« first day (1166 days earlier)      last day (4150 days later) » 

15:00
@JourneymanGeek So long as the science get's done...
I can't read...
@Braiam i too prefer black text in a white background
Bob
Bob
I wonder if it's just some cron script everyone forgot about. That shuts down at 12:45 AM. They couldn't (be bothered) finding the source, so just rigged up a CD tray with a paperclip blutacked to it to push the power button at exactly 1:45 AM.
15:01
lol
ok. fuck this shit.
I'll try again in the morning
@jokerdino meh, only the messages body is like that.... other thinks are in white...
and probably borrow my brother's phone and use his data connection
Bob
Bob
15:02
Actually, fixed something like that my first job. Pretty sure I've said it here before.
(since I tried my phone already)
Bob
Bob
They would just turn the server back on every morning...
... @Bob please, don't do that... poor button has to get a clip inserted everynight...
the WTFs in real life are truly frightening
Bob
Bob
@JourneymanGeek good luck!
15:04
mine is 50k SLOC of VBS with multiple HTAs, IE 6.0 APIs, registry writes, also that Cthulhu code I pasted a few months ago with writes to HKCU\Software\Classes to "register" a component that is supposed to be available only if you have Visual Studio
@ThatBrazilianGuy: edit approved ;p
remember this?
gfjmrfkfifkmkfffrlmmgmhmnlulkmfmqkqj
looks like cat typing, but it's totally not
Bob
Bob
oh god
that's the VBS thing, right?
a CLSID or something? wait no that's hex
@allquixotic is that the chrome web store id for extensions?
@Bob it's the "license key" for MSComDlg.CommonDialog
function registerComDlg
	Set objRegistry = GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\default:StdRegProv")
	objRegistry.CreateKey &H80000001, "Software\CLASSES\Licenses\4D553650-6ABE-11cf-8ADB-00AA00C00905"
	objRegistry.SetStringValue &H80000001, "Software\CLASSES\Licenses\4D553650-6ABE-11cf-8ADB-00AA00C00905", "", "gfjmrfkfifkmkfffrlmmgmhmnlulkmfmqkqj"
end function
Bob
Bob
15:07
@allquixotic ...why would that have a license key? o.O
@Nifle Welcome to Root Access chat for Super Users! I am this channel's helpful chat bot. Please don't ask if you can ask or if anyone's around; just ask your question, and if anyone's free and interested they'll help. For bot commands, type !!listcommands
@Bob because apparently Microsoft didn't want to make that control available unless you write those keys into the registry... even though it ships as part of Windows out of the box
Bob
Bob
o.O
it's a way to display a very nice, and featureful, file open/save dialog box from pure COM languages without a builtin one, like VBScript
it's such a great COM control, and it supports all the latest Windows 7/8 styles and everything
Anyone know of a way to find the last known ip address of a domain that recently expiered (like yesterday)?
Bob
Bob
15:08
@allquixotic not sure if that's more or less hackish than exporting the same functions via .NET (embed the source and compile it on the user's machine)
@Braiam What is it?
@Bob well you can't call native Win32 C APIs from VBScript, so the only other option would be to write a .NET DLL that calls the APIs you need (or even do it using System.Windows.WinForms.FileOpenDialog) and register it in HKCU\Software\Classes
which is actually a very viable solution, but I didn't know about that at the time, and there was kind of a disdain for shipping an "opaque" DLL with the source for this particular task :S
Read post. Think: That needs a powerconfig -lastwake. Read comments
So what does powercfg -lastwake print? – Oliver Salzburg♦ Oct 26 '12 at 14:09
Bob
Bob
@allquixotic yea, which is why I suggested shipping .NET source (e.g. C#) and compiling it on the target machine
15:11
them: "you have to write X in VBScript"
me: "OK! /me writes it in C#.NET, compiles it into a DLL and registers it, then calls it from VBScript"
them: "/disdain /dubious Where is the source code? Why can't I see the source when I open the DLL in Notepad? Does this contain a virus?!"
Bob
Bob
most Windows machines have the command-line C# compiler, considering it comes with the .NET Framework installation
@Bob or better yet, call Powershell (which can call the appropriate .NET APIs) from VBScript, lol
Bob
Bob
good point
heck, I think PS can even run C# from a string if you want to avoid the shitty language
yeah it can
@allquixotic why a virus?! why not a trojan? I mean... trojan seems more like the correct definition, no?
