Regrettably, my personal favorite multitool is no longer produced (that I am aware). Gerber, for a time, produced a set of tools similar (as I recall) to their "600 series" but for which you could choose the type of head (standard pliers, needle-nose, rounded, etc.), which tool package to install in each arm, and of course the all-important finish color.
I myself have a stylish dark blue tool with a 3-inch blade, dual-"grit" (don't know the proper term) metal file and three sizes of slot screwdrivers (one of which is a bottle opener) on one side and scissors, lanyard ring, can opener, and a phillips screwdriver (a real one, to which can be mounted and adaptor to standard 3/16" bits) on the other.
Easily the best tool I have ever used. I've had it for a few years now and there is almost no skewing on the hinge (though I've been careful not to put much pressure on it; no cause to be careless) and the locks still work perfectly (each tool simply pulls out but locks in place, even the head). Regrettably, the finish is starting to wear in "high-use" areas, but no hint of corrosion is detectable even there.
Personally, I just can't believe this to be true, if for no other reason that if it is, Blizzard is going to sue Vivendi (yes, it's possible for the owned to sue the owners for mismanagement) because it would be absolutely crippling to an MMO's business model.
Wow, I can't believe I fit that all into one sentence!
...preordered my CE through GameStop. I know some of the guys who work at the local one (that happens when you're their best customer...) and they say they've already received all their copies, but that they were only give exactly enough CEs to cover the preorders; they'll have none to put on the shelves. I hear the regional manager is livid about it, too, so Vivendi isn't making friends anywhere!
I don't think this is as true now as it once was. I both play a lot of games and am a huge fan of subtitles (my hearing's not all that bad, but it's a lot easier to glance at the bottom of the screen when you miss something than to figure out how to get the cutscene to replay) and I can't recall the last time I played a game without that option. In fact, I see more DVDs without subtitles these days than video games.
I can't believe that no-one's posted the most classic prank of all time -- the Key-Top Swap.
Ingredients: * OS or shell that supports key remapping (inluding Win2K / WinXP) * Keyboard with removable keys (Apple Pro is a favorite) * A willingness to do minor psychological harm to the 'prankstee'
Directions: 1. Pop the 'M' and 'N' keys off the keyboard and exchange them. 2. Remap 'N' to 'M' and vice-versa in software (reg. key in Windows,.inputrc for Bash, etc.)
This is actually a fascinating prank just to watch, as the increasingly disoriented user tries to figure out what is going on. Touch-typists especially will be terribly confused (or "comfused", in this case) by their sudden lapse in accuracy. Next, the poor victim will begin examining their keyboard closely as they type, only to confirm that yes, the 'N' key produces an 'N' and the 'M' key produces an 'M'. Anyone without the luxury of a second keyboard to compare to (and even those that do won't think to, at first) are liable to spend a couple of hours trying to adjust to the new keyboard layout before they work out what's happened.
Users who happen to have the keyboard layout memorized (fat chance -- you don't have to know where the keys are to type on them) will catch on fairly quick and begin shooting accusatory glances at their co-workers. What you really have to watch out for is persons using an 'N' or 'M' in their password on systems where the key remapping does not affect logons. It's far less amusing to just watch them stuggle with their password.
You're only two-thirds right. Yes, I'm a major dork. Yes, they're palindromes (symmetrical). But they're also prime!
10301 - Prime palindrome that can be expressed as 101^2 + 101^1 - 101^0 10501 - Prime palindrome that can be expressed as the sum of three consecutive primes (3491, 3499, and 3511) and is the middle of three consecutive primes which add up to another prime palindrome! 10601 - Prime palindrome that can be expressed as the sum of three consecutive primes
They're also all valid US Zip Codes. They correspond, respectively, to Staten Island, Amawalk, and White Plains, all in New York state.
Gee, I'm such a fun-loving guy. I can't imagine why I don't have a girlfriend...
It's about time people started waking up to this stuff. My TV has a PS2 and a Game Cube hooked up to it and nothing else. I use it exclusively for DVDs and video games (really good TV shows, like Futurama, I buy on DVD, but that's as close to 'normal' TV as I get). I have cable internet, but I haven't had cable television in almost two years, and I couldn't be more pleased with the decision. Games and movies foster so much more interaction (well, around my apartment, anyway -- I can't remember the last time I watched a movie alone) than TV does. I'd encourage anyone to try (at least) a week without TV. I've found it makes me feel more awake and more interested in things in addition to other benefits (so long, cable bill!). Of course, my Ferret Quotient is already so high that 'more interested' may not be a good thing, but hey -- at least it's fun, right?
