The best USB-C hub

As just about all computers now use USB-C as their main port, most of the historic Laptop docks have been replaced by generic USB -C hubs, in fact a proper dock is rare to see, and for the majority of the time these turn out to be rubbish in my opinion.

I have tried loads of them and they all have their own failings, be it bad pass through on the power or poor organisation of ports, some are even missing commonly used ports, but the worst offence to me is the fact that nearly all of them seems to insist on a hardwired USB-C Cable to attach them to your Machine, often only 6 inches long meaning you can never place the hub in a nice orderly place for all the cables that need to attach to it.

An otherwise good UBS-C hub ruined.

Thankfully I found one that gets over all of these issues, say hello to the StayGo USB-C Hub,  it looks just like the normal run of the mill dock but this one allows you to have your own USB-C cable, even though it does contain its own built-in short travel cable.

It’s made of metal therefore it has a little bit more weight to it and has nice rubber feet to stop it slipping, this combined with a nice layout and the full complement of needed ports means this is now my go to hub, why don’t more people design stuff like this.

 

 

 

 

Noddy Encode SQL

Sometimes you want to scramble or anonymise data in a table , mainly so you can reuse or use ‘real’ data without having real names or details showing, and don’t want to screw up the formatting, so things like emails and phone numbers don’t break as well, as only doing it to certain fields

Yes I know this is a naff way to do it but given the shear number of dbas that do it this way I figured it was worth posting, also note that dont just use this as it is, move some of the replacement values around to give it your own unique values.

UPDATE **table_name** t

SET t.**field_you_want_to_update** = REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(

REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(

REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(

t.**field_you_want_to_update

, ‘a’, ‘g’), ‘b’, ‘w’), ‘c’, ‘c’), ‘d’, ‘x’), ‘e’, ‘f’), ‘f’, ‘v’), ‘g’, ‘b’), ‘h’, ‘y’), ‘i’, ‘m’), ‘j’, ‘u’), ‘k’, ‘e’), ‘l’, ‘p’), ‘m’, ‘l’), ‘n’, ‘a’), ‘o’, ‘t’), ‘p’, ‘z’)

, ‘q’, ‘d’), ‘r’, ‘h’), ‘s’, ‘k’), ‘t’, ‘n’), ‘u’, ‘s’), ‘v’, ‘o’), ‘w’, ‘i’), ‘x’, ‘q’), ‘y’, ‘r’), ‘z’, ‘j’), ‘A’, ‘G’), ‘B’, ‘I’), ‘C’, ‘H’), ‘D’, ‘M’), ‘E’, ‘A’), ‘F’, ‘Z’)

, ‘G’, ‘Y’), ‘H’, ‘L’), ‘I’, ‘B’), ‘J’, ‘K’), ‘K’, ‘J’), ‘L’, ‘N’), ‘M’, ‘C’), ‘N’, ‘T’), ‘O’, ‘R’), ‘P’, ‘S’), ‘Q’, ‘X’), ‘R’, ‘D’), ‘S’, ‘W’), ‘T’, ‘E’), ‘U’, ‘F’), ‘V’, ‘F’)

, ‘W’, ‘P’), ‘X’, ‘U’), ‘Y’, ‘V’), ‘Z’, ‘Q’), ‘0’, ‘9’), ‘1’, ‘3’), ‘2’, ‘6’), ‘3’, ‘7’), ‘4’, ‘1’), ‘5’, ‘2’), ‘6’, ‘3’), ‘7’, ‘0’), ‘8’, ‘4’), ‘9’, ‘5’)

 

 

2 fitness tips: Callouses and clean headphones

2 quick fitness tips I use everyday.

TIP 1: Use isopropyl alcohol spray to clean over-ear headphones.

I’ve not met anyone use this but it seems obvious to me, isopropyl alcohol is great for disinfecting and removing bad smells and it also does not upset electronics (its used for cleaning dirty and corroded circuit boards) so therefore it is perfect for cleaning the sweaty ear pads on your headphones without having to take them apart. Make sure you use the 99.9% version, my preferred brand is “Nope”

Tip 2: File calluses from weightlifting and bar work to stop them ripping. 

This one seems to be wrapped up in lots of other tips and over complications, but put simply, the calluses you get from lots of weight lifting, using a bar pull-up or that kind of stuff will often rip, and while this might seem mainly it means you have to stop while the bloody things heal, lots of people get special creams and stuff like that to stop it, but what I have found all of the professionals do is just file the damn things flat with what ever they have to hand e.g. nail files, pumice stones etc etc, though I have seen this one recommended a lot.

Me I just use my modelling files, simple.

 

Painting Guide – Magma Bases

Painter: Stickfight

Model(s): Any Plastic Base

Paint(s): Mephiston Red, Trollslayer Orange, Yriel Yellow, White Scar, Mordant Earth

Method(s): Base with Mephiston Red, next randomly paint Trollslayer Orange in thick river like lines ( there can be lots of lines, various thicknesses and overlapping lines is good), next paint thinner lines of Yriel Yellow within the orange, then paint small dots of White Scar anywhere that the yellow crosses over ( lots of dots of white in various sizes is good.), lastly using a spatula tool layer Mordant Earth on top, this is very thick and gloopy so take your time. leave plenty of time to dry

Paint Time: 30 mins

Notes: the thicker you apply the mordent earth the bigger cracks you’ll get

Painting Guide – Kit bash Squat

Painter: Stickfight

Model(s): Arkanaut Company and any space marine parts that take your fancy (space marine scouts have the best fitting arms)

Paint(s): Chaos Black (spray), Leadbelcher (spray), Abaddon Black, Gryph-Hound Orange, Balthasar Gold, Leadbelcher, Nuln Oil, Drakenhof NightShade, Seraphim Sepia , Druchi Violet

Method(s):

  1. Spray Chaos Black, once dry spray Leadbelcher.
  2. Wash Nuln Oil, once dry paint all armour sections Gryph-Hound Orange.
  3. Paint trim of armour with Balthasar Gold.
  4. Paint gun cable Abaddon Black
  5. For heated metal on Melta, from end of barrel wash Drakenhof NightShade, Druchi Violet and Seraphim Sepia

Paint Time: 1-2 hours

Notes:  With the old lore that squats can carry unlimited heavy weapons, you can get away with OTT weapons sizes