In a past post from last year, I outlined my experiences with free, over-the-air TV. This posting merely updates that post, and illustrates how over-the-air is improving.
For starters, I have now managed to get programmed into the television over fifty channels! That number includes all of those channels in the previous posting which, at that time, were not programmed into my TV due to an insufficient signal and/or my lack of success in helping the television to capture their signals. A few additional channels have been added by their respective networks as well as some of the weaker signals finding their way to my TV and antenna over this summer. The actual number of channels that are consistently viewed (un-interrupted) is less than half that number. Yet over the summer I have managed to enjoy far greater success in isolating those difficult to receive channels (for me) using the same methods as outlined in the previous post - an antenna at ground level and a yard sale "HD/digital capable" TV.
The results of this summer's activity is a greater amount of content being accessible, even if it may be very short term. Channel 8 in Rochester duplicates much of the content of it's affiliate in Buffalo. Yet if it's signal is present, and the Buffalo affiliate is not, I can still enjoy a program.
I have no doubt that with a decent antenna mast, a television with better manual programming features, a good antenna or two, and perhaps an amplifier/filter for improving signal reception, it would make it possible for anyone to enjoy the vast majority of all 50 channels on a consisten basis. It would allow them to receive far more than the 50 stations listed below. Stations in Buffalo, Barrie, Peterborough, Oshawa, Kitchener, and such still remain un-captured by my modest means, and would not be for someone better outfitted or better located than I (most of the citizenry of Toronto).
Below is an updated list of the stations programmed into my TV. Anything less than 51% is a station/channel whose reception is not consistent, with the percentile values nearer to 100% reflecting those stations likely to be enjoyed most, with least signal interruptions.
Channel 16, marked ***, deserves a posting all it's own. When programming the TV channels, and if the signal is present, my TV adds 16-7. even though no audio or video is available. Then, when browsing channels, the TV pauses whenever it gets to 16-7, and eventually display an error message after an interminable delay (bad timing/signal or some such). Shame on the station, and my TV for this silly happenstance. Hopefully, the phantom virtual channel will disappear.
The updated list of channels:
2-1 WGRZ-HD 33 25%
2-2 WGRZ2-2 33 25%
2-3 WGRZ2-3 33 25%
4-1 WIVB-HD 39 85%
5-1 CBLT-HD 20 100%
7-1 WKBW-HD 38 20%
7-2 LAFF 38 20%
7-3 ESCAPE 38 20%
8-1 WROC-HD 45 2%
8-2 BOUNCE 45 2%
8-3 Laff 45 2%
8-4 Escape 45 2%
9-1 CFTO 9 100%
11-1 CHCH-DT 15 75%
13-1 WHAM-HD 13 <1%
13-2 CW-WHAM 13 <1%
13-3 GritTV 13 <1%
15-1 STARRAY 22 30%
16-7 ?Bad Signal 16 <1%*** ? bad signal
17-1 WNED-HD 43 90%
17-2 THINK 43 90%
19-1 TVO 19 100%
21-1 WXXI-HD 16 <1%*** all in order
21-2 WXXI-W 16 <1%*** all in order
21-3 WXXI-C 16 <1%*** all in order
23-1 WNLO-HD 32 90%
23-2 BOUNCE 32 90%
25-1 CBLFTDT 25 100%
26-1 WNYB-SD 26 65%
26-2 WNYB-HD 26 65%
26-3 WNYB-SD2 26 65%
29-1 WUTV-HD 14 60%
29-2 TCN 14 60%
29-3 GRIT TV 14 60%
31-1 WUHF-TV 28 <1%
31-2 Antenna 28 <1%
31-3 Comet-T 28 <1%
36-1 CITS-HD 36 90%
40-1 CJMT 40 60%
41-1 CIII-HD 41 95%
41-2 CIII-SD 41 95%
43-10 (audio only)43 90%
47-1 CFMT 47 65%
49-1 WNYO-HD 49 50%
49-2 ASN 49 50%
49-3 Get TV 49 50%
49-4 CometTV 49 50%
51-1 IONTV(WPXJ-TV)23 <1%
51-2 QUBO 23 <1%
51-3 IONLIFE 23 <1%
51-4 SHOP 23 <1%
51-5 QVC 23 <1%
51-6 HSN 23 <1%
57-1 CITYTV 44 100%
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Sunday, June 26, 2016
qBitorrent Unban / Undo when you Ban peer permanently
If you use the open-source, qBittorrent, this blog entry is for you.
