The Wiert Corner – irregular stream of stuff

Jeroen W. Pluimers on .NET, C#, Delphi, databases, and personal interests

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Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category

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IBM turns 100 today: Happy birthday, IBM

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/06/16

Today, a lot of articles and blogs will mention IBM’s 100th birthday.

My first encounter were their Selectric typewriters, followed by their PC and AT computers at high-school and university, both setting standards for personal computing.

I’ve used their AS/400 machines (via iSeries now named System i, and merged into their IBM Power Systems), RS/6000 (now System p) and mainframes (via zSeries now named System z) too.

However, being mainly on the PC side, I got totally addicted to their keyboards and to their  ThinkPad line of machines that – as part of IBM’s PC devision – got sold to Lenovo, and their hard drives (which got sold to HGST and are now part of Western Digital).

IBM still do a lot of research, which sets them apart from many other IT companies.

I love that, as a lot of good things has come from it: just google it or browse their lists with highlights on their research accomplishments.

Happy birthday IBM.

–jeroen

Posted in About, Opinions, Personal | Leave a Comment »

Zo onderweg naar #Taptoe #Mierlo om met #adestmusica te spelen #bolesian collega’s kom eens kijken :-)

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/05/21

Om 19:00 vanavond speel ik als deel van Adest Musica op taptoe Mierlo.

Dus (oud) Bolesianen en andere bekenden uit die buurt: als je tijd zin hebt, komeens kijken naar wat voor mooie show we daar geven.

–jeroen

Posted in About, Adest Musica, Personal | Leave a Comment »

Post 500

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/05/21

This is post 500 after 2 years and 1 month of blogging here.

When starting this blog, I never estimated the volume would be like this.

So far, the blog has been a great way of meeting new people, something I didn’t anticipate when starting it. Thanks everyone for commenting and teaching me. I’m never too old to learn something new :-)

One thing I did hope for was that the blog would make it easier to find things back. That really works: somehow my blog scores quite well on various search engines. That is only possible when other sites link to me: they apparently do, and I sure hope it is because of the content here. Thanks for linking!

I’m anxious how the blog evolves over the next year: will post # 750 be there? Did the topics change or not?

I’m open to suggestions, so please let me know what you like about this blog, and what direction you would like to evolve it to.

–jeroen

Posted in About, Personal | 1 Comment »

FAT32 formatting a HDD volume bigger than 32 gigabyte

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/05/02

Most external USB HDDs you buy are way bigger than 32 gigabyte, and factory formatted with NTFS.

Nowadays, many devices (TVs, modems, routers, etc) support attaching HDDs, but not all of them support NTFS, but most of them support FAT32.

My brother has such a TV. He has mental retardation (they have euphemisms for that; he basically has an IQ < 50, which in his means he can live on his own but needs daily visits from people that help him with the more complex things in life).

I’m his legal guardian (Dutch: curator), so my wife and me take care of some of those things.

This included getting his TV to recognize a USB HDD so he can watch his favourite TV series I recorded for him (Knight Rider, Top Gear, etc).

Windows NT and beyond cannot format FAT32 in an easy way.

They can from the commandline using the format command: use FOMAT X: /FS:FAT32 for that, it is slow and as soon as you add the /Q parameter to speed things up, it imposes the 32 gigabyte limit.

Microsoft suggests botting Windows 98 or Windows Me, but those have too many limitations (lack of USB support, no 48-bit LBA, imposing 137 gigabyte HDD limit, etc).

Luckily, Ridgecrop Consultants Ltd has a FAT32FORMAT tool  and accompanying GUI wrapper. They format any HDD using FAT32. Their tools work at least in Windows XP and up (I haven’t tested Windows 2000 and NT 4).

Problem solved: my brother can happily watch his favourite TV series I recorded for him :)

–jeroen

Posted in About, Personal, Power User, Windows, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP | Leave a Comment »

Jeroen turns 42 today

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/04/29

is a remarkeble number, and forty-two is what Jeroen turns today.

Jeroen won’t panic, as he lives on a mostly harmless planet, and plans to live for quite a while longer.

Don’t forget your towel today!

–jeroen’s alter ego

Posted in About, Personal | Leave a Comment »

Aaneenschrijven van telwoorden (algemeen)

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/02/14

Getallen schrijven in verschillende talen is altijd listig.

Taaladvies heeft er voor het Nederlands een mooi stukje over: Aaneenschrijven van telwoorden (algemeen).

–jeroen

Posted in About, Personal | Leave a Comment »

BEKIJK DE FILM, en steun hiermee de strijd tegen kanker!

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/02/02

BEKIJK DE FILM, en steun hiermee de strijd tegen kanker!.

–jeroen

Posted in About, Opinions, Personal | Leave a Comment »

31 Days – A Month of Style Tips and Tricks

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/02/01

Boy, did I really miss all these Tips and Tricks last month?

–jeroen

Posted in About, Opinions, Personal | Leave a Comment »

In Memoriam: Marcel Oud

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/01/19

Last night, Marcel Oud – a friend and inspirator – passed away at the age of 47.

Suffering from Cystic Fibrosis, he carried his fate with optimism: every moment for him was a gift (hence the “present”).

He had two famous quotes, characterizing his life long battle:

  • “ziek zijn is slecht voor je  gezondheid” which translates into “being ill is bad for your health”
  • “ons leven is wat onze gedachten er van maken”, which translates into “life is what our mind makes of it”.

He and his wife Sandra enjoyed playing and listening to music – especially percussion – very much.
Marcel was conductor of the Percussion Ensemble at Harmonie “St._Caecilia”, Lutjebroek for almost 20 years.
Shortly after he stopped being conductor, his wife joined the percussion group at Drum- and Showband Adest Musica, which Marcel was very proud of.

Eventually having to live by the day, the hour and even minute, his optimism stayed.

I’m proud to have known him, as he taught me a lot about the mental things in life.

I wish his wife Sandra, family and friends all the best.

–jeroen

Posted in About, Adest Musica, Personal | 4 Comments »

Wikipedia 10 turns ten – happy anniversary, be sure to donate to Wikipedia today!

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/01/15

Wikipedia turns 10 today.
So from this place: congratulations Wikipedia with this anniversary.

And for everyone reading this: please donate to Wikipedia today, and help celebrate this unique event.

–jeroen

via: Wikipedia 10.

Posted in About, Personal, Power User | Leave a Comment »

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