Posts from September 2011

I realized that I had far too many tomatoes on my table to make it fungus-free through the week and hit upon a really easy way to use them up.

Free-spirited roasting:


Followed by a rough chop and toss with lentils, garlic, kale, basil, red peppers and buckwheat high fibre spaghetti.


Simply delicious!

Hmm. more chemicals that I don't know about in my shower soap:

• Sodium laureth sulfate
• Cocamidopropyl Betaine
• Polyquarternium-7
• Glycol Stearate
• Decyl Glucoside
• Hydroxypropyl
• Methylcellulose
• Sodium PCA
• tetrasodium edta ( this is a chelating agent, it prevents blood from clotting. I guess it must be preventing clumping here. but what effect does it have on the skin? how potent is this?)
• triethanolamine
• methylchloroisothiazolinone
• methylisothiazolinone

Probably okay

• Water (Well of course)
• Sodium Chloride (ditto for this)
• Butyrospermium Parkii (Shea Butter)
• Panthenol (Pro Vitamin B5)
• fragrance
• citric acid

The list is the scariest because I really have no idea about some of these.

The label is not on the bottle of dishwashing fluid so I had to look this one up on the Colgate website

:

• Water: Consistency
• Ammonium C12-15 Pareth Sulfate: Cleaning and Foaming Agent
• SD Alcohol 3-A: Controls Thickness and Clarity
• Lauramidopropylamine Oxide: Cleaning and Foaming Agent
• Sodium Chloride: Controls Thickness (okay, this is salt)
• Magnesium Sulfate: Controls Thickness
• Fragrance: Pleasant Scent
• Poloxamer 124: Controls Thickness
• Pentasodium Pentatate: Maintains Product Stability
• Preservative: Maintains Product Freshness
• Sodium Bisulfite: Maintains Product Stability
• Dyes: Color - yeah, what exactly?

I don't know about many of these chemicals. Their descriptions seem tame enough but who knows what lies beneath. I am somewhat rushed for time to verify each thing on that list. So there it is. I am exposed on a daily basis to these and I actually like washing dishes.

Italian Raisin Bread baked in a brick oven. Distributed by Mastroianni Brothers Bakery Incorporated (518) 355-5310
51 Opus Blvd, Schenectady, NY 12306

• Potassium Bromate.

Good grief. I am merrily eating this while it has been banned in Sri Lanka and China and has escaped a ban here because of a bureaucratic regulation loophole.

In the United States, it has not been banned. The FDA sanctioned the use of bromate before the Delaney clause of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act—which bans potentially carcinogenic substances— went into effect in 1958, so it is more difficult for it to now be banned. Instead, since 1991 the FDA has urged bakers to voluntarily stop using it. In California a warning label is required when bromated flour is used.

I am on the last slice. It's delicious but I am placing a personal kitchen ban effective from the next minute. And I just wrote to the store to consider discontinuing this bread.

I have wanted to do this for the longest time. It's completely boring to anyone except me but I want to maintain a running list of every single chemical I apply on my skin or eat that I don't know about. It's fascinating how much chemicals dominate our lives.

I pretend that I am avoiding a ton of it by religiously reading labels to everything I consider buying. But I do end up getting stuff to eat or cosmetics that have unknown compounds in them. I don't know what the roles of these chemicals are or what they are capable of messing up in my body. I place my blind trust in the fact that they can't be excessively harmful because *someone out there* is definitely regulating them.

Fact is, there is very little regulation. Products that proudly proclaim that they are not been tested on animals actually scare me. I get all the arguments of PETA and animal rights activists and their gory pictures of animal suffering are shocking. But let's face it. At some point, we need to draw the line at just how much we want to compromise safety and health for humans in favour of "humane treatment of animals". Scientific research has primarily reached its current status because we could use animals to test our experiments.

We cannot emulate the living system otherwise. We cannot foresee the consequences of chemicals on living systems if we have never tested them on any. You cannot persuade me that reactions that you have seen on cell cultures come close to what happens in real life. My cynicism stems from first hand experience of the limitations of non-living systems for experimentation. It seems so paradoxical to me that we have such complicated and expensive clinical trials for drugs consumed by a minority sick population and yet NO regulation or trials for products that a vast majority of the general population uses and consumes daily and all the time. Prevention is definitely nowhere in the agenda here.

Another alternative is of course to use just edible and known natural substances in everything. While this is a logical and perfect alternative to the dilemmas of animal testing, it is also sometimes not very practical in today's world where products are global rather than local in their distribution and audience.

