Comin

Social Bookmarking:

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

Right-click > Poperties > General tab > Location
The preceding series of actions executed on a random link in the list provided me with my answer.  It turns out that the files (shortcut links) that belong to the pinned Start Menu are located at the following place: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\StartMenu .  Of course, you’ll want to replace “<username>” with your actual username in Windows.  Also, there is no space in the name of the last folder; it’s just “StartMenu.”  Oh, and to see anything past the User folder, you’ll need to make hidden files visible* (Check the end of this article for instructions on that).

What I discovered when I reached this folder was that, and this is no surprise, there was a file named “iTunes.”  When I saw the file, with only the standard Windows executable icon beside it, I remembered that I’d seen the same before on my XP desktop before (I don’t use desktop icons in Windows 7).  I haven’t dug in deep enough to know for sure, but I believe that Apple must be moving the executable for iTunes, or renaming it, between different versions.  Whatever the reason, though, the old link was rendered dead, and I believe that this is why the file didn’t actually show up on the Start Menu.  My assumption is that Windows identified the dead link and didn’t display the item for that reason.  Of course, if that is true, it seems a bit stupid that the file wasn’t deleted, or moved into another folder, but then I guess that’s what Windows Update is for, and maybe, for all I know, this is already on the list of things addressed by Windows 7’s Service Pack 1, which is due out next year.

So, my solution, simple enough, was to delete the old, dead link, and rename my new one.  While I was in there, I located a few other items that, for some reason, weren’t on my Start menu,  I didn’t want them to be, either, so I deleted them too.  One of them was “Games for Windows LIVE” and the other was Internet Explorer.  I don’t know why the first wasn’t showing up in the Start menu, but the Internet Explorer link was probably not being displayed because I had also placed a link to  “Internet Explorer (64-bit)” in the same place, which is the same reason that I didn’t need it to be there, either.

Bonus: The method I used above to locate these files will work on just about any link in Windows, except for the items on the Taskbar.  If you followed the process above, you probably already discovered this on your own, but the shortcuts for the Taskbar are located in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar .  Again, the last folder has no spaces.

*To make hidden files visible in Windows 7, first open any folder window.  Your computer folder will do, or any other.  With focus on the folder window (click anywhere in the white space of the folder if your unsure), press the “Alt” key.  This should bring up the File Menu, unless you’ve already made it stick, but if you’ve done that, then you probably don’t need to be reading this paragraph.  Anyway, after the File Menu is open, click on “Tools,” and select “Folder options…” from the list.  Once “Folder Options” is opened, select the “View” tab.  Then, locate the “Advanced settings” area, and scan down to the sixth option.  It will have two choices—“Don’t show hidden files, folders, or drives” and “Show hidden files, folders, and drives.”  “Don’t show” will be pre-selected.  Choose “Show hidden files, folder, and drives” and press “OK.”  Now, anywhere you go in Windows, hidden files will be visible.  To disable this when you’re done (which I recommend doing), simply repeat the process and choose “Don’t show” again.

Social Bookmarking:

I should probably stop here to say that I’ve never been stung by any of the bee-like flying insect species I’ve encountered, at least as far as I’m aware.  It is a safe assessment to say that I had begun to doubt the veracity of claims about the aggressiveness of hornets and the like.

I kept trying to stomp on the hornet, even as it began to trace a wilder and wilder pattern.  Of course, I assumed its flight pattern was just a very effective evasion technique.  I certainly did not realize that I had initiated a primal sparring match, with each of us looking to catch the other at a disadvantage.  Had I known, perhaps I’d have guarded myself better.  As it happens, I was wearing my Crocs shoes, which I generally wear just around the house, or occasionally for a quick trip to the store (also, they are pretty good beach shoes, as I detest flippy-floppies).  This left my ankles exposed, apparently providing my hornet foe with just the weakness he sought.  Before I knew what was happening, Hornet changed his path from evasion to attack.  He swooped in as though he was gong to land on my foot, but instead plunged a flaming hot spear into my left ankle.  I yelled and jerked my foot up, and I have literally no clue where Hornet went.  It’s very likely that he went into the door, per his original plan.  I asked Wikipedia, and she said that only honeybees die after stinging; hornets and wasps can sting as often in a lifetime as they wish.

