moving parts of the kasper clan

Oh HECK yes!!! I am SO buying this the split-second it comes out!!! Here’s an awesome review to boot!

I’ve been using Firefox 3, beta5 for a while now and am very much liking it. It’s crashed a fair bit, but that’s understandable being that it’s only a beta5. One thing that has bothered me, though, was that quite a few of my must-have extensions aren’t released for FF3 yet. TinyURL Creator, for one, is notably absent. Well, thanks to this page, I found a really simple workaround to enable (possibly dangerous and a bad idea to do) your old extensions in FF3:

All I had to do was to create a “extensions.checkCompatibility” boolean field in the Firefox about:config and set it to false. As you can guess, this disables the compatibility check for the extensions, and all the disabled incompatible extensions are enabled (with warning messages). Of course, this does not guarantee that the extension will work.

Yay! TinyURL Creator works again!

Hm, and while I’m on the subject of browser betas, Opera’s latest beta is looking really nice and finally works with the latest Flash plugin. And is it just me or is there a horrible vacuum where there should be some nice Firefox 3 themes? The only tolerable one I’ve found is the updated Qute theme.

KDE3, KDE4, Plasma, Twinview == Not Good

Originally uploaded by vanRijn

Dear Lazyweb,

This frustrates me and makes me all kinds of sad… For some reason, whenever I start my normal KDE3 session, plasma and KDE4 insists on starting up as well. So I get KDE3’s kicker and KDE4’s plasma stacked, which is less than fun and not quite useful. Also, I can’t get plasma/kwin4/kde4 to play nicely with twinview. I have an external monitor that runs @1280×960 and my laptop screen that runs @1280×800. I think it’s confusing plasma, and it looks like this. =:(

Anyone know why or how to make it better?

Dearest Lazyweb,

I’m seriously confused. It would seem that this incredibly awesome little multimedia gadget called the PSP can’t actually pull off having more than one playlist for a single directory of songs??? Let me get this straight… you seriously want me to copy the same song to 10 different directories if I want 10 playlists with that song in it?

You’re kidding right?

Please, Sony, please fix this?

Sincerely yours,

Callme Perplexed

I’ve never had an eye exam before today, but I am a HUGE fan of Brian Regan and absolutely LOVE his skit about going to the eye doctor. It is totally hilarious! What I was not prepared for, however, was how accurate his observations were! I thought that he must have some nutty eye doctor, but he was right on, which made it even worse for me, as I was sitting in the eye exam chair, trying way too hard not to laugh. If you’ve never seen Brian’s eye doctor skit, you totally owe it to yourself to watch it. NOW!

Oh, and as an added bonus to the thoroughly entertaining morning, I found out that I have pretty durned good eyesight for a staring-at-the-computer-screen-for-12+hours-per-day guy! 20/20 in my right eye and pretty close to that in my left.

And now for something completely different…

That’s right, folks! If yer lookin’ for a big hole to throw $300 into, just go out and buy yerself a 32″ RCA CRT TV! That’s what I did just 2 short years ago, and shore enuff, the only useful purpose this monstrous beast now serves is to beep like a Geiger counter when it’s plugged in and take up a lot of space. If it works for me, it can work for you too!

Now, seriously, this sucketh mightily. I was toying with the idea of going out and plunking down a large amount of $CURRENCY for one of them new-fangled big-screen, flat-panel dealies–especially being that the PS3’s graphics are totally wasted on the old CRTs we have had, but it just KILLS me to be looking at spending that much money for something that I don’t even watch all that often. Also, I’m totally not with it as far as what technology to go with (LCD versus rear projection versus <I don’t even know what else is out there>).

So, dear reader, what would you recommend for a good quality, not horribly expensive, something that will last a long time, television?

I have discovered how to save millions on Christmas and birthday gifts. Just have something shipped to you that is packed in bubble wrap. The “something” goes to you, and the bubble wrap keeps the wife and kids entertained for hours!

It started to hit me yesterday as I spent 3.5 hours in this year’s KDE Google Summer of Code mentor’s meeting (thanks again sebr!!). KDE4 just plain rocks, and it feels good to start getting excited about it again. And I don’t just mean KDE 4.0. Don’t get me wrong, KDE4.0 is a nice little release. It’s not perfect and there are some things that are irritating about it and keep me from using it as my main DE. But like Aaron has been saying over and over and over again, KDE4.0 is not KDE4. KDE4.0 is more of a preview of things to come, and what I see coming just plain kicks butt.

I am finally getting excited about our PIM space again, and that feels really, really good. KMail, KOrganizer, KPilot, and the rest of our PIM suite was what drew me to KDE in the 3.x series. (Well, that and quite honestly I find the intentional dumbing-down and lack of configurability of the other large, free DE irritating to the point of exhaustion.) But lately our PIM apps have suffered from lack of care and have started to look seriously unsexy compared with Thunderbird, Sunbird, and even *gasp* Evolution. But KDE4 gives us a chance to remedy that, in my mind, and looking at this year’s Summer of Code projects, I’m hoping we get some really nice improvements done. There’s a few really sweet ones that I’d love to see get accomplished: the Google Contacts/Calendar integration into Akonadi and thusly KDE PIM, the enhanced KMail view, and (nearest and dearest to my heart) getting KPilot fully functional, and rock solid for KDE4.

And going through the SOC-sorting meeting made me realize all over again how fantastic a community it is that we have in KDE. There’s a lot of respect and comaradarie and friendliness that I just don’t see in some other communities. Not to mention the quality of talented people that we have. PIM might have drawn me to KDE, but it’s the people and our awesome community that we have that has kept me. =:)

Anyway, I just had to say that it feels really, really good to be excited about KDE4 again. In my mind, it’s a really unique opportunity to do something fresh and new and fun and exciting again. It’s a chance to learn from past mistakes and do better. It’s a chance to take the fantastic functionality that we have and rethink how our users can best interact with it. It’s a chance to not be bound to the past and to not have to be stuck with the same old presentation layer we have just because we don’t want to make drastic changes to our applications.

