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Blog Details for "Penguin Pete's Blog"
Penguin Pete's Blog Penguin Pete's Blog Being an extraordinarily geeky site about Free and Open Source Software and the wonders thereof. Full site features include the hippest FOSS blog on the 'net, a gallery with over 400 wallpapers at this count free for download, source code, distro rev Articles
Gimp Tutorial - Fast Flaming Text
2008-01-20 04:06:00 There's a few flame effect tutorials out there, but all the ones I've found are either badly outdated or too fiddly. This is how I set any object - including text - ablaze with the Gimp , in just six quick steps. Done with Gimp 2.2.13, which I'll keep using for tutorials until more Linux distros start including 2.4 by default. If you've soldiered on to 2.4, the menus will be all switched around, but the effects should all still be there somewhere. Click images to get full-size shot. 1. Make your text. Plain white on black. 2. Flip the image with Image->Transform->Rotate 90 degrees CW. We're doing this because the next step doesn't go vertically yet. 3. Apply Filters->Distorts->Wind... The settings I have here are a good enough effect, but feel free to experiment. 4. Gaussian Blur with Filters->Blur->Gaussian... Now here, I have clicked the little link-chain icon next to the spin-boxes in the dialog to turn off the link between horizontal and vertical values, becau... More About: Tutorial , Text , Flaming , Fast
Gimp Tutorial - Fast Flaming Text
2008-01-20 04:06:00 There's a few flame effect tutorials out there, but all the ones I've found are either badly outdated or too fiddly. This is how I set any object - including text - ablaze with the Gimp , in just six quick steps. Done with Gimp 2.2.13, which I'll keep using for tutorials until more Linux distros start including 2.4 by default. If you've soldiered on to 2.4, the menus will be all switched around, but the effects should all still be there somewhere. Click images to get full-size shot. 1. Make your text. Plain white on black. 2. Flip the image with Image->Transform->Rotate 90 degrees CW. We're doing this because the next step doesn't go vertically yet. 3. Apply Filters->Distorts->Wind... The settings I have here are a good enough effect, but feel free to experiment. 4. Gaussian Blur with Filters->Blur->Gaussian... Now here, I have clicked the little link-chain icon next to the spin-boxes in the dialog to turn off the link between horizontal and vert... More About: Tutorial , Text , Flaming , Fast
Come to Think of it, why *DOES* the Sci-Fi Channel Suck?
2008-01-18 21:20:00 I found myself nodding hyper-actively in agreement with this Open Letter to the Sci-Fi Channel . I'm glad somebody else has finally said it. When I first heard there was going to be a Sci-Fi channel, I was swooning. Then I tuned in, and it sucked. I check back a year later - nope, still tanking. And so with the next year and ever since. It's like the whole channel is secretly controlled by a cartel of suits who hold geeks in beady-eyed, teeth-clenching contempt, and are deliberately programming it to be the sinkhole of all that is crappy in television. I'd be even less generous that the author I link to: infomercials with Billy Mays hawking gross hygiene products would be an improvement over damn near everything I see the S.F. channel currently playing. Since, as a random blogger on the Internet, I have freaking unbelievable sway with the TV corporate elite who will hop to attend to my every command, I would like to offer the following guide. In a parallel universe where the Sc... More About: Suck , Sci Fi Channel
Today For Show-n-Tell, I Brought My Dot-Emacs File
2008-01-17 16:35:00 Somewhere along the way, I guess every Emacs fan gets around to posting their .emacs file. This is the customization file stored in your home directory if you use Emacs. They're interesting because over the years each user finds a half-dozen tricks and accumulates them in this dot-file which you can move with you from one PC to another. I've excluded the top part, which is the standard XEmacs custom-set variables, leaving only the parts I've added: ;; Custom tweakin's... ;; ------------------- ;; The font only affects X-windows, due to the line below: (if (eq window-system 'x) (custom-set-faces (set-face-font 'default "-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-15-140-75- 75-c-90-iso8859-*") ) ) ;; The color scheme is a dark cyan-on-black, with a red cursor. ;; Combined with a simple fixed font, this is easy on the eyes ;; in both console and desktop, and reminds me a little bit ;; of old consoles, for the retro-coolness of it. (add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(foreg... More About: Show , File , Today
