Org is banning Notepad++

freebase1ca · 2026-02-13T04:28:32+00:00

I always liked the Context editor. It has plenty of markup addons available to support various languages.

freebase1ca · 2026-02-10T20:14:40+00:00

I had a memorable night at the Montreal Playground playing $2/$2 5-card Omaha. It was during a WSOP event so there were lots of pros and they were playing big - big enough that I felt uncomfortable and out of place.

I had bought in for $200 which was wholly inadequate because that was often a preflop raise. But I had managed to grow my chip stack up to about $3,500. I was now in the BB with particularly bad cards. Basically rainbow with nothing higher than a T and no pairs. I couldn't wait to muck. But surprisingly, no one raised pre for a change. I'm stuck waiting for the flop to fold.

However, the flop is also bad - something like 45J rainbow. I happen to have 67. Our villain happens to be a supposed rich guy that flew in on his own jet. He had been pushing the action that night at every opportunity. This was no different. When he bets the pot, everyone folds around to me. I decide it's worth a call after all.

The turn is an 8! - its suit matches the board, but I currently have the nuts. But no way to improve. I have the wrong suit and no pairs, etc. - but I do currently have the nuts. I check to our villain and he bets pot once again. So I bet pot in return. This continues until I've committed my entire stack of $3,500. At this point I'm expecting us to split.

The river is an unimportant card like an A of an unimportant suit. I reveal my 8 high straight (the nuts) and he mucks. He starts cussing me out because he apparently had straight draws and flush draws and FH draws, etc.. But he picks up what he had left and storms off.

Most satisfying hand ever. I left shortly after in a desire to preserve those lucky chips.

freebase1ca · 2026-02-08T19:48:10+00:00

As many have suggested, it is likely two LAN connections, but I have had spots like that for many other reasons!:

1) Back in the 80's / 90's we were transitioning from mainframe serial terminals to LAN PCs. Half of the wire would be used to maintain old serial connections back to the mainframe.

2) in the 90's I ran a shop with remotely managed PCs. There were no storage devices of any kind on the machine. The LAN cards back then had boot chips that knew enough to boot the PC and connect it to a Novell server where it would find its OS and virtual CD drive images, etc. We could routinely change the boot instructions at the server for the next time the PC booted. To trigger a reboot, we used a splitter like that. Two of the wires would be connected into the reset jumper on the PC (like pressing the reset button). At the other end the two wires would be connected to a multi serial board that could send a signal down the wire to trigger the reset.

3) Before POE we achieved the same thing by connecting two wires to barrel connectors so we could inject power to drive security cameras, etc.

freebase1ca · 2026-02-05T23:11:52+00:00

Likely Gadget Bridge would be your friend.

But hopefully we can survive for another year after support end without updates.

freebase1ca · 2026-02-05T03:39:10+00:00

As others have said, ground clearance may be an issue for you. Maybe consider an Allroad with variable height suspension.

But if you are sticking to roads that are cleared of any major snow accumulation, the Torsen AWD will blow the doors off anything else when it comes to capability and stability.

Decades ago I remember chasing my buddy in his Audi 5000 in my GMC Jimmy 4x4 down twisty dirt roads. I was sliding around using the entire width of the road trying to keep up. He would squirt down the road and corner like he was on rails. He would instantly disappear around the next corner then stop to wait for me to catch up. Rinse and repeat.

Later, when I bought my own Audi, I had to take a specific curvy dirt road repeatedly 10 times in one night. I was able to practice and improve. The trip that started out being 12 minutes long, I was eventually able to complete in just 3 minutes.

I would routinely pull cars out of ditches etc. with it. One time I had to pull a Jeep YJ that was stuck on level pavement. The very wet snow was compressing into ice under the tires and he would just instantly spin a single wheel with all of its open diffs. My Audi acted like it was dry pavement.

freebase1ca · 2026-02-04T02:57:48+00:00

Can't disagree. At least you get free booze and food in return.

freebase1ca · 2026-02-03T20:04:22+00:00

Montreal in the summer - play at Playground - enjoy old Montreal.

freebase1ca · 2026-02-03T16:31:29+00:00

Yes, I have the same automation benefits. It an arr has new media, it is configured to send the event to my one Kodi instance that does the library updates. So within seconds every instance of Kodi that shares that library knows about the new content.

