The Chinese military hit the New York Times in retaliation for a story exposing the Chinese Prime Minister's theft of billions from the Chinese people.
China is a mere kleptocracy, a country ruled by criminals for whom the law is a tool, just like the switchblade or handgun, to extract money from victims, defined as anyone other than themselves.
As a web admin, it is tempting to ban all of China, but typically I just ban a couple thousand Chinese IP addresses at a time whenever I detect bad activity. The Chinese are spending a lot of money trying to infect servers and computers in the West, and the New York Times is just the latest story. Even small sites are targeted for various reasons. Anytime I see activity from Russia, Ukraine, or China, that's always bad news.
The reason I hesitate to ban all of China is that I could be living in China myself, or someone like me could be. I don't like the idea of banning everybody due to the actions of a few thousand knuckleheads in the PLA. Besides, the thought has occurred to me that the tyrants of China want us to ban China, because they don't want their peasants learning the truth. In fact, provoking a blanket ban may even be an objective of these hack attacks.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Elance is a Boil that Needs to be Lanced
I've been exploring Elance lately. What a time-waster that place is. I spent an hour this morning providing a one-page proofreading sample for somebody writing a novel. Based on the page they took from their novel, they can't write well and are wasting their time. Unfortunately, they wasted my time too. I spent an hour proofing the one page and composing a proposal on Elance only to have them cancel the whole project, most likely because I was quoting a fair price, and they had a Wal-Mart budget. I am sure they wanted me to work for $5 an hour--that is exactly what they had in mind. That teaches me never to do any work until I see the money and to never do any work on spec or in hopes of getting work. You work on spec or in hopes of getting more work, and your hopes are dashed, everytime, because somebody finds a cheaper source or changes their mind or has a brainstorm or whatever the case may be. The next time someone asks for a sample, I am going to ask for $100.
I don't like Elance, because they take a greedy Mafia-esque 9% cut, holding the money for a week or longer before transferring it, and charging for every little thing. Want to make bids on a different category? That will cost you. Just making bids in the first place involves a substantial amount of time examining the job and determining whether it is a good fit or not. Then you have to deal with 10 to 30 other bidders who also want the job. Elance is just another slimy monster stealing work from Americans and farming it over to the third world. I think Elance is a boil that needs to be lanced.
I don't like Elance, because they take a greedy Mafia-esque 9% cut, holding the money for a week or longer before transferring it, and charging for every little thing. Want to make bids on a different category? That will cost you. Just making bids in the first place involves a substantial amount of time examining the job and determining whether it is a good fit or not. Then you have to deal with 10 to 30 other bidders who also want the job. Elance is just another slimy monster stealing work from Americans and farming it over to the third world. I think Elance is a boil that needs to be lanced.
Monday, January 28, 2013
The ASUS E35M1-M
The ASUS E35M1-M has a bug: unplug your keyboard, lose your keyboard. I would not advise anyone to buy any kludge manufactured by ASUS. I'm sitting here looking at two keyboards in the trash can. They were perfectly good, in fact better than average keyboards, not cheapie specials by any means, until they came into contact with the ASUS E35M1-M, which killed them.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Hillary Clinton & the Mansplainers
This article about Hillary's testimony before Congress was Hillary-ous. Most of the credit is due to Hillary herself. Her choice of glasses was a particular stroke of genius. She's a right likeable lady. My mother voted for her for in the 2008 Presidential primary, while I voted for Obama. Together, as they are now, they make a great team. I don't know whether Hillary would have made a better President, but she makes a superb Secretary of State.
I think the U.S. frankly needed a black President just to set things right, given our country's history, but Obama's election was not affirmative action. I wouldn't have voted for just any black candidate, even if the fellow agreed with me on everything. I wouldn't have voted for a smart and well-educated black man either, unless he was as good a speaker as Obama. I wouldn't have voted for a black politician that exaggerated and played havoc with the facts or played the race card all the time, like some I can recall. In fact, for me at least, a politician's skin color is neither advantage nor disadvantage; one simply observes after the fact that yes, it is probably a good thing for the sake of history that the U.S. showed the world we can elect a black man to the highest office. It's like thumbing our nose at the world, you see, with all its harsh criticisms of the United States, and saying, "You don't know us, after all. We're America, land of opportunity!"
A potential Hillary candidacy in 2016 would be interesting, but I am afraid she may be too old then. I don't know why she is stepping down as Secretary of State--missed that explanation.
I think the U.S. frankly needed a black President just to set things right, given our country's history, but Obama's election was not affirmative action. I wouldn't have voted for just any black candidate, even if the fellow agreed with me on everything. I wouldn't have voted for a smart and well-educated black man either, unless he was as good a speaker as Obama. I wouldn't have voted for a black politician that exaggerated and played havoc with the facts or played the race card all the time, like some I can recall. In fact, for me at least, a politician's skin color is neither advantage nor disadvantage; one simply observes after the fact that yes, it is probably a good thing for the sake of history that the U.S. showed the world we can elect a black man to the highest office. It's like thumbing our nose at the world, you see, with all its harsh criticisms of the United States, and saying, "You don't know us, after all. We're America, land of opportunity!"
A potential Hillary candidacy in 2016 would be interesting, but I am afraid she may be too old then. I don't know why she is stepping down as Secretary of State--missed that explanation.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
My Unorthodox Anti-Sicilian
I love "my" new pet line against the Sicilian, although I have to place the possessive adjective in quotes, because with my lowly rating and modest abilities, I have never invented a chess opening in my life that could actually win games on a consistent basis. I observed 2. Na3 in a game played by a grandmaster at a tournament, and it has been my stock reply to the Sicilian with increasing frequency for one reason--I win games with it.
[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2013.01.23"]
[White "igor"]
[Black "A. Nony Mouse"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1486"]
[BlackElo "1456"]
[TimeControl "8|5"]
[Termination "igor won by resignation"]
1.e4 c5 2.Na3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4 4.Bc4 a6 5.c3 Nc6 6.d4 b5 7.Bd5 Bb7 8.Nf3 Nf6 9.Bg5 Nxd5 10.exd5 Na5 11.d6 c4 12.O-O Bd5 13.Nc2 Nc6 14.Ne3 Bxf3 15.Qxf3 f6 16.dxe7 Bxe7 17.Bf4 O-O 18.Qg4 Re8 19.Nf5 Bf8 20.Nh6+ 1-0
What's nice about this game is that Black played reasonable moves, with no outright obvious blunders until the very end, although he did make mistakes that allowed me to gain tempos. Notice how I am constantly developing my pieces while Black fiddles with his knight and bishop and pawns with little to show for it.
The moves I am proudest of are 9. Bg5! and 18. Qg4!, which positioned the Queen just right. There may be refutations to each of these moves, as that is always a possibility with my games, but I don't know whether many players could find them in 8|5 blitz. I'm pretty sure that 9. .. Nxd5 was very bad, although not an obvious blunder--at least at my level of play, in blitz--but it lost time and allowed me to push the doubled pawn to d6, which was bad positionally for Black. Players are too eager to trade knights for bishops, based upon the stock wisdom that bishops are more powerful than knights. Yes, but. As dear old Chigorin knew, there are a lot of but's!
[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2013.01.23"]
[White "igor"]
[Black "A. Nony Mouse"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1486"]
[BlackElo "1456"]
[TimeControl "8|5"]
[Termination "igor won by resignation"]
1.e4 c5 2.Na3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4 4.Bc4 a6 5.c3 Nc6 6.d4 b5 7.Bd5 Bb7 8.Nf3 Nf6 9.Bg5 Nxd5 10.exd5 Na5 11.d6 c4 12.O-O Bd5 13.Nc2 Nc6 14.Ne3 Bxf3 15.Qxf3 f6 16.dxe7 Bxe7 17.Bf4 O-O 18.Qg4 Re8 19.Nf5 Bf8 20.Nh6+ 1-0
What's nice about this game is that Black played reasonable moves, with no outright obvious blunders until the very end, although he did make mistakes that allowed me to gain tempos. Notice how I am constantly developing my pieces while Black fiddles with his knight and bishop and pawns with little to show for it.
The moves I am proudest of are 9. Bg5! and 18. Qg4!, which positioned the Queen just right. There may be refutations to each of these moves, as that is always a possibility with my games, but I don't know whether many players could find them in 8|5 blitz. I'm pretty sure that 9. .. Nxd5 was very bad, although not an obvious blunder--at least at my level of play, in blitz--but it lost time and allowed me to push the doubled pawn to d6, which was bad positionally for Black. Players are too eager to trade knights for bishops, based upon the stock wisdom that bishops are more powerful than knights. Yes, but. As dear old Chigorin knew, there are a lot of but's!
Sunday, January 20, 2013
KDE, Dolphin, K3b, Thunderbird, Kmail, Password Hell, Kate & Jedit
I like many things about KDE 4.9.4. I have not noticed any sluggishness on my 25-watt computer, despite the reputation of KDE for being slow. Other desktops have weird problems that just boggle the mind as to how they made it past the beta stage. For instance, Mate's screensaver activates while watching video. Linux Mint Maya Xfce does not have a keyboard shortcut to open a Terminal--I had to research to figure it out, and then I wrote a tutorial on the subject. But KDE is beautiful, mature and smooth.
Two things brought me to KDE: Dolphin and K3b. Trying those KDE apps out persuaded me that KDE developers know what they are doing. In my opinion, Dolphin and K3b are among the best apps available in the Linux world. They compare well against anything offered in Windows.
The color picker widget in KDE is also excellent and much better than the similar app in Gnome. The Gnome app I used to use frankly confused me, and I am not easy to confuse. I felt as though the developer had gone out of his way to confuse the user. KDE's color picker is intuitive and works almost as well as Color Cop in Windows, but Color Cop I find even more intuitive. I prefer Color Cop's defaulting to hexadecimal color codes rather than (rgb,rgb,rgb) and have not found a way to get KDE's color picker to default to hex.
What I like about KDE is the overall quality of the applications. I think of KDE as Windows as it would be, if it were designed for maximum efficiency rather than to generate value for Microsoft's shareholders.
Some of what reviewers dismiss as KDE's "bells and whistles," I would not be without. For instance, I really like KDE's bouncing ball that provides a visual cue that I have clicked on a launcher. In Xfce, I would often click on Firefox two or three times, thus launching that many instances of the browser, which wasted time. With KDE, I have never clicked on Firefox more than once, because KDE provides that helpful visual cue, which to me is not a "bell and whistle," but a damned useful thing. I am not quite as fond of many other visual effects, possibly because I do not understand their purpose, and at any rate my poor little ATI video processor is not very fast, thanks to ATI's poor support of Linux, so I have disabled many of them. But I do like the bouncing ball. I also like the many widgets that can easily be added to the panel. I doubt whether I have plumbed the depths of that ocean, but there are a lot of widgets available for installation, more than I have time to evaluate. At the moment, I am using the following widgets: cpu temperature, date reminder, magnifying glass, klipper the clipboard tool (which looks simply awesome), the wonderful color picker, and network activity. I am not so sure what the activity manager is for, but I have installed it, so if there is ever any activity going on, I'll know about it.
Among Mate, Xfce, and KDE, I feel that KDE was easier to customize in every way. I like the appearance of the date and time in particular and the pop-up calender, which includes notification about important holidays. In Xfce, I was unable after many attempts to get the month and day of the week to display in a legible format on a dark background along with military time, with the hours and minutes being larger than the date. In KDE, all this was easy. However, if KDE does have a weakness, it is the risk that a novice user might screw something up and forget how to go back to the way things were. I'm not sure whether there is any safeguard for that sort of thing, so I try to be careful in the changes I make. Where operating systems are concerned, I'm an incessant tweaker and perfectionist and like things to be the way that I want them to be, which is why KDE is a match made in Heaven for me.
A possible exception to KDE's quality may be Kmail. My problem with Kmail was that it always asked me for my email account's password, despite my checking the box that said, "Remember password." Kmail would only remember the password until the next time the computer booted, and then if I loaded Kmail and tried to send email, it would ask me once again for my password. I don't know whether the Kmail developers are a paranoid bunch, but I am not quite so paranoid, and after the twentieth occasion of entering my email password, I said, "Enough." That is when I installed Thunderbird. Thunderbird remembers my password. I only entered it once, and that was enough for Thunderbird, which also works very well in other ways. If anything, Thunderbird was easier to set up than Kmail, much easier as a matter of fact because Kmail got my settings wrong for one of my email accounts, and I had to spent about an hour on configuration, compared to two minutes with Thunderbird. Also, Kmail wanted to fiddle with something called Kwallet. I did permit the use of Kwallet, but perhaps I should not have, because I received no apparent benefit from it other than a potential defense from cybercriminals, if they want to go to the trouble to steal my computer and read my emails to see what kind of nonsense I write in my spare time.
What frustrates me the most about Linux in general is the constant nagging and annoyances and wasted time and frustration over passwords. I really think that the best new feature for any Linux distro would be to execute a new concept in system security using something like a USB key or fingerprint for security purposes rather than requiring the poor user to type a cryptic code, which inevitably is going to be written down on a piece of paper next to the computer--thus defeating much of the supposed benefit to the password hell.
KDE's Kate text editor does not support macros. How I miss Notepad++! As for Libre Office, their macro system is a mess. I recorded a macro, but it didn't work. And the fact one would have to navigate through a menu with about five or six clicks just to run a macro makes their macro system of little value to me. I have very simple needs. I press a key, I want multiple keypresses to be produced. I don't want to handle the mouse each time I select a macro. Just keypress, macro. Easy. I don't need a complicated system of storing macros, as LibreOffice tries to foist upon the user. I don't understand all of that. LibreOffice asked me each time I saved my macro whether I wanted to overwrite Main. I don't know what Main is, and I don't care. But the macro did not work, anyway, so LibreOffice is not likely to be used again by me. I'm starting to think that I'm going to need a Windows machine around to get work done.