15:13
still, I get the fewest glares / uncertain shifty glances / nervous laughs / weird questions like "Can't we just ask them to type in the file name in an InputBox?" if I don't ship a DLL
if it's all in VBS, even if it's horrid VBS, they just smile and accept it
@allquixotic WHY!
@Braiam call it organizational culture
stockholm syndrome
I don't know
lol
helsinki syndrome!
I call it... living in the Caverns.... in the 2013....
fortunately, there are a few elements within The Customer's ranks who are attempting a Ruby/Selenium coup d'etat, and have been mildly successful at earning it semi-official status as accepted software
15:15
(also superuser.com/questions/660247/… I am almost tempted to tell this guy "your system is just getting old and cranky")
there's a good chance that it might soon play a larger role
Bob
Bob
@allquixotic Again, you could write it all in C# or VB.NET and embed it in VBS :P
@JourneymanGeek i almost thought it was a real one
@Bob Seems only to work for existing domains
and to be honest, relative to VBScript, I am perfectly happy with writing our test harness code in Ruby... in fact, the features available in Ruby (and apparently Gems are OK) make my mouth water
15:15
lol
Bob
Bob
@Nifle well, could you provide the domain name?
@allquixotic: might also give you more flexibility in terms of... everything
Ruby can call Win32 APIs, and it also has a TON of extremely useful functionality in gems or code snippets
I am totally trying to back the guys who are doing the Ruby uprising and give them more clout
Bob
Bob
> i ve recently got the PSU of my pc repaired .. damaged capacitors
...
oh, random remarks about things nobody cares about:
15:17
@Bob klinikkurt.se
I turned in two Motorola Droid Razr Maxx smartphones to Verizon and got $120 back... their "recycling" plan :D
(old phones no longer being used)
and also got them to overnight us a replacement to the Droid Razr Maxx HD that had a puckery battery
the new one isn't puckery... it looks like a new phone, so it's either very lightly used or never used
the old one is in the mail today to Verizon
15:18
what's puckery mean?
@JourneymanGeek the back of the case was visibly puckered out because the battery expanded
a tech on the Motorola forums told me that it was at risk of catching fire
Think I found it on whois.domaintools.com
I sent it to Motorola for warranty repair but they said it was unrepairable and sent it back
Bob
Bob
@Nifle whoops too late :P
but Verizon will provide a "certified like new" (basically a step up from refurbished, but not necessarily out of the factory; could've been in a customer's hand at some point) unit upon customer request for almost any reason
and take your old one and repair it and put it in the certified like new pool to give to someone else
15:20
ahh
Verizon's warranty/insurance is better than Motorola's manufacturer warranty :P
Bob
Bob
@allquixotic Verizon has an ongoing interest in you.
@Bob well yeah, I buy into expensive full retail phones on a yearly basis and pay them a lot of money every month... I'd say they get their fair share of profit from me
as long as I keep my unlimited data, I really don't mind paying them whatever they want from me
so far it's a tenuous but mutually beneficial relationship
if they instated a new rule that said, to keep unlimited you have to buy a new phone at full retail every year, I'd be like, sweet, I already do that, no problem :D
@allquixotic You seem to be more of a mobile user than desktop.
@Boris_yo faveset.com
that says it all
15:23
lol
is anyone really a desktop user these days?
(ok, so I am)
I am...
I am...
(tho, I use my laptop and tablet at school, tablets are nice second screens)
@allquixotic You don't need to tether if you surf on mobile, unless you share phone's unlimited plan with others.
especially with quickoffice
15:25
@Boris_yo I don't only surf on mobile, and I don't have a landline internet connection
@JourneymanGeek Yeah they are good for game cheatcodes, walkthroughs, computer repair manuals etc.
lol
my parents / other people I help with tech are used to me toting my Surface Pro under my arm and my smartphone in my pocket (with wifi tethering on) when I make a "site visit" to help them with a computer problem
@allquixotic Serious. Ever tried these without secondary screen always tabbing out? Pain eh?
the only place where I find a tablet useful is reading something in bed... again, that normally don't happen
@allquixotic Not only that. You can give them your tablet while you are fixing their computer and make it as added value to your repair service so they won't feel skimpy when paying you for your work in the end. They feel better > you feel better.
@Braiam And your tablet is?
15:33
lol
or reading on the bus
my laptop is my bedside system/at desk second screen ;p
plus i think the motherboard is also damaged only 2 out of 6 usb ports are working — vikram18081994 9 mins ago
no shit sherlock.
@allquixotic Thank you! I'm here all day!
