Oh, what the heck... Another Linkdump

Get a Trim!

Cthulhu Ski Mask.

A moment of silence for William Sleator, one of the first authors I ever met. He was gracious and explained himself to eager students, and made his visit to my school one of the few highlights of middle school.

If you really like your Bujold, there's now a fan-compiled Reader's Companion to A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold.

Experimenting with Linux.

How about 15 Wonderful Words with No English Equivalent.

What I want from a restaurant website vs what most restaurant websites give.

Even when I'm annoyed at them, I tend to respect truckers. That truck driver you flipped off? Let me tell you his story.

Wow. Just Wow.

Spider-Moose.

And the ever-present pug picture: Pug Life, or When Pugs Go Bad.

My Ubuntu Adventure

My little sister Lisa gave me an old computer she had, a laptop that is even older than my now-ancient (by computer ages) laptop. It's a Presario 2200, and had Windows XP installed on it. I intended to use it as a mobile computer since my laptop's battery has long since bit the dust, and the Presario has enough battery left to be able to be moved, about 15 minutes worth of juice. I spent several days trying to remove enough of the existing software to make it usable for my tasks, but the thing seemed to get slower and slower as I went.

Over the weekend we visited family for our birthdays, and my evil twin Lisa told me about Dropbox. I'd heard of it, but hadn't really given it much thought. I hardly need a way to sync between my single computer, right? Well, now I have TWO computers, so maybe Dropbox would come in handy after all. Once I got home and got the invitation from my sister, I signed up and started to move every file that I felt was crucial to my computer life into the new Dropbox folder. However, to my annoyance, the older computer didn't want anything to do with Dropbox.

That sealed the deal. I decided to install Ubuntu on the new/old computer just to see what would happen. Lisa had reported that the CD drive on the thing was busted, so I prepped a USB stick to install from, and then attempted to change the BIOS so it would boot from USB. Ha. No such setting. I tried a number of ways to convince the BIOS that I really wanted it to read from the USB drive, but it refused. Argh.

So, I clearly needed to install a boot manager. I considered grub, but I ended up using plop. I had to install it on the harddrive, but not from Windows. This turned out to be a bit difficult, but through my Google-fu and persistence, I managed it. All that work, just to completely wipe the drive and install Ubuntu over it! Which is what I did.

And so I ended up with a fresh clean install of Ubuntu on this nice old computer. It was great except for one looming issue. I couldn't get the wireless network to work. The network card was disabled, the light that indicates it's on wouldn't even flicker into life. I had no internet. I tried about a dozen different things suggested by various sites I found on Google, but eventually I had to give up and plug the computer directly into the modem. After my last experience with network problems on an Ubuntu machine, I was just glad this one HAD a network port to plug into. Sure enough, there was a firmware driver download for the obsolete card in the Presario, and I was able to get the wireless working after about an hour of various downloads.

The next thing I installed was Dropbox. And working with my two laptops side-by-side, I set up a variety of things on the Presario that were already set up on Artie, my old computer. I got Firefox almost to the exact set of add-ons, and installed Calibre for my Kindle. I also installed a version of my password saver program that allowed me to share the passwords across Dropbox. My ReminderFox points to a shared file Dropbox now, and shows the same reminders on both computers. In short, I got all the browser stuff done yesterday.

Today I added Thunderbird email to the mix, and it took me awhile to get all my email set up the way I wanted. Especially since I choose to run an older version of Thunderbird on Artie, and I couldn't quite figure out how to install the same version on the Presario. At least I have email, and in a form I almost like. I also started to customize a bit more, and installed Wine.

Wine allows you to run Windows programs on Ubuntu. While I've been using open source software that is available on Ubuntu as well as Windows for most of my needs for many years, there is at least one piece of software I need Windows for: Calorie King. I wouldn't have lost 100 pounds without it, so I wanted to be able to run it on Ubuntu. And I'll tell you, it installed quickly and cleanly under the latest Wine, and runs great.

In any case, I'm nearly to the point where I'm willing to take Artie upstairs and make it a desktop in my room, while I use the Presario as my regular system. If nothing else, it would show me fairly quickly what stuff I've forgotten to set up on the Presario. And it is all just a step on moving away from Windows computers entirely when I can next get a new system. At least now I'm more convinced than ever that I can make that jump, and it won't be nearly as much a pain as I was afraid it would be.