Jennifer jumped into action at the sound of my cry, dosing me with Benadryl and Ibuprofen, and giving me some anti-itch cream.  Who knew that hornet stings’ worst effect was a hot, burning itch that spreads over a six inch radius and won’t be scratched away?  I didn’t—but I do now.  So, I proceeded to act like a big baby, and Jennifer made me an ice-pack to keep the swelling down.  I kept the foot up on my old green iMac ottoman while I played some RollerCoaster Tycoon 3.  In less than an hour, the Benadryl hit my like it always does, and I was three blinks away from passing out.  If I’d been more focused after the sting, maybe I’d have realized that Jennifer had handed me two Benadryl, and taken only one.  I think she gave me two Benadryl and four Ibuprofen.  Most medicines have a very muted effect on my, but Benadryl knocks me out.  I don’t even see how anyone could ever need a prescription sleep-medicine.  I could just take three of those little pink pills and sleep for a day.  As it was, with the two, I passed out at about 1:30 in the afternoon, and got up around 5:00, and I only got up then because Jennifer and I were planning to go out for dinner.

So, I lumbered out of the bed, put on a shirt, my shoes (the Crocs again—I was really lethargic), a cap to cover the bed head, and brushed my teeth.  I was ready to go in probably five minutes.  Jennifer and I headed downstairs, and we exited through the door in our den, the one we pretty much always use.  I was not outside of the house for ten seconds before Hornet stung my other ankle.  Well, I can’t know for sure whether it was the same hornet, or another, but I believe that it was Hornet, my newly-formed nemesis, and that he has learned my smell, and my weakness (exposed ankles).  Thankfully, tomorrow, when I leave for work, I will be wearing real shoes, with socks, along with full-length pants.  I may even be so bold as to make another attempt at stomping Hornet, should he bother me again.

But, seriously, we did pick up some pest spray for hornets and wasps after we finished dinner.  You are supposed to apply the stuff at sunset, which had already passed when we got home tonight, so it will have to wait until tomorrow.  If anyone has a beekeeper suit they’d like to loan me before then, I could trade you some DVDs and old Windows 95 games.  My plan is to spray the insecticide inside that door opening (in case there is a nest there) and then seal it off using some silicon weather sealant I have left over from another project.  I’ll teach those fuckers (how to die).

Social Bookmarking:

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.

Now, with the combination of this revolutionary method of synthesis and an ever-increasing understanding of the functions of the different components of the genome, anything can happen (and I am not saying that as a figure of speech).  We could have organisms that eat pollution and release fuel.  We could restore damaged o-zone.  I honestly think that this is going to be the catalyst for the next era of scientific discovery.   I believe a great number of the major problems that the world now struggles with will, in the lifetimes of many people alive today, be as alien as that of real-time communication between distant points has been for nearly a century (That’s right, ninety-five years, actually.  So, somewhere in the world is a person who was alive when the first trans-continental telephone call was made in 1915, and everywhere in the world are people who were alive when the first synthetic organism independently reproduced–including you!).

“Over the next 20 years, synthetic genomics is going to become the standard for making anything. The chemical industry will depend on it. Hopefully, a large part of the energy industry will depend on it. We really need to find an alternative to taking carbon out of the ground, burning it, and putting it into the atmosphere. That is the single biggest contribution I could make.” -Craig Venter in 2007

You know that future that we’ve been seeing in science fiction for a long, long time, but that just won’t seem to show up?  It finally arrived.  I’m having trouble believing it, and it doesn’t help that no one else is talking about it (or that I was told of it by the famous liar Benjamin Linus–well, Michael Emerson, anyway).

Basically, software for organisms

So, essentially, a new field of scientific research (a major one) has just been born.   The ways that it can positively impact the world, humanity, and everything that we know seem, at this point, limitless.   However, there is an equal opportunity in this for some really scary stuff.   Now, personally, I don’t think that things like that should keep anyone from exploring the mechanics of the physical and biological worlds–not any more than I think that Galileo should have shut his trap for fear of the Spanish Inquisition.  I’m just saying that it’s something to consider and to be aware of.   Also, I’m saying that the absolutely ludicrous super-weapon in the recent film The Losers was–err–spot on, actually.

Maybe (hopefully) it will be different if you look at it later, but right now, Google News’ Sci/Tech Section has no stories about this.  The only place where I’ve heard anything about this has been on The Science Channel.

Social Bookmarking: