Which is better?

• Ninjas
• Dinosaurs
• Robots
• Pirates
• Aliens and/or equivalent space monsters
• Zombies
• Cowboys & Indians

Data Backup, Hosting and Synchronisation (Updated)

What are the best, free solutions and services for backing up data, hosting files, and synchronising on multiple computers?

Hosting online

See this blog about cloud storage and pricings.

Local Backup
See this blog for recommend backup programs for both imaging and local files.

If you have other computers you could backup to and do it manually, then FTP using FileZilla or Beyond Compare also works well, but you'll likely need to port forward the addresses on your home router, and you may need to use Dynamic DNS as well.

Windows Shortcuts

Some of these apply to Windows 7 only, and Vista only, although XP may pick them up too.

Enjoy!

1. Presentation options - Win Key + P
2. Hide all but the active window (just like AeroShake) - Win Key + Home
3. Navigate through taskbar items - Win Key + T
4. Show desktop gadgets (bring to front) - Win Key + G
5. Start Mobility Center - Win Key + X
6. Select systray - Win Key + B
7. Magnify desktop - Win Key + Plus Key; reduce magnification - Win Key + Minus Key
8. Maximize current window - Win Key + Up; Restore/Minimize - Win Key + Down
9. Dock window on the desktop side: select window and Win Key + Left/Right Key
10. Window switch Win Key + Tab. Reverse switch order Win Key + Shift + Tab
11. Switch to the first window on taskbar: Win Key + 1; second window Win Key + 2; etc.
12. Preview desktop - Win Key + Space
13. Add files to Aero Task Bar - Hold down the Shift key while dragging a file to an icon on the Taskbar
14. Shift+right click on a file, Copy as Path
15. Win Key + R - Starts Run Command

16. Win Key + D or Win Key + M - Minimize all to Desktop

17. Win Key + E - Opens My Computer

18. Win Key + F - Opens Search Window

19. Win Key + L - Locks the Computer -> good one

Copied from http://www.aeonity.com/david/windows-7-shortcut-key-tips

How do I find out the most popular tv series, movies, music, games and anime?

An easy answer is simply to look at the amount of people downloading torrents!

As of 2009-09-01, the current ones are:

TV SERIES (http://www.torrentz.com/verifiedP?q=tv)

MOVIES (http://www.torrentz.com/verifiedP?q=movie)

MUSIC (http://www.torrentz.com/verifiedP?q=music)

GAMES (http://www.torrentz.com/verifiedP?q=games)

ANIME (http://www.torrentz.com/verifiedP?q=anime)

Security Software

I got this fancy table from http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/protect_your_pc_from_guys_like_this?page=0,4

Personally at the moment I'm using Microsoft Security Essentials (you can download it from softpedia I think), as it has a very low footprint and its really easy to add programs to the Ignore list. After this I might try out the new AVG Beta 9.0 they have out, otherwise, I think it'll be back to Avast, for its low footprint and ease of use compared to programs like Norton, McAfee, BitDefender, Kaspersky.

I recommend avoiding those four, and also avoid PC Tools as they seem to really slow everything down and cause some issues with other programs on my machine. I have yet to try out ESET, as that one seems to be low in memory but still feature rich. I haven't tried Avira or F-Secure because they don't seem to be that good from the table.

In addition to MSE I also have Spybot Search & Destroy with TeaTimer running, and Lavasoft's Ad-Aware, as that captures some bad malwares on occasions in real time. I'd also recommend installing Spyware Blaster for the same passive protection that Spybot gives. I also liked Spyware Terminator at first, they recommend installing ClamWin Antivirus as extraware on install, but didn't eventually like ST very much as it was very naggy.

I used to use ZoneAlarm on all my machines but after the Windows Update KB951748 internet access firewall problem with ZoneAlarm, I didn't really trust it again; plus, it nags far far too much, and makes sharing files on a network near impossible.

I also don't recommend ThreatFire v3 as it really didn't like Vista much, I can only assume the same with Win 7 - Avast was the only real program that had no issues with Vista and Win 7 whatsoever.

Update: Avast has recently caused a bluescreen on a Windows XP machine of mine, caused by one of the security privileges drivers. So am not so sure about Avast from now on.

