The Total Token Vortex

NoobRL

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

snow-crash

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

black-oracle

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

snappy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

prospero

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

loc-delta

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Motion Planning with Viability Filtering

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

RRT-Blossom

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Viability Envelopes

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Grasp-Based Motion Planning for Character Animation

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Discovery of an "Optimal" Metric

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Capturing Metrics Using Octrees

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Landmark-Based Motion Planning for Bikes

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sketch-Based Motion Planning

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Decision Surfaces via Opposing NN Pairs

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Better NN-Based Decision Surfaces

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Auto-Discovery of Viability Envelopes

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Desk Organizer 3D Print

Sun, 03 May 2026 13:31:02 -0400

Model: [link](https://makerworld.com/en/models/1312949-asanoha-pen-holder-desk-organizer#profileId-1347526) My previous "pen holder" was starting to rip, so printed out a nice looking alternative, although in reality it is smaller than I thought, and some things like scissors didn't fit well here.

Ares Print

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 11:59:38 -0400

“Moar statues…”

I liked this model a lot too (and original statue), but alas it is not as detailed as the Marcus Aurelius one.

Model: link

Marcus Aurelius

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 13:39:09 -0400

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” – Marcus Aurelius

Model: link

Now that I picked up Marble filament (Elegoo PLA Marble Cement Grey), I am trying out some busts and other statue-like items. First up, Marcus Aurelius bust.

Moon Number Two

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 19:48:39 -0400

We gonna need a smaller nozzle…

Attempt #2 on printing a “moon” lamp lithophane, after asking Gemini for how best to optimize BambuStudio settings… meh. Basically the same; slight improvement on reduced number of pinholes (under-extrusion).

Claude Usage Megathread

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 20:22:28 -0400

Came across this today:

Claude Usage Limits Discussion Megathread Ongoing

Interesting Tidbids
#

From “B. CLAUDE CODE CLI WORKAROUNDS”: add this to ~/.claude/settings.json

Claude Token Burn

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 10:24:01 -0400

Where did all my tokens go???

Interesting Reddit post on r/ClaudeAI.

AI Summary
#

This Reddit post from the r/ClaudeAI community discusses a widespread frustration: users on paid plans (Pro and Team) are hitting their usage limits “absurdly fast” when using Claude for serious technical work.

Claude Local Replacement

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 22:31:28 -0400

This post is highly work-in-progress; gathering thoughts and ideas for now.

Goal
#

build a near-equivalent of Claude using locally served models using Ollama
evaluate how close or far they are from, say, Sonnet 4.6

Mise-en-scène
#

Pieces:

Cli Tool for Ollama

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 21:25:59 -0400

Chat tools
#

Did a bit of research (Gemini), and suggestions are:

oterm: best all around, for general chat
aichat: power-user choice, good for coding
mods: nice, but more pure CLI tool
elia: similar to oterm, but maybe better? If I can get it running…

oterm
#

To install oterm, best to:

Trying Out Gemma4

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 19:03:22 -0400

Set up
#

Google post: https://ai.google.dev/gemma/docs/integrations/ollama

Alas, needs latest ollama but that version is not yet out on Omarchy.

New Hugo Post

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 18:57:29 -0400

Preface
#

First, hugo can (and does) use two formats, YAML (—) and TOML (+++).

It is recommended:

Migrating to Hugo (from Blogger)

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:40 -0400

Ooof, that was rough. Blogger underwent many migrations since I used it last, and whatever migration tooling people have come up with in the intervening years, all are now broken, unsurprisingly. After much Gemini poking, back-and-forth, we arrived at this, which “works” (reads atom.feed):

Hello, World

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Welcome to The Total Token Vortex.

Getting the pretty 'tree' for 'git log'

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 17:09:00 +0000

See: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1057564/pretty-git-branch-graphs

In short, can use this one-liner:

git log –all –decorate –oneline –graph

You can also make this into its own ‘git’ command (‘git adog’) using:

git config –global alias.adog “log –all –decorate –oneline –graph”

The many merge options for 'git pull'

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 17:03:00 +0000

Ran into this (massive hint printout from git when attempting pull)

Hint: You have divergent branches and need to specify how to reconcile them.
Hint: You can do so by running one of the following commands sometime before
Hint: your next pull:
Hint: 
Hint: git config pull.rebase false # merge
Hint: git config pull.rebase true # rebase
Hint: git config pull.ff only # fast-forward only
Hint: 
Hint: You can replace "git config" with "git config --global" to set a default
Hint: preference for all repositories. You can also pass --rebase, --no-rebase,
Hint: or --ff-only on the command line to override the configured default per
Hint: invocation.
Git failed with a fatal error.
Git failed with a fatal error.
Need to specify how to reconcile divergent branches.

And then thankfully came across this VERY informative StackOverflow post:

Interesting posts on ZSA blog

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:28:00 +0000

Interesting read: Mediocre Engineer’s guide to HTTPS

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:22:00 +0000

https://devonperoutky.super.site/blog-posts/mediocre-engineers-guide-to-https

Interesting read: principles for keyboard layouts

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:22:00 +0000

https://anniecherkaev.com/principles-for-keyboard-layouts

Potential purchase: hand-held scope

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:21:00 +0000

https://zoyitools.com/product/zt-703s/

Interesting HN post: The Engineer’s Guide to Deep Learning: Understanding the Transformer Model

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:20:00 +0000

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40974193

Dyson hand vacuum battery troubles

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:19:00 +0000

Relevant articles, maybe:

Fun Reddit post: Games you get extremely OP in without any glitch/hacks?

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:17:00 +0000

https://old.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1emkf7f/games_you_get_extremely_op_in_without_any/

Kruggsmash playing CoQ

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:17:00 +0000

Kruggsmash, of “Dwarf Fortress YT videos” fame, started playing Caves of Qud!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcJSfynSTq0

TIL abotu Anna's Archive

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:16:00 +0000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna%27s_Archive

Claude (migration note): Filename renamed from til-abotu-anna-s-archive to til-about-anna-s-archive (typo/encoding fix).