Update: after a morning searching online, I found a text editor in Linux that supports macros reasonably well--Jedit--and after some poking around, I figured out how to use the keyboard to activate my macro. The only problem with Jedit is that it can't open .doc files correctly, complaining about encoding errors, so I have to open a .doc file first in LIbreOffice, then copy and paste into Jedit, but that's a relatively minor issue. For macro support, I would have put up with a half-hour opening delay. Macros are that important.
Two things brought me to KDE: Dolphin and K3b. Trying those KDE apps out persuaded me that KDE developers know what they are doing. In my opinion, Dolphin and K3b are among the best apps available in the Linux world. They compare well against anything offered in Windows.
The color picker widget in KDE is also excellent and much better than the similar app in Gnome. The Gnome app I used to use frankly confused me, and I am not easy to confuse. I felt as though the developer had gone out of his way to confuse the user. KDE's color picker is intuitive and works almost as well as Color Cop in Windows, but Color Cop I find even more intuitive. I prefer Color Cop's defaulting to hexadecimal color codes rather than (rgb,rgb,rgb) and have not found a way to get KDE's color picker to default to hex.
What I like about KDE is the overall quality of the applications. I think of KDE as Windows as it would be, if it were designed for maximum efficiency rather than to generate value for Microsoft's shareholders.
Some of what reviewers dismiss as KDE's "bells and whistles," I would not be without. For instance, I really like KDE's bouncing ball that provides a visual cue that I have clicked on a launcher. In Xfce, I would often click on Firefox two or three times, thus launching that many instances of the browser, which wasted time. With KDE, I have never clicked on Firefox more than once, because KDE provides that helpful visual cue, which to me is not a "bell and whistle," but a damned useful thing. I am not quite as fond of many other visual effects, possibly because I do not understand their purpose, and at any rate my poor little ATI video processor is not very fast, thanks to ATI's poor support of Linux, so I have disabled many of them. But I do like the bouncing ball. I also like the many widgets that can easily be added to the panel. I doubt whether I have plumbed the depths of that ocean, but there are a lot of widgets available for installation, more than I have time to evaluate. At the moment, I am using the following widgets: cpu temperature, date reminder, magnifying glass, klipper the clipboard tool (which looks simply awesome), the wonderful color picker, and network activity. I am not so sure what the activity manager is for, but I have installed it, so if there is ever any activity going on, I'll know about it.
Among Mate, Xfce, and KDE, I feel that KDE was easier to customize in every way. I like the appearance of the date and time in particular and the pop-up calender, which includes notification about important holidays. In Xfce, I was unable after many attempts to get the month and day of the week to display in a legible format on a dark background along with military time, with the hours and minutes being larger than the date. In KDE, all this was easy. However, if KDE does have a weakness, it is the risk that a novice user might screw something up and forget how to go back to the way things were. I'm not sure whether there is any safeguard for that sort of thing, so I try to be careful in the changes I make. Where operating systems are concerned, I'm an incessant tweaker and perfectionist and like things to be the way that I want them to be, which is why KDE is a match made in Heaven for me.
A possible exception to KDE's quality may be Kmail. My problem with Kmail was that it always asked me for my email account's password, despite my checking the box that said, "Remember password." Kmail would only remember the password until the next time the computer booted, and then if I loaded Kmail and tried to send email, it would ask me once again for my password. I don't know whether the Kmail developers are a paranoid bunch, but I am not quite so paranoid, and after the twentieth occasion of entering my email password, I said, "Enough." That is when I installed Thunderbird. Thunderbird remembers my password. I only entered it once, and that was enough for Thunderbird, which also works very well in other ways. If anything, Thunderbird was easier to set up than Kmail, much easier as a matter of fact because Kmail got my settings wrong for one of my email accounts, and I had to spent about an hour on configuration, compared to two minutes with Thunderbird. Also, Kmail wanted to fiddle with something called Kwallet. I did permit the use of Kwallet, but perhaps I should not have, because I received no apparent benefit from it other than a potential defense from cybercriminals, if they want to go to the trouble to steal my computer and read my emails to see what kind of nonsense I write in my spare time.
What frustrates me the most about Linux in general is the constant nagging and annoyances and wasted time and frustration over passwords. I really think that the best new feature for any Linux distro would be to execute a new concept in system security using something like a USB key or fingerprint for security purposes rather than requiring the poor user to type a cryptic code, which inevitably is going to be written down on a piece of paper next to the computer--thus defeating much of the supposed benefit to the password hell.
KDE's Kate text editor does not support macros. How I miss Notepad++! As for Libre Office, their macro system is a mess. I recorded a macro, but it didn't work. And the fact one would have to navigate through a menu with about five or six clicks just to run a macro makes their macro system of little value to me. I have very simple needs. I press a key, I want multiple keypresses to be produced. I don't want to handle the mouse each time I select a macro. Just keypress, macro. Easy. I don't need a complicated system of storing macros, as LibreOffice tries to foist upon the user. I don't understand all of that. LibreOffice asked me each time I saved my macro whether I wanted to overwrite Main. I don't know what Main is, and I don't care. But the macro did not work, anyway, so LibreOffice is not likely to be used again by me. I'm starting to think that I'm going to need a Windows machine around to get work done.
Update: after a morning searching online, I found a text editor in Linux that supports macros reasonably well--Jedit--and after some poking around, I figured out how to use the keyboard to activate my macro. The only problem with Jedit is that it can't open .doc files correctly, complaining about encoding errors, so I have to open a .doc file first in LIbreOffice, then copy and paste into Jedit, but that's a relatively minor issue. For macro support, I would have put up with a half-hour opening delay. Macros are that important.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Unorthodox Response to the Sicilian
If one seeks a sound yet unorthodox reply to the Sicilian, here 'tis, illustrated by my latest 15/10:
[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2013.01.xx"]
[White "igor"]
[Black "A. Nony Mouse"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1583"]
[BlackElo "1575"]
[TimeControl "15|10"]
[Termination "igor won by checkmate"]
1.e4 c5 2.Na3 a6 3.c3 d5 4.e5 Nc6 5.d4 Bf5 6.Bd3 e6 7.Bxf5 exf5 8.Nc2 Qb6 9.Qf3 Nge7 10.Ne2 cxd4 11.cxd4 Rc8 12.O-O Nxe5 13.dxe5 Rxc2 14.Nc3 d4 15.Qd3 Rxc1 16.Raxc1 dxc3 17.Rxc3 Nc6 18.Rd1 Qd8 19.Qf3 Qc8 20.e6 fxe6 21.Qh5+ g6 22.Qg5 Bg7 23.Rc2 O-O 24.h4 Qe8 25.h5 e5 26.h6 Bf6 27.Qe3 Nd4 28.Rc7 Qb5 29.b3 Rd8 30.Kh1 Qb6 31.Qc3 Nb5 32.Qc4+ Kh8 33.Rxd8+ Bxd8 34.Qf7 Qf6 35.Qxh7# 1-0
[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2013.01.xx"]
[White "igor"]
[Black "A. Nony Mouse"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1583"]
[BlackElo "1575"]
[TimeControl "15|10"]
[Termination "igor won by checkmate"]
1.e4 c5 2.Na3 a6 3.c3 d5 4.e5 Nc6 5.d4 Bf5 6.Bd3 e6 7.Bxf5 exf5 8.Nc2 Qb6 9.Qf3 Nge7 10.Ne2 cxd4 11.cxd4 Rc8 12.O-O Nxe5 13.dxe5 Rxc2 14.Nc3 d4 15.Qd3 Rxc1 16.Raxc1 dxc3 17.Rxc3 Nc6 18.Rd1 Qd8 19.Qf3 Qc8 20.e6 fxe6 21.Qh5+ g6 22.Qg5 Bg7 23.Rc2 O-O 24.h4 Qe8 25.h5 e5 26.h6 Bf6 27.Qe3 Nd4 28.Rc7 Qb5 29.b3 Rd8 30.Kh1 Qb6 31.Qc3 Nb5 32.Qc4+ Kh8 33.Rxd8+ Bxd8 34.Qf7 Qf6 35.Qxh7# 1-0
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Elitist
The NRA recently criticized somebody they disapprove of as elitist. I have observed that when American right-wingers use the word elitist, what they mean is intelligent. Gregory, the "elitist" mentioned above, is not a member of any elite that I am familiar with.
Rupert Murdoch is elite. The rich have real power that is secure, awesome in its scope, and long-lasting, with few checks upon their many privileges.
Autocratic world leaders might be called members of the elite, although in republics, a leader might be regarded as a high-level worker and not much more than that, as his position is insecure and limited by checks and balances.
Intelligent people compose a different kind of elite, one that exists purely as an abstract idea, if we imagine humankind to be arbitrarily divided into groups based upon their I.Q. scores. I.Q. scores are a contentious issue today, and not many people are willing to accept their infallibility, but perhaps this remains a touchy issue for right-wingers with personal overtones. In reality, intelligent people are hardly united, but span the spectrum on political issues. They do tend to understand the meaning of words, however.
Unfortunately for the world of Man, intellect does not translate into power as much as one might wish. This is obvious from a survey of senators, representatives and MPs. When I look at the senators that represent my red state, I would not expect any of them to feel the slightest motivation to solve any problems, although they are good hands at creating new ones. They are most of them motivated by the desire for power and money. They didn't go into politics because of their intellect or capability to solve problems, but merely for personal gain.
To be sure, intellect enjoys a tangential relationship with power, because an idiot could hardly hold on to power without being dethroned by a rival. To remain rich, a rich man has to be able to choose the right accountants, the right lawyers. But no one could seriously make the case that Rupert Murdoch is anywhere in the ballpark of Albert Einstein or any other genius for that matter.
I do find it amusing that right-wingers are so concerned with portraying intelligence as something arrogant, when in reality, people with money are the real elite in this world.
Rupert Murdoch is elite. The rich have real power that is secure, awesome in its scope, and long-lasting, with few checks upon their many privileges.
Autocratic world leaders might be called members of the elite, although in republics, a leader might be regarded as a high-level worker and not much more than that, as his position is insecure and limited by checks and balances.
Intelligent people compose a different kind of elite, one that exists purely as an abstract idea, if we imagine humankind to be arbitrarily divided into groups based upon their I.Q. scores. I.Q. scores are a contentious issue today, and not many people are willing to accept their infallibility, but perhaps this remains a touchy issue for right-wingers with personal overtones. In reality, intelligent people are hardly united, but span the spectrum on political issues. They do tend to understand the meaning of words, however.
Unfortunately for the world of Man, intellect does not translate into power as much as one might wish. This is obvious from a survey of senators, representatives and MPs. When I look at the senators that represent my red state, I would not expect any of them to feel the slightest motivation to solve any problems, although they are good hands at creating new ones. They are most of them motivated by the desire for power and money. They didn't go into politics because of their intellect or capability to solve problems, but merely for personal gain.
To be sure, intellect enjoys a tangential relationship with power, because an idiot could hardly hold on to power without being dethroned by a rival. To remain rich, a rich man has to be able to choose the right accountants, the right lawyers. But no one could seriously make the case that Rupert Murdoch is anywhere in the ballpark of Albert Einstein or any other genius for that matter.
I do find it amusing that right-wingers are so concerned with portraying intelligence as something arrogant, when in reality, people with money are the real elite in this world.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
How to Add a Keyboard Shortcut to Open a Terminal in Linux Mint Xfce
Opening a terminal is one of the most frequent activities one does on a
fresh new Linux installation, and even on more mature systems, I do
like to poke around the terminal on occasion to look at this or that.
In Xubuntu 12.10, you can open a terminal via the keyboard shortcut "super-T."
What does the word "Super" mean? "Super" refers to the Windows key found on many keyboards, located between the Ctrl and Alt key and having a Windows flag on it.
In Linux Mint Maya Xfce, this shortcut was removed. If you click on Menu | Settings | Keyboard | Application Shortcuts, you will find that there is no keyboard shortcut for opening a Terminal window.
However, the good news is we can fix Linux Mint Xfce and restore the missing "Open Terminal" shortcut. After doing a bit of research on the web, I found the command for opening a terminal, and it's not xfce4-terminal, but gnome-terminal.
The precise steps are:
In Xubuntu 12.10, you can open a terminal via the keyboard shortcut "super-T."
What does the word "Super" mean? "Super" refers to the Windows key found on many keyboards, located between the Ctrl and Alt key and having a Windows flag on it.
In Linux Mint Maya Xfce, this shortcut was removed. If you click on Menu | Settings | Keyboard | Application Shortcuts, you will find that there is no keyboard shortcut for opening a Terminal window.
However, the good news is we can fix Linux Mint Xfce and restore the missing "Open Terminal" shortcut. After doing a bit of research on the web, I found the command for opening a terminal, and it's not xfce4-terminal, but gnome-terminal.
The precise steps are:
- Click on Menu | Settings | Keyboard | Application Shortcuts
- Click "Add"
- In the command, enter gnome-terminal
- For the shortcut, press Super-T and ok, you're done!
Connecting Linux Shares to a Windows Network
Introduction
This is a basic level tutorial for Linux novices who are wrestling with their new operating system trying to get it to share directories on their Home network instead of serving up "Access Denied" to Windows. I am assuming that your level knowledge is at or near zero here, much like mine was about a week ago.
After a long struggle with usernames, groups and all of that wonderful stuff, I just succeeded in connecting several Linux directories to an existing Windows network so that files can be copied back and forth from Windows. Linux still cannot see the Windows shares, but that will have to be figured out the next time I have a couple days to kill. I am not worried about that part as I do not use the Linux box for much besides htpc.