I also did like AVG very much, however, I don't like its interface and it is very difficult to edit particular components of it. Ad-Aware, on the other hand, does have some advanced editing, with a focus on spyware rather than viruses. It does pop up every now and then so I know it's working - AVG, however, has rarely said anything and so I'm not sure if it's really working.

Windows 7 Quick Review

Good points:

• It takes 18 minutes to install from inserting the DVD to reaching the desktop ready for use. Compare that to Windows XP, taking a full 40 minutes, plus the post-installation setup too.
• It's fast, it boots up just as fast as my partition of Windows XP does. Vista takes forever compared to either of them.
• It's sleek, sexy and intuitive. Move the taskbar icons around. Have small icons. Preview the desktop without clicking anything. And everything that Vista had, just better.
• The Recovery Console is automatically installed with the computer. Before you boot into Windows, press F8 to get to the advanced startup options, then choose Repair Your Computer to get to all the handy recovery tools.
• Disk Defragmenter is much more useful and friendly.
• Three words: Slideshow Desktop Backgrounds.
• All of the old screensavers from XP and Vista still work in 7, if you have copies of them. The only exception is the 3D Windows XP logo.
• Libraries are useful little things. But if you don't want Windows Media Player to index your videos and pictures, you have to remove them from the library altogether. Else, just make a new library with slightly different spelling to easily get to your videos etc.
• Updating software is still much easier than going to the Windows Update site in XP, and the "Configuring upates..." message that Vista has has not even come up yet in 7.
• Jumplists are also incredibly useful, but I still don't use them as often as I could be doing.

Bad points:

• The Games are disabled by default, you have to go to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off to change it.
• There are still lots of compatibility issues. A lot of my drivers for audio, printer and chipset had to be put into Vista Compatibility Mode in order to install them, and I had to prevent some of the installers from rolling back installations too.
  
• Windows Live Messenger does not sit in the system tray, it sits in the taskbar. This is fucking annoying. If you want to make it live back in the sytem tray, go to its folder and change it to Vista Compatibility Mode.
• I had trouble with SpeedFan on my machine, it seemed to cause a BSOD, data corruption leading to bad clusters, and SpeedFan caughing up errors when opening again.
• If you still have User Account Control enabled as its default, you cannot install Mozilla Firefox.
• Running MagicDisc caused it to BSOD once.
• Sometimes clicking buttons too quickly when you right-click things on the Start Menu causes Explorer to crash.
• Homegroup is useless.
• Control Panel is still as lamely designed as ever, you have either Category view, which doesn't show you everything, or Full Icons, which shows you everything, but without any organisation. This is where Apple Mac OS X's System Preferences window supercedes Windows'.
• Power Calculator still does not work for me (some people have reported it does work).
• Windows Media Player's special tasbkar is gone, its been replaced with the "hover" control buttons.
• On the Recording devices tab of Sounds, disabled/unused devices are hidden, and they are not easy to enable unless you know how to get them back - simply right-click in any empty space, and tick the box.
• You still cannot force the Indexing Service to scan while you're working, it will only scan when your computer is idle.
• The default option for "closing the lid" of the laptop is to Sleep. Just, why?!
• Windows Movie Maker no longer exists, you have to download it from Windows Live Essentials - and make sure you leave nothing else running when installing, as even slight blips seem to cause the whole installation to rollback. You can still install Vista's replacement Movie Maker 2.6 if Live Essential's version is a bit too restrictive for you.

Life in the Human Empire

This is a poem I wrote on 26 May 2006 at 7:22:00 PM. I wrote it in 16 minutes, with 11 saves.

Life in the Human Empire

What makes us human?
What makes us unique to all other animals?

Our human-dominant world as the superior species
We can venture the highest mountain and the deepest ocean
We can become everything the wanted, needed and disliked
We are the cultivators of the land and the growers of crops
We help others in need and imprison those who degenerate our world of laws
We are all reduced to entertainment and humour, that of our creation
We have studied our planet and the Universe
We have compiled all our findings with beauty like that of natural waterfalls

We are dependent on each other as a team
Our automation to keep us alive, so that our species can survive extinction
By calculating complicated mathematics and scientific judgements
So that we can go where we have never been before

But although we may be the most intelligent and powerful mammals of the world
The only ones we are aware of containing knowledge and having ability to make choices
To hate and love others is what makes us human, to make us singular

But we are also the world’s greatest failure
We kill ourselves and make our youth reproduce, sustaining that balance of the population
But it will always increase past our limit of efficient transfer of energy
We are all tied down to our humiliation and embarrassment
All our faces must reach exposure and fame
But the world we have made is still not perfect.

