Recent Posts

7801

Living Room / Re: Is Amazon the new Apple?

« Last post by 40hz on April 21, 2011, 01:07 PM »

@Renegade: that's some image Bro... (Jeez!)

-40hz (April 20, 2011, 06:24 PM)

Nah... It's just every third episode or so of "Criminal Minds" or "Law & Order".

-Renegade (April 20, 2011, 07:19 PM)

Glad I don't watch much cop series TV then. Don't need to either. We're currently worried the police may be dealing with the real thing not too far from where I live right now. Not good.

7802

Living Room / Re: Anyone here using a standing desk?

« Last post by 40hz on April 21, 2011, 12:59 PM »

On a more "on topic" note, plans for a stand-up desk can be found here and here.

The link at Instructables.com has a bunch of other standing desk projects over on the right hand side of the page.

7803

Living Room / Re: Anyone here using a standing desk?

« Last post by 40hz on April 21, 2011, 12:50 PM »

I told him if I stuck two fingers up my ass I could probably whistle, but I wasn't about to try that either

-Stoic Joker (April 21, 2011, 11:42 AM)

That's a shame. You never know when some band is looking to hire.

7804

Living Room / Re: Switching to Linux; how do you not flop back to the world of Windows??

« Last post by 40hz on April 21, 2011, 12:34 PM »

I went to start some Linux development today, only to discover that I should actually do it in Windows. The irony just about killed me.

-Renegade (April 21, 2011, 09:11 AM)

Interesting! (And very funny!)

But why was that?

Your preferred compiler is Windows only?

Or are you thinking in terms of .NET - and planning on walking <*thunder rumbles*> The Dark Vale of Mono!!! <*lightning flashes - woman screams*>  

7805

Site/Forum Features / Re: I think we should close the Company Complaints and Compliments Section

« Last post by 40hz on April 21, 2011, 12:21 PM »

It did seem to keep it largely confined to that one spot rather than all over the Living Room or General Software sections.

But if it's just becoming a free-standing 'slag zone' perhaps we are better off without it.

7806

Living Room / Re: Anyone here using a standing desk?

« Last post by 40hz on April 21, 2011, 12:11 PM »

Also bought one of those "kneeling chairs" that used to be in vogue.

-40hz (April 21, 2011, 07:13 AM)

I had a friend that wanted me to try one of those...Because I'd "Probably like it". I told him if I stuck two fingers up my ass I could probably whistle, but I wasn't about to try that either...So go get me a proper friggin chair.

-Stoic Joker (April 21, 2011, 11:42 AM)

Suggest he buy it - and you pay him back if you decide to keep it.

Side Note: I haven't been in vogue since 1973.

If it's any comfort, I've personally never been "in vogue" a single day in my entire life.

Doesn't seem to be an issue. I've still got friends.

7807

Living Room / Re: Hungarian Bubble-Sort

« Last post by 40hz on April 21, 2011, 08:56 AM »

Gotta show that to my GF. She's Magyar and into computers.  (pronounced:muhd-yahr = a Hungarian)!

Thx.  

7808

General Software Discussion / Re: Complaint about Bartels Media \ the PhraseExpress people

« Last post by 40hz on April 21, 2011, 08:05 AM »

I think this thread should be locked at this stage.

This thread should not only be locked but deleted. I would love to see if this forum finally would stop making a business out of giving anonymous trolls a platform to spread unsubstantial rants with the sole purpose of harming business reputation.

We really have no problems if you express that you had any issues with our products. But it should be done in a respectful and appropriate manner. This extremely hostile and invalid posting really is intolerable. Take it down.

-BartelsMedia (April 21, 2011, 07:46 AM)

I think if you spent a little more time around here, you would know that's not the sort of thing that gets done at DoCo.

And if you had a little more understanding and appreciation for what DoCo is all about, you might know why.

This thread has nothing to do with free speech - If DC ever wanted to be taken as a serious platform, it should reserve some control to allow keeping a minimum of mutual respect. It seems to be necessary as some unfortunate parts of this forum community itself is obviously lacking that.