Interesting article: State of Text Rendering 2024

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:15:00 +0000

https://behdad.org/text2024/

Interesting read: Entering text in the terminal is complicated

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:15:00 +0000

https://jvns.ca/blog/2024/07/08/readline/

Interesting HN article: How to think in writing

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:14:00 +0000

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40892298

Interesting read: Doing is normally distributed, learning is log-normal

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:13:00 +0000

https://hiandrewquinn.github.io/til-site/posts/doing-is-normally-distributed-learning-is-log-normal/

Don't build things; build FACTORIES that build things

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 12:05:00 +0000

There are examples of this in real world: Elon Musk ventures jump to mind.

This idea transfers to self-dev: don’t build/chase “goals”/targets; instead build the things which themselves “build” those things. I.e., systems / habits.

Build systems, not goals

Mon, 14 Aug 2017 21:31:00 +0000

TODO

Borrow a lot from James Clear.

Claude (migration note): Body is just ‘TODO’ — no content has been written yet.

How life is like the Westworld Maze

Mon, 14 Aug 2017 21:30:00 +0000

TODO

Claude (migration note): Body is just ‘TODO’ — placeholder content only. Body is just ‘TODO’ — no content has been written yet.

Inaugural post

Mon, 14 Aug 2017 21:30:00 +0000

Test.

multiple Google calendars on iPad

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 19:50:00 +0000

Here is how to set it up:
http://gigaom.com/apple/ipad-quick-tip-enabling-multiple-google-calendars/

HP Laserjet 1022n under Windows 7

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 02:49:00 +0000

Use the 1020 driver, but turn off bidirectional support, to avoid a page job printing repeatedly. See:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02205132&tmp_track_link=ot_faqs/top_issues/en_us/c02205132/loc:10&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=4110396

Also suggestions on installing driver:
http://www.w7forums.com/drivers-hp-laserjet-1022n-printer-t5048p2.html


Install HP LaserJet 1022n on Windows 7 (You DONT have to connect it to USB) * Download LaserJet 1022n driver from HP 32 bit - lj1020-HB-pnp-win32-en 64 bit - lj1020-HB-pnp-win64-en * Run your downloaded driver HP driver install window opens asking you to connect the USB cable * CANCEL installation IMPORTANT NOTE: This extracts the needed driver to your Hard Drive. Your driver will be extracted to folder: (64 bit) C:\Program Files\HP\HP LaserJet 1020 Driver (32 bit) C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\HP LaserJet 1020 Driver * Add your printer manually - START > Devices and Printers > Add a Printer * Add a Local Printer > Create a new port > Standard TCP/IP Port > NEXT * Enter the IP address > NEXT If you dont know the IP, have you 1022n ON, hold the diamond shaped button down for 10 seconds. A configuration page will print with the IP on it . * “Install a printer Driver” screen opens, click HAVE DISK * Browse to the folder where your driver was extracted (shown above) * Choose the “HPLJ1020” file > OPEN > OK > NEXT * Select your printer name > NEXT > FINISH

Install HP LaserJet 1022n on Windows 7 (You DONT have to connect it to USB) * Download LaserJet 1022n driver from HP 32 bit - lj1020-HB-pnp-win32-en 64 bit - lj1020-HB-pnp-win64-en * Run your downloaded driver HP driver install window opens asking you to connect the USB cable * CANCEL installation IMPORTANT NOTE: This extracts the needed driver to your Hard Drive. Your driver will be extracted to folder: (64 bit) C:\Program Files\HP\HP LaserJet 1020 Driver (32 bit) C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\HP LaserJet 1020 Driver * Add your printer manually - START > Devices and Printers > Add a Printer * Add a Local Printer > Create a new port > Standard TCP/IP Port > NEXT * Enter the IP address > NEXT If you dont know the IP, have you 1022n ON, hold the diamond shaped button down for 10 seconds. A configuration page will print with the IP on it . * “Install a printer Driver” screen opens, click HAVE DISK * Browse to the folder where your driver was extracted (shown above) * Choose the “HPLJ1020” file > OPEN > OK > NEXT * Select your printer name > NEXT > FINISH

Claude (migration note): Possible broken/collapsed markdown table (very long pipe-delimited line detected).

emacs --daemon

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 23:52:00 +0000

Good blog post about running Emacs in daemon mode:
http://emacs-fu.blogspot.com/2009/02/emacs-daemon.html

Also a thread on how to cleanly shut the daemon down:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1167484/how-to-gracefully-shutdown-emacs-daemon

Windows 7: startup items

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 23:38:00 +0000

Can get to these by Running “msconfig.exe”.

disconnecting iPod from Linux

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:49:00 +0000

When I plug in an iPod into a machine running Ubuntu, the iPod auto-connects, but is not actually mounted. This is especially problematic when I am running under i3 or other window manager which does not have a system tray or other mechanism for listing connected devices.

clonezilla (disk imaging) quickstart

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 02:08:00 +0000

[NOTE: I have found Paragon Backup & Recovery tool to be better fit for me, and really like it: http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/]

Steps for setting up Clonezilla an a USB thumb drive:

go to http://tuxboot.org/download.php
click Files on SourceForge
download tuxboot*.exe (or other, depending on your currently booted OS)
run tuxboot
the defaults are good usually:

clonezilla_live_stable chosen
no Pre Downloaded images selected
MD5 Check selected
Type: USB
Drive should be already the USB drive you have plugged in

hit OK

gizmo's freeware

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:55:00 +0000

This is an excellent site containing reviews of best freeware in many categories.

Some notable reviews:

www.softwarepatch.com

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:46:00 +0000

This is a great website for getting at direct downloads of notable HW/SW patches, service packs, security updates, DirectX, etc.

http://www.softwarepatch.com

checking USB thumb drives

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:56:00 +0000

In my experience USB “thumb” drives are notoriously unreliable, but that’s something you find out only once you attempt to read back the data you’ve “written” to the device. Always check your medium before use.

CapsLock as another Ctrl (Windows)

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 22:20:00 +0000

Registry change:
http://ftp.gnu.org/old-gnu/emacs/windows/docs/ntemacs/contrib/caps-as-ctrl.reg

From:
http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/Installing-Emacs.html

Totes 'Doorman/Gentleman' umbrella

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 22:42:00 +0000

I recently broke my favourite umbrella, the Totes classic black “Doorman” or “Gentleman” stick umbrella, and had a hard time finding a place to buy a replacement from.

