Author Archives: molecularbear
How to combine/concatenate mp4 videos
In a project similar to the Blender Defender, I am using a Linksys WVC54GCA webcam to monitor my devious cats. The camera has built-in motion detection, and can automatically FTP video files of detected motion to a location of your … Continue reading
Fatal flaws with TalkSwitch TS-850i IP phones
I was initially excited at the chance to install and configure a TalkSwitch 240vs PBX phone system. With twelve TalkSwitch 850i cordless phones spread across four base stations, I figured I would have my work empire bathed in telephony goodness. … Continue reading
Solving openSUSE 11.3 mail server problems
Rather than follow an upgrade path, I painstakingly migrated the mail server configuration from an openSUSE 11.0 server to a fresh install on an openSUSE 11.3 server. Here are the problems I ran into and how I solved them: Problem: … Continue reading
How to recommend movies to friends on Netflix
Do you remember when Netflix used to have a Netflix Community feature where you could add friends and recommend movies to one another? I was just now about to make a recommendation when I realized I could no longer find … Continue reading
The fate of the Blue Carbuncle
Everyone seems to have a favorite movie that they watch during the holidays – mine is The Blue Carbuncle (1984). Jeremy Brett seems as if he were born to play Sherlock Holmes, and I have watched every episode in which … Continue reading
The League: a television flop
The League is a sitcom about a group of 30-something adults who are in a fantasy football league. After seeing the promo (and being a fantasy football addict), I raced to the DVR to acquire some League action. I’ve since … Continue reading
D&D: Is Sneak Attack damage maximized on critical hits?
Is Sneak Attack damage maximized on critical hits? Short answer: yes. For the long answer, first read what the Players Handbook says about critical hits on pg. 278: Maximum Damage: Rather than roll damage, determine the maximum damage you can … Continue reading
fdisk problems with large partitions
I recently upgraded my 3ware 9550SX-8LP RAID5 array from 250 GB drives to 1 TB drives. After the lengthy RAID initialization process, I tried to create a partition using fdisk. Unfortunately, fdisk seemed to only create a partition size of … Continue reading
D&D Character Builder crashes under Parallels
I had the D&D Character Builder running fine under a Parallels 5 Windows XP Pro virtual machine. But then a few weeks ago I ran a bunch of updates – both Windows and Parallels updates. Following the updates, the Character … Continue reading
Dead EMACS R3U-6460P power modules
Following a power outage that outlasted our UPS’s, I noticed that two out of the three modules (MIN-6250P) in one of our server’s EMACS R3U-6460P power supply were dead. And the fan on the one module that still had an … Continue reading