may be semi-true with the Internet the way it's currently implemented, there's nothing to say this particular version of the Internet will be the one we all end up using ten years from now. Either way, it's a sure bet tomorrow's Internet will be nowhere near as open (by design and law) as our current one is.

At best, Anonymous' social network will be a temporary stopgap unless Anonymous starts stringing its own fiber and putting up its own satellites. (Oh! Do they know you need a government issued license to do that?   )

 

7259

Living Room / Re: Want to see impressive numbers?

« Last post by 40hz on July 18, 2011, 11:19 AM »

@Shades-Awesome! Bookmarking it now.

If it's even half accurate, it's one of the scariest ticking clocks attached to a time bomb I've ever seen. 

7260

General Software Discussion / Re: Acronis Saves the Day

« Last post by 40hz on July 18, 2011, 09:33 AM »

I never bothered much with PartitionMagic or other commercial partitioning products once I discovered gparted.

It's true the Win-specific utilities often do more on the Windows platform than gparted does. But I don't need those features so gparted (best when bundled with the FOSS Parted Magic OS suite) serves me quite well. PartedMagic OS also provides support for Linux partitioning and formatting - and Windows file rescue efforts - which is what I use it most for.

In general, once Windows goes south, I try to get the drive mounted under Linux and attempt repairs/recovery from there.

I've got shelves full of Windows tech tools and rescue disks. And I know how and when to use them. But I've often found trying to work on a clobbered Windows drive using anything that's Windows-based only compounds the problem if the drive is seriously "pooched." But maybe I'm just unlucky that way.   Your mileage will likely vary from mine.

Be sure to check out Parted Magic OS. Cool tools! Highly recommended.  

7261

Living Room / Re: Am I alone in not using or wanting to use the "Cloud" ...

« Last post by 40hz on July 17, 2011, 03:22 PM »

I hate cloud computing, and every other vapid bit of sheeple herding marketing hype the corporate masters keep trying to enslave people with.

-Stoic Joker (July 17, 2011, 02:38 PM)

No need to mince words or pull punches SJ! Tell us how you really feel about the cloud.

7262

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+

« Last post by 40hz on July 17, 2011, 01:57 PM »

@nosh - that is one bloody evil trick to pull on your G+ circles.

Ages ago while still in my "business suit days," the guys in my department did something similar to one of our more cordially despised 'toady' co-workers.

Somebody called the WSJ and took them up on a promo they were running to get 13 weeks of the paper for free.

When they ordered it for this dweeb, the person who called made sure to speak like a pompous ass (with hopes the name would be remembered) - and also get the name of the service rep who took the order.

Next, one of the other conspirators had his GF (Darcy) call the dweeb at work using the name of the person at the WSJ, and tell him the WSJ had selected him to receive a lifetime free subscription to the paper in acknowledgement of him being a very respected writer within his industry.  (Note: This same dweeb had written a buzzword-laden pop "management" book which he had vanity published the year before.)

This guy was so full of himself that he swallowed the setup call hook, line, and sinker - despite the fact that loud rock music was playing in the background when she called him! (We knew this because she taped the conversation. It was a big comedy hit at several parties listening to him trying to impress Darcy while simultaneously trying to get hired at the WSJ.)

Things went swimmingly for 13 weeks with him telling anyone who would listen about this professional "acknowledgement" he had received.

Then the first bill arrived at the start of week 14...

The ensuing calls back and forth we're hysterical to listen to. (He had a habit of talking loudly on the phone in his cubicle.) He was confused because he got a bill. The WSJ was confused because  - while there was a person working in the phone circulation department with the name he had been given - she no longer worked there. And while it is true that the paper did give out complimentary subscriptions to industry bigwigs from time to time, nobody there had apparently ever heard of him.

Most people would have given up at that point. But not him! The phone calls went on for a wek before the WSJ told him to stop calling them. That's when he began writing letters to them instead. Letters he would sometimes share with us to get our "take" on how they sounded. One was 14 pages long...

Having realized, by now, that this guy was insane, there was some discussion of having GF Darcy (who he didn't know) call him back to let him know it was just a practical joke before he went totally off the deep end.

Fortunately (or unfortunately as the case may be) the dweeb resigned (i.e. was canned) about a week later after senior management and internal audit detected several "questionable entries" in some inventory accounts he was responsible for reconciling.

So it goes. 

7263

General Software Discussion / Re: alternative to filehamster?

