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Showing posts with label geek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label geek. Show all posts

Thursday, September 23, 2010

When geek and love collide, it looks something like this....
Geek Love Poem (The following T-Shirts are courtesy of Think Geek)


Alright, I get the first part, what's with the "base are" bit?

That's not even proper English!

***Holds eyes tightly shut while waiting for inevitable berating comment from Xanthar Doomsayer III (aka Colin)***



Intimate nerd apparel

Please don't blog this.  Please.  Really.



Love vs chocolate - chocolate wins
For when love is not forthcoming
...or I just prefer chocolate...  SORRY!! Theobromine.


 
Love is... free IT support


I should have bought one of these at age 14...



When 2 geeks fall in love, and make little geeks, there is really only one option:

That's two options.  FAIL.  *smacks forehead*


And completely unrelated...
Haley Joel Osment I Ain't


I don't think I've got enough space to fit all these t-shirts but I might just have to buy them all.  Starting with this one. 






Monday, June 07, 2010

Eureka!!  Here are a few Firefox Add-Ons and Apps that make life a little bit easier.

I have a sneaking suspicion that every time you log in and out of Twitter, sift through unnecessary emails and cut and paste links, a fairy dies.



1.  Bit.ly sidebar - you can get this from the bit.ly home page and drag it on to your sidebar.  It shortens your links at the click of a button.

I can't understand why I have been cutting, pasting and opening and closing bit.ly all the time.  Duh!  Work smarter, not harder!!






2.  Hoot Suite - Wow.  If you have a couple of Twitter accounts and keep logging in and out, this is the Twitter App for you.  Hoot suite has a "Hootlet" bookmarklet for super easy tweets straight from the source page.  It has an app for Iphone too (what doesn't?)

 Soooo much easier to manage everything.  Great if you want to schedule Tweets (for different time zones, for example)






3.  Feedly - All-in-one feed App.  Imports your feeds from Google Reader and various other sources.  Nice!







4.  Yahoo Mail Watcher - Doesn't use your username and password in a way that could be compromised.  Checks your email while you are doing other things.  Notifies you when a new message comes through.


Heaven.







Thursday, March 05, 2009

I have been trying for quite some time to make an 3 column footer so I can tuck my buttons away neatly. Every code I have tried has failed using New Blogger. I realised that there is a much easier way of creating such a display without knowing too much about html and CSS. I created this code (it's not that difficult - just a simple table!) and I have used a variation of this code in my footer.

Here are the steps:

1. Log in to New Blogger

2. Choose "Layout"

3. Insert new widget at footer (choose "html/javascript")

4. Insert this amazing code here (heheh!):

<div align="left">
</p>
<table width="520" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td width="154">&nbsp;</td>
<td width="169">&nbsp;</td>
<td width="197">&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>

5. Replace the "&nbsp" parts with whatever text, code, html - just copy your button code and paste it in.

6. Cut and paste the whole code into your footer widget and publish.

You can edit the table widths etc, if you have an html editor such as Frontpage or Dreamweaver it will be easier for you to preview the final result.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008











If you are like me, ie. camped in front of the computer wide eyed and open mouthed, watching the pretty blue and red colours appear across the states, you might like to view the incoming results for the US Election 2008 on the following links:


BBC News US Election 2008 Results Map

This map requires Flash, but you will see the results as the votes are counted state by state.



SBS World News US Election Results 2008

The SBS World news map features a zoom to individual states to see the breakdown of votes by county.



CNN US Election Results 2008

Updated frequently, detailed information state by state.



Business Day NZ Latest US Election Results 2008

Updated less frequently, this coverage contains text updates and election results map.



P.S. I have no fingernails left.





Tuesday, July 29, 2008

I made the decision to get some web design qualifications early last year. As a result, I have been able to create websites using CSS, but most importantly I can create with confidence. It is reassuring to know that you have received the best possible training to advance your progress in your chosen area of IT - be it security, voice or wireless. I do not profess to be an expert in these particular areas, but I can see the value in learning and developing these skills.