If it helps, that style of DVD case is usually referred to as a "keep case" and one of the largest manufacturers of keep cases is Amaray. Googling for amaray "keep case" should be effective. Amaray in particular even manufactures cases with a variety of spindle "catches" to hold the discs in place, as well as single-width cases capable of holding up to four discs (though no place for a manual/booklet in the case of the four-discers).
Step 1: Make fun game. Step 2: Having made lots of money on game, make new version with better gameplay and graphics. Step 3: After making even more money on second game, make horrid piece of crap that looks like previous games, but which fans hate. Step 4: Beat dead horse?
(Sarcasm aside, I truly hope this is better than TDR2000. I would like nothing better than to see this franchise restored to it's former glory.)
I've got a standing offer for a tour of the Jelly Belly factory here in the SF bay area from a friend of mine. I should really take her up on it one of these days (and yes, JB does offer free - IIRC - public tours).
Huh. I kind of agree with you actually - I was just posting because I hadn't thought of the movie in awhile. I guess 'interesting' is in the eye of the beholder;-)
This is very much what Serial ATA is doing - in fact, it has a raw transfer rate of about 1.5 gigbits/second, or about one and a half times as fast gigabit ethernet. After protocol overhead, that works out to the net throughput of ~150 megabytes/second that gives SATA/150 its name. "Parallel" ATA was designed when serial transfer rates, such as ethernet, were much lower in comparison. Now that serial has caught up (as evinced by the exponential increases in ethernet speed!), drive busses *are* migrating towards a more ethernet-like structure, but optimized for discrete, reliable, short-distance transfers instead of fragmented, potentially unreliable, long-distance transfers.
This kind of question is coming up more and more these days. Is anti-piracy a good thing? Is anti-spam a good thing? Or is pro-freedom and pro-communication more important?
Ask yourself this - Why do *I* use the Internet? Why do *I* use computers at all? Is it really to altrustically promote communication and the exchange of ideas, or are those simply side effects of wanting to make your life easier? Personally, I feel that well over 90% of the internet-using world tends toward the latter, and perhaps those people responsible for making the internet work (you know, us:) should consider that more carefully when acting on, and reacting to, the actions of others.
So is John Gilmore trying to promote communication? Maybe. Is he trying to make his life easier? I certainly don't know. But maybe those who do can take that into consideration before labelling him as Part Of The Problem or Part Of The Solution.
(Oh, and in case it wasn't clear - I don't have an actual opinion on the Gilmore issue, I just wanted to respond to the editorial musings accompanying it.)
I think this is going to be a great opportunity for people wanting to "get into" Linux but who don't want to commit the resources neccessary for converting a normal system to Linux. I myself have been wanting to run a dedicated Linux box for a while, but dual booting my main system is out of the question, and I don't have any spare boxes laying around. Now my PS2 can be a valuable part of my home network between sessions of GTA3 and FFX.
I hope a lot of other gamer/geeks will take this opportunity as well - it's a good chance to learn more about the PS2 as well as Linux. Now if only I could get it to be my dedicated RtCW server...
Most OSS programmers aren't writing software with the specific intention of not being paid for it:) The idea is that people shouldn't be forced to pay for software, not that they shouldn'y be allowed to. The worst response I can imagine is getting a message from them saying that they "don't accept cash" and have torn up your check:)
And money isn't the only way to thank someone; a grateful user once had a couple cases of Dew delivered to me, and I was thrilled (though in general it might be best yo avoid gifts like caffeine or programming tools, as it might be interpreted as "thanks for the software, now work harder!"). If you're unsure what to get for your favorite coder/group, write them! Even if they won't accept anything in return, just knowing that you'd like to will give them a sense of accomplishment about their work (making your software free-as-in-beer isn't as meaningful if it's not something people would pay for:)
Always remember that "just an email" is never just an email. OSS developers have dedicated an often-significant portion of their lives to producing something they know they may never be appreciated for. It's nice to know when people do appreciate it.
I'm running an Apple Pro on a Dell Windows 2000 machine with almost no difficulties. (It's a Dr Bott USB switchbox with my Mac).
There are only three issues I'm aware of: the first is that drivers may not be available. On Win2K, this seems to present no problem; it's just plug-and-go. I have heard that Win98 and WinMe machines need to have a NEC USB keyboard-with-hub driver selected/installed.
Second, if you're switching (which it sounds like you're not), some USB drivers may not follow peripherals plugged into the keyboard. I, for example, have a Palm USB cradle which works perfectly, but my Logitech TrackMan Marble becomes unrecognizable after switching (or even just un-plugging and re-plugging). It is still usable, but it is treated as a two-button device, and all button assignments are lost.