As the pretty graphic says, KDE4 is truly a chance to be free. =:)

I know I need to drink more water, and after the recent health disturbances, I knew I had to get serious about it. But I also knew that unless I had something unique and stylish and cool, it would be a chore to me and I’ve no hope of being consistent on something that’s irritating. And I proved that by spending a couple of weeks just drinking out of whatever glass I grab in the morning. I could never remember how many 12 ounce glasses of water I’d taken at the end of the day and normal drinkware is just so… normal.

Enter the Sigg Lifestyle Loop Top Water Bottle that I found from a local EMS store. It has definite wow factor and fits nicely into the same category of my now must-have Moleskins as combining function with absolutely beautiful and unique form. And like the Moleskins, there’s quite a following of these Sigg Water Containing Devices. They’re made from a single piece of aluminum, have some kind of special lining that prevents leeching and keeps them taste/smell-neutral, and come in a variety of uber-cool designs and sizes. Oh… I also learned that drinking from plastic bottles is not a good idea. Here’s a blurb I found:

A safe, stylish alternative to plastic water bottles, Sigg water bottles are a great choice for transporting beverages on your daily commute or while backcountry hiking. This ultra-lightweight bottle is extruded from a single piece of aluminum and holds 1 liter of fluid (33.8 ounces). Designed to fit your on-the-go lifestyle, it comes with a loop top bottle cap, which can be secured via hook or caribiner clip to a backpack or daypack.

Sigg bottles are virtually unbreakable and are constructed with no seams, ensuring a long-lasting, leak-proof performance. They also feature Sigg’s proprietary baked-on inner liner, which is made from a non-toxic, water-based epoxy resin that exceeds FDA requirements for leaching (0.0 percent) and is independently tested to be taste- and scent-neutral. Every Sigg bottle is 100 percent recyclable at the end of its life, and is backed by a lifetime warranty.

About Sigg
It all started with a simple hiker’s bottle. Today, the SIGG bottle has acquired cult status. What happened is a success story that started in Biel, Switzerland in 1908. Küng, Sigg & Cie. manufactured leisure goods, kitchenware, and electrical appliances. The company relocated to Frauenfeld in 1916, where it helped pioneer the legendary tradition of Swiss quality. Since 1998, SIGG has concentrated on its core business: drinking bottles that deliver ultimate customer benefit.

But, most importantly for me, my Sigg bottle:

• Looks really cool. Mine is ultra-shiney blue and sexy. I’m the envy of the water-consuming crowd!
• Holds 1 Liter of water. This means that I only have to remember to fill it up twice a day and I’ve had my day’s fill of water.
• Goes anywhere! The waterproof seal makes it simple to fill up and throw in my backpack for a day out and I don’t have to worry about it spilling. It also does a really nice job of keeping my cold water cold for a long time.
• Is different. Which means I like it. Which means I keep using it. Which means I’m drinking much more water now. Which means I’m healthier, yay!

Anyone else out there in Geek land discovered these cool bottles yet?

Although I was never fortunate enough to take part of the chess club… anywhere… I have always loved the game intensely. Some of my fondest growing up memories are of me and my dad playing chess for long hours at a time. However, I’ve never really progressed much through the years, and haven’t taken the time to try to improve. Well, having gotten my clock cleaned a few times on FICS, I’ve decided it’s time to read a bit.

• So I started out with the deprecatingly-titled Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chess. Definitely a good book and I recommend it as a good first read. Towards the end, the author recommended some good “next” books to read. I was painfully aware that I was completely ignorant about opening sequences, so I pre-ordered…
• Modern Chess Openings, 15th Edition. This was highly touted–both by the author of my first book and by those who have reviewed it on Amazon. I’ll say this… It’s very complete and completely overwhelming. I don’t yet have a nice chess set, and don’t really have a way to look at the board layout in the midst of all of the notations, so it’s just not manageable for me… yet. I definitely feel that it’s a solid book to have and will keep looking at it as I get more used to reading algebraic notation and being able to hold a mental picture of the board layout while reading.
• The next book I’m reading through is the REALLY cool Tal-Botvinnik, 1960. I actually bought it on a whim as I was buying MCO, since I wanted to spend enough for free shipping… =;) But MAN, it is SO cool! It’s very well-done technically and Tal does a very nice job of explaining each move of the matches in detail, which is helping me learn all the more. But what’s really cool is the inside look into Tal’s mind! Tal’s writing style is easy and flows well and I’m really enjoying the behind-the-scenes look at how he prepared for the epic battle and what was going on in his head throughout the process. Awesome!
• And lastly, probably in frustration with my inability to really dive into MCO and grasp it just yet, I found Winning Chess Openings (Winning Chess - Everyman Chess) at the local Barnes and Noble. I was looking for something that had a lot more description (you know… in words!) of the opening sequences. Now, to be fair, the level of depth that Yasser is able to achieve in this book can’t possibly rival MCO. But I am already enjoying the easy style that Yasser writes in, and I’m looking forward to get some good understanding of some of the more important opening series by both white and black.

Hm, also, as an aside… I’m trying out Amazon’s little referral thingey and I’m pretty disappointed. I think what’s absolutely needed is a firefox plugin like the tinyurl-creating one. You know… right-click on an Amazon page or picture or something and have it generate the HTML for you. And PLEASE, Amazon, stop using javascript to generate URLs!!! Having to go back and forth to your widget-creating thingey is PAINFUL. If you can’t do it all inline from your web browser without switching tabs… well, it just stinks. Okay, bye.