Blabberbox:Random blog-like posts from pftq.Share on Twitter

Polymath

October 20th, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Thought of the Day | #
Jack of all trades? Maybe if I were a master of none and each of my trades alone were not better than your mastery of one.
520 unique view(s)

Childhood's End

October 12th, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Recently Read | #
Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
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Origins

September 24th, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Stories | #
We started on a planet once located in the Asteroid Belt, but that exploded.  We came to Mars, but the atmosphere blew away.  Finally, we came here but hit our heads and called ourselves Earthlings.
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Last of Us Cover

September 21st, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Stuck in My Head | #
Last of Us Cover by Elspeth Eastman
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Windows Upgrade with Clean Install

August 6th, 2013 | Posted by pftq in 42 | #
In case you accidentally format your drive before installing the upgrade disc... No registry edits or anything...

     Just had the trouble of accidentally going the Custom > Format route for upgrading my Windows computer.  It ended up formatting and erasing my old existing Windows before installing the upgrade.  Unfortunately, that meant the upgrade key was not supposed to work anymore.

     An easy way to resolve it is to just leave the key blank so that you can use Windows for 30 days.

     Once logged in, create a folder "Windows.old" in the C:\ drive.

     Then go to Control Panel to activate your Windows copy.  The upgrade serial key will work fine.
1003 unique view(s)

Random Freezes with Nvidia Chipset

August 4th, 2013 | Posted by pftq in 42 | #
Something to look into if you were one of the early adopters of the Nvidia chipset back in 2007-ish and now notice it starting to pause or freeze your computer every so often, especially during high I/O.

I noticed on my end that I tend to get a spam of the following warning in my event viewer during these times:
Warning: nvstor64 “Reset to device, DeviceRaidPort1, was issued.”
Warning: nvstor64 “A request to this device has been cancelled. Device: DeviceRaidPort1″

As usual it's a software/driver issue.

See one way to go about resetting the chipset drivers here:
http://zuki.org.uk/blog/2009/11/random-freezing-stuttering-sound-loops-in-windows-vista-or-7/

For me, it worked to just go to Device Manager > IDE > Nvidia nForce Serial ATA Controller > Properties and disable Command Queuing on the drives being problematic.
1204 unique view(s)

Stopping Link Spam in Coppermine Galleries

August 3rd, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #
Something I noticed lately is that most spam comments in Coppermine Galleries contain links.  An easy way to block this type of spam (when they get past CAPTCHA which you should also have) is to add the following code in your db_input.php file:

After:
[code]
    check_comment($msg_body);
   ...[More]
1655 unique view(s)

Real Jetpack

July 30th, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #
Forget the Lockheed Martin jetpack; this one is way better. Grin
Jetman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zgZw3Fgi7I

Going to wait for this to become commercial instead of the LM jetpack which is more like a propeller-powered hovercraft.

If only I was born a few decades later when these are already mainstream.
1366 unique view(s)

Bulverism These Days...

July 29th, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #
Such a sad interview...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qSTvD0Roog

So much logical fallacy employed here, mostly Bulverism.  Unfortunately, it's hard not to run into these types of fallacious arguments nowadays in any subject or discussion.

Studying logical fallacies and inductive reasoning should be mandatory for all disciplines, if only to avoid stuff like this.
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Wandering Out Lostly

July 27th, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Thought of the Day | #
No matter how far I travel, I can never seem to reach the stars.
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Sapling

July 18th, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Stuck in My Head | #
Sapling by Denny Schneidemesser
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The Rock That Hit Me

July 11th, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Thought of the Day | #
See that rock that fell from the sky? That's the one that hit me.
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Some Inspiration From the Past

July 8th, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Essays | #
     These days I don't know what I'm doing anymore.  It seems completely illogical that I'd be on the path I am now given my history.  What am I doing just making songs or chasing stocks when I used to make games, movies, entire websites, etc?

     Sometimes I forget my frustrations, but every once in a while something like this shows up and just really tests my patience with myself:
     http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/2011/02/10/crash-bandicoot-as-a-startup/

     Besides the fact I use to play those games when I was younger, being able to form a team and produce something on that scale was something I've always dreamed of doing.  It's tough finding finding people of equal or better calibur though and even tougher to find those who share similar ambitions and drive.  Like the author, I also learned most of my programming myself (home-brewed), so it's really hard to relate to colleagues who otherwise...[More]
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Sadness of the Eyes

July 7th, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Thought of the Day | #
There is sadness behind these eyes, but because there is nothing I can do about it, for the moment, I smile.
520 unique view(s)

Can't Stay

June 3rd, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Stuck in My Head | #
Can't Stay by Yarrow Whitfield
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Darkness Flickers

May 26th, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Thought of the Day | #
As I close my eyes, the darkness flickers.
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Restless Dreams by Kyle Landry and Yarrow Whitfield

May 25th, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Stuck in My Head | #
Restless Dreams by Kyle Landry and Yarrow Whitfield
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Apologize (Piano Cover) by Kyle Landry

May 20th, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Stuck in My Head | #
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Passion (Piano Cover) by Kyle Landry

May 20th, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Stuck in My Head | #
Passion (Piano Cover) by Kyle Landry
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Yellow Brick Road

May 8th, 2013 | Posted by pftq in Stuck in My Head | #
422 unique view(s)