gregladen | April 14, 2009The other day I wanted to print a single 4 by 6 photo on the all-in-one printer Lizzie gave me last year. I was doing this from my Linux computer. I assumed that this would be tricky because this is one of those machines that's gotta have a complex and strange printer driver and maybe it would not work on my humble Linux box.
I don' t know why I had such a stoopid thought. I got the image up in The Gimp, opened "Printer Properties" and specified that I wanted a 4 by 6 photo quality, and hit "Print." And it was done.
Linux in Exile has a post on Windows Printing and how much of a pain it…
gregladen | April 14, 2009And other odd moments.
Experience the opportunity of a life time. Or at least of an afternoon. Vote for the Best Global Warming Short Video!!!!
The thing that looks lie a big white rat in this one is a polar bear:
VOTE HERE
gregladen | April 14, 2009... but seriously ... even though we all hate it when a bunch of armed and desperate people board a ship of humanitarian relief supplies that they don't own and demand large sums of money, we also know that few people grow up to become pirates without a reason.
So let's get some perspective, and start with an overview by Rachel Maddow:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
To this I'd like to add the important fact that over the last several years, more "acts of piracy" that have occurred in this region have come from bases NOT in Somalia than those in…
gregladen | April 14, 2009 Violence in Nigeria's oil region left 1,000 people dead and cost $24bn (£16bn) last year, a report says, according to an official and activist.
Ledum Mitee, chairman of the Niger Delta Presidential Technical Committee, says the figures only cover the first nine months of 2008.
Militants and criminal gangs often attack oil installations, leading to reprisals from the military.
The unrest has cut Nigeria's oil output by about 25% in recent years.
Last week, President Umaru Yar'Adua said his government was considering granting amnesty to violent groups if they disarm.
Hat Tip, Elle. Read the…
gregladen | April 14, 2009August Berkshire is the vice president of Atheist Alliance International, past president of Minnesota Atheists and member of the board of Camp Quest of Minnesota. He was president of Minnesota Atheists for a long time and is one of the prime movers in the organized "nice guy" atheist movement.
August attended a talk here in the Twin Cities by Ken Miller, author of Finding Darwin's God, and he wrote up a review of the talk which has been published on Quiche Moraine. Go have a look: Losing Miller's God by August Berkshire
gregladen | April 14, 2009If we step outside of our chauvinistic inclination to look at evolution as a process with humans as the teleological result of its process, the unfolding story of life's continual divergence makes even more sense. As Klink illustrates, we are but a small twig on a minor branch of the Tree of Life and not necessarily its crown.
Continued here...
gregladen | April 13, 2009The judicial panel hearing Coleman's challenge against Franken in the Minnesota Senate Race has made its decision: Franken is the the winner of the election and should be certified. The procedure is this: A ten day period occurs after which the Governor certifies the election. Unless there is a challenge in the State Supreme Court.
Colman has been ordered to pay Franken's legal costs.
Coleman is expected to continue to obstruct democracy. About half the people of this state knew he was a bastard before this started. That number has grown.
GIVE IT UP, NORM!!!!!!
gregladen | April 13, 2009Because the right wing wacko Republicans have organized a major media event for April 15th (tax day) in which "teabagging parties" will be held across the country.
GLIU. then, ROFL. AFAIK, they don't know what it means.
gregladen | April 13, 2009It is a ground breaking company, it is a bookstore that is mega mega like few other companies are. It is a bookstore that is a huge corporation. Think about that for a second. Think about bookstores in the old days then think about this thing, Amazon Dot Com. A bookstore that is leading the way in mega cloud computing. It has one of the most effective ways ever of interfacing with its customers. It has become the go to place for many people for the purchase of almost anything one can imagine being delivered by mail. Amazon Dot Com is a thing the likes of which we have not seen before…
gregladen | April 13, 2009"Yell For Help With Stewie Bronson."
Yell for Help! With Stewie Bronson: UNIX trouble - watch more funny videos
Hat Tip: LUM
gregladen | April 13, 2009A couple of days ago I told you about a "getting started" guide for Linux. Here is another free PDF file that you may find interesting. This is a 170 page Ubuntu reference guide. It predates the current version of Ubuntu, but the vast majority of the contents are 100% useful.
You need to go here to down load it.
gregladen | April 13, 2009A timely repost, given the discussion going on here.
The North End, Boston, Massachusetts I'm standing outside Luigi's restaurant having a smoke, and Luigi's doorman had joined me. Across the street yellow stingray is parked, as usual, to block the alley. The word is, the fire escape down into that alley leads directly from Baronelli's office. The stingray is an escape pod.
Almost every restaurant on Hanover street and the dozen side streets is like Luigi's: owned by a family from a particular part of Italy or Sicily, with a local cuisine variant, and for the most part, run by the…
gregladen | April 13, 2009UPDATED:
... at Berlin Zoo Friday afternoon after she climbed a fence and jumped into its habitat during feeding time, police said Saturday.
One adult polar bit her several times after she plunged into the moat, police said.
Zoo workers tossed rescue rings toward the woman to hoist her out and distract polar bears swimming nearby, said Goerg Gebhard, a Berlin police officer.
Here are the gruesome stills and film:
Another Video, with more commentary:
Why are people always jumping into Polar Bear enclosures?
It's unclear why the woman entered the bear habitat, but police issued her a…
gregladen | April 12, 2009... in the movie Observe and Report.
Go HERE to see the rest of the commentary as well as the R-rated trailer which shows part of the scene in question.
I've got no opinion on this one scene because there is not enough context or detail (having not seen the movie) but the FFFU seems reasonable. The movie as a whole seems to be stupid. And it seems to be just one more of the parade of stupid that serves so well to maintain our stupid culture. I don't think I'm being stupid when I say this. Am I?
gregladen | April 12, 2009In the old days (last week) Somali pirates would occasionally board a ship, there'd be some negotiations, money would change hands, and the ship would be back on track. That was not a good system, but it was a system.
Then the first American flagged ship to get taken by the pirates comes along and the crew does the Chuck Norris thing and the whole system has collapsed.
The latest news:
A Panama flagged carrier freighter was attacked by pirates, and the attack was repulsed with fire hoses.
Friday, on a yacht sailing through the area, one Frenchman and two pirates died during an attempted…
gregladen | April 12, 2009The problem with those dang ethnic people is that you can't even pronounced their names. Regarding the difficulty some Chinese and other east Asian people have with conflicts in their own naming system and the naming system assued by, for instance, a state's Motor Vehicle department, Texas (where else) State Representative Betty Brown says:
Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese -- I understand it's a rather difficult language -- do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here? ...
Can't you see that this is…
gregladen | April 12, 2009Rebecca Skloot just facebooked this story:
Scientists Find 'Baffling' Link between Autism and Vinyl Flooring
Children who live in homes with vinyl floors, which can emit chemicals called phthalates, are more likely to have autism, according to research by Swedish and U.S. scientists published Monday.
The study of Swedish children is among the first to find an apparent connection between an environmental chemical and autism.
Obviously its been out for a few days, but I had not noticed it.