Anyway, I just ate some hummus:
It had "less than 0.5% of":

• Sorbic Acid
• Sodium Benzoate
• Phosphoric Acid

Preservatives. But why can't salt and olive oil suffice? Maybe I need to just make my own Hummus from @libertad's awesome (secret?) recipe.

With a thing called rcconf, I can see these are the things running on startup of my system

│ [*] alsa-utils
│ [*] anacron
│ [*] aumix
│ [*] bluetooth
│ [*] bootlogs
│ [*] console-setup
│ [*] cron
│ [*] dbus
│ [*] fancontrol
│ [*] fuse
│ [*] hal
│ [*] hddtemp
│ [*] hdparm
│ [*] kbd
│ [*] keyboard-setup
│ [*] live-boot
│ [*] live-config
│ [*] lm-sensors
│ [*] module-init-tools
│ [*] network-manager
│ [*] openvpn
│ [*] plymouth
│ [*] pppd-dns
│ [*] procps
│ [*] rsync
│ [*] rsyslog
│ [*] sudo
│ [*] udev
│ [*] x11-common

I guess I can disable the ones in blue.. How about the others? What are these things anyway?!

Since I am estripping my Crunchbang this time, why not just post EVERYTHING on my system thus far... It's quite an interesting list. :) The ones installed on Feb 7 came with the system and the ones in the last 2 days are my doing (along with the ones that got installed with the dist-upgrade command).

Run:

ls /var/lib/dpkg/info/*.list -lh >packagelist.txt

to get this:

