As it turns out, after having spent far too much time trying to debug this, I found a bug in Kopete that was causing the problems with using a SOCKS proxy in KDE. Along the way, I learned that a SOCKS proxy feature is built right into SSH!!! ssh -D
Anyway, here are all the gory, copius details. Go, bug-fixer guys!! =:)
I’ve been banging my head against the wall for a good couple of hours and had to vent….
I needed to get Kopete (a REALLY good KDE IM client) to use my Squid proxy server. Well, it’s not designed to do that, so that’s one thing, but what it can do is use a SOCKS proxy server. I proceeded to set up the Dante SOCKS proxy server on my aging-but-still-ticking debian box. All that’s left is getting Kopete to use it, right? Nope, not so easy. You can’t have just Kopete use a SOCKS proxy server, like gaim can. You have to have the entire desktop environment (all of KDE) use the SOCKS server. Okay, fair enough and understandable. Ahhh, but then my question for you, oh fair seeker of truth, knowledge and KDE enlightenment, is how the bloody heck you do that.
There’s the Proxy configuration settings dialog in KDE’s control center. And it has 2 tabs… Proxy and SOCKS. One would think that one could just go to the SOCKS tab and enable SOCKS support, right? Well, at least for me (running Fedora Core 3), this doesn’t work. Every time I tried to enable Dante support, I got an error saying “SOCKS could not be loaded” or some-such. I had to download dag’s dante RPM to get the libsocks library, and then set this up as a custom library. This was a pain, but after that, things should just work swimmingly, right? Wrong.
KDE uses a combination of the 2 tabs–Proxy AND SOCKS. You have to change the Proxy settings from “direct connection to the internet” to something other than that. And, again, my question for you, oh fair seeker of truth, etc., is what you are supposed to use??? Unlike with firefox, where you can specify the SOCKS server easily (there’s a text field that says “SOCKS server:”), there is no place to do this in the Proxy dialogs. The ONLY way I could figure out how to get this bloody thing working is to write my own simple auto-proxy-configuration file and have KDE use that.
The REALLY annoying thing to me about all of this is that I could not find ANY documentation on the ‘net or the KDE site on how to do this!!! Surely there must be a simpler, more correct way. I’m putting my money on my KDE RPMs being screwed up, or possibly in me missing an RPM or something. *sigh* But MAN, this was annoying.
Having said all that, however…. The coolest little bit of magic that I learned tonight was the brilliance that Netscape created more than 8 years ago. Think about that! 8 years ago. =:) Anyway, said brilliance is an auto-proxy configuration standard that Netscape created that lets you tell the browser what proxy settings to use, and it can be as complex as desired. For the time being, I want all web queries to go to my SOCKS proxy, so my file looks something like this:
function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
{
return “SOCKS localhost:1080″;
}
Literally–that’s it. Just put that into a text file and save it as is. I’ll likely expand it later to be more complex, but for now, it does what I want it to.
Okay, I feel better now.
I knew it was coming.
The worst part of it is that even if I do find an uber-cool design that I like, I’ll likely soon get bored again. And what, then, shall I do? What then, donut lady?
Well, anyway, I’m looking for a good WordPress design. In fact, I wasted a few hours late yesterday night doing so. And an hour or so today. =:/ I’m really liking the Kubrick designs, like the one my friend Mike put on his site, and there are some really nice-looking designs that people have done, based on it.
One of the things I like most about it is the ability to have a second tag-line in the header area. The wp-styles that Alex King (these are the ones that I’m using now) has done doesn’t allow for this, I don’t think.
Anyway…. This itch for a new design is the same itch that drives me to search for hours at a time for new desktop backgrounds every couple of months.
I think there’s something wrong with me.
Creativity is one thing, but this is ridiculous.
So, one thing that I’ve found lacking in WordPress is the ability to be notified when somebody has replied to your comments on someone else’s blog. And, not surprising, there is a plugin for it. It looks pretty interesting, and I’m tempted to try it. =:)
As an aside, I started looking through Brian Groce’s site, and I am very impressed! It’s a very nicely-done WordPress-based site, for starters, and it’s very refreshing to see another “Bible-based Christian” in the wild. =:)
But back to my original point… isn’t this “send an e-mail to the person who posted a comment when their comment is replied to” functionality something that should be in WordPress itself?
So, I stumbled upon this wordpress client and got all excited about it until I realized that it was written specifically for Internet Explorer (which I wouldn’t use if you paid me in Cheese Whiz), specifically for Windows (which I wouldn’t use if you paid me in Cheese Whiz either). Why would anyone write an application for IE nowadays, please tell me?
Blargh. Isn’t there a java-based client somewhere??? I’ve been using BloGTK on and off for a while, and it’s semi-decent, but it doesn’t wow me. I have to have it use MovableType, and it doesn’t seem to be able to edit my WordPress blog entries.
Hm. I guess that’s it for now.
My friend Mike has brought up the Spongebob issue.
Here’s the thing that bothers me about this. Once again, the media has incorrectly reported the real situation. If you’re interested, you can read the cause of all this hullabaloo here. In fact, go do that real quick.
Go on, read it.
Okay, Mister Stubborn, let me help you out…
Question
Why is Dr. Dobson objecting to the distribution of a video featuring such popular children’s characters as SpongeBob SquarePants?Answer
From the outset, let’s be clear that this issue is not about objections to any specific cartoon characters. Instead, Dr. Dobson is concerned that these popular animated personalities are being exploited by an organization that’s determined to promote the acceptance of homosexuality among our nation’s youth.We applaud the ideal of championing to children the value and dignity of every human life as well as respect for our differences. What we vehemently object to is using these beloved characters to help advance an agenda that’s beyond the comprehension of 6 and 7 year-old children, not to mention morally offensive to millions of moms and dads.