We force ourselves to down unhealthy drinks and toxins
We build our bodies into slavery of our own kind, with golden chains of blood

We pay money to the services we love, but some of us rebels learn to hate,
And we let the frail and weak die because of this.

We, our individuality, can gain no moral or major control

Although the simple, small acorn may grow to an enormous tree
It is not the acorn that produces it.
The value is found in the processes the acorn takes:
Growth, nutrition, respiration, all those signs of life.
It is all these factors that weigh the strength,
But there is one undesired fact, that we are all derived from the Sun,
Our ultimate source of power.

Although we can perform the greatest achievements even to impress our own kind,
We still persist to ruin ourselves, thus forgetting that the most beautiful profit and advantage
Is to spend such currency on the people who need it most.

You could suggest the end of all those who fail to meet our expectation
Will be doomed in hell for their destructive paths
But we stand from them and gaze into the darkest unknown
With only our light to guide us.

Food

I would like to question the necessity and nature of cooking and preparing food, as well as the energy efficiency of consumption. Before I begin, here’s some background information:

The reason we need food is for one primary purpose – the acquisition of biological energy in the form of carbohydrates, proteins and lipids. The purpose of the digestive system is to break down large foods into small molecules – a process which takes a great deal of energy to complete, resulting in a lot of wasted energy in the form of heat from respiration (unless you are living in a cold environment, of course, then it is beneficial). The gut provides the suitable conditions for this breaking-down process, and the lining of the intestines is perfectly adapted by increasing the surface area to absorb the food quickly. However, there are limiting factors to the amount of energy that can be absorbed into the bloodstream – resulting in wasted food which is expelled from the system.

But of course, before we actually can digest the food, we need to obtain it. In the past, our ancestors would use their cunning and skill to track and hunt wild animals, capture them, kill them, and then prepare them for consumption. The men who were most powerful, athletic, and intelligent, would be the most successful survivors. In the modern world of today, we humans are still using our intelligence to get to food – but instead of hunting animals, we are providing services for the people of the world – which allows us to acquire money, in order to purchase animals that have already been captured and then, in some cases, vigorously prepared. This is the same with fruits and vegetables too – although they are not hunted, they must be cultivated, grown and then harvested.

One simple problem I come across immediately, the amount of energy required to obtain the food.

Our ancient ancestors spent a lot of energy actually catching these animals – being strong and intelligent saved the time and effort required to do so. Otherwise, humans would have to pay someone for capturing these animals for them, which involved sacrifice of something they own. In the modern world, we cannot just go outside into forests and hunt animals like our ancestors. Most of the land is protected or owned by territorial law, and most of the animals on land are protected by preservation of nature laws. Nonetheless, we are managing the animals in a “stable” (pardon the pun) environment, where the only way of obtaining them without dispute is to pay for them. Therefore we must prepare every one of ourselves, every morning, for work, keeping the world turning, for another day. Then somehow we get paid, to which we then carefully select our food at markets and supermarkets (and sometimes upon impulse instead of what is actually needed). We then carry the food back to our homes, and in most cases, we then spend a good deal of time preparing and cooking the food, serving it up, and then cleaning after ourselves, ready for another day.

It is most clear at this point that the amount of energy required to absorb the food into the bloodstream so that it is readily available, is a very lengthy process and requires a great deal of energy to complete.

Now I would like to highlight an important issue. If the reason we have food is simply to acquire energy, do we really need to spend so much time cooking food? In retrospect, we more than often cook for ourselves and choose our foods because they taste good. Taste is one of our primary senses, and the arousal of the senses leads to a more stimulating experience, which only leads to pleasure and satisfaction. Aside from the fact that we need taste to determine if food is bad or rotten, we clearly are spending a lot of time and effort in just making the best taste possible. Does all of this effort not seem somewhat futile, knowing that we only need food for energy?