When you right click on a peer in qBittorrent, you are given an option to "Ban peer permanently". When used, the ban takes affect immediately. All communication with the client's IP address ceases, and that IP address remains a black hole in current and future qBittorent sessions.
If you happen to be dealing with a leecher client, this sort of command is useful, especially with leechers who have a static IP address. Your ban halts all future communication with them.
The command is not useful, however, if the client using the IP address is only using it for a short duration of time. This is a common occurrence with ISPs whose customers share a pool of IP addresses that change each time they establish communication with their ISP/Internet. The client with such an ISP, if he/she reconnects to the ISP, will appear using a new IP address. In this case, your ban may prevent a different customer from the same ISP from establishing communication with you - a client that is not a leecher.
The ban is also unhelpful if you use the ban command by mistake, or purposely, and had hoped an "unban peer permanently" command would miraculously replace the existing ban command when you right clicked in the window again after making a mistake. Sadly, this does not occur, and your "momentary test ban" does indeed become permanent.
qBittorrent users get stuck at this point. The program assumes you use the ban command wisely. Of course, not all of us are as sage as the developers think we are, and we make bans we do not want to keep... All can easily be undone. You can undo the ban, or un-ban the banned peer with a simple text editor. But qTorrent doesn't offer you any facility to do it. You are forced to do it yourself.
qBittorrent for Windows stores the bans within it's "qBittorrent.ini" file. It is an integral file to the program, and should be treated with care. If you want my advice, I would suggest you make a copy of this file before making any changes to the file. That way any changes you might make to the file can be undone (restoring the file), by replacing the modified file with the un-altered copy of the original.
In Windows 7, "qBittorrent.ini" is located in...
"?:\Users\(ACCOUNT)\AppData\Roaming\qBittorrent\"
...where "?" is usually "C", the C hard drive, and "(ACCOUNT)" is the account you use to log in to Windows. If you have another flavour of Windows, the path of the file - its location - may be slightly different. But the file name will be identical, and it will certainly be in a qBittorrent folder.
Whenever qBittorent is booted, the contents of qBittorent.ini are read and used to restore the application to its previously saved state. It reads the banned IP data in the file and re-impliments the ban each time the program is run.
Like any text file, you need to use a text editor that supports the native format of the file. When or if you have such an editor, the means of un-doing or un-banning the peer could not be simpler.
Open the file. Home in on the text "[Preferences]", which appears a certain number lines into the file. The line or lines containing bans appear shortly after the preferences heading line. It should look similar to this...
[Preferences]
General\SystrayEnabled=true
General\PreventFromSuspend=false
Downloads\TorrentExportDir=
Downloads\StartInPause=true
Connection\MaxHalfOpenConnec=20
Connection\Interface
... and so on.
Each line of text in the file is a single, specific instruction to qBittorrent. Each line of text, except the line with the ban, should be left, as is, within this file. These lines are the very preferences/choices you have made in the application as to how the program operates. ie: what trackers it uses, which features are enabled/disabled, or which values a feature uses, etc. You want to keep everything in this file, except the ban line.
Your ban was added to this file as a single line and it will look as follows...
IPFilter\BannedIPs=10.1.99.255
The IP address numbers will obviously be different, such as 123.456.789.0, or something like that. But the entire line is the ban. It is what is stopping communication with the IP address, and it is this line that requires your attention. If you have banned more than one IP address, there will be multiple entries on the same line. Each IP address will be separated by a comma, such as IPFilter\BannedIPs=10.1.99.255,10.1.99.254,255.99.1.10
All the lines of text above and below the ban line are vital data to the program.
When you wish to remove the ban line, you must leave all the data above and below it intact, and then save the file. This removes the ban data from the file, and nothing more. All your preferences and settings and choices are as they were, and will be if you only wish to remove the ban. If the program is currently running when you edit the file, you must re-start the program in order for the removal of the ban to take place.
How to remove the ban.
