http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/ I'm bald, I'm a geek, and I have an opinion. Check in every now and then and see how silly it is. en Copyright 2011 Wed, 16 Feb 2011 07:01:08 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Youtube videos, etc. causing a big ugly yellow notification at the top of my Chromium screen notifying me that the Flash plugin has crashed, out of the blue, presumably after an Ubuntu update. The fix was simple, once I dug through ten thousand web pages to find it: open a Flash video in another browser (Chrome was fine, in my case), right-click on the video, under Settings, disable hardware acceleration. Problem solved! Once Flash turns into html5, this will be moot, but for now, hope this helps! http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2011/02/flash_crashing_in_chromium_a_s.php http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2011/02/flash_crashing_in_chromium_a_s.php Annoyances Chromium Crashes Flash Ubuntu Wed, 16 Feb 2011 07:01:08 -0600 Eventually, ripping/recreating DVD's will be a one-step process on Ubuntu, I predict, but for now, here are the three steps you must go through. Step 1: use Handbrake to rip the DVD into a file. I prefer the mp4, that allows me to watch the movie on my Android phone. Handbrake does some rather annoying things by default. I suggest starting off with High Profile, this gives you an mp4 capable of recreating a high-quality DVD. I suggest turning off chapter markers, use the H.264 video codec, then save as a profile which you can easily select each time you run the program. My rips average a tad over a gigabyte at these settings, preserving quality nicely. Step 2: Use WinFF. Convert the mp4 to NTSC DVD HQ Widescreen, assuming you live in the US. The PAL option is also available. This will create an mpg file. Step 3: Use ManDVD to convert the mpg into an iso, easily burnable by any disk burning program. That's what works for me, YMMV. Happy ripping! http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2011/02/dvd_manipulation_on_ubuntu.php http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2011/02/dvd_manipulation_on_ubuntu.php Ubuntu/Other Linux Ubuntu Sun, 06 Feb 2011 09:53:07 -0600 Dunno why, but a couple of releases back, Ubuntu did away with the handy three-fingered-salute to restart X. An addon could be installed at that point, but now it's gone too. Simple solution to restore it: * Go to System->Preferences->Keyboard menu. * Select the "Layouts" tab and click on the "Layout Options" button. * Then select "Key sequence to kill the X server" and enable "Control + Alt + Backspace". Or, if you're a command-liner, this: setxkbmap -option terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp Back in business! http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/12/i_miss_ctrlaltbksp.php http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/12/i_miss_ctrlaltbksp.php Wed, 01 Dec 2010 07:11:58 -0600 Aquarium Fish). Here are a few I drew: ]]> http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/09/the_nature_of_things.php http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/09/the_nature_of_things.php The Auld Days Sun, 26 Sep 2010 19:35:23 -0600 The Oglala aquifer feeds the plains states with irrigation water. However, it's being tapped in a quantity higher than is being renewed. In other words, it's essentially non-renewable. Eventually, it's going to vanish. And when it does, so will plains agriculture, to a large extent. The same thing is happening with computer geeks. There are many highly paid Dot Net programmers out there who drag and drop to build apps. They have no clue as to the ones and zeros that are working in the background to make things happen. That means that they are depending on Microsoft to make things run as smoothly and as quickly as possible. Hmm, you might as well depend on Charles Manson to be your PR guy. That brings me to the subject of this piece: the slow extinction of the geek who jumps into code fearlessly to extract the highest possible efficiency from the app. The guy who doesn't rely on defaults, who instead tweaks stuff to get the most bang for the buck. You're on the endangered species list, pal, and computing's gonna royally suck when you're gone. http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/09/a_non-renewable_resource_the_v.php http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/09/a_non-renewable_resource_the_v.php The Auld Days Thu, 16 Sep 2010 10:59:52 -0600 the SEC is the Toughest Conference in the Universe. During each halftime break, ESPN announcers will mention Tim Tebow at least five times. There will also be heated discussions as to which SEC team will eventually win the National Championship, and despair will be expressed that it is practically impossible for TWO SEC teams to square off in the Big Match, even though the Top Twenty teams in the nation are all from the SEC. After the season is over, if a non-SEC player somehow wins the Heisman Trophy, there will be loud outrage expressed by the adoring local sportswriters about the unfairness of such goings-on. Claims of cheating, blanks ballots, and hanging chads will be angrily emitted.]]