Saturday Links

Comic Book Legends Revealed #265: Warren Publishing, Thanos, and Sith-Lords.

A cool tale from Emerald City Comicon 2010.

Airplanes Unexpectedly Modify Weather. Unexpectedly?

New version of Ubuntu, Lucid Lynx, is available. There's even a way to install it on Windows like a regular application and yet still be able to dual boot. I think I need to try that.

Learn how to tie a bowline (pronounced "boh-lin") knot. Video and lots of interesting comments.

How to Remove a Stripped Screw Without an Extractor.

High Tech Gadgets of 1977 if 2010 tech had been available then. Just go look, it'll make sense.

How to cope with annoying grammar mistakes.

Pug for the in-laws.

Thursday Already? Links

Wil Wheaton is coming to Emerald City Comicon, and I plan to troll him if possible.

Speaking of small friends, Bully gets a Doctor Who scarf. I recall that he wore Monty the Penguin's scarf when he visited, but now he's got his own!

A review of Outside, the first massively multiplayer game.

Robin Williams saves the day.

Eminem, Benny Hill, and Doctor Who, enough said.

Before I move to Ubuntu for good, I need this book.

The Bad Astronomer has spotted a really cool clock. I wouldn't want it myself, but it's very cool.

MetroLyrics goes Legit. Now you all know where to look up song lyrics online.

Students fight back against the RIAA's illegal tactics.

Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial. My uncle Neil.

Self-link: Don't Call Him Arthur!

These rings, they can't possibly be licensed. But they are pretty cool. Who wouldn't want a Legion Ring? Or a complete set of Lantern Rings?

I just thought you all might want a reminder of what Aqualad really looks like, instead of that dreadful rendition in Teen Titans: Year One. The artist must hate Aqualad with a passion to draw him so incredibly ugly.

Making Light has a bit on Making Your Own Fun. Too bad I almost never play games anymore.

What do they mean by "Canadian"?

Lea Hernandez tried to use WINE to install some Windows programs on Ubuntu. As a person who is pretty close to moving over to Ubuntu myself, I'm hoping by the time I need it, WINE will be robust enough to handle the handful of programs I want to run (most notably is CalorieKing).

Warning, a bit gory in places: What the ER would be like if all Urban Legends were real.

LIMERICKS!

Who cut the cables? Nobody knows, but we are assured that it's not a conspiracy. Boing Boing readers are betting on Cloverfield.

Invisible Ink Pens for voters?

Reduce your sodium. I wrote to Banquet after eating a crock pot meal that had WAY too much salt. They just sent me a coupon for another one. *sigh*

Danish Police don't recognize iMacs. Oops.

Ah, exercise!

Scattered Thoughts

Had a candle party last night. It was surprisingly successful. I apparently will be getting some free candles out of it. Well, mostly free. I still have to pay sales tax and shipping. And I met some more of the neighbors, and got to chat with people who aren't at my house for a Doctor Who or Oz event for once. Heh.

Walked down to the library this morning. If I waited until noon it would be too warm for me to walk. It was almost too warm already. Lots of people out and about, enjoying the sunshine (aka the "burning cloud" that makes all the other clouds turn blue (yes, I'm a Seattle native)).

There are still balloons on my porch from the candle party. I left them out for the squirrels to play with, but the squirrels seem to want nothing to do with them.

The more I play with Ubuntu, the more I want to put it on my regular computer. But I still have lots to learn, so I'm trying to reign myself in. After all, I did destroy Windows on my test machine, so I need to be careful. Still, I'm having the time of my life troubleshooting and playing. I was born to troubleshoot. And Ubuntu is simply FUN for an operating system. Much to get used to, but it's wonderfully customizable (I wonder if I can save my custom settings and move them to a new machine?) and very easy to use. And most of the software I use every day is available for it or already installed on it.