Therefore, food has no longer become the simple process of obtaining energy; it is now an art, and a point of pleasure. Just like music would originally be intended to tell ballads and stories and therefore to enlighten listeners, music is now used to arouse the audible senses. And one step further – television, arouses two senses, visual and audio. It is also therefore possible to see why intimacy and sexual activities are a most “pleasurable” experience – simply because, every single sense, including the more subtle senses such as balance, acceleration, temperature, knowing the position of your limbs, and pain, are being aroused. The more senses being stimulated, the more pleasurable an experience one is having. And food is so clearly becoming one similar to this – e.g. some people close their eyes when eating to heighten their sense of taste; desserts have become a general standard in most meals to accompany a main course, just for the exquisite flavour. But do we really need it?

Another great problem that the world currently has is obesity. People have literally let themselves go, and because food provides good taste and sensation to the brain telling one that the food is good, it instantly becomes a way of making oneself happy. And thus obese people can be entitled, “food addicts”. In my opinion, obesity is the manifestation of greed and selfishness, and is so very clearly, disgusting to see. While there are many countries that have easy and simple access to food without even leaving their home, many countries also struggle to even find food, let alone grow or catch it. Is it really fair that all the extra food consumed by humans be essentially wasted and stored as fat, when it could be saving the enriching the lives of other on this planet? Or would this cause even more problems – because the demand for food would climb even greater as the population is allowed to increase? Will the overpopulated worlds depicted in “Soylent Green” and “Logan’s Run” become our future, where the government has to control the population in terms of food resources and number of people that are allowed to live?

I hereby suggest some solutions to each of these problems, even though they may not be justifiable.

Increasing energy efficiency of obtaining food

· People cook less food, to save them from wasting energy by actually cooking food – instead, eat pre-prepared food that requires the least amount of effort to prepare for eating; or food in cans and bags

· Condensed food, such as the somewhat sceptical idea of pills (“Cube Zero” depicts this)

· Bypassing the digestive system and delivering energy straight into the blood (on a tangent, it could also be conceived that the myth of vampires who suck people’s blood, actually have poor digestive systems, and thus they obtain their energy directly from the blood of others, saving energy)

Reducing amount of wasted food

· Introduce a national or even global rationing system, to stop people from becoming obese, and to feed the poor, homeless and sick

· Changing people’s attitude towards food so that they only buy what they need

· Donating food to locations/countries that have a poor source of food

· Recycle food as fuel by using it as biomass

Promoting a sustainable source of food

· Growing food such as Quorn (minus the chicken egg white used to bind it), surimi or tofu inside factories, which does not waste heat from respiration in animals, which does not produce carbon dioxide and waste that animals do, and therefore reduces global warming as a result

· Growing muscle tissue in factories which is designed to mimic that of chickens, pigs etc.

· Homes grow their own food in their gardens

· Reducing the amount of animals grown and killed in favour of vegetarianism and veganism

I accept that many of these ideas are heavily controversial, however, with the way the world is currently running, I feel that only drastic measures such as these (but not necessarily these precisely) will enable the world to reach its goal of ending world hunger, preventing obesity, and ultimately, saving the planet, and our species. Only a big change will solve an even bigger problem, and things will only get worse, before they get better.

Sources

· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat_analogue

· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn

· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_food

How to download someone's entire Facebook photo set - both Albums and Tagged photos! (Updated)

Try these instead in Chrome:

• https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/download-fb-album-mod/cgjnhhjpfcdhbhlcmmjppicjmgfkppok
• https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/photolive-download-facebo/fpjnpabklnaaifclgealaepelncljadk

Removed as the add-on is no longer available

To easily download someone's own albums, you will need Firefox and FacePad.

You can download FacePad from here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8442

You can download Firefox from here: http://www.getfirefox.com

Now, to download all their albums only, go to someone's Photos tab from their profile, and look at the albums section at the bottom of the page. Right-click on one of the links under the photo album cover, and you will see a new shortcut called Download Album with FacePad, if you click this, it will start the download of photos by 20 at a time, you have to confirm to download every set of 20.

For your own photos, use Digi.me (previously SocialSafe).

