Here it is 2011 and your article is the first useful one to pop up on this topic. Good on you for writing it. I'm still working my way through it, but I have a couple of comments already.
You mention this business of joining and splitting lines at least a couple of times. Methinks you acquired this obsession from too much exposure to some primitive word processor. As long as I have been using a keyboard I have always just used the delete key at the end of a line to join lines, and the enter key to split lines.
Emacs is just plain evil. People who use it are demented heretics. They should all be rounded up and sent to the Gulag. Oh wait, maybe that's where they are, and that's why they use it. It's all they have there. Poor peasants.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Linux Text Editors
I'm looking for a more capable text editor than the default that comes with Linux, and I come across an article from 2007 (!) by Sharon Machlis on the Computerworld website. (Computerworld?!? Are they still around? I guess so.) I made a comment, and since the article is so old I am afraid it might fall in black hole, I am reproducing it here. Enjoy. Or not.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Video Quality
Watched a new episode of The Good Wife off of some web site on the internet this evening. The picture was only a quarter the size of the screen (1/2 vertical by 1/2 horizontal), but it was smooth and there were no commercials. Watched it before it was broadcast. The internet show ended and we switched over to regular broadcast-over-the-air TV and there it is again, but this time the video quality is astounding. All kinds of detail that was completely obscured in the internet version was perfectly clear in the broadcast version.
There seems to be all kinds of video quality out there, and most of it is pretty miserable. We watched the streaming version over the internet and it was just fine, but once we saw the broadcast version it was like, forget you internet.
I am trying to get the Blue-Ray DVD player to work properly. I wonder if it will spoil me. I still have to get a Blue-Ray disk to play.
There seems to be all kinds of video quality out there, and most of it is pretty miserable. We watched the streaming version over the internet and it was just fine, but once we saw the broadcast version it was like, forget you internet.
I am trying to get the Blue-Ray DVD player to work properly. I wonder if it will spoil me. I still have to get a Blue-Ray disk to play.
Clothes Make the Man
There was one guy in my high school class who was always a sharp dresser. When I saw him at our high school reunion a couple of years ago, he was still a sharp dresser. Nothing flashy, just, I dunno, sharp.
I never cared too much about clothes. Clean T-shirt and socks most everyday, clean jeans every so often. Never understood the suit and tie mentality. When I was working construction, and later as a mechanic, clothes were functional: they protected you from the crap flying in the air at work and from the weather. People who worried about spilling a little soup of their tie were like aliens. I mean, who gives a fuck? I got splashed with concrete yesterday and last week I burned a whole in my shirt, and this numb-nuts is worried about a little soup on his tie? WTF?
It took me a while to figure it out but I eventually caught on. I was helping install a prototype computer thing at a bank one time and we ran into a couple of big-shots in the hall, and I remember being very impressed by the big guy in the impressive suit. Bothered me a bit that I was impressed, but there was no denying it. I was wearing a suit as well (the one and only occasion to the best of my knowledge) and my suit was no match for his. I don't even know what the criteria were.
Now I realize that good quality dress clothes can last a long time, so it's okay to spend some money on them. You are investing in your appearance, which can be a considerable asset when you are dealing with people. However, since you have invested so much money in these fancy duds, every little mishap (like a splash of soup) is cause for concern. For a working guy whose clothes get trashed on a regular basis, the dynamic is a little different. He may spend as much money on clothes, but it is a continuous, normal expense. It is not an investment.
And then there's the whole feeling thing that goes along with nice clothes. You dress up a little bit, you feel better about yourself. But the weird part is that other people feel better when they see you. Well, as long as you are in the same class. Someone from first class, sporting designer duds and real jewelry, coming into a second class part of town, well, they're just trying to make you feel bad.
As for dress clothes being uncomfortable, you can alleviate some of that with the proper fit. The collar on your shirt should not be strangling you, you should be able to turn your head. Men's jackets though, they suck, they restrict your arm movements an unreasonable amount. I think that may be what they are supposed to be. If someone makes one that doesn't, I would like to hear about it.
I never cared too much about clothes. Clean T-shirt and socks most everyday, clean jeans every so often. Never understood the suit and tie mentality. When I was working construction, and later as a mechanic, clothes were functional: they protected you from the crap flying in the air at work and from the weather. People who worried about spilling a little soup of their tie were like aliens. I mean, who gives a fuck? I got splashed with concrete yesterday and last week I burned a whole in my shirt, and this numb-nuts is worried about a little soup on his tie? WTF?