« Last post by 40hz on July 17, 2011, 01:08 PM »

t was a php file, edited in normal text editor.  the settings were set to keep infinite revisions, and make new revisions every 5 seconds.

-mouser (July 07, 2011, 09:00 AM)

I can't help wondering if that 5 second revision setting is the cause of the problem - assuming all the other files you're monitoring are imaging correctly.

I guessing, since I'm not privy to the internal details of how FH works. But if there is some internal housekeeping requirement FH needs to complete as part of its process - that 5 second window may be too tight for it to complete what it needs to do. If that's the case, you'd go into an endless loop of starting the process, not having enough time to complete it, but then hit the scheduled interval when you need to begin the process all over again.

If you bumped the interval to something like a minute does the problem still happen?

The reason I mention it is because I recently ran into something similar with a server backup script where the system didn't have enough time to "shadow & stage" the files, and calculate the backup, before it was due to start the next backup. End result was that nothing was being backed up since it was effectively being told to drop the backup it was doing and start doing another one every time it ran.

Just out if curiosity: what's so critical that it needs to be checked every 5 seconds? Are you one of the people who's responsible for the strategic nuclear launch codes or something?  

 

7264

General Software Discussion / Re: Acronis Saves the Day

« Last post by 40hz on July 17, 2011, 11:57 AM »

+1 w/above. I liked Acronis up until v9.0 - with the 8.x series being my favorite.

After that there was too much bloat and anomalies to contend with. But until then, TrueImage was a lifesaver on more than a dozen machines and occasions.  

Maybe they'll get it back to what it once was. Hope springs eternal!

Either way, glad it worked out well for you. That's the only thing that really matters.  

7265

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... Windows registry hack to display boot progress

« Last post by 40hz on July 17, 2011, 11:07 AM »

You could also run Windows Startup with the bootlogging option enabled. If there's a problem, the generated log file may allow you to identify what is causing the problem. Usually it's a driver issue when it does catch something.

Using a startup delayer type utility can also help. I had similar problems on a machine that was using COMODO's firewall. It's startup kept banging into something else's startup. Once I set COMODO to delay loading for two minutes the problem went away.

I eventually traced the problem to an ATI graphics utility which I removed since I never used it.

Luck!

7266

Living Room / Re: "We're Alive" - Online Radio Show Drama

« Last post by 40hz on July 17, 2011, 07:10 AM »

What's great is not having to wait a week or more for the next part... being caught up and having to listen to it as they release it sucks! They like to leave you hanging.

-allen (July 16, 2011, 10:12 PM)

Alexandre Dumas did that when his famous Three Musketeers was first published. So did Charles Dickens with many of his stories, which were also originally published as serials.

Leaving your audience hanging is a great technique. Goes all the way back to a young lady by the name of Scheherazade who successfully used it 'dodge a bullet' 1001 times in a row. 

7267

Living Room / Re: Am I alone in not using or wanting to use the "Cloud" ...

« Last post by 40hz on July 16, 2011, 02:15 PM »

Some very interesting comments here, thanks guys.

-joiwind (July 16, 2011, 11:56 AM)

You're welcome.! 

If you get a chance, give a listen to this Linux Action Show podcast. They discuss running your own cloud with FOSS software starting around the 45 minute mark. It's worth putting up with the blathering to get to the 'meat & potatoes' of the show.

A few episodes later, co-host Bryan decided that the Amahi Home Server would likely do most of what he was trying to accomplish without the headaches and hassles of trying to configure your own. Link here.
 

7268

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+

« Last post by 40hz on July 16, 2011, 01:17 PM »

Yeh, if there only was some way to stay in contact with them (like ICQ/AIM/MSN/Y!IM/Jabber/... or e-mail or, hmm, ever heard of a phone or something?) ... sooo glad that we all have Facebook!  

-Tuxman (July 16, 2011, 11:52 AM)

@Tuxman - Sorry, I thought you asked if "You need the internet for your real friends?"

I don't equate the Internet with Facebook. I regularly use Skype and e-mail to keep in touch with friends and professional colleagues. Sometimes I also keep in touch via I2P webmail depending upon who the person is and where in the world they're located, or (lately) what's being discussed.

So in my case, yes - I do need the Internet for keeping in touch with my "real" (whatever that means) friends.

--------

BTW: I don't have a FB, or Twitter, or any other "social network" account. Nor do I plan on getting one.

7269

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+

« Last post by 40hz on July 16, 2011, 11:47 AM »

^ I do since one of my best friends is currently in a war zone half a world away.  

7270

Living Room / Re: Am I alone in not using or wanting to use the "Cloud" ...

