Fri, 22 July, 2005
Posted in General
at 12 pm
There’s never a good time to upgrade your blogging software… So I’ve apparently chosen the worst time possible. However, now I can play with the podcasting options, getting things customized for the iTunes Music Store RSS feed, and try out some of the pages that I previously hacked together myself. Oh and turn on comments. Not that this thing gets enough traffic to have comments very often.
Oh yeah, the ‘post in the future’ thing works well for when I queue up a whole bunch o’ posts.
But now I’ve got to go back and redo my layout as a WordPress ‘theme’, recreate the Wiki Discussion links and get my Recnet Music list back up to date.
On the flip side I now know that there are 935 posts in this thing. So yay for that.
(Yes Jock, that post is coming too!)
Permalink
Tue, 19 July, 2005
Posted in General
at 4 pm
macosxhints - Prevent .DS_Store file creation on network volumes
To prevent .DS_Store aka (dot ds store files) creation on network volumes execute following command in a terminal:
defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true
This will not get rid of all of the ._files, but it will get rid of one of them… The one side effect is that you’ll lose any ‘Comments’ that have been added to the Mac file.
Permalink
Mon, 18 July, 2005
Posted in General
at 4 pm
In a desperate attempt to get a second keyboard for the second desk that I’m setting up in the apartment, I’ve been searching for a new keyboard that won’t hurt my wrists.
My wrists, these days, are quite sensitive to things like the lateral angle that the twist from my forearm and the amount of vertical rise or drop they have from my forearm. The pressure required to push down a key on the keyboard has to be below a certain amount or else I feel it; even the speed of deceleration that the tips of my fingers experience as the key stops is a consideration. (It seems I need airbags for my finger crashing.)
In the pursuit of finding an appropriate keyboard, I went over to the dark side: a Microsoft Natural Pro keyboard (split key layout, rising angle in the middle, etc.) It almost worked perfect for me, except that the keys were just too damn tough to press. too much force means pain in my wrist. This is always bad. (The key mechanism seems to involve little plastic/rubber volcano-shapped nubs that getting pressed in. the nubs seem to get more stiff over time.) I took it back.
So I ended up getting another Apple Extended keyboard II just like the one I already had. This one is a bit stiff still, but it should break in pretty well, once I’ve used it for a few… years. :) At that point the metal scissor-style mechanisms should loosen up a bit more. Already though, I can tell it’s better than the MS keyboard.
The only other successful keyboard I’ve had has been the Logitech Comfort Pro that I tricked Brad into getting for me at work. It’s much like the MS keyboard in split/tented layout, but the key presses are real easy on the fingers. $100 a pop, but it’s been the only thing that’s let me actually get my work done at work.
Will my RSI go away? Not as long as there are computers in my life. Will I be able to keep it at bay? I think so.
Permalink
Posted in General
at 4 pm
Another lazyweb request, though this will be more of a request for search, or rattle the cage of a couple of manufacturers… (I’m looking at you Logitech)…
I just want a contoured, split-layout keyboard with Bluetooth.
Contoured - The keys rise a bit in the middle, kinda like the keys are sitting on a miniature pitcher’s mound.
Split layout - there’s some spacing and a bit of an angle between the right and left hand side of the keys to accommodate those of us with adult-sized shoulders and arms.
Bluetooth - My next machine will have bluetooth come hell or high water.
Nick Finck has been looking for this too. The closest I can find is the Logitech Cordless Comfort Pro… but it doesn’t have Bluetooth… so you’ve got to lug around this USB receiver… which is huge. Bah!
Permalink
Posted in General
at 4 pm
Okay here’s one of my latest lazyweb needs:
I’m imagining a floating window in OS X, (made with Quartz Composer?) that will be a live ‘filter’ for colorblindness on my screen. Imagine being able to drag a piece of rubberized mylar / cling wrap that changes the colors underneath it to approximate the look of what a person with one form or another of color blindness would see.
This thought brought to you via Sara Horton’s WebVisions 2005 presentation materials.
Permalink
Wed, 13 July, 2005
Posted in General
at 8 am
Okay, so, O’Reilly publishes an article on XSSI’s (ONLamp.com: Apache’s eXtended Server Side Includes) and has a nice link to my XSSI Library with some kind words, but did it have to come this week?
Permalink
Sat, 9 July, 2005
Posted in General
at 9 pm
There’s some incredible research coming out of NASA these days. For instance, be sure to check out this PDF, “13 Ways to Say Nothing with Scientific Visualization” which highlights such opportunities for ChartJunk™ as item #2:
Avoid Annotation In dreary old fashioned sciences like physics and biology, investigators have been known to annotate their images with arrows pointing out features of supposed interest along with explanatory text. This promotes clarity of understanding, undermining the sense of awe and confusion the best scientific visualization engenders.
But that’s not all. Check out item 10:
Never Cite References for the Data If you cite a reference describing the data used to generate images, someone may read the paper and discover that your visualization bears no relationship to the key elements the original experiment was meant to elucidate. This will detract from your picture’s appeal and should be avoided.
Permalink
Fri, 1 July, 2005
Posted in General
at 11 am
I had no idea…
Permalink