It took me a while to figure it out but I eventually caught on. I was helping install a prototype computer thing at a bank one time and we ran into a couple of big-shots in the hall, and I remember being very impressed by the big guy in the impressive suit. Bothered me a bit that I was impressed, but there was no denying it. I was wearing a suit as well (the one and only occasion to the best of my knowledge) and my suit was no match for his. I don't even know what the criteria were.
Now I realize that good quality dress clothes can last a long time, so it's okay to spend some money on them. You are investing in your appearance, which can be a considerable asset when you are dealing with people. However, since you have invested so much money in these fancy duds, every little mishap (like a splash of soup) is cause for concern. For a working guy whose clothes get trashed on a regular basis, the dynamic is a little different. He may spend as much money on clothes, but it is a continuous, normal expense. It is not an investment.
And then there's the whole feeling thing that goes along with nice clothes. You dress up a little bit, you feel better about yourself. But the weird part is that other people feel better when they see you. Well, as long as you are in the same class. Someone from first class, sporting designer duds and real jewelry, coming into a second class part of town, well, they're just trying to make you feel bad.
As for dress clothes being uncomfortable, you can alleviate some of that with the proper fit. The collar on your shirt should not be strangling you, you should be able to turn your head. Men's jackets though, they suck, they restrict your arm movements an unreasonable amount. I think that may be what they are supposed to be. If someone makes one that doesn't, I would like to hear about it.
Old People
I turned 60 this summer, so that makes me old. The biggest nuisance for me is that small cuts and scrapes take longer to heal. What used to take a day when I was 20 now takes two weeks, so I try to be a little more careful when I am working with my hands, especially when I am handling stuff with sharp edges. I wear gloves for moving furniture.
I realized something else: I am running out of time. When I was younger I had all the time in the world. Now I can see that I have maybe 10 or 20 years left wherein I might be able to accomplish something.
I see old people driving around and some of them are really slow and annoying. In some cases I suspect this is because they have become feeble in body and / or mind, and just can't cope with going any faster.
Now I realize that in some cases there may be an alternate explanation. Some old people realize they only have a limited amount of time left and they don't want to waste it recovering from an accident, so they are more cautious, and being cautious often means moving just a little slower. When you are young you've got all the time in world, and if you have an accident, well, shit happens, and you will just have to deal with it. When you are older, an accident, even if no one gets hurt, is a time sucker of the first magnitude, and those suckers are to be avoided at all costs. I mean who wants to keel over while on-hold with the god blessed insurance company?
I realized something else: I am running out of time. When I was younger I had all the time in the world. Now I can see that I have maybe 10 or 20 years left wherein I might be able to accomplish something.
I see old people driving around and some of them are really slow and annoying. In some cases I suspect this is because they have become feeble in body and / or mind, and just can't cope with going any faster.
Now I realize that in some cases there may be an alternate explanation. Some old people realize they only have a limited amount of time left and they don't want to waste it recovering from an accident, so they are more cautious, and being cautious often means moving just a little slower. When you are young you've got all the time in world, and if you have an accident, well, shit happens, and you will just have to deal with it. When you are older, an accident, even if no one gets hurt, is a time sucker of the first magnitude, and those suckers are to be avoided at all costs. I mean who wants to keel over while on-hold with the god blessed insurance company?
Now you see it . . .
My new Zotac Zbox occasionally gets all spastic and ignores what I am typing for a few seconds. I am pretty sure Linux is the problem, but then I realize I'm using this new wireless keyboard and maybe it's causing the problem. So I go looking for customer reviews. I'm not finding anything that implicates the keyboard but I come across this picture:
which features a disappearing USB port, at least here and now. When I first saw it on the original page (2nd picture in the second group), I could see the USB port plain as day, but within a second it had disappeared, and all I see is featureless black. When I select the picture inside of Blogger's editor, I get a red view of the pic, and the port is again visible.
I imagine it's a function of the video hardware and the drivers that are causing this. It's weird though how it's visible for a second before it disappears. Is something dynamically adjusting the contrast? And who is it?
As for the dropped characters, I complain on Launchpad, but I am not getting much in the way of encouragement. Stupid computers.
Update: the visibility of the port depends on the viewing angle, at least on my screen. Now that's really weird. What the devil is going on here?
Update 2: On my plasma screen, changing the viewing angle makes no difference. The port remains invisible.
which features a disappearing USB port, at least here and now. When I first saw it on the original page (2nd picture in the second group), I could see the USB port plain as day, but within a second it had disappeared, and all I see is featureless black. When I select the picture inside of Blogger's editor, I get a red view of the pic, and the port is again visible.
I imagine it's a function of the video hardware and the drivers that are causing this. It's weird though how it's visible for a second before it disappears. Is something dynamically adjusting the contrast? And who is it?
