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826

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Text Dragon

« Last post by IainB on October 11, 2017, 07:47 PM »

@c.gingerich: do testers or ß-testers of the software get a lifetime unrestricted (device) licence for Text Dragon?

827

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: Official CMS Migration Progress Thread - September 2017

« Last post by IainB on October 11, 2017, 05:31 PM »

How strange! I wonder if its an add blocker on your end doing it, or if its some css code in the forum display that i am not aware of.
__________________________

-mouser (October 11, 2017, 02:22 PM)

Spot-on!
I disabled BadAdJohnny for the DC domain, refreshed the page, and that restored the Youtube icon/button. Can see it now as I edit this.
Thanks.
Now I wonder why BAJ picked on only that button?

828

General Software Discussion / Re: Newspaper Article: Russia Has Turned Kaspersky Software Into Tool for Spying

« Last post by IainB on October 11, 2017, 05:09 PM »

Couldn't help overhearing at a local coffee-shop; two IT workers at the next table, talking about this very subject. This is how it roughly went:

Bloke #1: "I wasn't surprised about this Kaspersky hack news. Bound to happen. Typical bloody Ruskies, eh?"

Bloke #2: "Yeah. Same old same old. Can't trust 'em with anything. Nothing's sacred to them."

Bloke #1: "Right. But China's just as bad, of course. We all knew that already. Lenovo."

Bloke #2: "Yeah. Good job nothing like that could be done by government here or in the UK, or US for that matter, eh? [Pause] Ohhh, no..."

[Silence]

Bloke #1: "Right. Hmm. Now what was that old saying about people in glass houses...??
____________________________

I nearly choked on my coffee.

829

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: Official CMS Migration Progress - differences in edit buttons (2017-10-12)

« Last post by IainB on October 11, 2017, 02:20 PM »

mouser: re « Reply #116 on: 2017-10-07, 15:59:18 »

So there are a few things I could use help with: ...
_____________________________________________

-mouser (October 07, 2017, 03:59 PM)

My apologies, but, for some time now I had meant to bring up this observable disparity (evident in the forum web pages in comment EDIT mode), seemingly between views on Chrome-based and views on IE browsers. I forgot to mention it until today, when I again noticed it and had time to do a proper capture and document a record of the thing.
Not sure whether it has been documented by anyone before, but here it is anyway:

830

Living Room / Re: Jerry Pournelle - R.I.P.

« Last post by IainB on October 11, 2017, 01:24 PM »

EDIT 2017-10-11: Info (edited/abbreviated) from Amazon.com added to post above re "There Will Be War -
 Volume I"

831

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by IainB on October 10, 2017, 03:29 PM »

I just read on msn.com news that: Donna Karan sorry after comments praising Harvey Weinstein

Since people are now speaking out about this, I just wanted to state - for the record that, and to my knowledge - I have never mentioned my thoughts and/or feelings about "Todger Chippy" (as he liked us to call him) - unless it was perhaps by chance when I might have been unaware of what I was saying, whilst "under the influence" during a phase of heavy drinking that I went through, prior to undergoing rehab for alcoholism.

In any event, if I did say anything, and though he got me my most important acting role, I would never have spoken in praise of him, since he was the cause of my descent into alcoholism and feelings of gross inferiority and depression for a long period, after he pressured me into letting him fondle my naked body under the suds in the bubble bath, whilst we were between takes on the set, in the steamy bathroom scene in the movie "Return to Jeopardy" - based on a true story - and where I was acting  the role of the heroine, Emily Jasper Cudgewhistle - a respectable homosexual transvestite, professional accountant and reformed pedophile, who was an ex-army gunnery sergeant-major and who became a UK Conservative MP and later Defence Minister and Cabinet Minister, and who was also also a skilled campanologist, well-known and sought-after in church parishes around the counties of Essex, Middlesex, and Nossex ,and who simply wanted to marry a nice, unattached younger American man called Rodger Datt (whom she had fallen in love with at first sight when she met him in a gay bar in Soho) and settle down and start a new life and a new family with him. It's a tragedy, because the marriage did not eventuate (read the biographies; very sad) and she eventually died single and alone in her bath (presumed drug overdose), at age 58. A great loss.