Vanilla Crunchbang

1. abiword-common
2. abiword-plugin-grammar
3. abiword-plugin-mathview
4. abiword
5. adduser
6. adobe-flashplugin
7. alsa-base
8. alsa-utils
9. anacron
10. apt-xapian-index
11. aptitude
12. arj
13. aspell-en
14. aspell
15. aumix-common
16. aumix
17. b43-fwcutter
18. base-passwd
19. bash-completion
20. bash
21. bc
22. binutils
23. bluez
24. bsdmainutils
25. bsdutils
26. build-essential
27. busybox
28. bzip2
29. cabextract
30. catfish
31. console-common
32. console-data
33. console-terminus
34. consolekit
35. coreutils
36. cowsay
37. cpio
38. cpp-4.4
39. cpp
40. cron
41. crunchbang-bin-scripts
42. crunchbang-extra-themes
43. crunchbang-wallpapers
44. dash
45. debconf-i18n
46. debconf
47. debian-archive-keyring
48. debianutils
49. defoma
50. desktop-file-utils
51. dictionaries-common
52. diffutils
53. dmidecode
54. dmsetup
55. dmz-cursor-theme
56. dnsmasq-base
57. docbook-xml
58. dosfstools
59. dwm-tools
60. eject
61. elementary-icon-theme
62. esound-clients
63. esound-common
64. evince-common
65. evince
66. exiv2
67. exo-utils
68. fakeroot
69. fancontrol
70. fbxkb
71. figlet
72. file-roller
73. file
74. findutils
75. firmware-b43-installer
76. firmware-b43legacy-installer
77. firmware-linux-nonfree
78. firmware-linux
79. fontconfig-config
80. fontconfig
81. fortune-mod
82. ftp
83. fuse-utils
84. g++-4.4
85. g++
86. gamin
87. gawk
88. gcalctool
89. gcc-4.4-base
90. gcc-4.4
91. gcc
92. gconf2-common
93. gconf2
94. gdebi-core
95. gdebi
96. gedit-plugins
97. gettext-base
98. ghostscript
99. giblib1
100. gimp-data
101. gimp-gmic
102. gimp-plugin-registry
103. gimp
104. gksu
105. gnome-bluetooth
106. gnome-doc-utils
107. gnome-icon-theme
108. gnome-keyring
109. gnome-mime-data
110. gnome-user-guide
111. gnumeric-common
112. gnumeric
113. gnupg
114. gparted
115. gpgv
116. grep
117. groff-base
118. gsfonts
119. gsimplecal
120. gstreamer0.10-alsa
121. gstreamer0.10-plugins-base
122. gtk2-engines-murrine
123. gtk2-engines-pixbuf
124. gtk2-engines-xfce
125. gtk2-engines
126. gtrayicon
127. gvfs-backends
128. gvfs
129. gzip
130. hal-info
131. hal
132. hddtemp
133. hdparm
134. hicolor-icon-theme
135. hostname
136. human-icon-theme
137. hunspell-en-us
138. ifupdown
139. imagemagick
140. info
141. initramfs-tools
142. initscripts
143. insserv
144. install-info
145. inxi
146. iproute
147. iptables
148. iputils-ping
149. iso-codes
150. jfsutils
151. kbd
152. lame
153. less
154. lha
155. liba52-0.7.4
156. libaa1
157. libabiword-2.8
158. libacl1
159. libaiksaurus-1.2-0c2a
160. libaiksaurus-1.2-data
161. libaiksaurusgtk-1.2-0c2a
162. libalgorithm-diff-perl
163. libalgorithm-diff-xs-perl
164. libalgorithm-merge-perl
165. libarchive1
166. libart-2.0-2
167. libasound2
168. libaspell15
169. libass4
170. libasyncns0
171. libatasmart4
172. libatk1.0-0
173. libatk1.0-data
174. libattr1
175. libaudio2
176. libaudiofile0
177. libaudit0
178. libavc1394-0
179. libavcodec52
180. libavformat52
181. libavutil49
182. libbabl-0.0-0
183. libblas3gf
184. libblkid1
185. libbluetooth3
186. libbonobo2-0
187. libbonobo2-common
188. libbonoboui2-0
189. libbonoboui2-common
190. libboost-iostreams1.42.0
191. libbsd0
192. libbz2-1.0
193. libc-bin
194. libc-dev-bin
195. libc6-dev
196. libc6
197. libcaca0
198. libcairo-perl
199. libcairomm-1.0-1
200. libcap-ng0
201. libcap2
202. libcddb2
203. libcdio-cdda0
204. libcdio-paranoia0
205. libcdio10
206. libcdparanoia0
207. libcdt4
208. libck-connector0
209. libcolamd2.7.1
210. libcroco3
211. libcups2
212. libcupsimage2
213. libcwidget3
214. libdatrie1
215. libdb4.7
216. libdb4.8
217. libdbus-glib-1-2
218. libdc1394-22
219. libdca0
220. libdevmapper1.02.1
221. libdirac-encoder0
222. libdirectfb-1.2-9
223. libdjvulibre-text
224. libdjvulibre21
225. libdrm-intel1
