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Tong Family (richtong.org sync)

rich
rich
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  • Getting serious about 3D Printing guides

    We have two 3D printers from five years ago and they were definitely cranky but showed the potential. Back then it was really at the start, we backed two Kickstarter projects and ended up with two Delta printers. The first was just a mass of piece parts without any instructions. Alex was incredible and assembled…

  • Beware how you plug in power supplies into your PC motherboard especially PCIe vs CPU 8-pins

    Ok, I promised myself I would not build more computers. There is no need. Yet in 2020 I’ve built two and am working on a third. Some important notes. When things don’t power up. Here’s how to figure it out. I was working on building a new PC for Dave and got him a new…

  • Financial Analysis and great websites

    Well with all the market turmoil, it’s more than important to do the right financial analysis. If you don’t want to pay a lot for it, what are some of the great resources: MarketWatch. I’ve found that they have some great information particularly the quarterly financial data and pretty free. YCharts. The main benefit is…

  • Adding a registered or trademark symbol to WordPress sites

    Well if you smart, you have gone to the government and registered your company name as a trademark, but you have to defend your mark and make sure that it is used. It is a little tricky to figure out how to do this, so here’s what to do in WordPress: While you can figure…

  • More Drinks for Work from Home

    I must be getting a little crazy. I’m keep thinking about the cocktail that I’ll have this afternoon. Wow that’s great: Empress 1908. This is a cool gin that changes color when it hits tonic. Pretty neat. Made in Victoria Canada inspired by the Empress Hotel. Pretty cool. $37 from Drizly. Patron Anejo Tequila. This…

  • At home workout training tools

    Well my indoor bike trainer is on the way but what are the tools for exercising if you are at home and don’t have a beautiful home gym? Well first of all a lot of people are going outside. Just be aware of three things. This virus does live on metal and even cardboard. And…

  • Threadripper Overclocking Guide 2020

    OK, Brian has been trying to get his small home computer running. OK, nothing is small when you have a Threadripper, but still. Anyway, the guide to overclocking actually hasn’t changed much in the last 10 years literally. But for a Threadripper running on an ASUS ROG Strix TRX-40e and a Silverstone 1500W Power supply,…

  • Google Sheets Tips and Tricks

    Well I barely use spreadsheets anymore and when I do they are all Google Sheets because the collaboration works so much better. As an old 1-2-3 and then Excel junky (Excel rules still!), there are so many things that are just a little bit different, but if you are creating models, here are some tips…

  • Connecting an Silicon Valley Bank account to Paypal

    Well if you don’t have a company debit card, then one easy way to make regular payments is via Paypal. Here is how you can do it: Login to your SVB Account and create a Direct Connect PIN. You use this PIN to connect SVB to a variety of financial services like Paypal and Expensify.…

  • Contribute your computer to understanding Corona virus

    You can use either Folding@home or Rosetta@home to do this. It’s not completely clear how to do this so some instructions: Folding@home. It works best is you have a computer with a GPU. It is doing simulations while you are sleeping in a huge network. The client isn’t in `scoop` as far as I can…

  • A paeon to Dad’s cool camera and stereo of the late 60s and 70s

    Well, my Dad was someone who loved gadgets (he may have passed this on). Everything was carefully researched and I find myself gradually acquiring all those old components and pieces. Here are some which thanks to the Internet still have pages about them. The components that I remember from the 1960s really made an impression…

  • Corona Virus Personal Protection and Masks

    Well, if you are lucky enough not to be exposed, how do you stay that way. There are the usual tips and WHO is pretty clear about it Wash your hands thoroughly Don’t touch your eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands Avoid sick people Ok, that’s nice, but how do you do the latter,…

  • Apple Watch does not pair with AirPods

    Man, this was mighty frustrating. The pairing between Apple Watch and AirPod has been seamless for a long time, but just this week, I found that my Apple Watch kept saying, “can’t find AirPod Pros”. This happens even if I turn off every Bluetooth device that has ever paired with the AirPod. I even tried…

  • Now a diversion on Free Energy and the Brain

    In the world of Covid-19, it’s hard to think about anything else, but while doing some exercise, listening to Sean Carroll has been great. His book on Quantum Physics called Something Deeply Hidden was excellent. But this latest podcast with Karl Friston was something else. Who knows if it is correct, but there are two…

  • Life in Wartime: Training at Home

    Well, it doesn’t look like we are getting to the gym anytime soon and the thought of running or biking around when this virus is everywhere doesn’t seem smart. So it looks like it’s finally time to set up a decent home gym that has the minimum of stuff that I need: We have some…