I had only tolerated Todger's disgusting and wholly unwanted behaviour at the time because I was naïve and, out of what I later regretfully realised was an entirely misguided sense of gratitude, because he was the one who had got me this - my first -  starring role in the first place. I was too ashamed of the event to ever mention it to anyone until now, and, after revealing the above, I feel refreshed and cleansed - more so than I felt cleansed after that fateful bubble bath episode, which is seared unforgettably into my memory and the cockles and sub-cockles.

Sadly, the film production ceased about half-way, so, of course, the film never made it to the box office. The backers had had second thoughts and pulled out, you see, citing the reasons that the heroine in the story lacked credibility and amidst concerns that "filmgoers would not be able to easily empathise" with the complex character of Emily Jasper, nor with the substantial hurdles and battles that she had confronted so admirably in her unhappy, foreshortened life, as she incrementally discovered herself and came to terms with who she was and her real gender. It was just too profound and too progressive a story for them, I suppose, at the time, and they didn't want to take the financial risks. They may have been prejudiced too, though I think it could be a smash hit nowadays, as, thanks to improved education, people are far more understanding and tolerant of human differences and alternative views and lifestyles than they used to be in the old days - thank goodness.

Well, that was many years ago, and this is now, and I'm a fit 93½ year old superannuitant, with a good acting career behind me, so, if they ever do decide to make a reprise of "Return to Jeopardy", I likely shan't be in it (LOL)! However, whether the production is in a movie, or for the stage, I wish whoever might eventually be cast in the role of Emily Jasper "break a leg". It's a difficult, challenging role, I can tell you, and not just anyone could do it and probably not without it changing their lives too. It certainly changed mine. Five years later, having never been comfortable with being "Griff", I changed my name to Leslie and settled down happily with the lovely actor who played the part of Roger Datt so admirably in the movie. We're still together. Sounds prosaic, I know, but there's a saying that "life follows art", or something.

Not only was the role challenging, but the campanology bits were difficult too, and I had to study and practice for a hundred or more hours in a Norman church in Lillingstone Dayrell (a tiny village near Buckingham, UK), before I could pull correctly on the bellend rope at just the right time and with just the correct force, and not keep breaking the ruddy stops on the backroll with the heavier bells, whilst still maintaining perfect sync with the chimes of the other bellringers. I've always appreciated hearing good campanology and well-rung chimes after that, and have much admiration for those who can pull on a bellend with such precision - because I know how hard it can be.

832

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by IainB on October 10, 2017, 12:11 PM »

Trigger Alert!
(Insert list here.)

@mouser:
Where you say:

Iain you are going into political commentary again not humor..

-mouser (October 09, 2017, 08:34 AM)

First off, humour is presumably (would seem to be) something that was in the perception of the beholder, and I was unaware that anyone was the ultimate arbiter of what was, or was not to be perceived as humour, nor that attempted humour in this thread had to amuse any particular person/persons before it could be deemed to be acceptable as de rigueur for entry to this thread. However, if it were specified that such was the rule now, or (say) that satire, irony or whatever, were now banned, then I feel sure that myself and other contributors would endeavour to follow said rule, and the posting of jokes could be properly self-censored and moderated to ensure obedience to the new rule, henceforth.

Secondly, I have to ask: What on earth do you mean by "again"?
I mean, as someone who is politically agnostic (e.g., we've just had the elections here in NZ, by the way, and I voted for a quite different two parties this time around, under our MMP system) I don't think I intend to make political comment in this or any other thread, except maybe to encourage a balance, or poke the borax and make fun of bias towards any political group and/or religio-political ideology in general - i.e., where "politics" per se bears the brunt of the joke; for example, in my sketch rant in the Basement re UK PM Margaret Thatcher's alleged custom of eating human foetuses for breakfast. (Yes, I know. Seems incredible, doesn't it!? The whole nation seemed to turn a blind eye to what I had always seen as an abhorrent cannibalistic practice, and many people apparently even started to follow suit with the PM and adopted it as a popular custom! It played havoc with the economy and the demographics (birth-rates), and caused a market bubble, with the price of human foetuses going through the roof, so that many poorer people couldn't afford their now customary breakfast any more.)