There is a great demand for all kinds of skills in information technology. So many areas are growing so quickly that it takes some attention and application to keep up. It is important for IT professionals to become the supply that the industry is demanding.

Cisco certification provides all kinds of IT training - from entry level to expert/specialist. The site also provides information on IT careers and what it takes to be a "network security superhero". I am going to try my hand at the binary game, called "having fun with binary". I remember learning about binary as a kid, programming in BASIC and generally learning my way around computers. I must say that I have never used the word "binary" and "fun" in the same sentence but I'm willing to be re-educated. You may have noticed there are many "make money online" sites everywhere you turn on your daily surfing adventures. I'm not criticising these sites in any way, let me make this clear, but it is a well known (and tested) fact that if you update / upgrade your IT training, you can make way more moolah. And that's what we all like to hear!


Sponsored by Cisco

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

If I can do this, so can you.

It works like this - you submit your article to Digg, choose a category, etc.

When the submission has been successful, switch to the front page of Digg and click "upcoming".

Press Alt+PrtScn

You have just captured yourself on the front page of Digg.

For example, here is my front page Digg story - "Chinglish Delivery" - it made it to the front page around 4pm today.


How long did my article stay there?

About 10.5 seconds.



P.S. Please Digg me for being a smartarse.




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Thursday, May 01, 2008

I used to own a Macintosh. *sigh* I wish I did again - I miss the look, the feel, no viruses... but I digress. I really love those simple games sites - the kind of games you played when you were a fledgling nerd (or was that only me?) - the kind of games you played while you were working out operating systems and formatting hard drives and scaring people who didn't know anything about computers...

Like me, you can discover free mac games and play to your hearts content. It's a mac games fest and everyone's invited. Some games are free and others you can download in demo version and buy if you decide you like them.


















You can play the cute and reportedly addictive airport mania for mac - attend flight controller school, run an airport, spend too many hours playing, miss meals...

Don't you think simple platform games and basic graphics are the best? Or is it just me?


This post brought to you by Mac Games and More.

Monday, March 17, 2008

I haven't been able to get near my computer for a while now, everything has been down. Some nasty little thing calling itself "Virtumonde" decided to worm (pardon the pun!) itself into the registry.

What is your worst nightmare when dealing with spyware and viruses? I'll tell you what mine is, for the damn thing to keep reappearing after a virus and spyware scan. Which, incidentally is exactly what happened.

The trouble with spyware scans is that they take so damn long. But a lot of the time they take so long because you have been infected with spyware. So scanning can take most of the day. Then you "fix" all the problems, restart, and the problems reappear like magic. Black magic.

After installing CA internet protection, I got rid of Spybot S&D and Ad-Aware. I'm not too fussed about Ad-Aware because the only version available now is the 2007 version which is resource hungry and my GOD does-it-slow-things-down. CA Internet protection also slows things down to almost a standstill. They have a fantastic anti-virus (VET) - I seriously think this is one of the best. Their spyware protection is pretty good, it seems to pick up some things that Symantec anti-spyware misses. The firewall, anti-spam and internet surf protect are bloat factor - I uninstalled them.

But...you can't do without Spybot S&D in my opinion. It's free and you can download it from Safer Networking. This is the only program I have found that consistently picks up what the other spyware scans miss out. P.S. Never download an anti-spyware problem from a flashing ad or sponsored link. Always check PC world ratings and various other feedback about the program before downloading.

I have been combing over the registry and using various programs like Vundofix. This program is supposed to fix what the other programs can't. For some reason it didn't work for me but I have read many blogs and forum posts about how Vundofix had worked for them.

Beware if you open IE or Opera or Firefox and your usual pages have unusual ads on them. Be especially wary if an ad disappears, then reappears as a flashing box saying "You have won!!!" or "You are the 999,999th visitor! Click here!". Sometimes they try to look like windows error messages, sometimes naked people holding telephones appear. Which is quite frightening when you were just trying to do a search on Ebay.

After combing through the registry (and a little help from my Obi Wan nerd!) it seems the problem has finally gone. Spybot S&D is a permanent fixture now and in conjunction with CA spyware protection, it should be ok.

