I always wanted a text mode on an Amiga

I guess it's because I grew up on an Apple II that I wished that the Amiga had a text mode.

Commodore had all of those mos 8563/8568 80 column graphic chips that they used on the c128. Why couldn't they slap one of those on a Zorro bus so you could do some dual monitor action? It would have been sweet to do debugging like you could do on a Monochrome Adapter on an IBM.

If you had a text mode video add-on, why not a multiuser system with another keyboard, for instance.

I always lamented the speed of the slow graphical text drawing and scrolling when compared with pure text mode.

Just an idea that I was thinking about.

Remember those wacky XEP80 80 column boxes on the Atari 800 that plugged into the cartridge port?

playing with code 128 font

I got a new barcode reader and so I thought why not test it. How hard is it to make a code128 barcode in LibreOffice? I found a code 128 font at OpenBarcodes and it's got a TTF file.

It has some VBA additions to work with MS Office, but I'm using LibreOffice.

So let's do it manually!

http://grandzebu.net/informatique/codbar-en/code128.htm

has all the information that we need.

I want to make it say "HELLO"

so let's put a Start B code in (which is code128 104 but maps to ASCII 209) in the font.

Insert Special Character 209

then HELLO (we'll do uppercase)

and computing the check digit is interesting, so I made a little spreadsheet to do that, and adjusting the ASCII codes by 32 characters. "H" is the check digit result.



Insert Special Character 211 for Stop

and it works! (After a bunch of trial and error mistakes - I think I did about 10 that didn't work)

Using public transportation and needing restrooms

I like to think that we're a civilized people. And civilization means having somewhere to go to the bathroom. In the city, you can't just go to the bathroom in public, but very few public restrooms are provided.

They want you to take public transportation, but public transportation means waiting for buses and having a slower travel time. I can get across town in a car in 30 minutes, the equivalent trip takes 2x-3x the amount of time.

So why don't they have public bathrooms available? I mean, isn't it a human right?

They spend billions on these new rail systems, but are there any bathroom facilities included in the stations?

There's an interesting article in the wapo about finding the elusive Metro restroom.


I end up having to use the public library as a waypoint since that's about the only place you can find restrooms easily.


There's a couple of organizations that are focused on restrooms.

The American Restroom Association. "America's advocate for the availability of clean, safe, well designed public restrooms"

ARA article on Fighting for your right to use a restroom.


And PHLUSH, which stands for Public Hygeine Lets Us Stay Human.

http://www.phlush.org/protect-your-toilet-rights/


Heaven help you if you've gotta go and you're in no man's land.


I went to the DMV recently to renew my driver's license and had to wait 2 hours and there was no public restroom...

Maybe we should have something like they have in Amsterdam. (Is that for real?)

Spinning the projectables globe around

I get a kick out of these projectables night lights.

Can you spin the projector sphere around in its mount without damaging it? Well, yes you can. It actually uses a small spring to make electrical contact, so you can spin it as much as you like.

I found this out by disassembling a broken one.

They're fun, but the projection tends to lose its color and get washed out over time. If you married one of these small digital picture frame LCDs with a projectable, now that would be interesting.

It's cool to plug a few of these into an outlet strip simultaneously.

Not been edited in order to fit in more commercials

So I'm watching this channel called Movies! TV and they have this statement that they make.

"This movie has not been edited in order to fit in more commercials."

Did they not edit the movie so that they could fit in more commercials, or so that they couldn't fit in more commercials?


It doesn't say that they didn't edit it for other reasons like DLSV.

Seiki TVs use LG remote codes

So I got a cute little Seiki TV but no remote, and I went looking for the universal remote codes.

Amongst all the text it tells you that universal remotes can use the LG remote codes. But it's buried in all of this other noise. Thankfully another webpage at askmefast told me that "Seiki and HCT both use LG codes."

I go back and sure enough the info is there, hidden in plain sight.

It works nicely as a VGA monitor too, with 1920x1080 resolution. The only thing is that it sometimes takes awhile to pop out of energy star standby but it does wake itself up eventually. It must check about once or twice a minute for a video signal.


http://www.seiki.com/support/faq

Q: I'm trying to set up my cable/satellite/universal remote to work with your television. What is the manufacturer's code for my SEIKI TV?

A: Cable and Satellite content providers control the remote codes, and we apologize for any confusion during the remote programming. Please try the following codes:

DIRECTV - 10178 11687, 10178, 10835, 10056, 10150, 10463, 10156, 11498, 11401, 0178,

Time Warner Cable - 0178

Philips - 0002

Comcast – 11864, 10178, 0060

Cox Communications - 0178

Atlas DVR Device URC - 0178

Bell Remotes & Dish Network - 505, 506, 516, 523, 526, 566, 573, 612, 627, 647, 652, 653, 654, 655, 656, 658, 659, 664, 665, 667, 669, 670, 679, 680, 704, 717, 730, 738

ATT U-verse – 1004

Hitachi - 0002

URC- 2964, 0145

Cablevision customer (optimum)- 004

Bose or universal remotes- LG remote code

Universal Remote - One For All OARC04G 4 Device Universal Remote (Element code)

These codes may not work on some universal remotes. If there is another code listed for SEIKI Digital in your universal remote control guide, please try that code. Refer to the Remote Control Guide under your TV's model number for more information.

Diabetic socks at dollar tree

I like to be comfortable. And that means wearing clothes that are comfortable.

One of the things that has driven me crazy is not being able to find comfortable socks that fit.

I get these new socks and they hurt my feet because they cut off the circulation. Even just putting them around my wrists seems to cut off the circulation, and my ankles are much wider than my wrists.

What works are these diabetic quarter socks I find at dollar tree. Black or white socks it doesn't matter to me as long as it's comfortable. They're kind of loose and that's just the way I like it. They're not super durable because the elastic tends to wear out, but for a buck, who cares? They last long enough.

I wonder how many health problems are caused by clothes that are too tight and limit proper circulation. When you're travelling, loose fitting clothes are a must.

They'll sell you a box of 48 online but they're not all the 10-13 size quarter socks, they're assorted.

https://www.dollartree.com/search/go?view=grid&w=diabetic+socks

Coin collection theft

I'm reading SI today about Dr. Z, a longtime NFL writer, and this tragic bit caught my eye.


http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/06/26/dr-z-week-sports-illustrated-nfl-writer-tribute

"A police officer came. He summoned a detective. Within a week, they told Linda the news: The housekeeper found the money, and found the coins, and stole them. Stole it all. The value was $25,000 officially, but the real value was far more, because most of the coins hadn’t been assessed for value in recent decades—because Paul never intended to sell them."


Apparently, searching the news comes up with quite a few stories like this.

http://onlineathens.com/mobile/2016-02-02/athens-housekeeper-sentenced-prison-stealing-stamp-collection-valued-175000

http://www.vagazette.com/news/va-vg-money-laundering-charges-0116-20160115-story.html

Automated Car Factories

These robots are pretty amazing. Reminds me of something out of a Terminator movie. How long before these automated factories are putting out Terminators?

Telling left from right

I've always been very good at telling left from right, being able to "mentally rotate" things around. Some people have trouble with left-right discrimination. It's interesting how easily your brain can flip your eye-hand coordination around.

For instance, in flight sims, pulling down on the stick tilts your nose up. When you're playing first person shooting games, moving the mouse up makes you look up.

One of my favorite old school games, Lode Runner on the Apple 2 had the buttons reversed on my Mach 3 joystick. The rightmost button dug to the left and vice versa which felt totally natural after awhile.


http://www.chron.com/life/article/If-you-can-t-tell-your-left-from-your-right-1752863.php


http://www.iflscience.com/brain/why-some-people-have-trouble-telling-left-right-and-why-it-s-so-important/


I suppose also that can factor into things like dyslexia where letters are perceived backwards too.

http://bodyodd.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/04/24/11359120-why-some-cant-tell-left-from-right

http://www.dyslexia-reading-well.com/directional-dyslexia.html

Solar Dancing Toys

I always thought these were fun.



so what's inside? here's a great teardown video.

Anton Yelchin death and complexity of car controls

I'm very sorry to read about Anton Yelchin's untimely death most likely due to the complexity of the shift lever in his Grand Cherokee.

http://www.ibtimes.com/jeep-grand-cherokee-e-shifter-which-might-have-killed-star-trek-actor-anton-yelchin-2386617


and don't forget the Texas Man who died because he couldn't get out of his Corvette with electronic door locks.


http://www.ibtimes.com/texas-mans-death-chevy-corvette-raises-questions-about-overuse-electronics-cars-1963858?rel=rel1

Just give me a regular shifter and a regular door handle!

So yes, people do die from bad design.

Crazy parking in Vancouver

Just when you think you've seen it all.

and the backstory:

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/unlicensed-teen-mangles-mom-s-porsche-after-hit-and-run-vpd-1.2958586


"Last year, the Insurance Corporation of B.C. says 14,067 tickets were issued under the Motor Vehicle Act for drivers without a valid licence. Another 9,200 contraventions involved drivers without insurance."