In any event the cartoon above was categorically not intended by me to be a political comment, but, I probably should make my apologies, anyway, as I would have put a trigger warning in front of the above cartoon if I had imagined for one moment that someone might misconstrue a simple satire on the latest, apparently American MSM-sponsored stage of the evolution of the age-old maxim of self-censorship (the 3 wise monkeys) to be "political comment", where the inherent irony was that the MSM would seem to have turned said maxim - quite literally - "on its head", in their latest silliness. I could have been wrong, of course, but I didn't think it favoured any particular political party; or at least, I didn't see that it did. Of course, you may know better than I, since I only have a UK/NZ perspective on what passes for "political comment".

I wouldn't be amused myself if I saw no humour in the new maxim, but the MSM are the one's creating the humourous condition in the first place, not me. I'm just that annoying bloke who says "Ha-ha! Look at that! The MSM would seem to have successfully made collective asses of themselves. In the UK/NZ, we would call it "shooting oneself in the foot". But, OK, if we're "not supposed to LOL" at such things, then I stand censored corrected.

To save reaching for the dictionary for a definition of some of those words, we have, from the Concise Oxford Dictionary (10th Ed.): (in alphabetic order and with my emphasis re "humour")

• irony1 /"VIr@ni/
  · n. (pl. ironies) the expression of meaning through the use of language signifying the opposite, typically for humorous effect. Ø a state of affairs that appears perversely contrary to what one expects. Ø (also dramatic or tragic irony) a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the significance of a character’s words or actions are clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.
  – ORIGIN C16: via L. from Gk eirZneia ‘simulated ignorance’, from eirZn ‘dissembler’.
  
  
• maxim:
  · n. a short, pithy statement expressing a general truth or rule of conduct.
  – ORIGIN ME: from Fr. maxime, from med. L. (propositio) maxima ‘most important (proposition)’.
  
  
• satire /"satVI@/
  · n.
  1 the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices.
  2 a play, novel, etc. using satire. Ø (in Latin literature) a literary miscellany, especially a poem ridiculing prevalent vices or follies.
  – DERIVATIVES satirist n.
  – ORIGIN C16: from Fr., or from L. satira, later form of satura ‘poetic medley’.
  

It's a bit like walking on eggshells if one cannot share an honest clean bit of satire about the perverted evolution of the censorship maxim, in the "Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]" and without first having to self-censor oneself... Oh, but wait...

Quite coincidentally: I saw this highly relevant video whilst skimming my LiveLink feed in BazQux reader today:
Facebook Has Bad News For CNN & NBC: No More Fake News. (Majority of Americans believe main stream news is FAKE NEWS!)

I was delighted to see that some of the avowedly trustworthy and impartial and high-integrity, diverse, apolitical, non-gender preferential, LBGT-sensitive, etc., mainstream US IT leadership - in the shape of non other than Facebook -  are apparently finally intending to take up, for the greater good, the responsibility for ensuring truth and integrity in published news reporting by the MSM (MainStream Media) - though some people (not me, you understand) might say that this was rather akin to giving the bank-robbers the keys to the bank vaults, but I couldn't possibly comment.

Anyway, I must dash, as I am giving a talk to a class on marketing philosophy (yep, that's a real thing), on the subject of commercial propaganda (AKA "Marketing & Advertising") and those two exemplary marketers par extraordinaire and bastions of political freedom-of-speech (and thought) reputedly much-fancied by UOBerkely - Joseph Goebbels and Leni Riefenstahl - both of whom the modern politically-biased historians would seem to have (mistakenly, in my view) greatly under-appreciated and given a grossly-undeserved bad rep. I can understand how the OUB might have seen through all that nonsense though, and might hold them in high regard. I guess that's what you get from a high-quality educational institution, anyway.
________________________________
PS (Post Script): Do bear in mind that a lot of the BS what I write is often tongue-in-cheek and intended to be humourous, challenging/stimulating where relevant, and that I delight in poking the borax (as above), and that this is a silly humour thread...   

