Month: May 2005

autocomplete?

There’s probably a name for this. And everyone else probably knows about it.:

So I’m sitting there inside /usr/local/src. There’s a subdirectory called sox-12.17.7. I want to move into that subdirectory. Apparently — and I only found this today for the first time — I can simply type cd sox and then press the TAB key, and the OS automagically inserts the rest for me.

It’s not the OS, but the (command) shell program: they don’t all do it, but the better ones (like bash, which I assume he’s using) do.

Now he’ll be wondering how many keystrokes he has typed unnecessarily šŸ˜‰

school closures. Not

Well, the Seattle School District came to its senses and took school closures off the table: it was clear to everyone else it wasn’t going to save any money — and might actually cost money over the long haul — and ran the serious risk of chasing families out of public school.

So now we get/have to figure out to how conquer the entrenched problems: financial mismanagement is a constant, from what I can gather, and the district seems to have lost sight of its mandate — education — instead focusing on properties and facilities issues.

But that’s a problem for tomorrow: after 4 weeks of frenzy, it’s time to take a breath.

Now playing: Prove It by Television from the album “Marquee Moon” | Get it

I wasn’t asking, but thanks all the same

iBook G4 Field Report, Drive Replacement, 1 GB Upgrade; Temperature Monitor; New iPod Case; and More:

The question is answered. The new iBook G4s will support 1 GB of
RAM.

Trans Intl. has announced the availability of a 1 GB DDR memory
upgrade module for the newly released iBook G4 800 MHz, 933 MHz, 1
GHz Model.

The iBook G4 models have one available memory expansion slot for
main memory expansion and 128 MB of RAM soldered on the system logic
board. Trans Intl’s 1 GB memory modules brings the system’s main
memory in the iBook G4 models to 1152 MB of RAM.

Without this upgrade, the system memory capacity was limited to a
total of 640 MB of memory as currently specified in Apple
documentation.

Trans Intl. memory modules conform to Apple’s stringent electrical
and mechanical design guide lines. Trans Intl 1 GB DDR Memory
Modules operate at a clock rate of 133 MHz and transmits data at 266
Mbps.

I was looking into larger drives — 30 Gb doesn’t cut it — and ran across this little tidbit.

Now playing: Something In The Way by Nirvana from the album “Nevermind” | Get it

sometimes it’s better to say nothing

larry borsato: Fear.:

Let’s see. Microsoft is 30 years old and I use Windows and occasionally office. I also use a $10 mouse that says Microsoft on it.

On the other hand, Google is 7 years old, and I use their search and now Maps several times a day, Gmail, Blogger, Groups, Froogle, Desktop Search, Picasa, and a few other things. And Google doesn’t force me to keep buying more powerful PCs just to use their products.

Maybe Microsoft should spend a little less time looking at Google, and a little more on their products. Framing all of their products in terms of Google just keeps reminding me of Google.

I don’t use Windows. I use Office only when I have to (someone sends me something in one of their formats). And I have a couple of $10 MS rats lying around.

But I use Google daily, Froogle weekly, Maps weekly (or more). I would try Desktop Search if they released a client for it, but not with Spotlight on the case.

is this an extension of mind-numbing political campaigns we see, where the successful candidate spends all his time slamming the other guy instead of telling us what he’s about?

three way tie

Not sure how this worked out . . .

You scored as Existentialist. Existentialism emphasizes human capability. There is no greater power interfering with life and thus it is up to us to make things happen. Sometimes considered a negative and depressing world view, your optimism towards human accomplishment is immense. Mankind is condemned to be free and must accept the responsibility.

Idealist
75%

Existentialist
75%

Cultural Creative
75%

Modernist
50%

Materialist
50%

Romanticist
50%

Postmodernist
44%

Fundamentalist
31%

What is Your World View? (corrected…hopefully)
created with QuizFarm.com

eye candy anyone?

MacDevCenter.com: 20 Cool Tiger Features You Might Not Have Heard About:

Here are a few Dashboard tricks that haven’t been talked about much.

  • Want to move a widget to the main window layer? Of course you do. Here’s how: go to Terminal and type the command defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES. Still in Terminal, type killall Dock to restart Dashboard (and the Dock). Activate Dashboard (by default, you do that by pressing F12). Find the widget you want to put on the main layer and drag it a bit, but don’t let go of the mouse button. While you’re still holding the mouse button down, press the Dashboard keystroke again and release it, then release the mouse button. Your widget should now be floating above the Desktop and windows.
  • Dashboard is filled with semi-hidden eye candy. Click a widget and type Command-R to watch it reload. See visual effects, such as dragging out a new widget or closing one, in slow motion by holding down the Shift key (an old OS X trick).
  • If you would rather not have the ubiquitous Dashboard icon in the Dock, you can get rid of it easily. Just drag the icon out of the Dock and drop it to make it go poof.

cowbell?

Driving around today — either coming home from taking my kids to school or from taking some folks to the hospital — I heard some DJ hype something with a lot of cowbell.

Turns out I had the misfortune of hearing something unmemorable by Queens of the Stone Age (underwhelming) and learning that the DJ doesn’t know a cowbell from a wood block.

If you’re to riff on a topical joke, get it right.

everybody wins

High Stakes in the Music Business / Free music needn’t be stolen music:

For the price of three CDs in taxes, we can each get free access to anything we want to hear and have clear consciences. Not bad. Will it be easy? Nope: Big music will lobby against this system apoplectically and apocalyptically. The
fight will be a wonderful spectacle, scary and awesome to behold, but in the end artists and their audiences will both be better off. Bring it on.

Worth a read: the author suggests a new model, where we divide the amount the RIAA cartel booked as sales last year, divide that by everybody, and consider that — US$40 — a single payment for all the music you want. Never mind that CDs should be much less than $13 apiece (even if you can find them at that price).

And then there’s this from the late great Frank Zappa:

A Proposal For A System To Replace Ordinary Record Merchandising:
This was written in 1983? And we’re not all that much closer, even as his ideas prefigure today’s landscape almost eerily.

People today enjoy music more than ever before, and, they like to take it with them wherever they go. THEY CAN HEAR THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOOD AUDIO AND BAD AUDIO . . . THEY CARE ABOUT THAT DIFFERENCE, AND THEY ARE WILLING TO GO TO SOME TROUBLE AND EXPENSE TO HAVE HIGH QUALITY ‘PORTABLE AUDIO’ TO USE AS ‘WALLPAPER FOR THEIR LIFESTYLE’.

What is an iPod or other mp3 player, if not the fulfillment of that idea?