Peter Staack's Ramblings, Survival Stuff, And Testimonials
[Recent Entries][Archive][Friends][User Info]
Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Peter Staack" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
|
10:03 pm
[Link] |
KoF XII Leona Heidern Combo Video
GameTrailers.com posted a few more videos for King of Fighters XII, out next week, including this gem:
Excuse me for a second... I need a cigarette after seeing that (and perhaps a moment to ponder my weird attraction to mercenaries and super-soldiers). I know a few people who have played each version of the game, and they're saying pretty positive stuff - even the Capcom fanboy, who usually has nothing nice to say about SNK games. I'm certainly interested, though I'm probably still gonna hold off on getting an Xbox 360 or PS3, since I just don't play many games these days.
|
|
06:25 pm
[Link] |
If It's Important, Overdo It!
  I was recently involved in a minor head-on collision, where the other party was clearly and absolutely at fault (they failed to yield me the right-of-way). This is only the 2nd reported vehicular accident I've been involved in, after dodging probably thousands of near-misses. Each time, when it came time to send in my narrative and illustration, I submitted satellite photos, ground-level photos, detailed photos of signage, detailed computer-generated illustrations, exact coordinates and every other detail I could imagine.
I know... That sounds a little overkill. But, having grown up in the litigious and corrupt state of Illinois, I've learned that it pays to always leave people absolutely no wiggle room or it may come back and bite you. Seeing case after case, where justice is twisted on its ear because someone forgot to close a loophole, has made being super-cautious second nature to me. However, I have to admit to being a just little embarrassed that each time I went so far as to include an 8 ~ 12 page flipbook, which animated the events leading to each accident. Hey, ya never know... It very well might come in handy. At the very least, whoever is recording the details will probably be amused. My insurance agent always gets a good chuckle out of it.
|
|
01:20 pm
[Link] |
BartPE & Portable Apps - Computer Life Raft
Now that I've gotten my monthly "how the hell my client screwed up ANOTHER computer" rant out of my system, I just wanted to list my usual computer rescue kit.
First is BartPE, which enables you to make a Windows XP base preinstalled environment, which you can boot into from a CD. When a Windows system isn't working, I can boot it up with this CD, and run apps to clean it up or rescue data. I usually rely on a generic USB drive loaded with such great portable apps (they run right off of the USB drive, without having to install on the hard drive) as...
- ClamWin Portable - ClamWin antivirus scanner, in a neat tidy little package that's easy to keep up-to-date.
- Dr.WEB CureIt Portable - Another full antivirus & malware scanner, made portable.
- Norton Security Scan Portable - Scans for a broad array of malware and security gaps.
- Multi Virus Cleaner '09 - Also scans for malware and infections.
- Kaspersky Removal Tools - A whole bunch of virus-specific removal tools, from Afcore to XCP.
- Avast Virus Cleaner - Detects and cleans a select list of common viruses and malware.
- McAfee AVERT Stinger - Another virus and malware remover.
- Avira AntiVir Removal Tool - Removes a wider array of malware.
- Sophos Anti Rootkit - Scans for rootkits on your drives.
- TestDisk - Scans and mounts damaged partitions, and recovers boot sectors, MFTs and other data
- SoftPerfect File Recovery, ADRC, Roadkils Undelete & Undelete Plus - Recovers data from hard drives and removable media.
- CCleaner Portable - My favorite junk-file and registry cleaner, in a portable format.
- Revo Uninstaller Portable - The best uninstaller, which also removes orphaned files, in a portable format.
- DriverGrabber & Driver Backup - Backs up your system and 3rd party drivers, if you need to restore.
- Explorer++ - A powerful multi-window file explorer with optional thumbnails.
- 7Zip Portable - Top-quality compression and decompression, including RAR.
- Eraser - Completely erases & overwrites files, including DOD/NSA approved and Gutmann methods, free space wipe, secure file moving, and disk nuking and creating a nuke boot disk.
- CheckDisk - Freeware portable version of CheckDisk.
- Auslogics Disk Defrag - Great disk defrag app, portable.
- System Explorer - Portable version of the task manager.
- ShowMyPC - A good VNC remote control server and client.
- Sumatra PDF - Portable PDF viewer.
- HoverSnap & AVI SCreen - Take screen captures and record Windows.
- Infra Recorder - Portable CD/DVD burning app.
- Opera Portable - Awesome internet browser, portable.
If you hunt around, there are also a ton of password recovery tools, Windows key extractors, registry editors, notepads, file editors, FTP clients & servers, and utilities for just about any job. You can load a ton of them on a 1+ GB USB drive, in case you need 'em. I periodically update the antivirus and browsers, to the latest versions, and I keep the drive and boot CDs in a safe spot. They've rescued many computers, on the brink of death, with very little muss or fuss. There's only a few rare cases when these fail, and I have to I roll up my sleeves, break out a Linux PE and get my hands dirty.