833

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! The evolution of the 3 wise monkeys.

« Last post by IainB on October 09, 2017, 05:12 AM »

Signs of the times...

834

Living Room / Re: Albert Einstein . Why Socialism ? - Interesting political discussion.

« Last post by IainB on October 08, 2017, 02:02 PM »

This could be a potentially interesting political discussion.
Probably needs some more definition of terms first though.
There's quite a good summary here: The History of Socialism - Wikipedia, including Marxism and its offshoot, Leninism, etc., though the differences between pure/applied hegemonic and non-hegemonic approaches seem to be not too well covered.

For the relevant economic theory/practice there are numerous articles one can find on the subject of Keynesian economics (also textbooks) and the methods and successes of Communist command-and-control economics - and good examples of the latter in the shape of the USSR (post economic collapse) and China (post Mao's Revolutionary approach). Some very interesting YouTube videos on the USSR approach too, with commentary (some in Russian, with English subtitles) from people who survived it and experienced it first-hand as members of the aparatchnik.

The historical work and notable achievements of the main European socialist parties are worth studying also. Some people (not me, you understand) might say that one of the greatest exemplars was arguably the progressive National Socialist German Workers' Party during 1920 to 1945, but I couldn't possibly comment.

835

Find And Run Robot / Re: quickdoclauncher.exe

« Last post by IainB on October 07, 2017, 07:45 AM »

...Good thing you killed it before it took over planet earth.
______________________________

-mouser (October 06, 2017, 10:54 PM)

Well, it wasn't runaway, but sort of "flickering" - spawning up to 5 or so processes and then no more, but each time I shut one or several down in Process Hacker, it spawned some more, quicker than I could shut them down in Process Hacker.

I did wonder whether it was going for world domination, like that firewall app. that I reviewed a while back.
In the end though, I took it down using another app from the world famous @mouser stable - Process Tamer.
That sorted it out PDQ.   

836

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Send Yourself to Mars (again)

« Last post by IainB on October 07, 2017, 01:37 AM »

Nah. I've already been to Mars. It's overrated - nothing there; can't even buy a ham sandwich. A bit passé if you ask me.

837

Find And Run Robot / Re: quickdoclauncher.exe

« Last post by IainB on October 06, 2017, 10:43 PM »

@mouser: Ah, I see. Thanks. That is useful, then.
I had tried using it incorrectly - as a Windows app. - just to see what happened, and it sat there rapidly replicating instances of itself and wouldn't stop. (In the end, I used Process Tamer to kill them all.)

838

Find And Run Robot / Re: quickdoclauncher.exe - Should this thread be marked as "CLOSED"?

« Last post by IainB on October 06, 2017, 06:19 AM »

Should this thread be marked as "CLOSED"?
Just tidying-up my FARR directory and I noticed this.
Not sure what the status of quickdoclauncher.exe is at present - does not seem to do anything useful(?) but is still part of FARR currently (or at least, part of FindAndRunRobotPortable v2.229.01, anyway).
Is it obsolete?

839

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by IainB on October 04, 2017, 04:48 AM »

My son (recently turned 7 y/o) discovered the ROBLOX game website about a year ago and loves it. He watches YouTube videos about the ROBLOX gameplay, to get tips & tricks for playing the games and also for hacking/cheating them.
Quite a few websites have these videos, but he prefers the Denis channel.

He today was watching and laughing at one of Denis' videos about a Landfall.se game site, where Denis was playing the simulation TRUMP vs HILLARY in the Totally Accurate Battle Simulator. It was rather droll - see @3:27 minutes:
(Trump looks undefeatable as he is armed with 2 x M16s, but Hillary throws emails - and she always wins!)

