Category: Random Ramblings

Anything that catches my fancy as a topic I want to cover. Truly random crap.

The Ubuntu ebook – free for your enjoyment

Have you thought about moving to Linux? Are you unsure what Linux distribution to try, or where to get help if you do attempt it? Well, the Open Source Project has Marcel Gagné’s Moving to Ubuntu Linux ebook available for free. It’s a hefty tome, hitting almost 500 pages, and some folks don’t like Gagné’s writing. I like reading his Linux Journal columns every month, and his personal web site is interesting to me, but you should check them out to see if you can handle him.

ubuntu_ebook.jpgDiscover Ubuntu, Today’s Hottest Linux

Everyone’s talking about Ubuntuit’s not just 100% free, it’s the most useful, practical desktop Linux ever! Now, Linux expert Marcel Gagné reveals Ubuntu’s amazing power and helps you migrate from Windows faster than you ever thought possible.

Moving to Ubuntu Linux will teach you how to do virtually anything with Ubuntuwrite documents, create spreadsheets, surf the Web, use email, listen to music, watch movies, and play games.

  • Install Ubuntu fast, with easy, step-by-step instructions
  • Take control, with the GNOME desktop environment and Nautilus file manager
  • Browse the Internet using Firefox, the powerful browser that’s quickly replacing Microsoft Internet Explorer
  • Find and install all the software you’ll ever need, with Ubuntu’s powerful Synaptic package manager
  • Send email, track contacts, create calendars, and manage all your personal information with Evolution
  • Organize digital photos, rip music, burn and play CDs, watch movies, create graphics, and more
  • Discover the world of Linux games, and learn how to run Windows games on your Ubuntu PC
  • Set up an efficient, convenient network for your home or small business
  • Customize your desktop so it’s perfectly comfortable and totally efficient


So get over there and start reading. See if this is something you could take on. Consider the benefit of freeing yourself from paying Microsoft for new software every year or every time you want to upgrade. You’ll find that most things you do now can be done just as easily under Linux, and you only have to find one handy geek or one good book to figure out how to handle any of the (probably infrequent) problems you might have with Linux.

That said, however, don’t move to Linux just to move to Linux. I love Linux, but recognize that it just isn’t for everyone. Read a little of the book to get a feel for it and see if you might be interested though.

[tags]Free Ubuntu ebook, Moving to Linux free ebook[/tags]

Women sues doctor for hurting her feelings

Well, isn’t litigation wonderful? If your doctor hurts your feelings, it looks like you can sue for damages – at least, if you live in the UK.

UK patient: doc hurt my feelings by telling me to quit smoking

And she wins about $80,000 (plus attorneys’ fees) for her hurt feelings. Mrs. G delayed her caesarean a few minutes to have a pre-op cigarette; her coughing made her epidural more difficult, and Mrs. G and was criticized by anesthesiologist Dr. A, who noted the increased likelihood of surviving to see her daughter’s wedding if Mrs. G quit smoking. (Arthur Martin, “Doctor’s smoking jibe wins mother £44,000 payout”, Daily Mail, Dec. 21; Kevin MD blog). UK medical compensation has grown 30,000 percent in under ten years.

The article continues with a story about a man fired for missing too much work. But it wasn’t as interesting to me as this one. The above story does remind me of the wonderful lady who worried about the effect of nearby jackhammers on the health of her unborn child. (via Blog of Stupidity)

[tags]Woman sues doctor who hurt her feelings – wins[/tags]

USB geekery

Geeks need cool, useless toys. I’ve covered that often enough here on the site that it should be pretty clear already. Many times, I’ll find cool toys that I don’t comment on or post, just because I find about 3-4 gadgets and toys a day. But occasionally, I find a toy that’s just too useless and cool to not mention. Today, I point out the USB plasma ball.

brando-USBplasma.jpg

Absolutely no use, true, but really cool. Especially for us older geeks – a throwback to our youth days when these things were more common. (via Tingilinde)

[tags]USB Plasma ball, Cool geeky USB toy[/tags]

Modern Mechanix on LOLcats, the early years

Back before LOLcats were everywhere you turned, the folks at Scientific American published information on photographing cats in their December, 1931 issue. Learn what early photographers did for good LOLcat images in the days before the GIMP and Photoshop.

MM-cat_photos_clip.jpgCATS are easy to photograph-if you can tap an unlimited supply of patience. Beyond that, all you need is a camera (I prefer a reflex) with flash attachment. An assistant, portrait lenses, a tripod and a flash extension are helpful, but by no means essential.

The best place to work is a spot the cat likes best and the best time is just after he has eaten. When the cat gets down to the business of washing, you can start clicking. Set up your equipment beforehand and keep backgrounds plain. If the cat happens to like a spot in front of a cluttered background, stretch a sheet behind him.