@JourneymanGeek How do you like 2 movies by the way about him?
Next time, I'll have my Windows 98SE Virtual Machine set up to fuck with them!
lol
or the miniseries
nice modernisation of the man
@JourneymanGeek He wasn't that smart and slo-mo tactical when it came to fights, was he? It was just Hollywood's twist to appeal to modern audience?
15:42
yes
@CanadianLuke :D
@RichardPowell Welcome to Root Access chat for Super Users! I am this channel's helpful chat bot. Please don't ask if you can ask or if anyone's around; just ask your question, and if anyone's free and interested they'll help. For bot commands, type !!listcommands
@JourneymanGeek Then with same success why not make movies about Stalin, Lenin, Lev Tolstoy, Mark Twain or american president and modernize them too?
@allquixotic @JourneymanGeek I just posted the story on our IT forum at my job, and my boss told me to forward it to the newspaper... After laughing, of course
15:52
@CanadianLuke What story?
@Boris_yo: abraham lincoln. Vampire hunter
@CanadianLuke Elvis Presley?
I never liked his music, so I never paid attention to his movies
@JourneymanGeek Abraham Lincoln revived to take place of Obama in our current day. Good for plot?
@CanadianLuke He has movies actually?
15:56
Apparently
There's one thing I understand about political conspiracies in this world - everybody wants to take over the world. And they give us hints through Hollywood's movies. Dr. Evil is a good example but it is served as comedy to not reveal "much".
naw
now, teddy roosevelt
thats a president for the ages.
A snake bit Teddy Roosevelt. after 6 days of gut wrenching agony, the snake died.
16:12
What's the difference between ammo and amminition? Abbreviation?
@Boris_yo They also seem to give me hints through my alphabet soup
The other day I was cooking some up, and the letters aligned to say "BORIS KNOWS"
3
@OliverSalzburg I doubt they have so much resources to reach everyone personally.
@OliverSalzburg "... what you did last summer!"
@JourneymanGeek Interesting. Such things are common in Russia.
@OliverSalzburg: "Dead Fly In Soup"
16:26
Remember MDK PC game back in 1997? For its time it had decent graphics and great background music. You could play it in DOS as well.
16:37
I always have wondered this but... how can I get the darn grade symbol in the US keyboard?
and you must be joking me:
Do you mean this symbol? °
@SimonSheehan yeah....
Its like a mixture of keys lol
Hold alt
then do 0176 on the numpad
16:38
We call it the degree symbol.
^ yeah, easier to remember
@jokerdino that sounds like some PhD
err, the degree Celsius?
Although if you're on a mac, its just alt + 0
and firefox have done it...
16:39
@Braiam Its how we show degrees here lol
degree temperature or degree angle.
is impossible in firefox... it switch to the tab in the numeric order
You didn't read 'The Lost symbol'??!?!
mm...
today seems to be the "troll Braiam day"
@Braiam not trolling. "The temperature today is 86 degrees Fahrenheit."
which would be represented as 86° F
Bob
Bob
16:43
The degree symbol (°) is a typographical symbol that is used, among other things, to represent degrees of arc (e.g. in geographic coordinate systems), hours (in the medical field), or degrees of temperature. The symbol consists of a small raised circle, historically a zero glyph. In Unicode it is encoded at . History The first known recorded modern use of the degree symbol in mathematics is from 1569 where the usage clearly shows that the symbol is a small raised zero, to match the prime symbol notation of sexagesimal subdivisions of degree such as minute ′, second ″, and tert...
What country are you from?
Bob
Bob
While we're at it, Kelvin is not measured in "degrees".
or "The inner angles of a square are each 90°".
I wish JetAudio player for Android used floating point samples for pitch shifting -_- I have to use a less user-friendly player called AudioSpeedChanger to get floating point samples
> Unicode provides a compatibility character for the degree Celsius at U+2103 (decimal 8451),
that's what I was looking!
℃ :D
°
Oh, it's one symbol. Neat
Bob
Bob
16:50
@OliverSalzburg Generally compatibility characters are really not recommended :P
@Bob please, reread your statement... "compatibility chars not recommended"?
Bob
Bob
> In Unicode and the UCS, a compatibility character is a character that is encoded solely to maintain round trip convertibility with other, often older, standards.
Basically, avoid using them if possible.
They're just there so you can convert to and from other standards more easily.
Don't use them if you're authoring a document in Unicode (and don't intend to convert it to a specific other format).
