Recent Posts

8701

General Software Discussion / Re: Let's try to create our own suite for internet security.

« Last post by Renegade on January 12, 2011, 10:22 AM »

Ah... Got it. I misread.

8702

General Software Discussion / Re: Let's try to create our own suite for internet security.

« Last post by Renegade on January 12, 2011, 10:19 AM »

It would only be a GUI around several SDKs.

If anyone has a few 10K to throw at initial licenses, then a few 100k to throw at the project, then it might be a maybe.

Sorry -- I might be a bit jaded from being through this before.

8703

Living Room / Re: Aspartame: Sweet Misery - A Poisoned World (Wikipedia Abuse)

« Last post by Renegade on January 12, 2011, 10:11 AM »

Checking the Wikipedia History is a VERY good thing to do. It's time consuming, but you can learn a lot. Especially things like how certain articles are flooded with 1-sided views.

8704

General Software Discussion / Re: Laymen's terms: How does svn work? Why is it good?

« Last post by Renegade on January 12, 2011, 08:56 AM »

I use it if I'm working on a larger project.  Right now, I'm using it in conjunction with Beanstalk free account (not endorsing them, but I've had no difficulties).  Provides faster off-site backup than FTPing, with the added benefit of easily reverting to an earlier version of my source code if needed.

-kyrathaba (January 12, 2011, 08:18 AM)

All different projects have different logins. (Usually.)

8705

Living Room / Re: Aspartame: Sweet Misery - A Poisoned World (Wikipedia Abuse)

« Last post by Renegade on January 12, 2011, 08:41 AM »

When I hear something from a reliable source about Aspartame I'll take the information on board. But I don't take health advice from casual sources.

-Eóin (January 12, 2011, 08:07 AM)

THIS is my worry. We all too often take Wikipedia as "truth".

Now, take those that are less "techno-savvy" as most people here. What will THEY believe?

It's scary. Who are the "authorities"? We cannot trust Wikipedia.

For tech stuff, it's different. In tech, we're more honest.

8706

General Software Discussion / Re: Rostering software

« Last post by Renegade on January 12, 2011, 06:05 AM »

Sounds like you're looking for scheduling software. There's LOTS out there. I'm sure there's lots of free stuff too. I know there is free scheduling software for education at least.

8707

Living Room / Aspartame: Sweet Misery - A Poisoned World (Wikipedia Abuse)

« Last post by Renegade on January 12, 2011, 05:02 AM »

Yikes... Feel like another horror story? Got 2 horror stories for you here...

First horror story is about aspartame and how dangerous it is.

http://www.online-do...artame-sweet-misery/

I think I'll stick with sugar... (Yeah... I'm still limiting that to almost none.)

Still, I had to have a look, so I checked here:

Aspartame Controversy^w

Interestingly enough, there is more than 1 edit per day there. Having a look at older ones, and at the current one, it's blatantly obvious that the current version is a highly sanitized "controversy" with no real controversy. All anti-aspartame information has been removed or dismissed off-hand.

This is an anti-aspartame site that looks interesting:

http://dorway.com/

Second horror story is about Wikipedia:

But it all got me to thinking about Wikipedia... It really looks like Wikipedia is suffering some pretty serious abuse there. Like, if there's a controversy, shouldn't there be something about the controversy there, and not something that entirely dismisses the controversy?

It's obvious that there is a serious problem there. Wikipedia is being used to push an agenda. That's not information. It's propaganda.

Now, it's not Wikipedia's fault, and I'm most certainly NOT blaming Wikipedia. I DO want to point out that there is something happening there that doesn't seem to be above board.

But it seems to me that this will be a very real problem in the future as those with cash on hand can pay to get their message up there much easier than a community can likely respond.

I'm all for free speech and whatnot, but I'm also very much for honesty, integrity, and responsibility.

8708

Living Room / R.I.P. MySpace

« Last post by Renegade on January 12, 2011, 03:20 AM »

http://www.sfgate.co...F11%2FBU591H7E1Q.DTL

MySpace Inc. said Tuesday that the company has fired 47 percent of its workforce - about 500 employees - as the deposed social-networking king continues trying to mount a comeback as an online entertainment hub.

