I'm (trying to be) back...

JimS · October 19, 2002, 04:57 hrs

I haven't been checking in very often because (besides being phenomenally busy) this site has been soooo slooowww for me. The two systems at home I log in with are a Dell 4300D running WinXP-Home and the old Quantex 800 running W98SE. Both are running Netscape 4.7 through a dial-up connection. I'm able to access this site fairly quickly (again, we're talking dial-up here...), but when I click onto a particular forum, the page appears to load normally (the % counter at the bottom of the screen counts to 100%) at which point it will say 'Document: Done', but the page remains blank, for a few minutes. I usually click around the screen (I'm get bored...) and sometime the page appears, but I can't honestly say that my clicking is doing anything. Sometimes, after clicking Reload, the page will quickly flash on the screen but then try to reload, giving me the same counter-zero-to-one-hundred and Document-Done blank-page deal. CTRL-ALT-DEL will usually say that the program (the page I'm trying to access) has stopped responding.

I don't have problems like this with any other site, and unfortunately, this problem seems to have occurred only since we all move to this new site. This occurs at any time of day (to write this, I logged on @ 5:30 AM on a Saturday).

Any ideas?

dcsun · October 19, 2002, 05:00 hrs

Sounds like Netscape behaving as it usually does. Try another browser like IE or Opera and see how it goes.

Neon · October 19, 2002, 14:17 hrs

Jim, part of the problem is that our forum software has some code in it that is "optimized for Internet Explorer" :P This can cause Netscape 4 to appear to act flakey.

The other problem is that Netscape 4 is based on ~1997 technology. You should upgrade to Netscape 7, which should render most things correctly, or try Mozilla, or one of the others already suggested.

Joanie · October 19, 2002, 20:27 hrs

Neon did I mention to you that you have a very interesting website. I really enjoyed the time I spent there.

Your a very smart young man.

Joanie

Neon · October 19, 2002, 23:08 hrs

Thanks mom! ;) hee hee!
well, it is a work in progress, so let me know if you have any suggestions for new topics, or things to improve, or mad color schemes I could try out, or recipe ideas...

thanks for taking the time to check it out.

dcsun · October 19, 2002, 23:30 hrs

Indeed, your site is very interesting. I especially liked your PopTart preparation instructions and the many refences to a magic eight ball. BTW, that thing in the upper left is the gizmo inside a magic eight ball that has all the options listed on it. What do I win? :P

Neon · October 20, 2002, 09:47 hrs

PopTart? What's a PopTart? Nope, there's no reference to a PopTart on my recipe page. There is a Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon Toaster Pastry recipe, maybe that's what you meant. Anyway, I worked hard on that recipe, as it is a very dangerous procedure, and requires a lot of warnings in the instructions. ;)

Indeed the "gizmo" for page navigation is a 2D representation of the same 3D object at the core of the magic 8 ball. Very good. However, for full marks, what is the name of the shape, and what relationship does it have to my graduate thesis work? Step right up, you could be the winner of a new box of toaster pastries.

dcsun · October 20, 2002, 10:53 hrs

Octahedron? ??? Wrong!

Yes, PopTarts are basically the toaster pastries. Probably just a Canadian name. They come in a package of six in foil wrappers. Quite tasty either warm or cold, but I think it's an acquired taste.

Neon · October 20, 2002, 12:07 hrs

Octahedron - nice try, but you get the buzzer

So apparently some Canadian company has stolen my recipe for Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon Toaster Pastry, including the innovative aluminum pouch, and renamed it PopTarts? I am outraged! Outraged I say! Not to mention very concerned for their safety, due to the dangerously incendiary nature of the recipe preparation. Let's just hope they are taking proper precautions.

pat · October 20, 2002, 17:04 hrs

Heck, I?ll take a stab at it.
I?m pretty sure it?s not a quasitruncated great stellated dodecahedron, nor is it a great ditrigonary dodekicosidodecahedron.
Would it just be a Decagon or is it more than that?
Anyway, I like the Oriental noodles and flavored broth recipes myself. Nothing better when you?re hungry and in a hurry.

Joanie · October 20, 2002, 17:46 hrs

Well I have to admit the recipes on Neon website made me drool. He asked me about some new ideas or suggestions, now how can I top his creations and the ingredients are easy to find and they come all assembled in one pan.

Very ingenious my son.

Joanie

Neon · October 20, 2002, 19:01 hrs

hey, truncated dodecahedron is very close, but not quite. Here's a hint - think uniform polyhedra.