Phew!!!



Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Hi everyone, so sorry I haven't posted for some time, I have been overwhelmed, inundated and just plain busy. All this while on holidays!! Now I'm going away again so if I don't post for a while don't be too surprised! I hope everyone had a brilliant Christmas and New Year (I did!!) and I will of course be back to show off my new gadgets and gizmos and all the trials and tribulations of online shopping....


BTW, has anyone had a problem with their Google Page Rank? Mine went from a 4 to a 3 without so much as a warning!?!?!?! Grrrr!!!



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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

It can be a bit tricky to find a good web host and if you don't want to get ripped off, you need to do some research. A visit to the site http://www.webhostingchoice.com provided a search and compare tool which allows you to specify the amount you are willing to pay for web hosting, the search engine then brings back a list of results for you to choose from. Some of the plans will be a small monthly fee (I tried $5 to see if such web hosting companies existed - they did). Some of the plans will be a yearly fee which I personally prefer. I was able to track down some very reasonable rates for web hosting. I would also recommend the next step of researching the individual companies for reviews and comments to make sure they're kosher (a simple Google search will do the trick).

This post was brought to you by Web Hosting Choice.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

I write a lot of posts about shopping online. However I have often considered the kind of setup required to sell your own products. I know for a fact that shopping online is a volatile business at times. If I am visiting an online shopping site I will be very fickle when it comes to software glitches. If I don't feel 100% confident that the site is secure and able to process my order without incident, I will do what many online shoppers do when faced with this problem: log out, close the window and never come back. It's easy to work out how important this kind of software can be when rounding up new customers and making repeat sales. Personally, if I feel confident buying from a site I will be most likely to make repeat purchases. For this to happen on a large scale, the system must be reliable. I have tried out a number of Ecommerce Software packages - the best way to do this is to compare features, compare pricing and do your research before committing to any one package. Network Solutions E-commerce was developed by the developers of the former MonsterCommerce Ecommerce software. The important questions to ask - does it include Paypal? Many online shoppers swear by Paypal and if your Ecommerce package does not have this option for payment, shoppers may go elsewhere. It may be that the more options your Ecommerce software offers, the better. The choice is up to you.


Monday, October 22, 2007

If you don't believe me, check this out...

You can't delete your account - they keep your personal information. You are allowed to 'deactivate' your account but it won't be deleted - people can still send you friend requests and add you and whatever else the sh!t people do on Facebook, or the Matrix if you like - you are continually plugged in whether you like it or not.

So what is my experience of facebook?

I got lot of friend requests - wow! I must be so popular!

Except the friend requests were from people who I avoided, hated or didn't even talk to in High School.

Creepy guys who used to follow me around, or those bitchy girls who backstabbed me and hated my guts....made my life hell...

...want to be my FRIEND on facebook?

WTF!?!?!

I think Facebook obscures the reality that if you really liked these people you would be calling them and catching up. You would probably have their number already.

Oh, you think it helps people "get together" as the slogan says?

No, it helps F*CKING STALKERS find out your personal details.

NO THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

And legally, if you want to delete your account so you don't get stalked by that guy who would never leave you alone in High School, or Uni or whatever, YOU SHOULD HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO.

Oh, and not to mention people you just don't ever want to see again - like ex-boyfriends. Yep, they pop up WITH PHOTOS. Aarrgh!! The horror. That's right, if you happen to accept a friend request from a stalker friend from High School and they happen to belong to a group containing a bunch of weirdos including that pesky ex-boyfriend, then you pop up on his radar. Which is something that most of us don't want. Ever.


Here's a nice trick I learned from the comments on this blog - Create a new account with a new email address. Use another name but not one that is too 'out there'. Once you have activated your new account, change your email to the old email you used on Facebook in your original account. It will ask you to confirm you are going to delete all the info associated with this email address.

Say yes.

Then deactivate that account and opt out of emails. I hope this worked for me - I just tried it today. If this doesn't work you can try emailing them and request that they delete your account. They may give you the runaround but persist and it should work.


Unplug from the Matrix.