My computers run Windows XP and have a network already in place that has been working fine for years using DHCP and a router without anything fancy. I consider this the typical home network scenario although many folks these days use wireless routers. I did not change anything on my Windows boxes and you won't either. Note: Due to massive retardation in Windows 7, the following instructions will not suffice for that OS. I was unable to network Linux with Windows 7 after many hours trying.
The only missing link on my network for several days was the Linux box, but now everything is more or less okay.
Keep in mind that Linux is designed from the ground up with security in mind, in fact this is the number one bragging point for Linux for decades, so usability takes a back seat. What I want to do is disable the security as much as possible and make usability the driver in this vehicle.
The following is a very simple and not secure example of smb.conf that will let you access your Linux box from your Windows box via the network. I do not need the heavy security of Linux due to having a hardware firewall in my router and certain other factors. If this is your scenario as well, then read on, otherwise you're in for a long ride, better put your seat belt on and browse another tutorial besides this one.
Here's a little tip for Windows users that will really save them some time. When you are testing your Linux shares in Windows Explorer, remember, all you have to do is click on "My Network Places," click on the window on your right, and keep that window in focus. Then, anytime you make changes over on your Linux box and want to see if you can now access the shares or not, all you have to do is hit F5 for a refresh and Windows will update its network info. Then click on each share to see whether you gain access. No, you do not need to reboot Windows or exit out of Windows Explorer or anything else that wastes time. I learned this through trial and error. Again, I made no changes to Windows or to the router.
After installing Linux Mint for the first time, you need to download Samba in order to network. Either enter the text commands to apt-get if you prefer the command line interface or else use the Package Manager and search for Samba and let it do the installing for you. I prefer the Package Manager myself because it requires just a few clicks and you're done. I like the Package Manager and think it's a great idea and too bad Windows XP didn't have one.
Use the File Manager to browse over to your /etc directory. I can usually find mine by clicking on "File System" in the left area. Next, click on a directory called samba. Once you're in /etc/samba, right-click on smb.conf and choose "Open as Administrator." After entering your password, your text editor, Pluma in Linux Mint, will load and you can modify the file.
Adjust the "server string" and the "user" and "group" to your own scenario. I just made up ones for this example. Your path may be different as well. This is just an example that provides the basic idea. Workgroup is very important. You must go into Windows to find out what your workgroup is called. Click on Start | Control Panel | System | Computer Name. In Windows XP, that is where you find out what your workgroup is, or if you don't have one set, that is where you set it. However, server string and netbios name are different. You can make them up, call them whatever you want. Workgroup must be legit though and exactly match what Windows is looking for. I don't know whether case is important but I would match case too if it were me.
I have found through trial and error that it is a good idea to include "bcast" and "lmhosts" in your "name resolve order." I think including these will allow your Linux box to access your Windows box. If you remove bcast and lmhosts, as I once did as an experiment, then your Windows can find your Linux box but not vice versa. It may be that setting the netbios name is important too, I don't know but I made that change about the same time and now I have two-way sharing, which is what everybody wants.
[global]
workgroup = WORKGROUP
server string = thelinuxboxofigor
netbios name = igoroystershell
security = share
name resolve order = hosts wins bcast lmhosts
[Downloads]
path = /home/igor/Downloads
force user = igor
force group = thelinuxbox
read only = no
guest ok = yes
available = yes
browsable = yes
public = yes
writable = yes
[Music]
path = /media/sda1/music
force user = igor
force group = thelinuxbox
read only = no
guest ok = yes
available = yes
browsable = yes
public = yes
writable = yes
You can add additional directories besides just Music and Downloads. Just copy, paste, and modify as needed. Comment out the other stuff because it may interfere with sharing. Remember, Linux is all about the security. In this example security is not our friend. We just want things to work, security can come later.
In addition, you want to make sure your /etc/hosts file looks something like this:
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 thelinuxboxofigor.WORKGROUP
127.0.1.1 thelinuxboxofigor
Note that the above settings not only configure your network. They will also prevent an annoying little error message when you try to sudo anything, that is, run things from the Terminal command line as an administrator.
Also, /etc/hostname should have the name of your box, that is, the word that comes after your username and the ampersand when you open up a Terminal. If you open up a Terminal, you will immediately see what I am talking about.
The next thing to do, maybe the most important, is to set permissions for the directories you wish to share. Make them wide open to everybody with read/write access. Also click on Share permissions and then Windows. It is not enough setting permissions for a directory. You also have to allow permissions for all the parent directories as well or else it won't work, the folders won't permit access on the Network! I didn't realize this was so, but trial and error showed that it was on my network.
Taking these steps will allow easy access to the Linux box without the annoying "Access Denied" errors. Some day I'm going to think about allowing access to the Windows shares from Linux, but for now I am respecting a truce between Linux and me, so that I can evacuate the wounded personnel from the battlefield. Update: I think the above config will permit two-way sharing on the network. Mine is working both ways now. Knock on wood.
Addendum
There may be other files that could use modification for networking but I don't remember any off hand. I modified so many things over the course of my journey, and it all becomes a blur after a while, but hopefully this tutorial will help me remember.
If you are a novice then I would recommend learning about /etc/fstab as it contains some pretty important controls that can effect performance and security, though I doubt whether it effects networking. My fstab looks like this based upon my research:
"noatime" kills the Linux process that keeps track of how much each file is accessed. I don't care about such statistics, although a network admin for a big company might. UUID is better than using labels because it makes the OS more agile in accepting new drives. The last digit at the end of each line controls the priority of each file system to fsck when it is checking for errors. So boot is highest priority at 1, followed by the rest. I have set tmpfs to use a maximum of two gigs of RAM instead of swapping out to /tmp on the hard drive, because Linux does not need that, it has plenty of memory on my box. Don't really see the need for a swapfile in modern times, but Linux is an old OS and grew up in the time when memory was measured in megabytes or even kilobytes--as did I. Based upon my reading over at the wonderful and superb Arch Linux documentation goldmine, I've determined that /tmp, /var/lock, and /var/run can be converted to tmpfs, thus conserving I/O to the hard drive and using memory instead. When one has 4 gigabytes of RAM, one wishes to use it. Whether these mods really affect system responsiveness, I have not determined, but I find it interesting that the latest version of Fedora (18) sets /tmp to be tmpfs by default. Really I do not know why all the other distros don't follow suit.
This is a basic level tutorial for Linux novices who are wrestling with their new operating system trying to get it to share directories on their Home network instead of serving up "Access Denied" to Windows. I am assuming that your level knowledge is at or near zero here, much like mine was about a week ago.
After a long struggle with usernames, groups and all of that wonderful stuff, I just succeeded in connecting several Linux directories to an existing Windows network so that files can be copied back and forth from Windows. Linux still cannot see the Windows shares, but that will have to be figured out the next time I have a couple days to kill. I am not worried about that part as I do not use the Linux box for much besides htpc.
My computers run Windows XP and have a network already in place that has been working fine for years using DHCP and a router without anything fancy. I consider this the typical home network scenario although many folks these days use wireless routers. I did not change anything on my Windows boxes and you won't either. Note: Due to massive retardation in Windows 7, the following instructions will not suffice for that OS. I was unable to network Linux with Windows 7 after many hours trying.
The only missing link on my network for several days was the Linux box, but now everything is more or less okay.
Keep in mind that Linux is designed from the ground up with security in mind, in fact this is the number one bragging point for Linux for decades, so usability takes a back seat. What I want to do is disable the security as much as possible and make usability the driver in this vehicle.
The following is a very simple and not secure example of smb.conf that will let you access your Linux box from your Windows box via the network. I do not need the heavy security of Linux due to having a hardware firewall in my router and certain other factors. If this is your scenario as well, then read on, otherwise you're in for a long ride, better put your seat belt on and browse another tutorial besides this one.
Here's a little tip for Windows users that will really save them some time. When you are testing your Linux shares in Windows Explorer, remember, all you have to do is click on "My Network Places," click on the window on your right, and keep that window in focus. Then, anytime you make changes over on your Linux box and want to see if you can now access the shares or not, all you have to do is hit F5 for a refresh and Windows will update its network info. Then click on each share to see whether you gain access. No, you do not need to reboot Windows or exit out of Windows Explorer or anything else that wastes time. I learned this through trial and error. Again, I made no changes to Windows or to the router.
After installing Linux Mint for the first time, you need to download Samba in order to network. Either enter the text commands to apt-get if you prefer the command line interface or else use the Package Manager and search for Samba and let it do the installing for you. I prefer the Package Manager myself because it requires just a few clicks and you're done. I like the Package Manager and think it's a great idea and too bad Windows XP didn't have one.
Use the File Manager to browse over to your /etc directory. I can usually find mine by clicking on "File System" in the left area. Next, click on a directory called samba. Once you're in /etc/samba, right-click on smb.conf and choose "Open as Administrator." After entering your password, your text editor, Pluma in Linux Mint, will load and you can modify the file.
Adjust the "server string" and the "user" and "group" to your own scenario. I just made up ones for this example. Your path may be different as well. This is just an example that provides the basic idea. Workgroup is very important. You must go into Windows to find out what your workgroup is called. Click on Start | Control Panel | System | Computer Name. In Windows XP, that is where you find out what your workgroup is, or if you don't have one set, that is where you set it. However, server string and netbios name are different. You can make them up, call them whatever you want. Workgroup must be legit though and exactly match what Windows is looking for. I don't know whether case is important but I would match case too if it were me.
I have found through trial and error that it is a good idea to include "bcast" and "lmhosts" in your "name resolve order." I think including these will allow your Linux box to access your Windows box. If you remove bcast and lmhosts, as I once did as an experiment, then your Windows can find your Linux box but not vice versa. It may be that setting the netbios name is important too, I don't know but I made that change about the same time and now I have two-way sharing, which is what everybody wants.
[global]
workgroup = WORKGROUP
server string = thelinuxboxofigor
netbios name = igoroystershell
security = share
name resolve order = hosts wins bcast lmhosts
[Downloads]
path = /home/igor/Downloads
force user = igor
force group = thelinuxbox
read only = no
guest ok = yes
available = yes
browsable = yes
public = yes
writable = yes
[Music]
path = /media/sda1/music
force user = igor
force group = thelinuxbox
read only = no
guest ok = yes
available = yes
browsable = yes
public = yes
writable = yes
You can add additional directories besides just Music and Downloads. Just copy, paste, and modify as needed. Comment out the other stuff because it may interfere with sharing. Remember, Linux is all about the security. In this example security is not our friend. We just want things to work, security can come later.
In addition, you want to make sure your /etc/hosts file looks something like this:
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 thelinuxboxofigor.WORKGROUP
127.0.1.1 thelinuxboxofigor
Note that the above settings not only configure your network. They will also prevent an annoying little error message when you try to sudo anything, that is, run things from the Terminal command line as an administrator.
Also, /etc/hostname should have the name of your box, that is, the word that comes after your username and the ampersand when you open up a Terminal. If you open up a Terminal, you will immediately see what I am talking about.
The next thing to do, maybe the most important, is to set permissions for the directories you wish to share. Make them wide open to everybody with read/write access. Also click on Share permissions and then Windows. It is not enough setting permissions for a directory. You also have to allow permissions for all the parent directories as well or else it won't work, the folders won't permit access on the Network! I didn't realize this was so, but trial and error showed that it was on my network.
Taking these steps will allow easy access to the Linux box without the annoying "Access Denied" errors. Some day I'm going to think about allowing access to the Windows shares from Linux, but for now I am respecting a truce between Linux and me, so that I can evacuate the wounded personnel from the battlefield. Update: I think the above config will permit two-way sharing on the network. Mine is working both ways now. Knock on wood.
Addendum
There may be other files that could use modification for networking but I don't remember any off hand. I modified so many things over the course of my journey, and it all becomes a blur after a while, but hopefully this tutorial will help me remember.
If you are a novice then I would recommend learning about /etc/fstab as it contains some pretty important controls that can effect performance and security, though I doubt whether it effects networking. My fstab looks like this based upon my research:
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
#
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=blah-de-blah / ext4 errors=remount-ro,noatime 0 1
# /home was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=blah-de-blah /home ext4 defaults,noatime 0 2
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=blah-de-blah none swap sw 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nodev,nosuid,size=2G,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
tmpfs /var/lock tmpfs nodev,nosuid,size=128M,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
tmpfs /var/run tmpfs nodev,nosuid,size=512M,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
"noatime" kills the Linux process that keeps track of how much each file is accessed. I don't care about such statistics, although a network admin for a big company might. UUID is better than using labels because it makes the OS more agile in accepting new drives. The last digit at the end of each line controls the priority of each file system to fsck when it is checking for errors. So boot is highest priority at 1, followed by the rest. I have set tmpfs to use a maximum of two gigs of RAM instead of swapping out to /tmp on the hard drive, because Linux does not need that, it has plenty of memory on my box. Don't really see the need for a swapfile in modern times, but Linux is an old OS and grew up in the time when memory was measured in megabytes or even kilobytes--as did I. Based upon my reading over at the wonderful and superb Arch Linux documentation goldmine, I've determined that /tmp, /var/lock, and /var/run can be converted to tmpfs, thus conserving I/O to the hard drive and using memory instead. When one has 4 gigabytes of RAM, one wishes to use it. Whether these mods really affect system responsiveness, I have not determined, but I find it interesting that the latest version of Fedora (18) sets /tmp to be tmpfs by default. Really I do not know why all the other distros don't follow suit.
How to Change the Pictures Folder in Mate-Screensaver's Slideshow
mate-screensaver's GUI doesn't permit changes to the pictures folder option for the slideshow. This can present a small problem for some of us who have our pictures located in other places.
