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I just had to troubleshoot a small problem in my Windows 7 installation, one that had been driving me bonkers.  You see, for some reason, Whenever I pinned iTunes to my Start menu, it would show up on the list as “iTunes (2).”  This would make sense if there were another iTunes shortcut (or any file named “iTunes”) pinned to the Start menu, but there wasn’t.  I tried simply renaming the file, and while it would “let” me do it, it just changed the filename back to “iTunes (2)” when I hit Return.  The obvious answer was that there was another file with the same name in the folder where this link was stored.  But, where was this file stored?

The exciting conclusion follows, after a word from our sponsors…

Continue reading Phantom Pinned Files in Windows 7

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So, today, I washed both of the cars in our driveway.  After finishing, I noticed that a hornet (or wasp, I’m not quite sure—it was a dark brownish-red color) was trying to get into the house.  The exterior door was closed, but it landed at the doors edge and just slipped right through the crack of the door frame.  Now, to frame this, we’ve had three such insects find their way into our house, downstairs in our den, already.  This was the door to the den.  So, I opened the door immediately, hoping to scare it off.  It did fly back out, but I happened to see that it wasn’t going into the house, but into an opening in the frame of the door itself.  The door is metal, and there was a small opening at the corner, through which the hornet (I’ m just going to call it a hornet) was accessing the hollow frame.  This made me worry that they are nesting in there.  Well, the damned thing flew erratically for a few seconds, but then went right back toward the door.  I shooed it away with my foot—more of the same.  So, I decided that I was going to have to kill it if I wanted to keep it out of my door.  I didn’t happen to have a fly swatter, or any adequate stand-in, immediately handy.  My only option was to attempt to stamp it with my feet, which seemed appropriate, since it was flying close to the ground.  He was a shifty bastard, though.  I couldn’t seem to get a good stomp in without him flying out from underneath my foot.

Continue reading Damn Flying Wasp/Hornet Things

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Okay, I know that there’s a bunch of oil spewing into my favorite ocean at this very moment, and I really care about that, but why isn’t anybody talking about the fact that humanity just created life?

Bald, but sexier than you

Seriously, modern-day historical figures at the J. Craig Venter Institute have just created the first self-replicating synthetic bacterial cell.  That literally means that people–other human beings, creatures with brains roughly very similar to yours and mine–have synthesized DNA (with computer software!) and successfully inserted it into a bacterial cell.  The deposited DNA then replaced the DNA of the host cell, creating an entirely new, man-made organism.  Then, that cell, a synthetic organism, began to reproduce.

Continue reading Synthetic Genomics

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Yesterday, in honor of Halloween, I posted a new story.  It’s actually based on a story I wrote in seventh grade titled Aaronville, one that earned me a lot of attention.  I don’t have that story any more, so I should say that this one is only loosely based on that one, as my memory of it is weakened by time.  Now, if you please, do please enjoy A Night in Magnolia Springs.

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