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7751

Living Room / Re: My beloved illustrated children's story about badgers (What was the name??)

« Last post by 40hz on April 28, 2011, 06:21 PM »

Glad you found it. I know how frustrating it can be trying to remember a book title.

Re: reliving childhood memories

I wouldn't mind doing some of that myself. But the memories I'm most interested in came a bit later in my childhood. For instance, there was this one time when we were up in New Hampshire after second semester exams were over, and we were at this party where I met this girl (who was a dead ringer for Elizabeth Hurley right down to the smile and British accent!) and...um...yes...sorry...let's forget about that for the moment shall we?
 

-40hz (April 28, 2011, 06:35 AM)

I think if we were at the same party, we'd be fighting for the same girl.  Don't forget!  Relish!

-superboyac (April 28, 2011, 12:46 PM)

Absolutely. Relish indeed.

My GF also politely suggests pickles, honey, whipped cream, and any other "garnish" or fixin' you can think of while you're at it.  

-40hz (April 28, 2011, 12:51 PM)

Ha!  Freaking words...

-superboyac (April 28, 2011, 12:59 PM)

And images!

EHurley. England Prevails!

 

P.S. Wouldn't have had to compete over that one. She arrived and left with her husband. The fact she was unavailable, however, did nothing to diminish her charm. Or my enjoyment of it.

(Sometimes all you get to do is look. Which is still not a bad thing when you think about it.   )

7752

Living Room / Re: My beloved illustrated children's story about badgers (What was the name??)

« Last post by 40hz on April 28, 2011, 12:51 PM »

Glad you found it. I know how frustrating it can be trying to remember a book title.

Re: reliving childhood memories

I wouldn't mind doing some of that myself. But the memories I'm most interested in came a bit later in my childhood. For instance, there was this one time when we were up in New Hampshire after second semester exams were over, and we were at this party where I met this girl (who was a dead ringer for Elizabeth Hurley right down to the smile and British accent!) and...um...yes...sorry...let's forget about that for the moment shall we?
 

-40hz (April 28, 2011, 06:35 AM)

I think if we were at the same party, we'd be fighting for the same girl.  Don't forget!  Relish!

-superboyac (April 28, 2011, 12:46 PM)

Absolutely. Relish indeed.

My GF also politely suggests pickles, honey, whipped cream, and any other "garnish" or fixin' you can think of while you're at it.  

7753

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

« Last post by 40hz on April 28, 2011, 12:39 PM »

I grabbed this from the articles comments section:

Probably because those of us who spend more time on-line are more aware of what is actually going on in the country and around the world and thus have so much less respect for those who are implementing such laws for their own greedy, bigoted or just downright moronic ends...

I'd say he nailed it right there.

-Stoic Joker (April 28, 2011, 11:16 AM)

Sounds about right.

It's been said "to understand is to forgive."

I disagree. Sometimes the more information you have, and the more you truly "understand" something, the greater your contempt and loathing grows.

Which is one the reasons I periodically take a few days off from closely following the news.  

7754

Living Room / Re: My beloved illustrated children's story about badgers (What was the name??)

« Last post by 40hz on April 28, 2011, 09:01 AM »

I just love those illustrations by Shepard

-tomos (April 28, 2011, 08:16 AM)

Is that the same Mr. Shepard who 'helped' with the Winnie-the-Pooh illustrations? As in "Drawn by me and Mr. Shepard helped." according to Christopher Robin? 

7755

Living Room / Re: Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading List

« Last post by 40hz on April 28, 2011, 08:07 AM »

If you're interested in what I consider one of the best cyber-scifi has to offer check out John M. Ford's 1992 Web of Angels. Has that rare ability to create a world simultaneously familiar yet so different that it brings you to a screeching halt for some deep thinking from time to time. Very literary - and almost poetic at times despite being pleasantly readable.  A rare feat to pull off successfully in sci-fi. Or pretty much any other literary genre.

Other good choices: Stand on Zanzibar and Shockwave Rider by John Brunner. and the absolute "must read" novel Nova by Samuel R. Delany.

Oh god! There are so many...

7756

Living Room / Re: My beloved illustrated children's story about badgers (What was the name??)

« Last post by 40hz on April 28, 2011, 06:35 AM »

Glad you found it. I know how frustrating it can be trying to remember a book title.

Re: reliving childhood memories

I wouldn't mind doing some of that myself. But the memories I'm most interested in came a bit later in my childhood. For instance, there was this one time when we were up in New Hampshire after second semester exams were over, and we were at this party where I met this girl (who was a dead ringer for Elizabeth Hurley right down to the smile and British accent!) and...um...yes...sorry...let's forget about that for the moment shall we?
 

7757

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Windows 7 Pro Academic Discount

« Last post by 40hz on April 27, 2011, 11:39 AM »

True - but ever heard of Asterix the Gaul ?

-Carol Haynes (April 27, 2011, 09:53 AM)

Have all the Asterix & Obelix books actually. Great stories! 

Like your "gauling" variant more too. Captures the concept so much better. Especially for those of us old enough to remember General Charles.  

