Things of interest and in/consequence

Adding a wordpress column that has an edit post link

2011-11-13T13:23:00.000-05:00

if you are tyring to use manage_posts_custom_column in the wordpress admin and you don't want the title of the post you might have found that wordpress doesn't place a link to edit post on the first column.

The first column is typically the_title() and in admin gets and edit link applied to it.

The solution was surprisingly simply. Wrap edit_post_link() around whichever column data you want to have a link.

Upgrading Picasa from 3.0.0 to 3.8.0 on Ubuntu

2010-12-03T16:23:00.001-05:00

The short answer: You can do it by downloading the Windows version and double clicking it. If you already have wine installed it will just take care of everything. If you don't have wine installed grab it via the software manager before going anywhere.

Don't Worry!

It remembers all of your starred photos
It remembers all of your organization as far as Folders go

What Sucks!

Transferring any groups of images you've stored in "Albums" sucks, but it can be done!

Make sure Picasa is closed
Navigate to your home directory (ie. Adam)
Hit Ctrl+H to display hidden folders
Navigate through to
.google > picasa > 3.0 > drive_c > Documents and Settings > YOURNAME > Local Settings > Application Data > Google > Picasa2Albums
Here you'll find a file with a crazy name filled with numbers and letters, double click it
These .pal files are what store your Album data, so copy all of them or open a new window
Navigate to:
Applications > Wine > Browse C Drive > users > YOURNAME > Local Settings > Application Data > Google > Picasa2Albums > CRAZY NUMBERS
The reason the directory structure is so similar is because a program named Wine was installed along with your original Picasa installation, but in a non-standard directory.

Why you should upgrade

Note that most of these reasons were, for whatever reason, poorly marketed.

The area that displays the basic exif data now sits on the left instead of over top the image
You have extended exif data available through the (i) button
There is an easy to overlook (and poorly advertised) double arrow button above the tray that lets you hide the basic fixes menu! You can actually view images in full screen!
You can install the Picasa to Facebook add on! To do this download the .pbz file (here) and then navigate to your downloads folder and copy it. Applications > Wine > Browse C Drive > Program Files > Google > Picasa 3 > buttons and paste it. Boo ya!

Notes

After the first install make sure to go to Tools > Folder Management and remove your music directories and any other directories picasa shouldn't be browsing. If you click on Pictures folder at the top do not click on the Pictures buried in your "My Documents" or it will start registering duplicates.
I don't think face-movie features work, I personally don't care. They are dumb
I don't know how effective face recognition features are.

Deets: I am running Ubuntu 10.04, Wine 1.2, Picasa 3.0.0 > 3.8.0, Chrome setup as the go to browser (System>Preferences>Preferred Applications)

Keyboard Shortcuts

2010-11-02T12:01:00.000-04:00

First of all, I am more of a point and click guy for getting things done. I know a couple of keyboard shortcuts, but I tend to find a menu to get things done. There are a couple of exceptions, but not too many. Here are two new ones to add to your repertoire.

F2 and F3.

Easy to memorize right? F2 is they shortcut to rename a file when in the file browser (Nautilus). When I first switched over to Ubuntu from Windows not being able to click-pause-click to rename a file was one of the obstacles I stumbled over (and over again). It was a dumb way to rename a file, but it was ingrained in me. In Ubuntu I've gotten in the habit of right clicking the file then hitting 'r' on the keyboard to jump into renaming. Today I found F2. It seems once you find a way to do something you continue for quite some time even if you think that it is slow and there ought to be a better way to get things done.

F3 is a shortcut for Nautilus as well and it splits the main browsing screen in half. You can also use tabs for a similar effect (ctrl+t or file>new tab), but I've found this little trick to be more visually appealing. In both instances you can highlight files from one window, or tab, and drag them to another.

Also 10.10 came out! I'll probably wait till the next release as 10.04 is treating me fine, but who knows. It is hard to resist a free upgrade.

iPad

2010-10-22T12:22:00.001-04:00

I have access to a hand-held gps, a cell phone, and a desktop computer. I haven't owned a smart phone. I haven't found the need to own one. There have been maybe 3 circumstances in the last 2-3 months where I would have enjoyed having one; looking up inane facts, and movie show times. And I was probably within reach of a desktop computer 30 minutes later. If it really were an "emergency" couldn't you just call someone who you thought might be at a computer, text Google, or call an operating service?

At $560 for the cheapest iPad (wifi, 16gig) and $700 if you add the 3g card, that you have to pay additional charges to actually use ($25/30 days), they seem a bit overpriced. Since I already have a desktop computer that I for-see lasting me at least another 5 years (tg it's Ubuntu), I was trying to figure out what iPad was actually offering me that seemed to be sucking me in. If you think about the percentage of your day not spent near a desktop computer, where having a computer could be useful, what percentage do you come up with? I fall into the travel laptop category... which is a hole in my day that doesn't much need a computer

The only two things this has over any other computer are 1)Touchscreen 2)Portability. It is larger than an iphone/ipod touch, but smaller than a laptop.

Hardware:

iPad: (16Gig, WiFi, $560), (16Gig, Wifi+3G[$25/30days], $700) I'd like to say the 3G version is a better investment. So if you need 3G you can activate it, but $140 for a safety feature seems a bit excessive.
Wireless Keyboard: $70 - If this were going on a trip with me any where that I needed to type more than a few sentences I would want to bring this along. I am a bit annoyed that it is bigger than the screen. Maybe there is a way to hook in one of those gelly keyboards via usb. After all, it isn't like you really need it to be wireless, the screen isn't even 10in. How far away were you planning on sitting from it?
Case/Stand: $50 The case can be propped up in two positions so that it can be used in collaboration with the keyboard.

Software (Purpose - Name - Price: Notes):

Web Browser - Safari - Free: Though Flash doesn't work, youtube and facebook do! Plus it is a webkit browser like Chrome, so it can support some fancy styles in CSS.
Ebook Reading - iBooks - Free: Not actually bundled but you can download it from their app section. There is also a kindle app so that it can tap into amazon's kindle service. Honestly that makes a lot more sense, as then you can share books between that and the kindle (with page syncing).
Photo Viewer - Photo - Free:
Maps - Google Maps - Free: Goes in full screen mode. The 3G iPad can plan out directions for you. Though honestly I want google earth with maps of my area pre-downloaded.
PDF Viewer - Built in
Word Editor - Pages - 9.99: A separate purchase from the app store
Spreadsheet - Excel - 9.99: A separate purchase from the app store
Presentation - Keynote - 9.99: A separate purchase from the app store

Notes & Epiphanies:

You can turn it sideways!~
It can aggregrate mail from gmail in it's own iMail (or you can just visit the site...) Though I must admit it would be nice to have your emails stored on your iPad.
178 degree viewing angle.
"Syncing" videos/movies you buy is probably going to blow and involve going back and forth with itunes. I'd love it if it were like Amazon's Kindle service and could just make a notation that I have purchased Star Trek and am now legally allowed to watch it anywhere/anytime.
Instant on/off.
10 hour battery life
There is a netflix app?!
There is a Pandora app?! That you can't use while using any other feature of the iPad... uhm..what? Apparently this is called multi-tasking, we all do it constantly, but it isn't built in to the iPad. Thank heaven that you can have multiple web pages open at the same time. I am guessing their reason for this is to reduce the load on the computer.

So after all of that the only part of it that I currently do now is read ebooks. I have a kindle for that, and I really like e-ink a lot more than an led / lcd / staring at a light bulb. The newest kindle (with free 3g) is only $190, hell you could buy 2 DX Kindles (9.7in screen, free 3g) [or 5 kindles with wifi!] for the price of one 3G iPad (+$25/30days 3g). I must admit that playing with great looking photos on the iPad was really cool and interactive. Besides that... is it actually easier to relearn an interface to fill a non-computing gap in your day, that might not even exist? I am all for making better computers that are intuitive to use, but I feel like these slates / tablets are trying to fill a market that doesn't really exist. At least they don't exist if you have ever owned a computer (lap/desk). Perhaps these are toys for our younger generation. The users that need access to one very portable and fast computer. One that isn't focussed on word processing or older forms of communication (like writing). If that is the case then the iPad is going to sky rocket in popularity when it introduces a camera for video calls and a mic or bluetooth headset making it into an oversized phone.