Below is an example of how such a line is removed correctly. The text above and below in the example is purely for demonstration purposes and is meant to make it painfully obvious as to what content is the ban line that should be removed, and what is not. In reality, there are numerous lines before and after the ban line. The example does not contain the actual text that would appear above or below the ban line.
Text before the ban is removed:
LINE OF TEXT ABOVE=HERE
IPFilter\BannedIPs=111.222.333.444
LINE OF TEXT BELOW=HERE
Text after the ban is removed:
LINE OF TEXT ABOVE=HERE
LINE OF TEXT BELOW=HERE
Save the file, and you are done. If you banned the client/it's IP address only moments ago, and watched as the client disappeared, that same client at the affected IP address should return, if it can be found once the program is quickly restarted (locating peers is not always instantaneous).
When you right click on a peer in qBittorrent, you are given an option to "Ban peer permanently". When used, the ban takes affect immediately. All communication with the client's IP address ceases, and that IP address remains a black hole in current and future qBittorent sessions.
If you happen to be dealing with a leecher client, this sort of command is useful, especially with leechers who have a static IP address. Your ban halts all future communication with them.
The command is not useful, however, if the client using the IP address is only using it for a short duration of time. This is a common occurrence with ISPs whose customers share a pool of IP addresses that change each time they establish communication with their ISP/Internet. The client with such an ISP, if he/she reconnects to the ISP, will appear using a new IP address. In this case, your ban may prevent a different customer from the same ISP from establishing communication with you - a client that is not a leecher.
The ban is also unhelpful if you use the ban command by mistake, or purposely, and had hoped an "unban peer permanently" command would miraculously replace the existing ban command when you right clicked in the window again after making a mistake. Sadly, this does not occur, and your "momentary test ban" does indeed become permanent.
qBittorrent users get stuck at this point. The program assumes you use the ban command wisely. Of course, not all of us are as sage as the developers think we are, and we make bans we do not want to keep... All can easily be undone. You can undo the ban, or un-ban the banned peer with a simple text editor. But qTorrent doesn't offer you any facility to do it. You are forced to do it yourself.
qBittorrent for Windows stores the bans within it's "qBittorrent.ini" file. It is an integral file to the program, and should be treated with care. If you want my advice, I would suggest you make a copy of this file before making any changes to the file. That way any changes you might make to the file can be undone (restoring the file), by replacing the modified file with the un-altered copy of the original.
In Windows 7, "qBittorrent.ini" is located in...
"?:\Users\(ACCOUNT)\AppData\Roaming\qBittorrent\"
...where "?" is usually "C", the C hard drive, and "(ACCOUNT)" is the account you use to log in to Windows. If you have another flavour of Windows, the path of the file - its location - may be slightly different. But the file name will be identical, and it will certainly be in a qBittorrent folder.
Whenever qBittorent is booted, the contents of qBittorent.ini are read and used to restore the application to its previously saved state. It reads the banned IP data in the file and re-impliments the ban each time the program is run.
Like any text file, you need to use a text editor that supports the native format of the file. When or if you have such an editor, the means of un-doing or un-banning the peer could not be simpler.
Open the file. Home in on the text "[Preferences]", which appears a certain number lines into the file. The line or lines containing bans appear shortly after the preferences heading line. It should look similar to this...
[Preferences]
General\SystrayEnabled=true
General\PreventFromSuspend=false
Downloads\TorrentExportDir=
Downloads\StartInPause=true
Connection\MaxHalfOpenConnec=20
Connection\Interface
... and so on.
Each line of text in the file is a single, specific instruction to qBittorrent. Each line of text, except the line with the ban, should be left, as is, within this file. These lines are the very preferences/choices you have made in the application as to how the program operates. ie: what trackers it uses, which features are enabled/disabled, or which values a feature uses, etc. You want to keep everything in this file, except the ban line.
Your ban was added to this file as a single line and it will look as follows...
IPFilter\BannedIPs=10.1.99.255
The IP address numbers will obviously be different, such as 123.456.789.0, or something like that. But the entire line is the ban. It is what is stopping communication with the IP address, and it is this line that requires your attention. If you have banned more than one IP address, there will be multiple entries on the same line. Each IP address will be separated by a comma, such as IPFilter\BannedIPs=10.1.99.255,10.1.99.254,255.99.1.10
All the lines of text above and below the ban line are vital data to the program.