To change the Pictures folder in mate-screensaver, open a Terminal and enter:
sudo pluma /usr/share/applications/screensavers/personal-slideshow.desktop
Scroll down to the end of the file. Change the line that says:
Exec=/usr/lib/mate-screensaver/slideshow --location=/home/Pictures
to instead indicate your desired pictures folder. On my rig, it was:
Exec=/usr/lib/mate-screensaver/slideshow --location=/media/sda1/pix
Then click save. Go to Control Center | Preferences | Screensaver and you should see the Pictures Folder option. Click on it and presto, you should see a picture displayed in the preview.
Important: to disable mate-screensaver while watching videos, refer to this thread.
How to Launch a Slideshow in Linux Mate
Linux Mint Mate makes it easy to initiate a screensaver slideshow. Right-click anywhere on the desktop and select Create a Launcher. Use this command for the Launcher:
mate-screensaver-command -a
When you want to activate the screensaver/slideshow, simply click on the launcher.
If you're curious, open a terminal and see what else mate-screensaver-command can do. Enter:
mate-screensaver-command --help
I would like for it to have the ability to change the timed delay between images. Currently, the delay is preset to 20 seconds. I would like to set it to 60. However, I don't see a method of doing this other than via the time parameter in mate-screensaver-command, and I have not been able to get that parameter to work.
mate-screensaver-command -a
When you want to activate the screensaver/slideshow, simply click on the launcher.
If you're curious, open a terminal and see what else mate-screensaver-command can do. Enter:
mate-screensaver-command --help
I would like for it to have the ability to change the timed delay between images. Currently, the delay is preset to 20 seconds. I would like to set it to 60. However, I don't see a method of doing this other than via the time parameter in mate-screensaver-command, and I have not been able to get that parameter to work.
When Xfce Desktop Icons Disappear
Xfce has a problem from time to time where all the icons on the desktop disappear. This will happen if you try to delete tens of thousands of files, get tired of waiting after a couple hours, and restart the computer. In that case, you can log back in to a perfectly blank desktop without your icons.
The preferred way to delete tens of thousands of files is to use the command line; the GUI likes to crash all the time.
The optimal fix for the disappearing icons in Xfce is to enter xfdesktop at the command line. Then hit Ctrl-C and exit. Your desktop icons should be restored.
If it doesn't work: you must trick Xfce to let you have your icons back. Go to Settings -> Desktop and change the background of the desktop to something different--a different wallpaper. Then enter xfdesktop at the command line.
The preferred way to delete tens of thousands of files is to use the command line; the GUI likes to crash all the time.
The optimal fix for the disappearing icons in Xfce is to enter xfdesktop at the command line. Then hit Ctrl-C and exit. Your desktop icons should be restored.
If it doesn't work: you must trick Xfce to let you have your icons back. Go to Settings -> Desktop and change the background of the desktop to something different--a different wallpaper. Then enter xfdesktop at the command line.
Fix the Helvetica Font Error in Xscreensaver Glslideshow
The Problem: Xscreensaver displays an error message in both Ubuntu and Linux Mint when running Glslideshow, because a missing font is referenced in the glslideshow hack. The error message is "unable to load font "-*-helvetica-medium-r-normal-*-180-*", using "fixed". Helvetica is a copyrighted font, and Adobe is the copyright holder. You can buy the font, or you can modify glslideshow's source, or you can try a workaround.
The Solution: This is only a workaround instead of a proper solution, such as fixing and recompiling the source code, but it is easy and won't take but five minutes. We can get rid of the error message, if not the error itself. The error will still arise, but we don't need to see it anymore.
Open your file manager. Navigate to your home directory and turn on the option to view hidden files. Edit the hidden file, .xscreensaver, (~/.xscreensaver) as root. If the file does not exist, you may create it. You must edit the file as root in order to modify the file.
Change the option:
captureStderr: True
to
captureStderr: False
Although it may not be necessary, I also changed
overlayStderr: True
to
overlayStderr: False
I suggest also changing the option Font from Helvetica to: *-medium-r-*-140-*-m-*, although by itself this will not eliminate the initial error message displayed on the first picture. The problem lies in a hardcoded reference to Helvetica found within glslideshow's source code. With a hex editor, one could fix glslideshow's binary for good, changing helvetica to a font that is installed on Ubuntu and its derivatives, but that's dodgy, as a future update would wipe out the change.
While you're editing your xscreensaver file, examine the ImageDirectory option and change it to whichever directory you intend to store your slideshow pictures. Some of the other options are self-explanatory. The mysterious "nice" option just refers to Xscreensaver's priority in comparison to other programs. The default, ten, is low but higher will make it even lower. I left that one alone.
When you're done playing around with the options, save the file and exit.
Now let's edit two more files, found in /etc/X11/app-defaults: XScreenSaver and XScreenSaver-gl. It may not be necessary to change the Stderr options in these files, because according to the comments, the config file in your Home directory takes precedence. I went ahead and changed the options anyway just to be sure that the error message would not display everytime I ran the slideshow. I also changed all references to Helvetica with some other font. "*-medium-r-*-140-*-m-*" should work for this purpose.
The end result is a cleaner slideshow experience without that error message popping up everytime the screensaver activates.
The Solution: This is only a workaround instead of a proper solution, such as fixing and recompiling the source code, but it is easy and won't take but five minutes. We can get rid of the error message, if not the error itself. The error will still arise, but we don't need to see it anymore.
Open your file manager. Navigate to your home directory and turn on the option to view hidden files. Edit the hidden file, .xscreensaver, (~/.xscreensaver) as root. If the file does not exist, you may create it. You must edit the file as root in order to modify the file.
Change the option:
captureStderr: True
to
captureStderr: False
Although it may not be necessary, I also changed
overlayStderr: True
to
overlayStderr: False
I suggest also changing the option Font from Helvetica to: *-medium-r-*-140-*-m-*, although by itself this will not eliminate the initial error message displayed on the first picture. The problem lies in a hardcoded reference to Helvetica found within glslideshow's source code. With a hex editor, one could fix glslideshow's binary for good, changing helvetica to a font that is installed on Ubuntu and its derivatives, but that's dodgy, as a future update would wipe out the change.
While you're editing your xscreensaver file, examine the ImageDirectory option and change it to whichever directory you intend to store your slideshow pictures. Some of the other options are self-explanatory. The mysterious "nice" option just refers to Xscreensaver's priority in comparison to other programs. The default, ten, is low but higher will make it even lower. I left that one alone.
When you're done playing around with the options, save the file and exit.
Now let's edit two more files, found in /etc/X11/app-defaults: XScreenSaver and XScreenSaver-gl. It may not be necessary to change the Stderr options in these files, because according to the comments, the config file in your Home directory takes precedence. I went ahead and changed the options anyway just to be sure that the error message would not display everytime I ran the slideshow. I also changed all references to Helvetica with some other font. "*-medium-r-*-140-*-m-*" should work for this purpose.
The end result is a cleaner slideshow experience without that error message popping up everytime the screensaver activates.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Linux Regen.Sh (Regen.Bat) for Dungeon Crawl
I am currently porting regen.bat over to Linux.
Alas, if only I could port regen.bat to the human existence! I have a feeling that would prove popular beyond all measure.
Alas, if only I could port regen.bat to the human existence! I have a feeling that would prove popular beyond all measure.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
AIG's Ingrates
The Federal government bailed out AIG, and as thanks, AIG is going to sue the government because it didn't like every aspect of the bailout terms. Can you remember the last loan agreement that you liked in every detail?
The leadership of AIG notes, "Our duty isn't to the country, it is to the shareholder."
Come to think of it, maybe we should all sue the government, because it ain't doing for us just what we want, when we want it.
I've got a solid case. Instead of my education at the public school, I preferred my education to have been on a beach in Hawaii, two hours a day, with six hours a day recess, because play is so important, as pediatricians have discovered.
Instead of the old battle-axes I had for teachers, my teacher should have been a good-looking young college graduate that wore shorts and a tee shirt, with the tee shirt being entirely optional.
For lunch, instead of the abominable cafeteria food they fed us--leathery soybean burgers with greasy tater tots as "vegetables"--replace that with chocolate milk and a choice of fresh lobster, rib eye steak, ribs, scallops, or fried chicken every day.
I doubt my legal case would get very far, because I can't afford fancy lawyers like AIG's ingrates. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you-- AIG! --AGH! --I think they bit the middle finger I was giving them.
The leadership of AIG notes, "Our duty isn't to the country, it is to the shareholder."
Come to think of it, maybe we should all sue the government, because it ain't doing for us just what we want, when we want it.
I've got a solid case. Instead of my education at the public school, I preferred my education to have been on a beach in Hawaii, two hours a day, with six hours a day recess, because play is so important, as pediatricians have discovered.
Instead of the old battle-axes I had for teachers, my teacher should have been a good-looking young college graduate that wore shorts and a tee shirt, with the tee shirt being entirely optional.
For lunch, instead of the abominable cafeteria food they fed us--leathery soybean burgers with greasy tater tots as "vegetables"--replace that with chocolate milk and a choice of fresh lobster, rib eye steak, ribs, scallops, or fried chicken every day.
I doubt my legal case would get very far, because I can't afford fancy lawyers like AIG's ingrates. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you-- AIG! --AGH! --I think they bit the middle finger I was giving them.
Monday, January 7, 2013
My Chess Book
Over the years, I've developed offbeat chess openings to break my opponents out of book early, because I haven't the patience or desire to book up on the Ruy Lopez, Queen's Gambit or Sicilian, and would much rather play my own game using my own ideas.
As White, I play either 1. c4, b4, g4, or e4. I like b4 and g4, these textbook illustrations if not exaggerations of hypermodern theory. The more the masters and Wikipedia criticize the flank openings, the more determined I am to play them. But I also like to revive ancient Classical openings that have fallen out of fashion in the modern chess scene to the extent that no one even remembers that they are actually sound openings rather than mere blunders. I am talking about Chigorin's Defense and Bishop's Defense, two of my favorites, but I also like the Brooklyn Defense, an obscure variation of Alekhine's 1. .. Nf6 which I think has merit if for no other reason than because nobody seems to know what to do against it.
If e4, then if Black responds e5, I play d4 for its novelty value, because few people recall the antique Center Game. Quite often players will try to hang on to the pawn after capture, which is a mistake due to the devastating c3. If on the other hand, my Queen is permitted to occupy d4, then that is often a slight advantage, and I follow up with Bc4 and rapid castling unless another opportunity presents itself. At any rate the Center Game avoids all bookish nonsense from Black, because no one analyzes nor often plays the Center Game anymore in the modern era. Inaccurate play by Black can be dangerous to his longevity in the Center Game. However, if both sides play correctly, the Center Game is your quick and easy passport to the middle game. This is why the masters dislike it, because there is a feeling that White should strive for an advantage in the opening. A Queen on d4 is only a slight advantage, if indeed it is any advantage at all. The novelty value is my angle, along with breaking out of book. I don't play in the upper echelons of the chess world, far from it, so I don't have the same concerns as the masters. That is also why I pay no heed to chess authorities that dismiss the Grob. For the record, there's a chess authority that endorses the Grob, an International Master by the name of Michael Basman. So there, chess snobs.
If Black attempts the Sicilian, then I have another obscure novelty, Na3, which stupefies every player, but is quite sound. The ideas are to break out of book early while avoiding committing to any specific plan and get the Queen's knight developed to a square that is well-suited against the Sicilian, while leaving open the possibility of c3. Note that with Black's pawn at c5, there is little danger of the knight being captured by Black's bishop before it relocates to an advantageous square. Those who play the Sicilian must be broken out of book early, I find, because their book knowledge tends to be deep. I have never found anyone to refute Na3, though I do lose due to my own middle game blunders. Changing one seemingly trivial move in the opening really does throw many players for a loop, forcing them to consume more time and energy in the opening than would otherwise be the case. Their instincts urge them to refute my stupid move, but how?
If Black attempts the French, then I'll play along for a few moves, with an eye toward placing my Queen on g5 before laying my knight down on f3. This was Nimzovich's idea, and it seems logical, as the kingside is Black's weakness in the French. Most French players don't seem to have prepared for this, and I don't like bothering with a laborious defense of the pawn on d4. I'd rather go straight for the kill if at all possible. I will be the first to admit that I have had the most difficulty against the French Defense of all openings. The Sicilian I enjoy playing against, but with the French, I really have to think.
If g4, I am playing the positional Grob, to be followed by h3 if need be to protect the spike. The tactical Grob that sacrifices the Spike is not to be countenanced, for a refutation has been published on Wikipedia, whose authors despise anything new, and want all players to open with e4, d4, or c4 only. Opening snobs like to sneer at the Grob, which is why it must be played against them. Breaking snobs of their prejudices is a civic duty that must be performed by every conscientious player.
If c4, I have no mind of the English, but instead intend a delayed Grob with g4 and Bg2, breaking out of Wikipedia's cozy lines, with the added advantage that Black is often reacting as if to the English, and is startled by a novelty, and d5 may no longer be an easy option for him. If however Black responds Nf6, then White can play h3 prior to g4, or else transpose to the Queen's Gambit.
If b4, I'm aiming for the Polish, a positional slow opening that gives about equal chances to both sides, but White has the advantage if Black is ignorant of it. White may achieve a slight positional advantage from his advanced Queenside pawns, but exploiting this is no small task. White must avoid leaving a hole at e4 that may be occupied by Black's knight.
As Black, against e4, I play either Nf6, g5, e5, c6, or d5.
d5 is the Center Counter of course, and I will attempt to capture with the knight rather than the Queen, because that is common sense. I seldom play this anymore, though it is good once in a while against your defensive players.