Cross-posted on my Testimonial Blog - BartPE & Portable Apps - Computer Life Raft
Tags: business, misc, testimonial
|
11:42 am
[Link] |
BartPE and Portable Apps Rescue Another System - Saves Car Window From Cinderblock
My one client, the grim reaper of computers, strikes again! Today, I get woken up at 7:50 AM by a phone call. Seems his Dell laptop PC is bogging down to a practical standstill, and he needs it fixed ASAP because "it's an emergency." I try to access it via Radmin (my personal favorite remote administration server/client combo), with no luck. I tell him to leave it on my desk, and I'd come in as soon as possible to fix it. When I get to the building, I find nobody is there to let me in. And it's pouring rain, with squalls blasting left and right. And it's starting to hail. Awesome. I call the client up, and I guess his definition of "emergency" doesn't match mine, and I have all weekend to fix it up.
So, after throwing a few cinder blocks around the parking lot, driving home, watching TV for another two hours, I head back to the office. The laptop takes foreeeeever to boot into Windows XP. Once it's up, there are 3 processes all trying to run at 100% and taking up almost all the system RAM. It's the bogus SpySweeper, Antivirus 2009 and Antivirus-360 - ALL malware, that he MANUALLY installed, despite Web Of Trust warning him about the pages he downloaded them from being dangerous (I've learned to log his entire web history), Avast Antivirus warning him about the installer (he somehow managed to guess the password open up, and disable the real-time scanner), and the neon yellow Dymo label RIGHT BELOW THE SCREEN TELLING HIM NOT TO INSTALL ANY MORE ANTIVIRUS APPS OR FILES FROM EMAIL! I'm dead-fricking-serious...
...I have this actual label, in neon yellow, on his laptop right below the screen distinctly warning him not to do it, after he's crippled his desktop and laptop no less than 3 times each for installing fake antivirus apps and patches that come in from emails. There's even a message that pops up on his computer with a similar warning, when he starts up. If I wasn't sure I could clean the system up pretty easily, I'd have been tossing cinder blocks through windows this morning, just because I'm so outraged that he still pulls this off despite multiple warnings. I honestly don't even know why they keep those blocks there, and I'm curious if they've ever started to wonder why the pile gets smaller and smaller every month.
I pop in a BartPE CD and boot it up. I pop in my USB thumb drive, loaded with portable rescue apps. I run a few virus cleaners, which eliminate 4 different trojans. I use the awesome Revo Uninstaller to remove a almost a dozen other useless or bogus apps. Now, the laptop boots into WinXP just fine. I'm ran a bunch of other malware and virus scans, and it was clean. Now, I'm running scandisk, and I'll defrag it later today.
All together, it only took 45 minutes to exorcise the laptop, without any difficulty... But I'm just astounded at how quickly and thoroughly he can destroy a computer, in just a few weeks (I last fixed the laptop in early May). Last August, when he wiped an entire network drive by accident, I was so irritated with him, I even yelled at him. I remember asking him if he was intentionally trying to destroy his computers, because I honestly cannot imagine anyone causing so much damage to a system without doing so on purpose. Many kids don't know that putting salami into a CD/DVD ROM tray isn't good for a system. He's in his late 40s, runs TWO multi-million dollar businesses... And somehow selecting every file and folder on the root of a network drive, selecting to run a DoD 5220.22-M erasure, and then clicking "YES" to TWO prompts warning him 
Coming Soon To A
Landfill Near You |
all data will be lost, seems like a reasonable way to organize the files. It's like he's possessed by the spirit of some angry hacker that drives his hand to open and install EVERY file that is emailed to him, click on every single pop-up he runs into, and somehow undermine every single security measure and safeguard I put up purely by random chance.
Since I obviously can't trust him with the key to the antivirus (he needed to disable it to play Trackmania), I guess I have to resort to a 26 digit hex password, so he can't fricking disable it anymore. No more IE8 or Firefox - he's getting Opera 9, with everything locked down. And, I guess I have to start filtering attachments from his emails again. If I sound like an angry parent, reprimanding a child, it's because that's how I feel most of the time.
I've tried to convince him to get a Mac, so I can at least worry less about him installing malware, viruses and dozens of useless or malformed apps. Honestly, he'd probably enjoy MacOS X so much more, since most common tasks are so simple, and it's relatively difficult to get into system level controls. Then, also, he'd be Apple Customer Services' problem, and not mine. I don't really make much money off of fixing his computer, since such duties fall under my regular rates. When my contract is up for renegotiation next year, I'm SO fixing that. When repairs cost him hundreds of dollars each, maybe he'll be a little more careful. Or maybe, I'll just let him toast it, so he can have a $1350 (yeah, he paid $1350 for a laptop worth maybe $700 because it was blue and silver) doorstop to remind him to be more careful. I need a drink.
