Episode 069 is now posted. In this one I create an Airline Safety Card style illustration from a photo. Phew.. that was a mouthful. 
This one went suprisingly long, I tried to go quickly through the slightly tedious parts, but I think it went pretty well. Hope you enjoy it.
A very cool Firefox plugin called Ubiquity was released by Mozilla labs very recently. It’s hard to describe just how useful it can be, but think QuickSilver/Launchy/Gnome-Do within Firefox. What’s interesting though is that while it has quite a few very neat commands, anybody can add new ones.
I’m fairly active on Identi.ca these days, and when cgerrish asked about using Ubiquity to post to identi.ca, I did some quick investigation. Lo and behold it was *very* easy. First I went to this page which holds a list of commands that people have already created for Ubiquity. Then I did a quick text search for identica and found this script.
To make this a new command in Ubiquity, you just Ctrl+Space to bring up the Ubiquity command line and type “command-editor”. Then just paste in the javascript and Bam! you now have a command called identi.ca. So you just type “identi.ca Testing 123” and this will post a dent (“Testing 123”) right up there for you.
Wow. I’m impressed with the simplicity and the flexibility of this Ubiquity thang! 
ps. Of course, you can find me at http://identi.ca/rfquerin
It’s high time I get off my duff and get the focus back. And that not only means blogging more than once a month here, but in a few other areas as well.
I figure the best way to get this thing back on the rails is to plunk down a post that at least lists some of the things I should be finding (making) time to do. Let’s cut to the chase. Here are a few things on my list:
I think one of the reasons I’ve been posting less and less here, is that I’ve been putting a lot of my cool links, mini-thoughts and various bric-a-brac over on Identi.ca. For those not aware, Identi.ca is an open-source microblogging implementation. I push all my Identica posts over to Twitter anyway, but if you want to check it out, head over to my Identica page and hit subscribe.
ps. I’m posting this from ScribeFire which I haven’t used in a dog’s age. Let’s hope it works ok.
Because I have to use XP at work, for a long time now I’ve been running a copy of VMWare server which I use to run a copy of Hardy Heron (with the Xubuntu desktop). I don’t use it for all that much, but it’s nice to have around.
One of the small annoyances about it has been the lack of mouse scroll wheel support. I’m not sure whether this is only the case with the Xfce and Kubuntu desktops and not the standard Ubuntu desktop. Anyway, I finally got annoyed enough to Google it and lo and behold, I immediately found a post on Chris Hope’s blog outlining how to fix this exact problem for Kubuntu users running inside of VMware.
Adding three lines to my Xorg.conf file and restarting X fixed the problem immediately, ending months of nagging annoyance. Thanks Chris!
I’ve been a happy camper for the last 5 or so years as a Primus Canada subscriber. They provide long distance phone service (which I almost never end up using) along with my high-speed DSL service. I’ve had no complaints… up until three and half weeks ago that is.
I don’t want to turn this into some long dramatic post, but after about 15 phone calls to tech support over the last three weeks, I thought I should write something about it.
Here’s the synopsis:
On July 12th I find my internet isn’t working. No DSL light on the modem. Thinking it’s a general service outage, I wait a day to call.
Tech support runs through the typical power cycling of the modem and router. They test the line and tell me to wait until the next morning and call back. If there is still a problem, they will send a new modem to me.
Calling the following morning, tech support tells me that a new modem is already on it’s way. Funny.. I never had to ask for one, they just sent it. Nice!
After about 4 business days, still no modem. I call. They tell me that a modem was NOT SENT. And after running through the typical checks again, they tell me that it is definitely NOT the modem. It is a line issue. Bell Canada (who provides the infrastructure) has to look into it and I’m told it will take a few days.
No luck after several days and then suprisingly, I find a new modem in my mailbox! Hurray! Maybe this will fix it! It doesn’t.
Several more calls to tech support and finally we arrange a Bell technician to visit my house and check the line.
He does his stuff, and after about 30 minutes he tells me that it is definitely a line problem (outside my house) but that it lies in an unmanned switching station in my town. It will take 1 or 2 days for the Bell tech who’s responsible for running it is able to fix it. Fine.
Three days later and still no DSL light on the modem. I get a voice mail asking me to call Primus tech support to let them know I’m still having problems.
Late last night (August 7th by the way), I call them. Surprisingly, they tell me that the line was fixed two days earlier and that is shows fine. I tell him that the DSL light is still not on. He tells me it might be the modem and I tell him that the modem is BRAND NEW!
He does a quick line test and tells me that he’s getting a signal on his end that the modem is on and working. I tell him I’m looking right at it and it’s not. He asks me to power down the modem. I do it and it’s STILL showing him that the modem is powered on. I tell him that I’m holding the power line to the modem in my hand. It is definitely off.
He tells me that they’ve (the Bell Techs) have definitely done something wrong. And that he’s re-opened the ticket. Oh joy. Oh friggin Joy.
I have been assured that I can call Primus Customer service and notify them when the service is back up (whenever that is), and that I won’t be billed for the time it’s been out. My only question is, who the hell is paying for the 5 hours I’ve spent on tech support with them over the past three weeks?
And I realize that a lot of people might recommend that I should have switched providers earlier on in this process. But the Bell tech that visited my place told me that switching wouldn’t have fixed the problem. So I don’t feel so bad.
I’m thinking you might be expecting me to say that being without internet service at home for more than three weeks has given me the chance to reconnect with the real world, or that it has given me the chance to spend some time exercising my creativity and garnering inspiration. It hasn’t. Though I have become very good at Freecell Solitaire and Galaga (Thank You Mame Emulator!!).
In fact, I’ve been surprised at how much creative inspiration I do end up getting from the net. A computer disconnected from the net is just not very useful to me. And the boob-tube again beckons as it once did a decade ago. I don’t like it.
Posting this from work, obviously. I will update things when it actually gets fixed.. but I come home each day EXPECTING that DSL light to be OFF. I think I might have a coronary when it actually does work.
PRIMUS + BELL = EPIC FAIL!