Baby Flamingos at Woodland Park Zoo

2010-10-14T00:23:00.000-04:00

Two new baby flamingos were born recently at Woodland Park Zoo. One was born 10 days ago, and the other only three days ago. If you enjoyed these photos visit my portfolio on flickr.

New Ubunt Font Released

2010-09-28T19:31:00.000-04:00

You can grab it from the packages site.
Click on "all" under "Download TTF..."
From there you just double click to install.

To implement the font you need to navigate to: System > Preferences > Fonts
Once there you can change all of the fonts from Sans to Ubuntu, and Sans Bold to Ubuntu Bold.
There is no mono-space Ubuntu font yet, so just leave that one alone

This is just me, but I found the following settings to produce the most readable content

Application Font: Ubuntu @ 11
Document Font: Ubuntu @ 10
Desktop Font: Ubuntu - Bold @ 10
Window Title Font: Ubuntu - Bold @ 11
Fixed Width Font: Monospace @ 10

Another really pretty font, if you don't dig Ubuntu is Aler. It is available for free! To install it simply double click on the font and click "install font"

Simple enough right? God I love Ubuntu.

Docks in Ubuntu

2010-09-01T18:52:00.000-04:00

Mac's use a nifty looking dock at the bottom of the screen instead of the bar we Ubuntu users have. I thought it sounded like a novel idea, and figured there was a reason that all of the mac users like it.

Reporting back after trying AWN, Docky, and a few other no name ones: They all suck

They are a little fun at first but none of them are ready for prime time. Here are the major disadvantages I noticed. They didn't all have all of these problems, but they all had some.

Transparency. Sure it looks nifty to have a "3D" dock, but it eats up resources and compiz needs to be enabled to use it! The only thing I've found pretty that compiz adds as are the drop shadows behind windows and even those piss me off when I have two windows side by side! Transparent window titles is a silly idea, that is where the most important data is that I need to see. I can live without the smooth maximize and minimize. It is nice little bit of gloss, but if I am closing a window it is because I want it out of the way, the faster the better.
Stacks / Organization / Drawer It is terrible to try and put all of your web browsers in a folder labeled "Web Browsers" with a web browser icon. I just wanted to have access to each of the browsers in one spot. This goes double for the bar that is already there, just don't bother using the Drawer feature, terrible. End Result: Just lay them all out across the top bar, there is plenty of space up there.
Window Management So I thought window management and program management would be the two main reasons for these docks, to nicely combine the two and look pretty. Wrong-O. They all stink. Docky uses the ugliest transitions to let you know you've clicked on an icon, a different ugly one for when the program loads, heck the dumb thing changes size when you hover over it. All of them had issues combining the icons for the launcher and the windows that were opened. I don't know if it is a "mac-standard" to keep these separate, but it is confusing as hell. You have notepad open and accidentally click on the launcher instead of the window? Well you are going to fire up another copy of notepad. "Slightly annoying" you say? Try doing it with Picassa or Virtual Box, not so funny.
Themes Dear lord these can be hideous and annoying to "rate". I am sure there are some OK ones out there, and the 4 in AWN that look nearly identical aren't bad, but the majority of them are painful to look at. There is one that is supposed to model ancient china or something; wooden panel, samurai icons that all look the same. Oh yeah, that one made me stop and think about who made that one.

This isn't an in depth review, it is just some advice; "Stick with what Ubuntu has given you, it works better than you think" The one change I have made after all of this is a simple one.

Right click on the divider of the Window List on the bottom panel
Select Preferences
Change "Window Grouping" to Always
Hit Close

Best of luck staying organized,

Knoxy

Wordpress get_post issue

2010-08-18T15:10:00.000-04:00

When you run get_post it doesn't apply paragraph tags to the content because it hasn't been run through the filter.

Blogger doesn't let you drop code in nicely so visit the actual site for more info.

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/get_pagepost-and-no-paragraphs-problem

Bicycle Videos From The Bike Tutor

2010-08-14T19:47:00.000-04:00

Yehuda Moon, Bike Comics

2010-08-14T19:20:00.000-04:00

Google Font API - Strange Glitches

2010-08-06T14:34:00.000-04:00

Google recently released fonts that are accessible to all free of charge. Web designers can now reference them and expand our typographic possibilites. Pretty nifty. Here is where shit hits the fan. If you download these fonts to use in mockups in Photoshop all web browsers (barring chrome) have a glitch where they call on the regular font from the system instead of the italic/bold/bolditalic font.

This glitch only effects Droid Sans, and Droid Serif. Which is strange in itself. So there are two take home messages I have for you:

If you want to speed up your page loading by downloading these fonts, just skip Droid Sans and Serif, there is some goofy glitch that isn't worth your time.
If you want to use these fonts in mockups install the fonts directly to the Adobe Commons font directory, not the system font directory.

This can be done by navigating to C:\Program Files\Common Files\ Adobe
Then either creating or entering a folder called "Fonts"
Place any extra fonts in here

I had a heck of a time working this out because the new version of Adobe CS5 doesn't create a Fonts folder. Chaos!

So there you have it. Feel free to check out the font api. If you are in to typography you will be seeing these fonts pop up everywhere in the very near future.

Sharing Files over Virtual Box

2010-08-05T22:29:00.001-04:00

Virtual Box is a program that lets you run another operating system inside of your operating system!

Pretty nifty. It hogs resources, which is expected. What is really cool is that you can share files between the two "computers." Heres how:

Install and launch virtual box
Click on Settings, navigate to Shared Folders and add your new folder (via the folder + icon on the right)

You aren't allowed to use spaces in the reference name, fyi

Boot into you guest OS (windows in my case)
Install the "Guest Additions" via Devices > Install Guest Additions
Choose to install Direct3D stuff too! And don't forget to click accept to get through all the mumbo jumbo
Now to map that network drive

Open up file explorer and click on Tools > Map Network Drive
Browse to Entire Network > Virtual Box Shared

Seamless Mode: You can have the desktop to windows vanish and the windows on Windows appear to be seamlessly integrated with your normal desktop. If you want to do it here's how

Go to Machine > Fullscreen
Go to Machine > Seamless Mode

Boo Ya - Rock on

Note: After installing guest additions your mouse isn't locked into the virtualbox window. Very worthwhile even if you aren't sharing files across the box.

MegaPixels and Print Resolution

2010-07-21T18:20:00.000-04:00

Image reproduction seems like tricky math, so here is the breakdown.

A high-quality print is made at 300ppi, a medium 200ppi, and a low quality at 150ppi.

So here is a breakdown of image sizes for my Nikon D90 12.3 mega pixel camera

Large Image 12.2MP: 4288px X 2848px

High Quality (300ppi): 14.3" x 9.5"
Medium Quality (200ppi): 21.44" x 14.2"
Low Quality (150ppi): 28.6" x 19"

Medium Image 6.9MP: 3216px X 2136px

HQ: 10.7" x 7.12"
MQ: 16" x 10.7"
LQ: 21.4" x 14.2"

Small Image 3.1MP: 2144px X 1424px

HQ: 7.14" x 4.7"
MQ: 10.7" x 7.1"
LQ:14.3" x 9.5"

It is important to note that you might want to crop after you take the photo. It is interesting to think though, that you can get away with shooting at small if you just plan on printing 4x6s at Ritz.

Another interesting representation of the data is how many pictures you can take at that setting. Here are my stats for my 4Gig SD card:

Raw (Large + WB Data): 260 images
Large: 534 images
Medium: 943 images
Small: 2,000+ images

In the end I suppose it is dependent on how many back up SD cards you have and how much space you have left on your card. If you need those shots you can always lower the resolution.

Auto-Login From Hibernation

2010-07-18T20:00:00.000-04:00

The Problem:
When you close you laptop it hibernates. Later when you open your laptop and hit the power button it asks for a log-in password. You have the computer set to auto-log-in, but no dice.

