For some hideous reason Fedora 15 still has a release from 2007 cluttering its repositories. But it's thankfully pretty easy to install and get a recent TEX environment up and running in Fedora 15.

All instructions are from here:

First, in a terminal, do

# rpm -i

This adds the yum repository for the TEX LIVE system to the package managment system on linux.

Follow this step by:

yum clean all
yum install texlive

Individual packages can also be installed commandline. For eg.

yum install 'tex(epsfig.sty)'

I currently need:

latin1.sty
fullpage.sty
color.sty
array.sty
longtable.sty
calc.sty
multirow.sty
hhline.sty
ifthen.sty

About Sewing Machines!



Yeah! Those links are SO impressive they need a post of their own.

The articles are worth their alphabets in super-nova explosions for anyone who wants a carefully written investigative review about ALL the sewing machines and brands in the market.

It reads like a soap opera of who's sleeping with who in the sewing machine industry. Basically, this is the summary of that article:

1. Bernina -- the royalty of sewing machines. If you have $8K, then get this. Else move along to the next

2. Viking | Pfaff -- similar but Pfaffs are Vikings manufactured in Eastern Europe. Vikings are manufactured in Sweden. Vikings preferable. Still expensive but you will make up the expense in smooth running and headache-freedom,

3. Janome | “Upper End” Brother | Baby Lock | Kenmore -- similar budget inconsistency, May or may not work for you.

4. Elna | “Big Box Mart” Brother | Singer | White -- Worst. Avoid if serious.

I am leaning towards a Viking.

.

With mascarpone, blueberry and lingonberry preserves, a huge fresh ginger root, cloves, nutmeg, almonds, whole wheat flour, flax seed, applesauce, milk and baking soda for the leavening.



Even though I added a good sized ginger root chunk, it's not spicy. Next time, I will probably add even more. I purposefully mixed the doughly roughly so that I would get the hard crusty exterior and the bread would be slightly crispy. I don't particularly like moist bread. They don't toast too well. Unfortunately, it wasn't dry enough because in spite of all these precautions it's rather moist. Maybe I should have waited for it to cool down instead of slicing through it like the hungry, impatient and greedy person that I totally am.

I finally found it. I don't know what took me so long. But this is amazingly effective.


Baking Soda
(1 pinch/sprinkle)

+

Coconut oil
(to dissolve/make a paste from the baking soda)


You can substitute the coconut oil with vaseline intensive care or perfume-free vaseline. It will work just as well. Apply liberally on odor-prone underarm areas. That's it. No more chemicals or plastic packaging waste or even dehydrating alcohol derivatives ever.

I just sprinkle some baking soda on my palm, mix with a spot of coconut oil and apply immediately after showering. It works so well that I now have trouble finding out what clothes I have worn and what clothes I haven't if I don't consciously toss them in the laundry bag. I would say it has eliminated around 99.8% odor.

Try it out, if you haven't already.

LastFM just sprang this on me and I was completely blown away!

Think he might be dancing in his grave?

Yo-Yo Ma & Andrew Bird


And music from the Appalachian Journey

Coding is time consuming. I didn't really consciously think about this till my advisor asked me about the roadblocks to my progress in my dissertation. I thought back and it occurred to me that I was

• learning a somewhat new language (R)
• trying to code in it using concepts from statistics that I already have
• trying to generalize code so that it could be less repetitive and automate chores and processing
• trying to splice other languages such as latex and perl to interact with R code
• learning THOSE other languages
• trying to prevent errors in their interaction
• trying to write functions that would serve a purpose similar to "macros" on SAS but yet be understandable to me at a somewhat-novice level.
• debugging to see where it all goes wrong when errors turn up
• differentiating what is my code's fault, what can be changed in R preferences, and what is inherently the fault of the R build on the particular linux distro I am using.

Why am I doing this when I have a data manager for the data I am dealing with? Because it's insane to go whining to the manager the minute you want some data processing done. He has own Ph.D. to complete and has limited time and innumerable demands. So there is really no option but to power through all of this on my own. Besides, I think population sciences are *really* about statistics and data processing even though population scientists who don't do all this dirty work may persuade themselves that it is just about interpretation. It is as much about quality control in the data and seemingly trivial logical checks as it is about analyzing super-clean data in the end and figuring out what it could mean in the bigger picture of million other studies. I think it's important to acquire this skill so I can use it in my future. Not everyone has a data manager, a software coding bloke and a statistician to always help them.

The process itself is exhausting because it's like learning a completely new language without having ANY experience in how the semantics work. Apparently some people have observed this exhaustion and set up sites like "Software Carpentry": It sets up a formalized framework within which you could learn these skills. I think courses like this should be mandatory to population sciences coursework. At some point, we need to realize that population sciences and bioinformatics are very similar in their scope and application. This is more true than ever as we progress rapidly towards HUGE datasets, complex data structures, multidimensional variables and the necessity of channeling all of this into interpretations simple enough to make sense to health-related and population policy-making.

I am very close to a complete Fridge wipeout.
I currently have
- A wonderful big Cauliflower {needs to be used this weekend}
- 2 frozen bananas
- 1 ripe tomato {priority use this weekend}
- 1 orange
- 1/4th lb okra {super priority use maybe tomorrow}
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Some hot chillies

Well.. maybe not that close but still this is a reflection of workload. I think I might reach the wipout this weekend and give the fridge a scrubdown before I go grocery shopping.