When you wish to remove the ban line, you must leave all the data above and below it intact, and then save the file. This removes the ban data from the file, and nothing more. All your preferences and settings and choices are as they were, and will be if you only wish to remove the ban. If the program is currently running when you edit the file, you must re-start the program in order for the removal of the ban to take place.
How to remove the ban.
Below is an example of how such a line is removed correctly. The text above and below in the example is purely for demonstration purposes and is meant to make it painfully obvious as to what content is the ban line that should be removed, and what is not. In reality, there are numerous lines before and after the ban line. The example does not contain the actual text that would appear above or below the ban line.
Text before the ban is removed:
LINE OF TEXT ABOVE=HERE
IPFilter\BannedIPs=111.222.333.444
LINE OF TEXT BELOW=HERE
Text after the ban is removed:
LINE OF TEXT ABOVE=HERE
LINE OF TEXT BELOW=HERE
Save the file, and you are done. If you banned the client/it's IP address only moments ago, and watched as the client disappeared, that same client at the affected IP address should return, if it can be found once the program is quickly restarted (locating peers is not always instantaneous).
Saturday, June 18, 2016
New Bleachbit Cleaner: PokerTH game log CleanerML
For the details on BleachBit, see my initial blog entry on this excellent system maintenance utility. To get the CleanerML markup for PokerTH and other CleanerML I have created for Bleachbit, visit my GoogleDrive CleanerML folder. Once you manage to make your own, adding cleaning operations to your system via BleachBit is a snap.
Friday, May 27, 2016
AKOB = Another Kind of Blues
Of the many bands I never had a chance to listen to or check out in real-time, when the band itself was in it's prime time, AKOB, or Another Kind Of Blues is one. None of my friends had tapes of them, never mind the vinyl. If they had, they failed to turn me on to them. But that is doubtful. We heard only what we could hear, and we shared.
It is thanks, or no thanks, to the Internet that vinyl collectors, tape traders, and our ilk realize how much more there was to enjoy. When I got my first listen of AKOB's 7" Undergrowth single, I also got to hear all the songs that didn't make it to that release. I played it loud, repeatedly, and enjoyed what certainly would have kept me mobile in a sweat-filled room of bodies running into each other.
Rev it up, and go!
AKOB: What's Going On Blues
AKOB: Five Finger Discount Blues:
It is thanks, or no thanks, to the Internet that vinyl collectors, tape traders, and our ilk realize how much more there was to enjoy. When I got my first listen of AKOB's 7" Undergrowth single, I also got to hear all the songs that didn't make it to that release. I played it loud, repeatedly, and enjoyed what certainly would have kept me mobile in a sweat-filled room of bodies running into each other.
Rev it up, and go!
AKOB: What's Going On Blues
AKOB: Five Finger Discount Blues:
Monday, April 11, 2016
Carding 101 for Canadians
For the last thirty five years of my life, I have avoided carrying identification of any kind, unless there is or was a compelling reason for me to do so (ie: a law that demands that I do). Given my age, there are precious few reasons to do so. Yet even when I was seventeen, it was no different. Back at that age, I got collared to answer the usual questions many, many, many times. Often, just because I was a punk with a mohawk, or they didn't like the looks of me, or because some asshole in the near vicinity decided to bring in every cop in town into the area, all for some stupid stunt or action. To be sure, some of these stunts may or may not have been done by myself or friends. But that is besides the point here, for all I want to get on with is talking about the carrying of identification.
By age seventeen, there were few establishments that ever stopped me at their door, barring me entry due to my age. So I did not need a birth certificate (at that time, acceptable-enough as proof of age at drinking establishments (it had no photo)). My social insurance number was only needed when applying for work (no photo either). My student I.D. card was only required for school events, so it was always in my locker, never in my wallet. It did not have a photo either. I used cash for most financial transactions, and carried it on my person for obvious reasons. But the bank card and the like would only come with me if I knew or foresaw myself in the near future of having need of it. Even then, a bank card or credit card with your name on it really isn't I.D., except to businesses that want to expedite the cash in your card's account into their own account.