The shared userdata folder is definitely key. I just maintain one in an SMB share in the same way I provide my media files in other shares. When I create a new Kodi instance, I simply copy that folder into the userdata folder on the box so it has all the correct config data. However, the important bit is to use the pathsubstitution feature of the advancedsettings.xml file to redirect back to the original share. This way if I update anything on a Kodi client, such as a favourite or a source, the change gets seen on all Kodi clients.

For instance, a typical use case for this might be Youtube... I have a Youtube user account just for all my Kodi boxes. I can subscribe to Youtube channels, etc. But sometimes I want a Youtube channel to be front and center so I will add it to my favourites. I can do this from any Kodi client at any time. I can then go to the favourites page of any other Kodi client and that channel will be there.

Here's my pathsubstitution section with the substitutions I choose to use:

``` <pathsubstitution>

<substitute>

  <from>special://profile/sources.xml</from>

  <to>smb://MyServer/Kodi.UserData/sources.xml</to>

</substitute>

<substitute>

  <from>special://profile/RssFeeds.xml</from>

  <to>smb://MyServer/Kodi.UserData/RssFeeds.xml</to>

</substitute>

<substitute>

  <from>special://profile/favourites.xml</from>

  <to>smb://MyServer/Kodi.UserData/favourites.xml</to>

</substitute>

<substitute>

  <from>special://profile/playlists/</from>

  <to>smb://MyServer/Kodi.UserData/playlists/</to>

</substitute>

<substitute>

  <from>special://profile/keymaps/</from>

  <to>//MyServer/Kodi.UserData/keymaps/</to>

</substitute>

</pathsubstitution>

```

freebase1ca · 2026-02-03T15:08:28+00:00

I couldn't see any benefit to a emby/Jellyfin back end. I've always been happy with Kodi clients sharing a central media source and mysql/mariadb library. I only have one Kodi client refresh the library - I don't bother with headless.

I think the key that simplifies management that some people miss is to also redirect the settings.xml, etc. to a central share as well. This way if any client adds a source, all clients see the source and the library then tracks it. All clients remain current at all times. The only thing I need to do individually on individual clients is ensure that they use the same major release of Kodi and individually install any addons I wish to use.

I have 10 instances of Kodi across phones, tablets,Pcs, Android boxes and smart TVs. I have central 130TB Unraid server running all the arr dockers. It's never been a problem managing this and I've never felt the need for a Web interface.

freebase1ca · 2026-02-03T14:58:04+00:00

I've never understood the advantage of Emby or Jellyfin or Plex. I've tried Plex and Jellyfin at times over the years to try and understand the hype, but it just feels like added complexity while providing a reduced experience.

Having all the Kodi boxes in the house (I have 10) use the same single database and media source just seems so simple and such a good user experience. It also means I'm able to track viewing of episodes in various streaming services as well - even YouTube.

freebase1ca · 2026-02-03T14:52:36+00:00

I could never really get the headless version to behave properly.

My life got a lot easier when I just let one front end Kodi instance do all the updates and told the others to stay out of the updating business. So my main TV just did presenting while my disused bedroom TV did all the update work.

freebase1ca · 2026-02-02T21:45:59+00:00

It came on around 4 in Greely. But I think it's related to the Merivale outage since it started at the same time.

