Recent Posts

751

Living Room / Re: Does anybody seriously think an e-book is still the better option most times?

« Last post by app103 on August 01, 2014, 04:44 PM »

Glad I work for a company that doesn't believe in DRM in their ebooks.

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Living Room / Re: To Hell with Net Neutrality: Sprint to charge extra for Facebook access

« Last post by app103 on August 01, 2014, 07:34 AM »

From what I remember before I quit the telephone CS agent job, Sprint is now owned by a Japanese company (SoftBank) and in the valuation stage of purchasing, they said we were "giving away too much money". 

-Edvard (August 01, 2014, 02:02 AM)

I have not been a big fan of Sprint, not since they billed my husband $12,000.00 for a single month of cell phone service and refused to back down on it, insisting the amount was correct. 

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Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by app103 on August 01, 2014, 12:49 AM »

Relative Effectiveness of Common Computer Repair Techniques:
 (see attachment in previous post)

-Edvard (July 31, 2014, 11:37 PM)

I was completely unaware that crying does irreversible damage to Linux. 

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Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by app103 on July 31, 2014, 09:45 PM »

Reddit Users Were Asked To Sum Up Their First Sexual Experience With A GIF. The Responses Were Magnificent (SFW)

http://imgur.com/gallery/tSh4F

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Living Room / To Hell with Net Neutrality: Sprint to charge extra for Facebook access

« Last post by app103 on July 31, 2014, 05:44 AM »

$12 A Month For Facebook – Sprint Tramples Over Net Neutrality With New Prepaid Plan

Today, Sprint dispensed with all subtlety. Without any pretense of net neutrality whatsoever, the carrier unveiled a plan with options to pay more for unfettered access to social media and streaming music, depending on the tier.

The Virgin Mobile Custom plan, sold under Sprint’s Virgin Mobile brand, provides unlimited access to one of four social media services – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest – on top of your data plan for $12 a month. An additional $10 will net unlimited use of all four, while $5 more grants unlimited streaming from any one music app. The base plan also includes 20 minutes of talk time and 20 texts, both of which can be upgraded. Lines start at $6.98 a month, $5 extra for “unlimited” access. Plans can be adjusted on the fly, even daily if so desired.

http://www.droid-lif...th-new-prepaid-plan/

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Living Room / Re: Director wants his film on The Pirate Bay, pirates deliver…

« Last post by app103 on July 28, 2014, 09:38 PM »

Who is he uploading for?

-Curt (July 27, 2014, 12:42 PM)

Very tiny people who speak Dutch? 

-40hz (July 27, 2014, 03:34 PM)

Dutchlings?

-Deozaan (July 28, 2014, 03:45 PM)

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Living Room / Re: Director wants his film on The Pirate Bay, pirates deliver…

« Last post by app103 on July 27, 2014, 07:40 AM »

The same thing happened to the original PBS production of Ursula LeGuin's The Lathe of Heaven, from 1980. It took 20 years before it could be released again, because of the music...mainly because of a piece of a Beatles tune (integral to a plot point in both the novel and the film), which in the end they replaced with a cover of the song in the re-release, because it was easier and cheaper than using the original. But it was still a lot of hoops to jump through and cost them a lot of money to be able to re-release it, back in 2000.

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Living Room / Re: Kidney stones and Beer!

« Last post by app103 on July 27, 2014, 07:17 AM »

If you have had kidney stones and want to prevent getting stones again, here is some good advice:

• Increase fluids (if beer helps you do that, then mission accomplished),
• Decrease sodium intake (Sodium causes the kidneys to excrete more calcium into the urine. High concentrations of calcium in the urine combine with oxalate and phosphorus to form stones. Reducing sodium intake is preferred to reducing calcium intake.),
• Increase calcium intake (Calcium in the digestive tract binds to oxalate from food and keeps it from entering the blood, and then the urinary tract, where it can form stones) But get it from food, rather than supplements, since calcium supplements have been linked to increased risk of kidney stones.
• Do not consume excessive amounts of protein. (A diet rich in purines—substances found in animal protein such as meats, fish, and shellfish—may increase uric acid in urine. If uric acid becomes concentrated in the urine, it can settle and form a stone by itself or along with calcium.)