The Solution (Folder hierarchy is specific to Ubuntu 10.04):

Boot up that laptop
Press Alt+F2; this brings up the "Run Application" Dialog Box
Type in "gconf-editor" and hit "Run"
Hit the plus box next to "apps" then "gnome-power-manager"
Click on the "lock" folder
Uncheck the boxes next to "hibernate" and "suspend"
Making these changes automatically applies them, so you can now close the window.
Celebrate by testing it!

If anyone was wondering

2010-07-02T00:32:00.002-04:00

Photography wishlist on Amazon. here

Third contender

2010-07-01T22:22:00.000-04:00

On my list of wants. This really nice 35mm (effective 52mm on my DX format dslr). It seems wrong that the 50mm (70mm effective) is about $70 less.

Other important factors:

af-s would work on a d5000 if Melinda ever gets one (70$ more than the af version though...)
1.8 f-stop is one hell of a wide aperture (1.4 is an extra 200+$)
and the price comes in at just under 200$, maybe I should look into used lenses though...

Clean your contacts

2010-07-01T22:15:00.002-04:00

No, not your contact lenses. If you own a wireless mouse where you have to either dock it in a recharge station, or swap out little Lithium batteries, then I say "Clean your contacts".

I figured my mouse was just dying it's inevitable death by struggling to seat properly in the charger. When I checked the contacts they were dirty, I cleaned them and voila. Like magic, it works properly.

...lord knows how they could have possibly gotten dirty.

Clearing your swatches in photoshop

2010-06-30T20:32:00.000-04:00

Stop dragging swatches to the bin in photoshop and just download this swatch packet. It has one color in it! Glorious, all you have to do is hit replace swatches, and voila.

http://dodona.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/how-do-i-clear-my-color-swatches-in-photoshop-cs3/

Great Videos on Wordpress

2010-06-29T18:48:00.000-04:00

Check out these great vids over at theme forest for tips and follow alongs on Wordpress development.

http://blog.themeforest.net/wordpress/wordpress-for-designers-day-1/

More videos are there they just aren't listed.

Next step in photography

2010-06-27T02:22:00.000-04:00

After losing my dad's tripod I need to think about what my next major photography purchase will be.

Tripod or Flash

They are going to run me about the same amount of money. A tripod means I can shoot more landscapes, and a flash means I can shoot people better.

I am leaning towards the 600 flash, and would probably go for a tripod from the local Ritz. mmmr decisions decisions.

AutoCompletion in OpenOffice

2010-06-25T22:48:00.000-04:00

Have you ever been annoyed by that auto completion in OpenOffice. Sometimes it is handy, but most of the time I find it annoying.

Here is how to turn it off for Writer, the word processor.

Open Writer
Go to Format > AutoCorrect > AutoCorrect Options...
Navigate to the last tab "Word Completion"
Uncheck "Enable word completion"

Here is how to turn it off in Calc, the spreadsheet application.

Open Calc
Uncheck Tools > Cell Contents > AutoInput
When the "AutoInput" label does not have a check mark next to it the auto-complete function is turned off.

I hope you find this helpful.

Fresh Lucid Lynx Install? Time to grab some software

2010-05-03T15:55:00.011-04:00

The following is a list of software I recommend downloading on your fresh Lucid Lynx install.

Run updates (just in case it isn't as fresh as you think!)

System > Administration > Update Manager
While we are here let's take a moment to adjust the settings (button is in the lower left hand corner of the Update Manager window)

I prefer to have Ubuntu check for updates weekly, and to install security updates without confirmation. Choose whatever suits you though. Hit close to save and exit.

Open up the Ubuntu Software Center and search for the following:

Applications > Ubuntu Software Center

Ubuntu Restricted Extras

This gets you set up to play MP3s, Java, Flash, and installs the core fonts used in microsoft (and a lot of websites)

A simple video/audio player

HomeBank

For personal accounting

Advanced Desktop Effects Settings

This lets you play around with some of the more advanced effects that your computer is capable of. You often have to install this for other effects altering tutorials, so it is nice to just get it installed now.

Let's finish of DVD playing by unlocking the DVD reader we downloaded. To do this we have to enter some code into Terminal

Open up an instance of terminal by going to Applications > Accessories > Terminal
Terminal doesn't like keyboard shortcuts, so when you go to paste code you have to right click and select paste. That said.
Paste the following code:
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

Now for the software where you have to visit their sites

This can be a bit confusing, but you are looking for files that end in .deb (instead of .exe) and are built for i386 or 32bit computers. i386 is just a fancy way of saying 32bit. And because there are two ways to say it everybody disagrees about which is correct.

Picasa

A great photo organizer that lets you upload photos to your web albums account, and e-mail them.
http://picasa.google.com/linux/download.html#picasa30
Again you want the .deb file for Debian/Ubuntu i386. This is the second option.
Download, double click, and hit install. If it says there is an error or something is corrupt, then download it again.

Skype

Perfect for online chatting.
http://www.skype.com/download/skype/linux/choose/
Lucid Lynx was released in April of 2010 (so it is 10.04), this is above 8.10, and we want the 32-bit release.
Download, double click, and hit install. If it says there is an error or something is corrupt, then download it again.

And last but not least the random ones that sneak through the cracks in the ground.

Community Themes, is quite what the title suggests. You don't like the greys and blacks around your windows? Neither did I!

You can download this one by clicking on community themes there are tougher ways to grab it, but after all the good work you've done today this one is a freebie

I'll keep this post updated with any software I stumble upon. If there is something you want your computer to do that it isn't doing then browse around the Software Center.

Best of luck
Knoxy

Free Icons: For Web Design

2010-04-07T03:05:00.000-04:00

When webdesigning (or creating a portfolio) it is nice to drop in some icons. Consider a necessary tool in design, along with photos, text and color pallets.

For Action Buttons Around The Site

For In Text Graphics

Networking Icons

as a side note on my way to learning wordpress and understanding it's enigmas, here is a great theme.
http://www.dizenoco.com/brave-zeenat-free-wordpress-theme/
the psd and the theme are free, fancy j-query and all sorts of interesting goodies.

After browsing around the Wordpress database for themeing (Codex) I blew a raspberry in the air and started searching. Here is my best find on Learning to Theme by theme shaper. Seems to meet my needs and walk you through the ugly. Most importantly it'll be more fun than disassembling someone else's theme. Everytime I have to do that I feel like a cross between a surgeon and an archeologist. I constantly find myself thinking, "is that glyph outdated or is that a spleen, and therefor somewhat necessary?"

Photoshop Tutorials

2010-03-25T17:59:00.001-04:00

If you don't mind the english language being butchered at every full stop then these photoshop web design tutorials are for you.

They give a great idea of designing with a web 2.0 look, using layer effects and a variety of tools. It isn't always the best explanation of what the tool does, but usually isn't too hard to grasp. Also the colors that are chosen aren't web safe (so make sure you aren't trying to select web safe!).

Most of the designs are dark with light text, but they look great.

http://www.grafpedia.com/category/tutorials

Lorem Ipsum - Greeking Out

2010-03-22T19:48:00.001-04:00

Lorem Ipsum is dummy text that you can place when you want to see how something would look. It really comes in handy in layouts for web and any media with blocks of text. It mimics how real words look. Even sentence and paragraph length.

And now it isn't just on lipsum.com
You can download a version built with Python for windows (.exe) or Linux (.deb).

So hop on over to the google code projects page and download that sucker

LAMP Stack / Joomla / WordPress

2010-03-10T01:03:00.002-05:00

Linux Apache MySQL PHP (the makings of a common server)

If you are a developer for Wordpress or Joomla you need to setup an environment (local server) to run these programs on your computer so that you can test things without having to be on the internet.

The developers at Ubuntu are a godsend and have made the actual LAMP stack installation heaps easier than in the past. In applications > accessories > terminal :

sudo apt-get install lamp-server^

wow, that is so much easier than having to dual boot with turn-key or going through the old process

Finishing off the details is pretty straight forward. Briefly the steps are listed below, for detailed steps with screenshots, hand holding, and all the superfulous writing you could hope for go to TuxTweaks

phpmyadmin is supposed to make life easier too, so let's install that while the ball is rolling

sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-auth-mysql phpmyadmin

Select apache2, and dbconfig-common using tab and space bar.