How to Live With a Geek
2008-01-07 16:27:00 It's been a long time since I posted How to Date a Geek Guy, and yet the comments continue to flood in. The huge response shows that there is a need for explaining geeks and non-geeks to each other. So this time, I thought I'd make it more general: this guide will be not just for a geeky significant other, but for anyone with a geek in the family or even as a roommate. 1. Be understanding of their strange hours. - Geeks actually have good reasons for hacking at 3 AM. It's quieter so they can concentrate and the Internet has less traffic in their local area. Plus, they're more likely to be working with international business partners. When your project includes co-workers, clients, and bosses in Egypt, Australia, France, and Japan all at once, the concept of a nine-to-five day just tends to get thrown out the window. It's always daytime somewhere in the global marketplace. 2. Learn to tell when your geek is too busy to be interrupted. - The best technique is to approach the wo... More About: Live
Video Game Mashup - Mario Brothers and Doom
2008-01-05 08:06:00 http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-g adget/video-super-mario-bros-meets-doom Meet your next viral video - A Mario Brothers mod of Doom. They thought of everything. Only just the other day, I was playing EZQuake, the sublime Quake engine build for Linux, and was heard to remark in conversation upon falling into the lava after missing a platform jump for the third time, "I don't know whose idea it was to put jumping puzzles in Quake. It's a first-person shooter, not Super Mario Brothers!" See what happens when you joke like that? Somebody thinks of it and does it. More About: Video , Game , Video Game
A Special New-Years-Eve Searchbag Post
2008-01-01 04:39:00 Because this blog (and my mood) needs a lighten-up kick in the gluteus maximus (last post being exhibit A), and because with 4 hours left of 2007 and the champagne bottle reading for popping, I am in no mood to do any real work, it's time to clean out the searchbag, the list of search terms tracked by my b2evolution stats which show some of the phrases which landed people here. 10 digit code myspace hack - Look in your local phone book for the mental health hotline, and it will give you the ten-digit code for MySpace users. Punch the code into any phone, after pressing '1'. Tell the person who answers that you need to be committed immediately. No, no, no - thank you! nethack howto open chest - Most heart surgeons use a scalpel, but you mean those chests you find in the dungeons. First, stand on it and hit 'l' to 'loot' the chest. 90% of the time this won't work, because the chest is locked. If you have a key, lock pick, wand of opening, credit card, or other device, hit '... More About: Post , Special , Years , New Years Eve , New Years
Today's Blog Post is my Primal Scream Therapy. You Don't Have to Read It.
2007-12-31 07:36:00 I've mentioned before that, through a work assignment this month, I was obliged to study, digest, and speak eloquently upon one of the subjects I hate the most: American politics. What I hate about that subject is the hang-over afterwards. It is a soul-crushing black depression that hangs on for days. I am inspecting with a microscope that which I would prefer not to look at at all. There, up close and personal, is the insanity of the United States of the 21st century. The animalist savagery. The avarice and the fanaticism. The mobs, how they clash, and how none of the mob leaders having anything to say but simian howls. Where did we get this delusion, that we are the highest species on the planet? Only a few years ago, the subject of torture was taboo; now it's a check-box on the issues graph. "Are you pro or anti torture?" "Oh, I'm pro-torture, anti-choice, pro-ID (intelligent design), anti-immigrant, anti-gay-marriage." "Oh, well, welcome to the race, glad to have you ab... More About: General , Post , Blog , Read , Scream
Online games speedlink!
