http://ficklegods.com/ What you thought it would be- just different... (insanity - politics - infotech - entertainment - images) Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:41:05 +0700 en-us http://ficklegods.com/insanity/19 http://ficklegods.com/insanity/19 Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:18:31 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg) RalphvandenBerg.com has just moved the design version into the third iteration. Graphics have improved with the help of great software from adobe's CS4 and the underlying coding has been streamlined, cleaned up and made more efficient.

One of the first things we'll notice is the "floating" navigation bar. It'll stay in your view giving you quick access to the search and main navigation throughout the entire time you're on the site. If you're not in an ancient web browser, you'll also notice a slight transparency when you scroll it over other content. It's not amazing, but a nice little touch if you ask me.

Many of the improvements are targeted towards registered users. Commenting on Ramblings and the walls has been improved. The box where you type is now a little bigger without having to choose the "second option that's a little slower". Members will also benefit from a complete revamp of the internal messaging system, making it faster and easier to manage through asynchronous page requests (that's what that little loading circle means).

Another feature which will probably be under-hyped is that you can keep track of the comments on a certain Rambling by subscribing to that particular RSS feed. If a good conversation is happening in the comments then this will be of great help.

There are many other changes throughout the site, but what better way for you to discover them then letting you loose on the site itself! Head on over to RalphvandenBerg.com and check it out! You're welcome to register as a member if you aren't one already or you can leave comments here.]]> http://ficklegods.com/infotech/18 http://ficklegods.com/infotech/18 Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:42:01 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg)
After I installed this version of Firefox, the first thing I noticed was ALL my extensions were incompatible. This reminded me how much I actually depend on them- my super mouse gestures, Greasemonkey, and Ubiquity. Besides a significant speed boost here are the following things you'll notice are new.

In windows 7 you've seen how IE8 does the tab previews in the task-bar. Firefox has that too now. It's a little buggy, and you can easily turn it off in the about:config (like everything). Also, when you CRTL+TAB to switch tabs, you get windows 7-like previews. Very nice, but still, it's stuff I didn't need in the past, and I don't see it as an improvement- just extra features.

The parts I do like is that you can now get rid of the menu bar without addons. Hello screen real-estate!!! Personas are now also built in, so you can pick skins for your browser without any addon.

Speaking of addons, you can easily get them all to work again without any problems using the "addon compatibility checker". Basically it's a little addon that enables the addons even if they don't state to be compatible so you can see if they'll work or not. So far, everything works fine for me.

How are your experiences using this snappy new firefox beta? Let me know in the comments.]]> http://ficklegods.com/insanity/17 http://ficklegods.com/insanity/17 Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:48:50 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg)
So in the spirit of showing people what they don't want to see but secretly will look at anyway, I'm posting this whole series of cow slaughtering. I'd like to warn you, most of the images are quite bloody. So if you've got a week stomach don't scroll down, because it pretty much only gets worse.

On the other hand, it's interesting to see what the final results are: little packets of internal organs and blood supposedly for your soup or whatever.

You'll notice that these pictures are watermarked. I don't claim ownership.





















































]]> http://ficklegods.com/insanity/16 http://ficklegods.com/insanity/16 Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:45:50 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg)
I don't claim ownership over any of these. Nobody can. They have been circulating through forums by the immature and forwarded emails by the secondary-insecure who found a list like this here. (Not even I know what I meant by that last sentence, but it so well illustrates the point of animated GIFs!). Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. See? You learned something today.

Feel free to post hateful comments toward animated GIFs below. On the other hand, if you actually enjoy them, you may also say so in the comments section.


]]> http://ficklegods.com/entertainment/15 http://ficklegods.com/entertainment/15 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:47:45 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg)
All in all, if you liked the first movie, you'll like the second one. It's the same kind of plot (or lack thereof- I've heard people complain) and plenty of metal-clanging robot gut-ripping explosive CG. You will get the same kind of satisfaction you got when you saw the first Transformers crashing down through buildings and then the slow motion matrix maneuvers with that low frequency metallic droning as they fire lasers or whatever at other robots doing roughly the exact same thing. Speaking of matrix- there are a few confusing parts where the Autobots are fighting the Decepticons for control over the matrix. Another scene, with a sinking aircraft carrier, is all too Titannicky...