Tags: business, douchebags
|
|
12:57 pm
[Link] |
Limebarb.com Cosplay Commissions - Now BBB Accredited
In the past, I've been rather vocal about my concerns about Limebarb.com as a cosplay commission service, due to having been directly involved in several disputes with dissatisfied customers. Being scapegoated for all their problems, and verbally attacked online and in person didn't help my impression of them much, either. In recent years, I have received fewer and fewer legitimate complaints from customers, and renewed faith in their staff (thanks in large part to Jim's gracious efforts), prompting me to dropping the reviews website and any mirrors I had control over.
That changed a few months back, after I had received a series of credible complaints from dissatisfied Limebarb customers, and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) listed them as "Unsatisfactory" with outstanding customer complaints. I became concerned they had somehow reverted to their previous ways. A few weeks had past, with the customers in contact with me stating they received no response from Limebarb, which prompted me to make the complaints public on my website and my friend's mirror. However, shortly after publishing the complaints, Limebarb.com staff managed to dissolve my skepticism, by promptly taking care of any outstanding customer complaints that were brought to my attention. They now have a full-time customer care assistant, who handles all of the incoming customer requests and feedback - one of their biggest failings, in the past.
In addition to their staff promptly taking care of customer complaints, Limebarb.com Corp has become a BBB Accredited Business, at their own expense. After taking care of the remaining customer complaints, they brought their score up to an "A" rating, in just a few weeks. I'm a strong supporter of BBB Accredited Businesses, as they provide the customer a simple and easy means to seek remediation, and is a great sign of good faith by any participating company.
With all of their contact information now publicly posted on their BBB profile, I no longer have to be involved in trying to hunt down a personal email address for one of their employees if someone has a legitimate customer complaint that wasn't being answered. It'll also be nice if I never get scapegoated as the cause for all of their problems, again. With all of the big steps they've taken towards promptly and professionally caring for their customers, I genuinely hope that Limebarb's cosplay commission business prospers - they definitely have the creative skill for to do so.
Tags: limebarb, testimonial
|
|
05:24 pm
[Link] |
A Heartfelt Confession
Okay, I've gotta get something heavy off of my chest here... I just don't find Monty Python's Flying Circus to be all that funny. And it's not like I haven't given in a fair shot. I've seen most of the BBC episodes, movies, and unofficial spin-offs, throughout the many stages of my life. I really do see and understand the elements of their absurdist stream-of-consciousness comedy styling, it just somehow doesn't click for me.
For whatever reason putting a grown man in some kind of irregular outfit, and making him flail his arms and blather about just isn't quite enough to make the hammer to fall. But, it's really REALLY close. Okay for instance... I can snooze through most Python sketches, or routines from Steve Martin or Martin Short, but if you just sped the film up a few notches and played Yakety Sax, suddenly I'm laughing so hard that I'm peeing my pants. It's weird how that works out in other things, too. I mostly snicker or eyeroll my way through the observational stand-up comedy routines of Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Izzard, or Dane Cook... But if the guy is stoned (Hedberg or Rogan), distinctly ethnic and loud (Mencia or Rock), over-the-top profane (Carlin or Pryor), or more off-beat deadpan (Gaffigan or Martin) it somehow totally works for me. Weird, no?
Anyhoo, I hope you all can find it in your hearts to forgive me if I don't immediately stop, drop and masturbate every time John Cleese pepperpots some catchphrase. I'm not trying to be a wet blanket. I'm sure it would be hilarious, to me, if he said it really loudly with a deep Central American accent.
Tags: misc
|
|
03:15 pm
[Link] |
Got A Great Deal On A Used 17" MacBook Pro
People within earshot of my many computer-related rants might get the impression I'm anti-Mac. I'm actually a reasonably big fan of Apple's hardware (1st-gen iPhone, 3rd-gen iPod Shuffle, and the Newton and Lisa series excluded), operating systems, and customer service. It's their cooler than you beatnik marketing, and legions of idiots they seem to attract, which turns my tea into piss.
"You can't do SH__ without your BAAALLLLS!!" |
A Mac or iPhone 3G in the right hands, can accomplish a lot. In the paws of the common slob, they are often just a pile of wasted computing potential - often paraded around as a status symbol, and not harnessed to even a fraction of its capabilities. I've seen people with a bare 1st-run iPhones, that they could barely use to make a call. One of the most simple mobile GUIs on the planet, and they can't even figure it out how to use it, or get apps... WTF? Don't get me started on all the problems I've had, working with novice Mac users who thought they could hang with the pros, because of something Justin Long said in a commercial. I've probably lost years from my lifespan trying to accommodate for, or fix, their bass-ackwards wannabe-designer fiddling and prancing. You give them some primo hardware, an award-winning operating system, and band-over-backwards customer service and most of 'em can't even spit out a decent word processing document... Goodness forbid you ever have to instruct them to convert text to outlines, save a file as an EPS, compress it and upload it via FTP. I might as well be trying to instruct the ocean how to wipe its own butt. The end result is the same - me, banging my head against a wall to dull the pain. I bet these imbeciles somehow even managed to pay above retail for their hardware and/or service, too. Idiots.
