Category: Revelation

Too much screen real-estate, part 2

All The Screens
I just got my new work machine today, after 6 years of using the old IBM Intellistation. The Intellistation is dog slow, and noisy, and the new machine is fast and quiet. I really can’t complain, though, about how long I went without an upgrade because 3 years ago when I was offered an upgrade I said it was fast enough for me so I didn’t need one.

The most salient feature of the new one, besides the fact that Eclipse can rebuild the workspace in less time than it takes me to type this sentence, is that it came with a 21″ flat panel display. The screen doesn’t have as much screen real-estate as the old 24″ CRT I was using, but it did include dual display capability. So just for the hell of it, I attached the CRT to it as well, and now I’ve got a wrap-around screen.

The new LCD is much brighter and sharper than the CRT, so I may end up dumping the CRT after a while, but for now here it is. I feel like I could get a suntan off all this light hitting me from all directions.

The only problem is that the new display uses DVI connections and the new computer uses USB for keyboard and mouse, so the PS2 KVM that I only managed to snag a few weeks ago is now useless to me. If I want to use the SafeType keyboard and external mouse with the laptop, I have to physically unplug it from the work computer and plug it into the laptop. And I don’t have anyway to remote the display onto one or both of the ones connected to my Linux box, short of installing VNC.

In other news, my new MacBook Pro has just been received by FedEx in Shanghai.

Finally went flying

I finally got to lift my head up from my computer and go out and do something for myself. I went flying. No goal except to get re-acquainted with flying and have fun. I had our club’s Dakota booked from 1pm, and somebody else had it booked in the morning. I was hoping that would mean I wouldn’t have to pre-heat it, but the other guy evidently didn’t fly. The weather was saying low clouds in the morning, but higher in the afternoon, and the reports were coming in showing it better than the forecast all morning. Sure enough by the time I got out there the ATIS was reporting a few clouds at around 3200 feet and a broken layer way up high, so it was prefect visual flight conditions.

The airport was incredibly busy, as about 4 jets arrived and departed while I waited behind a Commander to take off. And then after take off, it took the tower controller until I was at 2300 feet before he could turn me over to the departure controller. Within 2 seconds of the GPS saying I crossed outside of the outer ring of the class C airspace, the controller turned me loose, so obviously the rush was going to continue for him.

I decided to try a couple of steep turns, and they weren’t good. I had trouble getting over a 30 degree bank, and I kept gaining altitude. And then I tried one stall, which I hate doing in this plane because it seems like the nose never drops. That was enough practice stuff, so I flew over and did a touch and go at Ledgedale (7G0) and another at Batavia/Genesee County (KGVQ). Both were passable but not great. I flew the first bit of the VOR-A approach into Canadiagua (D38) just to get some experience flying a VOR radial again.

My feeling is that I’m still rusty, and I’m going to need at least one more flight before I’m ready to do my club annual ride. And then I’m going to need to do 6 approaches with a CFI-I or a IPC in order to get instrument current again.

The Dakota is a nice plane, but I miss my Lance. I felt perfectly at home flying that plane, but not so much with this one.

20 Random Songs meme

The rules, as quoted from Eminy’s LiveJournal:

You know the rules: 20 random consecutive songs from my library, first lines given here (or second lines if the first contains the title). You identify the song, and I’ll cross it out. Googling is cheating. N.B.: Items in square brackets are instrumental only, included here to preserve the consecutivity principle.

