Windows 98 Sucks
After rebuilding the Stinkpad Thinkpad 390 laptop (yet again) I finally got a stable installation of Windows 98 that works. As it stands it is now 100% finished and is going to stay that way. Sidenote: I should have researched laptops a little better before buying the 390. That thing is just too damn slow. I'm giving it to my pop so he can install his GPS software on it which will work fine on it. For me I need something with some more oomph behind it. Eventually I will buy a Dell Inspiron or Latitude. Probably a C610 model because I know the chassis very well and can fix any part that breaks on it (including the LCD).
Hats off to anyone who is still out on the 'net with Win 98 or 95 - because that is a bad experience at best. Some apps don't work right, games run extremely slow and the whole experience is just.. blah.
I'm glad I'm not running '98 on any of my PC's. It sucks. It's either XP or Linux for me, depending on what box I'm on at the time. (grin)
Diamond Darrell Dies
First of all, even though Darrell was always called "Dimebag" (originally as a joke when that started but the name stuck) I always called the guy by his original stage name "Diamond Darrell".
Dimebag Darrell, Four Others Killed In Ohio Concert Shooting
I have a lot of readers who come here who are not in-the-know when it comes to the rock/metal music world, so here's a 101:
Darrell was probably (depending on your point of view) one of the most influential guitar players to come 'round in the rock scene in a long time. No, he was no Randy Rhoads (early 80's) or Jimi Hendrix (60's) - however in his element he's ranked right up there with the greats of past. At a show that just happened he was literally shot to death by a crazed fan. If you're ever heard of the band "Pantera" he was the guitar player for that band. He was shot to death while playing with his current project "Damage Plan".
Several friends of mine are very choked up by this death.
What's more interesting is the onslaught of people trying to cash in on his death already.
See this eBay listing (edit: link is dead). It started at 12 bucks. At the time I write this it is up to 1800 bucks. For real. Check it out.
I will bet you that this will break $2000 before it's over.
Damn.
I saw several other eBay listings where anything "Dimebag Darrell" is absolutely soaring in price.
Nothing sells like a dead rock star.
Strong Bad blows up the Compy
I watch the cartoons at Homestar Runner a lot. Corny humor but cool. I think my favorite part about the site is the fact that the writers love to write about yesteryear technology - a lot. You'll see tons of stuff about really OLD computers and video games (like Thy Dungeonman and Peasant's Quest). I think that's cool because I -REMEMBER- playing old crappy games like that (ha!). The games there are all playable too. Neat.
Strong Bad has been using the Compy 386 since his old Tandy blew up (literally). And he just blew up the Compy recently.
It gets me to thinkin'... could someone actually write e-mails using a 386 computer with just MS-DOS? I mean, how would you even get MS-DOS to connect to the internet in the first place? Yeah, I know you can get an IP address using the MSCLIENT for DOS.. but is there any 16-bit app available that would actually send and receive e-mails?
This got me to more thinkin'.. I had to find out.
Answer: YES. The BareBones DOS E-Mail System. I couldn't believe it when I saw this. Electronic mail from DOS. Unbelievable. Who'da thunk it.
It just goes to prove that if you have the Arachne DOS based graphic web browser or the DOS based version of Lynx text browser combined with the DOS mail program.. you feasibly could use a 386 computer to browse the web and send/receive e-mail.
And to think.. a computer like that is literally 15 bucks at a garage sale - monitor and all. You get a 386, floppy drive (probably 5.25!!) then you'd have to pick up a super-old 3Com Ethernet card or a really old external modem for another 3 or 4 bucks. The computer would probably have a 20-MB (not GB) hard drive or less and no sound card.
Makes me almost want to run out and do it.
Nah.
But.. you'd probably never ever get a virus. Who in their right mind would program a virus to destroy a 386? What would be the point?
--[edit]--
This is how this site looks using Lynx:
And yes there are web site visitors who come to this blog and use that amazingly enough.
Breakfast burrito
Ya know, in the morning I don't ask for much. I just want to be able to get to werk, finish up the day and go home. One thing that completely turns me off something fierce is when the cafeteria here makes things the WRONG WAY.
Example: A breakfast burrito. Very simple to make. My version of it (which I tell the cook specifically) is:
1) Take one egg
2) Put it in a bowl/scramble
3) Put it on the iron
4) Take ham, cut to strips
5) Place it on the iron next to the egg
6) Take mushrooms
7) Place it on iron next to egg
8) Wait about 45 seconds
9) Place 2 (not 1) slices of American cheese on the egg
10) Get a wrap, like a cheddar wrap
11) Put the egg flat on the wrap
12) Put the ham on the egg
13) Put the mushroom on the ham
14) WRAP IT TIGHTLY
Done. Takes less than 2 minutes to make.
Some idiot was cooking today.. a young kid. Must've not been more than 19 or 20. I told him the following "One egg, ham, mushroom and American cheese on a cheddar wrap." Sounds simple, right? He screwed it all up. And yeah, I complained to his boss about it.
The last thing I need when I get to work is to have my breakfast, which I pay for, made wrong. I ate the stupid thing, I had to because I was late getting to my desk to begin with.
There is absolutely no room for incompetence as far as cooks are concerned. Cooks should do things the right way, the same way, every time. No one likes surprises when they're paying for food - including myself.
Maybe someday I will find a good wife who will make me breakfast so I don't have to deal with this CRAP. Ugh.
[--edit--]
Some additional thoughts on this:
The above is why I cannot stand restaurants. I absolutely hate them. It is so rare to get a good meal out of one of those places these days. The plain fact of the matter is that if you want your food done your way to your liking, you have to make it yourself. The only exception to this rule is when you have someone cook for you who knows what you like, but that takes time obviously. And I hate waiting. (grin)
favicon.ico how-to
Some of you have probably noticed that if you bookmark a site in Internet Exploder Explorer there is a small custom icon image for that site. In other browsers like Firefox, the icon shows up all the time (something that IE really should do but doesn't for some reason).
To create your own custom icon - this is how it's done:
First of all, that icon is called favicon.ico and it is saved in the root directory of your web site (where the home page index.html or default.htm is).
To make a favicon.ico, there are commercial tools out there to do it, but who wants to pay for a stupid little icon?! Sheez! My suggestion is to use png2ico, a FREE utility that will convert a PNG to an ICO file that you can use.
To those who don't know, a PNG is a high-color graphic, like a JPG. It's just a different format. Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro (my preference) will do PNG graphics. For those who don't have those and don't have any money, get GIMP for Windows. It also does PNG graphics.
At this point, download png2ico mentioned above and extract it somewhere. Then, get any graphic and size it down to 32x32. Save it as PNG to where your png2ico directory is.
-- Begin severe noob instructions here --
(if you're not a noob to Windows, skip this part)
PNG2ICO is a command-line program. You will need to launch a command prompt in Windows in order to use it.
In Windows 98/98/ME, this is done by clicking Start then Run then typing command in the box that appears then click OK. A black box will come up. This is a command prompt.
In Windows NT/2000/XP, the same is done by clicking Start, then Run, then type cmd and click OK.
Assuming you have installed png2ico at c:\png2ico, you get to that directory by typing cd\png2ico at the prompt.
-- End severe noob instructions --
Launch a prompt. Go to where you installed png2ico which is also where you saved your 32x32 PNG file you want to use as your icon.
Type this:
png2ico favicon.ico whatever_you_named_the_file.png
This will create your favicon.ico. Upload to the root of your web directory. Done deal. That's it.