Cool, now we can actually set up where we want to host all of the files
I've decided to go with /webdev/joomla and /webdev/wordpress. Both will be located in my home folder. Again if you need serious hand holding go visit TuxTweaks for this tutorial with screenshots.

cd
mkdir webdev
cd /webdev
mkdir joomla wordpress
cd /etc/apache2/sites-available
sudo cp default joomla
sudo cp default wordpress
sudo gedit joomla

In this gedit window you need to get yours to look like this

ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
ServerName joomla

DocumentRoot /home/yourID/webdev/joomla/
Directory /
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
/Directory

Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride All

Repeat with wordpress instead of joomla in there.

sudo a2ensite joomla wordpress
sudo gedit /etc/hosts

Then enter in:

127.0.0.1 localhost joomla wordpress

And back in terminal

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

If you get a reload error like me then:

echo "ServerName localhost" | sudo tee /etc/apache2/conf.d/fqdn

And then run the reload script from above. And now we need to change some permissions!

sudo chown -R USERNAME /etc/phpmyadmin

Ok! Now we can download the newest version of Joomla and Wordpress and extract them to their respective folders. We still need to set up a mysql database for each so let's do it (almost seeing the light at the end of the tunnel).
Pull up firefox and navigate to "http://localhost/phpmyadmin/"
Log in with root, and whatever password you created.
Now click on privileges at the top > Add new User, and enter in the following:
Joomla
local> localhost
password>
password>

and then click the radio button for creating a new database as well (middle one), then find go at the bottom and click that.
Repeat for wordpress.

Now when you navigate to http://joomla/ or http://wordpress you get an installation page. It should be pretty straightforward. The mysql database is the what you created earlier(joomla or wordpress), username you just made (joomla or wordpress), you have your password. On Joomla they try and get a little tricky at one part, in the bottom box they want you to type joomla again.

To remove the installation directory for joomla (it will prompt you):

sudo rm -R webdev/joomla/installation/

iPod Support for Songbird 1.4

2010-03-06T18:50:00.001-05:00

If you are upgrading to songbird 1.4 it may be tough to find out where to go for iPod support as the old add-on doesn't work and it doesn't point you in the right direction.

So here you go
http://developer.songbirdnest.com/builds/Songbird1.4/latest/addons/
go there and click on:
"ipod-3.0.15.1438-linux-i686.xpi"

if you have 64bit linux then click on the one below that.

That is it.

Mount Iso, bin easy

2009-12-31T23:14:00.002-05:00

search mount bin in the apps, it does not install a right click mount option. The app is installed in system tools in the applications menu. Ta Da

Correcting Shadows

2009-09-22T01:15:00.002-04:00

When "normal" or "Extra" Visual Effects are turned on, the shadow from the top toolbar is over windows.

To check this, right click on the desktop and go to Change Desktop Background. From here click on the last tab "Visual Effects"
Normal or Extra will probably be ticked, if not you should tick it Normal as it makes things a bit easier on the eyes.

To fix it:
System > Preferences > CompizConfig Settings Manager
(If this is not visible it may either be hidden or not installed.)

In Compiz Config Settings Manager scroll down to Window Decoration (Under Effects)
Click on Window Decoration
Then copy and paste the following:
(any) & ! (class=Gnomre-panel)
into the "Shadaow windows" text entry box.

Ta DA, Windows are now a bit more legible.

A theme wizard for ubuntu on 1st time boot?

2009-09-15T00:53:00.002-04:00

Sick of the poo colored theme? If you like the idea of a wizard that boots your first time and helps you choose a color theme you like, vote for it!

http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/14963/

Tips, Trick, and Hot Keys

2009-09-07T22:08:00.002-04:00

Ubuntu
Highlighting automatically copies the contents to the clipboard
Clicking the left and right mouse buttons together pastes
alt+F2 opens the "run" window

Firefox
Ctrl+L - Jumps to the address bar
Ctrl+K - Jumps to the search bar
alt+Enter - Opens in a new tab
Left and right mouse buttons together on a tab closes the tab

Awe, cool or Things doing what you want without you asking them

2009-05-26T08:27:00.003-04:00

If you rank music on your ipod Songbird transfers these rankings to your computer when you dock it.

Nifty.

Having Songbird watch for new music

2009-05-26T08:22:00.002-04:00

Edit > Preferences
Media Importer > Watched Folders

Check the box next to "Automatically watch..."
Click on "Browse" and navigate to your music folder
or if you are keeping your music in your music folder, type :

/home/YourName/Music

where "YourName" would be your name...

Running Tool Tally

2009-04-30T20:00:00.001-04:00

This will be my running tally of the tools I have bought for woodworking (wood doesn't count ,) I hope this doesn't become depressing later in life. Some were presents, some weren't exactly for woodworking, some were mistakes. These are the tools that guide my work, stretch my skills, and challenge my ingenuity. For better or worse, this is my list.

Power Tools:

DeWalt Angle Grinder 4 1/2"; $50
Craftsman Belted Sander 3x21; $75

Running Total: $125

Power Tool Accessories:

Dovetailing jig; $50
1/2" Round-over router bit; $18

Running Total: $68

Hand Tools:
Saws:

Lie-Nielsen Tennon Saw; filed crosscut, 13ppi; $175
Gramercy Carcasse Saw (kit); filed rip, 14ppi; $100
Stanley Cross-Cut Saw & Miter Box; $25

Planes:

Lie-Nielsen No.60 1/2 low angle adjustable mouth block plane; $165
Stanley Bailey No.4 Smoothing plane; Antique Store; $14
Stanley Bailey No.5 Fore Plane; Great-grandfathers; $0
Hock Blade for the No.5; $35
Stanley Spokeshave No.51; $25

Marking, measuring, clamping, sharpening, random:

Irwin Bevel-Edge Set of 5 Chisels; $50
Jet Parrallel Clamps; 2x 2x40", 2x24"; $250
Quick Grip Clamps; 2x 16"; $25
Veritas MK II Sharpening System; $70
Norton 1000/8000 Water Stone; $75
DMT Duotone Diamond Sharpening Stone; Course/Extra-course; $110
Titemark Long; $99
Lie-Nielsen Doweling Plate; $50
Burnisher; $20
12" Combo Square, Starrett; $70
Cabinet Maker's Rasp 250 x 32 x 5.5 - Grain 9, Auriou; $125
Modeller's Rasp 150 x 11 x 3.5 - Grain 15, Auriou; $108

Running Total: $1591

Grand Total: $1784

I'm going to leave out literature and media, it would get too confusing and nit picky. You can't put a price on knowledge anyway, right? Also I'm leaving out glue, it would just get too messy to leave it in (get it? ha!)

Office Computer

2009-04-28T18:20:00.004-04:00

Since we are dual booting I thought I'd keep track of all of the other tweaks on the office computer

Start up Manager

sudo apt-get install startupmanager


Handbrake
-for ripping DVDs
Virtualbox
-for running windows

It seems like it was only yesterday (Jaunty)

2009-04-28T17:41:00.004-04:00

So you just popped in a disc for Jaunty 9.04 , let's get to it.

We want DVDs to work perfectly so let's get this out of the way
terminal:

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/jaunty.list --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install gnome-mplayer
sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring
sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install w32codecs libdvdcss2

sudo apt-get install mozilla-mplayer

All the goodies

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

then repeat from previous posts.
Most notably I would go for:

Songbird
Picassa
Vuze
7zip
Gmail hack for firefox

Ice

2009-04-03T22:15:00.001-04:00

Ships
http://www.worldwidefred.com/ginandtitonic.htm

or Bullets...
http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/ak-bullet-ice-cube-tray.html

mmm

2009-04-03T22:11:00.000-04:00

"Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography."
   --Paul Rodriguez

Lumber Dimensions

2009-03-19T20:00:00.004-04:00

Nominal	Actual
1" x 2"	3/4" x 1-1/2"
1" x 3"	3/4" x 2-1/2"
1" x 4"	3/4" x 3-1/2"
1" x 5"	3/4" x 4-1/2"
1" x 6"	3/4" x 5-1/2"
1" x 7"	3/4" x 6-1/4"
1" x 8"	3/4" x 7-1/4"
1" x 10"	3/4" x 9-1/4"
1" x 12"	3/4" x 11-1/4"
1-1/4" x 4"	1" x 3-1/2"
1-1/4" x 6"	1" x 5-1/2"
1-1/4" x 8"	1" x 7-1/4"
1-1/4" x 10"	1" x 9-1/4"
1-1/4" x 12"	1" x 11-1/4"
1-1/2" x 4"	1-1/4" x 3-1/2"
1-1/2" x 6"	1-1/4" x 5-1/2"
1-1/2" x 8"	1-1/4" x 7-1/4"
1-1/2" x 10"	1-1/4" x 9-1/4"
1-1/2" x 12"	1-1/4" x 11-1/4"
2" x 4"	1-1/2" x 3-1/2"
2" x 6"	1-1/2" x 5-1/2"
2" x 8"	1-1/2" x 7-1/4"
2" x 10"	1-1/2" x 9-1/4"
2" x 12"	1-1/2" x 11-1/4"
3" x 6"	2-1/2" x 5-1/2"
4" x 4"	3-1/2" x 3-1/2"
4" x 6"	3-1/2" x 5-1/2"

Why the sky is blue.