And, while all that wasted potential sucks, what makes it really sting is that these particular people can't shut up for a freakin' second about how awesome their Apple product is, and how awesome it makes them. It's. Just. A. Tool. It's an extension of the person that handles it. If someone has real skill, they can likely put it to good use on a Mac. With some practice, all the resources on the Mac should likely even magnify the skills and talent of the creator. If you're a talentless hack wannabe-artist, the Mac isn't going to make you any less of a failure - IMO, like un-tucked collars on pink polo shirts and expensive Burberry carpetbags, the Mac actually seems to magnify the douchebagery of the user.
So, now that I've dispensed my obligatory "stupid people drive me to drink" diatribe, I do like the Apple Mac line for graphic arts and video production. While the cost is too prohibitive for the latest-and-greatest of Mac workstations and laptops, for my tastes (I can often find or build a comparable rig for 1/2 to 1/3rd the cost), you can get some GREAT deals on lightly-used and new last-generation hardware, if you shop around. For one of the kids at the office, who is gearing up to become a graphic artist, I managed to find a like-new current-gen 17" MacBook Pro, with a fresh OS install, for just under $1400 from a local authorized dealer. It was also eligible for the $10 Snow Leopard upgrade deal. Adobe is being cool, too. I was able to trade in one of our unused Photoshop CS3 Windows CD/licenses for a Mac version, and she was eligible for the educational discount for Illustrator CS4. The student edition of Office is a good deal, and I was able to find competent freeware apps for every other possible function. If I wasn't already deeply invested and so comfortable with Windows, I'd consider jumping on such a deal for myself, too. She's already getting the hang of MacOS X, and seems pretty ecstatic she's got such a sweet piece of hardware. That she got it for a few hundred dollars less than her classmates, and she actually knows hot to use it to it's fullest potential, is icing on the cake.
Current Music: Punch Out!! Wii Theme
Tags: business, douchebags, testimonial
|
|
06:53 pm
[Link] |
NCIS - Marine Bravo-51 Sniper Rifle "Kate" Mythology
On my TV Blog, I actually get a couple of inquires every month, and lots of traffic from people Googling about the Marine Bravo-51, which was used to kill NCIS Special Agent Caitlin "Kate" Todd (portrayed by Sasha Alexander) at the end of season 2 (continuing into the season 3 premier episodes) of the popular CBS drama NCIS (of which, I'm a fan).
Photo, courtesy of Jakub of imfdb.orgThe genuine Bravo-51 is a Remington M700 tactical bolt-action rifle, expertly customized by Tactical Operations Inc. (Tac-Ops), in California. It's one of a series of duty-specific rifles (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc.) by Tac-Ops, popular among military, police, Coast Guard, hunters, survivalists, and more.
The Bravo-51 is most-often chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO (.308 Winchester), with a reasonably flat trajectory for engaging within 300 ~ 700 meters (in my opinion), and a short case designed for reliable feeding in a short action. .300 Winchester Magnum variants are also available. They're outfitted with match grade heavy barrels (457mm, 508mm, 559mm, or 610mm) and threaded for a suppressor, in a fiberglass McHale stock with aluminum pillars, Harris bipod, scope mounts / Picatinny rail, and sling.
Most just refer to it as Bravo-51, if anything at all. From the Marine friends I've asked, they hadn't ever seen one deployed, but apparently Sniper Platoons were trained in their use. It seemed to be more associated with the Army, within which I (regrettably) haven't yet any friends to ask. NCIS writers seem to have employed a little artistic license, and tenuously basing the "Kate" mythology on a US Army National Guard sharpshooter who runs the Sniper Central webpage. When he served, he was issued an Army M24 SWS, he had named Kate (pic) - a common tradition. After serving, he ordered himself a Spec-Ops Bravo-51, which he dubbed Kate II - presumably to honor his original M24, Kate, with which his Bravo-51 shares many similarities. Besides this, I'm not aware of any other connections to the Bravo-51 rifle, and the nickname Kate.