Monday as first day of week in GNOME

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 02:01:00 +0000

A lot of approaches on the Net specify hacking the locale files; e.g.:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=813945

However, a far simpler and certainly less intrusive procedure is to simply modify default LC_TIME:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/6016/how-to-set-monday-as-the-first-day-of-the-week-in-gnome-calendar-applet

Specifically:

in /etc/default/locale add:
LC_TIME=“en_GB.UTF-8”
log out, then log back in

hunting for dock for Nexus S

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 01:54:00 +0000

Best deal on the “lean back” models is here:
http://shop.brando.com/google-nexus-s-usb-cradle_p05659c1265d106.html
http://shop.brando.com/google-nexus-s-2nd-battery-usb-cradle_p05660c1265d106.html

Interestingly, you can hack the dock by adding resistors, to get different results:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=12160799&postcount=40
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=820275

dead pixel finder, online version

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 04:35:00 +0000

http://www.gdargaud.net/Hack/DeadPixels.html

fixing broken Ubuntu Unity

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 02:48:00 +0000

I must have clicked something naughty in Compiz Config Settings Manager, because I lost the top and left side panels, and generally there was not much more than just the desktop background. I was stumped on how to fix this.

setting static IP in Ubuntu

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:46:00 +0000

By default recent Ubuntus (e.g., 11.10) use Network Manager, which makes things simple:

click network icon in system tray
Edit Connections
select the one entry that you see there (unless your network is not working)
Edit…
IPv4 Settings
From Method drop-down select Manual
the rest should be straight forward

If not using Network Manager to manage network connections, you need to edit /etc/network/interfaces and add (adjust to own network parameters):

cloning a github repo

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:41:00 +0000

Steps needed to download my repo from github to a new computer:

install git
generate SSH key
ssh-keygen -t rsa -C “your_email@youremail.com”
add public key to github keys associated with my identity
have ssh-agent forget identies
ssh-add -d
now reread new ones
ssh-add
verify ssh setup is working (see http://help.github.com/ssh-issues/)
ssh -vT git@github.com
clone repo
git clone git://github.com/maciekk/emacs.git

Note that did not have to do a “git init” or “git remote add”.

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 23:09:00 +0000

Steps needed to download my repo from github to new computer:

install git
ssh keygen
add public key to github keys associated with my identity
ssh-add -d (have ssh-agent forget identies)
ssh-add (now reread new ones)
ssh -vT git@github.com to verify ssh setup is working
git clo

Claude (migration note): Empty or missing title. Filename is a numeric post ID (likely a Blogger import artifact). Missing title and truncated content (ends mid-sentence) — strong candidate for deletion.

Recommended book on Mathematics

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 23:38:00 +0000

This book has been highly recommended to me, I should check it out soon:

Mathematics: A Human Endeavor
Harold R. Jacobs

http://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Endeavor-Harold-R-Jacobs/dp/071672426X

A nice cup of tea (by Orwell)

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 23:35:00 +0000

http://www.booksatoz.com/witsend/tea/orwell.htm

configuring grub for auto-selecting Windows

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 18:35:00 +0000

Typically “Windows” is one of the last options in the GRUB menu, and thus rather brittle to selecting by static index. Instead, one can specify default GRUB choice by using the full option name. Here are the steps I followed last to update this on a recent Ubuntu (11.x) install:

how to reset Furthest Page Read on Kindle

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 16:28:00 +0000

From http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,25545.0.html

Solution – Reset the Furthest Page Read
Use the same device for all of the steps below before opening the book on a different one, the below example is using a single Kindle
1. Set the Synchronization off on your Amazon Account (Go to Amazon -> Your Account -> Manage Your Kindle -> Manage Kindle Device Synchronization -> click the “Turn the Synchronization off” button to turn off the synchronization)
2. Wait about a minute, then exit & re-enter your book
3. Go to the beginning of your book on the Kindle
4. Sync to the furthest page. If it tells you that you’re on the furthest location, you’re good to go.
1. If not, select Cancel on the sync message, exit and re-enter the book to attempt the reset again. (I think that the Amazon databases have to get reset-thus the delay; in any case, it always works for me on the 2nd attempt)
5. Turn on the synchronization setting on your Account – your Furthest Page read will be reset to your new location.
6. On your other devices–if further along in the book, you will have to go to the beginning of the book, but once done the Furthest Page Read location will sync with your Kindle.

fixing headphone config on Acer Aspire One

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 04:35:00 +0000

From:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1070212

add this line:
options snd-hda-intel model=acer_wmi
to the end of /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base

This has now changed. Put the above line in /etc/modprobe.d/sound

Notes from Ubuntu 11.04 install on Acer Aspire 522 - BZ499

Sun, 29 May 2011 04:14:00 +0000

C-50 Ontario processor is 64-bit, so we’ll use the 64 bit image: ubuntu-11.04-desktop-amd64.iso
installed image onto USB stick using: ‘sudo usb-creator-gtk’ command
make sure BIOS is configured to read from USB stick before HDD
note: ubuntu kept hanging on me (mouse cursor/throbber frozen)… from posts on Net I suspect it is due to wireless driver

solution: install with wired connection plugged in; this allowed me to do install no problem
this link sounds relevant: http://fossplanet.com/f10/[bug-775034]-[new]-natty-freezes-due-acer-aspire-one-522-wireless-148584/

suspend and hibernate work right out of the box with this (tested both)
clicking on Additional Drivers in top bar, it seems we are already using Broadcom STA wireless driver (hence could conflict with other one)
now able to use wifi (w/o wired plugged in) using following:

add in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf this line: “blacklist atl1c”
“sudo update-initramfs -u”

suspend still works
outstanding issues:

(non-proprietary) video driver has poor YouTube playback, etc.
after resume (from Suspend?) the Ubuntu top and left bars stop updating visually (Ubuntu One compiz component; switch to “Ubuntu Classic” in GDM and all is well)

attempting ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX gfx driver install…

resume from suspend no longer working… can’t even ping the machine (but did not check earlier that I actually could)

went back to non-proprietary video drivers

Sun, 29 May 2011 00:34:00 +0000

Claude (migration note): Empty or missing title. Body is empty. Filename is a numeric post ID (likely a Blogger import artifact). Empty title and empty body — strong candidate for deletion.