226. libdrm-nouveau1
227. libdrm-radeon1
228. libdrm2
229. libdvbpsi6
230. libdvdcss2
231. libdvdnav4
232. libdvdread4
233. libebml0
234. libedit2
235. libeggdbus-1-0
236. libelf1
237. libenca0
238. libenchant1c2a
239. libept1
240. libesd0
241. libevent-1.4-2
242. libevince2
243. libexif12
244. libexiv2-9
245. libexo-0.3-0
246. libexo-common
247. libexpat1
248. libfaad2
249. libffi5
250. libfftw3-3
251. libflac8
252. libfont-afm-perl
253. libfont-freetype-perl
254. libfontconfig1
255. libfontenc1
256. libfribidi0
257. libfs6
258. libfuse2
259. libgail18
260. libgamin0
261. libgcc1
262. libgconf2-4
263. libgcr0
264. libgcrypt11
265. libgd2-noxpm
266. libgdbm3
267. libgdome2-0
268. libgdome2-cpp-smart0c2a
269. libgdu0
270. libgegl-0.0-0
271. libgfortran3
272. libgif4
273. libgimp2.0
274. libgksu2-0
275. libgl1-mesa-dri
276. libgl1-mesa-glx
277. libglade2-0
278. libglew1.5
279. libglib-perl
280. libglib2.0-0
281. libglib2.0-data
282. libglibmm-2.4-1c2a
283. libglu1-mesa
284. libgmp3c2
285. libgnome-bluetooth7
286. libgnome-keyring0
287. libgnome2-0
288. libgnome2-canvas-perl
289. libgnome2-common
290. libgnome2-perl
291. libgnome2-vfs-perl
292. libgnomecanvas2-0
293. libgnomecanvas2-common
294. libgnomeui-0
295. libgnomeui-common
296. libgnomevfs2-0
297. libgnomevfs2-common
298. libgnomevfs2-extra
299. libgnutls26
300. libgoffice-0.8-8-common
301. libgoffice-0.8-8
302. libgomp1
303. libgp11-0
304. libgpg-error0
305. libgphoto2-2
306. libgphoto2-port0
307. libgpm2
308. libgraph4
309. libgs8
310. libgsf-1-114
311. libgsf-1-common
312. libgsm1
313. libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0
314. libgstreamer0.10-0
315. libgtk2-perl
316. libgtk2.0-0
317. libgtk2.0-bin
318. libgtk2.0-common
319. libgtkglext1
320. libgtkmathview0c2a
321. libgtkmm-2.4-1c2a
322. libgtksourceview2.0-0
323. libgtksourceview2.0-common
324. libgtop2-7
325. libgtop2-common
326. libgucharmap7
327. libgudev-1.0-0
328. libgvc5
329. libhal-storage1
330. libhal1
331. libhtml-format-perl
332. libhtml-parser-perl
333. libhtml-tagset-perl
334. libhtml-tree-perl
335. libhunspell-1.2-0
336. libice6
337. libicu44
338. libid3tag0
339. libidl0
340. libidn11
341. libilmbase6
342. libimlib2
343. libimobiledevice1
344. libiso9660-7
345. libisofs6
346. libiw30
347. libjasper1
348. libjbig2dec0
349. libjpeg-progs
350. libjpeg62
351. libjpeg8
352. libkate1
353. libkeybinder0
354. libkeyutils1
355. libkpathsea5
356. liblapack3gf
357. liblcms1
358. liblink-grammar4
359. liblircclient0
360. liblocale-gettext-perl
361. libloudmouth1-0
362. liblqr-1-0
363. libltdl7
364. liblua5.1-0
365. liblzma2
366. liblzo2-2
367. libmad0
368. libmagic1
369. libmagickcore3-extra
370. libmagickcore3
371. libmagickwand3
372. libmailtools-perl
373. libmatroska0
374. libmng1
375. libmpcdec6
376. libmpeg2-4
377. libmpfr4
378. libmtp8
379. libmysqlclient16
380. libncurses5
381. libncursesw5
382. libnetpbm10
383. libnewt0.52
384. libnfnetlink0
385. libnl1
386. libnotify1
387. libnspr4-0d
388. libntfs-3g75
389. libntfs10
390. libogg0
391. libopenexr6
392. libopenjpeg2
393. libopenobex1
394. libopenraw1
395. liborbit2
396. liborc-0.4-0
397. libots0
398. libpam-ck-connector
399. libpam-gnome-keyring
400. libpam-modules
401. libpam-runtime
402. libpam0g
403. libpango-perl
404. libpangomm-1.4-1
405. libpaper-utils
406. libpaper1
407. libparted0debian1
408. libpathplan4
409. libpcap0.8
410. libpci3
411. libpciaccess0
412. libpcre3
413. libpcsclite1
414. libpixman-1-0
415. libpkcs11-helper1
416. libplist1
417. libpolkit-agent-1-0
418. libpolkit-backend-1-0
419. libpolkit-gobject-1-0
420. libpoppler-glib4
421. libpoppler5
422. libpopt0
423. libpostproc51
424. libproxy0
425. libpython2.6
426. librarian0
427. libraw1394-11
428. libreadline5
