"Illegal plowing authorized by Church of Ascension?" written by Tinypliny on estrip.org

02/26/11 12:14 - ID#53733

Illegal plowing authorized by Church of Ascension?

Walking back home yesterday, I was beyond appalled to see an oversized red truck with a massive plow driving illegally all over the sidewalk and grass outside the Church of Ascension, on the corner of North Street and Linwood Avenue. The driver didn't just stop at the snow. He took a good chunk of the grass, dirt and pavement along with the snow and then, flouting all sense of common decency, tossed all that snow and dirt all over Linwood Avenue, over the driveway of (e:pmt)'s house on 24 Linwood and heaped the rest on the sidewalk in front of the LinNor Apartment building across the street.

Is this kind of plowing authorized by the Church of Ascension? I find it despicable that a church, whose main goals are to serve the community cares so little about its neighbours that it goes out of its way by hiring or authorizing obnoxious illegal plows to make life more miserable for them.

I was also extremely shocked to see this church-hired plow truck driver almost run over (e:Matthew) who told me later that he had stepped out to express his concern over this plow outrage. When (e:Matthew) asked if the church-hired plow truck had a city license to drive and plow all over the sidewalk and generally be a menace to the neighbourhood, the driver did not respond well and drove off in a huff, heaping even more snow over the lawn of 24 Linwood. (e:Matthew) was left to clean up the tons of snow he had just shoveled before the plow truck destroyed all his efforts.

Agreed that it is a church and churches do serve a religious purpose, but this definitely does not give them a blanket approval to do whatever they wish, break the laws and overstep common courtesies to their neighbours. At the very least, I hope city hall takes a stern view of this very objectionable, disruptive and quite possibly, illegal snow plowing authorized or encouraged by the Church of Ascension, issues a warning for future violations and fines the church authorities.

Permalink: Illegal_plowing_authorized_by_Church_of_Ascension_.html
Words: 351
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/26/11 05:40

Category: e:strip

02/25/11 11:15 - ID#53729

Droid y Yoga Gang!

Who's next!!?? (e:enknot)? :-)

PS: I wish these droids actually had smiles... I was chuckling all through class, the poses were so extreme and I was discovering all kinds of hilarious asymmetry in my body. I think everyone else was smiling and laughing at some point as well...

Permalink: Droid_y_Yoga_Gang_.html
Words: 52
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/25/11 11:39

Category: e:strip

02/25/11 09:58 - ID#53727

DroidyKeith

Tallest yogi EVAH!

PS: Too bad they don't have piercings or earrings! Cramping my style here...

Permalink: DroidyKeith.html
Words: 18
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/25/11 10:00

Category: e:strip

02/25/11 11:33 - ID#53722

DroidyPaul

Okay, seems I have caught the mattandroidify virus as well! Modeling DroidyPaul on (e:paul,52884)...

Permalink: DroidyPaul.html
Words: 17
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/25/11 11:33

Category: linux

02/25/11 08:39 - ID#53717

Keyboard shortcut for lxterminal

Just wanted to let everyone know that the keyboard shortcut for bringing up lxterminal or the command-line window under lubuntu is: F10 or Ctrl+Alt+T

Couldn't this document describing the lxterminal have included this tiny bit of information about keyboard shortcuts:

No, because you see, linux geeks need to do it the hard way and hope to build everyone else's character in the process. But I am all overbuilt on character so I really can't agree with their dodgy logic at all. As a result, I am going to be posting every single thing that I learn about linux here for everyone to see - IN PLAIN VIEW and eminently google-able.

Now, the next step is to change this shortcut and assign shortcuts to everything else. I need to figure out what this discussion is saying:

Oh, and keyboard shortcuts are called "Keybindings" to make it tougher for you to google them.

Permalink: Keyboard_shortcut_for_lxterminal.html
Words: 169
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/25/11 08:53

Category: dance

02/24/11 07:37 - ID#53704

The secret yoga dictionary

Fewer words strike more terror into the hearts of aspiring yogis than when the teacher casually tosses out the term "yogi's choice". What it essentially means is that you could choose to stay on in a wimpy form of the pose while the rest of the class and the teacher go into the more exotic variation - that just might have given you an infinitely more effective muscle stretch had you been able to do it. The harder you try and reach that variation, the more likely you are to wobble out of balance and end up with no pose at all. At which point you "honour your practice", which is actually just code for accepting that you totally missed the yoga elixir that was dangled before you minutes back.

Yoga totally whipped all of our hands and hearts yesterday... well, all EXCEPT (e:Paul) who was probably born with a strong dose of yogi's-choice-power-goo in his silver-yogi-spoon. I meant to complete this entry after class but I was so washed out after practice that I fell asleep at my "desk" and pretty much crawled into bed 3 metres away.