Tags: misc, weapons
|
12:38 am
[Link] |
Lyoto Machida - New UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion - Video
UFC 98 was a pretty good show, with several interesting fights. The bad blood between former UFC Welterweight Champs Matt Serra and Matt Hughes culminated in a great back-and-forth battle, with both fighters displaying their strengths, and Hughes walking away with a unanimous decision victory. But, the big thrill - even though I honestly saw it coming months in advance - was the undefeated Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida beating the previously-undefeated "Sugar" Rashad Evans for the UFC Light-Heavyweight title. Although I was rooting for Machida, the truth is that Evans is VERY capable of knocking any fighter out in the blink of an eye, and was on the edge of my seat the entire fight. To the untrained eye, there wasn't much action, but you could see them feeling each other out and trying to find any flaw they could exploit. Both quick and seemingly-unorthodox strikers, with knockout power, you could see them switch up stances, feigning, and reading each other for minutes at a time. After some quick encounters, Machida managed to drop Evans with an expertly-timed low-kick, straight-right combination, and press him until Rashad regained his balance. Into the second round, Machida caught Evans in an exchange with a stiff left, and kept on top of him with a Chuck Liddell-like flurry of punches, before putting Rashad to sleep with another left on the button
"Oh shi..." |
.
I admit, I was a little late to jump on the Lyoto Machida bandwagon. While he held early victories over future champions Rich Franklin and "The Prodigy" B.J. Penn, they occurred early in each fighters' careers, so you could accept them being flukes. As well, being associated with Antonio Inoki, who always seems to inspire rumors of fight fixing and shady-doings, didn't help his credibility. But, after seeing more and more footage, and reading about his style, I was intrigued. Here was an elusive fighter, with very precise Karate striking - which is very hard to predict, since kicks aren't telegraphed as much, and even harder to counter since strikes are often thrown with the head back and out of range. He's pretty much been training in street-modified Shotokan Karate, with his father Master Yoshizo Machida, since he was a baby. To add to it, Lyoto has trained in Sumo (effective takedown defense), and recently earned his BJJ black belt from the legendary Nogueira brothers. That's a hell of a skill-set, and he's put it to good use by earning an increasingly-impressive string of victories over some serious competition - including a dominant performance against another former champ, Tito Ortiz. To date, nobody has really even caught Machida and done any kind of damage to him. Taking the title from a still-evolving Rashad Evans further showcases how his relatively unique style, on top of his great physical and mental conditioning, is proving to be effective in MMA.
Click here to see UFC98, streaming at 300k, 700k, and 1200k high quality, in case you missed it!
The current list of UFC champs seems like the most dynamic bunch of fighters to date, all being considered among the very best in their respective specialized styles, while continuing to build on top of it. UFC Lightweight Champ B.J. Penn's moniker, "The Prodigy," describes him to a tee - he's a world-renowned BJJ expert, with just about as many wins from strikes as submissions.  UFC Welterweight Champ, Georges "Rush" St-Pierre, is another Karate-inspired fighter, with swift and lethal circular-style Kyokushin striking and movement, who is also expertly versed in wrestling and submissions. UFC Middleweight Champ, Anderson "The Spider" Silva (left), is one of the most skilled and lightning-fast Muay Thai kickboxers in MMA history, who is also a Nogueira BJJ black belt and argued to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world today. The interim UFC Heavyweight Champ, Frank Mir, is and extremely-dangerous Ricardo Pires BJJ black belt, with expanding Kenpo and Muay Thai skills, who managed to be the first person in the history of MMA to stop Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira while on the comeback trail from a heinous motorcycle accident that would have killed of permanently crippled most people. The current UFC Heavyweight Champ, Brock Lesnar, is a freestyle wrestling monster and NCAA Division I Champ so physically gifted, he managed to defeat the legendary Randy Couture to earn the belt after only 3 professional fights. And, the sick thing is, despite this eclectic collection of supermen holding UFC gold, there always seems to be new fighters showing up in each respective division who - with some time and the proper guidance - could be even more monstrous. The level of competition, even on the smallest shows, has leaped up at a tremendous rate in just the last 2 or 3 years. MMA, as a sport, is just exploding with new talent, and ever-evolving dangerous skill-sets making their way to the top. I for one welcome our future rulers.
Cross posted to my TV Blog and Misc. Blog
Tags: mma
|
|
07:30 pm
[Link] |
I'd Be A Pretty Good Catch, If I Weren't A Marvel Comics Villain
Dating and relationships just aren't my thing. Most matching services seem to want to saddle me with charity cases, who aren't in need of a mate... they need babysitters or psychiatrists. In particular, single women in my neighborhood - participating in a local matchmaking service - were among the most mentally and emotionally crippled people I've ever had the misfortune of witnessing. Honestly, I if I needed to add more aggravation and stress in my life, I'd get a boat. If lightning strikes, and I happen to get matched well with someone - that's cool. Fortunately, I'm pretty cool with being on my own too.
Your dating personality profile:You matched the following traits:
Intellectual - You consider your mind amongst your assets. Learning is not a chore but a constant search after wisdom and knowledge. You value education and rationality.
Athletic - Physical fitness is one of your priorities. You find the time to work athletic pursuits into your schedule. You enjoy being active.