2007-12-25 04:07:00 It's Christmas Eve, I have to post something... Season's Greetings to one and all in the Linux community, the technology world, and Internet nation. I've just finished the big paid-work project (mere hours ago), so it will be time again soon to blow the dust off this blog and get back to posting. So, post something, something... I guess I'll make a Christmas tradition out of posting links to online game sites that I've found enjoyable this year. Shuffle Nice little board game where you hit opponent's balls off the board while trying to keep your own on the board. The computer plays against you, and it's surprisingly strategic. Shredder chess An actual A.I. chess program that plays right in your browser! It even runs snappy, and they offer downloadables for Win, Mac, AND Linux. It plays alright - I did beat it on the basic level after three games to size it up. Ownage Burst Spiffy Flash shoot-em-up. Nothing but good old street-shooting action. Statris It's a Tetris... More About: Games , Online Games , Online
A follow-up to "News Flash: Many People Still Hate Work!"
2007-12-20 20:59:00 http://penguinpetes.com/b2evo/index.php?p =409&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 I just saw this post over at The Daily WTF forums, and it illustrates perfectly a point I was making with my older blog post (linked in title). I'm copying the WTF forum posting here for prosperity, because this forum post deserves to be carved in marble and framed on the wall. Being a programmer and the only computer literate person in my family, I get tech support calls from my family all the time. I got a phonecall from a brother-in-law today: Him: Hey, you're good with computers right? Me: Yes. Him: And you know how to program computers? Me: Yes, thats my job actually. Him: Could you explain programming please? Me: I'm sorry, what do you mean? Him: I want to make a game like Halo, but I don't know how to start. Could you explain what I need to do? Me: You should probably go to the library and get a book. Him: Can you just tell me what I need to do? Me: Wait a minute. Are you asking me to explain h... More About: News , People , Flash , General , Work
A follow-up to "News Flash: Many People Still Hate Work!"
2007-12-20 20:59:00 http://penguinpetes.com/b2evo/index.php?p =409&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 I just saw this post over at The Daily WTF forums, and it illustrates perfectly a point I was making with my older blog post (linked in title). I'm copying the WTF forum posting here for prosperity, because this forum post deserves to be carved in marble and framed on the wall. Being a programmer and the only computer literate person in my family, I get tech support calls from my family all the time. I got a phonecall from a brother-in-law today: Him: Hey, you're good with computers right? Me: Yes. Him: And you know how to program computers? Me: Yes, thats my job actually. Him: Could you explain programming please? Me: I'm sorry, what do you mean? Him: I want to make a game like Halo, but I don't know how to start. Could you explain what I need to do? Me: You should probably go to the library and get a book. Him: Can you just tell me what I need to do? Me: Wait a minute. Are you asking... More About: News , People , Flash , Work , Hate
NYTimes on How to Handle a Technophobe
2007-12-17 04:04:00 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/jobs/16 career.html?_r=2&ref=business&ore f=slogin&oref=slogin This is one of those times I link just to be insufferably smug. Get ready for a barbershop quartet "I told you so!" in four-part harmony. The link in the title goes to an article which stresses the importance of teaching technology from the inside out - not giving the user a list of instructions or directions to push buttons to make magic things happen. Just a reminder to all of the misologists out there, that when you try to hide what the computer is doing behind magic buttons, you are doing harm, repeat, harm to the user, not good. It is deleterious to the cause of adapting our society to technology, to flame "geeks" for "making computers hard" when what we are trying to do is teach people what we know, so that we will all be equal. Of course, the people who need to read this the most - won't. They will continue to rip the machine out of our hands and scream, "What is th... More About: Handle
NYTimes on How to Handle a Technophobe
