Archive for October, 2007
Programmer or Serial Killer?
Oct 31st
I found a little quiz on the net were you have to guess if the persons in it are programming language inventors or Serial Killers. I got a score of 6/10 on it, you can take the test here.
Windows Vista: How to get the original Downloads folder icon back
Oct 30th
Windows Vista has a Downloads folder for every user, Internet Explorer is configured to download everything to it, and I configured Firefox and Free Download Manager to do the same. Two weeks ago I downloaded a song to the folder and I listened to it on WMP and as it usualy does WMP got the album cover from the net and displayed it for me and that’s where the problem started! Vista changed the Icon of the Downloads Folder to a Music Folder Icon and I wasn’t able to get the original one back so my folder looked like this:
As you can see having a normal folder in the middle of all the other ones is not very nice so I tried to get the old icon back by first going to the folder properties (right click > folder properties) selecting Customize and “Restore Default” but nothing changed. After that I tried changing the location of the song but the icon with the album cover remained, so I finally discovered how to fix it!You need a USB flash drive and another account on your PC (or another PC with Vista) to fix the icon and here’s what to do:
1- Go to the Downloads Folder in the other account (or machine).
2- Go to “Organize” > “Folder and Search Options” and select the 2 options in the pictures bellow.
3- Some hidden files and folder should show up search for a file called “desktop” when you find it there are two things you can do, copy it to the USB flash drive or open it with notepad and copy the text and save it to a test file in your USB flash drive.
4- Undo the changes you did in “Folder and Search Options” and go to the Downloads folder in the account you want to fix and repeat step 2 on it.
5- Replace the “desktop” file with the one from the other account you stored on the USB flash drive or edit it with the text from the other account and save it.(An Image called “Folder” might also show up when you change the “Folder and Search Options” settings, you can delete this image)
6- Undo the changes you did to “Folder and Search Options” and logout from the account. When you log in to the account again the icon of your download folder should look normal again.
Note that you can follow the same steps mentioned above to restore any folder icon in Vista. Just repeat the steps in the folder you want to fix instead of the Downloads folder and it will work.
Mike the Headless Chicken
Oct 30th
Here is “Mike” the headless chicken from USA. Mike has a very interesting story. The owner of the chicken wanted to eat it so he cut its head but the chicken somehow managed to survive without its head for 18 months! In those 18 months the owner took the bird across the US and showed it around until the bird choke to death during one night.
You can read more info and check some pictures of Mike here, but for some really weird stuff check out this site (that’s where I found out about this chicken in the first place) giving 5 scientific reasons why a bunch of Zombies might start attacking humans soon.
In Lebanon you can buy a gun online!
Oct 29th
Apparently you can now buy your gun online in Lebanon, all you have to do is go to Elmazad.com and bid on it! Bidding starts at 400$.
Ministry of Tourism and Al Shira3 Websites Hacked
Oct 29th
The websites of Al Shira3 and of the ministry of tourism were hacked today by a guy called “Controller” that wants them to stop attacking Hezbollah!
http://www.alshiraa.com/alshiraa/index.asp
http://www.destinationlebanon.gov.lb/
Hacking is not something new and it is not the first time Lebanese do it to express a political view, Many .gov.lb sites were hacked during the Syrian occupation and Tayyar.org was hacked a year ago but what I really didn’t like about this hack (not that I liked the previous ones) is that this guy attacked the website that is supposed to let foreigners discover Lebanon. We are free to attack each others “internally” but not every person in the world should be able to see that Lebanon is currently messed up!
[SOURCE]
Morse Code Translator V1.0
Oct 27th
Morse Code Translator V1.0 is a small and easy to use program I wrote last semester that can translate text to and from Morse code, The program can also “read” Morse code and convert existing Morse code to a code that can be understood by it.
Screen shot:
Features:
-Text Input and Output
You can modify Input text in different ways:
1- Directly writing in the text-box.
2- Paste input text by pressing CTRL+V or by going to Edit > Paste Input.
3- By selecting “Clear Input text” in the “After Conversion settings”
4- By selecting “Clear Input” in the Edit Menu.
