THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Phone O/S?

A loyal reader was interested in hearing from the Straight Arrow readers:

I’d benefit from a comparison thread of phone operating systems: (iOS vs Android personally, but Windows is a viable alternative, too.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Firefox, IE, or Chrome?

I use Firefox out of habit.  I have to use IE, because that’s the only browser my office supports for remote access.  I’ve never used Chrome.

I’m interested to hear from those who have use Chrome, and how it compares to the other two.

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Cleaning out my inbox

I have no entries in my inbox (tom~tangotiger~net).  How did I manage this impossible task? That was easy: any email I have from 2011 or earlier has been moved into its own folder (by year).  Any answered email has been moved to a separate folder.  Any unanswered email has been moved to its own folder, but with the presumption that it did not require an answer from me.  As a result: I have no more emails in my inbox!  It’s basically how I tell me kid to clean up his stuff: if there’s a toy or video you haven’t played with in several months, let’s put it in the attic.  And if it stays there for over a year, let’s donate or sell it.  Just take the clutter right out.

Anyway, if someone out there happened to send me an email, and my devious system here managed to mess me up, just email me again.

I’d also like to hear about your organizational strategies (either electronic or tangible stuff).

Monday, April 30, 2012

Tablet for kids

I was thinking of getting my kid a netbook (those mini-laptops), so that my wife and I don’t have to fight with him over the laptops.  Then I figured maybe he’ll like the tablet, since he likes his ipod so much.  And then I did more figuring that the Straight Arrow readers here are so darn smart, that they can figure it all out for me.

I just need my kid to be able to do his school projects (meaning using something like MS Paint, some open office, maybe be able to read some books, and obviously, connected to the internet… and maybe durable to some extent, and presumably light).

Give me (and the rest of us h[a|el]pless parents) some guidance, thanks!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Wireless Routers

I’m hoping to tap into the knowledge base of the Straight Arrow readers.

My setup is that I have a cable-modem, that is hooked up to a wireless router (Netgear).  My issue is that I lose internet connection on an intermittent basis.  When I unplug and replug everything, it works fine for at least a day, then the issue returns.  If I connect directly to the cable-modem, things seem to be working fine (though I haven’t tested it long enough to confirm; my cable provider however confirms that he can tell when connection is lost, and it was the last time I unplugged it).  Checking online, and there does seem to be issues with the router/modem connection, that things have to get reset on a periodic basis (perhaps as little as 24 hours).

So, that’s where I am, the router.  Mine is at least five years old, and I’m thinking I may be due for an upgrade.  I just want to see what experiences you guys have had, whether it’s worth troubleshooting, or whether the latest routers have extra capabilities that will automatically handle any issues with the modem.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Ron Fagin

Some people would prefer to meet Greg Maddux, and others would prefer to meet Bruce Springsteen.  In truth, what the heck would I say to those guys?  Now, Ron Fagin, creator of the Fourth Normal Form, and part of the Ted Codd team of relational databases?  That’d be cool.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Blog software

I’m considering new blog software. 
- I’m pretty much against the idea of WordPress unless someone can convince me otherwise.  It’s a bias I have.
- I use an old (free) version of Expression Engine, and I would consider upgrading to its current pay-for version.

So, feel free to make suggestions below.  My requirements are as follows:
1. I would prefer to be able to import my current blog, but it’s not critical.  I can just keep this site as-is, in archival mode (no posting), and start a new blog fresh.

2. Good spam-blocking abilitiy, though if I require registration, that won’t be too necessary.

3. Linked to a discussion board preferable, so you guys can start your own threads.

4. Good control panel, for closing posts, moving posts from thread-to-thread, exporting to a flat file.

In any situation, I will almost certainly require registration.

Thanks…

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Dear David and Sean:

I love Fangraphs, and I love Baseball-Reference.  But my office firewall does not.  You guys are loading something on your pages that is causing each page to load in 10 to 15 seconds.  At home, I have no problem.  Please don’t make me find some other site for my sabermetric information.

If there are others who are having this issue, please post below.  Only post if your office has a firewall that blocks stuff like blogspot dot com, twitter and a few other social media sites, OR you are able to successfully get into one site at one location, but have a problem at another location.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Microsoft Word: 2003 to 2007: Styles

Non-sports post.

The way the Heading Styles worked in 2003 and earlier was very logical (built-in dependency to the parent).  When I tried to apply headings in 2007, this logical condition no longer existed.  Anyway, for those of you in the same boat as I was, this tutorial was tremendous.

http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/numbering20072010.html

Friday, December 02, 2011

Improper Eject of Flash Drive

I go out of my way to always do a proper eject of the flash drive, to the point that I will do a shutdown if for whatever reason I can’t get the eject done properly.  Except today.  I rushed, I pulled it out of my computer.  And when I get into the office, the good news is that most of the folders were fine.  The bad news is that the one folder that I always use was corrupted.