2007-12-17 04:04:00 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/jobs/16 career.html?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin &oref=slogin This is one of those times I link just to be insufferably smug. Get ready for a barbershop quartet "I told you so!" in four-part harmony. The link in the title goes to an article which stresses the importance of teaching technology from the inside out - not giving the user a list of instructions or directions to push buttons to make magic things happen. Just a reminder to all of the misologists out there, that when you try to hide what the computer is doing behind magic buttons, you are doing harm, repeat, harm to the user, not good. It is deleterious to the cause of adapting our society to technology, to flame "geeks" for "making computers hard" when what we are trying to do is teach people what we know, so that we will all be equal. Of course, the people who need to read this the most - won't. They will continue to rip the machine out of our hands and scream, "What is this compiler ... More About: Handle
An Iowa Weather Report, Because You Care So Deeply
2007-12-17 02:12:00 Boy, it's been cold in Iowa this month... CROWD: "How cold is it?" Well, OK, I'll try... It's been so cold... Your belches freeze in midair and you have to thaw them out to find out what you ate. I was outside thinking, and an icicle fell off my thought balloon and conked me. I built a snowman and he ran off to get a coat. My goosebumps have frostbite. And I was motivated to go out with a digital camera and catch some snaps of the ice on the local fauna. See, we had an ice-storm this last week, and then one day was sunny and beautiful and some of the ice was melting and the rest was sparkling like a thousand diamonds, so I figured to capture it. I'm mindlessly following a fad here. Every time there's an ice-storm, any blogger who lives near it has to blog it, just like all bloggers who own a cat have to post pictures when the cat has kittens. And me with my lousy-poor photography skills. I can just hear ERM chuckling at me... More About: Site News , Weather , Report , Care
An Iowa Weather Report, Because You Care So Deeply
2007-12-17 02:12:00 Boy, it's been cold in Iowa this month... CROWD: "How cold is it?" Well, OK, I'll try... It's been so cold... Your belches freeze in midair and you have to thaw them out to find out what you ate. I was outside thinking, and an icicle fell off my thought balloon and conked me. I built a snowman and he ran off to get a coat. My goosebumps have frostbite. And I was motivated to go out with a digital camera and catch some snaps of the ice on the local fauna. See, we had an ice-storm this last week, and then one day was sunny and beautiful and some of the ice was melting and the rest was sparkling like a thousand diamonds, so I figured to capture it. I'm mindlessly following a fad here. Every time there's an ice-storm, any blogger who lives near it has to blog it, just like all bloggers who own a cat have to post pictures when the cat has kittens. And me with my lousy-poor photography skills. I can just hear ERM chuckling at me... More About: Weather , Report , Care , Weather Report
Obscure Linux Commands: Random Little Stuff
2007-12-13 04:13:00 Blaugh, I'm going to be one tired, burned-out blogger for the rest of the month. My paid writing work currently is to write a ton of content about the upcoming 2008 US presidential election. happy. happy. joy. joy. It's a ghost-writing gig, so don't ask where and who - and if you saw it out there, you'd never recognize it was me. I have to maintain the utmost editorial integrity and be neutral and boring, when what I really want to do with this three-ring circus of an election is put on my gonzo hat, snack my way through the medicine cabinet, and channel the spirit of Hunter S. Thompson to write Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail in 2008: Pray for the Flying Saucers to Kidnap Us! Oh well, I'll leave the political blogging to people like Wonkette, who's doing a good job in my place. Meanwhile, for FOSS blogging I have to fall back on the vault. And the vault today is half-portion scraps and left-over doodles. But hey, here's some CLI Linux commands that I bet you're nev... More About: Random , Stuff , Commands , Obscure
Obscure Linux Commands: Random Little Stuff
2007-12-13 04:13:00 Blaugh, I'm going to be one tired, burned-out blogger for the rest of the month. My paid writing work currently is to write a ton of content about the upcoming 2008 US presidential election. happy. happy. joy. joy. It's a ghost-writing gig, so don't ask where and who - and if you saw it out there, you'd never recognize it was me. I have to maintain the utmost editorial integrity and be neutral and boring, when what I really want to do with this three-ring circus of an election is put on my gonzo hat, snack my way through the medicine cabinet, and channel the spirit of Hunter S. Thompson to write Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail in 2008: Pray for the Flying Saucers to Kidnap Us! Oh well, I'll leave the political blogging to people like Wonkette, who's doing a good job in my place. Meanwhile, for FOSS blogging I have to fall back on the vault. And the vault today is half-portion scraps and left-over doodles. But hey, here's some CLI Linux commands that I bet you're nev... More About: Random , Stuff , Commands , Obscure
