• WSjockmullin

    WSjockmullin

    @wsjockmullin

    Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 232 total)
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    • in reply to: the scottish referendum. september friday, 19th, 2014 #1468545

      The big losers in this referendum seem to be (once again) the pollsters. Up until the day before the vote they were saying the result was too close to call. Then the poll happens and there is a spread of 10 percent. There’s no way that should have been too close to call if the polls were of any validity.

      The bookies got it right! The big difference is they ask what the result will be rather than how you intend to vote like the pollsters do. People love to predict almost as much as they love to lie.

      Even worse was using social media as a bellweather – that sample is significantly skewed demographically and the concept is flawed in any case.

      As a Quebecer I would have to say Mr Cameron is wrong – nationalism is rooted in emotion and rational details like economic facts or the lessons of history have little bearing – the separation question will live on and resurface as soon as the time feels right once more. In the short term the Scots will be expecting the promises of self-determination and increased autonomy to be kept; it will be interesting to see if Westminster will follow through. If not it will be back sooner, but the estimate of a generation is very unlikely.

      Jock

    • in reply to: Joint Variation #1414934

      Well, if it varies as the square of the wind velocity and the wind velocity triples then the force should be 9 times (3 squared) or 405 pounds, since the sail area is constant.

      Of course, to some of us 405 pounds might be the cost 🙂

      What was the “correct” answer?

    • in reply to: Converting PDF to Word #1387635

      I haven’t had any problems opening PDFs with PDFMate, including most recently a 4.7 MB price list with a lot of images and graphical elements on which it did a good job of extracting the text, keeping related text together and formatting into a pretty consistent text format.

      I was pleasantly surprised. There may be better programs out there, but most freeware versions are crippled in some way.

      Jock

    • in reply to: Converting PDF to Word #1387470

      I use PDFMate PDF Converter for this purpose (pdfmate.com, also on CNET).

      They have a free version. It does come with a bunch of junk, but the install program is refreshingly upfront and cheerfully lets you deselect what you don’t want and still installs a fully functional version.

      I run it under XP; when I tried installing it on Win 7 it installs and runs but the “Convert” button is missing. Works fine in XP mode virtual machine under Win 7 Pro or in native XP.

      Jock

    • in reply to: Attention All ‘Turn The Heat Off Ticket Buyers’ #1386889

      Hmmm – maybe we should start a new pool for when you turn the heat back on.

      With temps forecast around 40 deg F in your area, I’m thinking tonight or tomorrow.

      Here 200 miles to your north we still have snow patches and a forecast for 6″ of new snow. So the heat is still on, and so are the snow tires.

      Sigh.

    • in reply to: Removing special characters from Windows filenames #1380083

      As a test, copy a few of those files into a temporary folder.
      Open a CMD window, navigate to that folder and type: rename *”AT&T”*.* *BELL*.*
      That should change the AT&T substring in the filename to BELL. Of course you can use something other than BELL, but whatever you use should be 4 chars in length.
      Do a dir /p and make sure the results are what you expect.

      If so then do the same thing in each of the folders that contain such files. This could be done in a batch file if you have more than a few.

      Obviously everything should be backed up first; Murphy is lurking.

      Jock

    • in reply to: Windows XP Search question #1367106

      Task manager says the associated process is explorer.exe.

      That suggests (to your humble servant at least) that the search is part of explorer or is called by explorer (likely from a dll) and is not a standalone application. However not being a Windows expert I would not consider my opinion authoritative.

      Jock

    • in reply to: missing driver for USB 3.0 card #1358723

      That NEC/RENESAS micro PD720200 USB 3.0 controller was one of the first, and has had several firmware upgrades. Googling gives several hits for driver sources (none from NEC), though several from manufacturers such as Dell and HP. I guess it will be necessary to go thru those and try to find one that’s compatible.

      New cards are now under $25, so if all else fails …

      Jock

    • in reply to: missing driver for USB 3.0 card #1358692

      Hi Zig

      Oops, bit of a brain fart there – meant SP2. Thanks.

      Jock

    • in reply to: Dealing with the Caps Lock #1358480

      Excellent tips from jgstanley and Banyarola to overcome this annoyance! Thanks.

      In prehistoric times keyboards used to have LEDs that indicated when Caps or Num lock were enabled. That was very helpful but for whatever reason (cost, battery life?) is no longer generally the case.

      Reminds me of the famous Alice Kahn quote: “For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press 3”.

      Jock

    • in reply to: missing driver for USB 3.0 card #1358298

      Lack of native USB 3 support in Win 7 is a pain – I wonder if that is fixed in 8. Had hoped it would be addressed in SP1, but now it looks like due to premature release of 8 there never will be a SP1 for 7.

      Meanwhile, you might try Unknown Device Identifier to see if it can ID the chipset on your card:

      http://download.cnet.com/Unknown-Device-Identifier/3000-2086_4-42618.html

      Jock

    • in reply to: Need to select ‘from’ address for each outgoing message #1355937

      SAM by VBOffice has this feature:
      http://vboffice.net/product.html?lang=en&cmd=detail&id=2009109

      Haven’t used it myself, so cannot really recommend it, but for what it’s worth …

      Jock

    • in reply to: View files on wireless network #1355147

      Is your wireless network defined as a public network? That will prevent accessing your shares over that network.

      Check the Network and Sharing Center – the network should be a home network.

      Jock

    • in reply to: .pps #1353580

      Microsoft has a free PPS viewer app available. Install it and .pps files should open automatically:

      http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=13

    • What app are you using to edit the file? Have you closed the app before trying to attach?
      Are you running a real-time virus scanner or backup program?
      What type of disk are you saving to? Is it local or network share? How much free space? Is the drive/folder synced?
      What is your configuration (Win version, memory size, system type)?

      This info might be useful to those trying to address your problem.

      Jock

    Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 232 total)