Ubuntu: gVim in fullscreen

Sun, 29 May 2011 00:01:00 +0000

Under compiz window manager, you need an extra package, which is not installed by default in Ubuntu 11.04. I’ve set the keybinding through gnome settings, and that was not sufficient to have the fullscreen action work.

Ubuntu/gnome: disabling password request on resume

Sat, 28 May 2011 18:58:00 +0000

Problem: on resume from suspend, Ubuntu/GNOME presents password entry dialog, which is annoying.

Found a working solution here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1466504

Namely:

As you’ve probably already done, uncheck:
“lock screen when screen saver is activated”
in the System->Preferences->Screen Saver menu.

Type gconf-editor in a terminal. Under apps/gnome-power-manager/locks check:
“use_screensaver_settings”.

If still asked for password, you can (also in gconf-editor) go to desktop/gnome/lockdown and check:
“disable_lock_screen”
Credits to itslofty below for this tip!

I only had to do steps 1 and 2 on my Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwal on the Acer Aspire 522 BZ499.

Ubuntu + my Acer Aspire 522 BZ499

Sat, 21 May 2011 14:10:00 +0000

Various notes on trying to get latest Ubuntu (11.*) running on my AO522 netbook.

Useful links;

writing effective Thank You notes

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 20:20:00 +0000

From:
http://www.thank-you-note-samples.com/how-to-write-a-thank.html

Here’s how to get started:

Dear [Name of person]. If “Dear” sounds too formal to you and you know the person well, you can get away with “Hi”, as in “Hi Michelle!”
Thank you for the [description of gift] [name of gift].Example: Thank you for the fuzzy brown scarf.
At least one sentence about the item; something you did with it, a reason you like it, when you plan to use it. Ideally, make the sentence 2 parts, like the example below. This makes the note feel more sincere.Example: It matches many of my clothes and I know I’ll use it on my trip to Iceland.
Tell the giver you appreciate the thought or time they put into it and the occasion for which the gift was given.Example: It was so thoughtful of you to think of me on my birthday.
Mention something about the giver such as family members or something happening in their lives.Example: Best wishes to Tom and the kids. OR Have a great time in Maine next month. I look forward to hearing about it!
Sign off. “Love” is fine for family members and close friends. For others, some choices are “Yours Truly”, “Regards”, or “Warm Regards”.
Sign your name. Don’t make this an autograph scrawl; neaten it up so you they know it’s you.

PDF virtual printer for Windows

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 21:12:00 +0000

Useful review of top free PDF printers:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-pdf-writer.htm

I chose to install BullZip one. Ran into issue where upon printing I would get error about macros. The following post was useful:
http://www.bullzip.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=8538

blocking Flash in Chrome

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 01:06:00 +0000

Interesting post, seen on https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cdngiadmnkhgemkimkhiilgffbjijcie:

You don’t need any 3rd pary extension to block flash anymore. To enable Chrome’s built in Flashblock type ‘about:flags’ into the address bar and hit enter. Scroll down to the botton and enable ‘Click to play’, then restart your browser. Now click the wrench menu > Options > Under the hood > Content setting > Plug-ins and select ‘Click to play’ from the right hand side. You can use the Exception button to whitelist specific domains.

setting up googlecl in Windows

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 01:19:00 +0000

Some instructions here:
http://publicint.blogspot.com/2010/06/setup-googlecl-on-winxp.html

However, it seems newest versions of the googlecl tool come pre-built. The only issue was I was missing MSVCRT71.dll file. This can be obtained for Windows 7 here:
http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/fix-msvcp71-dll-and-msvcr71-dll-missing-error-in-windows-7/

remapping CapsLock to extra Control key

Sat, 05 Feb 2011 19:36:00 +0000

To that end, I found this link useful:

http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/MovingTheCtrlKey#toc4

In *NIX:

 setxkbmap -option ctrl:swapcaps # Swap Left Control and Caps Lock
 setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocaps # Make Caps Lock a Control key

setting up my Acer Aspire One

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 02:13:00 +0000

Just got an Acer Aspire One (AO522); here are some things I bumped into with Windows 7 Starter, or otherwise interesting links:

Xubuntu issues encountered:

console-kit-daemon x60

Sun, 05 Dec 2010 18:39:00 +0000

If you run ‘htop’ you might see over 60 processes named ‘console-kit-daemon’. This seems to be a bug. On a mostly-single-user system one might as well uninstall ‘consolekit’ package (seems to be used for fast user switching).

changing CapsLock to Ctrl in XFCE4

Sun, 05 Dec 2010 16:26:00 +0000

From:
http://serverfault.com/questions/10437/how-do-you-swap-the-caps-lock-to-control-in-xfce

Run this on startup:

/usr/bin/setxkbmap -option “ctrl:nocaps”

This can be placed in XFCE’s startup (Settings > Session and Startup > Application Autostart tab > Add button).

favourite wallpaper sites

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 16:18:00 +0000

These are my favourite wallpaper sites, ranked by preference:

BenQ W9000 service menu / overscan

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 04:21:00 +0000

I found that on my BenQ W9000 projector, when feeding it 1280x720 signal from my computer (for when my gfx card cannot handle the full 1900x1080 at reasonable framerates), and using the Anamorphic mode to scale image to full display area, a fair bit of the image was being cropped. Turns out this has to do with “overscan” setting, which alas is not accessible from regular projector menu. However, it is modifiable if one enters a secret “service menu”. For this projector, to enter the service menu press:

HP 1022n on Linux

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 01:30:00 +0000

Installation instructions from:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/cups-unable-to-discover-an-hp-1022n-network-printer-710492/

Here are the essential instructions:

Configure the printer with its own facility, getting into its web page: http://the-actual-ip-address.
There, assign a static IP address of your choice.
You would have to (recommended) restart the printer with the new assigned static IP.
Configure manually the printer within CUPS.
Follow instructions up to the point where you are asked to specify the URI. There, write socket://the-new-ip-address
Specify it is an HPLIP printer, and when prompted to specify the type of printer, scroll down and find the “HP LaserJet 1022n Foomatic/hpijs, hpijs 2.8.10.33” (for example, version is actually the one shown in my system, could be some other).
Choose Add Printer.
Print a Test Page and…
Voila…!!