Penguin Pete Packs a Pick of Pixelated 'Papers
2007-12-11 01:51:00 Wallpapers, that is... Always news to be met with a resounding "meh...", I added some more wallpapers to the 1600x1200 gallery. And yeah, the one with the moon in it, the moon is vector-drawn. And yes, that six-pack is "GNU Ice"... the beer that's free as in beer! But let's talk about the bottom two for a minute. Those two are my exploration of a form of graphic art I've seen emerging in places like Deviant Art... as close as I can figure, the form, which is filled with concentric circles and splats, is or may be known as "grunge", "emo", or simply "vector abstract" style. Examples here, here, here, and here. Now, I'm probably an old fart who's just now opened his peepers to a trend after it's already jumped the shark, but it does seem to be a new genre of digital art, perhaps shaped more by the fact that it's incredibly easy to draw circle and lines in vector. If anybody out there knows its proper name, do be so kind as to clue in the old bean, would you? More About: Pick , Pete , Papers , Penguin , Packs
Penguin Pete Packs a Pick of Pixelated 'Papers
2007-12-11 01:51:00 Wallpapers, that is... Always news to be met with a resounding "meh...", I added some more wallpapers to the 1600x1200 gallery. And yeah, the one with the moon in it, the moon is vector-drawn. And yes, that six-pack is "GNU Ice"... the beer that's free as in beer! But let's talk about the bottom two (or the last two of the five, depending on how the floats align) for a minute. Those two are my exploration of a form of graphic art I've seen emerging in places like Deviant Art... as close as I can figure, the form, which is filled with concentric circles and splats, is or may be known as "grunge", "emo", or simply "vector abstract" style. Examples here, here, here, and here. Now, I'm probably an old fart who's just now opened his peepers to a trend after it's already jumped the shark, but it does seem to be a new genre of digital art, perhaps shaped more by the fact that it's incredibly easy to draw circle and lines in vector. If anybody out there knows its proper... More About: Site News , Pick , Pete , Papers , Penguin
A Few Well-Earned Jabs at L. Ron Paul Hubbard
2007-12-07 02:17:00 This is not a political blog, but a technology blog. I endorse NO candidate, period, since they're all scumbags across the board. But when political strife looms heavily in the technology sphere, I can then declare it open game. So, while I honestly can't make a case for favoring one candidate over another, I can definitely say that the supporter(s?) of Ron Paul have burned a place in the history books as an irritating cult of crazies. I haven't seen such a massive spam and social news fraud campaign come out of Texas since... er, ah, a certain Indianapolis 500 entry that was supposed to have a sticker on it advertising Linux! That being said, take note AGAIN that for all I care RP could win, as he certainly can't be any more harm than any of the other white male right-wing millionaire racist sexist flakes in the race. Take note also of the category: HUMOR. These signs are done in HUMOR. And as an exercise in Gimping. And to be offered free to the public, for LOLcatting and ...
A Few Well-Earned Jabs at L. Ron Paul Hubbard
2007-12-07 02:17:00 This is not a political blog, but a technology blog. I endorse NO candidate, period, since they're all scumbags across the board. But when political strife looms heavily in the technology sphere, I can then declare it open game. So, while I honestly can't make a case for favoring one candidate over another, I can definitely say that the supporter(s?) of Ron Paul have burned a place in the history books as an irritating cult of crazies. I haven't seen such a massive spam and social news fraud campaign come out of Texas since... er, ah, a certain Indianapolis 500 entry that was supposed to have a sticker on it advertising Linux! That being said, take note AGAIN that for all I care RP could win, as he certainly can't be any more harm than any of the other white male right-wing millionaire racist sexist flakes in the race. Take note also of the category: HUMOR. These signs are done in HUMOR. And as an exercise in Gimping. And to be offered free to the public, for LOLcatting and ... More About: Humor
Digg.com Finally Gets 10K Hits!