To easily download someone's tagged photos, you will need Firefox, FlashGot, a website, http://myphotodownloader.com, and also a download manager such as Free Download Manager that will work with FlashGot. Note: this website only allows you to download tagged photos of your friends only.

You can download FlashGot from here:http://flashgot.net/

You can download Firefox from here: http://www.getfirefox.com

You can download Free Download Manager from here: http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/

Once FlashGot is installed, go to the MyPhotoDownloader website, login to Facebook, and it will take you back to the website. Then, type in the name of someone, and click the Tagged Photos button. This will give you a page with a link to every photo. Then all you have to do is right-click the page, and click FlashGot All (make sure you have disabled "Include images in this page", otherwise you'll end up with all the preview images too).

This will then send the links in a list over to Free Download Manager where it can begin download photo by photo.

And then you have photos! Enjoy :)

Need help sorting out your house for next year? Read this easy guide...

Here are some pretty handy guides with lots of detail into what you will need before you move into your house:

Reading University Living Out Guide:

http://www.reading.ac.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.asp?lID=25478&sID=102829

Or a much simpler, cut down version of this guide with a nice and handy checklist:

"Moving in" guide:

http://www.rusu.co.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.aspx?lID=847&sID=1149

(and respectively, the Moving out guide here)

Of course if you ever have problems then get in touch with your Estate Agents and they will help to sort things out for you.

Also, if you want a simple way to pay for your bills all in one place, check out http://www.glide.uk.com/ (you have to call them for a quote).

Download someone's entire Facebook Photos collection easily and quickly!

There is an add-on for Firefox called FacePad which allows you to download one person's complete photo collection all in one go (well two actually, one for the photos they uploaded, and one for uploaded by others).

You can download FacePad from here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8442

You can download Firefox from here: http://www.getfirefox.com

All you have to do is this:

If you are already friends with that person, you will have to download each of their albums seperately. To do this, go to the Photos tab on their profile, then at the bottom where the albums are, right-click on one of the albums, then click Download Album with FacePad, it will then give you a series of dialogues to ask you if you want to keep downloading pictures, at 20 pictures at a time.

If you are not friends with that person, then it is much easier. Simply go to their profile, and to their Photos tab, and you will see two sections - Added by "" and Added by others. Where you see the link on the right that says "See All", right-click each of them to download all of those pictures in that complete album.

And then you have pictures!

Make sure that you configure Firefox to download all the pictures into one folder before you do this, otherwise you will end up with lots of dialogues asking where to download each one to!

Enjoy :)

Some ways to improve the world

Here is a collection of some of the "ideas" I've been coming up with for a while now, wasn't sure about posting this (in case people steal my ideas, or my ideas are actually rubbish).

- It would be good if instead of having to copy music, videos and media to your portable media player, that instead, you could leave all your media on your laptop, computer, or online Cloud storage, and then have one simple handheld wireless media device that downloads only the files you need, and when you need them, eliminating the need to synchonise everything. Some technologies like this do exist however - LogMeIn allows remote access to programs and files, online Cloud storage such as Live Mesh, backup servers like Mozy, and streaming services such as Spotify.

- Somebody I know accidentally soaked their iPod with water and had to send it to get it repaired. So why not have waterproof iPods? In fact, iPods aren't cheap already, if i was gonna pay for one I would expect it to be waterproof!

- When I got ill once and had the flu for 2 weeks, I lost a whole stone, which averages out to about 1 pound a day. So the ingenous solution to losing weight is simply: get ill!

- In a discussion about whether it is "right" to eat meat and choosing to be a vegetarian (I#m not though, don't worry), I said: I think that probably, yeah, it is better for the environment not to eat meat, because of the waste products of animal-harvesting, feeding and wastage - plus all the leftover food. In the energy cycle (I studied in Geography) there is a LOAD of wasted energy on movement etc. that the animals make... I think that therefore, the animals that are being bred just to be eaten by us are inefficient... for example, genetically modified chickens that don't grow feathers.