using multiple routers at home

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:53:00 +0000

http://forums.linksysbycisco.com/linksys/board/message?board.id=Access_Points&thread.id=11089 The above forum thread discusses how to setup multiple routers at home. In particular, the thread is by someone in a similar situation to my own, where the cable modem comes with a wireless router already, which are setup in the basement, and wants to add a second router on second floor of house for better connectivity. The solution:

Morrowind map

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:33:00 +0000

The following is a fantastic map of Morrowind. It uses GoogleMaps.

http://www.uesp.net/maps/mwmap/mwmap.shtml?centeron=Pemenie&

great explanation of nib sizes

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:53:00 +0000

According to:

http://www.thewritingdesk.co.uk/reference.php?id=5

NP (needlepoint). A very small point to give an extremely fine line. Sometimes referred to as XXF or EEF (extra-extra-fine).
EF (extra-fine). A nib that will give a line width of around 0.4mm. Suitable for those with very small writing.
F (fine). A nib that will give a line width of around 0.6mm. Suitable for those with small writing.
M (medium). A nib that will give a line width of around 0.8mm. Suitable for those with average-size handwriting.
B (broad or bold). A nib that will give a line width of around 1.0mm. Suitable for those with large writing or for signatures.
BB (extra-broad). A nib that will give a line width of around 1.2mm. Suitable for those with very large writing or for signatures.
BBB or 3B (extra-extra-broad). A nib that will give a line width of around 1.4mm. Will give large flowing lines and usually good variation between down-strokes (wide) and side-strokes (less wide).
OM, OB etc (oblique). A nib ground so that the tip slopes to the left, rather like your left foot. Designed for those writers that either rotate the pen anti-clockwise or hold the pen at an unusual angle. Note that oblique nibs do not normally give more line variation than a standard rounded point unless specifically stated otherwise.
ROM (reverse-oblique medium etc). A nib ground so that it slopes to the right, rather like your right foot. Sometimes suitable for left-handed people. Sometimes confusingly called right oblique. Uncommon.
LH (left-hand, eg Pelikano and Lamy). A medium nib but with the point shaped so that it may be more suited to left-handed writers, particularly those who hold their above the line of writing (“over-writers”).
MK (rounded medium). A special nib made by Lamy with a more rounded point such that the orientation of the pen relative to the paper is less critical than a standard point and therefore easier for beginners. The designation is no longer used but the current Lamy medium nib is made to the same specification as the MK.
A. A rounded point made by Lamy for the abc school pen. Between fine and medium.
Italic (eg IM, IB, 1.1mm 1.5mm etc). A nib ground so that the tip is flat instead of rounded. Designed to give extreme line variation between wide down-strokes and narrow side-strokes in the manner of a calligraphy pen. Often specified in terms of width (in mm). Most factory-produced italic nibs are actually stub- or cursive-italics meaning the corners of the nib are rounded so allow continuous writing unlike a proper calligraphy nib that requires much greater care.
Stub. A more rounded, gentle version of an italic nib such that good line variation is produced. Like italic nibs, these are usually specified in terms of width (in mm). Less demanding in terms of angle to the page than an italic or stub-italic nib.

places to get Lamy nibs / sections

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:41:00 +0000

swisher store : sells stand-alone nibs, converters (if link doesn’t work, select “Lamy” button, then “Safari collection)
Lamy USA : sells Safari sections, although they don’t have orange!
The Writing Desk : sells nibs

link: A Simple Guide to Keeping Your Counters Clutter-free

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:34:00 +0000

http://zenhabits.net/2009/06/a-simple-guide-to-keeping-your-counters-clutter-free/

OmniOutliner annoying binding

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:35:00 +0000

When I try to use Meta-Ctrl-< in Emacs while there is some text selected, OmniOutliner pops up and tries to insert the text as a “Default Clipping”, which is terribly annoying, to say the least. After some looking around it seems to be a “Service” that can be turned off:

fountain pens

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Went on a “fountain pen bender” this past weekend. Found tons of interesting things. Here is a bag of them:

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=8175 : index of pen reviews
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=39354 : index of ink reviews
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=58316 : fade test of inks
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11808 : Fountain Pen Network FAQ
http://www.richardspens.com/ : Richard Binder’s fountain pen site
http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref/anatomy-vac.htm : Anatomy of a Vac.

Lamy Safari pics:

interesting vid: open-mindedness

Wed, 20 May 2009 01:10:00 +0000

http://www.dailymotion.com/user/totocacapouet/video/x8uei4_openmindedness_tech

Ian's Shoelace Site

Thu, 14 May 2009 14:37:00 +0000

A colleague at work, who also happens to be called Ian, mentioned this excellent site about lacing and tying shoelaces: http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/index.htm

Claude (migration note): Filename renamed from ian-39-s-shoelace-site to ians-shoelace-site (typo/encoding fix).

lawnmower trouble

Mon, 11 May 2009 00:53:00 +0000

Ran into lawnmower trouble today. After priming the engine and firing it up, it runs for 2-5 seconds and dies. It sounds like carburator trouble. Some links I checked out in the process, which are worth saving:

Vista wifi troubles

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 02:51:00 +0000

go to start menu and type cmd in the search bar and open cmd with administrator rights 1.type netsh winsock reset and hit enter….nevermind if it sais something about an error 2.type netsh int ip reset and hit enter…. 3. restart you computer…and the error should be gone and the internet working what you just did was a TCP/IP stack repair

'hot pixels' in digital cameras

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:39:00 +0000

After playing around with my new Nikon D90, I noticed that some of my dark pictures have a red spot near upper right corner. It turns out this is a “hot pixel”. Further research led me to the following interesting pages:

proper exercise technique

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:24:00 +0000

Bryan pointed out this interesting link:
http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html

research notes from DSLR hunt

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:53:00 +0000

Camera reviews at dpreview.com:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond80/
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond90/
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos450d/ (Canon EOS Rebel XSi)

Lens reviews:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-S-17-85mm-f-4-5.6-IS-USM-Lens-Review.aspx
http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/181-canon-ef-s-18-55mm-f35-56-is-test-report--review
http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/355/cat/all (Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II …)
http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/349/cat/31 (Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC Macro)
http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/136/cat/11 (Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM)
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Tamron-17-50mm-f-2.8-XR-Di-II-Lens-Review.aspx (Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8)

