Time Unknown (Entries tagged as advice)

Balancing the scales

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:31:14 +0200

Often when I feel down I play this game with the world: I look at the strangers on streets. I look them into their eyes. I smile. Then I notice how many smile back. I feel this helps to balance the scales.

Having a funny hat helps, but do give it a shot even if you don't have one.

Conversation advice

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:04:14 +0200

Monkey Talk is a pile of good advice about conversations. Good enough to be sometimes reread, and funny enough to make one smile.

Kubuntu 8.10 Alternative and P5Q Pro network card

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 08:14:07 +0200

If you are installing Kubuntu 8.10 to a computer having a P5Q Pro (or possibly other type of P5Q) motherboard using the alternative install cd and the installer refuses to find the network card, there is no need to panic. Just install as you would normally, then do

sudo apt-get install linux-generic

which will install the ever so slightly newer version of the kernel. After a boot you'll have network normally.

Bookmark add-ons solve issues

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:07:50 +0300

My two major bookmark annoyances with Firefox 3 were not having a "bookmark this page" option in the bookmark hierarchy and having to open Organize bookmarks just to look at tags. Seems that Bookmark This Page Plus add-on solves the first issue and TagSifter solves the second. If in addition you feel tired to always have to open the bookmark tree when adding a bookmark the normal route, OpenBook add-on will let you change that.

Truncate is good for you

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:54:14 +0300

I discovered my Serendipity database was huge, really big - almost 90M. Turned out every nasty spam comment had gotten logged into serendipity_spamblocklog table. I changed spamblock settings so that it logs to a file, and then did TRUNCATE TABLE serendipity_spamblocklog;

Now the database is less than 1M and I'm one happy camper.

'Clone' only one directory of your git repo

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:26:26 +0300

As both SVN and CVS support multiple projects under the same root, don't be too embarrassed if you accidentally made your git repository span multiple projects as well. This can be a big problem in situations where you want to publish just one of your projects. Worry not, there is a way out of the mess! You can separate a single directory into a repo of its own.

First, always work with a copy:

cp -r mygitmess myspecificnewname
cd myspecificnewname

Filter to just that one directory you want to single out:

git filter-branch --subdirectory-filter MyDirectory HEAD

This will also move the contents of MyDirectory up into your working directory.

Some clean-up actions to make sure everything ends up fine and dandy:

rm -rf MyDirectory
git reset --hard
git gc --aggressive
git prune

Then make sure everything works and start using your project specific git repo! You can remove the old repo (mygitmess) once you have separated all of your projects similarly.

Huawei observations

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Sat, 10 May 2008 15:11:12 +0300

Plugging in Saunalahti nettitikku Huawei 169 worked fine, and I could browse the web and ssh out. Soon, however, I realized that Akregator was failing to fetch feeds. I tried again and then fetched some feeds manually with Firefox.. that worked so it seemed unlikely .rss was somehow discriminated against. When I tried fetching podcasts with Amarok, that did not work either! I closed and restarted both apps, but no cigar.

Turned out both started working when I closed Knetwork-manager. I guess they believed it too well about there not being a network.

How to annoy most people visiting your site

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 11:25:43 +0300

Today I visited Wowio, a site that offers DRM-free PDFs of books. Real books. I spend an hour on the site ooh-ing over the books and adding gazillion of them into my queue. When I was finally done, I went to the queue section to download. I was asked to register. That's ok, they have to form some sort of idea who visits the site if they ever want to have any revenue.

However, they did not let me register. The site told me it's currently only for people in USA, and cannot serve me. I did not even get access to my queue listing, so I could not even take the list and go buy the books. What a waste of time! Why couldn't they let me know of this limitation when I first entered the site?

So, if you really want to annoy people visiting your site, make them jump through hoops and then tell them 'gotcha' and deny them the service.

Foolscap for my GTD reference system

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 19:18:04 +0200

After intensive searched for A4 manila file folders (the non-suspending kind) for my GTD reference system, it suddenly dawned to me. I don't need A4 manila folders, which are almost impossible to find. The mysterious word I had ran into over and over again "foolscap" did not refer to the edge of the folder, like I had assumed, but to the size. And the foolscap, sizewise, is the size almost designed to take A4 papers.

Yey! Armed with this knowledge I could find the folders I need for less than £4 per 100 (if I settle for quite thin kraft folders) or around £35 per 100 if I want the fancy, heavyduty, coloured version made by a well-known brand. Granted, I have not yet inquired about the shipping.

What is ATWCWI and why you might want it too

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 12:10:52 +0200

ATWCWI, which stands for "Avoid Time-Wasting Conversations With Idiots" was named after the Dilbert album "Always Postpone Meetings With Time-Wasting Morons" and it's the name of the by far best IRC command alias I have ever had.