Wealthy/Ambitious - You know what your goals are and you pursue them vigorously. Achieving success is important to you. | Your Top Ten Traits:
1. Intellectual
2. Athletic
3. Wealthy/Ambitious
4. Practical
5. Sensual
6. Adventurous
7. Liberal
8. Outgoing
9. Bighearted
10. Traditional | Your date match profile:You match with women who have following traits:
Intellectual - You seek out intelligence. Idle chit-chat is not what you are after. You prefer your date who can stimulate your mind.
Practical - You are drawn to people who are sensible and smart. Flashy, materialistic people turn you off. You appreciate the simpler side of living.
Athletic - You aren't looking for a couch potato. You seek someone who is active and who keeps her body in top shape. | Your Top Ten Match Traits:
1. Intellectual
2. Practical
3. Athletic
4. Conservative
5. Sensual
6. Adventurous
7. Outgoing
8. Bighearted
9. Wealthy/Ambitious
10. Traditional |
Click to take the test, man. I fixed the misspellings, and reformatted the tables, because I'm funny like that.
I'll admit to being rather ambitious, but my pursuits are actually pretty humble. I don't care for wealth, just the means to ensure a reasonable degree of security. I do also feel I'm fairly more bighearted, than this quiz seems to indicate. However, I'm too pragmatic to overreact to trouble, opting for more-sensible solutions. As well, I've learned to reserve my altruism for my close friends, and not to overextend myself reaching for people whom I feel just aren't wort my compassion. Athleticism in my friends isn't necessarily a big factor for me, so long as they're willing to tolerate my sometimes-overwhelming urge to climb and jump over things or throw people through walls.
Tags: misc, quizzes
|
|
07:01 pm
[Link] |
A Very Happy & Inexpensive Postage Scale
 Look at how happy that scale is! Honestly, I'm pretty happy with it, too. I only paid a measly $10 for it, expecting to get a novelty scale that's only so-so... But, I've been using it all day, and it's a GREAT multi-purpose scale!
I weighed several different things we had around the office, compared the results to our recently-calibrated postage scale, and it was SPOT-FREAKIN'-ON. It's exactly as well-calibrated as our $75 postage scale, in several different units - whole lbs. & oz., lbs. (down to 1/100th), oz (down to 1/10th), kg, and Chinese jīn. Since it's a hanging scale, it's better suited for irregular items, which often don't easily fit on our platform scale. As well, it has a higher capacity than our postage scales - up to 88 lbs. (though I've only tested it up to 46.5 lbs.). It's battery operated, using two "AA" style batteries, making it even more versatile than our other scales. It's simple to zero, so I can use several harness rigs with it. And, personally, I like how happy it looks, with it's smiling face buttons. Considering how crazy I get answering stupid didn't RTFM customer questions all day long, every little thing that cheers my grumpy ass up is much appreciated.
This scale gets pretty good reviews, too, on DealExtreme. If anyone needs a good multi-purpose or mailing scale, this oughtta do the trick. I've already let a bunch of my pals, who make a living on eBay, know about it. It's a really nice scale, for so cheap.
Tags: business, testimonial
|
|
01:41 am
[Link] |
Writer's Block: You Ate What?
I've had lots of insects (crickets, chapulines, mealworms, ants, bee larvae, silkworms), arachnids and other creepy crawlies - some while they were still kicking. I've been served and eaten just about every edible part of a cow, chicken and sheep. I've eaten a still-beating fish heart (cod?) at a wedding. I've also had some weird fungi and cultures. A lotta westerners think balut, fish roe, nattō and umeboshi are weird. I've also cooked and eaten roadkill, and leftovers from other predators.
Ya know what...? I don't regret any of it. I actually like balut, most bugs, tendon, tripe, heart, tongue, various roe, corn smut, and umeboshi. However, I wouldn't ever go out of my way for arachnids, brains, kidney, liver, Vegemite, sea urchin, nattō, or strong cheeses - but I probably wouldn't hesitate if I had nothing else to eat.
Tags: food, misc, survival
|
|
12:15 am
[Link] |
Resurrecting My Lock Picking Skils
 One of the more-curious skills I acquired over the years is lock picking and locksmithing. I picked it up while hanging out with a guy whose parents ran a repossessions & foreclosure agency, while taking classes at CLC in Grayslake. Honestly, it doesn't have much practical use for me. I don't foresee becoming a professional locksmith, or engaging in advanced locksport. As well, if I needed to enter a locked room, in an emergency situation, I'd find a simpler or quicker means. Still, I think it's at least somewhat handy in the event I, or someone I know, gets locked out, and don't want to risk damaging anything. As well, it's a fun craft, and something neat to show-off to comrades.