In short, there were no reasons to carry personal/material I.D., and this is true today. And if you have a brain, the same goes for the Internet.
Why people insist upon carrying identification they do not need is a mystery to me. I wouldn't bring my social insurance number on vacation, let alone to school, nor would I do the same for my age of majority card (if I had one!), or anything else that I would not need on vacation. The police officers or border guards or immigration officials of Belize, Bahamas, or Britain are unlikely to give a damn about un-recognized identification. They may even interpret offering it to them "as I.D." as an attempt on your part to confuse or otherwise prevent them from ascertaining just who you really are. And the same officers of Canada are no different.
Since citizens of Canada are not required by law to maintain personal identification on their person within Canada, unless they are compelled to do so by law, then all the I.D. that you have on you when you do not need it is simply an excuse for you to surrender it because of some innate need for you to give it to people who have no lawful right to viewing and/or having it. This is not to say that you should offer or provide it to anyone (I know I wouldn't). But merely having it makes it possible for you to do so. Having it also makes questions such as "Do you have any identification?" - a harmless question to ask from a police officer - become much more mentally challenging to you. ie: If you have no I.D. upon you, the answer is not only simple, but so will be your delivery of your answer. There will be no mental anguish on your part over any I.D. you might have had on you because you will be happy to tell the so-and-so asking that "Sorry! I have no I.D. bananas today! Please come again!"
If you are a passenger in a vehicle, you do not have to have identification. The driver will need it, and maybe one other passenger if the driver is to be accompanied by another person that possesses a driver's license. Beyond that, no one else does. So if you are in the back seat, and get pulled over and are asked for I.D., your verbal self-identification, if requested, is all that need be given.
When without I.D. and am quizzed by officers of authority-stripe (those who may have a reason to allow them to ask me such questions), I give the following.
Name? First and last.
Address? The street I live on. Something like "1xx-block of Blah-Blah Street" or just the street name, if its not a very long street. If it makes him/her happy to know precisely, I let them ask for precise details, and will only give address and apartment.
Age? I give it, or the month/year I was born and let them do the math (You can actually see the wheels turning in some!)
Where are you going? / What are you doing? While it may be of no business to an officer asking this question, its a damned simple question to answer. If you want to be obfuscatory or have some internal reason to be non-cooperative, do as you feel you must. Just beware that getting your nose in the cop's face about such things is simply begging for more questions to be asked or for the officer to press/try harder to see if you can be queried further, or worse, much further down at the station.
They do not need your phone number, nor deserve it, unless you want to provide it to them. Any other information about you they can research on their own, without your help. Personally, if something really bad went down, and IF there is a possibility I could help later on (recalling who/what/when/where), I might give my phone number to a cop if he/she wanted AND I wanted him or her to have it.
You do not have to answer any questions, save, perhaps, to identify yourself, if asked (that does not require I.D.). Again, if that is too much to ask, so be it. For me, it has always been, but then, I soon learned it was just as easy to answer two or three ridiculously simple questions rather than answer none, and spend twice as long, or much, much longer, not answering them.
By age seventeen, there were few establishments that ever stopped me at their door, barring me entry due to my age. So I did not need a birth certificate (at that time, acceptable-enough as proof of age at drinking establishments (it had no photo)). My social insurance number was only needed when applying for work (no photo either). My student I.D. card was only required for school events, so it was always in my locker, never in my wallet. It did not have a photo either. I used cash for most financial transactions, and carried it on my person for obvious reasons. But the bank card and the like would only come with me if I knew or foresaw myself in the near future of having need of it. Even then, a bank card or credit card with your name on it really isn't I.D., except to businesses that want to expedite the cash in your card's account into their own account.
In short, there were no reasons to carry personal/material I.D., and this is true today. And if you have a brain, the same goes for the Internet.
Why people insist upon carrying identification they do not need is a mystery to me. I wouldn't bring my social insurance number on vacation, let alone to school, nor would I do the same for my age of majority card (if I had one!), or anything else that I would not need on vacation. The police officers or border guards or immigration officials of Belize, Bahamas, or Britain are unlikely to give a damn about un-recognized identification. They may even interpret offering it to them "as I.D." as an attempt on your part to confuse or otherwise prevent them from ascertaining just who you really are. And the same officers of Canada are no different.