7758

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Windows 7 Pro Academic Discount

« Last post by 40hz on April 27, 2011, 09:36 AM »

What is particularly gauling (no pun intended, honest) is that the EU is supposed to be a single market so why is the UK version $80 more expensive than the French?

-Carol Haynes (April 27, 2011, 07:15 AM)

Just out of curiosity, isn't gauling spelled "galling"? Or is that just in America? 

7759

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: After working for Microsoft, I moved to Mac OSX but there's no CH&S

« Last post by 40hz on April 27, 2011, 06:50 AM »

@tomos- Thank you! 

(I have got to start getting more sleep on weeknights.)

7760

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: After working for Microsoft, I moved to Mac OSX but there's no CH&S

« Last post by 40hz on April 27, 2011, 06:23 AM »

What exactly is CH&S if I you don't mind my asking?

7761

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: BonAView Photo Manager

« Last post by 40hz on April 26, 2011, 12:16 PM »

Welcome to Donation Coder! Nice looking program.

I have a question:

Your general legal notices state: Unless otherwise specified, High Motion's Materials are for your personal and non-commercial use only.

Are you serious about putting a non-commercial use clause on a product that needs to be purchased? Or is that just some boilerplate your attorneys wrote that is superseded by the EULA for the actual product?

Most software that is sold doesn't restrict by whom, or for what purpose, it can be used. If it does, there's usually also a "professional" version that has no such restrictions. Do you currently have a 'commercial use' license available? And if so, what is the price for it? I didn't see any mention on your website.

Thanks!

--------
Note: Donation Coder has a special forum section called: Announce Your Software/Service/Product for software developers to tell us what they have available. You can find it here. 

7762

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Free WinX DVD Copy Pro Apr.23 to Apr.25

« Last post by 40hz on April 26, 2011, 11:28 AM »

^That's a good deal. Even though such marketing practices makes seeing a high number of "likes" almost meaningless. Not that I ever put much faith in 'Facebook opinion' to begin with. If I did, it would be a lot easier to just ask what Diddy thinks and be done with it!  

But seriously, if that offer is still running, it's a very good deal.

Thanks cmpm

7763

Living Room / Re: Easiest laptop (brand) to take apart ?

« Last post by 40hz on April 26, 2011, 10:06 AM »

My GF suggests any laptop is easy to take apart if you have a big enough hammer.  

7764

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Free WinX DVD Copy Pro Apr.23 to Apr.25

« Last post by 40hz on April 26, 2011, 09:10 AM »

FYI - the offer has been extended to today: April 26th.

Download link will be up for the 26th only.

You still need to install and register by April 30th for the free license to work.

Tried it yesterday. Odd interface - as has been previously noted. But the product works as advertised. And the price is certainly right.

Tested it yesterday on...well...let's just say a recently released DVD I bought. Copied to HD flawlessly.

I like it enough that I'm gonna spring for a paid version, I think.    

7765

Living Room / Re: Techno-Addicts

« Last post by 40hz on April 25, 2011, 10:50 PM »

Only the game of Cricket is harder to understand.

-40hz (April 25, 2011, 12:20 PM)

Oh come now, your slip is showing!

-cranioscopical (April 25, 2011, 10:10 PM)

Guess I'll have to change my wicket ways then.  

7766

Living Room / Re: Karen Kenworthy RIP

« Last post by 40hz on April 25, 2011, 07:36 PM »

That is indeed very sad news. She will be missed by many.

7767

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by 40hz on April 25, 2011, 07:03 PM »

It's been one of those days today...  

** Viewer discretion (some adult language) **

Note: There's a good chance this has already been posted somewhere on DC since this video went viral a while ago.

I don't care.

Like I said: It's been one of those days.  

7768

Living Room / Re: Easiest laptop (brand) to take apart ?

« Last post by 40hz on April 25, 2011, 03:32 PM »

I'm not sure what more precisions I could add to what I already described in previous post.

-Armando (April 25, 2011, 01:54 PM)

Sorry.  That's right. You did say it was to be able to get to the CPU and fan/heatsink assembly to clean it didn't you. 

7769

Living Room / Re: Tech UN-Support

« Last post by 40hz on April 25, 2011, 03:25 PM »

Nice of you not to sell her a NIC - or that new computer.

I know a few places (and not small local guys either) that would have done it in a heartbeat if it was given them as an option.  

How some people in our 'biz' manage to sleep at night will always remain a mystery to me.  

7770

ProcessTamer / Re: 为什么不更新了

« Last post by 40hz on April 25, 2011, 03:18 PM »

inspite of amazing generosity & tolerance of above DC members , I think this is spam.

Ska

-SKA (April 25, 2011, 09:48 AM)

I am not sure why you would think it is spam. It contains no links, no mention of other products, and the person's profile contains no links or any other signs of spam.

Until it contains any of those, I vote to leave it alone.

-app103 (April 25, 2011, 09:53 AM)

Me too.

It could also be someone playing with DoCo a bit. Which makes for an interesting parlor game. But I see no fault or foul in it so far.