« Last post by 40hz on July 16, 2011, 10:51 AM »

About the only cloud solution I'd mostly trust is one I owned and controlled myself.

Fortunately, all you'd need for your own cloud is: a broadband connection; a reachable IP address; a FOSS all-purpose server like Amahi or Superb Mini Server - and enough hardware to run it on.

For a modest investment in money and time, you can get your own little digital freehold.
 

7271

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+

« Last post by 40hz on July 16, 2011, 07:20 AM »

You could also just PM the person at DoCo and let them know you sent them an invite under what name in the meantime.

7272

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+

« Last post by 40hz on July 16, 2011, 06:37 AM »

I was just reading an article by Jeffrey A. Tucker over at the Ludwig van Mises Institutes website entitled: Google Plus: Learning from Failure. (Link to full article here.)

In the midst of several predictable observations about Google and G+ was a very astute observation (emphasis added):

the problem with Buzz was its presumption of homogeneous friend networks, Google surely noted that Facebook's infrastructure has the same problem. It aggregates everyone as either friend or nonfriend. Whether it's family, an acquaintance, a business associate, a teacher, or your psychologist, they are all in the same category. People have made fun of this for years, but mostly we've gotten used to it.

Still, this is the number-one complaint made about the culture of Facebook. There are ways around it, but they are tricky. You can create groups of friends and move people around within them. This works for some people, but most users are way beyond the point of making this viable.

G+ saw an opportunity here. It corrected not only the failure of Buzz but also the mostly hidden failure of Facebook. With G+, there is no such thing as a random friend. Just as in real life, everyone with whom we associate has a particular role. Your brother can be just your brother or he could also be a business associate, a fan of classical music, an associate from church, and a hunting buddy. He could be some or none. It is up to the end-user to decide.

Then the next paragraph identified something I had never thought about - but may well be the one killer insight or feature in G+ that will put it (at least for the short term) over the top.

G+ has a very elegant and painless way of dealing with "friends" you no longer want - or didn't really want to begin with:

The humiliation and hurt that comes with de-friending someone is completely gone. If you have had a falling out with someone, you move them from this circle to that one — or remove them from all circles. There is no brazen and stinging announcement. The person merely ceases to receive updates from your posting feed. Peace at last!

That brought me to a halt. Because one of the things my GF (and other friends who are on FB) are always  debating is how to ignore or snub people that annoy them without handing down the ultimate insult of publicly "defriending" them. (In fairness, most times it's not that these people are actually bad - it's just they're often royal PITAs.)

Looks like G+ has come up with the cyber-equivalent of the caller ID and answering machine on your telephone. The chief real benefit of which is that they give you the ability to selectively not take a call - without being too obvious about it! (That's why half the messages left on answering machines begin with "I know you're there - pick up your damn phone!"  )

And even though most people being "phone shunned" soon put two and two together, there's not enough there for them to be able to conclusively prove, or even politely accuse you of ducking them.

I think that's a little difference that's going to make a big difference for G+ adoption.

 

7273

General Software Discussion / Re: BrowserID - Mozilla's solution to the password problem

« Last post by 40hz on July 15, 2011, 06:49 PM »

Strikes me as somewhat akin to bringing in Manchu scorpions to get rid of ants. 

7274

Living Room / Re: [HELP!!] Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by 40hz on July 15, 2011, 11:09 AM »

^IMO doing your own build is actually quite easy if you rule out overclocking, bleeding edge hardware or video, and water or other exotic cooling systems. A couple of screwdrivers, the willingness to read documentation, and some patience - plus a well lit and clean workspace - are all that's really needed. Take a few sensible and modest anti-static precautions and you're off to the races. A few hours later and you're enjoying your new toy.

The only problem is it will usually cost more (simetimes a lot more) than a comparably configured "standard" machine from one of the big manufacturers.

So if you're not  going to go with an "enthusiast" or "hard-core gamer" build, why bother? At least with current pricing.

I think you're smart just wanting to buy one if you're not into the whole DIY thing.
 

7275

Living Room / Re: [HELP!!] Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by 40hz on July 15, 2011, 09:58 AM »

^Sounds like a golden opportunity to further your education playing with it if you're getting something else to work with. 

Look at it this way - it's already broken, so you don't need to worry about wrecking it. 

I learned a lot about PC diagnostics playing with already broken machines. It's one thing to read about error screens and codes. But when see them happening in front of you, it makes for a more direct personal learning experience.

Just my 2¢ anyway.