You can use the Output text in different ways:
1- By selecting “Cut Output” and “Copy Output” in the Edit Menu
2- By selecting “Clear Output” in the Edit Menu.
3- By selecting “Copy Output text” in the “After Conversion settings”
-Settings:
First you must choose the type of translation (Morse to Text or Text to Morse) after that you can change those settings:
A- Morse Code to use:
1- Letters and Numerals (A to Z, 0 to 9) will be used by default during translations; all other letters will be replaced by a character or a word you choose.
This option cannot be deselected
2- You can choose to deselect the usage of Punctuation and Prosigns, if you do this all other letters will be replaced by a character or a word you choose.
B- Character replacement
If the program doesn’t recognize a letter during translation it will replace with a word or a sign of your choice, you can select one of the preset words or letters or enter your personal replacement.
C- After Conversion
After the program finishes converting the text, it can perform any operation chosen at this point, if you select “Copy Morse Code” it will copy the generated translation, if you choose “Clear Input Text” it will clear the input text
-M-Player
M-Player is a little tool that allows you to play the Morse Code, to use it select where it should read from and press play.
Note that once Morse Playing starts, it cannot be stopped. (Will be fixed in an upcoming version)
-Morse Code Converter
Morse Code Converter is a tool that lets you convert any Morse Code to a Morse Code that can be used in the Morse Code Translator.
You can choose the Auto Conversion Mode, in this mode the Converter will try to detect each character and convert it, If this mode doesn’t work, you can choose your settings manually.
The converted code will be pasted in the Input Box of the Morse Code Converter.
-Minimum Requirements:
To run the Morse Code Translator you must have the .Net Framework (Already available in most computers running XP and Vista) so download it if the program doesn’t start.
Support:
Please use the comment section to ask a question about the Morse Code Translator.
Download:
To Use the program you must agree to its EULA.
Funny Answering Machine Messages
Oct 26th
“Hi, we aren’t in at the moment, if you are trying to sell us something please start speaking now and hang up at the beep, everyone else start speaking at the beep and hang up when you’ve finished.”
A friend send me the link to this site were you can find this Message and many funny other answering machine messages.
The Future of Humans
Oct 25th
The BBC has an interesting article about a theory by Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics.
In the theory Curry speculates that the human race would peak at the year 3000 and then decline due to a dependence on technology he also expect our race to split in two eventually in 98,000 years, a genetic upper class and a dim-witted underclass.
He also has a nice prediction about the close future (1000 years)
But in the nearer future, humans will evolve in 1,000 years into giants between 6ft and 7ft tall, he predicts, while life-spans will have extended to 120 years, Dr Curry claims.
Physical appearance, driven by indicators of health, youth and fertility, will improve, he says, while men will exhibit symmetrical facial features, look athletic, and have squarer jaws, deeper voices and bigger penises.
Women, on the other hand, will develop lighter, smooth, hairless skin, large clear eyes, pert breasts, glossy hair, and even features, he adds. Racial differences will be ironed out by interbreeding, producing a uniform race of coffee-coloured people.
Personally I always wondered in school while we were learning the evolution theory if our race will split up again like it did in the past and apparently it will eventually, but I just wonder if humans will be smart enough to survive another 100,000 years. We currently have the power to destroy the earth using nuclear weapons, we are draining all the resources on the planet, we are polluting it and we are even messing with our genes so I think all these factors have more chances to destroy the race then the race has chances to split.
Do they know it is a fictional character?
Oct 24th
Sometimes I really don’t get people in Europe and the USA, Waiting a day in line to go get a book, a phone or a game is a little weird but since they don’t have politicians fighting and making them guess when a war will start I can understand why they do that. They just need something to have fun with.
But one week ago JK Rowling announced that a character in Harry Potter, Dumbledore, is Gay. This news became the most read and emailed story in BBC, it got on Digg’s front page and on every news site on the web. But is this really interesting!? He is just a character in a book! She created him, she could grow him a third leg if she wants, how the hell is this affecting peoples lives!! Why do they care so much??