- When somebody I know was filling out a HC2 form to get free prescriptions, dental and optical examinations (eligible to people over 19 if they are in full time education), I asked, wouldn't it be SO much easier if we didn't have to fill out all these ruddy forms for everything? A lot of the services we provide our personal information to are governmental, e.g. dentists, hospital, general practice, DVLA... the list goes on. But every time we have to fill out the same information again and again, and when we change address or whatever, we have to tell everyone about it. Wouldn't it be easier if, say, there was a central database somewhere, which had everyone's details in it, and any companies that wanted our personal information would have to be linked to the main one. If you make any changes to your data, there could be several ways to update, my preference would be using the Internet, or when a company requests your information, they can asked if anything has been changed, and your changes will be reflected throughout the system. I mean, this would be quite a complex feature to install and maintain, but I really think it'd be a good idea.

- Instead of having ID cards, which can easily be stolen, why not microhip people instead - because then, you won't ever lose it, and you can't modify it or change it. Obviously microchipping people is highly invasive, and I don't know any long-term effects, but still.

- On a very technical stance, I thought, wouldn't it be a good idea if there was a program you could get for your computer, that automatically fixed problems for you? I mean, Vista and Windows 7 already have a feature like this, but there are many problems they can't solve. Some programs that can do similar things include TuneUp Utilities 2009 and FreshDevices' FreshUI. I just think that, as there are so many problems that require the user or and administrator to actually fix a problem, why doesn't the computer detect when problems occur and them fix them for you? Here are some examples I thought about implementing:

• Outside the operating system BOIS, e.g. an untouchable part of the master boot record in case of overwriting / or using a CD that automatically performs and fixes all checks
  
• Three modes – on/automatic, prompt for user request (if the computer is busy) and off
  
• A manual mode to manually fix errors that cannot be detected, e.g. program resets – e.g. similar to Tune Up Utilities
  
• Blue screen errors – automatically go back system restore
  
• Change analysis diagnostic – tracks changes, like super uninstaller
  
• System changes prevention – detect drivers that will cause damage to the system; track changes in the registry/startup etc.
  
• Automatically downloads antivirus programs and removes threats (i.e. silent mode)

And some questions people have been asking that I thought I should post:

- "How do colour projectors project the colour black?" Simple answer: they can't project black, they simply use the background of the surface being projected on. So the "black" you see if actually the colour on the whitescreen where the image is being projected.

- Somebody asked me "Why woudln't you gamble or play the lotttery?" and my answer is: Even though it is still a form of entertainment - for example, going to the cinema, you are losing the money but gaining a film. With gambling, you are paying for the thrill, the rush of emotions and the desire to win money. However becoming addicted to the thrill of gambling is very easy, because there is nobody telling you to stop and it never really gets boring unless you're losing, but even then its dangerous because gambling will encourage you to keep betting even when you've lost everything.

- And also, someone asked, "why do girls eat ice cream and chocolate more than men?", to which I replied: "Girls are more emotional, men are very strict and can deal with sadness well usually, but women need that extra form of support and happiness, and chocolate and ice cream have chemicals in them which make you feel happy, hence the reason for the addiction to chocolate."

Conversely, some recent conversations have also made me think about ways in which the world will end. I remember I created a list in an earlier blog which I will repise here:

Way of killing all life on earth	Films/series associated with this
Asteroids	Deep Impact
Overpopulation/Starvation/Economic crisis/Destruction of the environment	Soylent Green; Logan's Run
Greenhouse effect; pollution, climate change; extreme weather, e.g. hurricanes, twisters, flooding, megatsunami (due to plate earthquakes), submersion (due to icecaps melting), predicted ice age	The Day After Tomorrow; Twister
Disease/Virus/Pandemic	Twelve Monkeys; Resident Evil; Outbreak; 28 Days Later
Plate tectonics, volcanoes	The Core; Volcano
Nearby space phenomena e.g. gamma ray bursts, black holes, the sun	The Core; Volcano
Aliens	Signs; Mars Attacks; Aliens; The Thing; Cloverfield; The Day The Earth Stood Still
Nuclear/war	Dr Strangelove or How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
EMP; magnetic polar flip	Spy Kids 2; The Matrix
Zombies	Cabin Fever
Super-powers	Akira; Heroes
Failure of procreation	Children of Men
Law and control	Logan's Run; Equilibrium; Doctor Who
Lack of morality	Superman Returns (Lex Luthor is attempting to kill most of the world)
Divinity	?
Technology/Robots/Research	Matrix; Terminator; Transformers; the "grey goo" idea; the Large Hadron Collider experiments

There is also a good page on Wikipedia depicting ways the world will end! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risks_to_civilization,_humans_and_planet_Earth Hopefully, it won't though, but by making some slight changes, like generating green/clean electricity, and stop spending money on stupid stuff like alcohol, which in my opinion is causing our species to devolve (the people that drink to get wasted, that is). But is everyone ready to change?

