Monkeys on a ladder

Posted by Admin on July 27, 2014
Personal, Politics / Comments Off on Monkeys on a ladder

A group of scientists placed five monkeys in a cage and in the middle, a ladder with bananas on top.

Every time a monkey went up the ladder, the scientists soaked the rest of the monkeys with cold water.

After a while, every time a monkey went up the ladder, the other ones beat up the one on the ladder.

After some time, no monkey dared to go up the ladder regardless of the temptation.

Scientists then substituted one of the monkeys.  The first thing this new monkey did was to go up the ladder.  Immediately, the other monkeys beat it up.

After several beatings, the new member learned not to climb the ladder even though it never knew why.

The second monkey was substituted and the same occurred; the first substituted monkey also participated on the beating of the second monkey.  A third monkey was changed and the pattern was repeated.  The fourth was substituted and the beating was repeated.  Finally the fifth monkey was replaced.

Now, there is a group of 5 monkeys, none of which ever received a cold shower. Yet they continue to beat up any monkey that attempts to climb the ladder.

If it were possible to ask the monkeys why they beat up those who attempt to climb the ladder, no doubt their answer would be: “I don’t know.  That’s how things are done around here.”

Does that sound familiar?

In our lives, is there a way other than the status quo?

 

 

Source: some post on FB full of grammatical and spelling errors.

Stop The Chat Window

Posted by Admin on January 07, 2014
IT, WTF? / Comments Off on Stop The Chat Window

This is an open letter to corporate web sites.

Who thought an obnoxious offer “to chat” was a good idea?

Please STOP annoying me with your unwieldy, annoying, pop-up blocker circumventing offers to “chat”.  If I wanted to chat with you, I would find a “contact” link on your web site and speak with someone in an off-shored call center.  Why do you think it would somehow be more attractive to instant-message this person?  It’s merely a form of less effective, less efficient and more annoying customer service.  Whoever thought up of this IS AN IDIOT.  And everyone else who thinks it’s a good idea to jump on this bandwagon is suffering from EXTREME STUPIDITY and incompetence in leadership.

OK, I’m done.  You may now continue with your regularly scheduled programming.

 

How to remove permanent marker

Posted by Admin on August 18, 2013
Personal / Comments Off on How to remove permanent marker

SharpieThis might come in handy someday. Share so you can go back to it when you need to.

Clothes – Hand sanitizer
Walls – Toothpaste or hairspray*
Carpet – White vinegar
Wood – Rubbing alcohol
Dry Erase Board- Dry erase marker

***Don’t scrub too hard with hairspray, you don’t want to remove the paint!

 

-Source: some post on FB

Brother HL-2270DW needs toner… HACK!

Posted by Admin on May 12, 2013
IT, Personal / Comments Off on Brother HL-2270DW needs toner… HACK!

BrotherHL2270DWSome time ago, I got a Brother HL-2270DW printer from NewEgg. The price, the ease of configuration and the performance were all excellent. Let’s be perfectly clear, I don’t print a lot – maybe an average of 15 pages per week. So when the toner light started flashing, I figured I could keep going for a few months, right? I mean, any self-respecting geek knows you don’t replace the toner until the print is completely faded. And even then, you take out the toner, shake it a little, and get 30 or 40 more pages.

2013-05-12 01.05.01 pmSo I was astonished to have the printer just STOP on me, after printing 6 of 9 pages of a PDF that I really need. While digging around on the web a little, I found a youtube hack using straws and fun tack. No thanks. But there was a great comment in there, that suggested going to the web interface and reconfiguring the toner settings from STOP (which is the default) to Continue. Wow… cheeky buggers. They must really want to sell more toner cartridges.

So problem #1, how do you find the printer?  I used a great utility called Angry IP Scanner which showed me all the “live” IPs on my WiFi network. After using my web browser to hit a few unlabeled IPs, I found it.   Problem #2, logging in: FYI, the default login credentials for the Brother HL-2270DW are: u/admin  p/access . If you set yours and don’t remember it, reset the printer settings and that will restore the defaults. You may have to go fish for the IP again though.

OK so there. Have fun.

And don’t wait so long to get new toner next time.

🙂

Chivalry among warriors

Posted by Admin on March 10, 2013
Personal / Comments Off on Chivalry among warriors

In a world where warfare has become “high-value” asset assassinations at the hand of a remote controlled drone, it’s fascinating to read about honor among warriors in the field of battle.  Or skies, or seas of battle.  Fascinating stories here: http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/09/living/higher-call-military-chivalry/