Oh, and if anyone is reading this, it's a warning. Don't sign up. And if you want a good scare, read their privacy policy.

Facebook are evil and deserve to be shut down.



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Thursday, July 19, 2007

This is a shopping blog and therefore I don't normally write about HTML and CSS stuff but I have just spent 3 infuriating hours trying to work out why it is that 'highlight' text refuses point blank to display in Internet Explorer.

This is from the website I am working on:








and



Note: I used the term "left" as the highlight is to appear in the left menu bar.


Display was perfect in Mozilla and Opera but IE wasn't showing any highlight. In fact, it just reverted to the original style specified.

After much pain and use of IDs (#), etc, I was no closer to a solution.

Then finally I discovered a command used if the text is to be highlighted say, in the middle of a sentence. I used the following:




And wouldn't you know, it worked. The highlight displayed properly, even in Internet Explorer.













So, to avoid pain and suffering for others, I decided to post this fix for highlights displaying properly in IE. I hope it will save some people some time and frustration.


Peace. I'm going to go and have a chamomile.


Monday, April 02, 2007

I have spoken to a lot of people who want to get a better page ranking in Google. In fact, who doesn't? I certainly do! If you have a website that is in desperate need of rankings and traffic, you may want to consider this search engine optimization company. The model is "pay for performance" which means you only pay for results - which makes a lot of sense. Why should you pay for a non-performing SEO company? Let's face it, when you pay for results, you want your site to come up on the first page of Google, Yahoo and MSN. You might want to check out their testimonials page and check the page rankings of the companies listed and try a few searches for these companies in Google, Yahoo and MSN. You might be impressed with the results.



Friday, March 09, 2007

Windows XP. Everyone was excited when it came out but there are a couple of things that are perplexing. When you run a few computers on a network and you run Windows XP on all these machines, the sharing and permissions folders get confused and suddenly one or more of the computers decides that you don't own your own computer so you can't access your own files. Or anyone else's files for that matter. This has happened not once, not twice, but over 30 times, possibly more - I think I've lost count.

These are my fixes to get it to work again:

Sharing & Security Checklist:

* Share this folder / file
* Permissions - Everyone - Full control (3 ticks)

* Security Tab
* Advanced
* Owner Tab
* Change owner - Administrator
* Change owner (Insert your owner's name here eg. JSmith)
* Tick "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects" both times
* OK

* Back to Security
* If no names are shown, add "Administrator"
* Apply
* All other users should appear again (if they had disappeared, which they often do!)
* Make sure administrator, users etc. have full permission

* Permissions
* Tick "Inherit from parent the permission entries that apply to child objects. Include these with entries explicitly defined here"
* Tick "Replace permission entries on all child objects with entries shown here that apply to child objects"
* Apply (may take a minute)

Pray


However, I have done this series in the checklist and the permissions have a mind of their own. They can revert back overnight when you are not looking. We got our computer guy in to fix it and he did exactly the steps I followed above. I know because I watched him the whole time. And wouldn't you know, the permissions reverted back (or should I say REGRESSED) as soon as he left the building. Windows 98 made a lot more sense when it came to networking. Perhaps in the long run, Windows XP will show itself to be a Windows 97. Hopefully there will be some updates / fixes soon.

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Free Windows Registry Scan

Thursday, February 22, 2007

The following is a Pay Per Post advertisement....
I love widgets. Ever since I first tried out a weather widget I have been going widget mad. Before I went widget mad I didn't even know what a widget was. Heck, a year ago I didn't even know what a blog was!!! (strange but true) But I digress.
Box.net Widget is a flash player that you can use to stream files. You choose which files to upload from your hard drive (up to 1GB) - these can include podcasts, photographs, videos, whatever you like. I tried it out myself and it's pretty easy to use - took me all of 2 seconds to figure it out!

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Does this ever happen to you? Bored, staring at the screen, can't face another spreadsheet? The remedy: time killer - proudly declaring to waste your time in a good way. The site has games such as Tic Tac Toe, 3D worm and blast billiards. Plus the obviously addictive (played 598 times so far) bubble pop game. Where you pop plastic protective bubble wrap until your brain explodes. Enjoy!