If there's one thing you can say about my recipes, it is that they are very convenient, and thus efficiently prepared. I was thinking about adding armpit fudge. The recipe is a bit involved, though. What do you folks think?

Ace · October 20, 2002, 20:48 hrs

Ok, look; I don't care if you have Pasties for breakfast or what. I used Netscape from DC to poast this week, on a dialup, and it wasn't all that dang slow or dangerous, so geez criminy. Except that our niece likes to have crumbs on her mouse pad, so the thing sorta grits along... ech.

Man, they've got a junked up PC. Netscape and IE; dial up and AOL and Netscape and Kazaa and a buncha hooey. Overkill, with several duplicative systems in place. And the grit. Nice to be home to a clean machine and mousepad with gel support and to the point triangulated polynomial transactions. Huh.

I'm glad Neon is trying to be convenient, and efficient. And if he can play the Flintstone's theme in his armpit, more power to him.

Ace; I'm glad to be back to see Neon is glad to be back.

JimS · October 22, 2002, 09:29 hrs

Don't mean to break up the thread...

Thanks, Dave and Neon. I had tried Opera a while ago, but didn't see any compelling reason to use it. It used to be in the download section of Poasters, but is no longer there. Why's that?

At one time, I had upgraded to Netscape 6, but didn't like it, and reloaded 4.72, which, except for with Poasters, has always worked well. I've been resistive of going to IE. Call me what you want, but hackers pretty much concentrate on IE and ignore Netscape. I've always gone for the underdog (even though I'm a Yankee fan), which is another reason I'm still with Netscape. If I were able to still use Word Perfect at work, I would. I've been using Word exclusively for over four years now, and still don't really like it.

Maybe I'll try Netscape 7. Any thoughts on it? Perhaps if I fed my computer Netscape 7 and Pop Tarts....

Neon · October 22, 2002, 10:15 hrs

JimS, sorry we kind of took your question off on a tangent. :-[ Anyway, we don't have Opera on the downloads page because it was version 5.2, and it is relatively easy to download the latest version directly from Opera.

Netscape 6.0 was a boondoggle, because they rushed to release it, and it was based on incomplete code. As a result, it was quite buggy. Netscape 6.2 was fairly good, and Netscape 7 is also good and quite useable. It is based on Mozilla, which is what I use full time. One caveat - you really need about a 400MHz CPU and 64MB RAM minimum to see decent performance.

Do not feed your computer PopTarts. Their frosted luscious deliciousness is too overwhelming to not be consumed by humans.

Ace · October 22, 2002, 10:59 hrs

I downloaded Netscape 7 on the relative's computer; seemed to work ok. looks like an XP type look... round buttons, smooth corners. Bookmarks instead of favorites, and now the flying N is multi-colored. Also concur with WordPerfect over Word any old time. Typesetting and revealed codes alone are worth the price of admission.

I did try Opera once, too, but could not stay awake...

Ace; wonder if anyone has tried to burn a Pop Tart at 32x yet.

JimS · October 23, 2002, 11:23 hrs

I downloaded and installed Netscape 7, and hot dang, this site comes up just like old times. I logged on once at work with IE (internet access is over network, which is really super-fast, but I don't like to push my luck by coming here while at work...) and IE, at work, was also far faster than Netscape 4.72.

One of my mantras is if it ain't broke, don't fix it (I'm still using Office '97), but it seems that ole 4.72 is heading for the trash bin.

Thanks for the suggestions. I won't disrupt the thread again. Dave kicked me out of the desktop forum, so blame him for these disruptions (kidding).

Neon · October 23, 2002, 13:18 hrs

Good deal, it must be nice to see again. And you started this thread, so we disrupted your thread with our silly PopTart discussion. I could blame Dave, but he does his job pretty well, and frankly, I would much rather blame Ace. Ace is supposed to be in charge while Scuzzy is gone, and instead he takes threads off on tangents. You have to look out for Ace- always threading tangents. Yep.

Ace · October 23, 2002, 20:57 hrs

Do not shoot the messenger, nor the Jester. Both do what they do, to do what they do, and are what they are.

I am supposed to be in charge; that is right, sir. I went off on a tangent, and came back on a paradigm. I am the lookout, and so that too is another thing to look out for. for which to look out. Out, for to look.

I apologize for mentioning the original intent of the poast chain. I'm usually careful not to do that. I shall take credit for recommending Netscape 7 as a product I personally do not encourage. Do not underestimate the Jester, nor stand downwind from the Panda.

Ace; I do things that others say "Why would I" and ask things that others say "Since when?"

News:

I'm (trying to be) back...

dcsun

dcsun

dcsun