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Tech Stories Archives - May 2011
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1.
Alabama update - May 1
Power is coming back across Cullman and Morgan Counties. My stepmother's father lives just outside Eva, AL, in Morgan County and has power back already; a friend who lives a few blocks off the path of the tornado which ran through Cullman had power back last night or this morning, and parts of Cullman and Tuscaloosa had power back yesterday when I went through there with Grandpa. Here's hoping for power back to this part of the county today; that will mark the end of the emergency situation for me, though admittedly not for many others who still face cleanup and repair of storm damage.[By: DukeOfURL / 2011-05-01]
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That's good news.
- Grue
Power has been restored almost exactly 96 hours after it went out. Other areas are still without power, but my street is lit up. -DukeOfURL
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2.
nt/ot: Bin Laden is Dead
So, what does everyone think? I say good, it's about fucking time, so now can we end these stupid wars? Can we bring our troops home? Can we stop treating our own citizens as potential criminals every time they want to fly somewhere? End the wars, bring home the boys, free our own people. Anyone have other thoughts? [By: Captain Trips / 2011-05-02]
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The american public will be expecting troops to come home, but they won't. The war will not end - another person will step up to take his place. He's just 1 person out of thousands. The 'war' against the IRA in Britain was 30 years - and that was against a few hundred. I dread to think how long this war can go on for. -madonnac
1) His death has no relation to bringing our troops home. The region is still unstable so we can't leave. (though I think we should, these people are just not ready for democracy and freedom). 2) The nature of the organization he was 'head' of is compartmentalized. No one else is likely to know who everyone else working on their side is. This will work against them at this time as we already know who his second was and are after him, and have already taken out a few others high in the chain as well in the last several month so their replacements are not as solid in their positions. 3) my honest hope at this time is that no orders went into action as a result of the announcement of his death. its been announced before and nothing happened, but this time we say we have the body and if that is true, then this would be the dangerous time. -GargoyleTS
If you kill the queen in an ants nest, the remainder promote one of their own to the job and it continues. (change for any other insect of your choice) -Holdfast
Unfortunately, chopping off this snake's head doesn't mean this snake is dead. -MadJack
i watched it on the news last night. will this get anyone out of Afgan? no.. it will not. Id like to know how they obtained the prove though - DNA testing? -Harm
The latest that I've heard is that he was killed (by a bomb?) last week, and the delay in the announcement was to confirm his identity through DNA testing. He was, apparently, buried at sea. -Seamyst
Buried at sea. And let the conspiracy theories commence! -sallysedai
From a tweet on the subject: OBL shouldn’t have used his real address for his PlayStation Network ID… -PTSTech
(This is me, stirring the pot) He's been dead for years. Bush kept him alive in order to keep support for the war, 0bama killed him in order to take credit for it. This is the left and the right working together again. Why else would Bush have announced that he would have advocated for 0bama if they'd have asked him to ? The democrats and republicans are 2 wings of the same bird, in this case, a vulture. Nothing will change, the troops won't come home, the patriot act won't go away, homeland security is here to stay. The world is now safe from democracy. yay. -Spyder19
NSFW: http://www.americanussr.com/american-ussr-osama-bin-laden.htm Note the picture (posted 11/4/10) of the bullet hole to the eye (just like they're reporting today) -Spyder19
Rats ! The exif data has been scrubbed :( -Spyder19
Well, one amusing fact about this is the fact the announcement was to be during Celebrity Apprentice. Poor Donald... -McSmiley
In the long run, it doesn't matter. Yes, he has finally 'paid' but before he died he was a leader and a figurehead. Now he is a martyr for their 'cause'. Fanatics don't give up because their 'leader' is dead - they just get more fanatical because 'you' the 'evil they oppose' killed their beloved 'leader'. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we got him, but the cynic in me wonders if did any good. -justcrazy
Personally, I think Pakistan has some 'splainin to do. -charred
surry spyder, that was a photosho job... http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/02/6568249-webs-bin-laden-death-photo-just-the-photo-is-fake -McSmiley
As soon as I noticed a lack of exif data, I suspected that. But you can't edit TSC comments so I posted the fact that the exif was scrubbed -Spyder19
It could and should be the end of the war in Afghanistan but too many people think it's America's job to tell other countries how to run themselves, and too many politicians and contractors are cashing in on procurement. We'll be there as long as it's profitable for the people in power. -thx1138
LOL! It's been over 60 years and we're still not out of Germany yet -Spyder19
Good riddens, however... The comment that the president made about justice being done has the same effect as the family of a victim witnessing the execution of the responsible party. Most, if not all, have reported no sense of justice having been served, or anything other than an anticlimactic "that's all?" sort of feeling. Killing him did not bring their families back, and killing the rest of his group will not undo what they've done. Incarsaration may be a better, though not perfect, solution to the problem. Revenge isn't always the answer. And as heart-wrenching as the death of a loved one is, killing the killer does no good and perpetuates the negative stereotypes of the western world, especially the states, as beer-swigging rednecks with vengance on the brain. And no, the region is not ready for democracy. their beliefs do not flex in that way, I say leave them alone if they leave us alone, and since we did what we had to do, on both counts, get the hell out and bring our troops home. -AdmiralLaurie
I think that we will never leave any country as long as they have our oil and precious metals under their sand! -ecoli
FYI Spyder, using the Photoshop save for web option will strip Exif data to reduce data size. -PolarCoyote
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3.