> http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/09/the_rites_of_fall.php http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/09/the_rites_of_fall.php Annoyances Annoyances Sports Sun, 05 Sep 2010 08:47:17 -0600 I was at Barnes and Noble last night, looking for a good science fiction book. I'm sort of stuck in the past, SF-wise, I like the works of the masters: Pohl, Clarke, Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Lem, Asimov, etc. I was distressed to find no books at all by Anderson or Lem. The selections of the others were quite limited. On the other hand, there was a plethora of the later Dune books by Herbert (and/or son). There were also a ton of books by new authors with whom I'm not familiar. I realize that time goes on, and new faces take the place of the old, but I'm disappointed that two writers of the stature of Anderson and Lem would be completely left off the shelves at a book store. It doesn't seem like good business. The science fiction section should be well-stocked by the books of the authors who put it on the map in the first place. http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/07/where_are_the_works_of_the_mas.php http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/07/where_are_the_works_of_the_mas.php Annoyances Sat, 24 Jul 2010 08:35:53 -0600 I've foolishly relied on "security through obscurity" for my various AWStats reports. I have also had lots of referrals to my sites from sites which have nary a link on them pointing my way. Duh. I was being used by these scumsuckers to provide bogus links THEIR way, thanks to my unsecured aws folders, in which dwelt my traffic reports. Presumably, these "links" would enhance their status with the search engines. It was fixed with putting password protection in place via .htaccess. If you have wide-open web tracking reports, and are seeing crap sites as major referrers, you're being used. Implement password protection ASAP. http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/06/password_protect_awstats.php http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/06/password_protect_awstats.php Annoyances Spam Busting Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:43:59 -0600 Computerworld's Shark Tank. Since then, many of the folks that got mentioned in the article have moved on. Many more have blown in. And it continues to be a fun place to read funny (allegedly) true tech stories, then afterwards to join in on the bantering that goes on in the comments. Anyhow, here's a couple of pics of 02BIrish and myself, wearing our hard-earned Tank shirts. Have you got one? Shoot a pic of you wearing it and I'll be happy to post it here. Let me know if you want to be famous or incognito. Click on the pics for enlarged versions (if you dare!) 02BIrish, world's greatest lymericist Ye Olde Bald Guy, in his usual state of stuporous oblivion This is Dimhelmet, he doesn't post many comments, but he wins shirts!]]> http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/06/shark_tank_shirt_gallery.php http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/06/shark_tank_shirt_gallery.php Everything Else Shark Tank Sun, 13 Jun 2010 13:17:02 -0600 don't do is hang around Yankee discussion boards and annoy their fans. ]]> http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/06/gadflies.php http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/06/gadflies.php Annoyances FOSS Gadflies Linux Sun, 06 Jun 2010 10:37:11 -0600 See details here. Anyhow, somehow, my desktop got ugly. Instead of my razor-sharp 1680x1050, I was topped out at 1360x768. That might be fine on my old 19" widescreen, but not on my gorgeous Samsung 24". The problem proved to be amazingly perplexing. Several times in the course of editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf, I fubarred things badly enough that X wouldn't even start. Finally, a solution was found. I found an xorg.conf online that restored every resolution. Click to continue, and I'll share it with you.]]> http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/05/fixing_goofed_nvidia_in_ubuntu.php http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/05/fixing_goofed_nvidia_in_ubuntu.php Ubuntu/Other Linux Linux Nvidia Ubuntu Sun, 30 May 2010 07:49:50 -0600 Well, crap. The official Ubuntu 10.04 release didn't play nice with the Nvidia onboard video on my 2006 vintage HP a1483w. Booting led to a screen that was black. my monitor didn't detect a signal, and went dormant. What made me crazy was that I had run into similar issues before, and was able to boot into runlevel three (no GUI) and work on the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file to at least get ugly video back, so that I could have the GUI running to experiment on. In the Redhat world, hitting escape when the grub menu pops up allows you to edit the command line. Adding a '3' to the end of the string that calls the Linux kernel overrides /etc/inittab and sends you straight to runlevel 3. Well, I was quite perturbed to discover that the boot string editing trick no worky with Ubuntu. Adding a 3 to the boot string had no effect at all. Ctrl+alt+f1 didn't work, either, no alternative login screen. What's even weirder is that there is NO /etc/inittab file to dictate system runlevel. In short, I simply could not boot into anything but a broken GUI, i.e. a black screen. Time to fall back on an old friend. Enter CentOS 5. http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/05/shifting_linux_gears.php http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/05/shifting_linux_gears.php Ubuntu/Other Linux CentOS Linux Ubuntu Wed, 05 May 2010 12:43:07 -0600 Ubuntu Tweak if you haven't already. It instantly edits all sorts of obscure config files for you, making it simple to have a system that does exactly what you want it to do.]]> http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/04/first_thoughts_on_ubuntu_104.php http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/04/first_thoughts_on_ubuntu_104.php Ubuntu/Other Linux Sun, 25 Apr 2010 12:44:25 -0600 Click here for more. Hey, Washington residents! The next time your local taxes are raised because of deficits, why not give Steve Ballmer a holler and thank him personally? :-)]]> http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/04/tax_breaks.php http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/04/tax_breaks.php Annoyances Microsoft Sat, 24 Apr 2010 08:04:07 -0600 crappy Vista interface...]]> http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/04/taking_a_sip_of_the_ms_kool-ai.php http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog/2010/04/taking_a_sip_of_the_ms_kool-ai.php Software Microsoft PHP Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:18:31 -0600