2009-03-19T20:00:00.002-04:00

The atmosphere does not act as a giant mirror reflecting the oceans. Unfortunately it is a bit more complicated.

The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air.

However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue (left picture).

As you look closer to the horizon, the sky appears much paler in color. To reach you, the scattered blue light must pass through more air. Some of it gets scattered away again in other directions. Less blue light reaches your eyes. The color of the sky near the horizon appears paler or white.

So there you go, that invisible stuff that helps you breath also refracts sunlight. It isn't so crazy if you stop and remember real world experiences like air shaking above pavement on a hot day. Of course a lot of the pretty colors also come from pollutants in the air, as light has to pass through more of these on the horizon as well.

Cheers!

Source
Science Made Simple

Blood is red

2009-03-19T20:00:00.001-04:00

The primary cell in our veins is RBC (Red Blood Cells). Red Blood Cells are comprised primarily of a protein chemical called hemoglobin which contains the element iron (Fe). Iron is great at attaching to Oxygen, and when it does so it turns red.
When you get a nose bleed or have blood drawn it is a darker richer red because it is carrying more oxygen.

So what are the RBCs flowing around in? Plasma. Made of 90% water, making it mostly clear. You can have this drawn at a blood bank as well, and agree that it is mostly clear. A little opaque and gross looking, but not red (or blue for that matter).

So the argument for blood being blue comes primarily from observing ones veins. This means looking through your skin and the vein walls to determine the color. Therefor one must assume that both skin and the vein walls do not act like a colored transparency and change our perception...

Besides, I remember when the magic school bus took a field trip inside of one of the students who had a cold. I believe the river was red.

Sources:
The Franklin Institute.

Sun in Terminal

2009-03-12T19:48:00.001-04:00

Java is part of the ubuntu restricted extras

When Sun installs java on your ubuntu computer (terminal) and you need to hit
Hit tab and you'll see the Ok highlight, then hit enter.

Same trick for the next screen

Enter in Excel

2009-03-11T10:40:00.002-04:00

Ever try to hit enter to have a line break in the same cell, only to find that you are now in the cell below the one you were writing in?

If you hit alt+enter it acts as a line break! Nifty.

Wives against Schwarz

2009-02-11T16:49:00.005-05:00

Christopher Schwarz is the editor of Woodworking Magazine and runs a great blog.
The Schwarz also has spent a lot of money on woodworking tools, and now I probably will too. I asked him for the brands of the tools he turns to the most. He didn't mention all of the items that grace his black and white tool rack at home, I don't know if it was from not wanting to scare me out of woodworking or upsetting his wife.

Planes:

Lie-Nielsen 60-1/2 low angle adjustable mouth block plane ($165)
Lie-Nielsen No. 8 ($475) Holy moly this thing is 2feet long and feels like a submarine, or freight train
Bailey No. 5 with a Hock iron ($35 for the iron, the planes you have to get from flea markets)

Other:

Ray Iles mortising chisels ($70ish each; 1/4 & 3/8 for starters)
Tite-Mark marking gauges ($99 for the long)
Starrett 6” and 12” combination squares($74 and $78 respectively)
Lie-Nielsen No. 4 in bronze with a high-angle frog ($350, I have an old Bailey no.4 [$14 from an antique shop] that should do the trick once I camber the blade. Though I'll always drool over this one)
Lie-Nielsen chisels (two sets!) ($350 for one set of 5, maybe one day I'll get these)
Andrew Lunn dovetail saw
Blue Spruce marking knife ($45)
Wenzloff & Sons tenon and sash saws
Veritas Saddle squares and dovetail squares
Veritas block plane with a chamfer guide

Gmail and Ubuntu

2009-02-03T11:16:00.002-05:00

You ever click on an "email me" link to find it starts up evolution?

Me too, it is dumb, everyone should use gmail.

Here is how to have it launch a new tab in Firefox that opens up gmail and fills out the To: line and the Subject: line (if there was one in the link).

Go to
System>Preferences>Preffered Applications

Change Mail Reader from Evolution to Custom
Paste the following in the text box below

perl -MURI::Escape -e '$to= shift; if ($to =~ /^([^\?]+)\?(.*)$/){$to=$1;$args="&".$2;$args=~s/\&subject=/&su=/};$to =~ s/^mailto://i; exec("firefox","https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&cmid=22&to=".URI::Escape::uri_escape($to).$args);' '%s'

Hit close.
Fin (you don't even need to restart firefox to see if it works).
To check if it worked click here (don't actually send that e-mail)

Giving Open Office Some Skin

2008-12-16T15:56:00.002-05:00

No you can't actually change too many of the skins in OO.O, atleast not the way you want to. So what do we do? We tell the company what we want (surprised?), they aren't MicroSoft, so don't treat them that way.

http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=18829

Sign up for an account and then go to that website and hit "vote" The most votes you can add to the thread are 2. So toss them up there along with a comment, and we may actually see this in the next iteration.

Intrepid Ibex! Let's customize

2008-12-09T12:30:00.005-05:00

Cool, the newest version of Ubuntu is out.

Here is a record of how I am changing/adding to my version of Ubuntu. or What to do now that you've installed Intrepid Ibex. This is more than a tutorial to get software, this is an instruction book to get things done. I am going to let you know what you are doing, because most of this is basic type stuff that you should be mildly familiar with.

Plug in the Internet, and grab any updates

*ok, just to get this out of the way; This walk-through is pretty thorough, but if a window pops up “Package Installer” and it has a button that says “Install Package?” then click that button. When it is done installing (and it will say it is done), click close (it will usually be the only button you can press). You see what I'm saying? I'm going to hold your hand, but I won't change your diaper. I describe what each piece of software is for, if you think you might not need it don't download it. Oky dokey, let's hit the ground running.

Add Some Software
Applications > Add/Remove Programs
Change “Show” to “All available applications” at the top of this window

You can go through most of the higher starred software/codecs, but here is what I would recommend atleast:

K3B - for all of my cd/dvd burning needs

To be able to burn mp3 to audio cd visit apt://libk3b3-extracodecs
(Thanks to ubuntu-unleashed)

VLC Player -because it is the best media player out there

Skype -Let's you use your computer like a telephone to call ppl!