Since citizens of Canada are not required by law to maintain personal identification on their person within Canada, unless they are compelled to do so by law, then all the I.D. that you have on you when you do not need it is simply an excuse for you to surrender it because of some innate need for you to give it to people who have no lawful right to viewing and/or having it. This is not to say that you should offer or provide it to anyone (I know I wouldn't). But merely having it makes it possible for you to do so. Having it also makes questions such as "Do you have any identification?" - a harmless question to ask from a police officer - become much more mentally challenging to you. ie: If you have no I.D. upon you, the answer is not only simple, but so will be your delivery of your answer. There will be no mental anguish on your part over any I.D. you might have had on you because you will be happy to tell the so-and-so asking that "Sorry! I have no I.D. bananas today! Please come again!"
If you are a passenger in a vehicle, you do not have to have identification. The driver will need it, and maybe one other passenger if the driver is to be accompanied by another person that possesses a driver's license. Beyond that, no one else does. So if you are in the back seat, and get pulled over and are asked for I.D., your verbal self-identification, if requested, is all that need be given.
When without I.D. and am quizzed by officers of authority-stripe (those who may have a reason to allow them to ask me such questions), I give the following.
Name? First and last.
Address? The street I live on. Something like "1xx-block of Blah-Blah Street" or just the street name, if its not a very long street. If it makes him/her happy to know precisely, I let them ask for precise details, and will only give address and apartment.
Age? I give it, or the month/year I was born and let them do the math (You can actually see the wheels turning in some!)
Where are you going? / What are you doing? While it may be of no business to an officer asking this question, its a damned simple question to answer. If you want to be obfuscatory or have some internal reason to be non-cooperative, do as you feel you must. Just beware that getting your nose in the cop's face about such things is simply begging for more questions to be asked or for the officer to press/try harder to see if you can be queried further, or worse, much further down at the station.
They do not need your phone number, nor deserve it, unless you want to provide it to them. Any other information about you they can research on their own, without your help. Personally, if something really bad went down, and IF there is a possibility I could help later on (recalling who/what/when/where), I might give my phone number to a cop if he/she wanted AND I wanted him or her to have it.
You do not have to answer any questions, save, perhaps, to identify yourself, if asked (that does not require I.D.). Again, if that is too much to ask, so be it. For me, it has always been, but then, I soon learned it was just as easy to answer two or three ridiculously simple questions rather than answer none, and spend twice as long, or much, much longer, not answering them.
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Plasmatics on SCTV with John Candy - The Fishin' Musician show
One of my favorite SCTV guest musician segments.
The Fishin' Musician skit is a spoof of a long-running sports fishing television show called The Red Fisher Show. Odds are pretty good that if you had a single television station in town, and it was saturday afternoon, you'd be forced to endure fishing yarns and videos of fishing yarns. Rare was the show where you'd see a station wagon filled with outdoorsy types drawing up to some secluded spot in the woods to camp. Instead, it was more likely to be one of those single-engine puddle-hopper planes of the north, swooping in to some distant lake, with two outfitters or guides, or both, waiting to whisk them further into places most Canadians can ill-afford to go, complete with cottage, options of 1,2, or 3-engine crafts, snowmobile, dog teams, yadda yadda. You know... Really Roughin' it at Scuttlebutt Lodge!
The Red Green show, while not a clone, has many elements that people familiar with The Red Fisher Show would recognize.
Another SCTV segment every Canadian should have memorized: The SCTV version of Guy Lafleur and Darryl Sittler having it out in a commercial for Cornabix cereal. A lot of these famous sketches have never made it to DVD, and were from the earlier days when SCTV was a single, half-hour show. It particularly catches the type of verbal animosity that might tumble from the lips of Anglophones at the time. The Pepsi reference, in particular, is spot on, and tore us up when my friends and I watched it back in the 80s.
The difficulty in locating it is memory. Even if you can remember Wheetabix, the odds of coming up with or recalling Cornabix is remote. The names Guy and Darryl do narrow it down. But what I believe prevents people from finding it is the Pepsi reference. People seem to recollect it as Darryl asking Guy if he would like (to drink) a Pepsi. Any searches that use likely phrases for this scenario are sure to filter out what people are after.
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