Flipit Brainteaser Puzzle

I decided to write a web-based brainteaser puzzle after seeing a puzzle in the August 2023 Mensa Bulletin that reminded me of an electronic game that I liked to play many years ago. I decided to recreate that game using the layout and rules of the Mensa puzzle.

I have since made this daily puzzle available to the public and here it is: FlipIT

In this blog article, I will discuss some of the design aspects of this program/web-app.

Excel - Using Gradients to Correlate Data

Using gradients in Excel is not just to make your spreadsheet pretty. This type of conditional formatting makes it easy to see correlations and meaning in your data. You can see that put to use in my article on RAM Latency VS Clock Speed. In this followup article, I show exactly how that gradient was created.

Excel - Dual-label Corner Cell (splitting a cell diagonally)

It is hard to believe that Excel still doesn't have the built-in ability to display a cell split diagonally with independent labels in each half. There are several ways to solve this manually but with issues. The two main issues are that resizing cells can mess up some solutions and most solutions do not allow you to color each half independently.

This article demonstrates two complete solutions - one is an add-in that I built and the other is a manual process to do the same thing.

RAM Latency VS Clock Speed

You may have noticed that when faster memory first becomes available, it comes with a higher latency than similar existing RAM. Why is this, and how does that affect overall performance? Also, when you overclock RAM in the BIOS, you will get much better results if you adjust the CAS latency at the same time. But how do you know what value to enter for CAS? And what if motherboard limitations require that you use a lower-than-specified RAM speed? Did you know that you then get to use a lower value for CAS?

This article will answer these questions, and includes formulas and charts so you can feel confident in your RAM purchase and use the correct settings.

How to Install PyTivo on Synology NAS

PyTivo is a free program that allows you to serve to your Tivo videos, pics and music stored on your Synology. Here are instructions that attempt to be complete enough so that most anyone can get PyTivo working on their Synology NAS.

Windows Server – Force Your Network Connection to Where it Belongs

What to do when Windows marks your network connection as Public when it is on the private LAN or marks it Private when it is on the public Internet. Click "Read more!" for some answers.

FIX - Windows Media Player Crashes Immediately on Open

This is a fix for one of the causes of Media Player consistently crashing with the message, “Windows Media Player has stopped working."

SQLDMO for SQL Server 2005/2008 and Your Installation

This article is for those building an install for a VB6 program that uses SQLDMO to control Microsoft SQL Server. Connecting to SQL Server 2000 is easy but now you are having trouble dealing with SQL Server 2005 and 2008.

Here is the solution.

THE TRAIN TO PHILLY(or, The One that Got Away)

So, you're in your car waiting for the crossing guard to go up. But instead of seeing a train, you see some guy running down the tracks. That was me. Click "Read more!" to find out why.

Building a High-end Windows 2008 Database Server

This is a comprehensive article on building a database server with an eye on maximizing performance. This covers both the building of the hardware and the setup of the OS and SQL Server.

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Hatsu hana (The first blossoms)

This is a simple haiku that I wrote to my then future wife on her birthday. She was in Japan visiting her parents while I was stuck at home in California.

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Thee

This is another poem that I wrote to my then future wife on her birthday. She was in Japan visiting her parents while I was stuck at home in California.