gdp's Comments

Atomic Toasters : Startup: Killing Them With Irony

Sat, 21 Feb 2015 16:57:03 +0000

I have a co-worker who has a young (I'm thinking 4-ish) daughter. She, like so many girls her age, loves the music from the movie "Frozen". To help preserve he and his wife's sanity, he has converted all of her favourite tracks from their digital source to audio cassette tape. I accused him of being a hipster, but his logic was sound. In digital format, his daughter knows how to hit the skip-back button to play a song over and over and over again. On cassette, she gets to hear it once, then has to wait until the entire album loops back around before she can hear it again. He has - quite deliberately - not taught her about rewind.

Atomic Toasters : User Input: Prepare to Hate

Sun, 4 Jan 2015 20:40:38 +0000

Check the OSD (On Screen Display). There is likely a setting for having it on or off by default. All the Yamaha receivers I've seen have a "Music Enhancer" mode as well that supposed to polish up low bitrate MP3 sources, but I find that all it really does is add an annoying bass warble.

Atomic Toasters : User Input: Prepare to Hate

Fri, 2 Jan 2015 17:38:33 +0000

This is why I bypass all the "Smart" features of my TV's and essentially use them as monitors. Sound goes through the dedicated home theatre system (carefully selected components - none of that 6 ohm home-theatre-in-a-box crap!), and all sources are external and go through the home theatre receiver. Most manufacturers (maybe all?) do offer the ability to turn off all of their interpolation software, but they all have different names for that stuff that ups all frame rates to 60fps. (I think some of them call it clearframe) Also, many blu ray disks and consoles have calibration tools built in. Most Sony BluRay disks have one that you can access by entering 7669 on the main menu. The Xbox One has an excellent HDMI video calibration tool built-in.

Atomic Toasters : Om Nom Nom

Wed, 4 Dec 2013 05:17:37 +0000

Most of my hair grew back. Still haven't quite figured out what the strange gas emanating from the lesions is. Three doctors suffered permanent neural damage trying to figure it out. Also, it can soften most any root vegetable to a perfect al-denté in under 5 minutes.

Atomic Toasters : Om Nom Nom

Mon, 2 Dec 2013 16:47:02 +0000

I should point out that the picture in the photo is not the Arecibo telescope. I"m not even sure which telescope that is playing the role of the mouth. The implied joke was that the Arecibo (not pictured) was taking on another role.

Atomic Toasters : User Input: Technological End-Run

Sat, 9 Nov 2013 01:27:08 +0000

Atomic Toasters : The Gorg

Wed, 6 Nov 2013 06:37:28 +0000

That was my thought. Once it's 12 miles off shore, it's in International waters and US law does not apply. And on the sea, they've got easy access to cheap coolant. The Principality of Sealand made a great run of being an offshore haven for people who couldn't be bothered by federal laws getting in the way of their online business.

Atomic Toasters : User Input: Visually Interesting

Wed, 23 Oct 2013 16:04:16 +0000

For some reason I'm always drawn to things that have blue LEDs. My main L+R channels on the home theatre have active crossovers and powered subwoofers built in. There's a little green LED to show when the sub is powered on and active. Right after I bought them, the next year's model came out - identical in every way except the indicator LED was blue instead of green. I almost bought them.

Atomic Toasters : User Input: Blinker Fluid

Tue, 22 Oct 2013 16:12:55 +0000

I think it's been mentioned before, but an old tech support trick: ask the user to "reverse the polarity" of their network cable. It's a good way to get them to verify that both ends are securely plugged in without having to say "is it plugged in?"

Atomic Toasters : Tournament of Monsters: Reavers vs. Tyrants

Wed, 9 Oct 2013 23:53:24 +0000

Yes, fearless leader forgot to reference any franchise in the post. Reavers are from Firefly, Tyrants are from Resident Evil.

Atomic Toasters : Startup: Box

Thu, 26 Sep 2013 15:05:29 +0000

Sorry, these usually get put together late at night after shotgunning Red Bull with instant ramen flavour packets dissolved in it, so I can be a little trippy when I find something I want to put up here.

Atomic Toasters : Times Beach, MO: A Modern Ghost Town Tale

Tue, 24 Sep 2013 02:56:21 +0000

Now they have Rhino Snot to keep the dirt down. http://envirotac.com

Atomic Toasters : Q³: If He Were an Ice Cream Flavor

Sat, 21 Sep 2013 17:15:54 +0000

Hmmm.... looks like some sort of stonework or concrete, then metal plates riveted on; or at least concrete carved to look like riveted metal. Saw it in a museum... wouldn't know how to move it... would be impressive.... I'm going with giant statue of a Greek or Roman god.

Atomic Toasters : User Input: Suspension of Disbelief

Tue, 17 Sep 2013 00:31:20 +0000

PHILISTINE! Also, it's "Doctor Who"

Atomic Toasters : User Input: Just For The Reaction

Tue, 10 Sep 2013 23:53:15 +0000

I figured the laser would help carve the lair in the mountain

Atomic Toasters : User Input: Just For The Reaction

Tue, 10 Sep 2013 17:06:57 +0000

Terawatt argon laser

Atomic Toasters : Q³: A Cut Above the Rest

Sun, 8 Sep 2013 16:48:04 +0000

Looks somewhat like an early safety razor that used changeable blades, or something along those lines. As for the word you're looking for, you could simply call it a juxtaposition. Unless he was doing it for the sake of juxtaposition, then we call it hipsterism.

Atomic Toasters : What Ever Became of…Carbon Paper?

Sun, 1 Sep 2013 02:27:56 +0000

I'm the treasurer for a couple of small non-profit societies, which entails doing bank deposits the old-fashioned way in the bank, during business hours, with a real live teller. The deposit book still uses carbon copy sheets; original to the bank, and copy stays in the book so I can use it when I balance the ledger.

Atomic Toasters : User Input: Carbon Dating Yourself

Fri, 30 Aug 2013 16:27:39 +0000

There was no such thing as a browser (or a web to be browsed) when I first accessed the Internet. Telnet & Gopher. Later, Lynx when the web did show up. NCSA Mosaic when the age of the GIFs arrived.

Atomic Toasters : Startup: Browser Wars

Fri, 30 Aug 2013 16:23:24 +0000

It wasn't the .com, it was the link was pointing to blogpsot instead of blogspot. Nice to see the Mega church engaging in linkjacking.