Recent Posts

801

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: All Packt Publishing eBooks and Videos are $5 today

« Last post by 40hz on December 18, 2014, 07:33 PM »

And me!

802

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by 40hz on December 18, 2014, 04:14 PM »

I know for a fact that equipment that allows off grid power is a very sensitive issue with building and safety, and other code related agencies.

-superboyac (December 18, 2014, 03:44 PM)

Yup. You still usually need to have utility mains attached to your house (making you subject to utility charges for "line maintenance" and various fees regardless of how little utility power you actually use) if you want to keep your CO. Most municipalities require electrical service as a condition of occupancy. You usually also, at a minimum, need to spring for an electrician to install a fairly expensive transfer switch for safety reasons. That, however, does make sense purely from an engineering perspective. So it's not entirely motivated by political considerations.

A 200A service main is not something to tinker with lightly. Screw up messing with that degree of electrical potential and you'll likely wind up as a cautionary tale on the local 6 o'clock news channel.



 

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Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by 40hz on December 18, 2014, 11:38 AM »

@Ren - if you didn't want to get bogged with Laserhacker, you definitely don't want to check out this guy's YT channel.

More seriously, if you're thinking of going off the power grid as much as possible, you'll need to know about the stuff he's demoing. Not sexy or bleeding edge like Laserhacker's site. But he's rock solid on whole house inverters and battery tech. Something you'll need to know about if you plan on disconnecting from the utility mains. Good product reviews too.

I had an electrician I know vet the info this guy is presenting. She said he is correct - but be sure to check your local electrical and building codes. Because some of what he's doing gets into grey areas - and may be illegal depending on where you are. And in some places, you may also need to obtain a permit to do it even if it does comply with electrical and/or building codes.

She said if you have a fire or injury due to code violations, your homeowner's insurance won't cover you. And you could also be subject to fines - and possibly some community service or slam time - if someone got hurt as a result. She said it's always best check with a licensed electrician before you start mucking with your AC or house mains. If for no other reason than to avoid electrocuting yourself. She said it's a lot easier to do than most people think.

She also said it shouldn't cost much ($100-200 at most) for someone reputable and licensed to review whatever you plan on doing and let you know if it's kosher.

 

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Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by 40hz on December 18, 2014, 09:59 AM »

Laserhacker.com - one of the better alternative power project websites I've ever visited. I'm in the process of gathering materials to try out the crystal power cell project detailed here - and thinking of adapting the supercapacitor boost pack project for a friend's powerboat.

Check it out. It's time well spent.

-40hz (December 17, 2014, 11:05 AM)

You just sounded like "Doc" there!

-superboyac (December 17, 2014, 08:19 PM)

LOL! But which one? Who? Savage? Or the Disney dwarf?

805

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by 40hz on December 17, 2014, 08:48 PM »

I pray nobody in Hollywood gets a wild hair to start cinematizing Kafka.

-Edvard (December 17, 2014, 12:12 AM)

@Edvard - Too late! It happened in 1962.

Unedited and long talk by Wells on the making of The Trial (along with other things) can be found here. Wells is a fascinating character and well worth listening to. That voice alone is worth it.

And a full list of others (mostly not by Hollywood USA) can be found here.

Oh yes, the BBC took a stab at Kafka in 1993 as well:

 

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General Software Discussion / Re: auto switching of network drive mapping

« Last post by 40hz on December 17, 2014, 08:28 PM »

By the way, do you happen to know WHY I can map a drive letter to an FTP drive using NETDRIVE2 with Zero problems but cannot do the same thing with any other program.

-questorfla (December 17, 2014, 02:50 PM)

Not really sure. Have you ever tried Ferro Backup's freebie FtpUse ?

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General Software Discussion / Re: auto switching of network drive mapping

« Last post by 40hz on December 17, 2014, 01:16 PM »

The trick is not to allow Windows to manage your wifi connections. Many laptops include an OEM supplied utility (usually written by Intel or done for IBM, HP, or Lenovo) that handles all this for you.

For 3rd-party, take a look at freebie/FOSS project Argon; and for "pay-for" check out NetSetMan Pro.  (~€18/$20 USD last I looked)

808

Living Room / Re: A stoned guy renamed some of his favorite items while high...

« Last post by 40hz on December 17, 2014, 12:59 PM »

Better that than the CIA, NSA, and Executive Branch renaming some of their favorite things while stone cold sober.

-40hz (December 17, 2014, 11:08 AM)

Heh.  When I lived in Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis was credited with substituting the term "Revenue Enhancement" for taxes. 

-MilesAhead (December 17, 2014, 12:45 PM)

LOL!  Right up there with "five-finger discount."

809

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by 40hz on December 17, 2014, 12:50 PM »

That makes things really scary for people who only know the basic concepts of bitcoin.

