"Good Luck, Rahm Emmanuel!" written by Tinypliny on estrip.org

Category: {dodo}

10/01/10 12:25 - 59.ºF - ID#52865

Good Luck, Rahm Emmanuel!

So, farewell then, Rahm Emmanuel,
No more, lighting the White House fuel,
Spent this past weekend in DC's hot spell
Didn't realize it was your last, as well

Keith's mum, who is quite taken with you
Tells me you have the whole of Chicago to woo
I have also heard that it's pretty windy
So, no more worries about politics of Rawalpindi?

NB: {Pardon me, my dear17.5 year old.

}

Permalink: Good_Luck_Rahm_Emmanuel_.html
Words: 80
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 10/01/10 12:29

Category: i-tech

09/21/10 10:33 - 63.ºF - ID#52796

Fedora: Fine but frustrating

"Are you quite sure that you feel what you ought to do?"
-- Pride and Prejudice, 1797

I am not. But I am determined to stick with Fedora 13. Only, it is so frustrating that I seem to be struggling with the simplest of things.

The minimal installation was so minimal, it forgot to ask me for a login and password preference and then when it finished, it wanted me to use a non-existent login and password to login to the OS. Needless to say, I had to start with the bloated "Graphic desktop" installation all over again and though, I was presented with customization choices, I couldn't really customize anything because I had no idea what any of the packages actually did! And anyway.. why is it that I need a login every time I power it on?! I can't seem to get past this. I hate having to log in to my own computer. I want the boot up to be faster.

I keep trying to install chrome and it says chrome installation had "finished" but I can't see it anywhere. And I hate that trackpad mouse tap behaviour only loads when the operating system loads completely. Before this happens you need to click that annoying trackpad button.

I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I just thought this might be easier than the other zillion times I have tried.

Arrrrrggh.

But I am not giving up. I am starting on a book called "Introducing Fedora: Desktop Linux" today. 400+ pages later, if I am still struggling, maybe I will revisit Austen's predictable tome.

paul writes at 12:12:41 09/22/10 - Comment #58566: You should come up with a formula for passwords instead. Do something like the first three letters of the name of the system, plus your mothers birthyear and the last three of the month you were born in. I totally made that up, but you get the idea. That way you just remember the formula and it works for every system you use.

tinypliny writes at 07:08:07 09/21/10 - Comment #58562: turn on me - if I forgot the password, that is. I am REALLY bad at remembering passwords because by this time, I have millions of them. It gives me anxiety every time I face the prospect of yet another password and login.

tinypliny writes at 07:06:46 09/21/10 - Comment #58561: I didn't want to have to deal with yet another layer that might potentially turn on me if I encrypted stuff so I didn't choose that option.

This might be a weird thing to say but if my laptop does get stolen, I'd like it to be atleast usable to whoever than headed for trash. It makes me sad to think that they might find out that the hard drive or whatever is completely unusable and toss it in the bin.

tinypliny writes at 07:04:40 09/21/10 - Comment #58560: Good points. I feel like a spoilt kid fed too much windows and false securities.

paul writes at 05:48:00 09/21/10 - Comment #58559: You can set it to autologin but in general thus is really bad practice. Especially because you may have sensitive data on your machine. I also encrypt my drive. Did you choose that during install. Its a free option with fedora.

There is also a good reason to use a under privileged account and need to enter in your password when installing new stuff. If you don't and malware gets on your computer which could easily happen if you don't understand your computer - then that malware can excute anything it wants as a privileges user and do things like open ports, install other malware etc.

Its especially important when you install closed source executables you get off the internet. You carryyour laptop around. What if you got robbed? Do you want your data so exposed?

Permalink: Fedora_Fine_but_frustrating.html
Words: 265
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/21/10 10:45

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...

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