Posts by EddyL

1) Message boards : Cafe SETI : Did Eric Idle have SETI in mind? (Message 734558)
Posted 5 Apr 2008 by Profile EddyL
Post:
This is a clever piece of work - it is so well done most folks don't realize how much info is in it (even if they have the galaxy spinning the wrong way, lol):

http://dingo.care-mail.com/cards/flash/5409/galaxy.swf

Very apt for SETI, especially the end :-)
2) Message boards : Cafe SETI : Cars of Tomorrow 1950's to the present part 2 (Message 726034)
Posted 14 Mar 2008 by Profile EddyL
Post:

Holden EFIJY Concept Car



The heart of the beast is a supercharged LS2 that cranks out enough power to blow the tires off. The blower and valve covers came from Harrop Engineering in Australia.
3) Message boards : Number crunching : Seti City..... (Message 707160)
Posted 2 Feb 2008 by Profile EddyL
Post:
I went to Seti City for a last check and found this abusive message on it:

[09:01] Angus: Are you proud, EddyL? Does it make you fell like a big man to cheat? Too bad you're just a script kiddie


To this person (?) I have only one thing to say - You, Sir, are the perfect example of why I will never help SETI again
4) Message boards : Number crunching : Seti City..... (Message 707116)
Posted 2 Feb 2008 by Profile EddyL
Post:
cerncerncern = Seti@home is now off the WAN and can grow only from visitor clicks.

As you are starting to find out, it takes a lot more than mere clicking to have a successful city - it takes a lot of thought, planning and cooperation with other cities to go ahead. My city sits in 19th spot in the ratings and to stay there it takes at least a couple of hours of hard work every day. We also have weekly meetings of all the cities in my circuit where we plan the next week's strategy - to get anywhere you have to cooperate with other cities.


A few people have asked questions - I will answer them here:

The WAN is made up of more than 400 computers over 3 continents
It is controlled from my desk thru 3 computers
I do not have to ask permissions - other way 'round - when I say jump everybody asks how high (including the board)
The reason I do not run SETI on it is because we handle extremely data critical missions
Sorry, but I can not help your own city - if I help you, I have to help everybody else
My car is a Maserati (why do you want to know THAT?)


Let's make one thing very clear here:

The word "cheating" has been bandied about by people that should know better than to shoot off their mouth before they find out the facts.
~ THERE HAS BEEN NO CHEATING ~ To get the 1000 extra population you got from me, I had to go and click 1000 other cities so you could get a return click and these return clicks were then passed thru an XML script so that you would get the right value.
Of course, all this was automated, BUT THIS IS HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS. How do you think you can click on thousands of cities every day? If you look at the bottom left of your city's screen, you will find some XML that will let you do this (also a RSS feed).
I suggest that these loudmouths go the game's main site, register and then log in and learn the facts. The game's main site is http://www.miniville-site.com/ and I hope they can speak french.

I apologise to the mods if I have used strong language, but all this has really turned me off from helping SETI any further.
5) Message boards : Number crunching : Seti City..... (Message 706166)
Posted 31 Jan 2008 by Profile EddyL
Post:
Mark = Seti City is now off the WAN and can grow only from visitor clicks.

cerncerncern = Seti@home has been placed on the WAN for the next 48 hours.


@ Andrew = keep your shirt on, mate. This was done for 48 hours only to get the Seti cities above 1000 population so it can be counted in the ratings. Anything under 1000 population counts for nothing and doesn't officially exist - this is done to avoid those people that sign up and then disappear after a few days (sounds familiar?). It takes quite a bit of effort to get to 1000 and this proves that you are "fair dinkum".


PS.: mark another person that never bothers about the cafe'
6) Message boards : Number crunching : Seti City..... (Message 705812)
Posted 30 Jan 2008 by Profile EddyL
Post:
Yeh i am on Windows, how would i go about using a schedular, what is it?

Eh, it would take too much to explain it here - type "windows scheduler" in Google to learn about it (you can find anything by searching Google)

Here's couple of links to get you started:

http://www.iopus.com/guides/winscheduler.htm

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308569
7) Message boards : Number crunching : Seti City..... (Message 705664)
Posted 30 Jan 2008 by Profile EddyL
Post:
Could you do the same for this seti@home city at some point?

http://setihome.myminicity.com/ http://setihome.myminicity.com/

OK, no problem - seeing that yours is also a Seti city, I'll put it on the WAN for 48 hours after Mark's is finished


P.S. How do you do that???

Well, on each computer, a script checks the myminicity's database every 24 hours & then logs onto the city with the needed extension (ind, tra, sec, env, com - no extension gives you population). The timing is randomly staggered to avoid 'clogging' the database.