Found a nice solution to the crazy external monitor problem in Fedora 15:
Download the latest release of ARandR from here:
Extract to some directory and navigate to that directory:

cd /arandr-0.1.5/

Run arandr.

./arandr

All external display problems SOLVED! Woohoo. Thank you, Christian Amsuess. You simply rock. I saw they are trying to get this nifty program reviewed to include it in the Fedora yum repository For such a wonderful program that replaces the crap they have in gnome 3, the brutal review process seems somewhat counterproductive.

---

The Extended monitor display works. However, if I assign the external monitor as the primary display, it doesn't work. It gives me a blank backlit screen. WHYYYY?

I really need one of these counters now.

The number matches. I have the exact expression too.

In addition, I feel like I could outshout the incredible hulk anytime after /var/log/messages records an exception that could have well read, "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry normal".

Last few lines from /var/log/Xorg.0.log

[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): EDID vendor "HWP", prod id 9896
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Using hsync ranges from config file
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Using vrefresh ranges from config file
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Printing DDC gathered Modelines:
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1680x1050"x0.0 146.25 1680 1784 1960 2240 1050 1053 1059 1089 -hsync +vsync (65.3 kHz)
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Modeline "800x600"x0.0 40.00 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync (37.9 kHz)
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Modeline "640x480"x0.0 31.50 640 656 720 840 480 481 484 500 -hsync -vsync (37.5 kHz)
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Modeline "640x480"x0.0 25.18 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -hsync -vsync (31.5 kHz)
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Modeline "720x400"x0.0 28.32 720 738 846 900 400 412 414 449 -hsync +vsync (31.5 kHz)
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1280x1024"x0.0 135.00 1280 1296 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync (80.0 kHz)
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1024x768"x0.0 78.75 1024 1040 1136 1312 768 769 772 800 +hsync +vsync (60.0 kHz)
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1024x768"x0.0 65.00 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync (48.4 kHz)
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Modeline "832x624"x0.0 57.28 832 864 928 1152 624 625 628 667 -hsync -vsync (49.7 kHz)
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Modeline "800x600"x0.0 49.50 800 816 896 1056 600 601 604 625 +hsync +vsync (46.9 kHz)
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1152x864"x0.0 108.00 1152 1216 1344 1600 864 865 868 900 +hsync +vsync (67.5 kHz)
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1152x720"x60.0 67.32 1152 1208 1328 1504 720 721 724 746 -hsync +vsync (44.8 kHz)
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1280x960"x0.0 108.00 1280 1376 1488 1800 960 961 964 1000 +hsync +vsync (60.0 kHz)
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1440x900"x0.0 106.50 1440 1520 1672 1904 900 903 909 934 -hsync +vsync (55.9 kHz)
[ 2244.948] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1600x1000"x60.0 133.14 1600 1704 1872 2144 1000 1001 1004 1035 -hsync +vsync (62.1 kHz)
[ 2261.254] (II) intel(0): EDID vendor "SEC", prod id 21825
[ 2261.254] (II) intel(0): Printing DDC gathered Modelines:
[ 2261.254] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1366x768"x0.0 72.33 1366 1414 1446 1526 768 770 775 790 -hsync -vsync (47.4 kHz)
[ 2262.258] (II) intel(0): EDID vendor "SEC", prod id 21825
[ 2262.258] (II) intel(0): Printing DDC gathered Modelines:
[ 2262.258] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1366x768"x0.0 72.33 1366 1414 1446 1526 768 770 775 790 -hsync -vsync (47.4 kHz)
[ 2262.353] (II) intel(0): EDID vendor "SEC", prod id 21825
[ 2262.353] (II) intel(0): Printing DDC gathered Modelines:
[ 2262.353] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1366x768"x0.0 72.33 1366 1414 1446 1526 768 770 775 790 -hsync -vsync (47.4 kHz)
[ 2262.467] (II) intel(0): Allocated new frame buffer 1728x1050 stride 7168, tiled
[ 2293.167] (II) intel(0): EDID vendor "SEC", prod id 21825
[ 2293.167] (II) intel(0): Printing DDC gathered Modelines:
[ 2293.167] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1366x768"x0.0 72.33 1366 1414 1446 1526 768 770 775 790 -hsync -vsync (47.4 kHz)
[ 2293.280] (II) intel(0): Allocated new frame buffer 3072x1050 stride 12288, tiled

There's something really wrong with my setup here:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:0df4] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
    Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems Device [1179:fc31]
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
    Memory at f6000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
    Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
    Memory at f0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M]
    I/O ports at e000 [size=128]
    Expansion ROM at f7000000 [disabled] [size=512K]
    Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [68] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
    Capabilities: [78] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
    Capabilities: [b4] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14
    Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel
    Capabilities: [128] Power Budgeting
    Capabilities: [600] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0001 Rev=1 Len=024
    Kernel driver in use: nvidia
    Kernel modules: nvidia, nouveau, nvidiafb

Even though there is now a driver in use (installed from here: ) I still cannot adjust my resolution. I didn't install nVidia's own driver because of this article:

There is only ONE resolution in the display settings (1024X768). Attaching an external monitor results in the computer shutting down on its own. And there is no way to adjust brightness.

Aarrgh. Frustration ++. I am just going to ignore this today. I have too much work piled up.