If the issue is calcium oxalate stones, these 9 foods are the only ones known to increase oxalate in the urine:

• beets
• spinach
• rhubarb
• strawberries
• nuts
• chocolate
• tea
• wheat bran
• and all dry beans (fresh, canned, or cooked), excluding lima and green beans.

Try not consuming any of those without some dairy at the same time (ex: creamed spinach, milk in your tea, strawberries & yogurt, beans & cheese, etc.).

Some studies suggest citrus drinks like lemonade and orange juice protect against kidney stones because they contain citrate, which stops crystals from growing into stones. It's better to get your vitamin C from citrus than in a pill, since too much vitamin C (ascorbic acid) can also increase the amount of oxalate in your urine, increasing the risk of kidney stone formation.

Additionally,

• Struvite stones result from kidney infections. Eliminating infected stones from the urinary tract and staying infection-free can prevent more struvite stones.
• Cystine stones result from a genetic disorder that causes cystine to leak through the kidneys and into the urine, forming crystals that tend to accumulate into stones. Not sure if you can do anything to prevent this, if you have this disorder, other than increasing your fluids and making sure that includes citrus beverages.

http://kidney.niddk....stonediet/index.aspx
http://my.clevelandc...controlled-diet.aspx

759

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?

« Last post by app103 on July 27, 2014, 06:26 AM »

No security software is or can be effective if the user simply and absentmindedly clicks OK ... Reading really is fundamental ... Give the wife a hug, she earned it.

-Stoic Joker (July 27, 2014, 12:39 AM)

The best antivirus is common sense. Upgrades available daily.*

Any others installed on the system are just layered protection in case that fails, which seems to happen to some people a lot because they don't upgrade their common sense. 

^{*I once said this in a chat room and someone actually asked me, in all seriousness, for the URL where they could buy and download common sense, and how much it would cost. ::facepalm::}

760

Living Room / Re: What about Condaleezza Rice and Dropbox?

« Last post by app103 on July 26, 2014, 06:13 AM »

The problem is that an NSA spy named John Doe could work for anyone and you would not know it. It's more likely that if they were going to spy on you, they'd use someone with a name you don't know, maybe 20 names you don't know, and wherever they sent them in, those that run the service wouldn't know it either.

Did you know the name Ed Snowden before he came forward and spilled the beans? I didn't. But the fact remains that he was spying for the NSA.

They could have a spy working at the supermarket where you shop, spying on customer purchasing data, connected to actual names through the use of those little loyalty/discount cards. They could have a spy working at your local library. They could have a spy working for your employer. How would you know if they did or didn't?

I think the more important issue is how comfortable you feel storing your data anywhere, not just on those servers in which you know you can access backups that linger, like Dropbox.

No matter where you store it, there will be backups. No matter where you store it, there could be a spy.

I am not saying this to make anyone paranoid, just stating a reality that has existed for a very long time.

I think about the only highly popular internet service that can be confirmed not to have kept backups of their users' data was Ma.gnolia. And we know how that turned out. But even they could have had a spy working there, while they were still running, and none of us would have known it, and even those that ran Ma.gnolia wouldn't have known it.

So, you are either going to live your life afraid of the Boogey Man everywhere you turn. Or you are just going to live your life and only worry about confirmed Boogey Man sightings. And the Boogey man's name isn't Condaleezza Rice. The last big confirmed Boogey Man sighting, the name was Ed Snowden. 

761

Site/Forum Features / Re: (new) icon - make it easier to hit on touch screen device

« Last post by app103 on July 18, 2014, 10:32 PM »

The same, or at least comparable, feature would be nice for the 'all unread' list, where the icon is quite small, but I assume it's using the same icon

-Ath (July 18, 2014, 08:16 AM)

I don't think he's talking about that icon. I believe he's referring to this one:



They do 2 different things.

The "new" icon takes you to the first unread post in the thread.

The icon you pointed out takes you to the last post in the thread.

762

Living Room / Re: What is the logic of bezier curves? (for Illustrator pen tool)

« Last post by app103 on July 15, 2014, 09:57 PM »

I have never tried doing stuff like this in Illustrator (yet), but it's quite easy once you have had a little bit of practice in Paintshop Pro.

You'd probably be able to figure it out on your own if Illustrator supports raster and vector layers within the same image (I don't know if it does).