Facebook has taken over. That was MySpace's second round of reductions.

8709

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone else here have an unhealthy fascination with progress bars?

« Last post by Renegade on January 12, 2011, 12:26 AM »

One of my unfinished projects is a docking progress bar for your life, so you can keep a progress bar to stare at on your desktop at all times. It's supposed to give you some idea how much longer you are going to live.

One of these days I will finish it, as soon as I can figure how how to make it look awesome.

-app103 (January 11, 2011, 10:30 PM)

Hahahaha~!

Life Bar or Death Bar?

Life Bar fills up with roses, rainbows and unicorns, while the Death Bar fills up with skulls & crossbones.

8710

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone else here have an unhealthy fascination with progress bars?

« Last post by Renegade on January 11, 2011, 07:14 PM »

Well here's a guy who really loves progress bars.

Nice!

OK, I'm totally serial...
those are the greatest looking progress bars I have ever seen.  Someone please, PLEASE put one of these in your applications.

-superboyac (January 11, 2011, 06:09 PM)

That's the kind of thing that I was looking for when I asked about skinning kits. They are very nice.

8711

Developer's Corner / Re: "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« Last post by Renegade on January 11, 2011, 06:05 PM »

As to the use of the word "upgrade", I think we said "sidegrade", which is perhaps more fair?

-JavaJones (January 11, 2011, 03:27 PM)

I've also seen "crossgrade" used.

8712

Finished Programs / Re: Utility: Convert Multiple Columns in Excel to a Single Column

« Last post by Renegade on January 11, 2011, 04:27 PM »

Some people are just too chicken, and always ask Y they must X the road...

8713

Living Room / Re: List the crappiest websites you know here. (warning: potentially NSFW)

« Last post by Renegade on January 11, 2011, 02:58 PM »

This reminds me of the old darkvoid.net site. It had a lot of really sick stuff there, but it's been gone for years now.

8714

Living Room / Re: Are You Ready to Switch to GNU/Linux?

« Last post by Renegade on January 11, 2011, 02:39 PM »

+1 for Stallman being a geek.

And +1 for his integrity.

As I make a living off of software, there's no way I can possibly go along with him 100%, but his position has a place, and is very much needed. The world is a better place for having him.

8715

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone else here have an unhealthy fascination with progress bars?

« Last post by Renegade on January 11, 2011, 02:36 PM »

Oh, and I've been guilty of inserting delay timers in two installers I've made, because installation was too damn fast... even on the old machines those several years back when I did the software

-f0dder (January 11, 2011, 12:00 PM)

I remember installing the first Silverlight betas multiple times because they installed too fast.

Waaayyyy back, computers used lights to let people know that they were working. It's just comforting to know that something is going on and that you are getting closer to your goal.

8716

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 - press release discussion

« Last post by Renegade on January 11, 2011, 01:56 AM »

It should be about 400 words long (it's about 100 or so now). The list there is horrible, and should be deleted and replaced with something better. The small amount I have there is ok, but needs flushing out more.

8717

Living Room / Re: List the crappiest websites you know here. (warning: potentially NSFW)

« Last post by Renegade on January 11, 2011, 01:48 AM »

Ugh - you just KNEW I would have to go look.

Jim

-J-Mac (January 11, 2011, 12:54 AM)

Don't worry... You're not alone... You're not his only victim... 

8718

Living Room / Re: Are You Ready to Switch to GNU/Linux?

« Last post by Renegade on January 10, 2011, 10:36 PM »

You then go on to give some examples that clarify the meaning rather than using the word "free".

-Dormouse (January 10, 2011, 09:28 PM)

That's exactly what I mean --- unless you want to simply become overly verbose in English, you end up with lots of ambiguity. In normal discourse, there's no reason to assume that degree of verbosity. Hence, situations like this where confusion or red herrings arise.

The real pain is that it's not socially acceptable to be so verbose. People get angry or leave or tune out. You end up coming across as condescending (or as a "know it all" or something like that) without intending to.