Why do I bother to do my job again?
Eh, no formatting...sorry guys. So I'm the trainer (unofficially official) at work...basically b/c I'm the only one here with prior law firm experience that knows the programs well enough. Last month most of my classes where on how to use Outlook (email, calendars, tasks, contacts). Of course there is low turnout b/c the attorneys think they all know this already and don't need to be trained on such "simple concepts" since "I've done it this for the last 15 years"...or the "why would I read the email with the list of offered classes, there's never anything I want" crowd. So this morning my boss copies me on a response to a shareholder asking for - you guessed it - classes on Outlook. The email she sent my boss was a newsletter offering a 60 minute webinar on how to use Outlook for the low price of $229 on how to create folders and use calendars and tasks..... I love my job, really I do....[By: redevil34 / 2011-05-02]
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so tell them that you will teach the same course for $329.00 - bet they go for it! -ecoli
Or at least they'll attend. I'm sure we've all noticed people only pay attention when they gotta drop some cash... at least nominally. -LDFeral
New update...she came in told my boss that she didn't mean for someone here to actually teach the material - she meant for someone here to sign her up for the class and set it up b/c she can't be bothered to learn how to fill out an online form and join a webinar/conf call on her own...So we're going to pay someone $229 for an hour of time to do something I'm already being paid to do. -redevil34
See if they'll let you take the class, too! Though then you'll be on said exec's list of 'people who *know* Excel' :/ -minchazo
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5.
[OT] Conspiracy theorists are hilarious.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Osama_bin_Laden_conspiracy_theories
Conspiracy theories: the complex version of a paper with "How do you keep an idiot busy?" written on both sides.
[By: Seamus / 2011-05-03]
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I did that to a classmate my junior year in HS. Wrote out the "How to keep a Blonde busy for hours: See other side" on two sides of a 3x5 notecard and gave it to her. She flipped it over for 5-6 minutes before punching me. >_> So I stuffed it in her text book. 4 months later... she did it again. ROFL! -Aelin236
Classic ! How about this ? "bin Laden STILL dead - Day 2" http://dailysok.com/wordpress/index.php/2011/05/osama-bin-laden-still-dead-day-2/ -Spyder19
"...and in other news, Generalissino Francisco Franco is still dead."
-VoiceOfSanity
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9.
LART (Everyone's got a boss)
Yesterday, we had the Regional CIO come by for a Q&A session. I asked him about the Windows 7 pilot project.
Because I was one of only two people in my department with experience in installing and configuring 7, my boss had asked me to get in on that project. He also wanted us to be among the first to have it so we could be among the first to deploy it. However, the person in charge of it failed to respond to the numerous e-mails. The Regional CIO was two bosses above this person, and I noted that despite half a dozen e-mail requests, all I heard back were crickets. He got on the phone right away to him without missing a beat, asking the project head "Is there any reason why Skippy isn't getting access to the files for the Windows 7 project?"
After 30 more seconds, he got off the phone and continued the Q&A without missing a beat. The e-mails verifying I was in the project were waiting for me by the time I got back to my desk.[By: skippytpodar
/ 2011-05-04 ]
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*Awards Skippy 1 BOFH point (plus one additional point for style).* -virusjtg
Zaphod awards you 10 out of 10 for style, and awards the CIO several million points out of 10 for nonchalance. -AmazingKreskin
And that, dear friends, is how a CIO is supposed to handle those types of problems. At least the CIOs who have a clue or two. (This one clearly had more than a few clues.) -VoiceOfSanity
Treat this CIO like gold. Ones like this are rare and should be treasured. -Wraith556
The next one will be a clone of the Rick Moranis character in Space Balls! -jerrybear
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10.
iPhone vrs Exchange
A user just walked through our door and asked; "Do you know of any reason why my iPhone would not be getting my email?"
