Recent Posts

7701

Living Room / Re: Five Reasons Why People Hate Apple

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2011, 01:29 PM »

No, but my todo list is. Our IT department consists of only one monkey...Me.

The folks that use the report have some of the oldest machines, so it was assumed ... and never mentioned, until I got a request for some new features for the site. Ha! ...That went well.

-Stoic Joker (May 01, 2011, 12:59 PM)

50k???

-Renegade (May 01, 2011, 01:19 PM)

5 years of records and counting.

Access???

-Renegade (May 01, 2011, 01:19 PM)

Totally not my idea...

New features???

-Renegade (May 01, 2011, 01:19 PM)

Yes, management is like that.

WTF???

-Renegade (May 01, 2011, 01:19 PM)

Exactly... Welcome to my world.

-Stoic Joker (May 01, 2011, 01:27 PM)

To quote Jack from LOST, "Are you insane?"

7702

Living Room / Re: Five Reasons Why People Hate Apple

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2011, 01:19 PM »

No, but my todo list is. Our IT department consists of only one monkey...Me.

The folks that use the report have some of the oldest machines, so it was assumed ... and never mentioned, until I got a request for some new features for the site. Ha! ...That went well.

-Stoic Joker (May 01, 2011, 12:59 PM)

50k???

Access???

New features???

WTF???

7703

Living Room / Re: Five Reasons Why People Hate Apple

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2011, 12:51 PM »

I got stuck the last few weeks working on one of our Intranet sites coded in ASP (e.g. VB), and it just makes me want to scream every time I have to deal with it.

-Stoic Joker (May 01, 2011, 11:50 AM)

ASP sucked. It's no wonder MS gave up on it almost a decade ago now~!

-Renegade (May 01, 2011, 12:04 PM)

Actually, I left out the best part ... It's an ASP UI, with an Access db back-end. One of the reports that pulled from a table with 50,000 records in it, was parsing the results at the page level ... Which I assumed had much to do with its 3 minute page load time.

I got it down to about 4 seconds now (with a much (more precise) finer tuned query).

-Stoic Joker (May 01, 2011, 12:48 PM)

WTF? Why hasn't it been redone by now? Is it THAT big?

7704

Living Room / Re: Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading List

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2011, 12:09 PM »

I read A Voyage to Arcturus because I'd read an interview with C.S. Lewis, where he recommended it.  It seems to me, following Lewis, that it's not so much science fiction as philosophy fiction. 

-rjbull (May 01, 2011, 10:42 AM)

You've just elevated that book to a "must read" for me. I love Lewis (one of my absolute favorites, if not #1). He's brilliant. His apologetics are amazing. His essays are remarkable. A wonderful author for anyone to read, and if he recommends it, hey, it's got to have merit~!

7705

Living Room / Re: Five Reasons Why People Hate Apple

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2011, 12:04 PM »

I got stuck the last few weeks working on one of our Intranet sites coded in ASP (e.g. VB), and it just makes me want to scream every time I have to deal with it.

-Stoic Joker (May 01, 2011, 11:50 AM)

ASP sucked. It's no wonder MS gave up on it almost a decade ago now~!

7706

Living Room / Re: Five Reasons Why People Hate Apple

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2011, 12:02 PM »

They've not managed to make C# in any way useful for MS Office yet... Grrr... While C++ may be great in many aspects, it's still a beast.

-Renegade (May 01, 2011, 10:37 AM)

Whereas for me, as long they don't support C++, or at least C++/CLI, on Windows Mobile I won't develop for it. C++ is just soooooooooo lovely to code in.

-Eóin (May 01, 2011, 10:45 AM)

It would be insanity not to support C++. Nobody would do that. Hell, even Apple supports C++ (kind of).

All I want is the same level of support for C# as C++ gets.

If you look at MS Office, it's a nightmare to deal with it in C#. Heck, it's a nightmare in C++, but still better there than in C#. .NET in MS Office is a pigment of our imaginations. Moreover, that pigment is transparent, as in invisible.

Yes. I know that it's work. It's a lot of work. C# requires more than C++. But that's part of what makes it a higher level language.