Advanced Desktop Effects- Compiz Graphical Userface -for making your computer do pretty visual things (don't worry, we'll edit this later so that your windows don't wiggle)

7zip -This is necessary to uncompress certain files, it is better to just install it now than worry about it later

Gstreamer -Install all of these that you can find, they let you watch DVDs and play MP3s, they are not open source formats, and that is Ubuntu's excuse for not having them preinstalled

Microsoft Core Fonts -it is dumb, but needed

Pidgin -like AIM and Google Chat all rolled into one

Sun Java 6.0 Plugin

Sun Java 6 runtime

Software to uninstall
I may have missed a few because of poor note-keeping, so I will update this later, these uninstallations are done in Synaptic Manager as well

Brasero Disc Burning We are using K3B instead

Ekiga Softphone We are using Skype instead

Transmission We are using Vuze instead, you may like this more than Vuze, but whatever it sucks in my book

Sucky installs
And now the software that is a bit more trouble to get a hold of:

Crossover Office -codeweavers.com and look for the Debian / Ubuntu install package (32bit) This will let us run Office, and Photoshop

Crossover Games -codeweavers.com and look for the Debian / Ubuntu install package (32bit) For games like the awesome Counter Strike: Source

Picasa 3 for Linux http://picasa.google.com/linux/ On the next page look for the link that ends in “i386.deb” this is for you to click on ;-)

Google Desktop - http://desktop.google.com/en/linux/download.html You'll be going with “for Debian/Ubuntu x86” When you download this just open, do not save. It will go straight to package installer for you. If it doesn't then you didn't get a good download, just go back and do it again.
Once it is done go to Applications > Google Desktop > Google Desktop Preferences. Help improve their service (check the box! Do it!) and agree.
Firefox will fire up, click on the “Gmail” tab click the Index box, and enter your info. Click on the “Display” tab and change the default search type to “Desktop”, tell it you want 10 results, search by default, 50 results per page in browser, change the hotkey to your super key (windows icon button, it's between alt and ctrl usually... nobody uses it, don't lie to yourself. It's more useless than the Insert key). Save that bad boy and let's keep rolling.

flash -This is gonna let you view pretty videos on youtube http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

The following two are tricky and thus get their own posts so as not to eat up too much space over here
Songbird (links to other blog post) This is a music player that runs like iTunes (miss it?) and plays nice with your iPod
Vuze (link to other blog post) This is a kickbutt bittorrent downloader (torrents are the files pirates use to share music/movies/anything)

Software Tweaks: See if you would like these and click on over to the blog post
Changing the default saving of Open Office to the Microsoft Office standards, everyone can read doc So let's do it.

Changing Compiz to the most useful settings in the world, or how I got rid of all the overkill and still left Ubuntu looking pretty.

Firefox: Fire up the fox, Tools > Add-Ons > Get Add-Ons
Must Haves (most require reboots and will ask questions after):

Adblock Plus -blocks all the advertisements that pop up on pages, you can always allow ads by clicking on the stop sign at the top of the page. Or you can block things by right clicking on them and telling adblock to block. Add whatever the top/recommended list is for your area.
Customize Google -take some time going through this, but for gods sake get rid of ads
Stealther

I Like:

StumbleUpon: for finding and sharing websites
Delicious Bookmarks: If you need to access your bookmarks from multiple sites this is a great tool.

Reboot like it asks you (don't worry it will restore your tabs, and thus this page).

and finally send a self addressed and stamped envelope to the following address to get a nifty "powered by Ubuntu" sticker.
System76, Inc. (Free Sticker)
1582 S. Parker Rd. Ste. 310
Denver, Colorado 80231

Installing Vuze

2008-12-09T12:00:00.005-05:00

**or you can now do it the easy way and click on Intrepid (8.10) and 32bit here http://www.detector-pro.com/2008/10/how-to-install-vuze-azureus-40-on.html**

Vuze -To download like a champ. Ok so you got that install of Songbird down pat? Cause we got another to do now :P Since it is the same run of commands there is slightly less detail as to what we are doing. If you did the other install everything will look quite familiar.

Go here and dload that sucka: http://www.vuze.com/app
Move it from your desktop to your home folder
Then fire up Terminal (Applications>Accessories>Terminal) and move that file to the /opt folder

sudo mv Vuze_Installer.tar.bz2 /opt

Change to the directory we just moved our file to

cd /opt/

Uncompress that bad boy (j is for .tar.bz2)

sudo tar jxvf Vuze_Installer.tar.bz2

Type the following to change ownership of the file and replace username with your username

sudo chown -R username:username vuze

Make sure it runs

cd /opt/vuze

./vuze

If it fires up alright, then File > Close vuze and close the Terminal

Right click on Applications
Select “Edit Menus”
A window will pop up, in the left pane select Applications > Sound & Video
Click on “New Item” on the right side of the window
Enter in fields as such
Name: Vuze
Command: /opt/vuze/vuze
Comment: torrentclient
It should find a nice picture of a frog to use as an icon for you :)

Hit OK, and OK, and Close

woot, celebrate by downloading content you didn't pay for!
and then stop celebrating and continue tweaking

Installing Songbird 1

2008-12-09T12:00:00.003-05:00

Songbird v 1.0 -It looks like iTunes, and plays nice with the iPod. Strap on a pair, this is the hardest install (shout out to ubuntu geek for doing a lot of the work)

Go to this website (http://getsongbird.com/download/) and click on the giant download button for linux i686
When the box pops up click “save”
Important: Firefox will probably save this to the desktop (check your desktop and see)
Click “places” in your toolbar then “Home Folder”
When this opens up drag and drop the newly downloaded file into your home folder(from your desktop).
Open terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal)
Type the following to move the file to the opt folder (this folder has security in place so we access it from terminal):

sudo mv Songbird_1.0.0-860_linux-i686.tar.gz /opt

Enter your password if it asks you (duh!)
Type the following (hit enter after each line, and caps DO matter, copy and paste via right click):
Change over to the directory we just moved this bad boy to

cd /opt

Uncompress this with the tar command (z indicates our filetype .tar.gz, x means extraxt, v means verbose or display what is happening in terminal which is useful if something doesn't run right, f means filename to follow)

sudo tar xzvf Songbird_1.0.0-860_linux-i686.tar.gz

Type the following to change ownership of the file and replace username with (drum roll) your username (note: the second one is actually group... but you don't really need to know that)

sudo chown -R username:username Songbird

Change directory

cd /opt/Songbird

Start the program and make sure it works (close it when you are done)

./songbird

Voila (keep reading)! Run through their little menus and your program is up and running!
Well, almost Voila. Since you probably do not want to use terminal to start the program, let's install a shortcut with a pretty picture. You can either follow along with the steps below or you can go to this website (http://mat-u.deviantart.com/art/Songbird-Icons-30962307) and download what I think is a much nicer icon image and then try to follow along (you'll have to save to desktop, double click open, drag and drop the .png file you like into the home folder... starting to feel like a familiar action?)

Kill terminal and reopen (this will close songbird)
Open terminal
Okay we will now change the directory we are in

cd /opt/Songbird/chrome/icons/default

Now we are going to rename the icon file using the move command

mv default.xpm songbird.xpm

Now we are going to copy the icon to a folder where all the icons live ,)

sudo cp songbird.xpm /usr/share/pixmaps

Okay we are done with terminal, so close that bad boy
Right click on Applications
Select “Edit Menus”
A window will pop up, in the left pane select Applications > Sound & Video
Click on “New Item” on the right side of the window
Enter in fields as such
Name: Songbird
Command: /opt/Songbird/songbird
Comment: musicplayer
Now click on the choose icon, and click on “browse” of the window that pops up.
Navigate to usr > share >pixmaps and hit enter
Now you can scroll down to songbird (it looks like an egg)
Hit OK, and OK, and Close

Way to kick butt! You are all done, fire up Songbird (Applications > Sound & Video > Songbird) and let's listen to some music as we continue.

Gimp Tricks

2008-12-09T11:22:00.003-05:00

I can't quite give up Photoshop (using it through crossover currently) but for those linux junkies out there, or if you don't have a copy of Photoshop (and don't just use picasa):

Here are 5 Gimp tricks that every linux user should become familiar with. It's easy I promise.

Open Office .org : Defaulting to .doc

2008-12-09T11:06:00.003-05:00

Sick of odf (open document format) being the standard format? me too, let's change it

Open up your Open Office program of choice
Go to Tools
Go to Options (you will have to click the little + sign to expand the options there)
Click on General
At the bottom you'll see something labeled Default File Format (hazaa the holy grail)
Make sure that Text Document is selected under the Document type heading
Under the Always save as heading scroll up to Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP
Now let's rock this a bit further and address file format's for Excel and PowerPoint
Select Spreadsheet under the Document type heading and scroll to Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP
Select Presentation under the Document type heading and scroll to Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP **make sure not to click on the one that ends in template**

woo-hoo it feels good to be feel free from the tirrany of open/free software and back in the safe haven of a money mongering conglomerate! (err... wait)

This Month in Music: November

2008-11-30T13:29:00.000-05:00

Here is a long playlist of music I've found, and enjoyed this past November.