My reply was a swift one.
"Other than the fact it is an iPhone?"[By: virusjtg / 2011-05-04]
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It's not really his? The Battery is dead? His hand is occluding the lower left? Uh, No, but then I'm not a Mac 'Genius.' It is, but you have no friends. You didn't say the magic word -afdsflugmctuhcalguaegumh-ni. -LDFeral
THAT WORD MUST BE SPOKEN TO THE UNCLEAN. ONLY THE PURE AND ELECTROMAGNETICALLY CHARGE CAN USE THAT -DarkRookie
Steve Jobs is God & I want to give him all my money </Apple Fanboi> -lineswine
Umm ... the SSL Cert is invalid. You'll have to create a modified SelfSigned cert and import it onto the iphone with explicit trust to allow it to work. ... Oh, you weren't seriosu. -Necros
"The email servers and individual messages have rejected your choice of phone. The rest of us just think your a twit." -Harm
"This isn't the email you are looking for.." -PTSTech
Or, it was received and the iPhone decided you were not entitled to be told about it! -TieDyedDinosaur
I would use Outlook web access. Works fine on my Android phone for those few emergencies I need to remotely access my work email. -Wraith556
thank you to Necros for resolving about 1/3 of my calls with his brief moment of seriousness, doesn't change what I tell the cx but at least now I can snicker quietly while I tell the starfish to call Apple or Gmail about the issue! -frprinterwiz
I'd personally go with the fact that it's an IPHone. Mine works fine for a few weeks, then gets nothing for email, until I re-create my account. Can't wait until the next paycheck when I can go get a 'droid -garwain
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11.
Just What I Asked For...
...But Not What I Want
My tale begins, as a lot of my tales do, with my own insatiable appetite for tinkering. Said tinkering, in this case, being with my recently liberated Droid 2.
Perusing some forums regarding general tips and tricks, I stumbled across the suggestion that rebooting once every 24 hours or so improves battery performance. I decided I wanted to see if that actually had any impact, but being far too lazy to reboot manually every day, I downloaded an app that had been suggested to me to automate the process. Tasker, specifically.
So, Tasker installs, and I start my tinkering. I find a preconfigured reboot task, and set it for 03:00. Now, it's important to know that Tasker includes a FROM time and a TO time for each task. Figuring that I only needed to reboot once, I select 03:00 in the FROM field, and leave the TO field blank.
I saved everything and my phone immediately rebooted. And rebooted. And rebooted. And rebooted. Ad infinitum.
Googling reveals little in the way of useful help, and I decide that I might as well just bite the bullet and reset to factory default. All of my data is backed up, so while it will be a pain in the ass, nothing is really lost. So I did that first thing this morning. No problems; most of my backed up data came back. A few hours work and I'll have it right back where I had it.
However, there's a deeper tragedy here. It seems - which I of course learned after the fact - that Tasker has this nifty little quirk of defaulting a blank time field to midnight. So in effect, by leaving the TO field blank, I unwittingly instructed my phone to remain in a reboot state from 03:00 to 24:00 every day. Which means if I had just waited until 00:01, I could have turned the damn thing on, booted normally, and fixed the problem.
Argh.
[By: RiffRaff / 2011-05-04]
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I've got a story about Riff, midnight and a piece of electronics. Sadly, its unsuitable for a family website. :P -burrkiss
Since when was this a Family website? -Harm
Burkie is going soft ( thats what she said OHHH!) -Harm
So Riff. Being as I might like to try this little app also, what is the correct time to put into the to field? 3:01? -Rabbitt
No, 03:00. -RiffRaff
Thanks Riff. I'll give that app a shot. -Rabbitt
"The computer will always do exactly what you tell it to." -Omega
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12.
NT/OT May the fourth be with you...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0&feature=player_embedded[By: starfishmagnet / 2011-05-04]
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"These are not the Droids you're looking for." "What's this Droid shit? I thought you had an iPhone!?" "But "These are not the iPhones you're looking for" just doesn't have the same ring to it ;P" -MadJack
Loved that ad. Love this one more! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPNjWWQqWCA -ecoli
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15.