  • Making Your PC A Work of Art

    I’ve been chatting with Tim and Brian quite a bit about how PCs are changing from productivity machines to (particularly for gamers) works of art that should be displayed. Just looking at our latest Threadripper miniTower build shows how easy it is to get the right hardware: NZXT H510. It is easy to get a…

  • Life in Wartime – Ordering Really Whisky, Vodka, Tequila and Rum

    Well there is always a good excuse to drink and it seems like there’s never been a better time. If you are in a bunker, you might as well make the best of it. So in no particular order are some liquor recommendations. Using Drizly is the easy way to access a high-quality liquor store…

  • Covid-19 Data Sites

    We are literally swimming in a sea of confused data about the Corona Virus data sites. Net, net, the growth in death rates is key. Eventually, hopefully, deaths will start to shrink. See UMN for a collection of links or just use Google. Here are the three sites, you should monitor every day if you…

  • What Mac to Buy Now and Printer too

    Well we are in the middle of an upgrade cycle now, so if you want a MacBook, here’s what to do: First, look at the Mac Rumors site to see what the current. As of March 2020, they seem to show that a MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro 16″ are the best. Or look…

  • Right ratios of Rectangles

    When you are building a presentation, how should you lay things out and what are the right ratios. The main thing to realize is that if your slide is 16:9, then it makes some sense to have rectangles that are longer than they are tall. The Golden Ratio. This is buried deep in the mathematical…

  • Life in wartime: company survival rules

    Normally I would say tips. But my levels of strictness are commandments > rules > tips > tricks. So this is pretty high (Defcon 2). So on what should you do with your company in these circumstances, there are two great resources: Dan Rosen. He’s an old friend and an experienced angel investor. He has…

  • Word to the wise when building PC, buy with Amex Platinum if you can

    Since I’ve been building PC, I’ve completely forgot that you can get infant mortality problems where things die early. We just had a $550 motherboard literally die after one week of use. ASUS is awesome because they have online chat to get through this, but here are some things to know: When you are buying…

  • Tips on using Zoom well

    Well, this week I’ve been a Zoom with 20 people for a happy hour, countless Zoom 1:1s, then two Zoom Webinars and then a Zoom college reunion gathering for nearly 200 people. What a learning curve it is, but here are some notes on how to use it: You pretty much are going to have…

  • WordPress Themes Reviews

    Well since I’ve got more time at home and am maintaining no less than half a dozen websites, it’s time to jot down what is working and what is not. here are some notes, but the things to decide are: Do you want to use an out of the box theme? These are actually pretty…

  • Tuning Ethernet Performance on Dell Alienware Aurora R8 with Qualcomm 802.11ac Adapter

    Ok got a Zoom call coming up and want to make sure to have maximum bandwidth. This machine kept on falling back to using 2.4Ghz, 802.11n with 72Mbps maximum. The way to fix is pretty arcane. you have dive into `Device Manager` and twiddle with the advanced parameters for the Qualcomm adapter: 1. Set preferred…

  • Video Conferencing with Zoom and Keeping your Internet Speed Great

    Well now that so many of us are at home, figuring out how to keep your video and other calls running well is more important than ever. Since yesterday, our network speeds have been horrible. Before the crisis we were getting 190Mbps upstream and 5Mbps downstream. But starting yesterday that had dropped to 30Mbps/1Mbps and…

  • Covid and Helping Others Part I

    Well hopefully everyone is ok, but there are millions who aren’t. Here are some notes about what you can do to help others. Not a comprehensive list, but some good resources: OpenTable Gifts has a limited number of restaurants that take their gift cards. For now, they are eliminating all fees to the restaurants, so…

  • Apps for Self-Quarantine from Houseparty to Netflix Party to Goodreads

    Well, hopefully everyone is safe and sound during this epidemic. Now that we are self isolating, what are some things to do (besides watch the news, help those in need and stay safe yourself). Beyond Slack, Teams, Zoom and Messaging Ok there are the usual suspects (and I don’t count Facebook or Twitter by the…

  • More Self-Quarantine Options DoorDash, and Drizly

    OK, with self-quarantine the new meme, here are some notes about how to minimize contact: In Singapore, when you go out, you leave your shoes at the door, change out and wash your “outside” clothes and switch to indoor clothes. I already posted about ordering stuff (TL;dr, Costco, Instacart, Amazon Prime Now, then Amazon Prime,…