If Nf6, I'm aiming for the Brooklyn Defense, an obscure opening scorned by everyone except those I defeat. If e5, then I replace the knight to its former position on g8, leaving White astounded. This wins some of my games, I swear, on time alone, White staring in disbelief for longer than is prudent, either on this move or on the ones that follow. Many White players think they can obtain an advantage building a pawn wall on f4, e5, and d4, but they are mistaken, though the game gets sharp for Black, and I am known to make costly mistakes. To d4, Black replies d3. To f4, Black replies g5, which gains time, because White is not apt to take the offered pawn, which can advance to g5 to drive White's knight away on the following move. Then I am in familiar Grob territory, while White is lost at sea, apt to lose on time or perish on some rash attack.
If White declines e5 against Nf6, then I do not permit easy transposition to familiar lines, but instead maintain our journey into the chess wilderness. I like to respond to Nc3 with d5 every time, and e5 can then be met by either Ne4 or d5 with good results.
Against anything except d4 or Nf3, g5 heralds the Macho Grob, seldom seen, which is as sound as the day is long, yet many players will launch a rash attack against it for no good reason, giving me free tempos or even losing their Queen as a result. The idea is to shift to a Kingside attack at some point in time, with the advanced pawns providing a head start on that line.
I like to play an occasional e5 against e4, which is standard, but if White pulls the King's Gambit, I default to Fischer's reply, d3, which quite neutralizes all his thunder. I have no desire to learn all the nonsense in the King's Gambit, which is just pure memorized tactics all the way to the end game. If Nf3, then I will reply Nc6, and if he initiates the Ruy Lopez with Bb5, I will play Bishop's Defense, Nd5, which not many people know about, but often gives me a good game. Otherwise, I will play a boring conservative game following classic principles.
Against d4, I like d5, and against the Queen's Gambit, I like Chigorin's Defense, Nc6, because Chigorin knew what he was about, and many White players don't know what to do against it. Another good answer is b5, the Polish.
Against your aggressive young prodigy, nothing answers like the Caro-Kann, c3 to his e4, against which he is liable to break himself. It is a solid defense, and flexible enough to react to anything White may have in store. I have had good luck with it, but it almost never leads to a quick victory, and has less novelty value than other answers. Most players have stock replies to the Caro-Kann and need not think for the first several moves. I like to play Caro-Kann most of all when I am under the weather or tired, because it is the one opening in chess that holds your hand and leads you along a safe path, since almost all the opening moves are intuitive, requiring little effort on the part of Black. The only thing I dislike about the Caro-Kann is that many players know it through and through, so the novelty value is limited.
I never play the Sicilian or the French, because it is against my religion, but I don't hold anything against those that do. As a matter of fact, I have an easy time against the Sicilian, because 2. Na3 befuddles most of 'em. Against the French, I have not yet found a good, solid yet obscure line to counter with, but old Nimzovich had some good thoughts along the lines of a kingside attack, and I also like to play f4 on occasion, to give Black something else to think about. I believe the main thing against the French is to develop rapidly, sacrifice a few pawns if necessary on the Queenside, and hammer Black on the kingside.
The Pirc, Benko's Opening, and other modern systems involving a fianchetto I find unambitious, preferring aggressive openings like g4 or b4, which seize more territory from the get-go and give the opponent something else to worry about besides just a bishop. I always play the Macho Grob against Benko's and the English, without fail, to illustrate my belief.
As White, I play either 1. c4, b4, g4, or e4. I like b4 and g4, these textbook illustrations if not exaggerations of hypermodern theory. The more the masters and Wikipedia criticize the flank openings, the more determined I am to play them. But I also like to revive ancient Classical openings that have fallen out of fashion in the modern chess scene to the extent that no one even remembers that they are actually sound openings rather than mere blunders. I am talking about Chigorin's Defense and Bishop's Defense, two of my favorites, but I also like the Brooklyn Defense, an obscure variation of Alekhine's 1. .. Nf6 which I think has merit if for no other reason than because nobody seems to know what to do against it.
If e4, then if Black responds e5, I play d4 for its novelty value, because few people recall the antique Center Game. Quite often players will try to hang on to the pawn after capture, which is a mistake due to the devastating c3. If on the other hand, my Queen is permitted to occupy d4, then that is often a slight advantage, and I follow up with Bc4 and rapid castling unless another opportunity presents itself. At any rate the Center Game avoids all bookish nonsense from Black, because no one analyzes nor often plays the Center Game anymore in the modern era. Inaccurate play by Black can be dangerous to his longevity in the Center Game. However, if both sides play correctly, the Center Game is your quick and easy passport to the middle game. This is why the masters dislike it, because there is a feeling that White should strive for an advantage in the opening. A Queen on d4 is only a slight advantage, if indeed it is any advantage at all. The novelty value is my angle, along with breaking out of book. I don't play in the upper echelons of the chess world, far from it, so I don't have the same concerns as the masters. That is also why I pay no heed to chess authorities that dismiss the Grob. For the record, there's a chess authority that endorses the Grob, an International Master by the name of Michael Basman. So there, chess snobs.
If Black attempts the Sicilian, then I have another obscure novelty, Na3, which stupefies every player, but is quite sound. The ideas are to break out of book early while avoiding committing to any specific plan and get the Queen's knight developed to a square that is well-suited against the Sicilian, while leaving open the possibility of c3. Note that with Black's pawn at c5, there is little danger of the knight being captured by Black's bishop before it relocates to an advantageous square. Those who play the Sicilian must be broken out of book early, I find, because their book knowledge tends to be deep. I have never found anyone to refute Na3, though I do lose due to my own middle game blunders. Changing one seemingly trivial move in the opening really does throw many players for a loop, forcing them to consume more time and energy in the opening than would otherwise be the case. Their instincts urge them to refute my stupid move, but how?
If Black attempts the French, then I'll play along for a few moves, with an eye toward placing my Queen on g5 before laying my knight down on f3. This was Nimzovich's idea, and it seems logical, as the kingside is Black's weakness in the French. Most French players don't seem to have prepared for this, and I don't like bothering with a laborious defense of the pawn on d4. I'd rather go straight for the kill if at all possible. I will be the first to admit that I have had the most difficulty against the French Defense of all openings. The Sicilian I enjoy playing against, but with the French, I really have to think.
If g4, I am playing the positional Grob, to be followed by h3 if need be to protect the spike. The tactical Grob that sacrifices the Spike is not to be countenanced, for a refutation has been published on Wikipedia, whose authors despise anything new, and want all players to open with e4, d4, or c4 only. Opening snobs like to sneer at the Grob, which is why it must be played against them. Breaking snobs of their prejudices is a civic duty that must be performed by every conscientious player.
If c4, I have no mind of the English, but instead intend a delayed Grob with g4 and Bg2, breaking out of Wikipedia's cozy lines, with the added advantage that Black is often reacting as if to the English, and is startled by a novelty, and d5 may no longer be an easy option for him. If however Black responds Nf6, then White can play h3 prior to g4, or else transpose to the Queen's Gambit.
If b4, I'm aiming for the Polish, a positional slow opening that gives about equal chances to both sides, but White has the advantage if Black is ignorant of it. White may achieve a slight positional advantage from his advanced Queenside pawns, but exploiting this is no small task. White must avoid leaving a hole at e4 that may be occupied by Black's knight.
As Black, against e4, I play either Nf6, g5, e5, c6, or d5.
d5 is the Center Counter of course, and I will attempt to capture with the knight rather than the Queen, because that is common sense. I seldom play this anymore, though it is good once in a while against your defensive players.
If Nf6, I'm aiming for the Brooklyn Defense, an obscure opening scorned by everyone except those I defeat. If e5, then I replace the knight to its former position on g8, leaving White astounded. This wins some of my games, I swear, on time alone, White staring in disbelief for longer than is prudent, either on this move or on the ones that follow. Many White players think they can obtain an advantage building a pawn wall on f4, e5, and d4, but they are mistaken, though the game gets sharp for Black, and I am known to make costly mistakes. To d4, Black replies d3. To f4, Black replies g5, which gains time, because White is not apt to take the offered pawn, which can advance to g5 to drive White's knight away on the following move. Then I am in familiar Grob territory, while White is lost at sea, apt to lose on time or perish on some rash attack.
If White declines e5 against Nf6, then I do not permit easy transposition to familiar lines, but instead maintain our journey into the chess wilderness. I like to respond to Nc3 with d5 every time, and e5 can then be met by either Ne4 or d5 with good results.
Against anything except d4 or Nf3, g5 heralds the Macho Grob, seldom seen, which is as sound as the day is long, yet many players will launch a rash attack against it for no good reason, giving me free tempos or even losing their Queen as a result. The idea is to shift to a Kingside attack at some point in time, with the advanced pawns providing a head start on that line.
I like to play an occasional e5 against e4, which is standard, but if White pulls the King's Gambit, I default to Fischer's reply, d3, which quite neutralizes all his thunder. I have no desire to learn all the nonsense in the King's Gambit, which is just pure memorized tactics all the way to the end game. If Nf3, then I will reply Nc6, and if he initiates the Ruy Lopez with Bb5, I will play Bishop's Defense, Nd5, which not many people know about, but often gives me a good game. Otherwise, I will play a boring conservative game following classic principles.
Against d4, I like d5, and against the Queen's Gambit, I like Chigorin's Defense, Nc6, because Chigorin knew what he was about, and many White players don't know what to do against it. Another good answer is b5, the Polish.
Against your aggressive young prodigy, nothing answers like the Caro-Kann, c3 to his e4, against which he is liable to break himself. It is a solid defense, and flexible enough to react to anything White may have in store. I have had good luck with it, but it almost never leads to a quick victory, and has less novelty value than other answers. Most players have stock replies to the Caro-Kann and need not think for the first several moves. I like to play Caro-Kann most of all when I am under the weather or tired, because it is the one opening in chess that holds your hand and leads you along a safe path, since almost all the opening moves are intuitive, requiring little effort on the part of Black. The only thing I dislike about the Caro-Kann is that many players know it through and through, so the novelty value is limited.
I never play the Sicilian or the French, because it is against my religion, but I don't hold anything against those that do. As a matter of fact, I have an easy time against the Sicilian, because 2. Na3 befuddles most of 'em. Against the French, I have not yet found a good, solid yet obscure line to counter with, but old Nimzovich had some good thoughts along the lines of a kingside attack, and I also like to play f4 on occasion, to give Black something else to think about. I believe the main thing against the French is to develop rapidly, sacrifice a few pawns if necessary on the Queenside, and hammer Black on the kingside.
The Pirc, Benko's Opening, and other modern systems involving a fianchetto I find unambitious, preferring aggressive openings like g4 or b4, which seize more territory from the get-go and give the opponent something else to worry about besides just a bishop. I always play the Macho Grob against Benko's and the English, without fail, to illustrate my belief.
Here's for the Death Penalty
I'll be pleased when the cinema shooter in Colorado gets the Executioner's Axe, if for no other reason than I won't have to look at his ugly-as-sin, wide-eyed and crazy mug shot on the front page of Google News every other day. Liberal I may be, but my heart won't bleed for that vermin, nor for anyone who slays people at random without any rational motive. Whether the murderer is crazy or not matters not. A life has been taken, indeed, many lives, and in reading the account of the massacre, many of those slain were heroes, who should serve as subjects for U.S. Postage Stamps, as they sacrificed their lives to preserve the lives of their loved ones. For the sake of civilization, an example must be set: a life for a life. It is the way, it is the law, and has served since civilization began. Cut off his head and be done with it, and let us read about more interesting things than a worthless scumbag murderer. I am for beheading, when it comes to methods of capital punishment, because it is simple, foolproof, fast, and humane, though in truth the guillotine is superior to the Executioner's Axe. The French Revolutionaries knew what they were doing when it came to execution methodology, if not juriprudence and prudence. Harvest his bodily organs without consent, so that his body might serve a purpose, if his actions in life did not. Give sight to those that lack it, and kidneys to those that need it.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Probtheme, Vampirestat, Zombiestat, Villainstat, Ontimemarketing
Dear fellow bloggers -- if your blog keeps getting traffic from probtheme, ontimemarketing, adsensewatchdog, uglystat, villainstat, vampirestat, or zombiestat web sites, just ignore all of that, as it is the product of worthless scumbag referrer spam-bots. Automated, unattended software programs generate these supposed "hits" on your site. They do not represent any human visitors and are not of any interest whatsoever. Do not visit the referring sites, because there is a high probability of malware. Do not link to the sites anywhere online. In other words, do not do the sort of things that the scumbags want you to do. The reason that some malicious hacker is running these bots is to generate traffic on the above-mentioned web sites and quite possibly to entrap, identify, or infect the personal computers of blog owners. End of story. Don't fall for it!
You will notice I was careful not to specify the url to any of the above sites when I was discussing them. Linking to a site means typing the basic URL in a message, post, or comment.
Let me be clear: Do not EVER link to a bad site like vampirestat, even if you only mean to complain about them or shame them. Do not even post a link in a forum! Search engine bots cannot yet distinguish between favorable comments and unfavorable. Search engine bots investigate each and every link they detect and determine associations between sites. If you link to a site, even if you hate it, you are helping it; you are associated with that site. Always remember that! If you have anything resembling the actual url of a malware site anywhere in your blog, then you are assisting their prevalence in search engines, and Google will evaluate your site as being associated with malicious hackers. Your site's Google ranking may decline, and your site may even be flagged as a malware site.
Update
It has come to my attention that some blog owners may have been posting the url of vampirestat, et al, on their blogs.You will notice I was careful not to specify the url to any of the above sites when I was discussing them. Linking to a site means typing the basic URL in a message, post, or comment.