Sometimes the solution is the problem
We've had a problem with our servers shutting down every night. What is odd is that they do so at different times and one with a quirky HAL server BIOS doesn't restart because it assumes an external device has priority over the internal drives. A user's PC was left on overnight and did not shut down. So we took the UPS, which both servers were plugged into, out the power feed and connected the servers direct to mains. Result, the servers have been up for the last two weeks. And we're looking to replace the UPS which is 10 years old and has batteries that are about 4 years old.[By: Wraith556 / 2011-05-05]
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Had that with a similarly aged UPS... APC is notorious for this in my experience. A momentary glitch causes the UPS to pick up the load, and fall over because it needs to stay up for a minimum 2 seconds due to its internal programming. The batteries are so old they last for 1 second, so the server has no power for a full second and dies hard. The PC not on the UPS doesn't even notice the 1/60 second dropout; its PSU capacitors hold it up through the momentary outage. Replacing batteries will make it behave again... -chazz
With that said, if the user is using the APC software it pops up a warning when the batteries hit three years old so theoretically they should never get to the point of lasting for a few seconds or less... -BayouTech
Of course, it also must be said that you can tell the APC software to STFU, and it will never remind you again... and with one revision of the APC software leaking 2 handles every second, a lot of people elected not to use it. -chazz
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16.
We don't support that!
Customer calls with a problem with the latest version of $ourproduct. Manually entered notes are not saving to the selected records. After checking the site remotely and referring to escalations, we are asked to check what version of SQL server is the customer using because this problem only happens with SQL 2000 and the latest version. The customer is using SQL 2000 and not the listed (in the documentation AND website) SQL 2005/2008. The customer is told that SQL 2000 is NOT supported with latest version of $ourproduct and they will have to upgrade their SQL version. Case Closed![By: Wraith556 / 2011-05-05]
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Game, set & match to Wraith 556! -lineswine
Sounds a little like the old Dilbert cartoon about the difference between a company with no policy and one with a policy. The one without? Dilbert looks at the phone thinking "What should I do?" The one with? Dilbert answers the phone and says, "We don't do that." -VoiceOfSanity
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18.
Favorite websites?
I was wondering what your favirite websites are for Geek news or fun that are work safe and that are NSFW. I like:
http://www.howtogeek.com/
http://www.maximumpc.com/
http://www.portablefreeware.com/
http://survivingtheworld.net/
All are safe for work. Where do you visit?[By: AniMaL / 2011-05-05]
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I have Ars Technica's Gaming News set up in Google Reader, and I check Ain't It Cool News fairly regularly. -AmazingKreskin
and of course we don't need to mention Slashdot http://slashdot.org -chazz
The Register - www.theregister.co.uk -Holdfast
Lets see http://www.engadget.com http://www.joystiq.com http://gizmodo.com/ http://kotaku.com/ http://arstechnica.com/
All should SFW -DarkRookie
i second El reg ... firewall seems to be OKay with it.. just not the comments :( -Harm
Not particularly technical, but I do like MetaFilter. Kinda like Reddit, and often shares some of the content, but it always seemed a little more grown-up, if you know what I mean. www.metafilter.com -LDFeral
http://techcomedy.com/ -formatCdrive
formateCdrive WINS! -Harm
at work i keep it to ars, anandtech, and el reg, all 3 pass the filters. -boxcar
not so much geeky but I am a big fan of the cheezburger network, mlia and fml. Lucky where I work, about the only things blocked are facebook and kijiji/craigs list. I figure I deal all day with technical problems, I just want giggles when I have down time. Also Aphelion has a great archive of Sci-Fi and related stories that make for quick reads.
-frprinterwiz
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19.
clown bukakke?
WARNING NSW See the next to last photo.
http://afterdark.icanhascheezburger.com/page/2/[By: atomicbill / 2011-05-06]
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The "Psychotic Monkey" is gonna give me nightmares... -udoshan
Permalink: http://afterdark.icanhascheezburger.com/2011/04/24/funny-pictures-cat-niche-market/ -linuxmatt
Nightmare x2 for the Psychotic monkey. -lineswine
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20.
Hav the New Job
Hey I have been so busy I forgot to let everyone know I got the job with the company I was trying for. Been there 2 weeks and it is the best. Thanks for all the Karma. Stories to come.[By: WhatthaChris / 2011-05-06]
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Congrats! -Grue
Yes, TSC Karma has been known to be powerful stuff. Hopefully it'll work for me too. -Stryker One
Gratz! -noongsaao
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