Also apparent is that the human actors are now less responsible for the action and humor. You get dumb and dumber robots and little leg humper robot, and even an old irish Decepticon turned Autobot (yes, they can now change sides- the logos mean nothing now), but if you can filter them out a little, Transformers 2 becomes another great movie. 5 minutes after watching it and I'm already eager for part 3. You know they'll make a part 3 because there's still so much money to be made!!]]> http://ficklegods.com/entertainment/14 http://ficklegods.com/entertainment/14 Tue, 12 May 2009 09:40:21 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg)
There is also a good cast of regular people playing regular people. Even with it's absolute wackiness it doesn't seem like this could never happen. Contrary to pop-horror with undergrads getting slayed by a masked psycho, this movie contains people that actually have a high potential of reminding you of people that you know from your town.

The movie is set in a small town supermarket with most of the town people and a few "out of towners" doing emergency shopping after a big storm hit the town (how many times can you fit town in a sentence). Then the mist comes. Then something from within the mist comes. Then the madness comes from within the people themselves. I don't want to spoil it, you gotta download it for yourself.. I mean rent it legitimately or buy the DVD from a real store, but the ending... damn!

]]> http://ficklegods.com/infotech/13 http://ficklegods.com/infotech/13 Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:40:38 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg)
Windows 7 is fucking awesome though...

Just a little background on myself. I'm a Vista-Skipper (means I'm jumping from XP straight to Win7), and at the time of running XP I'd tweak the machine trying to maximize performance. That meant having it in Windows 95 mode- you know: performance options; adjust for best performance...

Then I saw how dirt cheap RAM memory was, and quadrupled my old laptop's previous capacity. I also downloaded the beta for Windows 7 and liked it.

Mind you- I still won't run desktop gadgets...

Here's a quick screen shot tour of stuff I though was worth print-screening.

]]> http://ficklegods.com/entertainment/12 http://ficklegods.com/entertainment/12 Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:39:10 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg) trying so hard to be cool! It's like he's just too cool to have fun!

I don't know whether it's the writers that did this, or Vin himself, but it wasn't necessary. He already has a huge fan base; I know a couple of short bald guys who work out a lot and never smile. I thought all this Riddick and F&F original already put him on the cool pedestal. Why all this effort, and then letting the final product- the movie- take the hit for it?

How about that white cop guy, shit, what's his name again? Paul Walker. He's not as good at it as Vin, but he's also trying hard to do some stick-in-the-ass acting. If it weren't for the girls in minimal clothing (and that one girl-on-girl kiss), and the cars, Walker and Diesel would've looked real dumb together chasing Mexicans into America.]]> http://ficklegods.com/politics/11 http://ficklegods.com/politics/11 Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:18:58 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg)
The red-shirts have blocked several important inter-city roads and in Bangkok they turned to vandalism and set some public transportation on fire. Ironically, while they stopped many people from traveling, they also kept other red-shirts from reaching protest spots. All the while, former prime minister Thaksin is phoning in encouraging the Thai people to fight for justice while he keeps avoiding prosecution and fleeing from country to country.

Thaksin and other red-shirts are upsetting many people, especially when they stormed the beach resort in Pattaya where the ASEAN summit was being held. This forced the summit to be canceled and a state of emergency to be declared while leaders from visiting countries where flown out by helicopter.

It's really a sad sight what is happening to this beautiful country.]]> http://ficklegods.com/infotech/10 http://ficklegods.com/infotech/10 Thu, 09 Apr 2009 09:24:06 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg)
They say that the upgrade option only really works properly when upgrading from Vista, and that they haven't spent a lot of time fixing the bugs that result from upgrading from previous builds of Windows 7, because in the real market, they aren't interested in this. They strongly encourage everyone currently running an early build of Windows 7 who wants to run the RC to either do a clean install or upgrade from Vista. They do however offer a little work-around for those who are really not in the mood for that. I quote the Windows 7 team: "IF YOU REALLY REALLY NEED TO". Here are 7 easy steps to ignore Microsoft's warnings of a buggy operating system because you wouldn't take the time and effort to do a clean install which you feel would actually do your system good.

1. Download the ISO as you did previously and burn the ISO to a DVD.
2. Copy the whole image to a storage location you wish to run the upgrade from (a bootable flash drive or a directory on any partition on the machine running the pre-release build).
3. Browse to the sources directory.
4. Open the file cversion.ini in a text editor like Notepad.
5. Modify the MinClient build number to a value lower than the down-level build. For example, change 7100 to 7000 (pictured below).
6. Save the file in place with the same name.
7. Run setup like you would normally from this modified copy of the image and the version check will be bypassed.