Higher level languages require more work as they are evolutionary.

Still, I'm crossing my fingers.

Right now Novell is leading the charge, but... I'd rather see the platform vendors support C# natively. (That goes for Android, iOS, Blackberry or whatever.)

As far as I can see it, the three primary languages for mobile should likely be C++, C#, and Java. All as first class languages.

Like seriously... it's 2011... The companies are f***ing around with developers and forcing us to "take sides".

The platform BS is just old now and I'm sick of it.

7707

General Software Discussion / Re: Playing With UI Design... (Looking for comments)

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2011, 11:18 AM »

For interest/balance, I'm posting the basic UI:



Just to provide context against the colors.

Still looking for comments as some people have hit on issues I've been wondering about.

7708

General Software Discussion / Misconfigured Servers from Tech Companies

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2011, 10:55 AM »

A long time ago I encountered a little hiccup:

http://renegademinds...ryID/30/Default.aspx

That's a symptom of a different problem -- It's a bad idea to allow compression for compressed files.

Compressing files on the fly disables the ability of a server/client to calculate the download time. For a web page, this isn't really important, but for a large download of several MB or many MB or even GB, this is an increasingly serious problem.

In layman's terms: When you see a download that has no calculated time estimate for the download, THIS is the problem.

But I'm still seeing this configuration problem at different "tech" sites.

I don't consider myself a guru in this area, so I'm surprised that so many sites still compress files on the fly that they shouldn't be.


Is anyone else seeing this? Or am I just noticing it?

7709

Living Room / Re: Five Reasons Why People Hate Apple

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2011, 10:37 AM »

No. At the moment Windows Mobile is clearly at the bottom.

-Renegade (May 01, 2011, 09:48 AM)

Well 3 Cheers for the underdog!

(Sent From My Windows Mobile Phone)

 

-Stoic Joker (May 01, 2011, 10:33 AM)

To be honest, I am PRAYING for Windows Mobile to become a big contender in late 2012 or 2013. And I'm hoping that they make C# a first class language there... They've not managed to make C# in any way useful for MS Office yet... Grrr... While C++ may be great in many aspects, it's still a beast. (No comment on Objective-C as that's obvious...)

7710

General Software Discussion / Re: Playing With UI Design... (Looking for comments)

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2011, 10:04 AM »

I think it's kind of an either or thing.

I tried a quick mockup in Photoshop, and it seems cluttered.

I was hoping that the shocked smiley face would serve the same purpose. The window itself has a traditional warning symbol for the window icon, though you wouldn't see it in Windows 7 (I forget about Vista) in the task bar.

-Renegade (May 01, 2011, 08:15 AM)

Another idea that might help... how about the traditional symbol in a thought bubble over the icon's head?  Or integrated into the current icon somehow.

-wraith808 (May 01, 2011, 09:54 AM)

Actually, I like that. That could work. Never thought about that. I was thinking in discrete terms -- mostly due to my limited editing capabilities -- I *edit* graphics -- I do not *create* graphics.

I'll see if I can manage to find something that fits the style of the smiley, then see if I can work it in. It may end up being too small, but I think I can work around that by making it wide rather than high, and then reworking the text to fit properly.

Thanks~!

7711

Living Room / Re: Five Reasons Why People Hate Apple

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2011, 09:48 AM »

My new email sig on the iPad (in an attempt to play both sides) 

-nosh (May 01, 2011, 01:38 AM)

Hahahahaha~! That's awesome~! Nothing like playing both sides against the middle.

-Renegade (May 01, 2011, 03:17 AM)

What's the middle? Windows Mobile?

-Darwin (May 01, 2011, 08:57 AM)

No. At the moment Windows Mobile is clearly at the bottom.

7712

General Software Discussion / Re: Playing With UI Design... (Looking for comments)

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2011, 08:15 AM »

I think it's kind of an either or thing.

I tried a quick mockup in Photoshop, and it seems cluttered.

I was hoping that the shocked smiley face would serve the same purpose. The window itself has a traditional warning symbol for the window icon, though you wouldn't see it in Windows 7 (I forget about Vista) in the task bar.