Third, the keys are not all where you explect them to be. The 'Logo' key and Alt keys are reversed on Mac keyboards, and the Context key, Scroll Lock, Print Screen, and Pause/Break buttons are missing entirely (no, the F13-F15 keys do not function as Scroll Lock, etc.) I have yet to locate a keyboard mapping utility that can compensate for this.
An excellent point on the CRTs (it's not uncommon for as much as half of a system's power draw to be from the CRT alone), but don't forget that many drives draw a fair amount of power on their own, and while floppys and CDs are typically good about spinning down on their own, hard drives, removables, and other media are not! I find that spinning down hard drives, zip/jaz drives, and the like at the same interval as the monitor can reduce power consumption by a further 10-15 percent.
Of course, the same caveat applies to drives as to CRTs - if the drive spins down to often, the power spike drawn when it spins back up will negate any savings from the time it spent turned off. This makes discovering an efficient interval imperative to creating a power-friendly environment. I've found that an interval of 8-12 minutes works best in office environments, but in an environment like yours, I wouldn't be surprised if an interval as high as 20 minutes would be more appropriate. I'm afraid some serious observation of 'users in their natural environment' may be necessary to pinpoint a good value.
Re:BSOD on NT4 ( dunno about W2K )
on
Creating BSODs?
·
· Score: 1
I'm afraid to try this on my 'stable' NT4 box, but in 9x, killing the kernel process has always produced better results, for me. Not only does it guarantee some kind of crash, but the generated mishap can be anything from a simple access violation or GPF to hang or the almighty BSOD.
Slashdot Mirror
I've used a number of cell phones near many different sets of speakers over the years and have never encountered this problem.
What model phone/speakers do you use? I'll have to remember to avoid them.
Regrettably, my personal favorite multitool is no longer produced (that I am aware). Gerber, for a time, produced a set of tools similar (as I recall) to their "600 series" but for which you could choose the type of head (standard pliers, needle-nose, rounded, etc.), which tool package to install in each arm, and of course the all-important finish color.
I myself have a stylish dark blue tool with a 3-inch blade, dual-"grit" (don't know the proper term) metal file and three sizes of slot screwdrivers (one of which is a bottle opener) on one side and scissors, lanyard ring, can opener, and a phillips screwdriver (a real one, to which can be mounted and adaptor to standard 3/16" bits) on the other.
Easily the best tool I have ever used. I've had it for a few years now and there is almost no skewing on the hinge (though I've been careful not to put much pressure on it; no cause to be careless) and the locks still work perfectly (each tool simply pulls out but locks in place, even the head). Regrettably, the finish is starting to wear in "high-use" areas, but no hint of corrosion is detectable even there.
Personally, I just can't believe this to be true, if for no other reason that if it is, Blizzard is going to sue Vivendi (yes, it's possible for the owned to sue the owners for mismanagement) because it would be absolutely crippling to an MMO's business model.
Wow, I can't believe I fit that all into one sentence!
...preordered my CE through GameStop. I know some of the guys who work at the local one (that happens when you're their best customer...) and they say they've already received all their copies, but that they were only give exactly enough CEs to cover the preorders; they'll have none to put on the shelves. I hear the regional manager is livid about it, too, so Vivendi isn't making friends anywhere!
I don't think this is as true now as it once was. I both play a lot of games and am a huge fan of subtitles (my hearing's not all that bad, but it's a lot easier to glance at the bottom of the screen when you miss something than to figure out how to get the cutscene to replay) and I can't recall the last time I played a game without that option. In fact, I see more DVDs without subtitles these days than video games.
- Office 2003 Professional (yay Excel... I suppose I should switch to OO someday)
- Visual Studio
.NET 2003 Professional - Windows Update (lather, rinse, repeat) and Office Update
- TweakUI (incl. 'google', 'msdn', and 'mskb' Search Prefixes)
- EditPad Pro (best text/hex editor ever, IMHO)
- F-Secure SSH (just like it better than the others)
- 7-Zip
- WinAmp 5 (no video)
- Norton Anti-Virus (paranoia: I read my mail on FreeBSD and am well firewalled)
- Google Toolbar
Other Stuff:I can't believe that no-one's posted the most classic prank of all time -- the Key-Top Swap.
.inputrc for Bash, etc.)