Shopping links:

inline images in Gmail

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 18:30:00 +0000

Officially inserting inline images in Gmail is not possible. However, there is a workaround:

Open Google Docs in a new window, open a Word Doc. Insert the picture you want from your computer. This converts it into rich text format. Now you can click on the picture in Google Docs, Copy it, then paste it into your gmail compose screen.

disable AutoPlay

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 21:25:00 +0000

The following page describes how to disable AutoPlay on Windows:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/disable-autoplay-of-audio-cds-and-usb-drives/

flu & fever

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:29:00 +0000

I found the following links interesting when I investigated my fever/flu:

Improved open-source firmware for cameras

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:17:00 +0000

Apparently it is possible to reflash the firmware on some cameras, and replace it with improved, open-source alternatives. See this post for more.

calendar generator

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:11:00 +0000

Useful online calendar generator: here

Flash game: Auditorium

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:31:00 +0000

Interesting flash-based game: Auditorium

computing (car) mileage

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:43:00 +0000

I’ve been thinking on how best to get an accurate estimate of fuel consumption on my Honda Civic. Here is what I came up with:

keep a notebook in car
upon filling up the tank with gas:

fill the tank all the way up
note how many litres were purchased; write this down in the notebook, with today’s date
also write down how many kilometres were travelled since last such refueling
reset the “fuel” distance counter

Figuring out the mileage over the distance travelled since the last refueling thus becomes trivial:

info for Honda Civics

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:44:00 +0000

Interesting forums http://www.8thcivic.com/forums/

and in particular

http://www.8thcivic.com/forums/civic-coupe-sedan/ Also, brochures for my Civic ‘08 can be obtained from: http://www.hondaalberta.ca/models/6-2008_civic_sedan_brochure.html

fix for slow mouse scrolling in Total Commander

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:31:00 +0000

http://www.ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?p=144994

As the above post indicates, the slow scrolling in Total Commander (and likely most other Windows’ listboxes) can be fixed by:

Deactivate smooth scrolling for listboxes in control panel/system/advanced/bla.

200 useful Macbook key shortcuts

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:57:00 +0000

http://www.usingmac.com/2007/11/21/mac-os-x-leopard-200-productivity-booster-hotkeys

my site for collecting quotes

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:51:00 +0000

http://sites.google.com/site/mkalisiak/quotes

Anatomy of a Stump Speech

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:30:00 +0000

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2008/02/26/GR2008022600417.html

high-altitude ballooning in near-space

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:02:00 +0000

http://natrium42.com/halo/flight2/

High altitude ballooning is an emerging hobby, since price of GPS and communications equipment has gotten quite low. It is an excellent hobby for people fascinated by space flight and telerobotics and has many learning aspects — from systems design to electronics design to software engineering. There is also an exciting risk factor, namely, that you could lose your precious electronics if something malfunctions. In this project, many of my interest and knowledge areas came together. Also, I have verified that the Earth is indeed round and that space is black. — Alexei Karpenko

(Windows) file managers

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:36:00 +0000

Comparisons

File Managers

Total Commander

bash scripting docs

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:40:00 +0000

[link] 10 Rules for Preventing Automotive Performance Loss

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:39:00 +0000

10 Rules for Preventing Automotive Performance Loss - Part 1 10 Rules for Preventing Automotive Performance Loss - Part 2 10 Rules for Preventing Automotive Performance Loss - Part 3

Installing Win2K without key

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 20:00:00 +0000

(From http://www.petri.co.il/install_windows_2000_without_supplying_the_cd_key.htm)

How can I install Windows 2000 without supplying the CD key?

You can configure W2K to install without having to manually enter the CD key during the setup process.

The Comedy Network

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 05:30:00 +0000

Canadians only (US has Comedy Central). Good far watching Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and South Park. http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca

Funny pics

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 05:23:00 +0000

http://pics.nase-bohren.de/ WARNING: some pics may not be safe for work.

The Issue Sarah Palin Must Address: I Want to See Her Naked

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 05:20:00 +0000

Hilarious: http://www.cracked.com/blog/2008/09/05/the-issue-sarah-palin-must-address-i-want-to-see-her-naked/

best freeware lists

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 16:17:00 +0000

Here are some sites giving lists of some of the best freeware out there:

http://shellcity.net/ (see Dec.27, 2007 and onwards)
http://techsupportalert.com/issues/al_current.htm

Attention Economy

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 16:15:00 +0000

See these interesting posts:

good calendar maker

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:29:00 +0000

http://www.somacon.com/p352.php

Windows STOP messages

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 21:28:00 +0000

I just had Windows reboot out of the blue (no BSOD, just as if I pressed RESET). Looking at the system event log it seems Windows ran into trouble: Event Type: Information Event Source: Save Dump Event Category: None Event ID: 1001 Date: 12/11/2007 Time: 3:19:32 PM User: N/A Computer: SKYNET Description: The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x100000d1 (0x00000000, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0xba940dc2). A dump was saved in: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini111207-01.dmp. For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp. A useful website detailing the STOP codes: http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm Also of interest is the KB article on dealing with the minidumps: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315263

Java links

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 18:07:00 +0000

Java 6

OpenGL in Java

Randy Pausch

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:15:00 +0000

Randy Pausch’s inspirational last lecture. Also see website. Randy Pausch is a professor at Carnegie Melon University which was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer (operated on, but the cancer returned), and knows he has only a few months to live. What wisdom would you impart to future generations if you were in this position? The lecture’s title is “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”.

interesting ideas about achievement, success, life

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:53:00 +0000

In fact, many of the other posts are quite interesting as well on that blog. Definitely a blog I’ll be keeping an eye on, I find a lot of the author’s observations to be quite penetrating and mirroring my own experience and half-baked thoughts.

autonomy for space robotics

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 20:34:00 +0000

Just discovered that there is some research on robot automation, the Mars explorer type, but it is happening away from St.George campus. See:

flashing firmware for SonyEricsson Z710i

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 20:29:00 +0000

Turns out that the firmware for the Z710i can be flashed. This for example could alleviate the problem that Fido locks out the ability to use MP3s as ringtones. Even better, it seems the Z710i can be flashed with firmware for W710i, which is basically the same phone, but has nicer flash-based menu system and more advanced “walkman” music player (e.g., ability to fast-forward within a song). Here are some relevant links:

Adobe prevents normal.dot writes in MSOffice

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 13:53:00 +0000

Grrr… I hate applications that self-insert themselves into your tools. It turns out the reason my customizations to MS Word toolbars weren’t sticking was that Word was prevented from saving settings to normal.dot, which in turn was being caused by Adobe. See this link; the fix worked wonderfully.

the water charlatans

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 15:49:00 +0000

This post is a cautionary tale, and a snapshot of all the relevant information I gathered in the process. It so happened that one day I get a phone call from a company “that deals with water quality”, and they claim that Cathy has done a survey with them, and has won some prize worth over $xxx (as a “thank you”). They wanted to know whether they can swing by sometime, drop it off, and do a free water test for us. As Cathy wasn’t home, I couldn’t check with her whether this was legitimate, so I said, what the hey, come on over. I was interested in the water test because I was wondering earlier whether we were suffering from excessive hardness of water here, but that’s another story. 6:30pm, the representative shows up. Sets up in the kitchen a row of plastic drinking cups, as if preparing for an elaborate shell game. Each cup is made to hold water from various sources (distilled, tap, Brita filtered, and various bottled waters in our house). He pulls out an upright binder with what seems like “informational material”. Oh oh, red flags start going off in my head! First test is using a TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) meter. Distilled water obviously gets a very low reading. Tap water is higher. The readings for bottled water shoot up to 265. The “gentleman” claims that this reflects the amount of junk and pollutants in the water. In actuality, this is totally misleading. See here for a full skinny on TDS measurement. It’s a bit of a misnomer, all it really does is detect charged ions in water, most of which are from the (benign, or even beneficial) hard water salts dissolved in the water (Calcium, etc.) The 265 p.p.m. figure for the bottled water was meant to impress and frighten us, but inspecting the label for the bottled waters in fact explicitly states that the expected mineral content in the waters is about 290 p.p.m., so if anything, the TDS reading for these waters was in fact a tad low. I had a pretty strong sinking feeling at this point, that we’ve been conned into a sales pitch. The final touch was when the guy pulled out a precipitator test device for next round of testing. I’ve heard of these being used for scaremongering, and a quick check on the Net (I excused myself to grab my tea from upstairs) revealed to be the case, and also turned up this interesting tidbit (government forbade this particular company to do chlorine testing without getting certified; I presume they were scaring residents with yet more deceptive tests). Anyhow, in short, the company was Glacier Water Treatment Systems of Newmarket, Ontario. They sell water distillers for homes. Links explaining the bogus nature of the precipitator test:

interesting pages

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 05:28:00 +0000

humour: Ze Frank on St.Vallentine’s
rest of Frank’s site is also good (props to mjmcguff for the pointer)
cool online tool for unmangling Dvorak typing on QWERTY keyboard (handy if stuck at a QWERTY keyboard)
Microsoft guidelines on designing icons
an interesting post that couples AutoHotKey with Windows keyboard layout engine
(all?) books by Peter McWilliams; interesting and refreshing viewpoint on many things in life
Bradicon!, a cool tool where you upload a picture and it online generates an icon from it

modifying the 'look-in' buttons in standard file dialog

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 03:34:00 +0000

Standard file dialogs under Windows (2000 and higher?) have a set of five big buttons down the left side which you can click to be directly taken to the corresponding directories. It’s called the “Places bar”, and the buttons might be called “look-in” buttons. I went in search of how to modify them, as the default set was uterly useless to me. Here are interesting things I found:

notes: interesting Gothic III threads

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 12:55:00 +0000

General computer & Gothic 3 specific improvements (no fixes!)
INI Tweaks: How to make G3 look and perform better!
Improved performance tweaks
changing in-game font (helps some people with performance)
fire sound fix (see first post)

notes: Martin's sugs/research on startups

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:38:00 +0000

useful: CS course “Business of Software”: CSC2527F M6-8, M8
useful: http://paulgraham.com/
good read: Hackers and Painters, by same
good read (slides): The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson

hard water woes

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 18:17:00 +0000

I’ve been having issues from the start with my shaving brush quickly becoming hydro-phobic after one or two shaves. I suspect one of the main culprits is hard water, although apparently Markham/Toronto has decent water. Here is a site that gives the water hardness of various towns around the GTA: http://www.justwater.ca/town.html Also of interest is a forum post about “Calgon”, and water softener agents in general: http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=68131 Here is the particularly interesting bit of the thread:

DemoCamp

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:27:00 +0000

I should go to one of these… DemoCamp Interesting blog post on the topic: post In particular, it mentions a thread being used to put together a “subway map” of tech companies in Toronto: thread

Sacha Chua

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:23:00 +0000

I didn’t realize that Sacha Chua has come to UofT, and is currently on the verge of completing her Master’s! Her blog is here: http://sachachua.com/notebook/wiki/today.php It’s been a while. Last time I exchanged emails with her is when she maintained the Emacs planner mode, which I used at the time.

link collection: posture

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:21:00 +0000

http://www.wikihow.com/Improve-Your-Posture http://www.bodymindandmodem.com/Basics/posture.html

interesting blog: academic productivity

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:09:00 +0000

http://www.academicproductivity.com/blog/

interesting series: Pmarca guide to startups

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 18:54:00 +0000

http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/the_pmarca_guid_1.html http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/the_pmarca_guid_2.html http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/the_pmarca_guid_3.html http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/the_pmarca_guid_4.html http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/the_pmarca_guid_5.html

interesting blog: pmarca

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 18:52:00 +0000

http://blog.pmarca.com/ A blog by Marc Andreessen, of Netscape fame.

Interesting links on starting a company

Sun, 10 Jul 2005 05:59:00 +0000

How to Make a Million Dollars* important books on topic from above talk* Web Knowledge Equals Wealth

tangible yet hidden

Fri, 08 Jul 2005 03:43:00 +0000

This tickles something in my mind, some idea or truth I’ve sort of glimpsed, but haven’t grasped. I think this is meshing with some unexpressed ideas and intuitions I’ve evolved in my mind. Seek the link; it taunts me so.