If it does, I would suggest grabbing some very simply drawn sample images to work with, creating a new vector layer over them and using the sample images as your guide. You could practice getting your shapes to follow the same lines as the sample image. It only took me an hour or so to get the hang of node manipulation, this way.

I do all of mine as a series of vector circles shapes, manipulated at the node level till they are just right, converting all the nodes to "cusp" type before I begin (I just find it a lot easier to work with that way). Each circle has 4 nodes, by default (which I may or may not keep, depending on how complex of a shape is the goal). I add more nodes, as needed, remove ones not needed, drag & drop the existing nodes where they are needed, and lengthen/shorten the handles and swing them left/right till it matches the lines on my base image. When I am finished, I delete the base layer, so only my vector layers remain.

Once you have had some practice with some sample images, you can sketch & scan your own to work with, doing the same thing....or move on to photos that have very clean lines.

763

Developer's Corner / Re: Do you use a good office chair when programming?

« Last post by app103 on July 14, 2014, 12:55 AM »

(see attachment in previous post)
I don't know if it's shopped or not. I've not been able to find anything like it online.

-Renegade (July 13, 2014, 09:26 PM)

Not shopped. According to NPR, it was custom made by a company called ErgoGenesis for a client who exceeded the 600-pound limit of its other chairs, and it cost $1,800.

http://www.npr.org/2...he-impact-of-obesity

764

Developer's Corner / Re: Do you use a good office chair when programming?

« Last post by app103 on July 13, 2014, 01:24 PM »

does anyone know if there is such a thing as a high quality chair meant for people who tend to site cross-legged (ie sit with their feet up on the seat of the chair).  and if not, maybe it would be a good invention..

-mouser (April 05, 2006, 03:49 AM)

Yes, they do exist. You just have to get an extra wide chair, like the ones made for guys that weigh 300+ lbs. 

Another benefit to getting a chair like that is that they are better quality, made much sturdier, so they don't break under the weight of a heavier person. You usually will not find cheap plastic legs on one. But the tradeoff is that they do come with a higher price tag.

765

Living Room / Re: DonationCoder Recipe Sharing Thread

« Last post by app103 on July 11, 2014, 11:13 AM »

Steamed baby potatoes taste awesome hot or cold.

-Renegade (July 11, 2014, 11:03 AM)

Little baby red potatoes, in a pressure cooker for about 7 minutes, then chilled. Eat them like apples. They are quite sweet.  

766

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by app103 on July 10, 2014, 09:19 PM »

Troll Truck

767

Living Room / Re: In search of ... botanical info

« Last post by app103 on July 10, 2014, 08:56 PM »

It's not a book, but it is substantially cheaper than one (free). 

http://www.bhg.com/g...ng/plant-dictionary/

768

Living Room / Re: Twitter accounts spying on government Wikipedia edits

« Last post by app103 on July 10, 2014, 12:28 PM »

"My Wikipedia entry doesn't mention the long haired cats! It MUST mention the long haired cats! Somebody get on that, right away!"

http://en.wikipedia....&oldid=564309759

 

769

Living Room / Re: The Declaration of Independance- some scholars say we've been reading it wrong.

« Last post by app103 on July 10, 2014, 01:51 AM »

You're trying to be rational. Stop.

-Renegade (July 09, 2014, 10:21 PM)

Wait...what? You thought that was rational? 

I am not too sure how I should interpret that. 

Too bad the average idiot is also to lazy to read what they can watch on TV. It didn't get the nickname Idiot Box for nothing.

-Vurbal (July 09, 2014, 10:44 PM)

But why bother to watch the BS on TV when someone else's even worse interpretation of it can be summed up in a 480x360 graphic on Facebook, complete with a sentence or two of misspelled text & bad grammar, and a link to a site of questionable validity, built by a mentally ill individual that very likely has an entire tinfoil wardrobe? And you don't even have to Google it to see if they are talking out of their ass or not, before liking it and resharing it, to spread it's BS message to your friends & family, who most are likely to be just as uneducated, gullible, & lazy.

Of course that won't remove all of those people from the world, that actually have a brain and know how to use it, but you can just quickly block or unfriend them when they correct your BS, so that nobody else will know just how stupid and lazy you really are. 