If you know how to get the music I suggest you do.

Playlist (Artist - Track title; Album):
Everlast - Friend; Love, War, and the Ghost of Whitey Ford
K. T. Tunstall - Hold On; Drastic Fantastic
Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire; Only By The Night

Coldplay - Lost!; Viva la Vida

Live - I Walk the Line (cover); Awake: The Best of Live

Ryan Adams - Magick; Cardinology

Adele - Right as Rain; 19

Counting Crows - You Can't Count on Me; Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

Free the music

and if you really like the music toss a few bucks at the artist or xpn.org I think $3 is a good price for this month in music (just don't give it to coldplay, they have enough money).

New Macro

2008-11-10T10:43:00.004-05:00

A macro is an action basically.

Sick of merging a cell, aligning it to top, left, and then turning on word wrap in Excel (2003)? Me too, let's make a macro for it.

Fire up Excel
Tools > Macro > Record New Macro
Title it: MergeWrap, Store in: Personal Macro Workbook, Hit OKey Dokey (a little macro box will pop up that is now recording whatever you do!)
Highlight a few a block of cells (a 2x2 block will do)
Right click > Format Cells...
Alignment Tab
Horizontal: Left (indent), Vertical: Top, then check the boxes for Wrap Text and Merge Cells
Hit Okey Dokey
The little macro window that is in the center of your screen has a stop button (square...) press it.
Right click on your toolbar (the thing at the top with all the buttons ,P) and go to Customize...
Make sure you are in the Commands tab then scroll down to Macros in the Categories pane (left side).
Drag and drop "Custom menu item" onto the toolbar, where you would like our merge-wordwrap icon to go
Do Not OK Out of the window yet!
Right click on your newly created icon, at the bottom you will see "Assign Macro..." click it
Select MergeWrap and hit OK
Right click on our icon and click on edit button image. Now you get to draw in an image you like, I went with one long line across the top and a small downward arrow and a few short lines at the bottom. Note: I only used black, the rest is automatically transparent. Hit ok when you are done.
Right click on our icon, Change the name to "Merge Wrap"
Right click on our icon, click on Text Only (in Menus)
Celbrate good times, come on!

My dumb excel mistake

2008-11-07T09:55:00.002-05:00

If you accidentaly copy and paste a value into excel and try to interact with it you may get a #VALUE! error, you copied a space after your number accidentaly.

It's okay dumb dumb, I did it too. >_<

Far away one day, but hopefully not too far

2008-11-06T09:47:00.002-05:00

An ongoing list of things I'd like to get into

Remodel my keyboard/monitor/tower (references below)

Not from concentrate

2008-11-05T11:29:00.002-05:00

I found a new webcomic that is pretty funny:
Here are a few of my fav.s

CSS: Getting specific with lists

2008-11-04T10:46:00.008-05:00

Cascading Style Sheets offer an opportunity to get specific with lists, and here is how:

To create a specific outcome solely for unordered list's (ul) items (li), as opposed to all list items (li) do the following

ul li { }

for all lists you would simply use

li { }

This can be applied specifically for your blogger account with the following markup:

example: from this website!

.post ul
{ margin:0; padding:0; }

.post ul li
{ line-height:1.5em; list-style:none; background:url("http://www.blogblog.com/scribe/list_icon.gif") no-repeat $startSide .3em; vertical-align:top; padding-top: 0; padding-$endSide: 0; padding-bottom: .6em; padding-$startSide: 17px; margin:0; }

The Results of the above code:

This is an ordered list
This is a second item

This is an unordered list
This is a second item

This same thought process can be applied to any set of sequential markup tags. Enjoy and code safely ,-)

Adding a signature

2008-11-04T10:10:00.002-05:00

Microsoft Outlook Tutorial:

Automatically insert a signature in all new messages or in all messages that you reply to or forward

From the main Microsoft Outlook window, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Mail Format tab.
In the Compose in this message format list, click the message format that you want to use the signature with.
Under Signatures, select an e-mail account, and then choose the signatures that you want to use for new messages and for replies and forwards. You can use a different signature for each.

Office '07 and docx

2008-11-03T13:25:00.004-05:00

Since it isn't standard yet, here is how to have your new version of word (2007) save as a doc, instead of docx by default.

Tutorial: Changing the default file association from docx to doc
Source: Microsoft

Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Word Options.

Click Save.

Under Save documents, next to Save files in this format, select Word 2003-97 Document (*.doc).

note: This process should be about the same for the other pieces of software in Office. Remember that when you change this you are saying, "even if I save this on my computer, just for me, it is going to put the file in a downgraded format." That said, when possible save as docx for yourself.

note2: Computers at the UD Library and many other sites have Office 2007 now.

Bonus Tutorial: Default font in Word '07

Source: Microsoft

If your document already contains text that is formatted with the properties that you want to use, select that text. If you are starting from a blank document, go to step

On the Home tab, click the Font Dialog Box Launcher, and then click the Font tab.

Select the options that you want to apply to the default font, such as font style and font size. If you selected text in step 1, the properties of the selected text are set in the dialog box.

Click Default, and then click Yes.

*image is taken from ms, but not bandwidth pirated :P

This Month in Music: October

2008-10-31T10:00:00.001-04:00

Here is a long playlist of music I've found, and enjoyed this past October.

If you know my aDrive information, then hop on and check out the tunes section and then look for this month. You can grab either the mix CD of the following tracks, or down all of the albums.

Playlist (Artist - Track title; Album):
Old Crow Medicine Show - Wagon Wheel; Old Crow Medicine Show
Ben harper - Walk Away;
Devendra Banhart - Lover; Smoker Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
Jason Michael Carroll - I Can Sleep When I'm Dead; Waitin' In The Country
Death Cab For Cutie - Soul Meets Body; Plans
Butch Walker - The Weight Of Her; Sycamore Meadows
Snow Patrol - Take Back The CIty; A Hundred Million Sun
x The Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love?; Singles Going Stead
xAndrew Lipke - Get It Over With; Motherpearl & Dynamite
Elvis Costello - Blame It On Cain; My Aim is True
The Posies - Dream All Day; Frosting On The Beater
Paolo Nutini - New Shoes; These Streets
The Killers - Human; Human
The Cat Empire - Two Shoes; Two Shoes
The Cat Empire - The Car Song; Two Shoes
Sea Wolf - Winter Window;

MGMT - Kids

Jason Mraz - I'm Yours

Lil Wayne - Mrs. Officer

xThe Stereos - I Really Love You

James Otto - Just Got Started Lovin' You

Free4All

and if you really like the music toss a few bucks at the artist or xpn.org I think $5 is a good price for this month in music.

CrossOver

2008-10-28T15:08:00.003-04:00

CrossOver is available for free (both their pro version and games version)
http://down.codeweavers.com/

Also I found this nifty site that gives you 50gigs of free storage and no upload-size limit. Sounds down right awesome. Upload is a bit slow, but that is probably because of my internet connection.
ADrive.com

New Ubuntu!

2008-10-21T16:12:00.008-04:00

Woo, looks like ubuntu will be releasing a new version of their operating system on the 30th of October 2008. Super excited, and (dare I say) intrepid.

Intro
Windows, and Macintosh are examples of an Operating System (OS). When windows released Vista it was an upgrade from XP. Ubuntu is a free OS, and it is releasing an upgrade as well.
*I use the term upgrade lightly because there are often big changes

Ubuntu releases by Y.MM and Adjective-Animal (the names are given through alpha order, like hurricanes). So to give you some background:
6.10: Edgy Eft
7.04: Feisty Fawn
7.10: Gutsy Gibbon
8.04: Hardy Heron
and now
8.10: Intrepid Ibex

When I install I'll post up notes of instructions on setting up network sharing, watching dvds and all the programs I stumble into and find important. (I'm doing a fresh install, it leaves a nice new car smell on my computer).

Donate Blood!

2008-10-21T16:07:00.004-04:00

Save lives, and eat cookies. Personally I'm partial to donating platalets, you can donate every 2weeks and you get to watch a movie while you're there (double rewards too).

