“Blogumus” – Blogger Label Tag 3D Cloud Widget

Alternative installation for Blogumus (fixes the blank widget problem)

Open Air PC

Update 2015-01-07: Replacing the HDD cage fan - mine got a bad case of the rattles Nutshell: Silverstone FM83 92mm fan on 80mm mount holes = somewhat rare Got one Jan 2015 for $16 + $9 shipping from FrozenCPU... there honestly doesn't seem to be much availability left out there in general Looks to be manufac'd circa 2007 by the packaging... nothing stays around forever = get it now if you ever think you're going to want it i've got a bunch of spare straight "square" 80mm fans... i'll probably just burn one of those "next time" even though the air flow won't be elegant.  it fits like a glove in the Skeleton's fan shroud... really tight fit but it does cram i used the included grommets to secure the skeleton's fan grill to it's outer shroud via the stock screws since this new fan's casing is thinner and doesn't provide a point of contact for the screws... works great, very snug... totally silent all around the speed control is a little overkill but kinda cool those drives are 2 x 4TB in RAID1 for my primary backup storage so i tend to think a little TLC like this lifetime cooling is a worthwhile investment After: Antec Skeleton (installed Sunday 13 December 2009) My own overclocking results, full PC specs, etc. Good review He makes a few other good points about a couple engineering misses in this initial model… e.g. must add your cards after!?! you slide in the tray…it’d be nice to think there will be a V2 someday. Honestly took me about 5 hours to set it all up… I went slow and methodical… nice thing was, everything fit and worked how I wanted upon first powerup. I think I like the new “Scythe Zipang 2” cooler I landed on… especially if it keeps up on the temps with only the big fan up top… haven’t had a chance to run a real “full crank” test to check temps yet… can’t wait to see what my top over clock is going to be now. There is more vertical clearance than I was anticipating (see photos below)… almost wonder if i could’ve gotten away with my existing vertical oriented cooler… but a horizontal form factor like this Zipang-2 definitely seems more in line with the big top down blower central to this design. No real change in the overall noise signature… still dead silent… I’m satisfied. It’s quite the beasts as far as desk footprint… I do really like being able to leave the motherboard flat. The only real downside for me is that previously I had full freedom for component placement such that everything was readily accessible from a preferred direction… once you go with “a box” of any kind you have to accept that certain things are going to be facing an undesirable direction because that’s how the industry has settled on a standard orientation for each part… so my feng shui is a little askew but otherwise it’s very nice that things like the iMON display now have  a proper home… And also it’s good for everything to finally be in a container so that once I do finally get my air compressor (that Sears has obviously bungled APO shipment and I never know if/when is actually going to arrive on this shore It finally arrived), I’ll be able to pick it up and take it outside to blow out all the dust. Before: Raw Parts on a Shelf ;)  (circa April 2008)

SED – Insert text after match

General syntax:

• sed “s/search-for-regex/& replace-with/” filename.txt

Example:

• sed "s/BEGIN AS/& \n\nSET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL READ UNCOMMITTED/" Plans_s.sql

Explanation:

• s/search-for-regex/replace-with/ = search and replace command
• & = the matched text (effectively leaves the matched text alone rather than “replacing” it)
• \n = carriage return

Mind Manager

• http://www.mindjet.com/products/mindmanager-8-win/overview
• This product has been around for several years now.
• I’m very satisfied with how quickly I’m getting up to speed reading “Mind Manager for Dummies” on my tablet/eReader.
• The book helps understand the serious potential these Mind Mapping tools have for pulling together all the different types of material we try to mange ourselves with these days… web pages, PDF’s, docs, eMails, project plans, diagrams, etc. etc.
• The book also made me realize that the UI actually operates on a few very simple choices available to getting started beyond staring at a blank page
• I really like the “brainstorm mode” where you work with a single edit box and the enter key.  You get to stay in heads down brain dump mode as fast as you can spew out ideas, the tool throws each phrase out on the diagram as a box and then when you’ve emptied out, you go back and connect all the boxes… it’s a pretty neat feeling.
• It is very liberating to have a tool make the jumble in your head look this “pretty” so quickly.
• You can cut and paste ANYTHING from the Windows landscape into your diagram to be a “box” that can be related to other boxes… I have been using Outlook & OneNote messages as my rudimentary “idea gathering notepad” but the automatic graphical layout of Mind Manager feels much more expressive even for a very non-right brain guy like me… it’s sorta like being able to relationally diagram everything you’re trying to think about
• There are tons of templates on the mind manager web site that give an idea of what it can be used for… meeting notes, project planning,  requirements gathering, balanced score card, status report, presentations, brainstorming sessions, etc.
• It’s quite capable at exporting into more traditional formats like PowerPoint & HTML to share with others… it will readily “flatten” out the visual hierarchy into a text only MSWord outline document.
• MindJet also has a “Catalyst” product which claims to be an online collaboration environment enabling Mind Mapping in groups… I haven’t tried this yet but it makes a ton of sense at face value… makes me immediately wonder about mashing this with Google Wave.
• As they say, a picture is worth 1000 words…
  • ok yes this is admittedly very trivial content but that’s actually one point of benefit… namely, flushing the trivial things out of the preciously limited forefront of your head so you can get on to bigger and better things