For your city, on your computer (Windows), you can achieve the same thing by using the Scheduler to run this link once every 24 hours:
http://lightning.generator.free.fr/linkmyminicity.php?town=setihome

If you'r running Linux, I'm pretty sure you know how to use Cron - Apple? Sorry, haven't got a clue (they are based on *nix - do they also have Cron?)

PS.: for a different city, replace the city's name at the end, after the " = "
8) Message boards : Number crunching : Seti City..... (Message 705500)
Posted 29 Jan 2008 by Profile EddyL
Post:
Mark - I have set the XML throughout the WAN and right now Seti City has taken off ;-)
Enjoy it for the next 48 hours...

By the way, the XML checks what the city needs & it adds accordingly.
Also, those cities will accept only 1 click every 24 hours UNLESS you restart your modem/router or use a proxy or can change your IP.
9) Message boards : Number crunching : Seti City..... (Message 705459)
Posted 29 Jan 2008 by Profile EddyL
Post:
Mark - I control a pretty big WAN. Would you like me to put Seti City on it for couple of days? You should get about 1000 hits....
10) Message boards : Number crunching : Oldest Pending Date (Message 700422)
Posted 16 Jan 2008 by Profile EddyL
Post:
I have had one waiting since the 15th of September:

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/workunit.php?wuid=157204336

It had a checquered career since then and my present wingman has gone into limbo. Now I have to wait till after the 7th of February for it to be re-issued to somebody else - I just hope the next wingman doesn't go to sleep on me as well, lol
11) Message boards : Number crunching : R U Ad-Aware user (Message 698813)
Posted 10 Jan 2008 by Profile EddyL
Post:
.... Ad-Aware 2007 adds a service (aawservice) that starts at startup that uses about 800K of memory, somewhat needlessly ....


You can start/stop that service automatically every time you want to run Ad-Aware - copy and paste this exactly in Notepad:

@ECHO OFF
Ad-Aware2007.exe
sc stop aawservice
@echo Done

Save it as "AdAwareUse-No_Service.bat" in the SAME DIRECTORY as Ad-Aware and make a shortcut of this batch file to the desktop, then go into the service management and set the aawservice to manual. From now on use this shortcut to run Ad-Aware.

The batch file runs Ad-Aware and the service automatically starts; when Ad-Aware finishes, the batch file will turn the service off and then quit. To hide the command prompt window while all this is running, right click on the batch file shortcut and select "Properties" and set "Run" to "Minimized".

Of course, use this ONLY on the free edition of Ad-Aware. The Pro (paid) version needs the service on all the time.

Batch files from the good old DOS days can still come handy... :-)
12) Message boards : Number crunching : Dead SETI (Message 697294)
Posted 4 Jan 2008 by Profile EddyL
Post:
..... you're into for about 1.7 Msecs and it isn't due until 2012! WOW!! :-)

Ye Gods! How would you like to have one of those and your wingman goes to sleep on you?
13) Message boards : Number crunching : pending credit (Message 692163)
Posted 17 Dec 2007 by Profile EddyL
Post:
It happens all the time and you need lots of patience sometimes ;-)
Example - have a look at one of mine:

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/workunit.php?wuid=157204336

I have been waiting since the 14th of September ... if I'm lucky, in about a month I will get the credit for it ... lol

PS.: hmmm ... about 5 months ... is this a record? Anybody had to wait longer?
14) Message boards : Number crunching : Validate Errors II (Message 690006)
Posted 9 Dec 2007 by Profile EddyL
Post:
And again ...

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/result.php?resultid=676457550
15) Message boards : Number crunching : Validate Errors II (Message 684583)
Posted 26 Nov 2007 by Profile EddyL
Post:
And another one:

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/workunit.php?wuid=182628092
16) Message boards : Cafe SETI : What is your favorite war Movie (Message 652223)
Posted 1 Oct 2007 by Profile EddyL
Post:
17) Message boards : Cafe SETI : TLPTPW(46) - CLOSED FOR CLEANING & REFURBISHMENT (Message 644893)
Posted 20 Sep 2007 by Profile EddyL
Post:
G'night all - see you tomorrow (today?)

Last win for the day
18) Message boards : Cafe SETI : The Original Rocky's Cafe-Closed (Message 644844)
Posted 20 Sep 2007 by Profile EddyL
Post:
White with 2 sugars please

'Ta
19) Message boards : Cafe SETI : Irish Angel's Seti Cafe ' Comedy Club (Message 644842)
Posted 20 Sep 2007 by Profile EddyL
Post:
HUSBAND 1.0

There are a lot of pressures to upgrade from Boyfriend 6.0 to Husband 1.0. However before doing so make sure you understand the implications of this change...