Is Windows Update bugging you to restart the computer? Here's how to stop it.

If you've just installed some Windows Updates, and that ruddy Restart Now button is really cramping your style, here is a quick command that will stop any messages until you actually do restart the computer.

Go to Start, Run (or press Windows Key + R), then type in:

net stop wuauserv

and hit Enter.

It is possible that the service will restart itself, but if that does happen then just run this command again to stop it.

Enjoy! :-)

Updated: Applies to XP, Vista and 7, and probably 8 as well.

Want to see lyrics to songs inside Windows Media Player?

The download the Lyrics Plugin!

http://www.lyricsplugin.com/

You must make sure that you "tag" all of your songs with the appropriate Artist and Track Name (with something called ID3 Tags) so that LyricsPlugin can find the lyrics. You can also customise the colour, and add lyrics to the database if they are missing!

If you want more plugins for Windows Media Player - I would highly suggest DFX - which makes any song really sound much much clearer.

http://www.fxsound.com/

DFX is a licenced program, so if you want the full version, buy it, or, download a patched version from a torrent site such as www.torrentz.com and install away! I tested one out and had no problems, but beware, as there are always viruses/spywares hanging around on some torrents.

Enjoy :)

Things To Say To Telemarketers

1. If they want to loan you money, tell them you just filed for bankruptcy and you could sure use some money.

2. If they start out with, "How are you today?" say, "I'm so glad you asked, because no one these days seems to care, and I have all these problems. My arthritis is acting up, my eyelashes are sore, my dog just died . . . "

3. If they say they're John Doe from XYZ Company, ask them to spell their name. Then ask them to spell the company name. Then ask them where it is located, how long it has been in business, how many people work there, how they got into this line of work if they are married, how many kids they have, etc. Continue asking them personal questions or questions about their company for as long as necessary.

4. This works great if you are male. Telemarketer: "Hi, my name is Judy and I'm with XYZ Company. " You: Wait for a second and with a real husky voice ask, "What are you wearing?"

5. Cry out in surprise, "Judy? Is that you? Oh my God! Judy, how have you been?" Hopefully, this will give Judy a few brief moments of terror as she tries to figure out where she could know you from.

6. Say "No" over and over. Be sure to vary the sound of each one, and keep a rhythmic tempo, even as they are trying to speak. This is most fun if you can do it until they hang up.

7. If MCI calls trying to get you to sign up for the Family and Friends Plan, reply, in as sinister a voice as you can, "I don't have any friends, would you be my friend?"

8. If the company cleans rugs, respond: "Can you get out blood? Can you get out goat blood? How about human blood?"

9. After the Telemarketer gives his or her spiel, ask him or her to marry you. When they get all flustered, tell them that you can't just give your credit card number to a complete stranger.

10. Tell the Telemarketer that you work for the same company, and they can't sell to employees.

11. Answer the phone. As soon as you realize it is a Telemarketer, set the receiver down, scream, "Oh my God!" and then hang up.

12. Tell the Telemarketer you are busy at the moment and ask him/her if he/she will give you his/her home phone number so you can call him/her back. When the Telemarketer explains that telemarketers cannot give out their home numbers say, "I guess you don't want anyone bothering you at home, right?" The Telemarketer will agree and you say, "Me either!" Hang up.

13. Ask them to repeat everything they say, several times.

14. Tell them it is dinner time, but ask if they would please hold. Put them on your speaker phone while you continue to eat at your leisure. Smack your food loudly and continue with your dinner conversation.

15. Tell the Telemarketer you are on "home incarceration" and ask if they could bring you some beer.

16. Ask them to fax the information to you, and make up a number.

17. Tell the Telemarketer, "Okay, I'll listen to you. But I should probably tell you, I'm not wearing any clothes."

18. Insist that the caller is really your buddy Leon, playing a joke. "Come on, Leon, cut it out! Seriously, Leon, how's your momma?"