FYI: DoCo is viewed and admired as a "serious platform" by a large number of people -  many of whom are not members of the site. It's also widely respected for the degree of civility displayed in its forums. It's spoken of quite highly in many places on the web.

(Just thought you'd like to know.)

 

7809

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: High Speed Source Code Viewer [portable, freeware available]

« Last post by 40hz on April 21, 2011, 07:46 AM »

Welcome to Donation Coder!

Plan a giving Depeche View a try sometime in the next few days. Looks to be a very useful tool.

I also took a moment to check out some of your music over at your website. Very nice work. I particularly liked Cat the Hop and Flying. Flying would make a great intro theme for a game. Mind my asking what you used to create them with? (I'd normally use Propellerhead's Reason for something like that.)

7810

Living Room / Re: Switching to Linux; how do you not flop back to the world of Windows??

« Last post by 40hz on April 21, 2011, 07:25 AM »

who doesn't love a good ol' linux vs. windows fight?

-cthorpe (April 21, 2011, 12:16 AM)

True.

IMO some of the very best and most insightful (is that a word?) posts I've ever read were here during Linux/FOSS ...um...'discussions.'

Didn't matter if the comments were for or against. Most were well considered and very well written. Learned a lot reading and participating in some of those threads. Sharpened my thinking and deepened my respect for more than one DoCo member. (Good stuff!)
 

7811

Living Room / Re: Anyone here using a standing desk?

« Last post by 40hz on April 21, 2011, 07:13 AM »

Closest I've ever come is using a workbench or a drafting table for extended periods of time.

In the case of the workbench, I felt better at the end of the day than I normally would if I'd been sitting. The drafting table was more of a mixed experience. Maybe it felt a little better than sitting. But still not much, since I tended to lean whenever I was writing. So I think feeling better had more to do with all my moving around while at the workbench than it did with my not sitting at it.

Tried the exercise ball thing. Didn't like it. I couldn't get decent enough posture while trying to keep it where I wanted it. I also tend to roll slightly forward and back depending upon what I'm doing. (Closer in for most typing, further back for predominantly mousing tasks.)  After a while, my lower back started getting sore with the ball. (Somebody told me it worked better if you sorta bounced slightly while you were on it?) Also bought one of those "kneeling chairs" that used to be in vogue. I liked it. My back felt great. But my knees started aching after a few days. Stopped using the chair and the pain went away. Started using it again and the pain returned. In the end, I gave it to a friend and never looked back. Been using a good ergo-type chair ever since. No regrets on that score even though I'm painfully aware I sit in it far too many hours straight for my own good.

I'm gonna side with f0dder. I think he's right when he said regularly changing positions seems to do more than anything else.

And I'll also be the first to agree that just sitting all day is probably the worst thing you can do.

Hmm...maybe I should try a standing desk? They're easy enough to build...  

7812

Living Room / Re: Is Amazon the new Apple?

« Last post by 40hz on April 20, 2011, 06:24 PM »

but it's simply not enough to claim that you helped an old lady across the street when your backyard is full of rotting corpses.

-Renegade (April 20, 2011, 08:49 AM)

Blasted! Gotta think of something else, then

-f0dder (April 20, 2011, 09:10 AM)

Um...are you talking about the old lady or a...uh...backyard 'problem' right now?   

-----
@Renegade: that's some image Bro... (Jeez!)

7813

Living Room / Re: Switching to Linux; how do you not flop back to the world of Windows??

« Last post by 40hz on April 20, 2011, 06:17 PM »

Oh well...

I would have said the same thing two years ago anyway. 

(Gotta check the dates...gotta check the dates... )

7814

General Software Discussion / Re: Complaint about Bartels Media \ the PhraseExpress people

« Last post by 40hz on April 20, 2011, 04:21 PM »

So for the best, I'm marking this thread to ignore, trying to follow Chris' example in the future.

-wraith808 (April 20, 2011, 01:21 PM)

Wraith, I would love if this long-going wish would ever come true.