Ingredients:
* OS or shell that supports key remapping (inluding Win2K / WinXP)
* Keyboard with removable keys (Apple Pro is a favorite)
* A willingness to do minor psychological harm to the 'prankstee'
Directions:
1. Pop the 'M' and 'N' keys off the keyboard and exchange them.
2. Remap 'N' to 'M' and vice-versa in software (reg. key in Windows,
This is actually a fascinating prank just to watch, as the increasingly disoriented user tries to figure out what is going on. Touch-typists especially will be terribly confused (or "comfused", in this case) by their sudden lapse in accuracy. Next, the poor victim will begin examining their keyboard closely as they type, only to confirm that yes, the 'N' key produces an 'N' and the 'M' key produces an 'M'. Anyone without the luxury of a second keyboard to compare to (and even those that do won't think to, at first) are liable to spend a couple of hours trying to adjust to the new keyboard layout before they work out what's happened.
Users who happen to have the keyboard layout memorized (fat chance -- you don't have to know where the keys are to type on them) will catch on fairly quick and begin shooting accusatory glances at their co-workers. What you really have to watch out for is persons using an 'N' or 'M' in their password on systems where the key remapping does not affect logons. It's far less amusing to just watch them stuggle with their password.
You're only two-thirds right. Yes, I'm a major dork. Yes, they're palindromes (symmetrical). But they're also prime!
10301 - Prime palindrome that can be expressed as 101^2 + 101^1 - 101^0
10501 - Prime palindrome that can be expressed as the sum of three consecutive primes (3491, 3499, and 3511) and is the middle of three consecutive primes which add up to another prime palindrome!
10601 - Prime palindrome that can be expressed as the sum of three consecutive primes
They're also all valid US Zip Codes. They correspond, respectively, to Staten Island, Amawalk, and White Plains, all in New York state.
Gee, I'm such a fun-loving guy. I can't imagine why I don't have a girlfriend...
I chose to use 10/8 because it gave me the opportunity to pick nifty subnets (kudos to anyone who can guess how I chose these):
10.30.1/24: DMZ (web, file servers)
10.50.1/24: Internal (computers owned by either me or my roommate)
10.60.1/24: Visitors (LAN party!)
It's about time people started waking up to this stuff. My TV has a PS2 and a Game Cube hooked up to it and nothing else. I use it exclusively for DVDs and video games (really good TV shows, like Futurama, I buy on DVD, but that's as close to 'normal' TV as I get). I have cable internet, but I haven't had cable television in almost two years, and I couldn't be more pleased with the decision. Games and movies foster so much more interaction (well, around my apartment, anyway -- I can't remember the last time I watched a movie alone) than TV does. I'd encourage anyone to try (at least) a week without TV. I've found it makes me feel more awake and more interested in things in addition to other benefits (so long, cable bill!). Of course, my Ferret Quotient is already so high that 'more interested' may not be a good thing, but hey -- at least it's fun, right?
If it helps, that style of DVD case is usually referred to as a "keep case" and one of the largest manufacturers of keep cases is Amaray. Googling for amaray "keep case" should be effective. Amaray in particular even manufactures cases with a variety of spindle "catches" to hold the discs in place, as well as single-width cases capable of holding up to four discs (though no place for a manual/booklet in the case of the four-discers).
Step 1: Make fun game.
Step 2: Having made lots of money on game, make new version with better gameplay and graphics.
Step 3: After making even more money on second game, make horrid piece of crap that looks like previous games, but which fans hate.
Step 4: Beat dead horse?
(Sarcasm aside, I truly hope this is better than TDR2000. I would like nothing better than to see this franchise restored to it's former glory.)
I've got a standing offer for a tour of the Jelly Belly factory here in the SF bay area from a friend of mine. I should really take her up on it one of these days (and yes, JB does offer free - IIRC - public tours).
Huh. I kind of agree with you actually - I was just posting because I hadn't thought of the movie in awhile. I guess 'interesting' is in the eye of the beholder ;-)
Props on the 'Sneakers' reference. What a great movie. I'm pretty sure I've got it in my DVD library - I'll have to dig it up and watch it tonight.
Bailiff, club that man...
This is very much what Serial ATA is doing - in fact, it has a raw transfer rate of about 1.5 gigbits/second, or about one and a half times as fast gigabit ethernet. After protocol overhead, that works out to the net throughput of ~150 megabytes/second that gives SATA/150 its name. "Parallel" ATA was designed when serial transfer rates, such as ethernet, were much lower in comparison. Now that serial has caught up (as evinced by the exponential increases in ethernet speed!), drive busses *are* migrating towards a more ethernet-like structure, but optimized for discrete, reliable, short-distance transfers instead of fragmented, potentially unreliable, long-distance transfers.
This kind of question is coming up more and more these days. Is anti-piracy a good thing? Is anti-spam a good thing? Or is pro-freedom and pro-communication more important?
