"Drupal: Hooks, blocks, modules and nodes" written by Tinypliny on estrip.org

Category: i-tech

09/20/10 05:47 - 65.ºF - ID#52790

Drupal: Hooks, blocks, modules and nodes

I spent quite a chunk of time reading about it. I am hooked. I have to wonder about the people who actually designed all of this - they must have some of the most logical and organized minds around. It took my puny brain quite a while to understand how content management in Drupal actually works.

But it was tough to figure it out initially. Maybe this is how computer scientists must feel when they are asked to understand and write about a cell-culture or mouse knock-out experiment.

Permalink: Drupal_Hooks_blocks_modules_and_nodes.html
Words: 90
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/20/10 05:52

Category: the odes

09/18/10 11:18 - 65.ºF - ID#52781

The weekday consequences of a bald spot.

I have an almost bald patch from my most recent haircut. And no, I didn't do it myself. It's terribly amusing and I can't help laughing at how absolutely abysmal my head looks now.

I resemble him closely.

I guess I am going to repent all this laughing on Monday when people shoot me looks of embarrassment and try and feel bad for me. I will reciprocally try and look appropriately apologetic for having inflicted the bald spot on them.

But my evil twin will want to respond like this...

Permalink: The_weekday_consequences_of_a_bald_spot_.html
Words: 94
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/18/10 11:18

Category: i-tech

09/18/10 04:36 - 53.ºF - ID#52773

Print/Read only selections from a web page

It always annoys me when articles I want to read on the web, specifically the ones that link out from aldaily.com are almost always embedded in webpages that additionally have unnecessary and distracting elements such as menus, ads etc.

Chrome came to my rescue. I simply right click over the content I want to read, click inspect element, find the element that houses the article (usually it is under some div id), right click on the appropriate div > copy as html > paste that entire thing on a text editor, say, notepad > save as html. Open the new html file in a browser. Et VoilÃ - just content, no fluff!

PS: I know you could just click-drag-copy the text you want to read, but I find this cumbersome for really long articles.

Permalink: Print_Read_only_selections_from_a_web_page.html
Words: 133
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/18/10 08:31

Category: i-tech

09/17/10 08:56 - 51.ºF - ID#52765

Fedora Switch and PDF alternatives

Massive thanks to (e:Paul) for helping me finally make the switch to Fedora on my laptop! So far, it's been running without a hitch. I have found some linux alternatives for my most heavily used programs. However, I am still missing some. I am hoping that all these missing alternatives don't break the switch... Any suggestions that you might have are more than welcome.

Web browsing
Chrome ---> Chrome

Media
VLC --> VLC --> Amarok (? I am not sure if it supports all the various formats FLAC, APE, Ogg, WMV etc like foobar2000 though. Any alternatives?)

Documents
LaTeX ---> LaTeX
PDFXChange Viewer with Wine --> ??????? I am completely stumped here.
MS Word --> MS Word using VMbox? (haven't installed this yet). Openoffice completely messes up formats between its odt format and the doc format so I'd rather not use it and spent time fixing ridiculous formatting conflicts.
Virtual PDF printer driver with a very small footprint that I use to print things to PDF. Again, not sure about alternatives.
Distraction-free black full-screen writing environment. Do you know of any fedora alternatives?

Analysis
R --> R
TinnR --> ???? I use this extensively for writing R code and push the code from TinnR to R for running. It highlights syntax and helps me keep track of coding rules. Any linux alternatives that will integrate with R and has colour coding?

Art
myPaint --> myPaint
Irfanview --> ????
Fotographix --> ????

I would love some suggestions for PDF annotation, highlighting and commenting. I used PDF XChange viewer for this with Wine but I can't find an equivalent piece of native software for Linux. PDFs form the backbone of what I read and use day in and day out and this could just be the deciding factor for me for staying on with the Fedora system or switching back to Ubuntu. Any input you can give me would be awesome! I really don't want to go back to Ubuntu - now that I have seen all the charms of Fedora.

paul writes at 06:49:21 09/17/10 - Comment #58491: Check out pyroom (e:paul,52769). I can make it do the typewriter sounds if you want them. Its wonderfully open source.

paul writes at 02:49:29 09/17/10 - Comment #58484: I would also look at open office again, in case it has changed at all since you last used it. They are constantly working on and updating it.