429. libreadline6
430. librecode0
431. librpm1
432. librpmio1
433. librsvg2-2
434. librsvg2-common
435. libsasl2-2
436. libsasl2-modules
437. libschroedinger-1.0-0
438. libsdl-image1.2
439. libsdl1.2debian-alsa
440. libsdl1.2debian
441. libselinux1
442. libsensors4
443. libsepol1
444. libsexy2
445. libsgutils2-2
446. libshout3
447. libsigc++-2.0-0c2a
448. libslang2
449. libsm6
450. libsoup-gnome2.4-1
451. libsoup2.4-1
452. libspectre1
453. libspeex1
454. libsqlite3-0
455. libssh2-1
456. libstartup-notification0
457. libstdc++6-4.4-dev
458. libstdc++6
459. libsvga1
460. libswscale0
461. libsysfs2
462. libt1-5
463. libtag1-vanilla
464. libtag1c2a
465. libtagc0
466. libtalloc2
467. libtar
468. libtasn1-3
469. libtext-charwidth-perl
470. libtext-iconv-perl
471. libtext-wrapi18n-perl
472. libthai-data
473. libthai0
474. libtheora0
475. libthunar-vfs-1-2
476. libtimedate-perl
477. libts-0.0-0
478. libtwolame0
479. libudev0
480. libunique-1.0-0
481. libupnp3
482. liburi-perl
483. libusb-0.1-4
484. libusb-1.0-0
485. libusbmuxd1
486. libuuid-perl
487. libuuid1
488. libv4l-0
489. libvcdinfo0
490. libvisual-0.4-0
491. libvisual-0.4-plugins
492. libvorbis0a
493. libvorbisenc2
494. libvpx0
495. libvte-common
496. libvte9
497. libwmf0.2-7
498. libwnck-common
499. libwnck22
500. libwpd8c2a
501. libwpg-0.1-1
502. libwps-0.1-1
503. libwrap0
504. libwv-1.2-3
505. libwww-perl
506. libx11-6
507. libx11-data
508. libx11-xcb1
509. libx86-1
510. libxapian22
511. libxau6
512. libxaw7
513. libxcb-atom1
514. libxcb-aux0
515. libxcb-dri2-0
516. libxcb-event1
517. libxcb-keysyms1
518. libxcb-randr0
519. libxcb-render-util0
520. libxcb-render0
521. libxcb-shm0
522. libxcb-xv0
523. libxcb1
524. libxcomposite1
525. libxcursor1
526. libxdamage1
527. libxdmcp6
528. libxdot4
529. libxext6
530. libxfce4menu-0.1-0
531. libxfce4util-bin
532. libxfce4util-common
533. libxfce4util4
534. libxfcegui4-4
535. libxfconf-0-2
536. libxfixes3
537. libxft2
538. libxi6
539. libxinerama1
540. libxkbfile1
541. libxklavier16
542. libxml-parser-perl
543. libxmu6
544. libxmuu1
545. libxpm4
546. libxrandr2
547. libxrender1
548. libxres1
549. libxslt1.1
550. libxss1
551. libxt6
552. libxtst6
553. libxv1
554. libxvmc1
555. libxxf86dga1
556. libxxf86vm1
557. link-grammar-dictionaries-en
558. linux-image-2.6-amd64
559. linux-sound-base
560. liquorix-archive-keyring
561. liquorix-keyring
562. liquorix-keyrings
563. lm-sensors
564. locales
565. logrotate
566. lp-solve
567. lsb-base
568. lsb-release
569. lsof
570. lzop
571. make
572. man-db
573. manpages-dev
574. manpages
575. mawk
576. menu
577. mesa-utils
578. mime-support
579. miscfiles
580. mobile-broadband-provider-info
581. modemmanager
582. module-init-tools
583. mount
584. mtools
585. mysql-common
586. nano
587. ncurses-base
588. ncurses-bin
589. net-tools
590. netbase
591. netcat-traditional
592. netpbm
593. network-manager-gnome
594. network-manager-openvpn-gnome
595. network-manager-openvpn
596. network-manager-pptp-gnome
597. network-manager-pptp
598. network-manager-vpnc-gnome
599. network-manager-vpnc
600. notify-osd
601. ntfs-3g
602. ntfsprogs
603. obex-data-server
604. obexd-client
605. openssh-blacklist-extra
606. openssh-blacklist
607. openssh-client
608. openssl-blacklist
609. openvpn-blacklist
610. openvpn
611. orage
612. os-prober
613. oss-compat
614. p7zip-full
615. patch
616. pciutils
617. plymouth-themes-all
618. plymouth-themes-fade-in
619. plymouth-themes-glow
620. plymouth-themes-script
621. plymouth-themes-solar
622. plymouth-themes-spinfinity
623. plymouth
624. pm-utils
625. policykit-1-gnome
626. policykit-1
627. poppler-utils
628. powermgmt-base
629. ppp
630. pptp-linux
631. procps
632. psmisc
633. python-cairo
634. python-central
635. python-chardet