Vampire accelerator board in an Amiga 1000

Stuff like this makes me happy to see. I never thought I would see the day that the amiga 1000 would get an awesome upgrade like the vampire. 100+ times faster than an amiga 1000.

Make those old chips sing!

http://apollo-core.com/knowledge.php?b=5¬e=1451

Malware in the browser couponcherry

There is a special place in hell for the writers of malware. A friend got infected with this one that brings up a.couponcherry.com and admediatracker.net.

Download this great program...and get infected.

Every minute there would be a new pop up window in internet explorer. Boom! Another window. Boom! Another window.

It made the computer totally unusable.

The usual free programs wouldn't get rid of it.

I think I was able to get it by disabling the extensions. There were a couple of ones that said they were from Microsoft but were (Not Verified). So I reckon that they must not be legit, because they should be signed properly. You have no idea where this nonsense is coming from.

Thanks, malware writers!

Antutu benchmark and Insignia Flex 10.1

So I thought I'd download the Antutu benchmark, and it wanted me to install a separate 3d part. I noticed that only half of the 3d part would run. I guess the graphics chip isn't powerful enough to do the other half of the 3d test.

What really was strange is that all of sudden after installing it and leaving the tablet for a while, the Insignia Flex's power button wouldn't bring it out of standby properly. I had to hold down the power button and do a hard shutoff. Sometimes the UI would freeze. It never did that before.

Uninstalling Antutu put everything back to normal. Weird.

NBA referees and preferential treatment

Ok, since I'm on an NBA rant, how about that preferential treatment that certain star players get.


I'm watching 2002 western conference finals game 4 and it sure looks to me like Shaq did free throw lane violations on at least 3 or 4 free throws. The referees really swallow their whistles.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXLiPk82ksc&t=1h7m33s




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXLiPk82ksc&t=1h22m58s

"Shaq's new free-throw style has him stepping across the line after he releases the ball. I was under the impression that the shooter couldn't step into the lane until the ball has hit the rim. Am I mistaken?"

http://a.espncdn.com/nba/playoffs2002/s/2002/0604/1390844.html

Despite the riding of referees by opposing coaches and players, O'Neal was called for only one lane violation on his own shot in 717 attempts this season.

http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jun/08/sports/sp-lakernotes08


so fast forward to the 2013 season, where LeBron doesn't get a single foul called in 6 games.

http://20secondtimeout.blogspot.com/2013/01/lebron-james-is-rarely-called-for-fouls.html

Surprised I don't see more computer sharing boxes

One thing that I'd like to see is a Chromecast / Steam Link / OnLive type device that would extend a workstation over ethernet for computer sharing complete with multi display and sound support.

You'd buy a really hot computer and share it to multiple stations in your house.

Then you could put your really noisy computer somewhere it doesn't bother you.

The technology is here, just make it cheap like a Chromecast and make it easy with simple configuration.

And not proprietary like Teradici PCoIP... Why does stuff like this have to cost an arm and a leg?

Average speed of city driving

So I drive 5 miles across town and it takes me from 20 to 30 minutes to do it depending on traffic. My average speed is approximately 10 miles per hour (for 30 minute trip) and 15 miles per hour (for the 20 minute trip).

I must be spending a lot of time (at least half) waiting for lights as the speed limit is 35 mph.

Well I guess at 10 miles per hour I'm still beating Beijing.

http://qz.com/163178/a-big-reason-beijing-is-polluted-the-average-car-goes-7-5-miles-per-hour/

Xfinity homepage is so irritating

So I use xfinity's homepage to log in to my email, but it's so bandwidth heavy. It chews up huge amounts of cpu with all of the BS graphics and news stories, etc. I just want my email, man.

You can use m.xfinity.com for a low bandwidth "mobile" version but why even have such a cpu and memory hungry beast in the first place?

The feature I like most is that if you leave a mail window open long enough, it will revert back to xfinity's homepage. Burn, cpu, burn! Every time I open it I hear Sinistar's voice: "I hunger!"

Even if you log in with m.xfinity.com, guess what happens when you log out of your email? Back to the regular xfinity.com homepage.

I feel like I'm Ra battling Apophis from Gods of Egypt having to close xfinity's homepage all the time.

Thoughts on the NBA finals

I am really disappointed that the Warriors weren't able to repeat as champs. I think NBA means "Not leBron Again?" I mean he's been in the last 5 or 6 finals. I feel like I've been watching the LeBron channel.