-SeraphimLabs (December 17, 2014, 12:01 PM)

And I would guess that those people represent somewhere north of 85% of all the people who might be using Botcoin currently - and possibly 99% of those who would be using it if (or once) it went mainstream.

Simple fact is most people are not sufficiently up on data signal security and cryptographic methodologies to have a considered opinion - let alone be able to adequately evaluate somebody else's opinion of it.

In the end, it all comes down to a matter of trust for most people. Whom do you trust about this?

Or, if that's too much to ask for, to SeraphimLabs earlier point: Who will be blamed??? Who will be held to account if it ever goes sideways big time? For the average Bitcoin user (who has little hope of understanding much of this technology) the response is a resounding: "Not I!"

With a decoupled currency system such as we now have, the collapse of one currency system does not necessarily bring down all currencies. Governments worldwide will step in quickly to shore up the global monetary system until the problem gets resolved. But with a distributed, "non-fixable responsibility" system that is only protected by encryption and some clever algorithms, and no governmental sanction to date, it is very possible a systemic breech or failure could bring the entire system down in flames. And lacking government sanction, it's doubtful many governments would intervene should it ever happen. Many might even conveniently argue a lack of legal jurisdiction because Bitcoin is not a 'recognized' or 'registered' investment vehicle, commercial paper, or currency. A case could be made for intervention on the grounds of wire fraud perhaps. But that would be about as good as it gets. And from my experience with government agencies, their feeling about something like Bitcoin will probably be: "You wanted to operate independent of government? OMF-YOYO!"

Now some may well believe Bitcoin can't be compromised due to the programming cleverness behind it. But up until recently we believed Tor was extremely secure, digital certificates were an excellent safeguard, and random numbers really were random. Complex engraved artwork and special paper was considered a foolproof check against counterfeiting until photo offset printing came along and counterfeiters discovered they could bleach single denominated paper currency and reprint them as hundred dollar bills.

Whatever is made by human design can be undone by humans, given time and sufficient motivation.

And it will be interesting to see how crypto-currencies fare over the long run since there are sufficient humans and motivation on both sides of the equation.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Some unknown webpage opens itself after starting my PC!

« Last post by 40hz on December 17, 2014, 12:02 PM »

But i'll still not use anti-virus lol, its not that i m not heeding your opinion, it just slows my pc. I have a decent pc with dual core , 2 GB ram and 3.0 Ghz processor. Whenever i'll have a drastic situation , then restore would the way to go. But these kind of annoying things are rather best fixed and opt to a drastic restore.

-hulkbuster (December 17, 2014, 10:10 AM)

Fine (sorta ) as long as you don't do any online banking or shopping on that machine. If somebody succeeds in dropping a keylogging trojan on your PC, all the cleaning and recovery operations in the world won't mitigate the problems you may shortly encounter. It'll just be locking the barn after your horse is gone.

Antimalware is most effective when it's used as a preventative - not as a "fix."

Anyway...good luck going forward.  You'll need it.

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Living Room / Re: A stoned guy renamed some of his favorite items while high...

« Last post by 40hz on December 17, 2014, 11:08 AM »

Better that than the CIA, NSA, and Executive Branch renaming some of their favorite things while stone cold sober.

812

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by 40hz on December 17, 2014, 11:05 AM »

Laserhacker.com - one of the better alternative power project websites I've ever visited. I'm in the process of gathering materials to try out the crystal power cell project detailed here - and thinking of adapting the supercapacitor boost pack project for a friend's powerboat.

Check it out. It's time well spent.

813

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by 40hz on December 17, 2014, 10:12 AM »

Dammit... I'm into my second bottle (750 ml) of ginger ale here that I brewed with Lalvin EC-1118...

But you raise really good points, and I'll be damned if I'll let a bit of intoxication fart with a response~!

-Renegade (December 17, 2014, 08:17 AM)

But perhaps you should? Just sayin'

But I think you're wrong about the comparison there. A few jerks can't spoil Bitcoin because it's decentralised, and at any time the miners can tell the Bitcoin development team to go f**k themselves.

It would take a LOT of assholes~!

There's a balance in Bitcoin that doesn't exist in other systems. You can create any code you want for Bitcoin and run it. But that doesn't mean that anyone else will do the same. One or two assholes can't poison the pie here. It takes a massive number of assholes to do it.

-Renegade (December 17, 2014, 08:17 AM)

A medium of exchange is only as good as the general public's and the business community's belief and trust in it is. Otherwise, Bitcoins are nothing but faux-collectibles. Their relative rarity is manufactured. No different than pogs, or Beanie Baby dolls, or baseball cards - which may be "valuable" within a minor subset or two of enthusiasts - but are pretty much worthless anywhere else.

