The Modern MacGyver

Posted by Justin A. Parr on August 17, 2016
Posted in: The Light Side. 1 comment

MacGyver was a 1980’s TV action hero, known for being able to quickly apply his extensive math / science / engineering skills in order to save the day.

 

MacGyver always carried standard gear on his person that included his iconic Swiss Army knife, duct tape, paper clips, and chewing gum.  In every episode, he employed creativity, his gear, and science to re-purpose common items in order to build a machine or otherwise develop a solution for some major problem.

Fast forward to fall 2016 –  CBS is about to release a modern reboot.

What skills and technology would a “modern” MacGyver employ?

(Note – this is being written without any advanced knowledge of the reboot, except, having seen the trailer)

Read on, to find out.

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STOP WINDOWS 10 UPGRADE AND GWX

Posted by Justin A. Parr on April 29, 2016
Posted in: Tech Support. Leave a Comment

STOP WINDOWS 10 UPGRADE AND GWX

FINALLY…

You can add these two registry settings to your Windows 7/8 machines, to STOP the “Get Windows 10” (GWX) upgrade prompts.

  1. Create an empty text file on your desktop, called “DisableWindowsUpgrade”
  2. Open the empty file
  3. Copy the text in the box below, to the empty file, and save it 
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate]
"DisableOSUpgrade"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Gwx]
"DisableGwx"=dword:00000001
  4. Rename the file extension from “.txt” to “.reg”.  Usually, you can do this in file properties.
  5. Double-click the file, and click “YES” when prompted to make changes.
  6. Reboot.
  7. Enjoy your Upgrade-Free existence!

 

I created a batch file that creates the reg file, then runs regedit, to import these keys in to the registry.

You can download it here.  Right-click the following link, and select “Save As”:  DisableWindowsUpgrade.cmd

  1. Once you save the file, double-click to run it.
  2. Click “Yes” when prompted to make changes
  3. Reboot
  4. Enjoy your Upgrade-Free existence!

Tech Tip – Use USB Mouse and On-Screen Keyboard

Posted by Justin A. Parr on March 19, 2016
Posted in: Tech Tip. Leave a Comment

I had a unique situation occur while troubleshooting an XP machine – I had physical access to the machine, but not the keyboard and mouse.

I was able to use a USB mouse and On-Screen Keyboard (OSK) to navigate the user interface.

Here is how it works:

  1. Plug in the USB mouse.  After a couple of seconds, you should be able to move the mouse cursor.
  2. Click on “Start” (or whatever passes for Start, for your version of Windows)
    osk1
  3. Click on the computer name, to open an explorer window
    osk2
  4. Navigate to c:\windows
    osk3
  5. In the “windows” folder, navigate to “system32”
    osk4
  6. If you can’t find it, go to folder options, select “Show hidden files and folders” and make sure “hide protected system files” is NOT checked.
    osk5
  7. In “system32”, find a file called “osk” or “osk.exe”, and double-click to open it.
    osk6
  8. The OSK will be displayed:
    osk7

The OSK will remain in the foreground, and allows you to “type” using the mouse.

For example, click the Firefox Address bar, then click-type:

g – o – o – g – l – e – . – c – o – m – ent (enter)

You can manipulate most OS and application functions quickly and easily, even if the system’s keyboard and mouse are locked out for some reason.

 

FIXED: Why the Android Permissions Framework Makes Android Unsafe, And How It Can Be Easily Fixed

Posted by Justin A. Parr on March 3, 2016
Posted in: Analyses and Responses, Good Design - Bad Design. Leave a Comment

Note:  This post was written PRIOR to Android 6.0 “Marshmallow” – please see the updates below for more details.  “Marshmallow”, by and large CORRECTLY handles app permissions.

When you download an Android app, you are presented with a list of permissions that the application requires in order to run.

You can either accept all of the permissions as stated, or cancel the installation – there is no middle ground.

This approach makes Android generally untrustworthy, but there is a simple way to fix it.

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Basic Foods That Exist In Every Culture

Posted by Justin A. Parr on January 24, 2016
Posted in: Food and Cooking, Math and Science. Leave a Comment

Basic Foods That Exist In Every Culture

Here is a list of prepared foods that exist in every culture.

 

 

Bread

Some form of baked grain food product exists all over the world.  In Europe, America, and northern Asia we have the traditional bread loaf.  All countries have some form of leavened or unleavened, baked grain product, similar to a tortilla.

Harvesting and using grain is a more sophisticated process than simply picking fruits and vegetables, since grains must be prepared, usually by drying and then grinding them.

Simple bread-like products, such as tortillas and crackers, can be created using only grain and water, but more sophisticated products use yeast, animal fat, eggs, and and chemical ingredients such as baking powder to change the texture or flavor.

Mankind’s transition from hunter-gatherers to farmers was necessary in order to develop leavened bread, as it would be difficult to drag around the equipment, nor would it be feasible to spend the necessary time baking, if one is constantly on the move.  Unleavened products, such as tortillas, can be made on-the-fly, and cooked quickly over a camp fire.