They also mention something along the lines of "if you don't backup your entire computer you're a dumb-ass" and "only download from Microsoft, because uTorrent is the devil". From this article they do seem to admit that build 7077 is the RC, but when the RC comes out it'll carry build number 7100. The expected date for the RC is still late May this year. Anyone who's already got build 7077 from the devil-torrent sites, please share your experiences!]]> http://ficklegods.com/politics/9 http://ficklegods.com/politics/9 Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:05:12 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg)
The world always gets a bit nervous when a less-developed country like North Korea is testing something that could be a weapon. Everybody was getting itchy when they were building nuclear power plants in the Middle-East. North Korea also has a bad-rep after some bomb test a few years back that could have been nuclear but probably wasn't after all. The Western world is suspecting North Korea or secretly building long range ballistic missiles capable of targeting Hawaii or Alaska.

Personally, I believe we're giving Mr. Jong Il too much credit once again. I mean, we've all seen the flick "Team America" right? It accurately portrays North Korea for what it is: a skinny kid with a big mouth yelling something along the lines of my-dad-can-beat-your-mom-up or whatever...]]> http://ficklegods.com/infotech/8 http://ficklegods.com/infotech/8 Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:26:10 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg)
The official beta release (Build 7000) has sparked great interests in this new operating system, both positive and negative. It does seem like the most noise is made by angry Vista users, either claiming that Microsoft owes them this new OS as an apology or that Windows 7 should be given to them for free as a service pack. Windows 7 is built on the existing framework used in Vista, but countless performance tweaks have been made, and enough changes have been made for Microsoft to call it another increment in their line of operating systems.

If you can't wait around for the official release candidate, you can always scour for some of the 'leaked' builds on the torrent sites. Currently I'm using one of those (Build 7057) which features many of the changes that Microsoft promised we would see in the RC build. Alt-tab now has Aero-peak, finding a space to right click in a full folder is easier, and many other tweaks and bug fixes are in this leaked build.

When you want to install a later build of Windows 7, you can simply upgrade by inserting and running your disk while in Windows, and you'll be able to keep 99% of your settings and all of your files. Some tech sites do point out that for optimal performance it is better to do a clean install, but that can become quite a hassle after tweaking everything to the way you like and losing it all and starting over.

How have your experiences been using official or unofficial builds of Windows 7? Let us know in the comments.]]> http://ficklegods.com/infotech/7 http://ficklegods.com/infotech/7 Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:42:46 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg)
What you need:
A picture, in jpeg format, roughly in the dimensions of your monitor. We'll go the easy way so the more your picture is off, the more it will be skewed.

Step 1: the registry
Don't be scared. It's not as hardcore as the other usual edits you hear about. Open 'regedit' from run in the start menu. Dig through the directory tree on the left, something along these lines: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - SOFTWARE - Microsoft - Windows - CurrentVersion - Authentication - LogonUI - Background
There you'll find in your main window a registry file called OEMBackground, double click this, and change the value to 1 (one). Close the registry editor, and move to step 2.

Step 2: placing the image
Now it's time to place your image into the correct location, and create that location if it doesn't already exist. Go to your Windows folder, usually on the C drive, and find the directory: System32 - oobe. If don't see a folder called info, create it, and put a new folder inside there called backgrounds. If you've already got these folders, have a look inside and just replace these images with yours. (This was not the case for me, so I have no experience with that particular case). Now take your image that you've prepared before, and copy it into this new backgrounds folder. Rename the image to backgroundDefault.jpg, and make sure the size is no bigger than 256 Kb (rumors on the internet say it won't work otherwise).

Now the easiest way to test it is to lock your computer. Hold the Windows Logo key and press L, and you should see your new background! Many other websites will have you reboot your computer, but c'mon, if you want to test out 50 different images, that's going to take a long time!

So, I hope I've improved somebody's life somewhere by writing this, enjoy Windows 7 (while you can [read: while it's still free])!]]> http://ficklegods.com/infotech/6 http://ficklegods.com/infotech/6 Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:28:36 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg)
This is not to far from what some scientists have recently made. They've developed some lasers to kill mosquitoes. I know that so far the only similarity between the previous sentence and the paragraph before this one is the laser-part, but bear with me. These are not ordinary lasers. They were developed by the same bunch of guys (cool guys in my opinion) as the ones who designed that worked on the "star wars" anti-missile program during the cold war.

It gets even better. The lasers that kill mosquitoes are fully automatic. They have sensors that detect the sounds that mosquitoes make when they beat their wings. I'm sure you're all familiar with it. These lasers can pick out mosquitoes in mid-flight, killing millions of them in minutes. I'm going to be the first in line when these things come out in the supermarkets!

Sadly though, we won't see them in the supermarkets. At least, not anytime soon. These lasers are going to Africa to kill malaria mosquitoes. Lucky African bastards...]]> http://ficklegods.com/politics/5 http://ficklegods.com/politics/5 Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:15:28 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg)
Anyway. International news is constantly filled and cluttered with American news. Sure we'll let America be a big and powerful country, but hog the news too?!?