So now my 7 y/o son is hooked on this battle simulator - it seems like it's quite a lot of fun.

840

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff" - US Govt. involvement in Apple iPhone technology.

« Last post by IainB on October 02, 2017, 10:37 AM »

I hadn't known this - though I guess it could be a logical continuation of the US Govt's. savvy WW2 "Operation Paperclip" philosophy: (emphasis mine)

...The importance of governments in driving a nation’s scientific and technological achievements were outlined most clearly in the 2013 book The Entrepreneurial State by Mariana Mazzucato of Sussex university. In it, Prof Mazzucato traced the role the US government had played in creating Apple’s iPhone.

Without undermining the creative genius of Steve Jobs or the supply chain mastery of his successor Tim Cook, Prof Mazzucato found that almost every piece of technology in the ubiquitous smartphone had its origin in a government programme, dispelling the myth that the success of Silicon Valley was largely the work of eccentric entrepreneurs tinkering in their garages and savvy investments made by venture capitalists.

Apple’s voice-activated personal assistant software Siri, the microprocessor and the micro hard-drive all had their origins in research by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), run by the Department of Defense; the multi-touch screen was developed by the CIA and Darpa; GPS, found on most smartphones, was a technology originally created by Darpa and the US Navy. It was the patient investment of government that made today’s digital revolution reality. Prof Mazzucato says: “In almost every sector from IT to biotech, nano tech and clean tech, it has been the US government that has led the way investing in key areas across the innovation chain.” ...
___________________________________________
Copied from: UK steps in to plug science funding gap - <https://www.ft.com/content/740f5f8c-f24c-11e6-95ee-f14e55513608>

841

DC Gamer Club / Re: Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game for free until Sep 30, 2017

« Last post by IainB on September 30, 2017, 11:48 AM »

Some grey, at least, would be good...

842

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by IainB on September 30, 2017, 11:33 AM »

@ConstanceJill: Thankyou for the educational and informative video providing a potted history of LED technology, and in particular blue/violet LEDs, and which reduced my level of ignorance somewhat.
For example, because I simply had neither investigated nor thought about it, it had not previously registered in me why the Blu-ray™ technology was an advancement in terms of data throughput, effectively superseding green lasers:

843

General Software Discussion / Kodi Add-on TVCatchup.com - watch streamed British TV and all Major UK channels.

« Last post by IainB on September 28, 2017, 11:14 AM »

Some DC forum members might be interested in using Kodi for this (if not already using it).
There's a long, but very informative and helpful post at addictivetips.com:
TVCatchup.com Kodi Add-on: Watch British TV and All Major UK Channels:  <https://www.addictivetips.com/media-streaming/tvcatchup-kodi-addon/>

2017-09-28
The TVCatchup.com add-on for Kodi is a great little add-on for all fans of British TV. It has all the major UK channels laid out in a simple fashion. We’ll show you step by step how to get it and install it and then we’ll do a tour of the add-on and see what it has to offer. We’ll also explore the pros and cons of the add-on and look at a few other add-ons that might appeal to you if you like TVCatchup.com.
... (read the rest at the link).

844

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: NoteFrog Pro (clipboard information manager) - Mini-Review

« Last post by IainB on September 27, 2017, 03:11 PM »

My apologies for not posting about this before, but there was a post dated 2016-02-09 on the NoteFrog blog explaining the situation with NoteFrog, but that page has since been removed.
That page can be seen at: https://web.archive.org/web/20160324121747/http://notefrogblog.com/?p=670
The post seems to indicate that the project is in suspended animation or on indefinite hold.

Here is an image copy of the post (from Wayback): (the links seem to still work)

845

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by IainB on September 25, 2017, 08:25 AM »

I gather that the electro-magnetic rail gun in the (salesy) video below may be 2010/2011 technology, but it seems pretty impressive. What I also found impressive was the military guy who is speaking so enthusiastically about 6 seconds after the video's start, whose name is given by the narrator as - "Rear-Admiral Matthew Klunder" (or something).
I reckon Klunder might be a fictional character, played by an actor, whose mannerisms (facial expressions, mouth, speech, snappy enthusiasm) are based on the character Louis Tully in the Ghostbusters movie. If he's not an actor, then I may have discovered the real-life character that Luis Tully was based on.