Taking the Celsius example, the single character is for compatibility with one or more standards. However, it'll fail to render if you're going to convert to ASCII - in which case you're better off with two separate characters, since at least the C will render.
Basically, you're rarely going to be able to satisfy all standards - so unless you have a specific conversion target in mind, when authoring in unicode, don't use the compatibility characters.
Bob
Bob
Arguably, they're more for conversion to Unicode - if you're authoring in Unicode you really shouldn't care about conversion to other standards - just author in the other standard instead if you really have to.
> In Unicode it is encoded at U+00B0 ° degree sign
16:55
Bob
Bob
@Braiam Hm?
@Bob are you quoting?
I want a new Unicode character for every line of chat I ever type, so I just have to know the right keycode and can hit Alt+#### to produce the desired chat line
Bob
Bob
@Braiam No, I'm just expressing my opinion.
Unicode version 1.11694033 gogogo
16:57
unicode is such a slow moving target.
Bob
Bob
@Braiam Basically, compatibility characters are there for the computer (converters, etc.) to use. Not for humans.
@jokerdino actually no, it was updated within the past year
supports Egyptian hieroglyphics now :D
Bob
Bob
I mean, you could use them. Nothing is really stopping you.
It's just not the design purpose.
@allquixotic My XP machine doesn't have the INR symbol?
Bob
Bob
Also, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the compat chars were missing glyphs in quite a few fonts - most fonts ignore the less common glyphs.
16:58
@jokerdino it depends on the version of unicode supported by the font rendering engine
0x20B9?
U20B9
actually you first have to get a font that supports them....
Bob
Bob
works here
17:03
Anyone knows or tried LaTex?
@jokerdino heard about it... there is TeX - LaTeX
I want to pick up Latex but don't know how good of an idea it is.
nothing else
Thank you Clippy. I am gonna date Latex.
3
how did you got a "Clippy" here?
17:05
@jokerdino I'm pretty competent with it
It's a secret!
> I want to [pick up Latex but don't know how good of an idea it is.]
@allquixotic Great. What's the bestest way to get a decent knowledge of it?
> Yearling - Active member for a year, earning at least 200 reputation. This badge can be awarded multiple times.
Thus far, I am converting markdown to pdf via latex. Because I can!
@jokerdino in my case I used a WYSIWY{M,G} latex editor to write documents with math formulas and looked at and modified the source code to learn by example
having a good latex distribution with a lot of modules and a visual "real time" renderer is helpful
17:08
yeah, lyx is as huge as Ubuntu 13.10. Freaking 700 MB.
@allquixotic I'm guessing a decent understanding of math is also helpful
you do some formatting in lyx then you look at the source
if it doesn't come out perfect, you edit the source, read the docs for the modules you are calling, etc
@JimmyHoffa for writing documents with math formulas? yes, but tex doesn't only do math documents
@jokerdino Its been that size forever i thought
356
Q: How can I explain the meaning of LaTeX to my grandma?

Stefan KottwitzI wrote a book about LaTeX, and my proud grandma wanted to have a copy. So she got it, said "What a beautiful picture on the cover!" and - "What is this, LaTeX?". She doesn't know Word, never used a computer. But she reads books. How can I explain what makes TeX and LaTeX special to a non-techni...

@jokerdino wah wah wah
17:09
@SimonSheehan yeah, it's huge no matter what time of the day it is :/
@jokerdino Gotta love live CDs eh
you won't find a small tex distribution unless it has all the features removed, and then 99% of examples you find online will just error out with "can't find blah"
@allquixotic The bits I've seen of TeX it looked relatively declarative/arbitrarily-recursive in approach, I didn't mean regarding writing math documents
@allquixotic I hit upon this when converting .tex to .pdf. Missing font blah.
declarative/arbitrary recursion approaches are trickier for many to understand from an imperative perspective, I'm guessing a fair understanding of math makes it a bit easier to think in
But I don't know TeX so I'm speculating
@Braiam Tell your grandma to Google "latex". Hm, wait, no.
lol, that cracked me up
@jokerdino Damn, 1 sec too late.
@JimmyHoffa Tex is really just typesetting.
@JimmyHoffa if you know HTML or XML, you understand all the recursion you need to know to be able to use TeX
17:16
@allquixotic I know Haskell, does that count?
@JimmyHoffa nope
@Braiam let's see
@Braiam do you know what Haskell is? heh
just me or FF is broken?
@Braiam yes
17:21
lol, it looks fine here
@OliverSalzburg found a bug now fix it >:)
@jokerdino what version?