Google Wave – WOW

http://code.google.com/apis/wave/

For all you folks working on any kind of collaboration solution, this seems like THE thing to have on your radar…

It’s not just a standalone product but an API to be woven into our own mashups.

Here’s the gen-x attention span version… very handy to start getting a quick feel.

Watch the long video directly on YouTube so you can maximize it.

Seems like this was announced this May (at the Google “I/O”  ’09 conference).

Just a sampling of immediate highlights:

• EVER-Y-THING is REALTIME!!!  anybody watching the “Wave” space can make edits (think of it as very robust chat) and everybody also gets to see all the updates being made in realtime…
• folks that are then invited to the wave later can “replay” the collaborative edits from start to finish with change tracking highlights to call out each edit
• it’s combined eMail & IM in same space
• Everyone eMail-like response thread get hierarchically structured (ala forums)
• The “extensions” that have already been developed to run atop the Wave API are amazing…
• Like at the very end of the demo… they show a chat with instant language translation!! … one person chats in english which translates to the other guy in french (and vice versa) and they can both type and see what they’re saying in real time... the other web mashups where they enhance existing online services (e.g. bug tracker site) with Wave’s realtime collaboration abilities are very drool worthy

 

Magic Motorcycle Juice

Credit where credit is due, I got this recipe from a colleague named Gary Phelps works out of Baumholder Germany.

Start with a 2 gal plastic gas can so you’ve got a nice easy carry container and plenty of room to work with.

• 1 Gal of the best apple cider you can get your hands on
• 1L Vodka (cheap)
• 1/4 to 1/3L Brandy (cheap)
• 6 oz Cinnamon candy (“Cinnamon Hearts” work well)

Wait for the candy to dissolve and then have at it.

During the cold season, warm it up and top it off with whip cream.

Warning: Has been known to cause tattoos and children.  Consume at your own risk! ;-)

Continuous Ink Supply System (CISS)

The "CISS" ink kit I went with is <$60 USD and if you're a friend I’d obviously help you set it up… this unit has been working solidly for two years now.


Once you get your head around this ink tank thing, it’s a totally simple concept which just works… It feels SO awesome to finally flip the bird to the whole cartridge rat race and let your family crank out ink sucking job after job without a care in the world!
It took me a while to understand a couple things and I can save you the learning curve.
Once it’s setup you literally don’t have to think about ink ever again but for a level check every six months and dump in some more super cheapo bulk ink if anything is low.
The rare ink refilling moment is potentially a little messy if you miss the tank spout … but nothing major if you work the whole affair inside of a big Tupperware container or some such… and then you just dump any spillover down the sink because it’s so dirt cheap.

I’ve been getting replacement bulk ink for ~$15 per each 8 oz. bottle of color from Atlantic Inkjet.
8 oz is a ton of ink compared to a little cartridge... for reference, the cartridges for my Canon only hold 13 mL... that's 0.43 oz... so a bottle is 18.6 times the size of a cartridge... if you assume you can get recycled cartridges at 1/3 retail (~$5) [Amazon reference]... you’d still be looking at $93 for the same amount of ink you get for $15 in a bottle… that’s a factor of 6 at least… I’m typically happy if I can cut a recurring expense in half… divide it by 6 and you’ve significantly changed the game.