Louis Tully is the accountant who lived down the hall from Dana Barrett, in an apartment building on Central Park West. He becomes possessed by the evil spirit of Vinz Clortho (The Keymaster), after Vinz and Zuul (The Gatekeeper) had escaped from their statues and began searching for host bodies.
 - Louis Tully | Ghostbusters Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia
__________________________

846

General Software Discussion / Re: CCleaner contained malware for one month

« Last post by IainB on September 24, 2017, 01:40 AM »

...I'd rather know the cause of the problem than hide the problem. ...
______________________________

-4wd (September 22, 2017, 11:32 PM)

Quite agree, but it's not a problem (for me), as I have the 64-bit CCleaner Pro licence (which version is reputedly free of the virus), and have it set to automatically check and update itself - whenever it starts up (a useful option, in my view). However, being a bit paranoid after the strange virus alert for the 32-bit version, I decided to provisionally set my firewall so that the 64-bit Pro version of CCleaner cannot receive or send stuff through the firewall, just in case.

In terms of the 32-bit version, I'm not sure that "the problem" (whatever it may be) has actually been fully defined. It thus awaits definition in no uncertain terms. I regard the belated and vague/ambiguous reporting of the matter so far, by the new owners of the software, as being deliberate and highly suspect. This arguably puts the whole product range under prudent suspicion.
Therefore, in the medium to longer term, absent any improved, independently verifiable and precise consumer information on the matter, following an audit of/by the product's new owners, it may be that it would be prudent to expunge CCleaner - i.e., because it apparently can't be independently verified as being a trusted A-1 product anymore.
Meanwhile, my "apparently-safe-but-we're-not'sure" product can't get through the firewall.

Some people (not me, you understand) might say that they smell a rat named with the TLA "NSA", but I couldn't possibly comment.

847

General Software Discussion / Re: CCleaner contained malware for one month

« Last post by IainB on September 22, 2017, 08:41 AM »

OK, this is getting annoying, CCleaner 5.35.0.6210 is persisting in its attempts to access the internet:
...
...Considering the previous versions never attempted to do it when the relevant option was turned off now makes this program suspect AFAIAC.
___________________________

-4wd (September 22, 2017, 07:57 AM)

I used Windows Firewall Control to block it - "Head it off at the pass"...

848

Living Room / Re: World Wide Web Consortium abandons consensus, standardizes DRM, EFF resigns

« Last post by IainB on September 22, 2017, 08:34 AM »

Scary turn of events. I wonder what's behind the W3C bowing to the corporate overlords in such a way.
__________________________________

-p3lb0x (September 22, 2017, 08:06 AM)

Some people (not me, you understand) might say that "Umm...maybe $$$?" as just a random guess, but I couldn't possibly comment.

849

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins? - An introduction to bitcoin.

« Last post by IainB on September 17, 2017, 09:03 PM »

Also, another interesting/relevant HackerNoon.com article: (I've corrected the title)
An introduction to bitcoin: what it is, why it exists, where to buy it

850

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins? - Crashes explained?

« Last post by IainB on September 17, 2017, 08:09 PM »

Bitcoin cash is crashing
________________________________

-Arizona Hot (August 23, 2017, 12:03 PM)

There's a rather interesting potential explanation as to why that might be happening - it could be part of a deliberate, concerted attack by The Establishment.
I couldn't see why the crashing was occurring, except that it was probably a knee-jerk response to the steady stream of anti-Bitcoin news re China and other parts and that has been published in the MSM over the last several months.
The question to pose is: Under what conditions would a crash make sense (be expected to occur)?
See the HackerNoon.com article: The Empire Strikes Back with a Coordinated War on Crypto

There seem to be some credible and possible reasons given in that article. Deliberate manipulation of the market by/through the power/money brokers.