It's a shame that the Warriors opened up a 3-1 lead, for then the NBA referees go into even-up mode where they favor the team that's behind.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-finals-a-great-snapshot-of-what-steph-curry-would-be-in-older-eras/


"Criticism against Curry in a historical sense has been the idea that he is too slight and not strong enough to deliver the way he does against the defenses of past eras. In today's NBA, hand-checking is no longer allowed and we've gone from a defensive wrestling match to more of a chess match, but the Cavs seem to be employing as many "old school tactics" as are allowed by a mostly ambiguous rule book.

The Cavs are clutching Curry whenever they can. They're holding him. They're daring him to push off and fight through the contact. Some may complain about these being fouls they're getting away with, but both sides are bending the rules of physicality in different ways. And as long as it's not being called, the Cavs would be stupid to refrain from defending him in this way. They're not allowed to hand-check, but they're allowed to bump him, body him and crowd his personal space as much as possible, which they've been doing for most of this series."

How do you negate the advantages of small ball? Grab and hold 'em to slow them down.

Sometimes I feel like I'm watching the movie "One on One" from 1977.


and then the TV executives want there to be a game 7, I mean they've paid billions of dollars to televise these games.


(sung to the tune of Shake Shake Shake - KC and the Sunshine Band)


Milk milk milk, milk milk milk, milk that series, milk that series

We want game 7, we want game 7, extend that series, extend that series



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roger-wolfson/the-nba-is-rigged-too_b_10598010.html

Photobooks at Walgreen's

I like to make photobooks at walgreen's online photo system. My workflow is this: I use MS Publisher 2000, print to a 300 dpi JPG using a ghostscript jpeg printer, then upload the JPGs to the online system. What drives me crazy is a couple of things:

Publisher 2000 doesn't like big files (like 300+ megabytes). So I break it into smaller documents of 4 or 5 pages.

Ghostscript likes to print things portrait-ized. The photobooks are landscape 8x10. So my layout is landscape but when they print with ghostscript it's rotated to portrait. So for each photopage I upload I have to manually rotate and crop it. This gets really monotonous and irritating after awhile. I suppose I could break down and figure out how to get imagemagick to do the rotation for me.

Then I can't get the pages in the original order. There's really no way to tell what the filename of the original photo is once you upload it to the system. So the pages get out of order.

But the output looks great. If you can suffer through the flaws, the results are really nice.

Adjust gamma on my laptop in linux

On my laptop, I can change brightness easily with function keys on the keyboard, but how do I adjust the contrast?

With an external monitor, there's buttons and an OSD, but the laptop display is totally integrated. What to do?

xgamma to the rescue!

xgamma -gamma 0.7 makes it a bit darker

xgamma -gamma 1.2 makes it a bit lighter


You can also use xrandr:

xrandr by itself will give you a list of your display outputs

xrandr --output VGA-1 --gamma 1.2:1.2:1.2
xrandr --output LVDS-1 --gamma 0.7:0.7:0.7

will set your different outputs to different gamma settings

Discovered tap-drag with synaptics today

Hah! Made my daily discovery. Tapping then dragging works to do a mouse dragging operation with my synaptics touchpad. I've been using this laptop for years and never figured that out. I've been using the touchpad buttons and dragging with the touchpad instead.

I also figured out that you can "hand off" the drag to the finger on your other hand when you run out of space to drag.


Also under knoppix, if you want tapping to work (mine doesn't by default) type:

synclient TapButton1=1

into a command prompt.

Star Trek II Skybox cards

One of the things that I got recently that was fun was a box of star trek II movie cards by Skybox from 1994. I like to look at the cards and I can "hear" the music and dialogue from memory. "Khhaaaaaaan!!!!" Back in the day I was a sucker for Star Wars cards. I even bought movie cards for Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

http://www.wixiban.com/trading-cards/mov-cinema.htm

Sudden Acceleration

Is it driver error or is the car to blame?





This is why I will never walk behind a car backing up.

Open Source Blitz Basic and Dark Basic

I always liked Blitz Basic and I find that now it's open source. Cool. BlitzPlus, BlitzMax and Blitz3d all free.


http://www.blitzbasic.com/Products/_index_.php

I even find that Dark Basic is now open source too. Wow. More fun than a guy should have.


https://www.thegamecreators.com/product/dark-basic-pro-open-source

and I see there's life in Div Games Studio.

http://div-arena.co.uk/