Monthly Archives: December 2007
The Pop Culture Hacker Image is Deterimental to Real Security
You guys probably know my stance on the usage of the word hacker. You probably also know that the pop culture image of a hacker cultivated by Hollywood annoys the hell out of me. People think that hackers are some … Continue reading
What software do you install on a new machine?
I have touched upon this in the other thread but I figured that I can do better. So here is a more comprehensive list of applications that end up every new machine or after a clean install of windows. This … Continue reading
Microsoft Sidewinder Mouse
As you may know, I got the Microsoft Sidewinder Mouse for Christmas. Ever since I inherited Logitech VX Revolution at work I caught the fancy mouse bug. I figured that since I spend inordinate amounts of time at my computer, … Continue reading
Blnking Dash Problem: The Non-Solution
I figured I should probably post my solution to the blinking dash problem. As you may know, few days ago I rebooted my machine only to be greeted a blank screen and a blinking dash in the upper left corner … Continue reading
Infinite Loop BSOD (nv4_disp)
I love easily solvable problems. I call them instant hero issues – you can solve them in 5 minutes flat, and you instantly become a hero. I wish my problem that I was struggling with for the last two days … Continue reading
Blinking Dash Update And The Wisdom of Yahoo Answers
I did some more tinkering with my blinking dash issue and I found out the following things: FIXMBR + FIXBOOT did nothing. Fortunately it didn’t seem to hose my partition table so that’s good Booting from the WinXP SP2 CD … Continue reading
Dreaded Blinking Dash
Oh boy… My home PC did a number on me once again. I’m currently confined to the laptop propped up on the nightstand next to my bed. Yeah, I can’t even sit at my desk, because I have a CRT … Continue reading
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. First Impression
I’m currently playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. I only have few hours under my belt so I can’t really say much about the game but I figured I can jot down few first impressions. Before you accuse me of copying … Continue reading
Merry Christmas!
If you celebrate it, Merry Christmas! If you don’t happy whatever you celebrate, be it Chanukah, Kwanza, Festivus, winter solstice or whatever! Btw, you should know where is the Robot Santa from. If you might be reading the wrong blog. … Continue reading
Hostel
I saw Hostel yesterday so I figured I will subject you guys to a review of sorts. Yeah, I know, it’s an old movie (2005) but since I’m kinda short on material this is what you get for today. :P … Continue reading
Lisp: Parse and Aggregate a CSV File
Yesterday I wrote about that little problem aggregating data in a big csv file. Just for shits and giggles, here is the lisp code to parse and aggregate a file like that. It assumes that we group the entries based … Continue reading
In defense of office suite databases
Recently I asked you guys what was the point of office suite databases. Most people seemed to agree with me that they are practically useless – merely dumbed down, pseudo databases with bloated graphical interfaces. Jake made a very valid … Continue reading
So… Duke Nukem Forever?
Duke Nukem Forever is an iconic example of vaprware. In fact, it defines this term. Over ten years in making, and still nowhere near the completion. This is a sad lesson in how not to develop commercial software. Someone should … Continue reading
Anti Virus Apps and Performance
Please excuse me while I go on yet another pointless rant. But let’s start from the beggining. My brother was complaining that his rig was getting slow, so I decided to check out his machine. Turns out he was running … Continue reading
Installing AUCTex with EmacsW32
Here is part two of my quest to make Emacs my default LaTex IDE on both windows and Linux. Installation and configuration of Emacs and the LaTex add-on AUCTex on Ubuntu was surprisingly easy and uneventful. On windows however I … Continue reading
Redundant Facebook Apps Diluting Service Value?
Every day I get a bunch of application invitations on Facebook to join some new crazy little thing. There is a septillion of apps on facebook, and the funny thing is that half of them are the same exact thing, … Continue reading
Showdown at Area 51
I was flipping channels yesterday, and all of a sudden something grabbed my attention. Hey, this girl looks familiar! As a matter of fact, I actually talked to her once, and I got her autograph! Yay for the 2002 NYC … Continue reading
Living in the Browser
If you read yesterday’s post, you know that at least one of my students thinks that the Internet is an operating system. It’s kinda funny, but it really got me thinking. I have been seeing these patterns emerging in the … Continue reading
On the 2007 Final Exams
The other day I gave one of my sections their final exam. The thing is mostly multiple choice but I do give them couple of optional open ended questions at the end of the test so that they can make … Continue reading
Emacs with AUCTex as a LaTex IDE
My brand new goal in life is to get more proficient with teh Emacs so I can experience the juicy goodness of the elisp that people keep telling me about. So yes, this will be another Emacs post and there … Continue reading
Making Emacs More Firendly
I was messing around with Lisp the other day, and I started using Emacs (cause that just seemed like a right thing to do). This will probably offend the sensibilities of the die hard Emacs users, but when I set … Continue reading
Mechanical Dog Toys
Yesterday, as I often do I fell asleep with the TV on. I usually tune to Adult Swim in the evenings so I woke up to the morning block of Cartoon Network today. Since I usually stumble out of the … Continue reading
Windows XP SP2 Hibernation Issues
Personally, I believe that hibernation is for bears – I keep my machines on 24-7 and I like it this way. But some people do like to hibernate their laptops. From my email: I’ve been having another problem with my … Continue reading
Firefox Freezing up When Downloading Files
I noticed very odd Firefox behavior on my WinXP box recently. Whenever I would attempt to download a file, the whole browser would freeze up for few seconds. It has been getting progressively worse as the days went by. Today … Continue reading