tinypliny writes at 12:29:46 09/17/10 - Comment #58479: Looks like Wine might be able to support Office 2007 as well. :::link:::

tinypliny writes at 11:01:30 09/17/10 - Comment #58476: This laptop that I have came with Vista - which was unbearable. So I had to switch to a very stripped down and modded version of WinXP, add SATA drivers that were not in WinXp and jump through other crazy hoops to make it all streamlined and minimal --> :::link:::

But this whole fedora switch required almost 90% less effort for 50% more performance. Pretty impressive! :-)

tinypliny writes at 10:56:22 09/17/10 - Comment #58474: You know if this experiment runs successfully, I am going to be writing a LOT about this switch to encourage half the WinXP people hovering on the hedge to fall into Fedora. Who knows, it might just overtake all those google hits for the Penang sauce.

paul writes at 10:25:01 09/17/10 - Comment #58471: When saving files rom wine apps, make sure to choose Z: drive (which is your linux area) and then home, then you user, then documents or desktop or wherever you want. I love fedora even more today.

paul writes at 10:19:09 09/17/10 - Comment #58470: I got PDF-XChange to run in fedora natively with wine. you don't need to switch. I posted instructions at (e:paul,52766) in case anyone else needs them.

Same thing for Q10. I didn't try the others but I am sure you can either use or find alternatives.

For PDF printing, you do not need anything. It is built in by default. Just go to print anything with regular print dialogue, choose print to file option and select PDF. I think PS is the default.

Permalink: Fedora_Switch_and_PDF_alternatives.html
Words: 335
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 04/04/13 12:34

Category: the odes

09/14/10 10:20 - 58.ºF - ID#52734

Ink = Terrible Film

What a waste of a good 1 hour. I realized 10 minutes into the film that I would be fast-forwarding my way through it. What I didn't realize was that even with the fast-forwarding the "slowness" of the film remains with you and drags you slowly and painfully by the tip of your smashed nose.

Yuckety yuck. Life is too short to be wasting an hour on garbage that tries to pass off as an "Indie". I wish I had never found Gnod

Ink was such an AWFUL recommendation. I am never going back to Gnod. EVER

Permalink: Ink_Terrible_Film.html
Words: 99
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/14/10 10:20

Category: opinion

09/12/10 04:16 - 66.ºF - ID#52723

Question for e:lilho

I have *really* thick hair that outgrows a cut in less than 2 weeks but I am not ready for that salon pilgrimage just yet.

Do you have any recommendations for the type of thinning shears I should get? There seem to many types around but I just want one that would take all the bulk away. Thoughts?

Permalink: Question_for_e_lilho.html
Words: 57
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/12/10 04:18

Category: music

09/11/10 08:30 - 50.ºF - ID#52704

Totally Verdi of being heard.

I am in love with this particular chorus from Nabucco. It combines two of my favourites - a waltz rhythm and a multi-voice operatic chorus.

PS: A bit too much make-up for the occasion but the singing is spectacular.

Permalink: Totally_Verdi_of_being_heard_.html
Words: 44
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/11/10 08:30

Category: music

09/10/10 08:39 - 62.ºF - ID#52698

I think I now believe...

... in reincarnations. BublÃ© is really like Sinatra singing Baroque style (as someone else once said).

Missing Image ;(

Somehow, listening to BublÃ© makes me wish Ella Fitzgerald were still alive to sing a duet with BublÃ©. And while that might not be such an outlandish wish, I also wonder about how BublÃ©'s interpretations of Whitney Houston's most famous hits might be. I wish he would try them someday.

Permalink: I_think_I_now_believe_.html
Words: 70
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/10/10 08:56

Category: opinion

09/09/10 11:07 - 55.ºF - ID#52690

Bethesda - Safe at 11:00 PM?

I will be visiting the NIH/NCI campus in Bethesda in some days. But the trouble is I will be getting into the Washington, IAD airport around 10:00. I hate taxis. They freak me out. So I plan to take the metro to the campus from the airport. I am guessing it will be close to midnight when I make it to the Bethesda campus.

Do any of you have any ideas about how safe this area might be - say compared with Buffalo downtown at night? I really don't want to get into trouble. The conference is quite important and I want to get there and back without broken noses, blown head etc. Any information would be awesome! Thanks!