Now, here is the deal:

Refrain from any BartelsMedia related thread at DC for one year and I will donate PE licenses worth US $1,400.- to fellow DC forum members (with more than 1000 postings). Mouser can run a nice "Happy Easter 2012" promotion with those licenses.

The deal starts from now on. No confirmation required.

-BartelsMedia (April 20, 2011, 02:24 PM)

Boy does that offer ever fit in with the culture and character of DonationCoder.

7815

Living Room / Re: Switching to Linux; how do you not flop back to the world of Windows??

« Last post by 40hz on April 20, 2011, 03:52 PM »

Windows does everything I need my home PC to do, and Linux is still more trouble than it's worth for daily use.

-cthorpe (April 20, 2011, 01:35 PM)

If that's the case, stick with Windows as your main computing environment, and cruise Linux when and if:

• it makes sense to do so
• you're curious about something
• you're bored with Windows or want some variety

Unless you have a political axe to grind (or some mutated Apple fanboy molecule has entered your bloodstream) there's no need to ever pick one over the other.  Use Windows, Linux, or both. It's all about choice. Not about taking sides in some imaginary battle. And there's absolutely no sane reason to exclusively use Linux other than if it works better for you.

Even a Linux advocate like myself wouldn't ask you to do any more than you've already done. You tried it. And after you did, you decided it didn't bring enough to the party for you to completely switch over to it.

You're not missing anything. You're just using your head.

If something ever happens to change your mind, Linux will be waiting for you. And free for the download.

7816

General Software Discussion / Re: Complaint about Bartels Media \ the PhraseExpress people

« Last post by 40hz on April 20, 2011, 08:14 AM »

Am I the only person having a problem with the way BartlesMedia responded in this thread?

7817

Living Room / Re: Proof That People Cannot Read (EULAs)

« Last post by 40hz on April 18, 2011, 10:48 PM »

nice story 40hz!

-mouser (April 18, 2011, 06:53 PM)

Only in retrospect. That reprimand set the tone for the rest of my tenure with that company. I got passed over for a promotion twice because of it.

-40hz (April 18, 2011, 09:22 PM)

Truthfully, if they passed me over for promotion because of that, and if that was my boss' response to it, it wouldn't be a place I'd want to work.  True, there are some lines, and there are times and places for it- but that response was more than a bit over the top if it wasn't a document for a client.

-wraith808 (April 18, 2011, 09:43 PM)

I can't see the harm in it. It's a check to see if reviewers actually reviewed it. If nobody catches it, then you go back and delete it before it goes out, or ask to have it reviewed again, but this time properly.

@40Hz - Your boss there seems short-sighted.

-Renegade (April 18, 2011, 10:17 PM)

It was a document for internal use by very senior management. It was also at a Fortune 500 company back when they used to take that designation very seriously.

My boss was a bit of a drudge with no sense of humor. But he was a fairly decent guy to work for most times. The getting passed over for promotion part was more because an advance copy of my report (which wasn't supposed to go out without approval) got sent over to the General Manager's office by special request prior to its final proofing and sign-off. My little joke got spotted by the GM's secretary, who made a snarly phone call to my boss about it. It was more her phone call than the joke itself that put me in the dog house. She was pretty well connected up on "mahogany row" because she'd been around forever and was personal friends with the company's founders. So nobody ever messed with her if they could avoid it.

Don't know if she actually said something to directly cause problems for me. But having the people I reported to know she didn't like me certainly didn't help my career much.

Either way, it was a dumb move on my part.

Live and learn.

------------------

@wraith - I agree with you about their reaction being over the top. And it not being a place I'd want to work at. Because the second time I missed out on a promotion (which all my cohorts were sure I'd receive) I decided I wanted to leave. Especially after I found out why I didn't get it.

But that's what ultimately got me out of finance and into computers, so no complaints.

In the end it was all for the best. Like so many things.

7818

Living Room / Re: Proof That People Cannot Read (EULAs)

« Last post by 40hz on April 18, 2011, 09:22 PM »

nice story 40hz!