Now, I learned my lesson from last year when my flash drive just died to make sure I backup on a weekly basis, rather than sporadically.  Anyway, I still wanted to know WHAT I lost, and if I have to bother doing an automated recovery, or simply manually recreating whatever I lost.

And this is the software I found from Get Data:

http://www.recovermyfiles.com/

What a fantastic piece of software.  It scanned my flash drive, and reports on everything it could find, including giving me a preview of the files.  Based on the preview alone, I can recreate what I needed in many of the cases.  In addition, it shows dates, and so, I just had to look for the files last modified since my last backup.  And you can even export the names of the files (and dates, etc).

And all that is free.

For 70$, you buy the Pro version, and it’ll recover all the data it can for you.  In my case, since I made a recent backup, and whatever was not backed-up I can recreate manually, it’s not worth it.  This time anyway. But, it may be useful in the future.

I also wanted to highlight this software for anyone who has experienced some corrupt drives, or may in the future.

I presume that there are other enterprise standard software for around that price.  But this was the first one I found that gave you all the preview capabilities it did for free.  And for that alone, I give it two thumbs up.

NOTE: This post is *not* an advertisement.

Monday, November 07, 2011

Windows Virus - privacy.exe

Ugly weekend for me.  As best I can tell, a virus, planted as privacy.exe, executed on my machine.  It was one of those that makes it look like it’s a Windows Security file, makes it look like it’s finding tons of viruses with on-screen prompts, when it itself is the virus.  I had one of these a year or two ago.  (I may have blogged about it, and I used Malwarebytes to kill its cousin.)

Anyway, this one was worse, as it latched onto some key .exe files, including iexplore, the virus scanner files, etc.  I was able to clean most of the computer, including manually going into the registry.  I was able to backup all my data files to my laptop, through the network connection.

Then the weird part.  I ran my virus scanner one more time, and it found more files that were infected.  Avast moves it to its “chest”, and I can see the file names.  None of them were “critical”.  I researched each one.  But, after that happened, I had no more network connection.

I tried to do a System Restore to earlier checkpoints, but they all came back with a message that Windows could NOT restore.  I ran sfc /scannow, but it kept prompting me for the XP SP3 install disk, as well as XP CD2.  My computer was pre-installed by Dell, and I just had the Dell installation disk.  I copied the I386 folder from the install disk to my C drive.  Re-running sfc /scannow, it stopped prompting for XP SP3 install disk (presumably, it liked the new I386 folder), but it still kept asking for XP CD2.

This is where I am at: everything works fine, except for my network / internet connection.

Investigating further, my options when I get home are:
1. Installing WinSockFix.  This looks promising.

2. Get into Windows Safe mode, and then run System Restore.  This looks reasonable. 

One thing: I have a wireless keyboard, and those drivers must load late, because I can never press F8 to force myself into Windows Safe mode.  My unusual solution to that is to simply powerdown, rather than doing a normal shutdown.  Usually Windows recognizes that something unusual happened, and prompts me to log into Safe mode.  If you have other suggestions, let me know.

3. I had also bought the Windows Vista upgrade.  At the time, they were doing the switchover, so I was one of the last ones to buy XP.  So, for an extra 10$, they sent you the Vista upgrade disk.  I was going to therefore do that upgrade.

Weirdly, when I tried the Dell assistant for that, it said that I couldn’t upgrade from XP.  But, that’s exactly what the Vista upgrade disk was for.  The only thing I can think of is that the XP I bought was a “Media Center”, and by now, since I’m at SP3, it may no longer qualify as upgradeable.

4. I didn’t know, but XP3 is available for download as an iso file.  I’m not sure what that means yet.  I was hoping that maybe I can turn that into an install disk, and then running the sfc /scannow, and when it prompts for the XP SP3 install, and the XP CD2 install disks, then I can just use that.

5. Worst-case, I simply start clean.  I backedup all my data files and favorites.  I will inventory all my apps to restore.  And then, well, re-install the OS and everything else.  Not something I particularly want to do, just so that I can get my internet connection working.

Alright, now that I’m here, I’d love to hear from you Straight Arrows.  You’ve always been a tremendous help, and I need your words of wisdom.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Transferring files to new computer

At my old job (which was when the economy was good), they used to hand out laptops at will.  As a result, I’d get an upgrade every two years.