770

Living Room / Re: The Declaration of Independance- some scholars say we've been reading it wrong.

« Last post by app103 on July 09, 2014, 08:34 PM »

But it doesn't matter.

Perhaps I'm not being clear enough.

The psychopaths out there will read anything and come up with anything. That it is the declaration of independence doesn't matter -- it is good enough that it was written in the same century by the same basic group as the fellows who wrote the Constitution. Logic doesn't matter. Reason is irrelevant. The psychopaths follow the same basic patterns all the time. They grasp at straws and bray like donkeys until they get their way. We see this regularly. The entire SOPA/PIPA/etc. thing was a good example. The same nutjobs came back with the same nonsense again. They latch onto anything remotely related to any issue and pursue it until they get it. They don't take no for an answer. This will be the same basic deal because it's "close enough".

-Renegade (July 09, 2014, 06:46 PM)

But why bother with the Declaration of Independence, which predates the founding of this country, when there are so many better documents to mess with that have much greater potential for accomplishing so much, in the way of a psychopathic power grab? Why not attack the Constitution itself, and reveal it as a complete fraud, and produce a document declaring your family as the rightful royal heirs to the crown of the USA, as willed to your family by the childless George Washington himself, this country's first King? Then march your gun nut psychopathic patriot army right into Washington DC, kick the President, Congress, and the Supreme Court off your brand new property, put yourself in charge of everything, and either shoot or lock up anyone that disagrees with you (without a trial), and make everyone live by your psychopathic rules?

If you are going to distort history and use its historical documents to do it, might as well go all the way with your psychopathic distortions.  You would have a better chance of success messing with the Constitution and the last will & testament of George Washington to do it, than a punctuation mark in the Declaration of Independence.

771

Living Room / Re: The Declaration of Independance- some scholars say we've been reading it wrong.

« Last post by app103 on July 09, 2014, 05:42 AM »

I certainly wouldn't put it past people, like, oh perhaps a constitutional law professor, to conveniently reinterpret for broader government power despite knowing the history.

-Renegade (July 09, 2014, 04:40 AM)

But it's not the Constitution. It's an old formal declaration of war that predates the Constitution. It holds no bearing on how things are run today. It can neither grant any rights to citizens nor any power to the government...at all.

Any reinterpretation at this point, based on a single punctuation mark, would be equal to you discovering an old baby picture of yourself which leads you to believe you had slightly less/more hair on your head, when you were born, than you originally thought. How life changing would that be for you?

772

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by app103 on July 07, 2014, 04:14 AM »

^^ Can surveillance be addictive? I hadn't known that.

-PabloSaulw (July 05, 2014, 12:10 AM)

I think it's probably more along the lines of being addicted to power, and surveillance just being a tool of power.

And then a little splash of voyeurism to boot!

-Renegade (July 06, 2014, 01:46 AM)

Or perhaps you have quoted someone addicted to forum spamming, who had nothing of real value to add to this conversation.

773

Living Room / Re: The Declaration of Independance- some scholars say we've been reading it wrong.

« Last post by app103 on July 06, 2014, 11:26 AM »

I don't think there is a 2nd way to interpret the document, if you consider the context and the events that followed it. It meant only 1 thing.

And if it had been a simple 3 word document, stating merely "F**K You England" it still could not have been interpreted any differently.

It is not a legal document that holds any bearing on modern life in the US. You can't go to court over any perceived violation of rights, citing the Declaration of Independence as granting you any. Nor can it grant the US government any extra authority.

It's just the old declaration of war that lead to the founding of the US. Nothing more, nothing less.

774

General Software Discussion / Re: Manipulate a webpage to include a watermark

« Last post by app103 on July 05, 2014, 06:58 PM »

You're welcome. 

775

General Software Discussion / Re: Manipulate a webpage to include a watermark

« Last post by app103 on July 05, 2014, 05:28 PM »

Code: Javascript [Select]

1. javascript:(function(){data=document.getSelection();correios=document.createElement("div");correios.id="correios";correios.style="background:url(http://i62.tinypic.com/169hxls.png)%20no-repeat;display:block;height:37px;padding:135px%200%200%200;position:absolute;right:0;text-align:center;top:0;width:171px;z-index=-1";correios.innerHTML=data;document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0].appendChild(correios);})();