The video in question is slated to be distributed to 61,000 public and private elementary schools throughout the United States. Where it is shown, schoolchildren will be left with the impression that their teachers are offering their endorsement of the values and agenda associated with the video’s sponsor. While some of the goals associated with this organization are noble in nature, their inclusion of the reference to “sexual identity” within their “tolerance pledge” is not only unnecessary, but it crosses a moral line.
We believe that it is the privilege of parents to decide how, when and where it is appropriate to introduce their children to these types of sensitive issues. The distribution of this video trumps the authority of mothers and fathers and leaves it in the hands of strangers whose standards may very well be different than the children they teach.
By calling it to light this video and its affiliation with this larger organization, we are attempting to do for parents what their busy lives often prevent them from doing themselves–connecting the dots.
Now, did you see anything in that page that said that Dr. Dobson didn’t approve of Spongebob? Did you? I certainly didn’t.
Of course, you’d never know that by all of the news reports and media uproar and blog entries about it, would you. Certainly not. Why, all of these sources would have you believe that Dr. Dobson was condemning Spongebob as being a homosexual!!!
What absolute crap. That’s not what he said at all. Dr. Dobson isn’t condemning Spongebob. He called him a “beloved character”.
So what does he (and others, me included) oppose? What’s the real issue here? Is it Spongebob, as all of the media, hell-bent on distracting you from the real issue, would have you believe?
Nope.
It’s this: if an otherwise lovable character (i.e. the square, yellow guy) is being used to further the agenda of a group that is trying to influence anyone’s children, then that’s something that should probably be addressed. And that’s what Dr. Dobson has done.
Ohh, the humanity!! To think that someone is watching out for my children and trying to be a watchman on the wall when concerning issues come up! We have found a witch. May we burn her?
It is snowing tonight, ever-so-lightly, so perhaps I’ll have to deal with shoveling tomorrow.
I should have arranged to take the car in, as that needs it and I could have done it on my day off tomorrow.
I really need to get the church’s online bookstore up and operational again. The big decision is whether to go with the home-grown solution I’ve created or to make the switch to osCommerce.
I really should help Adriaan get through kpilot’s buglist. Of course, to do that, I need to borrow my wifey’s PDA back again.
I really need to find a good price on a new, big hard drive for the family computer, so I can start backup up movies/cd’s/DVD’s.
I really need to find a good price on a new, big hard drive for my laptop. I have 133 megs left free, and I’m bloody tired of playing the “what can I delete” game every month.
And I suppose that I should try to do that relaxing thing tomorrow.
Bloody heck. =:)
My name is Jason ‘vanRijn’ Kasper. The Jason part was given to me by my parents, though I have many times wished I had been named Richard the Third, after my Dad and Grandfather. The Kasper part was passed down to me from my Dad, though there are some pretty interesting facts about the family’s lineage. The ‘vanRijn’ part is something that happened on the way between then and now, but you can read more about that later.
My titles at work are Master Systems Engineer and Chief Architect. In human-speak, that means that I’m a geek who can and enjoys to:
I am a very creative person who needs to be challenged regularly. I have natural, God-given artistic ability. I understand interface design and layout issues. In addition to being the “Interface Czar” who is the gatekeeper of proper interface design in the largest application for my current employer, I have also helped to define the company’s standards for Human Interface Guidelines and Web Application Standards.
I am the fortunate husband of a beautiful young woman named Linda.
I am the Daddy of three wonderful children named Kiani, Ashleigh, and Jason (Junior).
I am a Christian. This is the basis for my identity and life. This does not seem to be a popular thing to say amongst computer programmers, but I am not ashamed of it, nor will I apologize for it. Indeed, if there is only one thing that you know about me, it should be this, and not any of the stuff above.
I am a 34 year-old boy in a man’s body. I love to have fun with my children, friends, and co-workers. This manifests itself in unexpected snowball fights, lengthy video-game sessions, random Airzooka missions, and late-night halo fun. This also colors many things that I do, and I shall endeavor unceasingly to not lose the boy inside for the man that is seen going to work everyday.
This I give you then: the me-ness of me.
I realize that this has been out on the ‘Net since 1999, apparently, but I just became aware of it. This is a really interesting article, written by Hans Bodlaender, apparently. I think it is a very well-balanced and wise point of view to have, and as a Christian, I agree with it. I’ll not quote the entire thing here, but just the last couple of paragraphs….
What are we talking about?
One can in any case say that evolution theory does not form a proof of Gods existence. Neither do usually holes in that theory turn people into Christians. Creationists that would give mistaken arguments in favor of creationism however can put people on the wrong track, leading people away from God. If one should fight evolution theory, then the most important is to fight the (as I argued here: unnecessary) atheist parts of the theory. But too often it seems that Christians try to convince others that they are right, while it is much more important to have people know about their Creator. We should not score our point in a scientific debate, but save people from a life and afterlife without God. And remember, being a Christian means something more than just believing that God exists.Conclusion
Besides the most well known viewpoints on the coming into being of the different species (’atheistic’ evolution and creationism), there are others - there is no ‘dialectic’ choice to be made between these two.In fact, given this, the question loses its importance and one cannot and should not base ones religion or atheism just on the correctness or incorrectness of the scientific theory of evolution.
And, yes, God also created Darwin.
So what do you think?