Let me be clear: Do not EVER link to a bad site like vampirestat, even if you only mean to complain about them or shame them. Do not even post a link in a forum! Search engine bots cannot yet distinguish between favorable comments and unfavorable. Search engine bots investigate each and every link they detect and determine associations between sites. If you link to a site, even if you hate it, you are helping it; you are associated with that site. Always remember that! If you have anything resembling the actual url of a malware site anywhere in your blog, then you are assisting their prevalence in search engines, and Google will evaluate your site as being associated with malicious hackers. Your site's Google ranking may decline, and your site may even be flagged as a malware site.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Microsoft Networking
Whenever you install Windows 7, be sure to set aside 100 hours to struggle with network configuration. Microsoft thinks that everyone wants to pay Microsoft Technical Support $99.95 an hour to connect two computers via ethernet.
Windows 7 has to be the WORST operating system in existence today for home networking. I wouldn't use it if I didn't have to for my answering machine. I intend to use it for nothing but an answering machine. What a tremendous piece of garbage it is. Nice, fancy GUI that can do absolutely nothing; networking wizard that can't find its own behind; share permissions that share to everyone and yet no one. I'm glad to see that Microsoft is providing employment to the mentally handicapped, but I wish they would have them doing something other than programming Windows.
Post Scriptum:
I plan to sell my Windows 7 install DVD on ebay since it hasn't activated yet. It is just too difficult to connect Windows 7 to other computers in the home network. I plugged the old Windows XP hard drive back in and presto, the network was working again. Windows 7 as far as I am concerned is just a mistake. If I need modern capabilities then I will use Linux, not anything by Microsoft. I feel sorry for people who feel like they have to use Windows 7. They are really setting themselves up for punishment.
Windows 7 has to be the WORST operating system in existence today for home networking. I wouldn't use it if I didn't have to for my answering machine. I intend to use it for nothing but an answering machine. What a tremendous piece of garbage it is. Nice, fancy GUI that can do absolutely nothing; networking wizard that can't find its own behind; share permissions that share to everyone and yet no one. I'm glad to see that Microsoft is providing employment to the mentally handicapped, but I wish they would have them doing something other than programming Windows.
Post Scriptum:
I plan to sell my Windows 7 install DVD on ebay since it hasn't activated yet. It is just too difficult to connect Windows 7 to other computers in the home network. I plugged the old Windows XP hard drive back in and presto, the network was working again. Windows 7 as far as I am concerned is just a mistake. If I need modern capabilities then I will use Linux, not anything by Microsoft. I feel sorry for people who feel like they have to use Windows 7. They are really setting themselves up for punishment.
Anita Baker
I can't imagine why anyone talks about Whitney Houston. I've never found a Houston song I like, but Anita Baker has produced some real jewels, classics that will be played long after we are dust, restorative & soothing to the soul.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Windows Seven: Still Stupid After All These Years
Microsoft clearly has been hiring intellectually handicapped programmers for years. Try to install Windows 7 updates, and Windows falls flat on its face. Can't find the internet. D'oh? Any modern Linux distro finds the Internet without a hitch. Microsoft requires nursemaiding to guide it along. "Right this way, dear. No, don't go potty in the trash can. To your left, dear. The commode. Yes, that's it. Now, now."
Estimated time of installation for Windows: ten hours.
Estimated time of installation for Linux: ten minutes.
Windows 7 should be renamed Windows .07 alpha trialware. Because it will be a trial getting anything done in Windows. Windows 7 is such an obvious kludge: it crashed three times just installing updates--and installing updates took hours and hours. Most of the updates concerned security holes that Microsoft's doofuses left in their code.
Estimated time of installation for Windows: ten hours.
Estimated time of installation for Linux: ten minutes.
Windows 7 should be renamed Windows .07 alpha trialware. Because it will be a trial getting anything done in Windows. Windows 7 is such an obvious kludge: it crashed three times just installing updates--and installing updates took hours and hours. Most of the updates concerned security holes that Microsoft's doofuses left in their code.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Obama Gives a Good Interview
A big part of being President is knowing what to say and how to say it. Of all our recent Presidents, Obama stands out as the one that gives a great interview. Bush was a buffoon with a dim understanding of the world. By contrast, Obama is a very intelligent man. Too bad the Republicans set their #1 goal as making sure nothing moves forward in this country. The Republicans place party above country every time.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Avast the Booze
God preserve me from the temptations of the booze good and generous and well-meaning friends laid upon me as Christmas presents. I've succumbed to most of the temptation, four-fifths of the Bailey's and the keg of Heineken's, so maybe I can abstain from the last few dregs in that Bailey's, the last several bottles of wine or whatever it is, I don't want to look at them; vipers, rattlesnakes.
My head felt pins and needles today. Darkness washed over me. I was not myself, not exactly, not my good self. I will remember the darkness. I am reinforced in my conviction: I believe alcohol is poison. Sometimes I forget, but not this year. Inoculated with a booster, I should remain sober through 2013.
Just tea for me now. Good, wholesome tea.
What a mercy it is for me that I do abstain--outside the Christmas holiday--if friends don't lay bottles on me--if I don't feel obligated--if the old habit of scores of Christmases don't come back--I'm such a creature of habit.
My head felt pins and needles today. Darkness washed over me. I was not myself, not exactly, not my good self. I will remember the darkness. I am reinforced in my conviction: I believe alcohol is poison. Sometimes I forget, but not this year. Inoculated with a booster, I should remain sober through 2013.
Just tea for me now. Good, wholesome tea.
What a mercy it is for me that I do abstain--outside the Christmas holiday--if friends don't lay bottles on me--if I don't feel obligated--if the old habit of scores of Christmases don't come back--I'm such a creature of habit.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Isy Suttie of Peep Show
Isy Suttie, Mark's girlfriend in the unique UK comedy Peep Show, is an atypical beauty. Her expressive face and gorgeous blue eyes in season 8 episode 3 are not to be missed by anyone that is open to the concept of feminine beauty. Although her role isn't demanding, she brings an uncommon authenticity to it and can't improve, having already achieved perfection. Half her charm lies in her demerit, her deviation from the popular notion of beauty, her uniqueness, hence her attainability. She's not thin, not like so many ambitious actresses today, nor very young--not some mere child, but thirtysomething--and she has a big nose, a beak in fact, larger than most men's noses--and we know that a big nose correlates with a big penis in men--and regular breasts, but she's fifty flavors of awesome somehow, and one wonders how she attracts, what is her secret? An inner joy, a light within, a mystery that must be studied further. Isy Suttie is the fun gal that geeks would like to get with and more to the point, that geeks think they actually could get with, the woman that wouldn't shoot them down or misuse them, a straight-shooting, plain-speaking, laughing, warm and sunny type of woman, with a Welsh accent that reveals itself at unexpected moments, adding to her mystery and allure, as when she says to Jez, "But is Mark fawn?"
I don't know why Peep Show hasn't caught on in America. It's about the best comedy there is on television. It's quirky and offbeat. My fellow Americans just don't know what they are missing. Peep Show is easily the coolest show on television. I have yet to interest any of my American friends in the show. It is an acquired taste. I think it grows on one, becoming funnier the more times it is watched. The first time, a viewer suffers from information overload. There's just too much narrative and too many things happening at once. Understand, this is both a weakness and a strength. The show makes extraordinary demands upon the viewer, indeed, and that is its weak point, if there is any weak point, reducing its popularity in the mainstream. By the second and third viewings, the viewer is prepared and has already absorbed much of the storyline, so the show increases in value over time, unlike most other shows, becoming funnier the more times it is watched. I cry foul to critics until they watch the show thrice. If by the third time they aren't laughing, then fair enough.
I don't know why Peep Show hasn't caught on in America. It's about the best comedy there is on television. It's quirky and offbeat. My fellow Americans just don't know what they are missing. Peep Show is easily the coolest show on television. I have yet to interest any of my American friends in the show. It is an acquired taste. I think it grows on one, becoming funnier the more times it is watched. The first time, a viewer suffers from information overload. There's just too much narrative and too many things happening at once. Understand, this is both a weakness and a strength. The show makes extraordinary demands upon the viewer, indeed, and that is its weak point, if there is any weak point, reducing its popularity in the mainstream. By the second and third viewings, the viewer is prepared and has already absorbed much of the storyline, so the show increases in value over time, unlike most other shows, becoming funnier the more times it is watched. I cry foul to critics until they watch the show thrice. If by the third time they aren't laughing, then fair enough.
China
I changed my mind about China. China's probably more corrupt than Russia. They recently tightened the screws on Internet censorship, all because people are clamoring for democracy and exposing corruption. I bet what has been exposed is just the tip of the iceberg. Those who suffered under communism now suffer under kleptocracies, but I guess there was never much difference between the two systems in practice, whatever theory might have intended. Always the insiders, the elite get to have the best of everything, while everyone else is treated second-rate.
Here's a letter from a Chinese laborer working 15-hour days.
We in the West are just fooling ourselves about China, which is going to start the next world war, and at that time, future generations are going to be wondering why we let the suits export all the really important jobs over to China. Too late in the game to reboot the manufacturing sector once a hot war is on. Manufacturing is what won WW2, and ultimately it is what wins all wars. If you can replace a tank division, then you can lose a battle and still win the war.
Will we retain Alaska and Hawaii?
I'm puzzled the right-wingers ignored current events and replayed Viet Nam from 2001 - 2012, but they never could see farther than their own portfolios. A lot of time was squandered. Missed opportunities. Could have done something about the economy, alternative energy, and global warming. Now there are a lot of people unemployed or underemployed and there's no end in sight to that. The old cling to their cushy retirements and entitlements while casting aspersions on the young, who can't find good jobs in today's economy, and the politicians look to save money by cutting education and benefits (present and future) for the young. So the young have nothing to do and nothing to look forward to, while U.S. companies continue shipping jobs overseas to China, which one day is going stop playing nice and demand territorial concessions.
Here's a letter from a Chinese laborer working 15-hour days.
We in the West are just fooling ourselves about China, which is going to start the next world war, and at that time, future generations are going to be wondering why we let the suits export all the really important jobs over to China. Too late in the game to reboot the manufacturing sector once a hot war is on. Manufacturing is what won WW2, and ultimately it is what wins all wars. If you can replace a tank division, then you can lose a battle and still win the war.
Will we retain Alaska and Hawaii?
I'm puzzled the right-wingers ignored current events and replayed Viet Nam from 2001 - 2012, but they never could see farther than their own portfolios. A lot of time was squandered. Missed opportunities. Could have done something about the economy, alternative energy, and global warming. Now there are a lot of people unemployed or underemployed and there's no end in sight to that. The old cling to their cushy retirements and entitlements while casting aspersions on the young, who can't find good jobs in today's economy, and the politicians look to save money by cutting education and benefits (present and future) for the young. So the young have nothing to do and nothing to look forward to, while U.S. companies continue shipping jobs overseas to China, which one day is going stop playing nice and demand territorial concessions.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
The State of the World
Thank goodness for the West, the source of all things that are good. A glance at Russia or China is all that is required to be thankful that one lives in a modern and civilized Republic. I feel sorry for people that live in Iran, Syria, Malaysia, or many of the other countries around the world where corruption is rife and tribal loyalties mean more than the rule of law.
The Romans were the ancient people that cultivated the rule of law as being sacrosanct, transcending tribalism. So we, the people of the West, have inherited that cultural and legal tradition, while the people of Russia and China must suffer under kleptocracies that benefit a few criminals at the expense of everyone. I read that China's Prime Minister has stolen over two billion dollars for the benefit of his family, while Russia's corruption is inestimable, probably far exceeding anything in China.
I think that Western countries are superior in every conceivable way to others, and I believe this is self-evident, needing no explanation at all. The only thing the West has to do is figure out a way to adjust to the modern economy, and get its people back to work before it is too late. Free trade was not a good idea, not a good idea at all, and now we are coping with the consequences of a devastated manufacturing sector. So what next? The other thing we need to do is keep electing Democrats who understand that the U.S. is not the policeman of the world, that our borders end in North America, and we need to look after our own, not go interfering where we don't belong and trying to help people who hate us.
The Romans were the ancient people that cultivated the rule of law as being sacrosanct, transcending tribalism. So we, the people of the West, have inherited that cultural and legal tradition, while the people of Russia and China must suffer under kleptocracies that benefit a few criminals at the expense of everyone. I read that China's Prime Minister has stolen over two billion dollars for the benefit of his family, while Russia's corruption is inestimable, probably far exceeding anything in China.
I think that Western countries are superior in every conceivable way to others, and I believe this is self-evident, needing no explanation at all. The only thing the West has to do is figure out a way to adjust to the modern economy, and get its people back to work before it is too late. Free trade was not a good idea, not a good idea at all, and now we are coping with the consequences of a devastated manufacturing sector. So what next? The other thing we need to do is keep electing Democrats who understand that the U.S. is not the policeman of the world, that our borders end in North America, and we need to look after our own, not go interfering where we don't belong and trying to help people who hate us.
Monday, December 24, 2012
Puzzlement over the Pope
I was puzzled by the Pope railing against gay marriage during the Christmas season, but then I remembered, of course the Pope was a Nazi, after all. He's simply reverting to form.
There's a goofy-looking UK bishop who seems to have forgotten the Pope's ugly past. Had he remembered, he might have used different phrasing in his political speechsermon. By the way, why aren't these political lobbyists--priests--taxed? They should be paying taxes just like anybody else.
There's not the slightest possibility that these stupid ignoramuses could be the representatives of the Divine on earth.
There's a goofy-looking UK bishop who seems to have forgotten the Pope's ugly past. Had he remembered, he might have used different phrasing in his political speech
There's not the slightest possibility that these stupid ignoramuses could be the representatives of the Divine on earth.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
A Christmas Message
Surround yourself with people of the light: good, honest, kind, and wise, be they who they may, and let their light rekindle yours.
There is light even in the darkness, because the light spans Alpha and Omega. Is within and without. Was before, is, and will be. When all ends, then that end is a false ending, because all begins again, not as it was, but as it will be.
