Davtra's Blog

A $5 donation

That’s right, when I was walking back home, I donated $5 to a hobo today! How good was that?

Does your website “suck”?

Going through and searching for websites that “suck” is actually fun. I was searching for a list of bad websites and I entered into a website called Web Pages That Suck (http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/). It has a checklist on how to kill your website. I might create a website using that checklist just for fun.

Remember your first time when making a website? I did. I used a website generator, like the one at Yahoo! GeoCities. I then used Microsoft Frontpage, and then I began using Notepad. I prefer to edit my websites using a word processing programme because it provides more “flexibility”.

Time also has its own list: http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/art…1638341,00.html

Worst feedback on eBay?

I thought it would be fun to compile a list of eBay users who have bad scores on their profiles.

• http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dl…0All%20Feedback
• http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?…tab=AllFeedback

And a compiled list:

• http://reviews.ebay.ie/The-Worst-Ever-Ebay…000000002814765

What? No work done?

I’m on my study break from school. It’s now week two of the study break and it feels like I haven’t done any work at all. I’m going to stress out if I don’t work on my work! I better get a move on

Laser printers as dangerous as passive smoking?

I found this article, and I knew somehow laser printers are killers!

By Peter Judge on 02 August 2007

Emissions from office laser printers can be as unhealthy as cigarette smoke, according to an Australian professor who is now calling for regulations to limit printer emissions.

Office workers breathing easy since smoking was banned in public places have new reason to worry, according to research from the Queensland University of Technology’s Air Quality and Health Program, led by physics professor Lidia Morawska.

The average printer releases toner particles that can get deep into the lungs and cause respiratory problems and cardiovascular trouble, according to Morawska’s team, part of the International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, and specialists in atmospheric particles.

The team tested 62 laser printer models — all relatively new — and found that 17 of them were “high emitters” of toner particles. Despite using similar technology, office photocopiers do not emit particles, the team found.

The particles have not had a full chemical analysis, but some are potential carcinogens, according to a report in The Sydney Morning Herald. Several of the high emitters were Hewlett-Packard LaserJet models, such as the 1320 and 4250, although eight HP LaserJet 4050 series printers were shown to have no emissions, according to reports.

The printer emissions data were discovered by chance when an investigation of office ventilation systems, carried out jointly between the university and the Queensland Department of Public Works, found five times as many particles indoors as those produced by traffic outdoors. Using an electronic sniffer, researchers traced the emissions to printers. The emissions were found to increase during the day, when printers were left on standby or in full operation.

Following the revelation, Morawska’s team tested their own printers and moved the unhealthy ones away from people. The researchers are now calling for regulations on printer emissions. The study included Canon, HP LaserJet, Ricoh and Toshiba printers. The university had not released comprehensive results by the time this story was published.

HP said it was currently assessing the study’s findings.

“Vigorous tests under standardised operating conditions are an integral part of HP’s research and development, and its strict quality-control procedures,” the company said in a statement. “As part of these quality controls, HP assesses its LaserJet printing systems, original HP print cartridges and papers for dust release and possible material emissions to ensure compliance with applicable international health and safety requirements.”

Peter Judge and David Meyer of ZDNet UK reported from London.

Source: http://www.cnet.com.au/printers/0,239035535,339280815,00.htm

IP.Nexus

Invision Power Services has published a video preview of IP.Nexus. IP.Nexus has been in development for many years, and now they are getting ready for a public release in a few months. Video link: http://www.invisionpower.com/nexusdemo

What’s the quickest way of getting fat?

I don’t really want to be fat, I just need to put on more weight! At the beginning of the year, I weighed about 58kg. Well, good, but I should be in the 60kg zone. I just weighed myself and the scale says I’m 55kg. Interesting, isn’t it? I haven’t been eating a lot lately due to mental health problems.

I need to fatten myself up. It would be nice if I was in the fairy tail Hansel and Gretel. Haha

What a waste

It’s a shame to see thousands of litres of water just…gone, but at the same time it was exiting and fun to watch. It is said that the construction workers hit the main water pipeline.

My university campus is right there. I had to walk around because I didn’t want to get wet. I was carrying around $700 worth of electronic devices with me.

Picture by Luke Kowal

Source: http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0…288-910,00.html

I’m still alive

For those who keep on asking, I’m still here online in the Internet world. I’m just busy doing my university work, and playing games too. I haven’t typed much in the past…that is because I either have nothing to report or I keep on forgeting to post.

I just noticed that Mogenic (www.mogenic.com) is back online! There was a hard drive failure which resulted in Mogenic losing everything. Mogenic has learnt a hard lesson…keep multiple backups? Mogenic has been working on their site for many years and one day it all went down. It’s sad, but life goes on.

Trying to add time/date stamp

My study break is coming up in two weeks. I’m not a PHP programmer, but I’m going to try and put a time and date stamp on the main personal website. I’ve integrated blog entries to the main page (via MySQL database), but the problem is I forgot how I’ve done it. I’ll figure it out by checking my past coding

PHP message boards are back in business

I’ve been surfing around the Internet and looking at my old bookmarks. I checked a few message board software websites and some are in business. For example, phpBB (www.phpbb.com), are in version three. I remember using phpBB as my first remotely hosted software on DK3.com.

Burning Board has also evolved (http://www.woltlab.de/products/burning_board/index_en.php). WoltLab has upgraded their software to version three as well. It looks nice and modern. I haven’t tested the features yet, but I don’t need to. I checked out their pricing and, well, it’s a bit pricey. I’m sticking to using Invision Power Board.