Strange, I got comics yesterday, I'm sure of it, but I haven't read any yet. Oz/Wonderland Chronicles #2 is out, and I know that was in the box. There was also something called Abigail & Rox in the Land of Enchantment. I'm not sure why I got that one, but I suspect I'll learn once I read it (Oz-related, maybe?). I also got my re-order of Licensable Bear #4, yay! That'll make Nat happy. And some superhero books. Meh. I'm burnt out on most superhero books at the moment. Gimme Aquaman and PS238 and I'm done with the superheroes.

My earache treatment has run its course, and I'm feeling MUCH better than I have in weeks. I'd have to say that the medicine worked. Now I need to avoid getting sick again, so I can get more done and stay active. Being sick makes a person feel helpless. I don't like feeling helpless.

I shouldn't announce my latest milestone weight loss during San Diego Comic Con. It got buried in the general noise. I learned recently that, in addition to directly helping two other people with weight loss, I've also inspired at least three more. And I helped my husband break a bad habit with my example. The weight loss feels good, but knowing that I've helped other people makes it even better.

Oops

Yup, I managed to completely wipe out the Windows XP installation on the old computer when I installed Ubuntu. I'm pretty sure I know what I did wrong, and I'll give it another try after I finish playing with Ubuntu enough to get familiar with it. By that, I mean I intend to re-install Windows XP, and try to set up a dual-boot system. All in anticipation of eventually setting up a dual-boot on my regular laptop. While it was mildly annoying to lose XP on the old computer, it would have been a major disaster to lose it on the regular one. I did good in deciding to do a dry run with the old computer. I need to understand Ubuntu before I move to it for more than playing.

Speaking of... I have a program called "Keyring Manager" that came automatically installed on Ubuntu. Which is nifty and all, but I don't know what it does. So I went to the Help->About, and found this: "A tool to manage the information stored in your keyrings." Um. Not useful. Help->Contents: I see a link to "Introduction". Good... click on it... Here's the total entry: "Welcome!" Not useful. I still don't have a clue what a keyring is, or why I need a manager for them.

So I have a ways to go before I'm going to use Ubuntu on a regular basis. I will say this for it, though, it runs WAY faster on the old computer than XP.

Ubuntu Linux

If this works, I'm about to post a blog from Ubuntu Linux running on my old laptop. The installation was dead simple. I'm going to play with it for awhile longer, but I'm one step closer to putting it on my regular computer and running Ubuntu as my standard OS instead of Windows.

Update: Oops. I may have wiped or corrupted my Windows installation on that computer when I installed Ubuntu. Ah well, that's why I did it on the old computer first. But that does slow me down quite a bit.

Morning Links

I must avoid downtown Bothell today. Not a problem... but BULLY is coming to visit today, so I hope he and John don't get caught in traffic from the parade.

Not a crop circle... a desert circle? Who made this, and why?

Ooooh, instructions on installing Ubuntu to dual-boot with Windows. I'm almost to the point where I've got my system properly backed-up for the install. Soon I will be running Ubuntu at least part of the time.

Vintage Seattle on Denny Hill, thanks to a question I asked. Cool!

The origins of the word "picnic".

Being thin doesn't mean you are healthy. Another argument in favor of exercise and not just diet to lost weight.

If you didn't see it, it's worth checking out. First watch Cooking With Feminists and see Stephen Colbert's first kiss with Jane Fonda. Then check out Colbert's Wednesday night interview with Jane Fonda, in which she stuns Colbert and almost manages to render him speechless, though he bravely forges on. I had to watch it twice I was laughing so hard.

Huh. Nobody helped me with my GIMP scripting problem I mentioned. That's really unusual. I've found that with blogs, I usually get an answer within a day. Oh well.

And for the in-laws: Darth Pug.

Thursday Night Links

A Comic Book Story.

The Bad Astronomer is happy to be quoted in a comic book.

Leonard Kirk's Birthday Balls.

"Hi, I'm Marvel!" "And I'm DC!"

Tiki Must Be Stopped.

Art gallery removes Todd "Thief" Goldman's work.

The 20 Most Amazing Coincidences.

Once again, Brown = Terrorist. Paranoia does us no good.

What did they see? Two airplane pilots report a UFO, from two different flights.

Doctor Who: AAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!!!

Quake raises sunken PT boat from WWII.

Bull attacks car in garage. Hey Bully, you wouldn't do that, would you?

Every Generation... how do the events we experience in our youth affect our outlook on life?