636. python-dbus
637. python-debian
638. python-gconf
639. python-glade2
640. python-gnome2
641. python-gnupginterface
642. python-gobject
643. python-gtk2
644. python-gtksourceview2
645. python-keybinder
646. python-notify
647. python-numpy
648. python-pyorbit
649. python-software-properties
650. python-support
651. python-vte
652. python-xapian
653. python-xdg
654. python2.6-minimal
655. python2.6
656. radeontool
657. rarian-compat
658. readline-common
659. reiser4progs
660. reiserfsprogs
661. rpl
662. rpm-common
663. rpm2cpio
664. rsync
665. rsyslog
666. rzip
667. screen
668. scrot
669. sed
670. sensible-utils
671. sgml-base
672. sgml-data
673. shared-mime-info
674. software-properties-gtk
675. sshfs
676. statler-theme
677. suckless-tools
678. synaptic
679. sysv-rc
680. sysvinit-utils
681. sysvinit
682. tangerine-icon-theme
683. tango-icon-theme
684. tar
685. tasksel-data
686. tasksel
687. tcl8.4
688. tcpd
689. terminator
690. thunar-archive-plugin
691. thunar-data
692. thunar-dropbox
693. thunar-media-tags-plugin
694. thunar-thumbnailers
695. thunar-volman
696. thunar
697. tint2
698. tint2conf
699. traceroute
700. transmission-common
701. transmission-gtk
702. tsconf
703. ttf-dejavu-core
704. ttf-dejavu-extra
705. ttf-dejavu
706. ttf-freefont
707. ttf-lyx
708. ttf-mscorefonts-installer
709. ucf
710. udev
711. udisks
712. ufraw-batch
713. unace
714. unalz
715. unattended-upgrades
716. unrar
717. unzip
718. usb-modeswitch
719. usbmuxd
720. usbutils
721. user-setup
722. util-linux
723. uuid-runtime
724. vbetool
725. viewnior
726. vim-common
727. vim-tiny
728. volumeicon
729. vpnc
730. w64codecs
731. wget
732. whiptail
733. whois
734. wireless-tools
735. wpasupplicant
736. x-ttcidfont-conf
737. x11-apps
738. x11-common
739. x11-session-utils
740. x11-utils
741. x11-xfs-utils
742. x11-xkb-utils
743. xauth
744. xbase-clients
745. xchat-common
746. xchat
747. xdg-user-dirs
748. xdg-utils
749. xfburn
750. xfce-keyboard-shortcuts
751. xfce4-appfinder
752. xfce4-mixer
753. xfce4-panel
754. xfce4-power-manager-data
755. xfce4-power-manager
756. xfce4-screenshooter
757. xfce4-session
758. xfce4-settings
759. xfce4-terminal
760. xfce4-utils
761. xfce4-volumed
762. xfce4
763. xfconf
764. xfdesktop4-data
765. xfdesktop4
766. xfonts-100dpi
767. xfonts-75dpi
768. xfonts-base
769. xfonts-encodings
770. xfonts-scalable
771. xfonts-utils
772. xfsprogs
773. xfwm4-themes
774. xfwm4
775. xinit
776. xinput
777. xkb-data
778. xli
779. xml-core
780. xorg-docs-core
781. xorg
782. xscreensaver-data
783. xscreensaver
784. xserver-xorg-input-all
785. xserver-xorg-input-evdev
786. xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
787. xserver-xorg-input-wacom
788. xserver-xorg-video-all
789. xserver-xorg-video-apm
790. xserver-xorg-video-ark
791. xserver-xorg-video-ati
792. xserver-xorg-video-chips
793. xserver-xorg-video-cirrus
794. xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
795. xserver-xorg-video-i128
796. xserver-xorg-video-mach64
797. xserver-xorg-video-mga
798. xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
799. xserver-xorg-video-nouveau
800. xserver-xorg-video-nv
801. xserver-xorg-video-openchrome
802. xserver-xorg-video-r128
803. xserver-xorg-video-radeon
804. xserver-xorg-video-rendition
805. xserver-xorg-video-s3
806. xserver-xorg-video-s3virge
807. xserver-xorg-video-savage
808. xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion
809. xserver-xorg-video-sis
810. xserver-xorg-video-sisusb
811. xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
812. xserver-xorg-video-trident
813. xserver-xorg-video-vesa
814. xserver-xorg-video-vmware
815. xserver-xorg-video-voodoo
816. xserver-xorg
817. xsltproc
818. xz-utils
819. yelp
820. zenity
821. zip
822. zlib1g
823. zoo