A moderator's quick check of the originating IP address might give a better (albeit not 100% reliable) clue as to the point of origin. Better would be if someone who was fluent in Mandarin could take a look at the message and see if they though it read more like 'real' colloquial Chinese rather than something in English that was put through a Babelfish translation.

 

7771

Living Room / Re: Easiest laptop (brand) to take apart ?

« Last post by 40hz on April 25, 2011, 01:20 PM »

Out of curiosity, why is access to the CPU so  important?  Most are surface mount and wave-soldered to the mainboard so they're not field replaceable.

As long as there's access panels for the RAM slots, the HD bay, and possibly the WiFi card, what else do you normally need access to?

The DVD, the floppy (if there is one) and the battery usually just slide out once you release the retention catch sliders.

Anything else you'll probably have trouble getting raw service parts for anyway - so why worry? Most manufacturers have a policy of not shipping boards to consumers. Those are strictly "authorized service center only" parts.

Besides, If you need a new main or video circuit board you're usually better of just getting a new laptop since it was likely damaged by a power problem on the regulation circuit. Any time you had a power sourced failure it may also have damaged other components besides the one that failed. That turns into a spiral sometimes as you gradually end up replacing one component after another until you effectively end up with a new laptop anyway.
 

7772

Living Room / Re: Loss of ownership / control over a .org domain - advice requested

« Last post by 40hz on April 25, 2011, 12:53 PM »

The "www" part of domain names refers to what the internet is - the Wild, Wild West. People suck.

-f0dder (April 25, 2011, 05:00 AM)

The suckier part is that you can't just run around and shoot people that piss you off anymore though...  

-Renegade (April 25, 2011, 05:06 AM)

Yeah. In the 'enlightened' society where I live, the government frowns on it enough that they may even elect to send you up for The Big Sleep if you do.  

I personally think shooting cybersquatters should be a constitutionally protected activity. 

7773

Living Room / Re: Techno-Addicts

« Last post by 40hz on April 25, 2011, 12:20 PM »

A lot of this can be cultural differences, I thought that zero-tolerance had been tried in parts of the US (with some fairly dysfunctional effects)

-tomos (April 25, 2011, 08:57 AM)

I think tomos hit the nail on the head. Different cultures have different mores. And the degree of community cooperativeness is a manifestation of those mores.  

That's what makes the United States so bewildering and difficult to get a handle on. (Only the game of Cricket is harder to understand.)  The United States is not a monoculture. There are dozens of different versions of the United States. And they don't exist in isolation. Many of them overlap each other, and sometimes even exist in weird paradoxical juxtapositions within a given social group.

That's why when people say "You Americans..." ( or we say "We Americans...") I immediately ask which Americans we're talking about. Because as far as I can see, the only thing the USA is really 'united' in is it's differences. That and a general consensus it's our god-given right to disagree with each other.

Most Americans disagree with something. And while we're quick to try to legislate behaviors, we've so far (knock wood) been very reluctant to limit debate, restrict speech, or forbid criticism of those in power. How long this attitude will prevail is anybody's guess however.

7774

Living Room / Re: Higgs Boson, God Particle, rumored to have been found.

« Last post by 40hz on April 24, 2011, 07:58 PM »

I sometimes wonder if the Higgs Boson particle would have sparked one half the arguments (or one one-hundredth the political/emotional/religious commentary and debate) if some twit in the press didn't dub it the "God Particle" first...

7775

Living Room / Re: Techno-Addicts

« Last post by 40hz on April 24, 2011, 07:50 PM »

I'd suggest that there's some pretty important freedoms available in Singapore, vis a vis, say, the USA...
- freedom from drugged up crazies
- freedom from gun toting crazies
- freedom from crushing poverty
- freedom from rednecks
 Rather than focus on state imposed conformity, it might be more illustrative to consider the cultural aspect involved, that people have a sense of community.

-tsaint (April 24, 2011, 06:21 PM)

Hmm...that might be a problem if it were widespread and constant. But I think it's more the exception than the rule in most places in the United States. At any rate I wouldn't consider it a big enough and constant problem that I'd be willing to bring in a 24X7 police state just to avoid the possibility it might. Some cures are worse than the maladies they profess to address. And that's assuming such things actually are widespread and constant problems. From where I sit they seem much more like sporadic and occasional incidents.

Conformity is also not the same thing as community. Nor does a 'sense of community' automatically means it's for the good. Prison guards and death squads have a sense of community purpose and belonging by nature of the fact members share the same occupation and  immediate goals. Same goes for most hate groups, totalitarian governmental political parties - as well as the most humanitarian of relief agencies and public philanthropies.

'Sense of community' is just another manifestation of groupthink. And as such it's neutral. It doesn't automatically bring with it anything that's intrinsically good or evil. It's just one more mind tool that can be employed for either good or ill, depending on the intentions and mores of the community in question.

William Gibson is a little over the top with his essay in places. But I think at the core of it he's onto something: Don't be too taken in by appearances.

For my part, I'd rather take my chances here. But to each his/her own.