YubNub

Fri, 08 Jul 2005 03:19:00 +0000

A (social) command line for the Web: YubNub.org Additional related and interesting links:

most used commands* installation* description

online intro to 'grant writing'

Thu, 07 Jul 2005 23:36:00 +0000

This might come in useful in the future: grant writing intro

current issues with Thunderbird

Thu, 07 Jul 2005 00:52:00 +0000

no support for “delete attachment” from email; I tried Attachment Tools extension as a workaround and it nearly destroyed my inbox! I think this functionality is coming in the next release of Thunderbird though…
the “getting stuck” problem on moving an email with attachments to “Sent” folder; seems to occur whether using an IMAP or local folder for this!!!

another open source car physics engine

Wed, 06 Jul 2005 08:11:00 +0000

Worth checking out: VAMOS

alternatives to 'aglorithmic.sty'

Tue, 05 Jul 2005 03:04:00 +0000

The TeX FAQ lists alternatives; see here I think what I’ve been looking for is algorithmicx.sty, since it provides “procedure” and “function” blocks. newalg.sty looks good too.

Claude (migration note): Filename renamed from alternatives-to-aglorithmic-sty to alternatives-to-algorithmic-sty (typo/encoding fix).

BlitzGrok: bookmark consolidator

Mon, 04 Jul 2005 17:00:00 +0000

UPDATE: screw it, just use del.icio.us… much better concept!

bookmark bridge only Explorer and Mozilla-based bookmarks? no, in recent version I saw mention of Opera & KDE… NOTE: one could also use Firefox first to import Opera & Konqy bookmarks…* bk_edit no longer developped/maintained* online-bookmarks needs web server, MySQL, PHP* tengis* goem* bmsync* bookmarksync

BlitzGrok: lawncare & watering

Sun, 03 Jul 2005 19:58:00 +0000

The following links seem to confirm that watering at night is generally bad (because of fungus, mildew):

link: pretty good info* link includes tips on recognizing when grass needs water* City of Toronto site on water efficiency and lawn watering* link: more from above, specifically on lawn watering in various seasons* link: notes on watering new trees (new trees apparently need 20L of water a day!)

Lesson’s learned from the above

BlitzGrok: recipes for bubble solutions

Sun, 03 Jul 2005 02:34:00 +0000

a listing of various solutions: link (interesting how glycerin seems to be a frequent ingredient)* this one also includes “recipes” for bubble wands: link* a set of bubble solution recipes: link (and bubble-based games for kids; William’s probably too young for this though)* a single, common denominator recipe: link* suggestion on buying glycerin: here

'getmail' mail fetching program

Sat, 02 Jul 2005 03:16:00 +0000

I should check out “getmail” and try using that instead of “fetchmail”. See: link link

Farmer's Market

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 06:51:00 +0000

It turns out there is a Farmer’s Market in Markham: info Markham Road & Robinson Street, Markham, ON. Saturday 8:30 am to 2 pm May - October Vendors: 25 905-472-2462 There’s also one in Newmarket

BlitzGrok: produce

Thu, 30 Jun 2005 05:36:00 +0000

FRESH FRUIT extract from: link Now that fresh fruit season is here, you may need some tips for buying and storing fruit to maximize it’s ripe, flavorful period. Keep in mind that “ripeness” is not a unitary standard, in other words it means different things to different types of fruit:

About

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’m Maciej Kalisiak — software engineer, occasional writer, and enthusiastic over-thinker.

This site is where I put things that feel worth putting somewhere: technical explorations, half-formed ideas, and the occasional observation that refused to stay in my head quietly.

CV

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Total Token Vortex

NoobRL

snow-crash

black-oracle

snappy

prospero

loc-delta

Motion Planning with Viability Filtering

RRT-Blossom

Viability Envelopes

Grasp-Based Motion Planning for Character Animation

Discovery of an "Optimal" Metric

Capturing Metrics Using Octrees

Landmark-Based Motion Planning for Bikes

Sketch-Based Motion Planning

Decision Surfaces via Opposing NN Pairs

Better NN-Based Decision Surfaces

Auto-Discovery of Viability Envelopes

Desk Organizer 3D Print

Ares Print

Marcus Aurelius

Moon Number Two

Claude Usage Megathread

Interesting Tidbids #

Claude Token Burn

AI Summary #

Claude Local Replacement

Goal #

Mise-en-scène #

Cli Tool for Ollama

Chat tools #

oterm #

Trying Out Gemma4

Set up #

New Hugo Post

Preface #

Migrating to Hugo (from Blogger)

Hello, World

Getting the pretty 'tree' for 'git log'

The many merge options for 'git pull'

Interesting posts on ZSA blog

Interesting read: Mediocre Engineer’s guide to HTTPS

Interesting read: principles for keyboard layouts

Potential purchase: hand-held scope

Interesting HN post: The Engineer’s Guide to Deep Learning: Understanding the Transformer Model

Dyson hand vacuum battery troubles

Fun Reddit post: Games you get extremely OP in without any glitch/hacks?

Kruggsmash playing CoQ

TIL abotu Anna's Archive

Interesting article: State of Text Rendering 2024

Interesting read: Entering text in the terminal is complicated

Interesting HN article: How to think in writing

Interesting read: Doing is normally distributed, learning is log-normal

Don't build things; build FACTORIES that build things

Build systems, not goals

How life is like the Westworld Maze

Inaugural post

multiple Google calendars on iPad

HP Laserjet 1022n under Windows 7

emacs --daemon

Windows 7: startup items

disconnecting iPod from Linux

clonezilla (disk imaging) quickstart

gizmo's freeware

www.softwarepatch.com

checking USB thumb drives

CapsLock as another Ctrl (Windows)

Totes 'Doorman/Gentleman' umbrella

Monday as first day of week in GNOME

hunting for dock for Nexus S

dead pixel finder, online version

fixing broken Ubuntu Unity

setting static IP in Ubuntu

cloning a github repo

Recommended book on Mathematics

A nice cup of tea (by Orwell)

configuring grub for auto-selecting Windows

how to reset Furthest Page Read on Kindle

fixing headphone config on Acer Aspire One

Notes from Ubuntu 11.04 install on Acer Aspire 522 - BZ499

Interesting Tidbids
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AI Summary
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Goal
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Mise-en-scène
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Chat tools
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oterm
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Set up
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Preface
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