How Jack Kirby and Roger Zelazny helped Americans escape from Iran during the hostage crisis. The hostage crisis is one of my earliest clear memories of world events.

The Douglas Adams Interview. Unpublished since 1979. Includes Doctor Who information. Be sure to read all three parts.

Freeze-framed letter from Leave it to Beaver, back when they probably couldn't imagine freeze-frame technology being available to regular viewers.

FilkerTom directs us to Fundies Say The Darndest Things!

LEGO bricks are good math.

More Secret Numbers.

Dell to pre-install Ubuntu Linux. I've got most of my drive backed up now, and plan on setting up dual boot when I finish. I'm not in a huge rush, but the more I hear about how well Ubuntu works, the more comfortable I feel getting ready to move to it.

Go visit hubby-Eric's blog to learn about the Elements.

Put Yourself on a Cereal Box.

We are Poisoned.

Today's Links

Technogreek shows off two Green Lantern pieces.

Astronauts in Trouble at the South Pole.

Self-link: Threat Down - Wizard of Oz.

The Doctor's Girls. Thanks, Jonathan.

People applying for passports in Canada are finding out they aren't actually Canadian thanks to some little known and incredibly stupid Canadian citizenship laws.

I finally got Ubuntu to run (non-installed version) on my laptop, and I must say I'm impressed. It works nicely (slow, because it wasn't installed) and has just about every program I already use. I guess the next step is to figure out how to set it up to dual-boot with XP and give it a real trial.

Saturday Linkdump

I feel guilty posting good links on Friday and Saturday, because I don't think anyone actually bothers reading my blog on the weekends... oh well, here's what caught my eye recently:

Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #85.

Is it sad that the first thing I wondered when I read this DI article was "which episode of Doctor Who was interrupted?"

Studio Foglio has added Buck Godot and What's New with Phil & Dixie to their webcomic line-ups... so now they are posting a page of comics a day. Ok, most of it is reprints, but still!

Slashdot asks a hypothetical question. I have an answer: The hypothetical situation described in the question is simply impossible, therefore the question is meaningless. However, if some magical DRM was conjured that did work, I wouldn't object to it... but I would find it distasteful. DRM assumes that I'm a criminal if I'm a customer. That is always insulting.

Modulator gives a good reason not to switch to Vista. When XP becomes truly obsolete, I'll be moving to Linux or Mac. I will never run Vista on my main machine.

Johnny B calls the NFL playoffs. I'm sad to say I pretty much agree with his pick for the Seahawks game. I'll be thrilled if the Seahawks win it, but also really surprised.

We have a 10% chance of "measurable precipitation" today in the Seattle area. If we get any precip, it'll be frozen. The clouds are glowering at the moment, so I'll be surprised if we don't get something, even if it's just a light flurry. We had brilliant sunlight the last two days, but it's dark and gloomy this morning.

Update: Snow flurry started about noon. Very light at first. It's getting heavier though. Hopefully it'll stop soon.

Update: 1:30pm, still snowing. I'm sure it'll stop soon. I mean, this is so unlike Seattle weather I hardly know what to write.

Update: 3:15pm, still snowing. This defies the definition of "flurry" in my opinion.

Update: 4:30pm, thank goodness indeed, it finally stopped. Let's hope it gets above freezing tomorrow and melts some of this stuff off the roads. Lucky it's a three-day weekend.

Links

As a kid, I read this great book called Alanna: The First Adventure, and loved it deeply. Much later, I learned that the author, Tamora Pierce, is writing comic books now. Greg shares a fantastic story about how Pierce is still connecting with young women.

Apparently, all the cool kids are joining ComicSpace. I need another social networking site like I need another hole in my head, but I think I'll join up anyway.

Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #80.

Colleen Doran is posting about what she's learned in the publishing biz: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4, with more to come.

Comic Continuum has images from "Justice", the Smallville episode which will feature the return of Aquaman to the show. Also, there's news on a new "Serenity" comic mini-series. Good stuff a-coming.

Speaking of Firefly, there's going to be a Firefly MMORPG.

When Work > Reward, then comes burnout.

I want this book. Since I plan on moving to Ubuntu, or at least learning how it works very soon.

Oops. Ha ha.