I had a really simple hand-made tension wrench, half diamond pick, and a snake rake that I made from metal bristles from railway sweepers I found along the local tracks. They were OK, at best, but at least they were free. A decent lock picking set was too expensive for my blood, and any of the trigger and battery lock picks were even more expensive. I made a few bump keys, which were cheap, but reasonably effective for years (in recent years, more and more locks are becoming bump-resistant).
With very amateur tools, no real practical applications, and a loaded work schedule, it's been years since I've practiced lock picking. But, now, I've found several places to order professional locksmith tools for exceptional prices. They have column lock picks, padlock picks, manual pick guns, electronic pick guns, tool kits and more for a fraction of the cost they were years ago. I picked up a simple lock pick set for only $7 and a few extra tension wrenches. Hopefully I've still got a feel for it, but I'm thrilled that there's no shortage of videos and guides for lock picking.
Tags: misc, survival
|
|
04:32 pm
[Link] |
Taskix - Organize Your Windows Task Bar
 Something I've always thought should have been integrated into Microsoft Windows, since the addition of the Windows Taskbar, was the ability to organize items in the taskbar. I tend to like to have my most common or useful apps and windows on the left. Over the years, I've adapted by open items in a specific order to keep maintain this layout, and groan whenever something messes the order up. I've tried several 3rd party apps that enable you to organize the taskbar, but they always added in other features I didn't want, or used more system resources than I felt was necessary for something so seemingly simple.
For the last few weeks, I've been running Taskix 2.0 Beta, by Robust IT, on my Windows Vista, XP, and one of my 2000 systems. It's a freeware app that lets you organize the taskbar, and offers a few other simple features that you can easily enable or disable with just a few clicks of the mouse. Taskix has been rock-solid, works exactly as one would expect, and - best of all - uses very little system resources.
Visit Taskix.RobustIT.com to get Taskix! If you find it useful, be sure to send them a donation to support their effort!
Tags: business, testimonial
|
|
02:53 pm
[Link] |
Monster Barebones PC Deals!
 TigerDirect.com has a sweet deal on a monster barebones PC kit - Quad-Core 2.66GHz Intel i7 920 CPU, Asus P6T LGA 1366 motherboard (with 1 PCIeX1, 3 PCIeX16 slots, and 6 SATA 3.0Gb/s hookups), 12GB (2x6GB) PC12800 triple-channel DDR3-1600MHz, Seagate 7200.11 1.5TB hard drive with 32MB buffer memory, in a spacious high-airflow black case with a goof 650-watt power supply - for only $900, after a $10 rebate. Pieced together from other suppliers, the same components would cost around $1100~$1200. Toss in a good PCIe 2.0 video card, a 64-bit OS that supports 12GB RAM (I'm partial to Windows Vista Ultimate or Windows 7), and that's a pretty boss system for just over a grand.
On the low-end, you can get a dual-core 3.73GHz Intel Pentium D, a decent PCIe 2.0 motherboard with onboard NVIDIA GeForce 7050/610i graphics, and 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-800MHz PC6400 in a fairly-nice ATX mid-tower with 300 watt power supply - for only $199, after a small rebate. Heck... Shopping around, the Pentium D 965 chip alone is $100 ~ $175 at other places. They also have lots of cheap SATA drives, and entry-to-mid-level graphics cards on sale. Not a bad little system, for a pretty sweet price, IMO. If you don't already have an OS, you can get Vista Home Premium fairly cheap, right now. Vista Home Basic and XP are also good deals, if you can find 'em and don't need Premium. As well, several Linux builds might do the trick, and save even more loot.
If you're willing to devote an hour or two to putting a barebones system together, and load the OS, TigerDirect.com always has these sweet deals on barebones systems. So far, we've also gotten a number of recertified systems, at awesome prices ($300~$600 systems for between $90~$230), that have operated flawlessly 5~10 hours a day, 5+ days a week. The only two times we got a faulty component, their customer service was quick to ship out a replacement for exchange. Yeah, it's not as easy as going to a store, but the savings make up for it. And, it's really not that difficult these days. The last fully-loaded PC I put together was WAY less complicated than putting together the IKEA chair my boss got for his office.
Tags: business, testimonial
|
|
04:16 pm
[Link] |
LA Police Gear Having Another AWESOME Sale!
  For the past few years, all of my footwear (save for a pair of cheap sandals) have come from LAPoliceGear.com. They regularly have fantastic sales on top-quality tactical boots and duty shoes, that just boggle the mind. Today, we happen to have just such a deal... 8" side-zip Altama LiteSpeed tactical boots (right) are 60% off their regular price! They have a sweet multi-direction lug style tread, which is good for most all surfaces, molded reinforced midsole and ankle protection, zipper silencer, and breathable antimicrobial fabric. Most of these style boots are designed for heavy-duty use, comfort, stability, stealth on most hard surfaces, and just plain look nice whether on the trails or dressed up for the office.