So Mr. President. B. Obama is revolutionizing the government of the USA. It's seems it's one 'verbal slap' (directly quoted from CNN: "Obama aide takes verbal slap at Cheney ") after another. When I read that, I immediately thought of the old Batman series where each punch was accompanied by large on-screen word art: POW!!!, SMUNKH!!! It must have been hard for them to stay creative.

So Obama "SLAPPP!!"-ed Cheney, one of this dudes sort of says sorry, and they decide to get back to all seriousness. Terrorism. Terrorism is quite popular in America, now that they've "updated" their definition. It's basically anyone who doesn't fully agree with America's government. Could be you... could be me... and they retain full right to torture us like mad!

Oh no, not anymore. Thanks Mr. Obama!]]> http://ficklegods.com/infotech/4 http://ficklegods.com/infotech/4 Fri, 13 Mar 2009 08:46:18 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg)
I say without disasters because if I said without problems I'd be lying. It did crash the first 5 times when I tried to open it after installing. This was due to one of my add-ons apparently not being compatible. It was fixed rather easily, however, by just starting up Firefox in safe-mode, and restarting with all the add-ons disabled. Then all I had to do was enable them one by one to find out which one had problems.

This is only the first day for the new Firefox to be out, so I'll give the extension makes a week or so to catch up. If you're eager to test out the latest version of Firefox, head on over to their site, and download it for free.

By the way, I hope you're not still in IE...]]> http://ficklegods.com/entertainment/3 http://ficklegods.com/entertainment/3 Thu, 12 Mar 2009 08:46:17 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg)
The lists goes on from mutation to insanity, but 2 distinct men remain. Ironman and Batman. These two humble guys are just like you and me, except for Batman's fighting skills and money, and Ironman's brain skills... and money. I think Batman actually should be removed from this list, because he does appear to have superpowers: just kind of strong, fast, and batty. Ironman might just as well have superpowers if you call smart a superpower.

All that babble aside, the point I want to make is that if I was to hang out with one of these superheroes when they're not "on the job", it would have to be Ironman. I really wouldn't mind of Storm would come hang out, and bring invisible girl from the Fantastic Four and mud-wrestle, but the dude cheering them on with me, occasionally spilling beer on himself would have to be Tony Stark. I bet he'd be totally up for the idea of a mud-wrestling pit on his private jet.]]> http://ficklegods.com/insanity/2 http://ficklegods.com/insanity/2 Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:54:33 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg)
I will include more of the background story and miscellaneous details in the about section you'll find on the left, but here I'll go for a more informal introduction. I'm Ralph, the dude who did RalphvandenBerg.com. This website is a little different. I've gone for less foreign content as far as the stories, but for more freedom for visitors to comment on said stories.

Let me introduce the topics that you see on the left. home is quite straight forward; you'll find the latest content posted here. The next four topics are for the stories, or articles or Ramblings... call them what you want. insanity is kind of like a "whatever" category, something that holds everything that doesn't fit elsewhere. politics should be quite interesting. I'm going to try to understand some of it myself first, then put it in lame-man's terms, then try to make it a bit funny/interesting. infotech is for computer related stuff. I'm a bit on the com-nerd side, so I'll end up doing some of them tutorials and whatnot. Finally entertainment is for movies, music, or other hollywoodish muck.

Images is for images. As I'm typing this up now, it's not available yet, but I'll get to work on it next time I have time.

About is what I mentioned about 3 paragraphs up.

Now, please enjoy, and feel free to comment wherever and whenever you like!

Piece,

Ralph]]> http://ficklegods.com/infotech/1 http://ficklegods.com/infotech/1 Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:43:53 +0700 no-reply@ralphvandenberg.com (Ralph van den Berg)
Many people are complaining about bugs, but obviously it has to be computer related, or maybe just user/abuser issues.

To the point: Microsoft has announced that we can expect the RC (release candidate) for win7 around April 10 for downloading. Just as a friendly reminder to those that know, and a shocking realization to those who don't: there will be no upgrade option; you will have to do a clean re-install if you are currently using one of the earlier beta builds.

The next release will hold a bunch of new quirks that will tickle the sack of those who got turned on by the beta: aero-peak on alt-tabbing etc. I'm not the most tech-savvy guy in the world; I would like to know (comment please!) if I can make a back-up or image of what I'm running now in the beta, and then restore that when I've loaded the newer build.

Please advise. Thank you, and goodnight. Anybody else have anything interesting to share about their windows 7 experience: good or bad?]]>