Here's a fun example in Korean with the Chinese characters behind the words (reference):

?? (??) - Means "reason" or "circumstance"
?? (??) - Same pronunciation but different Chinese - means "ejaculation"

In the spoken form, there's the possibility of confusion, while in the (academic) written form, there isn't, though there is the possibility in the common written form which generally leaves out the Chinese.


EDIT:
Looks like there's a bug somewhere as the text broke.

8719

Finished Programs / Re: Utility: Convert Multiple Columns in Excel to a Single Column

« Last post by Renegade on January 10, 2011, 10:20 PM »

For anyone that has spent an hour trying to explain over the phone how to open a file... and failed... hehehe -- yeah... it happens... Sometimes ya gotta just pick yer battles.

-Renegade (January 10, 2011, 09:12 PM)

i think you meant bottles...

-Target (January 10, 2011, 09:48 PM)

Hahahah~! Yep.

8720

Finished Programs / Re: Utility: Convert Multiple Columns in Excel to a Single Column

« Last post by Renegade on January 10, 2011, 09:12 PM »

<rant>
Actually this sort of thing really burns me.  I have more than a few colleagues like that (I had someone doing important calculations ask me what the numbers in red were...) and even though they work with Excel all day every day they can't or won't take the time to learn some basics that will make their (working) lives easier
</rant>

-Target (January 10, 2011, 05:28 PM)

Oh yeah, spot on! 

But I'm either getting older and wiser, or just older and wore out.  I was going to chime in with Concatenation Formula! or VBA! (and the code could go in personal.xls to always be available).  But even before Renegade posted his explanation I got to thinking, "if his people are like my people, this really is a simpler solution and will most likely work better because they can't break it".

-AndyM (January 10, 2011, 09:04 PM)

Setup cost with the program I wrote: Double-click to run. 

Setup cost with VBA/macros: Step 1) lose all sanity... 

Need I say more?

For anyone that has spent an hour trying to explain over the phone how to open a file... and failed... hehehe -- yeah... it happens... Sometimes ya gotta just pick yer battles.

8721

Living Room / Re: Are You Ready to Switch to GNU/Linux?

« Last post by Renegade on January 10, 2011, 09:04 PM »

+1 for Ambrose Bierce

8722

Living Room / Re: Why I love product reviews....written by NON-TECHS

« Last post by Renegade on January 10, 2011, 08:40 PM »

Here's just another reason to love Ken Rockwell:

F.A.R.T. First for Fantastic Photos

Fart jokes rule~!

8723

Living Room / Re: Why I love product reviews....written by NON-TECHS

« Last post by Renegade on January 10, 2011, 08:36 PM »

This guy rocks - Ken Rockwell.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/

His reviews are fantastic. But he's RARE. There are not many people like that out there. He's the sort of person that you want to read reviews from.

But, as mentioned above, you really need to get those personal recommendations from someone who's an expert (or sufficiently knowledgeable in the field) to point you in the right direction.

e.g. Want to learn some programming stuff? Go to "the Code Project". That place is gold. I'd point people there.

Where to go for information on aquatic sport? Got me. No clue. Not an expert in that field. I do know though (as pointed out above) that I'll have a hard time finding anything truly useful in Google.

8724

Developer's Corner / Re: Blog Essay: The Web Is a Customer Service Medium

« Last post by Renegade on January 10, 2011, 08:28 PM »

Interesting. Thanks for posting that.

8725

Finished Programs / Re: Utility: Convert Multiple Columns in Excel to a Single Column

« Last post by Renegade on January 10, 2011, 08:12 PM »

Seemed like you were cracking a walnut with a sledgehammer is all, but I figured there was probably a reason.

I still think it could be done without the copy and paste steps via a macro, but I suspect the user will be using this on lots of different source documents

-Target (January 10, 2011, 05:28 PM)

Yes, yes and yes.

Since he'll be using it on different documents, getting him to start using macros and saving them into different files is simply way beyond practical.

It is using a sledgehammer, but anyone can use a sledgehammer. Figuring out how to use some dainty, dancing nutcracker just doesn't work sometimes.