Tuesday, December 19, 2006




Beer and HTML don't mix.

I tried today to have 3 stubbies (for those of you who are not Australian, that is quite a bit!) and then fix up the HTML in my blog.

Don't try this at home, kids.

Do not mess with your colour scheme, your layout or anything else under the influence of Victoria Bitter.

If you drink, then HTML, you're a bloody idiot.



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Friday, November 10, 2006

Has this ever happened to you??



I had another dream in html. And it's happened on more than one occasion. Not only is it disturbing but it says something about me. I'm not exactly sure what. The word NERD comes to mind.

I have been using computers since I was 7 years old. And they have never really troubled me that much. Until CSS came along and my head imploded. And HTML still gives me goose bumps.
Don't get me started on Windows XP.

But.... I decided rather than wallow in slash squigglything pointy arrow confusion, I'd get a couple of books from the Technical Book Shop.

CSS Web Design for Dummies by Richard Mansfield (RRP $39.95)




And...

HTML 4 for Dummies by Deborah S. Ray and Eric J. Ray (RRP $23.95)




It's good to have a beginner's mentality when learning, even when you think you know it all. That's why I like "for dummies" as a title.

The reality of these books is that they make sense and are easy to follow. The HTML 4 one in particular is good at de-mystifying the whole deal.

Compare it to say, Microsoft Access - the official "user's guide" that comes with the program.
You might as well try and decode the Rosetta stone. Or find Bigfoot.

It tells you everything you need to know, providing you

1. Know where to look (needle in haystack, perhaps?)
2. Are an expert in Microsoft Access and assisted with the creation and implementation of the program
3. Have enough money to call the Microsoft $$$$$ help line.

After leafing through these dummies books my mind is at rest.
I expect to have < / and { free dreams tonight.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

It's funny how Playstation keeps bringing out "New and Improved" versions of this game.

I first discovered this game waaaaaaaay back in my early Ebay bidding days. In fact, it was the second thing I ever bought.

I got PS2's Tiger Woods 2003 for around $15 - a bargain.



The game has incredible playability - the action is easy to get used to and the analog shock controllers add excitement to the whole experience.

The graphics are pretty amazing - the game really draws you in - thunder in the background, rain falling, birds hooting or strange sounds in the distance make it an all-encompassing experience.

The game can be played for years if you ask me - I'm still not sick of it, and I wasn't even much of a golf fan when I started!!

The commentary is hilarious - David Feherty and Bill Macatee have a riotous banter which often had me giggling out loud.

Eg. "This putt is like hot snot out of a chrome nostril..."

It's sometimes hard not to laugh while taking a shot.

The music is great as well - Silverchair(Australian! Thank you), Ra (I had never heard of this band before but they are pretty good) and other heavier rock acts.

Some people have complained about playing a conservative game with a rock soundtrack but I think why not?

Tiger Woods 2004 has added various rap stuff and quite frankly it's nowhere near as good.

The courses in 2003 are beautiful too: Pebble Beach, Black Rock Cove, Spyglass Hill, The Highlands and don't forget the Royal and Ancient St Andrews - to name a few.


The Predator (complete with elephant noises and running waterfalls)



Black Rock Cove


The characters are just that - characters! Many have a legend behind them.

Hamish "Mulligan" McGregor - named due to his incessant cheating.


Or Domenic "The Don" Donatello - named because he makes his opponents "disappear"

You get the idea.

It's a game for those with a sense of humour.

Tiger Woods 2004 is all flash and dazzle and the graphics are supposed to be better but they actually come across as lame. The soundtrack is infuriating and the commentary is flat. Even the characters seem to have less personality.

The new additions for 2004 include "Game Face" - a feature where you can fashion your own likeness on to the screen and play as "yourself"

Seriously. This is creepy. It's very unnerving to see a quasi "You" on the screen. Kind of Voodoo-ish. Don't go there.

Tiger Woods 2003 is the best version of this classic game. The other versions are just the same game with extra fluff around the edges.