As for the dropped characters, I complain on Launchpad, but I am not getting much in the way of encouragement. Stupid computers.
Update: the visibility of the port depends on the viewing angle, at least on my screen. Now that's really weird. What the devil is going on here?
Update 2: On my plasma screen, changing the viewing angle makes no difference. The port remains invisible.
Good Luck
This is an acknowledgement to the god of luck. I had a couple of small things happen that just made my life a little easier. Last week when I was first trying to get this Zbox thing working, I needed some cables to connect stuff up. I needed a DVI cable to connect the Zbox to a computer monitor, so I could see if I could get on the internet before I went to the trouble of wiring the TV room. The TV uses an HDMI cable, which won't work with a computer monitor. The TV is too big, clumsy and heavy to drag across the house for a quick test like this. And I have to make the test, because you know Murphy, if I connect up the wired internet connection first, it won't work. Anyway, I look around and I find one, which is really weird, because I didn't think I had one. It could have come with the Zbox, or with the monitor I bought back in January. In any case I didn't need it at the time, but I saved it, meaning I threw it in the box with the other nine thousand cables I have collected.
Then I need an adapter to connect the headphone jack on the Zbox to the RCA jacks on the home theater sound system. I have needed one before and had to make it out of pieces from other cables, and I am fully prepared to have to make one this time (make or buy? Make will take a quarter hour or so, but will require no money. Buy will require about the same amount of time and a small amount of money, but would mean talking to people at Radio Shack who always ask you for your address, and if you say no, they ask again. Screw you, Radio Shack.). But I look in my big box of cables, and looky here, I have one, factory made even. Where did that come from? No matter, it works.
Yesterday I am going to wash some cat bedding in the garage sink, because of the continuing war on fleas you know, and the stuff is NOT coming in the house, but it really needs to be decontaminated, so I am going to wash it by hand, but the stopper, you know, the rubber plug thingy, has disappeared. What do I have that I can use for this? I look around, and my eye lights on a milk jug lid. Could it possibly? Well, yes, it actually might. But if you press this thing in there, how are you going to ever get it out? Well, it is a fairly thin piece of plastic, I can always cut a hole in it with my knife, or use a corkscrew. I put the lid in the drain and put a couple of inches of water in the sink and then I use a claw hammer to try and remove it and it comes right out. That right there is an amazing piece of double luck. A piece from another planet that fits the hole, and it does not become irretrievably jammed.
Then I need an adapter to connect the headphone jack on the Zbox to the RCA jacks on the home theater sound system. I have needed one before and had to make it out of pieces from other cables, and I am fully prepared to have to make one this time (make or buy? Make will take a quarter hour or so, but will require no money. Buy will require about the same amount of time and a small amount of money, but would mean talking to people at Radio Shack who always ask you for your address, and if you say no, they ask again. Screw you, Radio Shack.). But I look in my big box of cables, and looky here, I have one, factory made even. Where did that come from? No matter, it works.
Yesterday I am going to wash some cat bedding in the garage sink, because of the continuing war on fleas you know, and the stuff is NOT coming in the house, but it really needs to be decontaminated, so I am going to wash it by hand, but the stopper, you know, the rubber plug thingy, has disappeared. What do I have that I can use for this? I look around, and my eye lights on a milk jug lid. Could it possibly? Well, yes, it actually might. But if you press this thing in there, how are you going to ever get it out? Well, it is a fairly thin piece of plastic, I can always cut a hole in it with my knife, or use a corkscrew. I put the lid in the drain and put a couple of inches of water in the sink and then I use a claw hammer to try and remove it and it comes right out. That right there is an amazing piece of double luck. A piece from another planet that fits the hole, and it does not become irretrievably jammed.
Prime Suspect
 |
| Mary McCormack from In Plain Sight |
 |
| Maria Bello from Prime Suspect |
- botched arrest, complete with an officer attempting to apprehend a suspect alone, losing their weapon and getting their ass kicked,
- the significant other's ex, the absolutely worst kind of passive agressive. If she doesn't wise up pretty soon I'm going to start throwing things at the screen. It does give our heroine the opportunity to put her in her place, and even grind her under her heel a little. Which kind of makes up for it.
- big SWAT-like - what's the word I'm looking for? Where you get a whole bunch of guys, armed and armored, all focused on one little, tiny spot? A situation? That seems inadequate, not to mention non-descriptive. Confrontation? That implies there is someone facing back at them. Not accurate, there is a door, and an apartment behind it, but who knows what's behind the door?
We tried watching the pilot off of the NBC website, but the video quality was abysmal. Choppy, flashing, black bars, basically unwatchable. Switched to Megavideo which was much better.
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