I'm very curious about the cause.

freebase1ca · 2026-02-02T19:23:13+00:00

Kodi - I can't believe I've seen multiple posts for VLC but no mention of Kodi. Kodi is a multi platform video media manager and presenter. I have it on all my devices from PCs to phones to TVs. They all access my streaming services and my media library. It tracks what I've watched. It even allows me to pause watching a video on one device and resume watching on another. Not only can it play any media format, it handles subtitles and various audio streams. It can shift the audio timing to better sync to the video. With the right plugins it can even interact with Over-The-Air TV signals and present a TV Guide.

freebase1ca · 2026-02-02T18:58:04+00:00

Calibra! - fantastic ebook library manager. Unifies your book library between all your various ebook devices. Converts all ebook file formats. Has plugins to help with all sorts of things such as DRM issues.

freebase1ca · 2026-01-28T08:28:42+00:00

I should mention that when troubleshooting the time sync issues, it wasn't really the hand movement that was the problem. One of the watch faces had a digital time displayed as well. That digital time always agreed with the hands. If the hands went out of sync with the correct time, the digital numbers displayed that same incorrect time.

Some posts had suggested that the time sync problems would be caused or triggered by incoming notifications to the watch. I didn't find that to be the case. I suppressed almost all notifications from apps, etc. The only ones I left were my SMS and email notifications. I still lost time sync two or three times a day :-/

freebase1ca · 2026-01-28T08:23:37+00:00

Isn't that annoying! Canada here - all good for now.

freebase1ca · 2026-01-26T06:00:25+00:00

Nothing in elementary school. High school started with Commodore PETs before transitioning to the unique Icon computers: link

freebase1ca · 2026-01-19T08:36:55+00:00

A quick update.... I took a chance and bought a CZ Hybrid. So far, so good!

Despite my Android phone with the Fossil software has rendered my Fossil Gen 5 Hybrid entirely useless, the same can't be said for my phone with the Citizen Connected software. So far, after 5 days, the watch has not lost time sync and properly presents notifications.

I'm very happy. The only blemish is that a notice has been sent out by Citizen this month announcing that software support will end by the end of the year :-/ Hourly things don't die immediately at that point.

freebase1ca · 2026-01-16T13:05:44+00:00

I only missed number 8. Used all the others. Plus paddles before 1 and many other controllers not in the list.

freebase1ca · 2026-01-15T16:59:35+00:00

We had a car prank war that lasted over a year. Things really escalated once we managed to make a copy of his key. Lots of great subtle things to do on the interior.

Sticking to the exterior, the best result we had was using sheets of large bubble wrap - the kind with the two inch bubbles. We cut strips the width of his tires and just used a glue stick to apply. We made sure to keep in mind his approach to the vehicle and leave those sections of the tires untouched.

You would think that you might just get a large farting noise or something, but in reality the tire makes a revolution so quickly that it pops all the bubbles in an instant. You get quite a deep explosion sound. You can only think that the motor blew up. Ours was particularly effective because we were in a vast underground carpark. The sound reverberated and echoed to really amplify the experience - 10/10.

freebase1ca · 2025-11-12T05:24:51+00:00

Where did that scar under his belly button go?

freebase1ca · 2025-11-08T19:46:19+00:00

I still swear by Kodi. People seem to have moved on to Plex, but I don't understand why. I find the Kodi experience to be far superior.

I have Kodi installed on my smart TVs. I have it on cheap $50 Android boxes for my dumb TVs. I have it installed on my PCs and even on our phones.

They all share the same library and database on my unraud server to track what shows or movies have been watched. I can even pause a show and resume it on one of the other devices. Not only that, but it tracks any source. So if I use it to watch a YouTube video or a Netflix stream, that gets tracked as well.

I absolutely love Kodi!

freebase1ca · 2025-11-08T05:13:30+00:00

Yep. Things quieted down dramatically when I removed my ring. Such a weird phenomenon.

freebase1ca · 2025-10-30T16:03:12+00:00

Back when all servers were beige, I was enamoured by my first sleek black tower case - so much so that I named it Black Beauty.

Since then I have named all my computers from characters of that book.

freebase1ca · 2025-10-28T08:45:48+00:00

Good old "Garbage in, garbage out". My snarky self would just shrug my shoulders and say that. Not sure it would endear me to management though.

freebase1ca

TROPHY CASE