There is light even in the darkness, because the light spans Alpha and Omega. Is within and without. Was before, is, and will be. When all ends, then that end is a false ending, because all begins again, not as it was, but as it will be.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Former Sen. Chuck Hagel
On the one hand, Former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel was a breath of fresh air during the Bush years, one of the few Republicans that was vocal in speaking out against the multi-trillion-dollar wars. On the other hand, his brain fossilized back in the 1950's with all its prejudices, leaving him "openly, aggressively" homophobic, which is too bad, because now is not the time for a homophobic Secretary of Defense.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Gay Marriage Pioneer Richard Adams
I read an interesting blog post today about Richard Adams, who the INS called a faggot back in 1975. That shows how bad the political climate was back then, that INS employees felt they could get away with vulgarity.
Well, times change. An employee at a government agency that wrote a letter like that today would be fired and rightfully so.
Haters that call other people unpleasant names die off and aren't always replaced by new haters. Incidentally, it's a good thing that they die off. I don't think the human race is ready for immortality yet. Maybe in a thousand years. We still have these problems with violence, intolerance, greed, dishonesty, stupidity, and insanity. I think whenever immortality does become an option, then it had better be joined with genetic engineering so that the immortals are as good and strong and most of all, kind as they can be. It's a scary thought to think about evil-doers living forever... like Sauron.
I don't like the fact of my mortality any more than anybody else. It is odd that we begin each day not thinking it could be our last, and yet for some people, it is their last, they don't even know. Life's a strange bird, ain't it? I can certainly sympathize with the folks that want to believe in an afterlife and everlasting rewards. That's a kind of fantasy that is most appealing and soothing, much more comforting than, "You will be gone forever and ever, and in time, all traces of you will be wiped out completely; you are to be forgotten and erased." That's not quite the thing to say, is it? Even if it is true. I wouldn't have the heart to say it to anybody on death's door. I'd just let them partake of their traditional remedy, be it final rites, shaman or priest, as long as the priest doesn't take advantage and try to bully the poor fellow into converting or doing something against his better judgment.
I'm reading a book by a devout Christian woman recounting her childhood. Every little thing she did, everything that happened, she imbued with drama and meaning from the Bible and from theology, so God and Jesus are everywhere, testing, sending signals and messages, guiding, exhorting, and sometimes punishing, like parents. It's quite unusual. I think she is simple, but I like reading her story because it is so different from the usual book I read. She's got a tremendous head trip going on. Jesus is sending her messages, signals. She reads the Bible for clues on how to respond to her wicked stepmother, who is always putting her down. I'm amused because I catch on to her game, as it is a familiar one I've observed many a time among the Christians. One can read the Bible any which way and find a passage in support of this or that. The Bible contradicts itself; it isn't logical and had no one author, but is a cacophony of voices, each with their own agendas. The authors were jotting down things that made sense in the context of contemporary politics of their times, but don't necessarily apply today. All that's obvious to everyone but the devout Christian, who thinks the Bible was written for them and applies to their own life. Well, that's fine, only trouble is, you can get the Bible to tell you anything, just flip to the right page and go, and it isn't necessarily so, anyway. I think there are better books to read, better books to profit from. I particularly like the Simarillion, in which Tolkien describes a beautiful theology in much more detail than the Bible, which is always vague about the Deity. Why be coy? Why not spell things out? Tolkien did. I like his theology better. At any rate I don't take her religion seriously but enjoy reading all of her thoughts about things. I do think she is a passable good writer, not one that could sell books, but good enough to keep me reading.
Well, times change. An employee at a government agency that wrote a letter like that today would be fired and rightfully so.
Haters that call other people unpleasant names die off and aren't always replaced by new haters. Incidentally, it's a good thing that they die off. I don't think the human race is ready for immortality yet. Maybe in a thousand years. We still have these problems with violence, intolerance, greed, dishonesty, stupidity, and insanity. I think whenever immortality does become an option, then it had better be joined with genetic engineering so that the immortals are as good and strong and most of all, kind as they can be. It's a scary thought to think about evil-doers living forever... like Sauron.
I don't like the fact of my mortality any more than anybody else. It is odd that we begin each day not thinking it could be our last, and yet for some people, it is their last, they don't even know. Life's a strange bird, ain't it? I can certainly sympathize with the folks that want to believe in an afterlife and everlasting rewards. That's a kind of fantasy that is most appealing and soothing, much more comforting than, "You will be gone forever and ever, and in time, all traces of you will be wiped out completely; you are to be forgotten and erased." That's not quite the thing to say, is it? Even if it is true. I wouldn't have the heart to say it to anybody on death's door. I'd just let them partake of their traditional remedy, be it final rites, shaman or priest, as long as the priest doesn't take advantage and try to bully the poor fellow into converting or doing something against his better judgment.
I'm reading a book by a devout Christian woman recounting her childhood. Every little thing she did, everything that happened, she imbued with drama and meaning from the Bible and from theology, so God and Jesus are everywhere, testing, sending signals and messages, guiding, exhorting, and sometimes punishing, like parents. It's quite unusual. I think she is simple, but I like reading her story because it is so different from the usual book I read. She's got a tremendous head trip going on. Jesus is sending her messages, signals. She reads the Bible for clues on how to respond to her wicked stepmother, who is always putting her down. I'm amused because I catch on to her game, as it is a familiar one I've observed many a time among the Christians. One can read the Bible any which way and find a passage in support of this or that. The Bible contradicts itself; it isn't logical and had no one author, but is a cacophony of voices, each with their own agendas. The authors were jotting down things that made sense in the context of contemporary politics of their times, but don't necessarily apply today. All that's obvious to everyone but the devout Christian, who thinks the Bible was written for them and applies to their own life. Well, that's fine, only trouble is, you can get the Bible to tell you anything, just flip to the right page and go, and it isn't necessarily so, anyway. I think there are better books to read, better books to profit from. I particularly like the Simarillion, in which Tolkien describes a beautiful theology in much more detail than the Bible, which is always vague about the Deity. Why be coy? Why not spell things out? Tolkien did. I like his theology better. At any rate I don't take her religion seriously but enjoy reading all of her thoughts about things. I do think she is a passable good writer, not one that could sell books, but good enough to keep me reading.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Gun Control
The NRA has had things its own way for too long and it is far too liberal on gun laws. It is easier to get a gun than it is to drive, and there's something wrong about that to anybody that possesses a grain of common sense.
I think some sensible precautions need to be put into place and should have been done a long time ago. Only now, we see the urgency after so many senseless killings by suicidal maniacs. I'd rather face a suicidal maniac armed with a knife than a suicidal maniac armed with a gun, any day of the week. But you can argue this point until you're blue in the face with a lot of Republicans, and they just don't see it no matter how many people are buried. They think we're after their hunting pastime or trying to disarm everybody.
I don't consider myself well-versed on the issue of gun control, but I would support a ban on assault weapons, a ban on cartridges that have more than eight rounds, and a lot of other new precautions.
I think some sensible precautions need to be put into place and should have been done a long time ago. Only now, we see the urgency after so many senseless killings by suicidal maniacs. I'd rather face a suicidal maniac armed with a knife than a suicidal maniac armed with a gun, any day of the week. But you can argue this point until you're blue in the face with a lot of Republicans, and they just don't see it no matter how many people are buried. They think we're after their hunting pastime or trying to disarm everybody.
I don't consider myself well-versed on the issue of gun control, but I would support a ban on assault weapons, a ban on cartridges that have more than eight rounds, and a lot of other new precautions.
ASUS Warranty & Support
The web site for ASUS is designed with one purpose in mind, to deter warranty/service/repairs. After navigating through their maze of a web site for an hour, I can testify that it is difficult at best to get service on warranty on any ASUS product. If you finally, after much searching, find the link to the web site that handles warranties (why couldn't they incorporate that into the main site?), then if you click on it, you will log on to the web site--and get a blank, white screen, with no text and nothing to click on. That's ASUS customer service for you.
Here's what happened when I tried to chat with one of their "helpful technicians." I should note that the screen also said that I had a 110-minute wait ahead of me, but the screen capture didn't get that part.
Here's what happened when I tried to chat with one of their "helpful technicians." I should note that the screen also said that I had a 110-minute wait ahead of me, but the screen capture didn't get that part.
Europeans are Stupid
The rate of smoking in Europe is higher than anywhere else at 33%.
So Europe might be wiser in some ways, like socialized health care, but they are behind the curve when it comes to tobacco.
Smoking is unnecessary, even for someone addicted to nicotine. There are two alternative methods of nicotine consumption that are far less harmful--nicotine gum (expensive) and vaporization, which has been widely adopted by health-conscious marijuana consumers. Why would anyone smoke the old-fashioned way, when a vaporizer can be purchased for $40? To use a computer analogy, it is like remaining with MS-DOS instead of upgrading to Windows or Linux Mint. Smoking is more expensive, more harmful, and obnoxious to everyone around. Vaporizing is cheaper, tastes better, is much easier on the lungs, and causes minimal discomfort to others.
I've known intellectuals that smoked, highlighting the difference between book-smarts and common sense. I am glad I have enough common sense not to play Big Tobacco's game. I don't use any tobacco products, but you know what, if I did, it would either be through the medium of gum or vaporization. Common sense, if you please. Smoke ain't good for your lungs. Ask a conscientious pothead where to buy a quality vaporizer.
So Europe might be wiser in some ways, like socialized health care, but they are behind the curve when it comes to tobacco.
Smoking is unnecessary, even for someone addicted to nicotine. There are two alternative methods of nicotine consumption that are far less harmful--nicotine gum (expensive) and vaporization, which has been widely adopted by health-conscious marijuana consumers. Why would anyone smoke the old-fashioned way, when a vaporizer can be purchased for $40? To use a computer analogy, it is like remaining with MS-DOS instead of upgrading to Windows or Linux Mint. Smoking is more expensive, more harmful, and obnoxious to everyone around. Vaporizing is cheaper, tastes better, is much easier on the lungs, and causes minimal discomfort to others.
I've known intellectuals that smoked, highlighting the difference between book-smarts and common sense. I am glad I have enough common sense not to play Big Tobacco's game. I don't use any tobacco products, but you know what, if I did, it would either be through the medium of gum or vaporization. Common sense, if you please. Smoke ain't good for your lungs. Ask a conscientious pothead where to buy a quality vaporizer.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Read O'Brian and Despair
As for writing a novel, I'd better put a cork on that. I finished Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander yesterday and observed I'd never write as well as he does, not even if I tried for a thousand years.
One thing about O'Brian is he's an artist, not your ordinary sort of writer. That is, he draws scenes, and the words serve as his paintbrush. As artists go, he's an impressionist. The reader must work to shake out what's going on. O'Brian won't pat your hand and say, "Now, now, we're getting up, dear old Sir, so please put your slippers on," none of that, he zips from point to point without very much in the way of transition. The reader's brain must work overtime, sometimes rereading to puzzle out what is going on in the story. One adjusts to this challenging style, because it has the advantage of compactness. O'Brian draws a scene in ten pages that would take another writer fifty, while imparting more nuance. He does not waste the reader's time and is never boring.
Of course O'Brian's a classic nerd, having devoured every single fact and legend concerning the British Navy of the 1700s-1800s, and he flaunts his knowledge until the reader is cowed into accepting the writer's indisputable authority. I don't know one sail from another, it's all Greek to me. I just marvel. I suppose that the gentleman must have spent a good chunk of his life reading naval histories and stories. I don't even like sailing, but I like Patrick O'Brian's novels about sailing. That's the mark of a great author, that he can hook landlubbers like me with his naval stories. I rank O'Brian up there with the best of the best, and I can only wonder why Gore Vidal never reviewed his books, but Vidal preferred dead authors to living competitors and probably found O'Brian reactionary, although I think O'Brian's personal views may be found in the speech of his character Stephen Maturin, who was liberal enough for me.
When I think of the times I wanted to write a historical novel, I blush in shame, because I know good and well my knowledge of times past is not one-tenth O'Brian's. My effort would turn out just like the ones of those historical novelists I read in the library and put down in contempt.
So read O'Brian and despair, ye budding writers!
One thing about O'Brian is he's an artist, not your ordinary sort of writer. That is, he draws scenes, and the words serve as his paintbrush. As artists go, he's an impressionist. The reader must work to shake out what's going on. O'Brian won't pat your hand and say, "Now, now, we're getting up, dear old Sir, so please put your slippers on," none of that, he zips from point to point without very much in the way of transition. The reader's brain must work overtime, sometimes rereading to puzzle out what is going on in the story. One adjusts to this challenging style, because it has the advantage of compactness. O'Brian draws a scene in ten pages that would take another writer fifty, while imparting more nuance. He does not waste the reader's time and is never boring.
Of course O'Brian's a classic nerd, having devoured every single fact and legend concerning the British Navy of the 1700s-1800s, and he flaunts his knowledge until the reader is cowed into accepting the writer's indisputable authority. I don't know one sail from another, it's all Greek to me. I just marvel. I suppose that the gentleman must have spent a good chunk of his life reading naval histories and stories. I don't even like sailing, but I like Patrick O'Brian's novels about sailing. That's the mark of a great author, that he can hook landlubbers like me with his naval stories. I rank O'Brian up there with the best of the best, and I can only wonder why Gore Vidal never reviewed his books, but Vidal preferred dead authors to living competitors and probably found O'Brian reactionary, although I think O'Brian's personal views may be found in the speech of his character Stephen Maturin, who was liberal enough for me.
When I think of the times I wanted to write a historical novel, I blush in shame, because I know good and well my knowledge of times past is not one-tenth O'Brian's. My effort would turn out just like the ones of those historical novelists I read in the library and put down in contempt.
So read O'Brian and despair, ye budding writers!