Donate Bloode
Donate Platelets
ph#302-737-8400
ph#888-825-6638
*I've always found it easier to call, but to each his own (I know some ppl don't like human interaction).

Stumbling Across the Globe

2008-10-21T15:56:00.005-04:00

Here are a list of the places I've traveled:

Spain
British Virgin Islands
S.Korea
01/01/07: Thailand
01/01/08: Argentina (1m); Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Bari Loche, Cordoba
//08: Canada (1w); Toronto
10/20/08: Canada (1d); Toronto

Importing / Making Audiobooks

2008-10-21T15:25:00.005-04:00

*for your iPod

Here are the methods, program and know-how I've amassed.
As you can tell it is to the point. There are two ways of doing this that make sense and are timely (sry Linux, no-go)

iTunes 8+ (XP, MAC)
http://aldoblog.com/2008/09/itunes-8-is-great-for-audiobook-lovers/
You're surprised, I know, I was too. They have made picking out the settings much easier (actually they do it for you and you just select Audiobook). Most importantly it takes all of the tracks from one CD and joines them together. It still lacks the concept that we might want chapter breaks (with pictures!), or that there may be more than one cd to a novel. So you get one big track per CD. Notably though, it remembers where you were in the track, and removes the song/s from your music (so when you shuffle it doesn't play).

Splasm's Audiobookbuilder (MAC only)
http://www.splasm.com/audiobookbuilder/
This is why iTunes should have some kind of third party add-on ability like Firefox. This software looks so easy to use it makes me feel like I'm shooting myself in the foot trying to use iTunes or any other method. Just look at the prett picture below (you can even click the image if you want to view the blog I *borrowed* the image from).

*Heck if I can figure out where chapter breaks fall in, maybe it is on the CD or the case, I usually find them while I'm listening.

My new projector

2008-10-20T23:02:00.013-04:00

So I was all set to buy my new optoma ep719 (open box) from Circuit Shitty. Low and behold, they effed up, I shouldn't have been sent to this other store without them first checking on the product. It wasn't there, and if it were it would have been $800(-open box discount) instead of the $700 they told me at the other store, or $600 like I paid for it last time. (long story short about last time, I thought a column on the far left was vertically shifted on high-def display and they wouldn't check it in store. so I returned it and put a voodoo curse on their stock shares)

They did however offer me a different open box projector Optoma HD65 at $720 (more than I wanted to spend, but also $280 off regular price). No re-stocking fee if I return it in 30days, and of course it came with the wrong remote. Well, that's Circuit Shitty for you. Give you a good deal and then poop on your chest when you are trying to figure out why you're new electronics don't work.

On the plus side it has an amazing picture from what I've seen of the VGA (or D-Sub) hook up. The darn thing doesn't have a DVI, but it does have HDMI and Component. So that is kind of goofy, but I can't complain because now I can use the component out from the nice DVD player. I'll just have to buy a converter for my computer's DVI port.

Spec.s
1600 Lumens (not as bright as the other one, but this is for movies not power point presentations)
4000:1 contrast ratio
DLP (because LCD is crap side by side and life length)
16:9 Aspect Ratio

It says it is compatible up to 1080p, but I'm pretty sure it maxes out at 720p. More on resolutions when I actually make sense of them. Wikipedia has a sticky mess of an explanation, that is probably just too in depth for me. What is important to me is the picture they have.

On there you can see the most common LCD screen resolution (1280x1024 or SXGA), how that compares to the native projector resolution (1280x720, also called HD720) and the projector's maximum resolution (1920x1080, also called HD1080, also called freakin' B-U-T-Full).

Along with this one needs to know the capacity of the different ports we have on the back of these dumb machines and cables we use. So here we go:

Cables (maximum resolutions)
Composite: 480i
S-Video : 480p
VGA/D-Sub :
HDMI : 1080p (and up)
Component : 1080p (and up, they don't make tvs better than this yet though)

Sources (maximum output)
DVD Players: 720p (via component)
Blue-Ray Players: 1080p (via hdmi or component)
Computer graphics cards: + (via vga or dvi) (my new Nvidia card can output reaaaly high)

So where are you going to send this
TVs: up to 1080p
Projectors: my Optoma HD65 is a native XXX and max XXX
Monitors: most are set to 1280x1024px
*coming back to this, but I have a busy life ya'know

Web development

2008-10-16T01:06:00.006-04:00

Here are a few websites that I have un/officially helped in bringing about.

4 Sweet Feet
Creek Valley Estates

Reinstallation order for computers

2008-10-16T01:02:00.001-04:00

This is the order that Dell suggests re/installing crap onto your computer

Desktop System Software (DSS) or Notebook System Software (NSS) - A vital utility that provides critical updates and patches for the operating system. If you are reinstalling Windows or updating all drivers, it is important that this software be installed first. Currently, the DSS and NSS are not required for computers with Windows Vista®. This is located under the System and Configuration Utilities Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.
Chipset - Helps Windows control system board components and controllers. This is located under the Chipset Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.
Video Adapter - Enhances video performance. This is located under the Video Adapter Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.
Network Interface Card (NIC) - Enhances the network controller for Internet or network access. This is located under the Network Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.
Audio Adapter - Enables and enhances the audio controller. This is located under the Audio Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.
Modem - Allows dial-up capability. This is located under the Communication Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.
Wireless Network Card - Enables and enhances the wireless network controller. This is located under the Network Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.
Touchpad, Pointer, Trackstick, Mice, and Keyboards - Enhances the pointing device features. This is located under the Mouse & Keyboards Category on the Drivers and Downloads page.
Other Devices
- Bluetooth® Module located under the Communication Category on the Drivers and Downloads page
- Dell Wireless Mobile Broadband Cards located under the Communication Category on the Drivers and Downloads page
- PCMCIA/Smartcard controller located under the Security Category on the Drivers and Downloads page

My computer!

2008-10-15T21:23:00.006-04:00

So I built it myself, and here are all of the beautiful spec.s that I would like to remember in case I ever have to reinstall drivers or replace parts.

Parts and components:

Intel DQ-965GF; 2PCI, 1PCI-Express x1, 1PCI-Express x16, 4 Ram Slots (up to 8Gigs), 6Sata inputs, 1Parallel ATA
Intel Core 2-duo
4Gigs of DDR2 Ram
320Gigs of space on 1Sata port
Lightscribe DVD+/- writer on 1Sata port: note that lightscribe is (as of this posting) not supported in Linux, besides that it burns everything I throw at it
Dynex 5in1 card reader
400Watt power supply in some case I found for cheap online
Logitech G7 mouse: note that buttons don't play nice in Linux (more on that later)
Compaq wireless keyboard cat. no. 26-762
Dell 17" monitor model# E172FP
and crappy 5.1 surround that dell handed out four years ago with every computer

I hope you are in awe of my super fast computer, I plan on tossing a few more hard drives in there and an nvidia graphics card (just in time for the projector)

My first projector

2008-10-15T21:14:00.002-04:00

I've hunted around for a while now, and Optoma's EP719 has beaten the competition. DLP has a longer life, less jogging, and lower price. I know technology has a way of making things obsolete in a few years, but I'm investing in this one. It's stat.s are beautiful and has just what I want as far as inputs are concerned. Word of warning, several sites differ on the actual in/outputs on this bad-boy. What I have listed below is what I've found true for Circuit City. You didn't read that wrong. No-where else sells them, and technically I'm not sure they do since they don't carry them online or at their stores. You actually need to go to their stores and have them order and ship it to you. So hurry before they go bankrupt.

Optoma EP719

brightness: 2000 ansi lumens
contrast: 2500:1
resolution: 1024x768 native
aspect: 4:3
1 VGA in, 1 DVI in, 1 s-video in, 1 VGA out
$600

Knife Patterns

2008-10-15T21:11:00.002-04:00

Jay Fisher's website offers many many knife patterns. Quite useful for a person following Basta's Instructable on knife making.

I'll add pictures of my own knives-in-progress later.

Thank you!

2008-10-01T08:49:00.000-04:00

I'm glad you found something on this site useful enough to want to donate. I hope I can produce more of the same content. Feel free to leave me a comment on this page (if you didn't on add a note to the donate e-mail) and I'll know what I'm doing right.
Sincerely,
Dr.Knoxy