7713

General Software Discussion / Playing With UI Design... (Looking for comments)

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2011, 06:54 AM »

I've been playing with some UI design, and thought I'd try some fun. I don't have a lot of time to do it, so I took some shortcuts and just "got it done".

This portion of the application here uploads a resized or cropped photo to TwitPic with a comment (111 chars) then tweets it on Twitter.



Now, you can of course cancel, but I thought I'd add in a warning. But the regular warning icon of a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark seemed a bit boring, so I went with this:



I like the smiley. It seems fun. I think it will be entertaining for people, and should solicit a few laughs.

Does it work?

7714

Living Room / Re: Five Reasons Why People Hate Apple

« Last post by Renegade on May 01, 2011, 03:17 AM »

My new email sig on the iPad (in an attempt to play both sides) 

-nosh (May 01, 2011, 01:38 AM)

Hahahahaha~! That's awesome~! Nothing like playing both sides against the middle.

7715

Living Room / Re: The great toilet paper debate

« Last post by Renegade on April 30, 2011, 11:54 AM »

I like the 3-ply stuff.

I once found some nice aloe vera 3-ply stuff that was like wiping your butt with a silky cloud. Super soft and very nice. I've not been able to find it since though...

-Renegade (April 29, 2011, 10:52 PM)

If you happen to live in/near an area with a Costco^w (probably US only) I have to say I like their brand of TP. Though for some reason all Costco brand stuff actually goes by the name of Kirkland^w.

-Deozaan (April 30, 2011, 04:24 AM)

I'm in a like/hate thing with Costco lately.

The quality of many of the products they carry has been slipping badly, and the quality of their fresh food/produce has tanked completely. If it has no expiry date, then it's likely ok. Expiry date? Forget it. I'm guessing that they're buying up cheap stuff that's almost expired at cheap prices and stocking that -- had a few problems there.

But they don't carry the kind of TP I like here (Melbourne). I'm pretty sure that I used to get it at the Costco in Yangjae, Seoul. (Their produce was usually good, except for the onions which always sprouted too quickly.) Come to think of it, I think it was a Korean brand... Not too sure... Aloe vera 3-ply. Lovely stuff to wipe the old tush with. The only thing better would be <insert the name of someone you hate, like a politician, here />'s tongue.

7716

General Software Discussion / Xerox Business of Your Brain

« Last post by Renegade on April 29, 2011, 11:48 PM »

This is kind of funky:

http://www.businessofyourbrain.com/

It's to help visualize what you're doing in Outlook.

I've not tried it yet, but I'm sure it would be useful for some people.

Where I found it

I got an OpenCandy email that this is one of the new advertisers.

7717

Living Room / Re: The great toilet paper debate

« Last post by Renegade on April 29, 2011, 10:52 PM »

On a final note, if you own a business and get toilet paper that is so cheap it rips by the pressure required to remove the said toilet paper, just remember this. Those are the places that I make sure i have enough toilet paper to make a paper mache basket ball before i commence wiping. There are 2 reasons, first reason is a protest for the retarded notion this will save any money, and the second is because the paper is so thin i can't trust it so must use only large quantities.

-Kamel (April 29, 2011, 09:54 PM)

+1

I hate that kind of TP. It's simply useless. And you do need a huge amount of it to avoid looking like a 5-year old making mud pies. And it's like wiping with sandpaper. Nasty stuff.

I like the 3-ply stuff.

I once found some nice aloe vera 3-ply stuff that was like wiping your butt with a silky cloud. Super soft and very nice. I've not been able to find it since though...

7718

Living Room / Re: Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading List

« Last post by Renegade on April 29, 2011, 09:42 PM »

^ Maybe relink them as thumbnails instead?  Takes quite a while to load them...

-wraith808 (April 29, 2011, 01:30 PM)

I put them in a spoiler. They're hotlinked with img tags.

