Ram prices are at an all time low!
Yesterday I decided to upgrade to 4gb of ram because I was told by my local favorite computer shop (CompuTrak System) that ram prices were at an all time low (DDR2 only). He was sure right. Each 2gb stick cost me only $53. The 2gb kit I have now cost me somewhere around $285, and now I’m doubling that for only $106. Awesome.
Post-rock: The genre no one knows about
Post-rock is a genre of music that goes along with a certain philosophy, and that is if you take out the singer, it forces the band to play better music. In my personal opinion I think almost every singer ruins almost every band. On a whole other level, if you take out the singers from the music you hear on the radio today, you’d be bored to tears with all the boring, uncreative and shitty music that’s become way to popular and just needs to die quickly.
Here is a sampler of some of my favorite post-rock tracks. Take note that post-rock songs usually have build-ups, so when the music sounds all slow and boring, don’t immediately assume it sucks, just wait a bit and you’ll understand why you just waited.
The Mercury Program – Fragile or Possibly Extinct
[audio:post-rock/02 fragile or possibly extinct.mp3]
Jai Alai – To Liberate
[audio:post-rock/Jai Alai - To Liberate.mp3]
Salvatore – Js Bells
[audio:post-rock/Salvatore - Js Bells.mp3]
Jakob – I Was Hidden
[audio:post-rock/05-jakob-i_was_hidden-nuhs.mp3]
This Will Destroy You – A Three-Legged Workhorse
[audio:post-rock/This Will Destroy You - A Three-Legged Workhorse.mp3]
Molia Falls – Godalming
[audio:post-rock/Molia Falls - Godalming.mp3]
Caspian – Further Up
[audio:post-rock/Caspian - You Are the Conductor - EP - 02 - Further Up.mp3]
Maserati – Show Me The Season
[audio:post-rock/06 - Maserati - Show Me The Season.mp3]
Backup solution with WinRAR and a batch file
I wanted to make the perfect manual backup solution in a batch file, so here’s the code. Just make a file called backup.bat and paste this text into it. You might have to change a few of the file paths and stuff though.
What it does:
- Offers to make an exact copy of what files exist now, or lets you continue and add new files that aren’t in the backup archive yet (assuming it’s you’ve ran it before)
- Lets you pick a file name once at the top rather than having to type it in multiple places.
- Uses a password protected archive.
- Will make another copy the backup file to another location by default for added safety.
Note: I think I had to make a %path% variable (or whatever those are called) to the WinRAR folder, and I don’t exactly remember what I did. It was really easy though.
SET varFileName=EnterFilenameHere
cls
:start
ECHO *********************************************************
ECHO * Start a fresh backup? Press Y or N. *
ECHO * *
ECHO * You should do this every once and a while, *
ECHO * but not all the time. *
ECHO *********************************************************
ECHO.
set choice=
set /p choice=Choice:
if not ‘%choice%’==” set choice=%choice:~0,1%
if ‘%choice%’==’y’ goto yes
if ‘%choice%’==’n’ goto no
ECHO “%choice%” is not valid please try again
ECHO.
goto start
:yes
ECHO ******************** Fresh Backup ***********************
ECHO.
DEL D:\Backup\”%varFileName%”.rar
goto end
:no
ECHO *********************** Update **************************
goto end
:end
ECHO.
ECHO Cougar Design Backup Wizard
ECHO.
ECHO *********************************************************
ECHO * *
ECHO * Choose your password for the archive. *
ECHO * *
ECHO *********************************************************
ECHO.
rar a -u -r -rr10 -rv20 -s -hp -m1 D:\Backup\”%varFileName%”.rar @C:\Backup\”%varFileName%”.lst
ECHO.
ECHO *********************************************************
ECHO * Time to make a 2nd backup! *
ECHO *********************************************************
ECHO.
xcopy D:\Backup\”%varFileName%”.rar E:\Backup\”%varFileName%”.rar /y /i
ECHO.
ECHO *********************************************************
ECHO * Complete! *
ECHO * This will close when you press any key. *
ECHO *********************************************************
ECHO.
PAUSE
Vista doesn’t suck!
So soon everyone forgets that when Windows XP came out, for years everyone complained about it and told everyone to stay away and use Windows 2000? Now those same people are telling others to use XP instead of Vista, when there isn’t any major issues with it. The only problems I’ve had was ONE driver issue, which I solved. If you’re getting a new system, Vista should work fine on it. However I have no experience with upgrading older systems to Vista and probably not recommend it. That sounds like a bad thing, but hey – Vista wasn’t meant for old computers!
Firebug Addon for Firefox
“Firebug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page.”
Don’t expect an XP repair install to work!
Try restoring the system to an earlier state with the recovery console in safe mode, or in safe mode with command prompt first! If you do a repair install it clears all restore points, so if the repair install doesn’t work, you’re screwed and have to format!
Shorter nested IF statements in Excel
This code checks to see if A1 equals the letters K, H or L.
Instead of using:
You can use:
As you can see, it’s a lot shorter and makes a lot more sense. Especially if you need to add more to it in the future.
Easy stylesheets with basic PHP
Create a file called stylesheet.php and link to it in you’re page. Then play with this code:
header(‘Content-type: text/css’);
// Colour scheme
$primary = "#44749d";
$secondary = "#c6d4e1";
$tertiary = "#ffffff";
$quaternary = "#ebe7e0";
$quinary = "#bdb8ad";
?>
BODY {
background: <?php echo $tertiary ?>;
color: #000000;
margin: 0px;
}
Find cool things to listen to with Last.fm
www.last.fm – has a player that plays random music based on what you search for, and shows lots of info about who’s playing so you can go find more music by them.