 

Sandwich

Once we have bread, it’s a simple matter to either slice it, or create a bread pocket, and stuff it with meats, cheeses, and vegetables.

Sandwiches are very portable, and can be eaten with one hand, making them extremely convenient.

The taco and gyro are more exotic examples of a sandwich.

 

Dumpling

A step up from the sandwich, a dumpling is a filling (such as meat, cheese, or vegetables) wrapped in dough, and then either boiled or fried.

Examples include wantans, egg rolls, flautas, empenadas, gyoza, and others.

 

Beer and Wine

Wine may have pre-dated leavened bread – no one is really sure.  Once mankind figured out how to use yeast to make bread rise, we certainly, quickly found other uses for it.

Wines are made from fruit, while beer is made from grain.  In each case, the raw materials are smashed up and mixed with water, in to a “mash”, that may or may not be cooked.  Yeast eats the sugar, and slowly releases alcohol and carbon dioxide gas.

Every culture has at least one kind of wine, beer, sake, or mead.

 

Cheese and Tofu

The other thing we can do with bacteria is to ferment animal milk (or soybean) curd, to create cheese.

Every culture has some form of cheese, tofu, or both.

 

My Recent Win with Ryobi

Posted by Justin A. Parr on January 4, 2016
Posted in: Good Design - Bad Design. Leave a Comment

My Recent Win with Ryobi

 

Background

I have two power hand tool sets – a Black and Decker 18V NMH (Nickel-Metal-Hydride) set, that I’ve had for 10+ years now, and a Ryobi 18V LiI (Lithium-Ion) set, that I’ve had for maybe 5.

I’m not a full time handyman – I’m a “weekend warrior”, that needs a reliable set of tools in order to perform simple home / vehicle repairs, and work on projects.

Although I originally bought my B&D set from Lowes (over a decade ago), they stopped carrying B&D all together, and neither did Home Depot carry B&D.

The B&D set fit my needs quite nicely, and I had a large selection of B&D accessories, batteries, and chargers.  As with all NMH batteries, they slowly lose capacity every time you recharge them.  It wasn’t uncommon to have to switch batteries, even for a small project.

As the batteries became harder to get, and in light of my coffee maker fiasco, I made the switch to LiI, and selected the Ryobi 18V tool set (bright green), which came with a drill / driver, reciprocating saw, a flashlight, and a circular saw.  On top of that, I bought the string trimmer, paint sprayer, and a jigsaw, as well as a gang charger and a few more batteries.  Unfortunately, Ryobi is only carried by Home Depot.

As stated, I use the Ryobi set all the time, and it’s probably right at 5 years old.

 

The Win

I had an “opportunity” to help someone out by repairing their aluminum storm door that had (believe it or not) rusted open, and was allowing water in to the door frame, damaging the door, frame, and floor.

In addition to the door closer being rusted open (how does that even happen?), the middle and bottom hinges were completely blown out.

Being a mobile home, the storm door used a piano type hinge, where a single vertical pin ran the height of the door, and connected three leaves on the door (each about 4 inches tall) to a rail in the door frame.  In the middle and bottom locations, the rail was completely ripped away from the door frame, due to the closer being at the bottom of the door, and stresses due to wind, etc.

On top of the door hinges being stripped off the door frame, and the closer being rusted OPEN, the middle glass panel was not properly situated in its frame, and was hanging loose.

In this situation, we needed functional, NOT pretty.

So here is a list of my ad-hoc repairs:

  • Used a flat “L” bracket to secure the loose panel.  This involved drilling several holes through aluminum, gluing (with silicone adhesive) the bracket, and securing it with screws.
  • Cut away the rusted door closer.  This consisted of making three cuts through the steel mounting bracket with a jigsaw and metal-cutting blade.
  • Detach the top hinge.  Since the hinge consisted of one long pin, about 6.5 feet tall, and there was no room to get a jigsaw in there, this consisted of drilling out a perpendicular section of the steel pin using a titanium-carbide drill bit, then using wire cutters to separate the hinge in to sections.
  • Install three conventional hinges.  This involved drilling 6 pilot holes through aluminum, per hinge, then installing the hinges using silicon adhesive and 6 machine screws per hinge.
  • Install a door sweep on the inner door.  This consisted of using the jigsaw to cut the door sweep to its proper length – the door sweep is nylon and rubber.  Once mounted in the correct position, several pilot holes needed to be drilled, and then mounting screws installed.

This sounds like no big deal… HOWEVER…  Somehow, I left the house without a charger, and the only battery I had with me was the one on my drill – meaning, I had already used that battery to some extent after it was swapped out.  Home was at minimum, a 2.5 hour round-trip drive, so I didn’t have a lot of options.

I was able to complete the entire project with one battery.

I shared one battery between the saw and the drill/driver, and completed the entire project with plenty of charge left over.

On one trip to the local hardware store, I had briefly considered “upgrading” to a 20V set, but decided that I’d save that for a last resort.

I was completely surprised that I was able to repeatedly use both tools, and complete the entire project on less than one battery.

I think I’ll stick with my Ryobi set!

NOW, THAT is a GOOD design!