7719

Living Room / Re: The great toilet paper debate

« Last post by Renegade on April 29, 2011, 09:13 PM »

As for the unraveling argument, I think there's a little bit of an irrational fear there.  People who prefer under look at the over orientation and think "Man, that looks unstable!  It's going to unravel!  Oh no!!"  But it's really not anywhere near that bad.  I just think, practically speaking, over wins every time.

I have cats.  Over loses sometimes.

-mrainey (April 29, 2011, 08:49 PM)

Hahahaha~!

Nicely put~!

7720

Living Room / Re: Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading List

« Last post by Renegade on April 29, 2011, 11:23 AM »

Kind of off topic, but some of my favorite artist are Boris:

Spoiler

http://vallejo.ural.net/

And Frank Frazetta:



And just because it is one of the most important images in fantasy art:



http://frankfrazetta.org/

And another brilliant artist, Ian Miller (my #1 favorite):



And even geniuses like Ian Miller worship at the altar of he who must not be named:



http://www.ian-miller.org/

Absolute brilliance.

7721

Living Room / Re: The great toilet paper debate

« Last post by Renegade on April 29, 2011, 11:02 AM »

I like triple-play facing the right way.

7722

Developer's Corner / Re: New Twist on Basic

« Last post by Renegade on April 29, 2011, 10:57 AM »

$22 for an entry seems cheap to me. Heck, that's barely a dinner at a restaurant.

If it helps someone get into programming, the $22 is well spent.

I can't see the harm in it.

7723

Living Room / Re: USA Deadly Tornadoes

« Last post by Renegade on April 29, 2011, 09:51 AM »

And a simple foul language forecast (I love it!)

-app103 (April 29, 2011, 06:45 AM)

haha wonderful love it

-tomos (April 29, 2011, 07:13 AM)

+1 That was sexellent~!

7724

Living Room / Re: Who else is sick of difficult word verifications on the web?

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2011, 09:55 PM »

It would also solve government ID problems too~! Really! Like who would want to use anyone else's ID verification chair?

-Renegade (April 26, 2011, 07:17 PM)

So you're suggesting the new form of ID is a stool sample?

It would certainly make internet cafés much less appealing.

-Deozaan (April 27, 2011, 12:48 AM)

DOH!

Yeah... That's very true~!

Perhaps then a portable version. Something like this (NSFW) with a USB cord that you can plug into any computer.

It's perfect 2-factor authentication! It's virtually uncrackable~!

7725

Living Room / Re: Anarchists! Unite! Or whatever... :)

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2011, 09:24 PM »

There are millions constantly trying very hard to make the world a better place and not give in to the cheap cynicism and despair our press and politicians try to get us to buy into.

-40hz (April 28, 2011, 09:02 PM)

That's one of the things that I find very depressing. i.e. If people behaved decently, we wouldn't need people trying to fix the problem.

Like how hard is it to go out to a bar, have a few drinks, and NOT get into a fight and kill someone?

How hard is it to instead of taking extra time and effort to engineer a product to be worse, to just accept that it's ok to produce products that last a long time and are environmentally friendly even though they might make less money for you?

How hard is it for politicians to cooperate and do their job for the betterment of the people they represent, rather than fight in an attempt to make themselves look good and others look bad?

How hard is it to not spray paint the neighborhood?

Those are the kinds of things that drive me nuts.

The people trying to make the world a better place because of things like natural disasters, natural diseases (as opposed to those caused by humans), poverty, illiteracy, etc. etc -- I like that. Those nasty things that really aren't preventable will always need to be addressed, and that's fine. That's a good thing.

It's the things that "we" inflict on ourselves that need to be corrected -- those things are sickening.

I try to bury myself in other concerns. I can do a small amount to help fix things, but I can't "solve" the problem. I'm better off trying to keep to my own little world a lot of the time. e.g. We don't buy anything off the shelf (canned/packaged) in the grocery market (or very very little), and instead we buy only fresh food (vegetables, fruit, milk, meat, etc.). It's a small thing, but there's no way I can possibly address the issues of indentured servitude/slavery in the sugar industry. Still, the impact we have on the problem is negligible. So back to burying my head in the sand it is... Or in this case, back to burying my head in a proposal for a mobile component manufacturer... Sigh...