19. Tell them you are hard of hearing and that they need to speak up . . . louder . . . louder . . .

And finally....

20. Tell them to talk very slowly, because you want to write every word down.

JAP Proxy App

Simply download and install JAP from this website:

https://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html

Then load the program from the start menu folder, run through the configuration of the program and then configure your internet browser as thus:

Internet Explorer > Connections > LAN Settings > Use a proxy server:

Address: localhost
Port: 4001

If you configure IE to use JAP then you may find several other applications will start working as they use Internet Explorer's setting's to connect to the internet. Otherwise, see if there is a Proxy button/tab in your program's settings.

There is also an anoymous feature to the program, but it does slow it down a little bit. You can also buy a subscription, but at the moment the program seems to have good speeds :)

You will need to have installed Java from www.java.com - however the JAP installer already has a Java downloader available if you don't have it already.

Happy surfing!

NOTE: The proxy does not seem to like it when you login to online profiles such as Facebook or YouTube - so I don't recommend using JAP for those. In that case, use something such as www.hidemyass.com, or search Google for "free proxy".

If you want to buy a subscription, you could also try Your Freedom.

Forwarding Gmail to Hotmail - POP3 and SMTP are now open to all Hotmail accounts!

Forwarding Gmail to Hotmail - POP3 and SMTP are now open to all Hotmail accounts!
Category: Web, HTML, Tech

You need to go to your Gmail Settings page, and go to "Get mail from another account". Use your Hotmail address, and use the following information:

username: username@hotmail.com
password: your password
POP3 server: pop3.live.com
Port: 995
SSL: Enabled

If that isn't working, try this hack version:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/01/22/hack-to-enable-hotmail-pop3-and-smtp-support-instantly-for-all-countries/

If this does not work, then you will need to link together your Gmail and Hotmail accounts by the method on this page:

http://shamanix.wordpress.com/2008/04/13/full-migration-hotmail-gmail/
Specifically using this feature (use an existing email address, which will be your Gmail address): https://accountservices.passport.net/PPNetworkHome.srf?lc=1033


For more information about all this or to use Outlook Express instead, go to this page: http://ask-leo.com/what_are_windows_live_hotmails_pop3_and_smtp_settings.html

Please email me if this is not working for you! :)

C Programming Basics - Book Scanned Online

Apologies that I do not have a linked conents, but each section is colour coded in the book so it shouldn't be too hard to find the page your're looking for.

https://cid-b8308c6c5db7b999.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/C%20Programming%20Basics

Enjoy!

Please email if you need help.

I also have partially scanned Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications 6th Edition, however there is a 4th edition available via torrents and RapidShare, just search Google for it :)

Rob

"Whats up with the Trebor thing?"

It's my name backwards.

:)

(Plus it means I'm minty fresh :)

Watch TV/Freeview online for FREE!!!

Just go to:

http://www.tvcatchup.com/

Register for free, and just literally, start watching immediately!

Channels: One, Two, ITV, 4, Five, ITV2, Five US, E4, ITV3, ITV4, More
4, BBC Three, BBC Four, Dave, Fiver, Film Four, BBC News, CBBC.

For a complete list of chanels you can watch online, go to:

http://www.ukfree.tv/allchannels.php

Enjoy :)

Using Gmail? Want to forward from Hotmail to Gmail?

There is a really easy guide right here:

http://shamanix.wordpress.com/2008/04/13/full-migration-hotmail-gmail/

Basic steps are:
1. Copy over Hotmail emails to Gmail
2. Copying your contacts over (remember that they will not synchronise, so you will need to 'add' new people to Gmail as well unfortunately :(
3. Allow using your Hotmail email address when sending from Gmail ("Add another email address")
4. Redirect new Hotmail to Gmail *****
This is the tricky bit. I find that if you setup using your Gmail at this page [https://accountservices.passport.net/PPNetworkHome.srf?lc=1033] then you can link Hotmail-Gmail using Linked ID's, and it's "more likely" that Hotmail will let you redirect to a non-MSN email. Otherwise you will need Easy Email Forwarding (Windows Forwarding client) and FreePops (I have copies if people want them) or GetMail (old version of EEF), or IzyMail (Web service, but want money).