:) should consider that more carefully when acting on, and reacting to, the actions of others.
Ask yourself this - Why do *I* use the Internet? Why do *I* use computers at all? Is it really to altrustically promote communication and the exchange of ideas, or are those simply side effects of wanting to make your life easier? Personally, I feel that well over 90% of the internet-using world tends toward the latter, and perhaps those people responsible for making the internet work (you know, us
So is John Gilmore trying to promote communication? Maybe. Is he trying to make his life easier? I certainly don't know. But maybe those who do can take that into consideration before labelling him as Part Of The Problem or Part Of The Solution.
(Oh, and in case it wasn't clear - I don't have an actual opinion on the Gilmore issue, I just wanted to respond to the editorial musings accompanying it.)
I think this is going to be a great opportunity for people wanting to "get into" Linux but who don't want to commit the resources neccessary for converting a normal system to Linux. I myself have been wanting to run a dedicated Linux box for a while, but dual booting my main system is out of the question, and I don't have any spare boxes laying around. Now my PS2 can be a valuable part of my home network between sessions of GTA3 and FFX.
I hope a lot of other gamer/geeks will take this opportunity as well - it's a good chance to learn more about the PS2 as well as Linux. Now if only I could get it to be my dedicated RtCW server...
...?
Couldn't all living things die days, months, or years after birth? I'd been under the impression that was part of the definition of 'alive'...
Most OSS programmers aren't writing software with the specific intention of not being paid for it :) The idea is that people shouldn't be forced to pay for software, not that they shouldn'y be allowed to. The worst response I can imagine is getting a message from them saying that they "don't accept cash" and have torn up your check :)
:)
And money isn't the only way to thank someone; a grateful user once had a couple cases of Dew delivered to me, and I was thrilled (though in general it might be best yo avoid gifts like caffeine or programming tools, as it might be interpreted as "thanks for the software, now work harder!"). If you're unsure what to get for your favorite coder/group, write them! Even if they won't accept anything in return, just knowing that you'd like to will give them a sense of accomplishment about their work (making your software free-as-in-beer isn't as meaningful if it's not something people would pay for
Always remember that "just an email" is never just an email. OSS developers have dedicated an often-significant portion of their lives to producing something they know they may never be appreciated for. It's nice to know when people do appreciate it.
The college is Las Positas Community College. From I-580, turn north on to Airport Blvd, then right at the end of Airport - can't miss it.
I'm running an Apple Pro on a Dell Windows 2000 machine with almost no difficulties. (It's a Dr Bott USB switchbox with my Mac).
There are only three issues I'm aware of: the first is that drivers may not be available. On Win2K, this seems to present no problem; it's just plug-and-go. I have heard that Win98 and WinMe machines need to have a NEC USB keyboard-with-hub driver selected/installed.
Second, if you're switching (which it sounds like you're not), some USB drivers may not follow peripherals plugged into the keyboard. I, for example, have a Palm USB cradle which works perfectly, but my Logitech TrackMan Marble becomes unrecognizable after switching (or even just un-plugging and re-plugging). It is still usable, but it is treated as a two-button device, and all button assignments are lost.
Third, the keys are not all where you explect them to be. The 'Logo' key and Alt keys are reversed on Mac keyboards, and the Context key, Scroll Lock, Print Screen, and Pause/Break buttons are missing entirely (no, the F13-F15 keys do not function as Scroll Lock, etc.) I have yet to locate a keyboard mapping utility that can compensate for this.
An excellent point on the CRTs (it's not uncommon for as much as half of a system's power draw to be from the CRT alone), but don't forget that many drives draw a fair amount of power on their own, and while floppys and CDs are typically good about spinning down on their own, hard drives, removables, and other media are not! I find that spinning down hard drives, zip/jaz drives, and the like at the same interval as the monitor can reduce power consumption by a further 10-15 percent.
Of course, the same caveat applies to drives as to CRTs - if the drive spins down to often, the power spike drawn when it spins back up will negate any savings from the time it spent turned off. This makes discovering an efficient interval imperative to creating a power-friendly environment. I've found that an interval of 8-12 minutes works best in office environments, but in an environment like yours, I wouldn't be surprised if an interval as high as 20 minutes would be more appropriate. I'm afraid some serious observation of 'users in their natural environment' may be necessary to pinpoint a good value.
I'm afraid to try this on my 'stable' NT4 box, but in 9x, killing the kernel process has always produced better results, for me. Not only does it guarantee some kind of crash, but the generated mishap can be anything from a simple access violation or GPF to hang or the almighty BSOD.