(e:Paul), on the other hand has been logged in the entire time and quite possibly coding in a frenzy. That's what happens when you outshine the entire class in just about every outlandish balance-act yoga-pose that is thrown your way. And there were tons that I can't even find the names for.

For instance, the L-pose at the wall above with a "yogi's choice" extreme T-variation where you raise one of your legs up in the air till it's perfectly perpendicular to your other leg and parallel to your arms. While the rest of the class wobbled with asymmetry across the studio, (e:Paul) literally flew through several of the poses AND he did the T-variation on both sides.

Wait. There is more. Later after class, while I bemoaned the lack of moonwalk fluidity, he totally denied knowing how to moonwalk WHILE his legs were moonwalking the hell out of the yoga studio floor. If all this doesn't silently scream "Clark Kent!!" to you... well, then it's time to go and see the movies or you could come to yoga. ~~Your~~ Yogi's choice.

Permalink: The_secret_yoga_dictionary.html
Words: 375
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/05/11 05:08

Category: linux

02/23/11 12:28 - ID#53694

Wacom linux frustrations...

I don't use a mouse at home because I have borderline RSI. Instead, I have a Wacom Bamboo tablet and stylus that I use for all kinds of input from simple pointing-and-clicking to drawing and painting on pressure-sensitive applications such as mypaint. A major frustration has been to make it work with any and all flavours of linux. Fedora has treated me no better than the *buntus.

I have a simple question. How can I assign functions to the two buttons on the stylus? I currently use one button as a right-click and the other one as a "grab and scroll" middle-click button. Is it SO tough to figure this out in linux? Apparently, it is. This supposedly authoritative "manual" for the wacom linux driver

does not help me at all because it's so dense and jargon ridden. And no one in ubuntu forums answers these sort of questions:

I am so frustrated. The linux community is nothing better than a mass of self-centred mirror-image RTFM-chanting zealots who have zero empathy or patience for anyone other than themselves and their ad nauseum omg-M$-is-so-evil-and-you-are-so-dumb-for-using-it agendas.

I am going to try this piece of code from this forum

this evening. I wish I understood what it's doing!

!/bin/bash
If you set XSW in your environment it will override the
script's default of /usr/bin/xsetwacom.
If you set PAD and/or STYLUS then those override the script's
defaults of 'Wacom Bamboo pad' and 'Wacom Bamboo' which are
known correct for Ubuntu 9.04
[ Do not change this bit: ]

test "x$XSW" = "x" && XSW=/usr/bin/xsetwacom
test -x $XSW || { echo "Cannot find xsetwacom in /usr/bin"; exit 1; }

test "x$PAD" = "x" && PAD="Wacom BambooFun 4x5 pad"
test "x$STYLUS" = "x" && STYLUS="Wacom BambooFun 4x5"

pad () {
$XSW set "$PAD" "$@"
}

stylus () {
$XSW set "$STYLUS" "$@"
}

[ Configurability from here down.]
Define the Bamboo buttons
pad AbsWDn "CORE KEY - "        # circle zoom in
pad AbsWUp "CORE KEY + "        # circle zoom out
pad Stripldn "CORE KEY - "        # strip in
pad Striplup "CORE KEY + "        # strip zoom out
pad Button1 "CORE KEY CTRL /z"        # key 1 () fill frame
pad Button4 "CORE KEY SHIFT"        # key 4 (FN2) SHIFT

stylus TPCButton "off"            # side switch mode
stylus mode "Absolute"            # positioning mode
stylus Button1 "Button 1"        # pentip click left
stylus Button2 "CORE KEY /x"        # Lower side switch click right
stylus Button3 "Button 3"        # Upper side switch click middle

tinypliny writes at 07:40:26 02/24/11 - Comment #60890: You make an excellent point. Corporate conspiracy, code monopoly and microsoft are all the same entry in most respected dictionaries. :/

uncutsaniflush writes at 08:03:35 02/23/11 - Comment #60884: Oops, apparently, there is a Wacom employee involved in the linuxwacom project. My bad. It is unclear if he is volunteering his time or being paid by the company to maintain the project. But the faq state that the open source community, not Wacom, is responsible for the project.

My point was and is that if Wacom really wanted to have good Linux driver support, there would be good Linux driver support. The Windows and osX drivers didn't magically write themselves with the help of the Windows and osX communities with a Wacom employee babysitting the project.

Good luck.

uncutsaniflush writes at 07:54:31 02/23/11 - Comment #60883: (e:tinypliny) - your rants are entertaining even when they are directed at the Linux community (of which I am a member). I agree that the RTFM people are annoying. And I don't blame you for being angry at them and frustrated by the lack of decent linux drivers for your tablet.

But I think your anger is misdirected. You seem to have forgotten one very important fact -- Wacom does not want you to use your tablet in Linux. If they did, you wouldn't need the linux community to reverse engineer drivers for you to use.