LA Police Gear has excellent customer service, and lighting fast fulfillment. I just recently got an awesome pair of magnum boots at 60% off, but I otherwise wouldn't hesitate to jump on this deal FAST - especially since size 13 sells out quickly. LA Police Gear also has everyday good deals on other duty gear and wearables, and periodic super-sales. Sign up for their email list on their webpage, to get the latest deals forwarded to your attention, because they usually sell out quick!
Tags: survival, testimonial, weapons, wilderness
|
01:10 am
[Link] |
Wrist Walkie-Talkies Look Like Fun
 Hah, I remember playing with my friends with a pair of crummy walkie talkies that were like 6 or 7 lbs, had terrible range, and had even poorer sound-quality than a McDonald's Drive-thru speaker. Still, they were tons of fun, and we eventually rigged them into sound-activated perimeter alarms before we screwed them up (I think we overloaded the transmitter).
Check THESE out - wrist watch walkie talkies! Man, I would have loved to have these when I was a kid. Even though they're considered toys, at only $42 for the pair (free shipping), they're so totally cooler than any walkie talkie I had as a kid or the first professional two-way radios I used. Even if the specs are half of what they claim (1.5 mile range, 22 FRS/GMRS channels), they're pretty sweet for so cheap. And, they have an even smaller pair of wrist watch walkies, for around the same price.
Tags: testimonial, toys
|
|
07:41 pm
[Link] |
Don't Cry, Zangief... You Can Throw Pretty Much Anything!
A pal of mine sent me this awesome ShinjiGohan & Maj video of Zangief throwing just about EVERYTHING in just about EVERY Street Fighter Game, further supporting my admiration of the big Russian bear!
Tags: video games
|
|
04:53 pm
[Link] |
Just Watched Dragonball Evolution
It's not all that terrible, as long as you're not expecting it to be anything like the source material. Objectively, it's an amusing - if a little dopey - martial artsy adventure movie with a lot of special effects. It's better than, say, the Street Fighter movie, any of the Spy Kids movies, or that dreadful Shark Boy & Lavagirl movie. It feels a lot like Kuen sun (that HK movie that was supposed to be a Tekken movie, before Namco's lawyers came a-knocking on their door), with a more-coherent storyline. The actors seem to do the best they can with the script, so I can't really fault 'em. The visual effects are competent, though a little heavy on particle effects, and the cinematography is fair-to-good. The whole package isn't as terrible as one might expect, though I can't really imagine anyone thought this would do well in theaters. It might do well on DVD/Bluray if they market it as a goofier kid-friendly movie, or even spoofed it. I think it'd make a hilarious RiffTrax release.
Tags: anime, funny, movies, testimonial
|
|
04:42 pm
[Link] |
D&R Autoworks, Highland Park - The Only Place I Take My Car
Over the near-10 years I've had my Ford Escort, I've taken my car to a handful of different places for service. I've taken it to the local dealer once, and regretted it - They tried to charge us for work that wasn't done (we mark all our belts, hoses, and cables with UV markers). I've had break work done at a break specialist (Midas) and regretted it - rear breaks seized up at 65MPH on the Edens, due to faulty installation. I've gotten oil changes at two different oil change specialists, and have regretted it - both forgot to reattach the front-end cowl, which ended up being scraped to hell under my car after hitting a bump. I've had mixed results from the local tire shop, who did a good job installing a set of tires and changing my oil a few times, but twice the screwed up a front-end alignment - once resulting in my car nearly flipping over while turning on the expressway.
To date, the only place that has ever done a satisfactory job, each and every time, has been D&R Autoworks in Highland Park. They fixed my car up real nice after I was rear-ended, they've fixed every screw-up that other service stations did, and are now the only place I ever take my car for service. Same holds true for my parents' cars. Even though I can get an oil change and tire rotations cheaper at other places, I just don't trust my car (and my ass, since I'm the one driving it) anywhere else. After all the other close calls and screw-ups, I can't even imagine what disaster would result, if I took my car to some another hack shop.
It's also cool that D&R is pretty conveniently located, have after-hours drop off (since my work schedule is pretty full), and have a pretty nice waiting room with free WiFi, big screen TV, coffee, and they occasionally set up a putting green. Not that I've ever had to wait very long. Their staff, particularly Dan and Brian, know their stuff and are always willing to answer my numerous questions. Any time I describe an odd noise, strange feeling, or other irregularity with my car (which happens often, since the Ford Escort's front end is so damned fragile) they pinpoint it right away and figure out how to fix it right away, since they seem to stock plenty of Ford OEM and compatible parts.
D&R Autoworks is located on 2366 Skokie Hwy., in Highland Park, IL. Call 847-433-4343 of visit drautoworks.com to schedule an appointment.
Cross-posted on my Testimonials Blog - D&R Autoworks, Highland Park - The Only Place I Take My Car
Tags: business, testimonial
|
[<< Previous 20 entries] |