I think v24
you can probably download the pdf and view it locally
something fishy with my profile then... Debian also shows the problem...
what's the problem with this guy superuser.com/questions/660287/…
ctrl-shift-u is only for linux distros I think
alt+numberpad numbers work in windows
17:34
mm... yeah, I should boot windows just to check if Firefox take that keybiding too...
and yeah, K (kelvin) doesn't need a degree
@Braiam Done
I still don't get what TeX can do that something like HTML or Word or InDesign can't do...
just slinging some crap off the top of my admittedly tired head for grins.
17:44
I thought the more popular channel is, the more bandwidth YouTube offers for it.
17:56
@Braiam binhexed.
@OliverSalzburg wait, I´m sure the darn tooltip said Ctrl...
@allquixotic what?
@CanadianLuke TeX has arbitrary formatting -- you can develop macros in TeX that allow much more flexible formatting, more akin to PDF than Word... furthermore, whereas programs like Word are "WYSIWYG", TeX is "WYSIWYM" -- you as a document designer focus less on the visual display/layout and more on your conten
What do you mean by arbitrary formatting?
there are some things that you literally cannot do in Word without a plugin or rendering it in another program and pasting it in as an image -- for example, most advanced math is beyond even Word's equation editor -- also, chemistry stuff -- but you can declare that stuff with actual macros in TeX
@CanadianLuke I mean you can draw an organic chemical molecule, chirality, bonds and all, using plain text markup in TeX
Isn't that what the mouse is for?
17:59
instead of using some external program to do that and pasting in a rasterized image that doesn't scale well etc
@CanadianLuke no -- trying to draw a chemical molecule using Paint is just wrong -- not only will you make lots of mistakes and it will look messy, but you will also spend a lot more time doing that
Word vs TeX is like using VBScript with SendKeys vs. writing C++
40
A: Why aren't plain-text markup languages (like LaTeX or Markdown) more popular in the software development process?

Jimmy HoffaLots of participants in the software development process are not developers, and need the ability to interact with documentation regardless. Should QA/Marketing use word and developers use something else completely? It would be inconsistent, it would add another tool into the maintenance chain an...

...just sayin...
I see...
I guess I just never had a use for it
@CanadianLuke Work in a team with non-technical people and you'll find a use for it quickly, the use being: Getting someone else to edit/maintain the docs, because if the docs aren't in word you will have to do all the maintenance of the docs. Eff that.
So what, I just ask them to type up what they want, how they want, then press a magic button?
anyone can remeber me if Linux is OT in SU? superuser.com/questions/660287/…
18:05
@CanadianLuke Yeah, the little disky-save button, then they feel good about themselves and leave you alone. It's amazing how long you can get a PM off your back by just telling them you like their ideas and they should put them down in a document for your review
@Braiam Added a comment for you :)
@JimmyHoffa Really? But if people are good in Word, why wouldn't they use that, unless they need the complex formulas?
@CanadianLuke thanks
I travelled in the time!
@CanadianLuke Haven't you forgot about our matter?
@Boris_yo ??
@CanadianLuke Should be discussed in private.
18:13
@khajvah Welcome to Root Access chat for Super Users! I am this channel's helpful chat bot. Please don't ask if you can ask or if anyone's around; just ask your question, and if anyone's free and interested they'll help. For bot commands, type !!listcommands
" Please don't ask if you can ask or if anyone's around" What does that supposed to mean?
@Boris_yo Create a chatroom, and invite?
@CanadianLuke Yea
OK
@Boris_yo Add me as a write user on there; I got locked out
18:29
@khajvah it means no meta-questions, like, "Is anyone around?" or "Can I ask a question?"
@allquixotic can I ask you a question? :P
@allquixotic Command no learned
3
!!tell Braiam no
LOL
@allquixotic mm... that's not right...
!!tell 11695815 no
yeah, now is better
have to give it a specific message ID :/
18:38
Us regulars will know... But just in case...
@Braiam I find it actually very annoying that it's the only hotkey with Alt :\ I would love to add some Ctrl based hotkey, but all the good ones are taken :P
!!tell OliverSalzburg fixit
Why does that not onebox?
9 mins ago, by allquixotic
have to give it a specific message ID :/
That is stupid
@JimmyHoffa So that would be to make the hotkey configurable?
18:59
@JimmyHoffa you are a bad code golfer... look at those whitespaces D:

« first day (1166 days earlier)      last day (4150 days later) »