Why do drivers for Windows and osX exist for the Bamboo tablet? The answer is a simple one. - Wacom paid people to write them. If there aren't any good linux drivers for your tablet, it's Wacom's, or it's corporate overlords, fault. It's as simple as that.

Members of the linux community have volunteered their time to do something that Wacom has refused to do. Apparently, some of them are doing it without style, grace and human decency. Not to excuse their behaviour, but what else would you expect from a bunch self-centered geeks lacking social skills?

Bon Chance!

Permalink: Wacom_linux_frustrations_.html
Words: 413
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/23/11 12:36

Category: linux

02/23/11 04:23 - ID#53691

Linux: Clear as Mud.

So I tried to configure the xorg (wth?) wacom drivers using a text editor called gedit (wth?). When I opened it this bit of gibberish was waiting for me:

WALTOP needs a patched kernel driver, that isn't in mainline lk yet, so for now just let it fall through and be picked up by evdev instead.

Seriously? Am I supposed to nod in agreement or throw rocks at the screen?

This is why regular folks might not really want to go anywhere near any kind of linux. I have seen linux distributions with holier-that-thou taglines such as "software for humans". Does their definition of "humans" comes from a dictionary buried under Martian craters?!

Permalink: Linux_Clear_as_Mud_.html
Words: 115
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/23/11 04:50

Category: dance

02/21/11 11:07 - ID#53679

Look who's dancing...

At the Texas Salsa Congress!!

Too bad I can't be there to drool over their performance...

Permalink: Look_who_s_dancing_.html
Words: 26
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/21/11 11:36

Category: eating out

02/21/11 09:15 - ID#53678

Only butter on toast.

I was reminded recently why I don't eat out anymore. Vegetarian fare, even in prominently vegetarian restaurants such as Merge is so disappointing. I had their "smothered sweet potato fries" with some dairy-substitute called "daiya" last week. It was a hastily put-together mish-mash of soggy fried sweet potato fingers, a cheesy semi-solid bland-tasting thing that I can't describe very well, a smattering of bland french-lentils and wilted bland spinach - all put together in an environmentally unfriendly styrofoam box.

Call me a snob if you want, but I am very sure that I could take each one of these simple components and cook them so that I would want to eat the resulting meal for an entire week without getting bored. I couldn't even get through that one meal from Merge. It was just too bland and too uninteresting. I can see why people turn up their noses at the mention of "vegetarian". Self-proclaimed vegetarian-specialty restaurants such a Merge tarnish what it means to be vegetarian.

Why should I eat bland uninteresting things and pay for it too when I know that I can do a million times better at home?! It's so ridiculous that I forget this fact every now and then. This entry should serve as a reminder. The only thing worth eating out is butter on hot fresh-toasted bread - because really, no one could possibly mess that up however hard they tried.

metalpeter writes at 07:52:08 02/22/11 - Comment #60872: Wait People go to Merge for Food :) ....... I thought that was the place where they perform as you eat so that was the point.... (kinda kidding).. I like my meat and don't get the not eating it.... That being said I think to be a good chef you have to come at stuff from that perspective... You can't have meat as your base and here is this thing with out the meat... The thing with eating vegies is that most of the taste is lost when they get cooked so what you really eat is the spice that is why those fake sausage patties taste so good is you are eating all the spices so your mouth thinks it tastes like the meat ones.......

tinypliny writes at 11:04:41 02/21/11 - Comment #60858: Heh I did hear it loud and clear. Take a look at the earlier comment. ;-)'

I then recalled that (e:leetee) was a vegetarian so I was wondering if you had ever tried it... I have not tried Olivio. How "buttery" smelling is it?

uncutsaniflush writes at 10:49:52 02/21/11 - Comment #60857: I forgot that in cyberspace, no one can hear your sarcasm. My point is that vegan "toast and butter" may not be to your liking. And, hence, messed up.

To me, the only thing that tastes like butter is butter. However, there are some non-vegan alternatives are ok. Olivio :::link::: is a product that both (e:leetee) and I use as a butter alternative.

To my tastebuds, the vegan "butter"s that I've had are more unappealing than the cheapest oleo (margarine)

tinypliny writes at 10:28:38 02/21/11 - Comment #60854: route

tinypliny writes at 10:28:06 02/21/11 - Comment #60853: Do you like "vegan" butter-spread? The hydrogenated content or margarine in most turns me off... And I don't really see any advantage in eating them instead of butter. If I were concerned about calories, I would eat mascarpone instead of butter and still not go the vegetable-oil or margarine based butter-equivalent/alternative spreads.

tinypliny writes at 10:22:35 02/21/11 - Comment #60852: (e:libertad), I was consumed by (e:paul)-avatar envy, the overwhelming lack of colour in mine and livingcolors-lamp dreams so I splashed my avatar with a riot. :-)

(e:uncutsaniflush) LOL, no. I guess then it is possible to mess it up. hahaha