The way I normally worked the transfer of files is that I have one main external drive, and I have all my backups there by machine.  So, I’d have Toshiba1998, Dell2000, Dell2002, Toshiba2005, etc to signify each machine and the files I had.  I just couldn’t be bothered to create a proper backup system, because I had alot of overlapping files, and they were not in-synch.  So, I did not want to replace one with another.  Then, I’d create a Backup folder that moved those directories/files that I figured were unique from those directories.

Basically, it’s a mish-mash of a good backup system, and then a “to do” backups. 

And I made sure that on SOME machine, those files existed still (so, files exist on the backup external drive, and one of the two working machines at home).

My head is spinning basically at what I’ve done.

I now just got a new laptop, and this situation is basically too much of a mess.

So, here’s where you guys come in.  What I’d like is some sort of file comparison program that goes through all my files on the external drive and comes back with a report of those files that are duplicates somewhere else on that external drive.  I do NOT want to see: compare this folder structure to that folder structure.  What I DO want to see is: here’s my drive, tell me which files are duplicates.

Now, the duplicates can be just based on file size, and I’d be happy.  I don’t want it by date, because sometimes the date gets thrown off by 1 hour due to daylight savings (or at least show the gap in date-time, and I’d love to see it if it’s off by 1 minute or 1 hour, which may still show it’s a match).

Anyway, looking forward to hear what you guys do.

Monday, October 10, 2011

When to replace a printer?

Non-sports post.

Every time I have to re-order ink, I ask myself if I should just buy a new printer.  There’s two reasons:
1. The ink cartridges costs me about 65$ to replace.  My all-in-one cost under 100$, and comparable models can be had on sale for that low price.

2. I just know that, at some point, my printer is going to breakdown, in which case, I wasted money on ink.  Since I always “buy ahead”, the eventual breakdown cost is going to be my inventory, plus half of the unused ink when it breaks down.  That’s almost 100$ thrown away.  (Let’s face it, I’m not going to resell the unused ink, and I’ll miss the 30-day window Amazon allows for returns.)

Basically, if I replenish the ink 3 times (almost 200$) plus my inventory cost (100$), that’s 300$ to reuse my printer 3 extra refills.  Instead, if I just buy a new printer each time (!!), that’s 300$ spent.

What do you guys do?  Do you replace your printer pretty quickly, or do you just keep forking over for ink?

(The other option is to not use OEM ink, but I’ve never tried that.)

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Virus attack?

Someone is reporting the Exploit virus while clicking on this site.  We have MacAfee VirusScan Enterprise at the office. 

Either that reader’s results are isolated, or our virus scanner is catching the virus without me knowing it.

Please report your experiences (good or bad).

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Windows Admin: Flash-drive set as read-only

At the office, they’ve disabled the flash-drive so that it’s only read-only.  I’m not sure what they’ve pushed, or how I can detect what they did.  Trouble-shooting tips from the Straight Arrows among you would be appreciated.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Yahoo Mail

Yahoo Mail has recently (or that I noticed recently anyway) added an option so that you can link your mail from other accounts (GMail, AOL, etc).  What they do NOT offer however is an easy way to link your other Yahoo Mail accounts (or, I don’t see it well enough here).  I presume there must be tons of people like me, that has separate Yahoo accounts for separate personal/business matters.  I love Yahoo, and am perplexed that they don’t offer this as an option.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Vacation

I just got back from vacation.  I’ll check out the site to see what’s been happening.

I’ll also go through my inbox.  If you don’t hear back from me by mid-week, send me another email, thanks.

Thursday, May 05, 2011

RSS feed no good: use Atom feed instead

One of the Straight Arrow readers helpfully pointed out that the Atom feed preserves formatting, while RSS does not:
http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/atom/
http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/rss_2.0/

Therefore, unless there’s someone who objects, I am going to point the RSS feed to the atom feed as of tomorrow.  For the RSS feed readers, please try Atom, and let me know if Atom looks as great to you (and far better than RSS) as it does for me.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Computer processors: Intel v AMD

I have to buy a new PC soon.  Seems every 4 years, I have to get a new one.  Anyway, every time, I always have to look into deciding which processor I want.  And, well, now the choices are multiplying.

So, I thought about you Straight Arrows.  Presumably, some of you have researched this, so post your thoughts below.  Don’t limit it to just Intel v AMD, but also within Intel, I see the have a whole set of choices.  And then dual and quad.  Your insights would be appreciated.

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Before hitting Submit: Copy/paste your post

On more than one occasion, I have hit SUBMIT, only to see my post vanish into hyperspace.  I don’t know the reason.  It’s like the blogging software I am using, but it could be anything really.  This has affected several among you.

The only suggestion I have: before you hit SUBMIT, copy/paste your post (or write it in Notepad, and copy/paste from there to here).  If you are lucky, it might still be in your browser history and you can hit BACK.

Just be careful…