Right now I see a certain schizophrenia in the Bitcoin world. One part is attempting to establish Bitcoin as a "store of value" and a "medium of exchange." A fancy way of saying: Bitcoin is REAL MONEY! The other part seems to be saying: Bitcoin is sooo much more than that. It's a...it's a...Oh go screw yourself! You just don't get it!

And in this framework it definitely won't take much more than a jerk or two to derail it. Maybe not within the community of Bitcoin diehards who will be the last to ever admit a failure. They'll continue to man the bastions to defend it long after the rest of the world, having better things to do, gets on with their lives sans Bitcoin.

Truth is, Bitcoin is too much of an "in" thing for it's own good. And from many of the comments by Bitcoin enthusiasts, I think a large part of the Bitcoin world would rather it remain that way. A thing for "the cool kids" to play with. And as for the rest of you? Catch up as best you can - or better yet - KTFO! It's an elitist attitude that doesn't work in Bitcoin's favor if the goal, as espoused, is to make Bitcoin universal.

But maybe that's just me. I've generally found most Bitcoin enthusiasts to be pretty obnoxious about it once they start talking and let their guard down. They've "bought their 'cool'" as George Sanger so beautifully phrased it. Fairly typical behavior for a clique. And Bitcoin is still very much a clique.

Either way, Bitcoin will have its moment on the stage. Whether or not it turns out to be " full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" is entirely up to those involved.

I wish them the best.

814

Developer's Corner / Re: OS News on The Devaluing Effect of the Application Store Model

« Last post by 40hz on December 17, 2014, 09:47 AM »

Which goes to show there's very 'good' reasons why none of the big players are willing to publish any relevant data about revenues - or revenue sharing with devs.

815

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by 40hz on December 17, 2014, 06:41 AM »

@Ren - I think enough people want it to work right now that the single biggest threat is some people in the Bitcoin community doing something completely jive to torpedo it. I remember the heady early days of the libertarian party when everybody thought this was finally the big break with the past we'd all been waiting for. Surprise! Surprise!

All it takes is one or two jerks to poison the well. I already see that happening over in the FOSS world where the stakes are perhaps even higher.

I don't know if the sudden reduction in serious governmental push-back is a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe those that would see Bitcoin gone are banking on the "fall from grace" so many new social movements too regularly suffer. If so, the odds are certainly in their favor.

Good luck Bitcoin.

816

General Software Discussion / Re: Farewell, Dr. Dobbs

« Last post by 40hz on December 17, 2014, 06:27 AM »

I guess surviving means you keep losing those things you enjoyed along the way.

-MilesAhead (December 17, 2014, 05:59 AM)

+1

In an era of technology where the desire to be considered "cool" has almost entirely replaced the desire to be considered "elegant," it's understandable. Brightly colored cookie cutter apps, running on locked-down dumb-downed devices, for a dumbed-down and uncaring public. That's where we seem to be going these days. People will even camp out on the sidewalk for days just to be among the first to buy in.

Such a high price we pay for "Cool!"

817

General Software Discussion / Re: Farewell, Dr. Dobbs

« Last post by 40hz on December 16, 2014, 08:23 PM »

Sad to see the first and finest purveyor of "computer callisthenics and orthodontia" ("Running light without overbyte!) finally quits the field. I still have some of my old issues carefully stowed away.



It's a whole new world.

818

Living Room / Re: Every Episode Of Every 'Star Trek' Series Ever, Ranked

« Last post by 40hz on December 16, 2014, 04:59 PM »

IMHO it began to slip with Deep Space Nine. And I do my best to not think about Voyager or Enterprise.

But it was an interesting list. And I definitely agree with their #1 and most of the top 20.

819

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by 40hz on December 16, 2014, 01:36 PM »

^Anything P.K. Dick did in that era with his "Valis" concept is both intriguing - and ultimately disappointing. Radio Free Albemuth as a book ranged from barely tolerable to OK. The movie was...um...mostly less so. Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here handled that theme far better, and frankly, far more believably - no scifi or fancy tech needed to pull it off. Lewis's book should be required reading for every schoolchild in America. (I'm not holding my breath for that however.) And I'd love for someone to make it into a major motion picture. (Not holding my breath for that one either.)

Oh well. Maybe someday some brave soul will do it as a web series while we're still able to.

If you like old movies, the 1942 Keeper of the Flame adapted from I.A.R. Wylie's novel of the same name is worth watching.



Tracy and Hepburn in an unusually dark and serious setting this time out. Was the unexpected and accidental death of a beloved national war hero (and rising political juggernaut) as simple as that? Or was there something far more sinister behind it all? Very cool noire flick that was quite out of character for the movies of that period, even if there still was some of that 40s zaniness in places. Recommended. (This story is just begging for a remake.)

Also check out the big 1964 surprise Seven Days in May with screenplay by none other than Rod Serling.