For one, system activity will be severely limited and you will be compelled to instigate rigorous daily routines in space management, garbage disposal and disc cleaning often with an accompanying increase in system administration. This program can also be a drain on many resources and demand constant attention. You will encounter an increased amount of interrupts and error messages, while the program often cancels processes without warning, very often crashing the system. In addition, Husband 1.0 often refuses to respond to your commands and frequently appears to be running processes which you have not authorized. If this happens a lot, do not respond to any interactive requests from the program and severely limit demand for extra bytes.

Every evening there will be a huge surge in demand for megabytes and if not satisfied, the process will become unresponsive and has been known on occasion to damage hardware.

Every so often you will be promised a new release of the program, but unfortunately, upon loading this new release, it is generally found to be almost identical to the old one, with very few feature changes and most of the same old annoying bugs which you were undoubtedly promised would not be there in the new release. Put up with it or discontinue use entirely. Husband 1.0 is a flawed program; many of the bugs are so deeply encoded that, even if they can be located, they are impossible to eradicate and have to be tolerated.

Husband 1.0 will frequently make use of low level language and may not understand higher level commands so you must be prepared to use basic functions when required. Often a few robust algorithms in handshaking mode will produce a good response.

After a while, Husband 1.0 has a tendency to take up more space than originally allocated, often spreading in size and slowing down correspondingly. If this happens, be very careful as there is increased risk of complete system failure. Around this time, Husband 1.0 will also tend to lose bits from the top of the stack, although these will often multiply and be found lower down the stack.

Another problem with this program is that Husband 1.0 can also spawn unknown child processes, which can sometimes inadvertently appear, make huge demands on the program and force unwanted interaction with old versions of 1.0 nightstand.

Sometimes, Husband 1.0 will end a process prematurely, before you have the required result. This generally results in spawned processes scattered over your system which must be located and removed. More often than not, however, Husband 1.0 will appear to take an inordinately long time to complete a relatively simple process. While waiting for tedious processes to complete you may find it useful to distract yourself by perusing manuals for alternative programs, Stud 2.0 or Lover 6.9

On completion of a process, Husband 1.0 will often inadvertently apply the sleep command, or suspend system activity with a Ctrl ZZ. There is nothing you can do in this case, but leave the program and try again later.

Ultimately, as the program becomes older, it will become more difficult to produce hardcopy, and you will find that most of you work ends up on floppies. In addition, you will be needing software support more often than you'd like. If and when this happens, try to find a copy of Toyboy 1.1. Make sure you have used Ctrl ZZ on Husband 1.0 before loading Toyboy 1.1 and, of course, check for viruses before using any new program. Toyboy 1.1 should come with new hardware which can be plugged into any of your ports.
20) Message boards : Cafe SETI : Irish Angel's Seti Cafe ' Comedy Club (Message 644834)
Posted 20 Sep 2007 by Profile EddyL
Post:
Bill's Punch Line

Tech Support: What does the screen say now?

Person: It says "Hit ENTER when ready".

Tech Support: Well?

Person: How do I know when it's ready?



Cray

When Seymour Cray was told that Apple had just purchased a Cray computer that would be used in designing the next Macintosh, he thought for a minute and replied that that seemed reasonable, since he was using a Macintosh to design the next Cray.




Mice

A computer company I work for placed an order for computer mice from Japan. After the normal delivery period had elapsed, we contacted the airport to enquire what had happened to the consignment. The official in charge said that it was nowhere to be found and should be reported as missing. Some time later the official contacted us to say that the package had been found. When we asked where it had been, he replied sheepishly, "In quarantine".



Microsoft Support

A Microsoft support man goes to a firing range. He shoots 10 bullets at the target 50m away. Then the supervisors check the target and see that there's not even a single hit, and they shout to him that he missed completely. So he tells them to recheck, and gets the same answer. Then he put his finger at the top of the gun and shoots, blasting off his finger. When he saw it he shouted back "I don't know, it's working perfectly here, the problem must yours..."



Programmers' Wisdom

Every program has at least one bug and can be shortened by at least one instruction - from which, by induction, one can deduce that every program can be reduced to one instruction which doesn't work.



Program

PROGRAM (pro'-gram)

[n] A magic spell cast over a computer allowing it to turn one's input into error messages.
[vi] To engage in a pastime similar to banging one's head against a wall, but with fewer opportunities for reward.



Quick Bash To Programmers

A programmer had been missing from work for over a week when finally someone noticed and called the cops.

They went round to his flat and broke the door down. They found him dead in the still running shower with an empty bottle of shampoo next to his body. Apparently he'd been washing his hair.

The instructions on the bottle said:

  • Wet hair
  • Apply shampoo
  • Wait 2 minutes
  • Rinse
  • Repeat



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