I know the name sounds a bit brutal for some of you, but let me explain it first:

Avoid: Don't be bothered by
Time-Wasting: Stuff that you cannot do anything about, don't need to do anything about, or that is not contributing in any useful way to your life
Conversations: Conversations
With: With, or simply within the scope of your vision
Idiots: Not necessarily actual idiots, but people you get frustrated, angry or infuriated with, or simply overwhelmed by.

Basicly, that is a principle found in almost all productivity systems: Avoid things that distract you from what you are trying to do.

So, what does the command actually do?

/ignore -time 600 $0

It ignores a user completely for 10 minutes, and 10 minutes only. You will not see a word they say, not on the channels, nor in messages from them. The distraction will be removed, giving you time to focus, get on with more important things and maybe think about how the heated discussion was so not worth it, and how next time a more productive course of action can be taken. After the ten minutes are up, the ignore is lifted, and you'll have to reassess the situation. Usually, whatever bothered you is over by that time.

I do recommend being honest and kind when you use atwcwi. Don't offend a person and them atwcwi them without apologizing first, as that would clearly make you an idiot. Try to speak for peace. When using it to exit a conversationg you were participating in, tell them, if you can, that you valued their time, input or opinions and bid them goodbye (for a fixed time, or just 'bye' is up to you). If you just use it to temporarily ignore distracting conversations you are not participating in, no need to say anything at all. They probably hardly noticed you were there and don't need to notice you no longer see what they write.

Probably the hardest, but perhaps the most wonderful use of atwcwi is to use it on people you like. If there is a fight developing that would not solve anything, or a discussion that is just way to stressful right now, it's within your rights to 'walk away'. Tell them your reasons, honestly and kindly, tell them whether you think the conversation will be ok later, ask them gently but firmly to postpone or drop the subject with you. Then, if they will not, you can tell them that you'll need to have some space now for 10 minutes and that you hope you can talk about something else later.

In a perfect world atwcwi would not have any use at all, but before that world of everpresent kindness, patience, moderation and directness becomes a reality atwcwi can help you focus on what you want to do, be it volunteering on a support channel or just returning to talking with a friend you like without needing to lose your temper with them meanwhile.

Make your own iPhone killer

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 14:27:40 +0200

If you want to make your own Linux phone, with wifi and gps goodness, EM-X270, a screen and a pretty case might be a really good start. Even X270 on its own looks yummy. I cannot wait to see someone using it.

A Trangia short of a camping trip

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 08:05:14 +0300

If you happen to want to go camping, and forgot to buy a Trangia, you can probably construct one from stuff you have by following these simple instructions.

Removing screenprotectors

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 19:13:41 +0300

If you have the original screen protector still on your N800, or want to remove some other stubborn screen protector, the following trick is kinder to your touchscreen that trying to pry the film loose with your fingernails.

1. Take some low-tack tape (masking tape is good).

2. Smooth a piece of it, 6cm or so, diagonally at a corner so that half of it is hanging loose outside the screen area while the other 3cm is firmly attached to the film.

3. Grab the loose end and pull quickly towards the center of the screen. For those of you unfortunate enough to have waxed of hair, this movement should come quite naturally.

4. Throw away the useless film or remove the tape and clean the film for further use.

If you are by the way wondering about a weird film on your N800 that has a tiny tab at the upper right that goes under the bevel, yes, that's the original protective film and can be safely removed.

4 months with the paper wallet

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 14:07:41 +0300

My second paper wallet lasted 4 months and while it's not at the stage yet where the cards would fall out, it's soon getting there and it already looks like it would benefit from getting replaced. One wallet per a quarter of a year will allow you to match your wallet with your trendy clothing. I think I'll make the next one from some colour advertisements or old magazine paper.

Using Amarok as a podcatcher

nospam@example.com (Lynoure) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 07:26:00 +0300

I found a way to use Amarok that fits my criteria for a usable podcatcher. Maybe someday I’ll maka a plugin that removes some of these steps, but here is what I do currently:

I only move podcasts to my portable player with Amarok. That way I can easily get them all to be under ‘podcasts’ directory without having to meddle with the path of each individual podcast.

1. Choose Transfer to Media player from the context menu of the episode.

2. Choose Mark to Listened from the context menu of the episode. Now you can tell which ones are in your transfer queue.

3. When done with your selections, attach your device, go to Devices tab and choose Transfer. For this method to work, you should transfer all of your queue.

4. Enjoy the podcasts on your device.

5. Next time when you work through your podcasts in order to choose the ones to Transfer to Media Player, choose Delete Downloaded Podcast from the context menu of those episodes the way you marked them in step 2. As you go through them in order, you can be sure that the ones below you have been transferred and that the ones above you are what you just marked for transfer.