My additions

1. google-chrome-beta
2. base-files
3. dpkg
4. e2fslibs
5. e2fsprogs
6. grub-common
7. grub-pc
8. libfreetype6
9. libperl5.10
10. login
11. perl-modules
12. perl
13. apt-utils
14. apt
15. ca-certificates
16. console-setup
17. dbus-x11
18. dbus
19. isc-dhcp-client
20. isc-dhcp-common
21. keyboard-configuration
22. libcomerr2
23. libdbus-1-3
24. libgssapi-krb5-2
25. libk5crypto3
26. libkrb5-3
27. libkrb5support0
28. libldap-2.4-2
29. libss2
30. libssl0.9.8
31. libxml2
32. linux-base
33. linux-image-2.6.32-5-amd64
34. openssl
35. passwd
36. perl-base
37. python-apt-common
38. python-apt
39. python-minimal
40. python
41. tzdata
42. desktop-base
43. dpkg-dev
44. firmware-linux-free
45. gedit-common
46. gedit
47. klibc-utils
48. libavahi-client3
49. libavahi-common-data
50. libavahi-common3
51. libavahi-glib1
52. libburn4
53. libcairo2
54. libcurl3-gnutls
55. libcurl3
56. libdpkg-perl
57. libklibc
58. libmodplug1
59. libnautilus-extension1
60. libnm-glib-vpn1
61. libnm-glib2
62. libnm-util1
63. libnss3-1d
64. libpango1.0-0
65. libpango1.0-common
66. libpng12-0
67. libpulse0
68. libqt4-dbus
69. libqt4-designer
70. libqt4-network
71. libqt4-qt3support
72. libqt4-script
73. libqt4-sql-mysql
74. libqt4-sql
75. libqt4-xml
76. libqtcore4
77. libqtgui4
78. libsmbclient
79. libsndfile1
80. libtiff-tools
81. libtiff4
82. libvlc5
83. libvlccore4
84. libwbclient0
85. libwebkit-1.0-2
86. libwebkit-1.0-common
87. libxfont1
88. libxml2-utils
89. linux-libc-dev
90. live-boot-initramfs-tools
91. live-boot
92. live-config-sysvinit
93. live-config
94. qt4-qtconfig
95. vlc-data
96. live-initramfs
97. network-manager
98. python-libxml2
99. sudo
100. ttf-liberation
101. usb-modeswitch-data
102. vlc-nox
103. vlc-plugin-notify
104. vlc-plugin-pulse
105. vlc
106. x11-xserver-utils
107. xserver-common
108. xserver-xorg-core
109. xserver-xorg-video-intel
110. xserver-xorg-video-tseng
111. cl-asdf
112. clisp
113. common-lisp-controller
114. ed
115. feynmf
116. lacheck
117. latex-beamer
118. latex-xcolor
119. libffcall1
120. libmagick++3
121. libplot2c2
122. libpstoedit0c2a
123. libsigsegv0
124. lmodern
125. luatex
126. pgf
127. prosper
128. ps2eps
129. pstoedit
130. purifyeps
131. realpath
132. tex-common
133. texlive-base
134. texlive-binaries
135. texlive-common
136. texlive-doc-base
137. texlive-extra-utils
138. texlive-font-utils
139. texlive-fonts-recommended-doc
140. texlive-fonts-recommended
141. texlive-generic-recommended
142. texlive-latex-base-doc
143. texlive-latex-base
144. texlive-latex-recommended-doc
145. texlive-latex-recommended
146. texlive-luatex
147. texlive-metapost-doc
148. texlive-metapost
149. texlive-pstricks-doc
150. texlive-pstricks
151. texlive
152. tipa
153. xindy-rules
154. xindy
155. autopoint
156. autotools-dev
157. cdbs
158. debhelper
159. dpatch
160. gettext
161. gfortran-4.4
162. gfortran
163. git
164. html2text
165. intltool-debian
166. libblas-dev
167. libbz2-dev
168. liberror-perl
169. libjpeg62-dev
170. liblapack-dev
171. libmail-sendmail-perl
172. libncurses5-dev
173. libpcre3-dev
174. libpcrecpp0
175. libpng12-dev
176. libreadline-dev
177. libreadline6-dev
178. libsys-hostname-long-perl
179. libunistring0
180. patchutils
181. po-debconf
182. r-base-core
183. r-base-dev
184. r-base-html
185. r-base
186. r-cran-boot
187. r-cran-class
188. r-cran-cluster
189. r-cran-codetools
190. r-cran-foreign
191. r-cran-kernsmooth
192. r-cran-lattice
193. r-cran-mass
194. r-cran-matrix
195. r-cran-mgcv
196. r-cran-nlme
197. r-cran-nnet
198. r-cran-rpart
199. r-cran-spatial
200. r-cran-survival
201. r-doc-html
202. r-recommended
203. tcl8.5
204. tk8.5
205. zlib1g-dev
206. rstudio
207. libapr1
208. libaprutil1
209. libneon27-gnutls
210. libserf-0-0
211. libsvn1
212. subversion
213. mendeleydesktop
214. network-manager-openconnect
215. openconnect
216. cpp-4.3
217. gcc-4.3-base
218. gcc-4.3
219. linux-headers-2.6.32-5-amd64
220. linux-headers-2.6.32-5-common
221. linux-kbuild-2.6.32
222. e4rat
223. libc6-i386
224. ia32-libs
225. lib32asound2
226. lib32bz2-1.0
227. lib32gcc1
228. lib32ncurses5
229. lib32stdc++6
230. lib32v4l-0
231. lib32z1
232. libwine-unstable
233. libwine-bin-unstable
234. wine-bin-unstable
235. libwine-gl-unstable
236. libwine-oss-unstable
237. libwine-print-unstable
238. libwine-sane-unstable
239. libwine-cms-unstable
240. libwine-gphoto2-unstable
241. libwine-ldap-unstable
242. libwine-openal-unstable
243. wine-unstable

I tried some alternatives but they all appallingly bad @tinypliny #55072. So I am back to Wine + PDFXchange in my new crunchbang install. Running notes from the install:

The Wine for amd64 machines come from the dev.carbon-project.org repository as recommended by WineHQ for 64 bit systems:

The libraries that are essential to the wine install are:

• lib32asound2
• lib32bz2-1.0
• lib32gcc1
• lib32ncurses5
• lib32stdc++6
• lib32v4l-0
• lib32z1
• libc6-i386
• libwine-bin-unstable
• libwine-cms-unstable
• libwine-gl-unstable
• libwine-gphoto2-unstable
• libwine-ldap-unstable
• libwine-openal-unstable
• libwine-oss-unstable
• libwine-print-unstable
• libwine-sane-unstable
• libwine-unstable
• wine-bin-unstable
• wine-unstable

In that particular order. I discovered this nifty command that can tell you the exact date and time of the all the packages installed on your system.

ls /var/lib/dpkg/info/*.list -lh

Pipe it to a list on your home directory

ls /var/lib/dpkg/info/*.list -lh >packagelist.txt

Using gnumeric, I sorted the list by date and time and et voila, I have a neat list of what was installed as a part of what and in what order.

The next step is of course installing PDF Xchange Reader from the PDF Xchange website

I don't want to install wine and PDF XChange viewer just because it has some odd behaviour on linux. Scrolling does not work well at all. I wish the GNU PDF project would speed up and release the GNU Juggler

The code-named GNU Juggler will be a full-fledged PDF viewer and editor making use of the GNU PDF Library. Right now we are busy in the development of the library and the GNU Juggler is not even started.

I don't know why there isn't a decent PDF annotation program for linux yet. There just isn't. It's very odd. Evince 3.0 has note-taking but no highlighting and the developer told me he has no time to work on it anymore. Jarnal/Xournal/Mendeley etc. have fake highlighting where the annotation does not show up in other PDF readers and is not saved in the PDF file itself. Okular is fine but require installation of too many KDE components, is resource-hogging and kind of buggy as well.

Though linux has some really good PDF tools, sadly PDF annotation is not among them.

---
PS: I keep double clicking the post to edit it like in i2 and then I realize, I am not on i2! hah

Just so I can keep track of the configuration changes I am making that messes up my system, I am going to post a running list here. Starting from a brand new install:

Started with crunchbang for 64 bit systems:

• Downloaded google chrome beta and installed it
• Windows Manager Tweaks: turned compositor on
• Terminator
• changed keybindings for copy and paste (ctrl-c & ctrl-v)
• checked use system fixed width font
• Orage
• made clock fonts bigger.
• Removed stuff:

sudo aptitude purge chromium-browser chromium-browser-inspector firmware-ipw2x00 firmware-iwlwifi firmware-ralink fortunes-min gftp gftp-common gftp-gtk heybuddy gdm avahi-utils avahi-daemon fortune-cookie-db conky

• Checked if google chrome is the default

sudo update-alternatives --config gnome-www-browser

• Set google-chrome in preferred applications
• Cleanup old kernels and configurations

sudo apt-get --purge autoremove
sudo aptitude purge ~c

• In /usr/games/fortune, deleted the fortune executable

gedit ~/.config/xfce4/autostart.sh

-- Comment out these lines

cb-fortune - have Statler say a little adage
(sleep 120s && cb-fortune) &
conky
cb-welcome
cb-setxkbmap live &
cb-bad-nautilus &

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-key 381BA480
gpg -a --export 381BA480 > jranke_cran.asc
sudo apt-key add jranke_cran.asc

sudo gedit /etc/apt/preferences

Package: *
Pin: release a=squeeze-cran
Pin-Priority: 991

• R-check

apt-get update
apt-cache policy r-base

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

• added myself to the fuse group.
• Copied apt archive files from my external harddrive

sudo apt-get install texlive r-base ghostscript subversion

• Installed the following from .deb packages
• R-studio
• Mendeley

• In R

install.packages(c("rms", "Hmisc", "ggplot2", "haplo.stats"))

• Make a file /usr/local/sbin/autologin with

#! /bin/sh
/bin/login -f myusername

sudo gedit /etc/inittab

• Changed

1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1

to

1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty -n -l /usr/local/sbin/autologin 38400 tty1

• Commented out

3:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty3
4:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty4
5:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty5
6:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty6

sudo gedit /etc/bash.bashrc

• Make xfce4 start automatically after login

if [[ -z "$DISPLAY" ]] && [[ $(tty) = /dev/tty1 ]]; then
startx
logout
fi
    

• Expand size of bash history

export HISTCONTROL=erasedups
export HISTSIZE=10000
shopt -s histappend

gedit ~./inputrc

"\ep": history-search-backward
"\en": history-search-forward

• Changed xfce menu

gedit ~/.config/menus/xfce-applications.menu