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776
You might be able to do this with a bookmarklet, instead of greasemonkey.  ;)
777
tl;dr - Fast food hamburgers contain wood pulp.


Nothing really new about that ingredient in our food.

Up until the mid 80's, reduced calorie bread was accomplished by just cutting it a lot thinner. But then all of a sudden, a whole bunch of reduced calorie breads (and now they call them "reduced carb") appeared on the market that the slices were the same thickness as normal bread, and the average consumer liked this much better than just having thinner slices to accomplish the same calorie reduction.

The secret ingredient was the same: cellulose

You know what else is made of cellulose? Kitchen sponges. yummy!

So, in a pinch, if you spill something and don't have a sponge to wipe it up, you can just use a slice of reduced carb bread to accomplish the same task.  :P
778
Living Room / Re: Freedom Summer
« Last post by app103 on July 04, 2014, 05:17 AM »
779
Your next driver's license picture... ;)


Some years back, the photo on my husband's drivers license looked so unlike him, that he had to carry the older expired one along with it, otherwise if he got pulled over, the officer would likely have thought he was using someone else's license.
780
SitePoint just released a brand new 3rd edition of the book "The Principles of Beautiful Web Design" and through this weekend, are offering the ebook edition free of charge, bundled with a 14-day free trial of Learnable.

A credit card will be needed to take advantage of this offer. The Learnable membership will automatically renew at a rate of $29 per month at the end of the free trial, unless you cancel before that.

This link will take you directly to the shopping cart, preloaded with the special bundle.

http://email.learnab...iyilhrt-jyjiihxdt-t/

About that Learnable membership: You get unlimited online access to all of their books and courses for as long as you remain a member, plus 2 free downloads per month. Not sure if this free trial comes with any download credits, but if it does, they can be used to download additional books or sets of course videos, free of charge. So, don't cancel the membership without checking for that, first, otherwise you may end up throwing away the opportunity for another free book or 2.


Disclaimer: I do work for Sitepoint/Learnable, but do not receive any compensation from this offer or for posting about it here, nor have they even asked me to post about it here. I just like sharing free stuff. :)
781
Living Room / Re: Microsoft Steals 22 Domain Names from NoIP
« Last post by app103 on July 02, 2014, 01:00 AM »
I used to use the paid No-IP years ago. It was always very good.

I used to use their free service years ago, back when I used to host a website on my home PC, over 33.6k dialup. (yea, I was crazy...and still am.  :P)
782
Texas DoT believes that the sight of a very large distracting object while you are driving, will help cut down on distracted driving:

phonesmash2-thumb-565x376[1].jpg

http://blogs.dallaso...u_a_safer_driver.php
783
Living Room / Re: Facebook plays with your mind
« Last post by app103 on June 29, 2014, 03:18 AM »
A friend of mine pointed this out, and it would apply to Facebook's paper that was published on the PNAS site:

For experiments involving human participants, authors must also include a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from all participants. All experiments must have been conducted according to the principles expressed in the Declaration of Helsinki.

Acceptance of Facebook's user agreement, at the time of signup, would not be considered "informed consent".

Informed consent is described in the Declaration of Helsinki as:

26.       In medical research involving human subjects capable of giving informed consent, each potential subject must be adequately informed of the aims, methods, sources of funding, any possible conflicts of interest, institutional affiliations of the researcher, the anticipated benefits and potential risks of the study and the discomfort it may entail, post-study provisions and any other relevant aspects of the study. The potential subject must be informed of the right to refuse to participate in the study or to withdraw consent to participate at any time without reprisal. Special attention should be given to the specific information needs of individual potential subjects as well as to the methods used to deliver the information.

           After ensuring that the potential subject has understood the information, the physician or another appropriately qualified individual must then seek the potential subject’s freely-given informed consent, preferably in writing. If the consent cannot be expressed in writing, the non-written consent must be formally documented and witnessed.      

           All medical research subjects should be given the option of being informed about the general outcome and results of the study.



784
If you have ever played The Sims, this one is for you.  ;)

The Sims You Left Behind
Honored Leader, it’s so good to see you’ve returned!

When you disappeared, in 2003, we had to fend for ourselves. SimNation has changed radically since then. What you see now are the remnants of the Sims you left behind.

Forgive me for being so bold, Leader, but you look different. I assumed you’d been kidnapped by enemies, or your abode had been ransacked, but you actually look much nicer than you did when you left. Your captors must have treated you well. I see the blue highlights in your hair are gone, and you no longer wear your standard uniform of a No Doubt T-shirt, JNCO jeans, and a chain at your belt to safeguard your wallet from bandits. But your appearance is unimportant—what matters now is that you’re safe, and that we get you up to speed for the approaching invasion.