2007-12-05 20:40:00 I just happened to be searching on an unrelated topic with adblock off when I saw this, and thought it worthy of a screenshot and blog-ripping: Yes, it's the same dorky "You've won a prize for being the Xth visitor" ad banner that flashes and annoys on the spammiest of sites. What's special about it is that it was on Digg .com. Apparently, I was the 10,000th visitor to Digg.com on 12/5/07. No joke. For those of you not in the know, I think Digg has gotten just a teeny bit more traffic than that. Like, per hour. But far be it from me to question the word of ad.interclick.com, so let me take this time to congratulate Kevin Rose on the day of breaking this milestone number of page visits. And, to help him along in his struggle to break out of the ranks of the web ghetto and become a more popular site, here's a free link. No, don't mention it. It's the least a big-time site like mine can do to help the little guy. More About: Finally , Hits
Digg.com Finally Gets 10K Hits!
2007-12-05 20:40:00 I just happened to be searching on an unrelated topic with adblock off when I saw this, and thought it worthy of a screenshot and blog-ripping: Yes, it's the same dorky "You've won a prize for being the Xth visitor" ad banner that flashes and annoys on the spammiest of sites. What's special about it is that it was on Digg .com. Apparently, I was the 10,000th visitor to Digg.com on 12/5/07. No joke. For those of you not in the know, I think Digg has gotten just a teeny bit more traffic than that. Like, per hour. But far be it from me to question the word of ad.interclick.com, so let me take this time to congratulate Kevin Rose on the day of breaking this milestone number of page visits. And, to help him along in his struggle to break out of the ranks of the web ghetto and become a more popular site, here's a free link. No, don't mention it. It's the least a big-time site like mine can do to help the little guy. More About: Humor , Finally , Hits
Are Webbies the New Hippies?
2007-12-03 09:45:00 I just typed that title, and now I'm looking at it hovering above this sentence in ABIWord. The word 'webbies' is underlined in red, the word hippies is not, because it checks the spelling, see. What a metaphor! 'Hippie' is recognized, webbie is not. I found myself eyeballing the History channel's documentary on the late 1960's this evening, and even though we've all had the hippie to yippie to yuppie to baby boomer thing poked down our throats with a sharp stick for two decades, it did not occur to me until tonight to sit up, look around, and wonder: Are we in the midst of a similar movement? Egad! And us with no Web Woodstock! But count the signs. Rebellion against authority, check. Political unrest, check. Sharp division between opposing clans, check. Desire to take power out of the hands of big business and put it back into the hands of the commoner, check. War and a protest about it, check. Token issues to define the line between cultures? In the 60's that was dru... More About: Hippies , General
Are Webbies the New Hippies?
2007-12-03 09:45:00 I just typed that title, and now I'm looking at it hovering above this sentence in ABIWord. The word 'webbies' is underlined in red, the word hippies is not, because it checks the spelling, see. What a metaphor! 'Hippie' is recognized, webbie is not. I found myself eyeballing the History channel's documentary on the late 1960's this evening, and even though we've all had the hippie to yippie to yuppie to baby boomer thing poked down our throats with a sharp stick for two decades, it did not occur to me until tonight to sit up, look around, and wonder: Are we in the midst of a similar movement? Egad! And us with no Web Woodstock! But count the signs. Rebellion against authority, check. Political unrest, check. Sharp division between opposing clans, check. Desire to take power out of the hands of big business and put it back into the hands of the commoner, check. War and a protest about it, check. Token issues to define the line between cultures? In the 60's that was dru... More About: Hippies
Arcane Linux Commands - Crunching PDF Data
2007-11-30 01:26:00 A Slashdot story today is a very interesting read on Google's latest malware crackdown. And there's a bonus buck: a list of the search keywords which the malware spammers were targeting, in the form of a PDF file. Which will be ze subject in today's lab-ooor-atory expeereemint. But first, let me take a moment to plug this story better. If you've ever wondered how malware and search spamming works, you can get a lot of insight from this story, including a listing at Sunbelt blog of some Javascript the spammers were using to alter behavior depending on if you came from Google. Check the code shot. Isn't that a clever, if evil, little hack? But now to our subject: We're going to deal with a PDF entirely on the command line. To check out what programs that handle PDF are available on your system, simply type 'pdf' and then hit the TAB key twice. I get: pdf2dsc pdfcrop pdfimages pdflatex pdftex pdftops pdf2ps pdfetex pdfinfo pdfopt pdftohtm... More About: Linux , Data , Commands , Arca
News Flash: Many People Still Hate Work!