-mouser (April 18, 2011, 06:53 PM)

Only in retrospect. That reprimand set the tone for the rest of my tenure with that company. I got passed over for a promotion twice because of it.

Moral: Next time you think of something really clever to pull at work: Don't.  

7819

Living Room / Re: Proof That People Cannot Read (EULAs)

« Last post by 40hz on April 18, 2011, 06:46 PM »

By the way, a sometimes I've done something similar with documents I write for work.  When sending them out for review, I put in a line of text saying, "If you're the first reviewer to mention this sentence, I'll buy you lunch."  I'd say about half the time, I get called on it.  I can't remember where i got the idea - I think it was at my first 'real' job at a transit/traffic consulting firm where someone did this.

-mwb1100 (April 18, 2011, 03:51 PM)

Hope you made out better than I did doing almost the same thing at my first real job.

I put a single line in the middle of a paragraph about halfway into a twenty page financial analysis I had just completed. I had offered to buy and bring the first person who saw it their morning coffee for an entire month.

I got called into my manager's office about an hour after I sent it up for approval. After being reminded we were expected to "act professionally at all times" (since this was the "grownup world") he strongly cautioned me against pulling any further "college pranks" if I planned on continuing to work there. I was then sent back to my desk with a red face and my tail between my legs.

But not before my manager also reminded me that, per my offer, I now owed him a month's worth of free coffee. (Black, two sugars please?)

(He made sure he collected on it too.)

 

7820

Living Room / Re: The anti-piracy lobby makes a convincing argument

« Last post by 40hz on April 17, 2011, 02:44 PM »

It's kind of amusing to have them implying inferior quality on a download when you look at how poor the transfer is on so many of the commercial BlueRay releases. Especially when compared to the same titles on standard DVD.

If BlueRay is the future, give me the past.

7821

Living Room / Re: Flight Simulation... Do You Partake?

« Last post by 40hz on April 17, 2011, 12:41 PM »

@CT - that is a really amazing site. I've been a FlightSim user since forever. (Really bummed me when hackers crashed avsim.com and all that data got lost.) But I never heard of anything like this. Thanks so much for sharing. I get the feeling my hours in the "air" are about to go up significantly. Again.
 

7822

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: NewsBin Pro $35.00 -> $10.00 *lifetime subscription*

« Last post by 40hz on April 16, 2011, 11:33 AM »

Will someone please give Real Life examples to what Usenet is good for? 

-Curt (April 16, 2011, 05:29 AM)

Once, discussions.
Now, porn and warez.

-mrHappy (April 16, 2011, 08:16 AM)

And bootleg music, ebooks, and video. 

7823

Living Room / Re: Downloadsquad shutting down - Another one bites the dust

« Last post by 40hz on April 15, 2011, 08:55 AM »

They appear to have landed here: Browser Scene

-johnk (April 15, 2011, 08:33 AM)

Yay!

What's all this, then?

Well, when Download Squad shut down, we needed somewhere to write. Immediately. This is what we've done for years, and we wanted to keep doing it.

Because we love writing about and playing with all the amazing Web browsers and apps out there, we decided to zero in and make that our focus.

The design will change, we may switch publishing platforms, and the Earth could be overrun by zombies. But we'll still be here posting.
The Crew
Lee Mathews
Vlad
Matthew Rogers
Sebastian Anthony
Erez Zukerman

7824

Developer's Corner / Re: Virtualization to Create Single EXEs from Mixed Assemblies

« Last post by 40hz on April 15, 2011, 04:03 AM »

Hey! Renegade's got a new avatar. Like it!

Thx for the heads up too!

7825

Living Room / Re: Old Computer Ads - This is way cool!

« Last post by 40hz on April 15, 2011, 03:54 AM »

@40hz:
Not if they trademarked the term "personal computer" like they would today!

-zridling (April 15, 2011, 03:45 AM)

Very true.

After a while I seem to remember Apple qualified that comment and started calling it something like "the first generally available personal computer" or "the first personal computer you can actually go out and buy" after many in the early PC community took issue with their original claim.