Tap My Mind

A Blog by Scott Isaacs

Tag: Fun Page 5 of 7

I Need Your Help

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On December 6, 2005

In Uncategorized

I need to come up with a name for a computer.  I’ve never been a fan of names like “BobsXP” or “DownstairsComputer”.  Descriptive names are overrated.

In the past I’ve used a wide variety of names for different computers I’ve setup and/or used.  Kelly has even taken up this practice.  Her desktop computer is named LOUISVUITTON and her work computer is GUCCI.  Personally, I like the names to be less meaningful that even that, though.  Here are some examples of names I’ve used:

  • PAERDEGAT
  • EYES
  • ZEEK
  • PRICKLYWHEAT
  • PARABOLOID
  • DEERPOOP (The network admin made me change it.  He wouldn’t allow BUNNYPOOP or MONGOOSEPOOP either…)
  • BRATS (as in Bratwurst, not naughty children)
  • BANDITO (my iPod)

We’ve even taken it as far as naming our cars.  Kelly’s Saab is “The Snaab” and my truck is “The Black Pearl” (if you’ve seen it you know…).

At my last job, my computer was named RTL-2849-007199.  I think.  I don’t remember exactly, but I know it was something very similar to that.  Maybe it’s not in other languages, but in US English “RTL-2849-007122” is a stupid name.

Anyway, here’s your chance, but I need you to act quickly.  Send me your ideas soon, today if possible.

Thanks.

Nerd Dinner Tonight

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On September 20, 2005

In Uncategorized

Details here.

karmaONE Postings

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On September 19, 2005

In Uncategorized

Hmmm.

Are any of my 3 readers qualified for one these jobs posted on karmaONE?  If so, I’ll split the referral money with you!  😉

Actually, it’s good to see jobs on there that are outside of the Bay Area.  Recently I’ve seen a few in TX and NY, as well as a couple all the way up here in the midwest in Chicago.  Check out all of their recent posts syndicated here.

Firefox Security

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On September 16, 2005

In Uncategorized

Have you seen this article?  So as this type of thing becomes more of a trend, are people finally going to realize that Firefox is only as secure as it is because its security flaws have yet to be exploited?

Now, I don’t have a single problem with Firefox or people that use it.  I even occasionally use it myself.  But security by (or because of) obscurity isn’t really security at all, now, is it?

John Mitchell

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On September 9, 2005

In Uncategorized

In case you missed it, John Mitchell started blogging recently.  John is a recent transplant to WI.  He is on the Executive Committee of the WI .NET Users Group and on the core team for DotNetNuke.

It’s about time!  😉

More on Q#

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On August 22, 2005

In Uncategorized

You know, I was re-reading my last post, and I see that I missed something important.  I meant to mention it there, but got distracted in the middle of the post and forgot when I came back.  (Typical…)

I really need to thank Kelly (“Her Royal Highness of the Order of the Geek”) for all her hard work.  All I did was clean up the yard, set up the chairs, and burn the burgers.  She took care of all of the other stuff, like cleaning the house, preparing the toppings and sides, putting all of the stuff that people brought out, doing the dishes, and pretty much everything else.  Plus, she managed to carry on conversations with the geeks and geek widows.

I just wanted to say thanks to Kelly for all her hard work to make the whole day happen.

I love you!

Q#

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On August 21, 2005

In Uncategorized

Yesterday was a good day.  The weather was really nice. 

We had a few friends over for a cookout.  Actually, there were about 25 people (including kids).  I decided a few months ago to have a party sometime this summer and invite some of my geek friends.

So yesterday was Q# 1.0 (formerly known as BBQ.NET).  I grilled 18 burgers and a dozen brats.  (Actually, as Russ can attest, the grill was basically a bonfire there for a while — lots of grease in the burgers.)  Lots of people brought other things as well.  All in all, I thought it was a pretty fun evening.  The last ones to leave were here until right around 11, and we were all sitting outside around the citronella candle talking about string theory, the meaning of life, and Office 12 amongst other things.

About halfway through the party, I looked around and realized that I had some of the smartest people in Wisconsin in my backyard.  Gerry and his family were there, as well as Brian and the rest of Tinklers (including Brock), Travis and his wife and son, casey and his girlfriend, OS, Russ Ambrose (no site), John Mitchell and his wife, and Kate and Clint Houchens and their kids.  My friend Jeff also made a brief appearance.

I wasn’t sure if Brian would actually be there since he HADN’T CALLED ME IN TWO WEEKS!!!  😉  Apparently, he’s been “really busy” at his new job (at Microsoft), but he did show.  🙂

Also, I just found out yesterday that casey won the Code’n my way to the PDC Contest with his labyrinth TabletPC app.  Congratulations!!!  That’s awesome!

So anyway, thanks to those who came by and enjoyed the afternoon with me and Kelly.  We had a blast!

Casey’s /CameraFlow App

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On August 15, 2005

In Uncategorized

Have you seen the new app that casey (or “the lower cased one”, as OS likes to call him) wrote?  Remember the old wooden labyrinth game?  The one where you had to twist the knobs to tilt the deck so the little silver ball would roll through the maze without falling in the holes?

He wrote that for the TabletPC (in C# with managed Direct3D).  But it’s not just a game controlled by mouse or keyboard (although you can use the mouse).  The meat of the story is that the “board” is controlled by camera tracking, so if you have a camera connected to your Tablet, you can play the game by actually, physically tilting your Tablet.  Just like the real game…

I saw the app while it was in development, but haven’t seen the finished product yet.  Maybe sometime this week?  Or this weekend?

I think it’s pretty cool — he even got Scobleized.  If I had a TabletPC and a camera, I’d probably be playing it all the time.  I haven’t seen my “real” labyrinth game in several years, so I’ve had withdrawls, you know.

Maybe for version 2.0 he’ll add the ability to control it with some sort of knobs?

casey also presented on Tablet and speech technologies at our June WI .NET Users Group meeting.  He’s posted slides and code for those who are interested.  The code for the Labyrinth game will be available soon.

SlickRun

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On July 29, 2005

In Uncategorized

The other day I started using SlickRun.  It was in Scott Hanselman’s Ultimate Tools List.  I’d seen it a while back, but finally downloaded and installed it the other day.  Here’s a screenshot:

In short, I like it a lot when I remember to use it (which is spotty, but getting more frequent).  I have it set to show on Win-Q (the default) at the location of my mouse cursor (not default).  You can run commands there as if it was the command window or Start->Run, but you can also create “MagicWords” to be shortcuts to other programs (with or without parameters).  For example, if I type Win-Q then “mor” (for morning), my e-mail, my RSS reader, and iTunes all open.

The best thing about it: it’s free!  🙂  Long live the keyboard!

The Answer to Life, the Universe, and How Much I Made From Google AdSense Yesterday

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On July 26, 2005

In Uncategorized

42.

I made 42 cents yesterday by adding Google AdSense to my site.

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