2007-11-26 18:05:00 Back in the '60's counterculture, the dreaded "F-word" was one of the mantras of the youth movement. Every time you said it in front of a microphone, the crowd went wild, because it meant you were one of the people instead of one of the suits. I get the same glee from my own "F-word". It is a magic spell guaranteed to repel every single person who is a problem in this world, with just one syllable. WORK! Yes! Work ! I love work! Hard, hard work! Back-breaking work! Brain-wracking work! Work until I'm starving, and somebody has to push the food in my mouth so I can keep working! Work until I actually fall asleep, drolling and snoring, with my fingers still twitching on the keyboard! Work until the snow-shovel slips out of my hands and I collapse face first! Work like a demon! A dervish! A soulless zombie! A raving, cackling madman! THE POWER OF WORK COMPELLS YOU! That's what gets things done in the world, is work. Just recently, I have noticed how long I have been reading th... More About: News , People , Flash , Hate
News Flash: Many People Still Hate Work!
2007-11-26 18:05:00 Back in the '60's counterculture, the dreaded "F-word" was one of the mantras of the youth movement. Every time you said it in front of a microphone, the crowd went wild, because it meant you were one of the people instead of one of the suits. I get the same glee from my own "F-word". It is a magic spell guaranteed to repel every single person who is a problem in this world, with just one syllable. WORK! Yes! Work ! I love work! Hard, hard work! Back-breaking work! Brain-wracking work! Work until I'm starving, and somebody has to push the food in my mouth so I can keep working! Work until I actually fall asleep, drolling and snoring, with my fingers still twitching on the keyboard! Work until the snow-shovel slips out of my hands and I collapse face first! Work like a demon! A dervish! A soulless zombie! A raving, cackling madman! THE POWER OF WORK COMPELLS YOU! That's what gets things done in the world, is work. Just recently, I have noticed how long I have been reading th... More About: News , People , Flash , Hate
10 Reasons Why the Command Line is More User-Friendly than the Desktop
2007-11-24 15:00:00 I aim all of these not just at Linux, BSD, and Unix-alikes, but at every computer system ever. Nor do I say all of this as a power-using geek, but to apply it to every computer user everywhere. 1. Keying is faster than mousing. You might argue this point, and if you do, I'd just point out "Why are there keyboard shortcuts on most menu entries in a GUI?" And why are they called "shortcuts"? Because using a mouse to do something is the long way to do it, each and every time. 2. It's easier to both give and get help. Nearly every Debian system has synaptic, and I'll bet most people use it. Yet even amongst synaptic users, they'll still answer questions with an "apt-get" statement. It doesn't matter if you use apt-get or synaptic; it's still more efficient to use the command expression behind the GUI action to answer questions online. You can interpret the answer into the GUI tool of your choice. Ever seen somebody answer a question that has no command-line answer? "Go here, do... More About: Desktop , User , Reasons , Friendly , Line
10 Reasons Why the Command Line is More User-Friendly than the Desktop
More articles from this author:2007-11-24 15:00:00 I aim all of these not just at Linux, BSD, and Unix-alikes, but at every computer system ever. Nor do I say all of this as a power-using geek, but to apply it to every computer user everywhere. 1. Keying is faster than mousing. You might argue this point, and if you do, I'd just point out "Why are there keyboard shortcuts on most menu entries in a GUI?" And why are they called "shortcuts"? Because using a mouse to do something is the long way to do it, each and every time. 2. It's easier to both give and get help. Nearly every Debian system has synaptic, and I'll bet most people use it. Yet even amongst synaptic users, they'll still answer questions with an "apt-get" statement. It doesn't matter if you use apt-get or synaptic; it's still more efficient to use the command expression behind the GUI action to answer questions online. You can interpret the answer into the GUI tool of your choice. Ever seen somebody answer a question that has no command-line answer? "Go here, dou... More About: Desktop , User , Reasons , Friendly , Line 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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