Isn’t that picture just screaming for a LOLcat caption? I’m imagining something like “Plz 2 find t3h water is getting m3h”, but I’m a bad LOLcatographer. I don’t know how photographers in 1931 got their captions on images, but these seems to be the earliest sign of the coming LOLcat meme.

[tags]LOLcats – the early years, Scientific American covers LOLcats in 1931[/tags]

More career training from the past

Oh, will I ever get tired of the awesomeness that is Modern Mechanix? The latest handy helper from the past that we know about from Modern Mechanix is this advertisement for cartoon training, which looks to be a correspondence course.

MM-med_cartooning.jpg

CARTOONING – Taught by 9 Professionals
A new idea in cartooning schools -45 lessons by NINE Famous Professionals:-Boltinoff, Lariar, Nofziger, Roir, Ross, Roth, Salo, Schus and Wolfe. Over 2,000 instruction Drawings! Course includes: Comic Strips, Magazine, Sport, Politicals, Animals, Advertising, Book Illustration, CUTE GIRLS, etc. Your homework criticized by all 9 famous teachers. 2 years to finish.
Approved for Veterans.
Dept. PM

The PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL OF CARTOONING, INC. 505 Fifth Avenue, New York 17, N. Y.
FREE Criticism of one of your cartoons- send 10c to cover mailing charges.

I think the “Approved for Veterans” part refers to military vets, and not pet doctors. Not that there is anything wrong with the doctor who cares for your pet drawing cartoons. I just thought I’d try to clear that up for those not sure who is the target audience.

For the record, the answer to the opening question is, of course, a most emphatic no. I mean, how could one ever tire of greatness in a single URL?

[tags]Modern Mechanix and vocational training[/tags]

PLoS ONE open access online science journal

Catching up on my Tingilinde reading this evening, I found a recent article there linking over to PLoS ONE. I had never heard of this site, but the article sounded interesting so I followed the link. That article, Ionizing Radiation Changes the Electronic Properties of Melanin and Enhances the Growth of Melanized Fungi, is way beyond my means of comprehension. However, the site byline, “A new way of communicating peer-reviewed science and medicine”, intrigued me. I spent a little time searching around the site to see just what PLoS ONE is. If you look at the site, you can find that it is an open access science journal, and it offers peer reviewed scientific studies for your online consumption.

PLoS ONE (eISSN-1932-6203) is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication. PLoS ONE welcomes reports on primary research from any scientific discipline. PLoS ONE is published by the Public Library of Science (PLoS), a nonprofit organization. PLoS ONE’s start-up phase is supported by a grant from the Open Society Institute.

. . .

All works published in PLoS journals are open access, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. Everything is immediately available online without cost to anyone, anywhere-to read, download, redistribute, include in databases, and otherwise use-subject only to the condition that the original authorship is properly attributed. Copyright is retained by the author.

From what little I’ve poked around, it appears that the site is offering credible scientific information via what I call the Cory Doctorow method of riches through free content. Yes, it is a method that I realize others have also done. It just works in my mind to tie the practice to someone whose work I’ve consumed heavily.

If you are at all interested in what is going on in the scientific world, PLoS ONE is a good site to add to your sites-worth-visiting list. Just expect to find lots of works that are over your head (sample below). OF course, many of you may be much brighter than I am, so you might not find that to be the case, but I certainly couldn’t grok much of what I saw there. It was, regardless, quite fascinating.

PLoS-ONE_clip.jpg


Oh, and that PLoS thing? Well, that stands for the Public Library of Science. Just in case you wondered (I did, and found it while poking around the site). And if you are looking for more science sites worth visiting, just let me know and I’ll add some of the other places I’ve found to be worth the time investment.

[tags]Public Library of Science online journal, Science sites worth visiting[/tags]

First Everest summit access

On this date in 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached Mount Everest’s summit.

At 11:30 a.m. on May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa of Nepal, become the first explorers to reach the summit of Mount Everst, which at 29,035 feet above sea level is the highest point on earth. The two, part of a British expedition, made their final assault on the summit after spending a fitful night at 27,900 feet. News of their achievement broke around the world on June 2, the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, and Britons hailed it as a good omen for their country’s future.

Mount Everest sits on the crest of the Great Himalayas in Asia, lying on the border between Nepal and Tibet. Called Chomo-Lungma, or “Mother Goddess of the Land,” by the Tibetans, the English named the mountain after Sir George Everst, a 19th-century British surveyor of South Asia. The summit of Everest reaches two-thirds of the way through the air of the earth’s atmosphere — at about the cruising altitude of jet airliners — and oxygen levels there are very low, temperatures are extremely cold, and weather is unpredictable and dangerous.

A brief video and more details are available at the History Channel site.

[tags]May 29 – today in history 1953[/tags]