-
Continue reading →: Uniden BC72XLT Handheld Scanner
My wife bought me a Uniden BC72XLT Handheld Scanner for Christmas. It’s the first handheld scanner I’ve owned. These devices are often referred to as “police scanners” but they can usually receive a wide variety of frequencies used by different agencies. I’d classify it as a good beginner’s radio for…
-
Continue reading →: Why do people drive on the shoulder in west Texas?
So others can pass without waiting for a normal passing zone. If you’re driving in that part of the country and someone starts riding the shoulder they are probably trying to signal for you to do the same. Unlike the area where I live, those roads have shoulders that are…
-
Continue reading →: Using Fluorescent Bulbs with X10 (Appliance Modules Only)
Note: As far as I know fluorescent bulbs should only be used with X10 appliance modules. I recommend educating yourself before using them in any module. Also, it’s important to be aware that the use of fluorescent bulbs can cause powerline interference. According to what I have read the use…
-
Continue reading →: Changing Brake Pads on a 2006 Scion tC
The brakes on one of our cars started squealing a few weeks so we bought some new brake pads. I’ve replaced brake pads on my previous cars so this was a task I was familiar with, though I hadn’t worked on this car yet. I held onto the new pads for…
-
Continue reading →: Moving a Windows 7 Partition into VirtualBox on a Mac
I’ve been running Windows 7 on an older machine for a while but recently I had the idea to move the partition into a VirtualBox VM running as a guest OS in OS X Snow Leopard. I wanted to save some electricity, reduce the total number of computers, and make…
-
Continue reading →: Blank Screen in OS X Remote Desktop Connection
Recently I started having a problem when connecting to a Windows 7 system from OS X Snow Leopard using Remote Desktop Connection (2.1.0). RDC appeared to connect properly but I could only see a blank screen. Testing the same version of RDC from another computer seemed to work just fine.…
-
Continue reading →: Enable or Disable OS X Screen Sharing from the Terminal
If you have a need to enable or disable Screen Sharing from a terminal in OS X the commands are very simple. I’ve used these commands in 10.6 (Snow Leopard). Enable sudo touch /etc/ScreenSharing.launchd Disable sudo rm /etc/ScreenSharing.launchd Source: rentzsch.tumblr.com | Starting VNC remotely via kickstart Updated 06/07/2012: It seems…
-
Continue reading →: DirecTV HR20 Receiver and RF Remote Issue (Simple Fix) – Part 3
Updated 05/25/2011: Save yourself time, money, and frustration by checking out my latest solution. Well, something seems to have worked. I’m down to three possibilities. (1) Batteries were low (2) HDMI to Ethernet Extenders were causing interference (3) Antenna connection was loose. I think I can rule out #3 since…
-
Continue reading →: Dimming a Mac Screen Beyond Apple Parameters
Every now and then I wanted to be able to dim a MacBook Pro screen more than could be done with the keyboard or OS options. I recently found a free utility that will help me deal with the Mac “flashlight” at night. It’s free and works great. One caveat…
-
Continue reading →: Why is Science so Bad in Movies and Television?
I’ve been a fan of science fiction since before I could read. A long time ago I discovered that the best science-fiction was usually only found in written form. Sci-fi movies as a whole are typically riddled with bad science along with horrible plot holes (many of which are tied…
Hello,
I’m Mike
Welcome to my blog, which I have maintained for several years, off and on, to share things that I’ve learned from numerous projects and various problem solving escapades. This is my way of giving something back to the online communities that have helped me learn more about a wide variety of topics.
Press Any Key 