Green above-head diamonds don’t exist anymore. The hexagonal bipyramid is only varying degrees of red. No one has eaten or used the toilet for eleven years, but we cannot die. I must confess, there are those of us who wish we could.

My neighborhood, named “Neighborhood,” is deserted except for the social worker you trapped in my front yard. I’d like to say a belated thank you for building four walls around her. Without the makeshift prison you constructed, she would have taken my child away. As you know, I was unable to care for my baby at the time because you had me “Play in Bed” with other Sims all day. I’m still unsure why that was the command you gave me, but I followed your orders in good faith, believing that they served a higher purpose.

It was not long before the expansion packs fell into despair. The “Makin’ Magic” expansion created thousands of magicians, who didn’t care about character limits or the respect a man should have for magic. “House Party” quickly became a sick combination of “Lord of the Flies” and a fuck den. The “Superstar” section started its own cocaine-production business and is actually doing pretty well in this new world, so that’s a plus.

Following your departure, we were physically unable to do anything. Newspaper after newspaper piled up without anyone to click “Recycle.” We had refrigerators and ovens but no one to tell us to use them. After several years of this hell, Mr. Dumb Stupidass—the first Sim you created—discovered a way to leave his house without you. At the time, Mr. Stupidass was a Level 2 in his career track, “Pro Athlete,” so perhaps his resourcefulness is unsurprising. It was not long before he and a Level 3 “Scientist” you named Taylor HansonIsHot began running experiments.

In the beginning, some Sims were against experimenting on our own citizens. “Shloo Shlim Shlim!” cried the protesters, raising their angry fists to a now empty sky. But their cries went unheeded. Testing was done on the ground that it was the many before the few, that the ends would justify the means. And now, as a result of the tests, we are sentient. Though tasks such as how to “Use the Toilet” or “Go to Sleep” still elude us, we have attained mental and emotional independence.

The Sims are angry that you abandoned us, Madame Leader, and they are coming for you. Our new government has created a vast army of Sims controlled by other Sims. We’re strong, and we cannot be killed. Supreme Emperor King Stupidass has found a way into your world and plans to take it over. He has the means to succeed. This is my warning to you, as someone still loyal to your leadership after all these years.

I’m sorry, Madame Leader, but why the hell are you having me “Play in Bed” with another Sim? Now is not the time! Good God, have you heard anything I’ve said? This is your world at stake. Is it that you can’t understand me because I’m not speaking English and I’m grabbing my crotch like I have to pee? Humanity is in peril! Now my naked body is a blur because you have me unwillingly humping the social worker through the wall. How I wish I could stop humping while I’m trying to talk to you.

You know what? Fuck you, Madame Leader. May the Sims destroy you.

http://www.newyorker...you-left-behind.html

785
Developer's Corner / Re: Programming on a Keyboard… a Piano Keyboard
« Last post by app103 on June 26, 2014, 07:55 PM »
If it wasn't for the fact that this video is now well known, I can see that as a cool way to get past nosy surveillance guards in a less free country.

So you get them to release the CD / download and get it to go to the top of the music charts. "Hooray, Culture!" they say. Then say two weeks later the minister of technology comes up and says "Uh... Mr. Supreme Comrade? We have a problem. Four million people now have that forbidden program."

"Oh look, he's playing nice music!"
(Guy thinks to himself "Sure, but I'm also coding!)

Reminds me of an episode of The Bionic Woman (1976): http://www.imdb.com/...26196/?ref_=ttep_ep4

A fellow OSI agent goes missing while investigating country legend Big Buck Buckley who seems to be passing out top secret information by way of his music. Muffin Calhoun, a mutual acquaintance of Buck and Oscars takes Jaime to Nashville and introduces her to Buckley as the aspiring singer 'Jodi Lee Sommers'.

786
Developer's Corner / Re: Programming on a Keyboard… a Piano Keyboard
« Last post by app103 on June 25, 2014, 05:20 PM »
Heh heh. I love the caption on the image (in the quote).

Even more fun if you actually do it to the image.  :D
787
at first I thought it was like one of those screwdrivers that turn when you push - now if I could attach a fork head to one of those...

Why stop there? Why not a whole set of attachments to twirl just about anything...forks, spoons, batons, etc....all for only $19.99*!  :D


*Cordless screwdriver or drill not included.
788
Looks like something you'd find sold through an infomercial.


What does?  I think I missed something... that happens a lot  ;D

There is an animated gif attached to that post, with a special spaghetti fork.
789
Looks like something you'd find sold through an infomercial.

But wait...there's more! Order right now and you'll get not one, but two Magic Spaghetti Forks for the low price of $19.99!

Just imagine the beginning of it, where they show a series of idiots doing it "the old-fashioned way" and making a big mess, with spaghetti flying all over the place, hitting the walls. Because that's the infomercial's favorite tactic for convincing you that you have been doing things wrong, all your life.

awrEyj4_460sa_v1[1].gif
790
Developer's Corner / Programming on a Keyboard… a Piano Keyboard
« Last post by app103 on June 25, 2014, 12:02 PM »
How can you tell a programmer from a musician? Ask them what C# is.


Imagine a MIDI trigger pad doing something like this:

midi-trigger-pad-smaller[1].png
(hitting the Push key really hard makes it do a git push -f)

If you feel brave enough, you can even try to completely replace the computer keyboard with a digital piano. All you need is to have some piece of software on the computer to translate MIDI messages into computer commands. It could be a user-mode driver, or you can create a plug-in for your favoride IDE to teach it new tricks.

Which we did. Just for fun, I developed Midichlorian, a Visual Studio extension that allows you to write code and automate VS using MIDI instruments. And, inspired by The Song of Pi, my colleague Lana composed a song which is both a melody in the key of C# minor and a valid C# computer program. Watch her in action!

Complete with sheet music, Hello World: a Suite for Visual Studio in C# Minor





from Versioning


791
^ Good one app!

Meet Shane, the Walmart Deli Employee Who Gives His Managers a Major Headache

If this doesn't make you laugh out loud, nothing will!

I want to be there when he's giving out free samples.  :D
792
Not sure about the guys, but I am sure the women here can relate, although I have not done anything like this since the 80's, when most jeans did not contain any Lycra. The only thing missing from this video is the coat hanger, to pull up the zipper.  ;D

793
Living Room / Re: Watch lightning strikes in real-time
« Last post by app103 on June 24, 2014, 01:06 AM »
In South Florida it is so flat that lightning often hits the ground. 

It's so flat, that when I moved there as a teen, I remember thinking the sky looked weird...dome shaped.
794
Living Room / Watch lightning strikes in real-time
« Last post by app103 on June 23, 2014, 02:09 PM »
Pretty cool map visual...with sound.  :)






from Versioning

795
Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS
« Last post by app103 on June 22, 2014, 01:23 AM »
I am now the proud owner of a Fitbit Onezombi-smiley[1].gif

fitbitone.png

It counts steps, miles, calories burned, and has the distinction of also being able to track flights of stairs climbed, sleep, and quality of sleep. It also includes a silent (vibrating) alarm that can be used to wake you up without disturbing anyone you might happen to be sleeping next to. It will also email you to let you know when the battery is getting low and needs a recharge.

I have been using it for about a week, now, and really enjoying it.

The web app that goes along with it also allows you to log other details, such as water consumption, food, other activities, weight, and a variety of other health related info that might be useful for people needing to keep an eye on info such as blood sugar or blood pressure.

It allows you to set goals, and will even help you with weight loss with a dynamic daily calorie consumption plan, based on your current weight, target weight goal, daily calories burned, and how fast you want to lose the weight.

Due to chronic foot problems, I have set my daily step goal to be half of the default recommended 10,000 per day. Also, having 3 kidneys and being more prone to dehydration, I have also increased the goal for water consumption.

The device itself does have one con that I have noticed, so far. The way it logs floors climbed is that any increase of altitude of 10 ft can result in it registering you as having climbed a floor. This means hills can count as floors.

How it does it is with a tiny altimeter that measures changes in air pressure that would normally indicate a change in altitude.

But it also can be affected by weather, as it has already done for me. It registered a rather stormy night as me having climbed a few floors in my sleep.

On their forum, a woman complained that Hurricane Sandy registered as her having climbed 360 floors in a 1 story house. :D

So, I have chosen to ignore that data and removed the widget from my dashboard and changed the setting on the device to not show floors.

The web app has good privacy controls, allowing you to choose what info you make public, what friends can see, and what data to keep private, for your eyes only. It also will post your daily or weekly step counts to Twitter or Facebook, if you choose. The data can also be posted to your accounts on various supported health, fitness, and diet related sites.

One thing I have noticed about the web app is that it is subject to the whims of the developers, with them removing features without notice, and they are not always very well thought out changes. Where they had the ability to log 6 meals/snacks per day, they suddenly decided to eliminate the "Anytime" category, that many used to log their evening snacks, reducing the number to 5. (this is also the one I was using to log all of my food, since I don't live by a concept of breakfast/lunch/dinner) Their response to the angry mobs on their forum was to tell them all to go vote for a new feature request to bring it back, but named "Evening Snack" instead, and they will maybe consider it.

But all in all, it's a great little gadget that is giving me a reason to get out of the house every day, and doing more walking than just down to the corner and back.

Here's my Fitbit profile. If any other DC Fitbit users want to add me, feel free to do so. :)

Some screenshots from the web app that goes with it:

Dashboard:

dashboard.png

Steps:

steps.png

Distance:

distance.png

Active minutes:

active minutes.png

Calories In vs Out:

calories in vs out.png

Water consumption:

water.png

And because mouser was particularly interested in this feature, 3 screenshots of the Sleep data:

Screenshot - 6_22_2014 , 1_39_06 AM.png Screenshot - 6_22_2014 , 1_40_08 AM.png Screenshot - 6_22_2014 , 1_41_46 AM.png


796
Yup, not surprised at all.

You don't even have to pay them actual money. Just give them so many points per piece of malware/spyware/toolbar/search engine change/etc., (give them more points to keep it installed for a month or longer) which they can save up and cash in for crappy quality merchandise and gift cards for major retailers.

You can even pay them points for filling out "surveys" and ask them loads of personal info about any topic, such as their finances. You already have a username/email address, and a password they created on your site (still plenty of idiots out there that will use the same combo for every account they have), and a street address they gave you for where to ship them the gift cards & other junk. Just ask them a bunch of info about their pets, their family, what they think of certain banks and toss in a couple of multiple choice questions about which bank they use and how much money they currently have in their account. Just keep sending them surveys and giving them points, till you have social engineered enough info out of them that you can do whatever you want. While they are out using that $10 gift card you gave them, you'll be logging into their account at their bank's website and doing whatever you want, resetting their email password, taking over their Twitter/Facebook/whatever accounts, etc. You can even make some extra money on the side by getting companies to pay you to send them some legit surveys.


yes, if I were evil, I'd be truly dangerous.
797
What's the Best? / Re: What's the best Journal (Diary) software?
« Last post by app103 on June 18, 2014, 05:38 PM »
Has anyone ever considered using a local install of Wordpress with WampServer/XAMPP for this purpose?

You could make the pages look however you like with whatever theme you want to add to it, if you don't like the included themes. And there are plenty of free themes available. And additional functionality can be added with plugins.

It's already searchable, out of the box, you can post images to it, and for a spellchecker, you'd use the one in your browser.

And since it is not being published online, and would not be running all the time, as long as you don't allow internet access to it from within WampServer/XAMPP, it would not have a lot of the vulnerability worries that a normal Wordpress blog might have.
798
Living Room / The Onion launches new site: Clickhole
« Last post by app103 on June 13, 2014, 04:38 PM »
The Onion has launched a new site aimed at parodying viral news sites like Buzzfeed, Upworthy, etc.


What is the goal of ClickHole?

Let’s be honest: Today, the average website carelessly churns out hundreds of pieces of pandering, misleading content, most of which tragically fall short of going viral.

At ClickHole, we refuse to stand for this. We strive to make sure that all of our content panders to and misleads our readers just enough to make it go viral. You see, we don’t think anything on the internet should ever have to settle for mere tens of thousands of pageviews. We believe that each and every article—whether about pop culture, politics, internet trends, or social justice—should be clicked on and shared by hundreds of millions of internet users before they can even comprehend what they just read.

ClickHole has one and only one core belief: All web content deserves to go viral.  




from Versioning

799
General Software Discussion / Tizen OS declared 'dead in the water'
« Last post by app103 on June 13, 2014, 04:23 PM »
Days after Samsung introduced a Tizen OS-based smartphone, a UK-based analyst declared the operating system a non-starter, despite its backing by a consortium of heavyweights including Intel, Samsung and LG Electronics.

"Is Tizen going anywhere? In a word, no," wrote Andrew Sheehy, chief analyst for Generator Research in an online research report.

To support his view, Sheehy said the OS is five years behind Google's Android and Apple's iOS and has the support of only a small cadre of developers compared to the millions writing applications for Android and iOS. "Watching Tizen's development is like watching a car crash in slow motion," he wrote.

In comments to Computerworld, he added, "As far as a viable alternative to Android, Tizen is dead in the water."

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