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Stepping Into Her Bones
I've been reading about a page a day of a self-published autobiography about a straight, white, devout Christian woman of no special renown who grew up in America. It is the bathroom read. To my surprise, I have enjoyed stepping into her bones and seeing the world through her eyes. I am beginning to feel a desire to start a novel. There is nothing stopping me. Perhaps I will create a similar character.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Run Screensaver & Music Player from Thunar's File Manager
In my opinion, a screensaver begins and ends with a slideshow featuring beautiful specimens from the realms of art and imagination, nature, and science. I will never understand why so many people opt for alternative solutions such as using a non-slideshow screensaver (called a "visualizer") from within a media player. Configure the screensaver within the operating system but once, and it will function with and without the media player. Pictures appealing to one's personal taste may be obtained quite easily by anyone with Internet access, patience, and storage space. So why use anything else in a screensaver--ever?
When I play music on my media player, I want the desktop to display my slideshow. I do not want VLC to run a tacky visualizer. And I want to use nothing within VLC, but instead the regular desktop screensaver-slideshow, which can be easily deactivated by moving the mouse or pressing any key and which I have configured to my own preferences.
The following custom command, when selected in Thunar, passes selected files and folders to VLC and then, after a five second pause, activates the screensaver. I don't see any reason why this technique would not work in other Linux desktop environments, but I haven't tested it, so I will say, caveat emptor. My own desktop environment is Xfce running on Linux Mint Maya. I have VLC and xscreensaver installed and working, although the logic below could be adapted for other media players and other screensavers.
In Xfce's File Manager, Thunar, click Edit | Configure Custom Actions, and then choose the + icon to add a new one. For the name of the action, let's type "Play in VLC & Run Screensaver," and for the command, "/bin/vlcs.sh %F", which loads a shell script while passing a variable consisting of selected files and folders. Executing a script is indeed necessary, because Thunar seems to not permit multiple commands in a custom action. Perhaps in gnome or kde, the story may be different--experiment and see whether this is so. Of course one would rather not have to create a new batch file just to execute two or three commands.
The shell script, which I call /bin/vlcs.sh, consists of just two lines:
VLC and the sleep command execute at the same time. The sleep command waits for five seconds. Only after the sleep command has finished do I want the screensaver to activate and display my slideshow. I find the delay helpful, because without it, the screensaver executes with such alacrity that my hand cannot remove itself from the mouse fast enough to avoid deactivating the screensaver. Besides, I like to observe VLC's playlist for a moment before it runs. Many a time during testing, I passed an invalid variable to VLC, and it got stuck in an endless loop trying to load invalid file names, which is not very intelligent, to say the least. I tried to add some audits of the variable inside the script, but I cannot add any if...then commands to the batch, otherwise it won't work at all from within Thunar in Xubuntu 12.10. The batch must remain primitive for reasons that are unclear to me. I am sure the solution is something simple that the experts have neglected to mention because they feel it is obvious. At any rate, I was pleased to set this up, because it saves me a step during dinner parties.
When I play music on my media player, I want the desktop to display my slideshow. I do not want VLC to run a tacky visualizer. And I want to use nothing within VLC, but instead the regular desktop screensaver-slideshow, which can be easily deactivated by moving the mouse or pressing any key and which I have configured to my own preferences.
The following custom command, when selected in Thunar, passes selected files and folders to VLC and then, after a five second pause, activates the screensaver. I don't see any reason why this technique would not work in other Linux desktop environments, but I haven't tested it, so I will say, caveat emptor. My own desktop environment is Xfce running on Linux Mint Maya. I have VLC and xscreensaver installed and working, although the logic below could be adapted for other media players and other screensavers.
In Xfce's File Manager, Thunar, click Edit | Configure Custom Actions, and then choose the + icon to add a new one. For the name of the action, let's type "Play in VLC & Run Screensaver," and for the command, "/bin/vlcs.sh %F", which loads a shell script while passing a variable consisting of selected files and folders. Executing a script is indeed necessary, because Thunar seems to not permit multiple commands in a custom action. Perhaps in gnome or kde, the story may be different--experiment and see whether this is so. Of course one would rather not have to create a new batch file just to execute two or three commands.
The shell script, which I call /bin/vlcs.sh, consists of just two lines:
#!bin/shName this Linux shell script "vlcs.sh", place it in the /bin folder, and set the execute bit using "chmod a+x /bin/vlcs.sh" so that all may execute it. I'm not a big security buff, but if you are, then set the security however you like it, just so that it can execute from the File Manager.
vlc "$1" & sleep 5 && xscreensaver-command -activate
VLC and the sleep command execute at the same time. The sleep command waits for five seconds. Only after the sleep command has finished do I want the screensaver to activate and display my slideshow. I find the delay helpful, because without it, the screensaver executes with such alacrity that my hand cannot remove itself from the mouse fast enough to avoid deactivating the screensaver. Besides, I like to observe VLC's playlist for a moment before it runs. Many a time during testing, I passed an invalid variable to VLC, and it got stuck in an endless loop trying to load invalid file names, which is not very intelligent, to say the least. I tried to add some audits of the variable inside the script, but I cannot add any if...then commands to the batch, otherwise it won't work at all from within Thunar in Xubuntu 12.10. The batch must remain primitive for reasons that are unclear to me. I am sure the solution is something simple that the experts have neglected to mention because they feel it is obvious. At any rate, I was pleased to set this up, because it saves me a step during dinner parties.
Scalia Plays the Prude
Supreme Court Justice Scalia is not wise based upon his remarks at Princeton, but he thinks he is wise, and that's the most dangerous sort of fool that there is. His arguments against any and all rights for gays are illogical and reflect his own personal hangups.
Since his arguments have nothing to them, one looks at the man. One look at Scalia and all thought of sex goes out the window. Maybe that's his problem--nobody would ever want to do him. Such a specimen finds it easy to play the prude. He can pretend that his "morals" keep him from accepting all the offers that would otherwise flow his way.
Since his arguments have nothing to them, one looks at the man. One look at Scalia and all thought of sex goes out the window. Maybe that's his problem--nobody would ever want to do him. Such a specimen finds it easy to play the prude. He can pretend that his "morals" keep him from accepting all the offers that would otherwise flow his way.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Ars Technica Needs to Learn
Ars Technica needs to learn that not everybody has the time to play password games with their site. I am not going to spend all evening devising a password that has a percentage, an underscore, an uppercase, a lowercase, ninety-nine characters, and a logarithm. I'm just not going to do it. I don't know, do they think we are registering for a lottery prize? More like registering for spam from Ars Technica, sounds like. Do they think somebody is going to try and crack their passwords with brute force? Ridiculous. Note to Ars Technica: you are not a bank.
Ubetatest
Hm. I don't like the sound of this. Canonical is committing errors in judgment. They need money, so while asking for donations, they intend to spy on their users in order to earn money from Amazon, which has ethical problems of its own. Well, perhaps I will not be using anything Ubuntu-related after 2012.
Out of curiosity, I installed both Xubuntu 12.10 and Linux Mint 13 Xfce, and Linux Mint Xfce is better, easier to use, despite being based upon older code (ubuntu 12.04). Xubuntu 12.10 is unstable, makes crash reports all the time, and the updates that Ubuntu releases don't fix the problems. I send crash reports, and Ubuntu ignores them, and instead issues updates for things that are irrelevant to me.
Xubuntu also is difficult to customize. Last night, I spent an hour trying to install new themes in the ~\.themes directory, because the default themes in Xubuntu are all unpleasantly bright. Xubuntu basically offers the user one theme and one theme only, a bright white background that will burn the eyes of any heavy user. This one theme has twenty different names, so it may appear there are twenty themes, but they are similar. Xubuntu does not offer even one theme with a dark background. Not so with Linux Mint Xfce, which at least offers dusk, a true dark background. I tried for an hour last night to install some new ones, but the archive manager crashed repeatedly. Even when I succeeded in extracting the themes into the .themes directory, after rebooting, they did not appear in the Appearances list of styles. In the end, I gave up. My solution will be to remove Xubuntu at some future point in time. I require a distro that does not require hours and hours of research and experimentation in order to change the background.
I'm glad there are options for Linux users. I'm definitely going to stick with Linux Mint for the time being while keeping an eye on other distros such as OpenSuse, which doesn't rely upon anything *buntu. I hope that Linux Mint finds a way to wean itself from Ubuntu, because I think Canonical has strayed into error and its usefulness may be coming to an end.
Out of curiosity, I installed both Xubuntu 12.10 and Linux Mint 13 Xfce, and Linux Mint Xfce is better, easier to use, despite being based upon older code (ubuntu 12.04). Xubuntu 12.10 is unstable, makes crash reports all the time, and the updates that Ubuntu releases don't fix the problems. I send crash reports, and Ubuntu ignores them, and instead issues updates for things that are irrelevant to me.
Xubuntu also is difficult to customize. Last night, I spent an hour trying to install new themes in the ~\.themes directory, because the default themes in Xubuntu are all unpleasantly bright. Xubuntu basically offers the user one theme and one theme only, a bright white background that will burn the eyes of any heavy user. This one theme has twenty different names, so it may appear there are twenty themes, but they are similar. Xubuntu does not offer even one theme with a dark background. Not so with Linux Mint Xfce, which at least offers dusk, a true dark background. I tried for an hour last night to install some new ones, but the archive manager crashed repeatedly. Even when I succeeded in extracting the themes into the .themes directory, after rebooting, they did not appear in the Appearances list of styles. In the end, I gave up. My solution will be to remove Xubuntu at some future point in time. I require a distro that does not require hours and hours of research and experimentation in order to change the background.
I'm glad there are options for Linux users. I'm definitely going to stick with Linux Mint for the time being while keeping an eye on other distros such as OpenSuse, which doesn't rely upon anything *buntu. I hope that Linux Mint finds a way to wean itself from Ubuntu, because I think Canonical has strayed into error and its usefulness may be coming to an end.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Massive File Copies--Not for the GUI
There are some tasks at which both the Windows and the Linux GUI stink, and I mean like rotten eggs. I'm not taking sides here. Both operating systems stink at massive file copies. Woe betide the user that tries copying tens of thousands of files from one directory to another directory on the network. This is the single best way to get an unresponsive desktop. In Linux Mint Xfce, Thunar blanked, the "File Progress" window blanked, and on one occasion all my desktop icons disappeared. In Windows XP, I waited. And waited. And Windows XP will also become unresponsive. It's not any stabler than Linux. I've learned. From now on, command-line copy all the way. xcopy *.*, my friends. That's the way to go.
And if only I could figure out a way to bypass the accursed trash can in Xubuntu. Linux Mint Xfce offers an option to permanently delete files, rather than spending several hours, or all day, transferring them to the Trash Can, which does not delete them. Overall, Xubuntu's designers don't seem to give too much thought to usability. Instead, they are concerned with protecting the user from himself. I don't think I will install another *buntu distro again. Instead, my choice will be Linux Mint. Linux Mint is just nicer, friendlier, that's all. Linux Mint adds another ten to twenty per cent to the usability quotient. That's not to say there couldn't be improvements, but when is that not true?
Neither the Windows nor Linux GUI have any conception of batch mode. If a user begins another copy while a copy is being performed, each OS will choose to copy everything simultaneously, a disastrous behavior which means it will take much, much longer to complete each copy task. Why not finish one copy, then begin the next one? That is known as "batch mode." Copying in batch is far more efficient.
And if only I could figure out a way to bypass the accursed trash can in Xubuntu. Linux Mint Xfce offers an option to permanently delete files, rather than spending several hours, or all day, transferring them to the Trash Can, which does not delete them. Overall, Xubuntu's designers don't seem to give too much thought to usability. Instead, they are concerned with protecting the user from himself. I don't think I will install another *buntu distro again. Instead, my choice will be Linux Mint. Linux Mint is just nicer, friendlier, that's all. Linux Mint adds another ten to twenty per cent to the usability quotient. That's not to say there couldn't be improvements, but when is that not true?
Neither the Windows nor Linux GUI have any conception of batch mode. If a user begins another copy while a copy is being performed, each OS will choose to copy everything simultaneously, a disastrous behavior which means it will take much, much longer to complete each copy task. Why not finish one copy, then begin the next one? That is known as "batch mode." Copying in batch is far more efficient.
Respect for Nurses
There should be a rule that no one should mess with nurses. I can testify that nurses work harder than anybody else. The stress level of their job is through the roof. I couldn't do it. I don't have the stamina. I'd never hassle a nurse, and the Australian DJ's who hoaxed a nurse over in London ought to be sacked for doing so. Hoax a banker, politician, or businessman, but never anyone in the medical profession or for that matter, law enforcement or firemen. I understand humor and fun and games and enjoy a good hoax myself, but some people work in uncommonly high-stress jobs and should be given a little bit of slack by the public, and in particular radio DJ's, who are dispensable to begin with, let's face it. Everybody needs a nurse. A DJ, we can do without. I don't know whether some people understand just how difficult it is to become a nurse in the first place.
I could care less about the royalty / Kate Middleton connection. Even though I'm liberal, I'm not particularly anti-royal. I'm a pragmatist. If royals conduct international diplomacy, support charity and worthwhile causes, and use their position as a bully pulpit to support worthwhile and humanitarian causes, then royals might actually do some good in the world, more so than some of our wealthy who inherited their fortunes and do nothing. I think the question of whether royalty is good or bad depends upon the words and deeds of the royals.
I could care less about the royalty / Kate Middleton connection. Even though I'm liberal, I'm not particularly anti-royal. I'm a pragmatist. If royals conduct international diplomacy, support charity and worthwhile causes, and use their position as a bully pulpit to support worthwhile and humanitarian causes, then royals might actually do some good in the world, more so than some of our wealthy who inherited their fortunes and do nothing. I think the question of whether royalty is good or bad depends upon the words and deeds of the royals.
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