  1. I have to swear by Almighty God Guns On The Roof, The Clash – Rob G
  2. When we were young, we pledged allegiance
  3. All you pretty women, bring it to my home
  4. [skipped one in Bulgarian]
  5. I’ve been [loved?], down in the delta
  6. Her eyes they shone like diamonds Black Velvet Band/Galway Shawl, 4 To The Bar – Ayana C
  7. Dust falls on the empty halls of my old school
  8. Well, you could see it in his eyes as they strained against the night
  9. Men and people will fight ya down (Tell me why!) Exodus, Bob Marley – Ian York
  10. [Bach keyboard concerto]
  11. [Red Shingle Bay, Many Hands]
  12. He started out to be a tugboat man, but he never got the hang of a ratchet bar
  13. [Something from Green Linnet]
  14. Many’s the day I took for granted, breathing the air that silenced some
  15. Ships may come and ships may go, as long as the sea does roll Jolly Roving Tar, Great Big Sea – Becca
  16. Now come tell me Sean O’Farrell, tell me where you hurry so Rising of the Moon, Shane McGowan and the Popes – Ian York
  17. [Mozart: Ave Verum Corpus]
  18. High speed drift on a prairie road, hot tires sing like a string being bowed SteelSilver Wheels, Bruce Cockburn– Ian York
  19. Well I’ve got a friend who’s a man (who’s a man?) Hateful, The Clash – Rob G
  20. [Duologue, Rare Air]
  21. I was a miner, I was a docker Between The Wars, Billy Bragg – Becca
  22. [Marion Livingstone, Rare Air]
  23. There’s a noble fleet of whalers, a sailing from Dundee Old Polina, Great Big Sea – CMD
  24. In the merry month of June, when from my home I started The Rocky Road To Dublin, The Irish Descendants – Fnord Prefect
  25. [skipped first line]He had a little tavern by the strand Yarmouth Town, Great Big Sea – Laura
  26. [Infernal Dance of King Kashei, Stravinsky]
  27. [Water Music, Handel]
  28. [skipped first chorus]Said – said – said: I remember when we used to sit, In the government yard in Trenchtown No Woman, No Cry, Bob Marley – Ian York
  29. [Trumpet Concerto, Wynton Marsallis]
  30. [The Pigeon On the Gate, Casdh An tSugian]
  31. The island, it is silent now, but the ghosts still haunt the waves Thousands Are Sailing, The Pogues – Ian York

I cheated a bit – I’ve got a lot of music on my iPod that I haven’t listened to or assigned a star rating to yet. I have enough time picking up lyrics on songs I’ve heard a few times, so I did this with my “4 or 5 Stars” playlist.

Anticipation

My new computer skinIn anticipation of today’s announcement of the new MacBook Pro, I ordered the computer skin a few days ago from iToppers.com. Today the guy producing it sent me this image of what it’s going to look like.

I can hardly wait. I hope there is an airshow nearby where I can get the team to sign it.

I guess you can call me a convert, then

A few hours ago I was complaining to a bunch of friends how annoying it was to do Photoshop with a ball mouse. My optical mouse broke (the first button went down and didn’t come back up) a few weeks ago so I’m using this old ball mouse, and no matter how carefully I clean the rollers, it seems that when I click and drag to the left, the mouse will stop. If I just move the mouse without with the button down, no problem, it follows it all over the place. But it takes multiple attempts to drag anything to the left.

One of my friends, Harry, is an extremely experienced graphic artist, and he said “forget the mouse, buy a Wacom Bamboo tablet”. At first, I was reluctant, because the logo for this thing looks like the word “Bamboo” drawn on an Etch-a-Sketch, which doesn’t say much for its drawing ability. Also, the Wacom promo stuff talks only about it as a device for mouse-replacement and handwriting, with absolutely nothing about using it for drawing or other artistic work. But I found a couple of user reviews where they pointed out it has force sensitivity, which is not something you need for handwriting and mouse-replacement. They said it was an excellent tablet for amateur artists, as well as something professionals might want to put in their laptop bag for use on the road. So on the way home from lunch we stopped off and bought one.

I’ve been using it continually since then, and as far as I’m concerned I should throw away all my mice and buy one of these things for every computer I use. I’m using it for general mouse-replacement and it’s great. The only thing I reach for my mouse for is for the scroll wheel, and that’s mostly force of habit since the tablet has scroll buttons on the top. This thing is extremely great.