PS: According to Neighbourhood Scout
- Bethesda is safer than 62% of the cities in the US.
- Annual Crimes
Violent 42
Property 800
842 annual crimes per 1,000 residents

Chances of becoming a victim
in Bethesda 1 in 1305
in Maryland 1 in 134

PPS: Oh well. I went ahead and looked up Buffalo as well.
Buffalo is safer than 6% of the cities in the US.
- Annual Crimes
Violent 3,804
Property 16,555
20,359 annual crimes per 1,000 residents

Chances of becoming a victim
in Buffalo 1 in 77
in New York 1 in 221

Man. It isn't THAT unsafe here, is it?! Do you believe this??

Permalink: Bethesda_Safe_at_11_00_PM_.html
Words: 212
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/09/10 11:28

Category: i-tech

09/05/10 07:17 - 64.ºF - ID#52661

Why do people have cellphones?

According to a recent study:

91 percent of Americans say that mobile phones "make them feel safer." Some 88 percent of respondents said that they have a mobile phone, so they can "connect to friends and family to arrange plans."

I use it as an excellent and versatile alarm clock. It scarcely leaves home even though the SIM card is now housed in a smartphone. I have never felt safer with a cellphone and hate talking over phones in general. And that is how some surveys are way off mark and unrepresentative [of me! me! me!].

tinypliny writes at 12:30:32 09/06/10 - Comment #58279: There. Happy? :-)

uncutsaniflush writes at 09:48:43 09/06/10 - Comment #58275: (e:tinypliny) - I wasn't forgetting that you weren't "American" but I reckoned that it wasn't my job to mention. I think you forgot that my wife isn't "American" and that by many people's standards, I'm not "American" despite of )or because of me being a naturalized U.S. citizen. So all three of us are foreign born.

As to the definition of "American" in telephone polls, I daresay that an "American" is anyone who answers the phone and consents to be questioned. So, if you ever decided to answer your phone when it rings, you could be an "American" if a pollster calls. No visa required.

tinypliny writes at 07:22:55 09/06/10 - Comment #58272: (e:uncutsaniflush): You are forgetting one vital part. I am not American. I am a gross outlier by default. Very unrepresented, I am afraid.

PS: Using the word "unrepresentative" (or indeed, "representative") in a sentence without a qualifier could get you drawn and quartered in cold blood at a statistics exam. Lucky for me, far from being any kind of exam, my whole "blogging theorem" revolves around perfecting the art of poking as much fun as possible, and not taking myself or anyone else too seriously.

If I were in "work mode", I would have dragged some heavyweight muck along --> :::link:::

;-)

(e:Paul) - Yes, the concept of "phone" needs an update. (e:uncut), I checked sometime back and verizon didn't tell me that they can do a data-access-only plan analogous to the dry-loop dsl.

museumchick writes at 09:56:14 09/05/10 - Comment #58268: I am not a huge fan of talking in phones either... i rather prefer seeing people in person or writing to them. They do make good alarm clocks, though!

uncutsaniflush writes at 09:32:42 09/05/10 - Comment #58267: (e:paul) - "a phone you can't talk on" isn't that the iPhone. More seriously, can't you just get data/messaging plans without voice these days?

paul writes at 09:09:16 09/05/10 - Comment #58266: I wish you could buy a phone that you can't talk on.

uncutsaniflush writes at 08:57:43 09/05/10 - Comment #58265: (e:tinypliny) - are you saying that you think 91% percent of Americans feel as you do? Is that what you mean that "some surveys are way off mark and unrepresentative."

I dislike talking on the phone myself but just about anywhere I go I see people talking on their cellphones sometimes only to say inane things "yeah, I'm at Wegmans next to the ice icecream."

Perhaps cell phones only give an illusion of safety but, unlike you, many people feel reassured if they can call someone (be it friends, family or the police) if their car breaks down or gets into an accident.

If you believe news reports, especially in bad weather, lives have been saved because people were able to tell rescuers their locations because they had cell phones.

So I find the statistic you quoted quite believable. And I have a question for you, why do you think the statistic is "way off mark and unrepresentative?" And, as a scientist, what is your basis for your theorem?

Please and thank you.

ElmwoodEyes writes at 07:44:54 09/05/10 - Comment #58264: i use it for facebook, Huffington Post and NY Times...and will rarely pick up if you call me. That being said, I feel lost without it.