RSS feed for InstantSpot site Conrad's World

MythTV Sound Woes

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:16:00 GMT

Problems I am having with MythTV

Hack Your Kids Toys

Thu, 08 May 2008 19:56:00 GMT

My steps to make a children's toy better.

Protein Bar Recipe

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 05:54:00 GMT

How to make your own protein bars from home.

Does this remind you of anybody

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 20:22:41 GMT

This reminds me of someone, but I can't figure out who.

Best use of Diet Coke + Mentos

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 12:18:32 GMT

I found this amazing video that will forever change the prank world. Now I just need to find someone who drinks diet coke.

[youtube l7Z818lnTK0]

How to fix your /etc/sudoers permissions

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:54:20 GMT

So you decided to be brave and mess with your /etc/sudoers file but you end up just breaking it. Or maybe I am the only one who did that.

I was trying to find a way of running the Ubuntu update-manager without having to put my password in. I read that you have to edit the /etc/sudoers file to do that, so no problem, right. First I sudo gedit /etc/sudoers but it tells me that I don't have permissions to do this, no problem, just change the permissions. So I sudo chmod 0640 /etc/sudoers which changes the permissions, what I did realize that sudo does not work unless it has a permission of 0440. So now every time I try and sudo anything I get the message " sudo: /etc/sudoers is mode 0640, should be 0440" so I cannot sudo chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers.

The Fix:

After some more pain and searching for how to fix it, I find that I can just go into recovery mode from the GRUB menu and then chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers and reboot. So once again I avoid a reinstall of Ubuntu

Google Desktop for 64 bit Linux

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:26:31 GMT

I recently went to a fully 64 bit installation of Ubuntu Feisty. The only problems I had were that since I was running 64 bit Java I could not use my old CFEclipse installation anymore and had to download the 64 bit version, also I had to reinstall the my personal finance program, Moneydance , but everything worked fine there once I reinstalled.

I also had problems when I realized there is no 64 bit version of flash and I had to go back to 64 bit FireFox.

Today Google announced the release of Google Desktop for Linux, and while this is not something I typically install onto windows systems, I do know the pain that searching for files in Linux can be so I decided to check it out. After a few minutes of trying to install the program I find that it is not compatible with my 64 bit install.

I read of a few people running the --force-architecture switch when installing, but with a few bugs. I would rather wait on a fully developed product than install a buggy product. I may play with it on a VM so I don't break the rest of my system.

I will update if I play with this and get anything to work, till now I will wait.

How to turn off Aero in Vista

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:43:13 GMT

So you installed Vista in all its glory. Basked in its newly redesigned Control Panel. Felt the raw surge of power running though your spine when clicking the newly redesigned Start Button.

Aero is one of the new features in some versions of Vista. Most of its features are cool and good at first, but if you are like me you realize that they do not really increase your productivity as promised and don't want to waste the system resources used to run them. Plus some programs such as Macromedia Fireworks don't work with Aero and when run you get a message telling you that all your cool feature have been turned off for the meantime.

In order to turn off the Aero feature you first have to spend some time looking for what you want. I have already done that for you so all you have to do is follow my directions.

Open your control panel and click 'Change the color scheme' then select 'Windows Vista Basic' or any other scheme to your liking. It really is that simple.

Latest News on Paris, Hilton

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 09:54:57 GMT

It looks as if they are quite nice, a 4 out of 5 star rating on myTravelGuide.com

You can learn more about staying at the Paris Hilton and make your reservations online.

USBCell - The batteries of the future

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 13:19:41 GMT

OK, so they are not that futuristic, but it's ideas like this that make me drool. Most of use use batteries all the time for one thing or another. I know I go though countless batteries and while rechargeables are good for at home, when you are on the go, bringing the charger can just be a huge hassle. So someone thought about the power sources many of us take with us or have access to somewhere and USB came to mind, it is on every computer, modern game consoles, even some TV's have USB ports. So with the combination of a normal AA battery and USB a new era was born.

Enter the USBCell, this wonderful idea allows you to take the charger with you, because it is in the battery.

I ordered a set of 2 for use in my camera. Currently they are charging in my laptop, I have read that these do not get the same amount of charge compared with regular batteries, but I am going to put that to the test. I am going to take as many pictures as I can with these and then compare it with some regular batteries. Until I do that I am going to continue to this that these are totally geeky cool. I love them.

I will get back to you on how effective they are.

The wonders of MythTV

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 15:18:59 GMT

For anybody who does not know about MythTV , it is a wonderful thing, when it is working properly. I have been toying with setting up a media box with my computer and hooking it up to the TV, but raising twins and planning a wedding somehow takes up more time that you would think.

If you don't know about MythTV it is a media center program that run on Linux. It is seperated out with a frontend and a backend so you can run it on multiple computers on the same network. It will play your music, DVD's, live TV, recorded TV, radio, and much more.

Right now I have it setup but it is not working correctly and I have not had time to work on it more. When I get some time I will be reinstalling it and doing a complete writeup on how to set it up and how cool it is.

Coming soon to a Spot near you

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 14:58:59 GMT

As a teaser for what is in store for you I have some goodies just for you. This is what I will be posting about in the near (or far) future.

My awesome laptop
MythTV
Linux goodness
Perhaps some insight into the Vista
Movie and TV reviews
Hopefully something non-nerdy
Anything else I can think of

Also I will probably complain about how instantspot does not have this or that feature.

The Best Queso Recipe

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 20:38:11 GMT

I was looking for a recipe for queso but was totally unimpressed with the usual Velveta/chili combo so I looked at quite a few recipes and found one that is absolutly excellent.

1/2 pound ground beef
1T flour
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp Mexican oregano
salt
pepper

Mix together, hands work the best for this, then heat over medium heat to brown. The flour should allow the meat to break up well. Mix in with:

1 block cream cheese
2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
1 can enchilada sauce

Melt in microwave stopping every minute to mix. Be careful of becoming addicted to this.

Any mild melting cheese will work but Monterrey Jack is the easiest to find. Cheddar does not work well because it will not melt right. This should be smooth and delicious.

The first one

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 19:59:58 GMT

Here I am a blogging away. This is my first step into a larger world. I am not sure what I am going to focus on in this blog, but I am going to start by just putting up everything I can think of. From there I will maybe decide a direction to go with it, or perhaps not. We shall see.