A ballsy cautionary movie made in an era where you didn't talk, let alone think, about things like this as far as the United States was concerned. (What are you? One of those Commie sympathizers or something? Somebody ought to report you to the FBI, buddy!)

The official trailer is one of the biggest spoilers going. If you're in a rush (or the tl:dr type who wants to skip watching the entire film) this trailer will effectively give you the entire story in 3-minutes 43-seconds flat. You have been warned!

 

820

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by 40hz on December 16, 2014, 09:15 AM »

^I couldn't really get my head around that book or the movie. All of the characters seemed extremely weak (I can only take so much northern euro angst before I want to dope-smack somebody) or flat-out crazy. Maybe it's also because I had trouble with how the story seemed to present virtually every male as a sexual predator - or inferred they were a potential sexual predator. Must be rough if you're a woman living in Sweden if that's even partially true.

Or maybe that was just my take on it.

Not a single half-likeable character anywhere in it either. Something I think is very important in a movie since there's so little time to build enough backstory for a viewer to independently develop sympathy for a character without a little nudge from the director.

In truth, the characters in Dragon Tattoo seemed rather flat to me. Take the two main characters. Mikael is a frustrating study in blundering ineffectual dithering. Odd for someone who's supposed to be a crackerjack investigative news publisher. Lisbeth is completely over the top. To be expected considering the degree of damage she's endured. But the humanity is so crushed out of her, that there's little most people could ever hope to relate to. She has more in common with the absolute rage of a Greek fury than a victim who's learned to fight back. And because of that she comes across as very one-dimensional. And it was also very hard for me to buy into her uber-hacker prowess. But in fairness, I have the same problem with virtually any hacker character you'll meet in a movie. Maybe knowing something about how hacking really works has spoiled it all for me. "So it goes."

I dunno. It was a well made movie to be sure. But something about it just left me feeling cold and detached from it all. Others may see it differently.
 

821

Living Room / How they program Christmas music for the holiday season

« Last post by 40hz on December 16, 2014, 08:44 AM »

Interesting article on holiday music programming over at FiveThirtyEight .

Holiday Music   7:15 AM Dec 12, 2014

Of Course You Hear What I Hear — Christmas Music Season Is Totally Data-Driven

By Walt Hickey   

On Oct. 24 at 6:24 p.m., Magic 96.5 in Birmingham, Alabama, flipped its “St. Nick” switch. The soft-rock radio station began playing all holiday music all the time.

Magic 96.5 (WMJJ-FM) was one of the first stations in 2014 to give listeners exactly what they want at year’s end: more the Madonna than Madonna. In fact, there’s an entire library of songs that are in constant demand now, but people cringe if they hear them months before.

Radio’s wall-to-wall holiday format is a recent development. Of course, stations in the past played some Christmas music on Dec. 24 and 25, but the vast majority of soft-rock stations began switching to all-holiday soundtracks in the 1990s. The first to throw out its regular playlist entirely was 99.9 KEZ (KESZ-FM) in Phoenix, in 1991 or 1992.1 The variety station saw a substantial jump in its ratings, and the trend eventually caught on nationwide. <more>

Note. FiveThirtyEight is a little bit different. If you're into polls and predictive statistical analysis, be sure to check it out.  More on how it came to be can be found here.

822

Living Room / Re: 38 mi/62 km long 5.9 GHz link that supported ~ 1 mbps on HamWAN

« Last post by 40hz on December 15, 2014, 06:29 PM »

I always love how we computer types like to think we're such techno-ninja badasses. The ham radio community is so far ahead of us with cool projects and tech that most of us aren't even close to being in the same league with these people.

823

Living Room / Re: Animation question: exposures on "eights" or "twelves"

« Last post by 40hz on December 15, 2014, 06:23 PM »

Thx! I just learned something.

-40hz (December 15, 2014, 06:08 PM)

Just trying to get even!

-superboyac (December 15, 2014, 06:10 PM)

Be my guest. I'm bored with the stuff I already know.

824

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by 40hz on December 15, 2014, 06:17 PM »

I don't remember much about Smila other than that I watched the whole thing.

-MilesAhead (December 15, 2014, 04:50 PM)

Bet if you think back you'll remember that controversial confrontational scene at her father's home between Smilla and her father's dancer-girlfriend (or maybe new child-bride?) Benja played by Emma Croft. When Benja gleefully informs Smilla: "I've called the police - and I told them you're here."



The way Smilla choose to add 'emphasis' to her warning: "Leave me alone, Benja. Leave me alone!" was one of the big takeaways from the movie. Everybody remembers that moment.

825

Living Room / Re: Animation question: exposures on "eights" or "twelves"

« Last post by 40hz on December 15, 2014, 06:08 PM »

Thx! I just learned something.