Evan Hanson

Indices In Lua

Evan — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 05:33:21 +0000

Alright, that just took way too long for me to figure out… Note to self:

Indices start at 1 in Lua

Change X11 Cursor Theme Via GTK+

Evan — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:33:27 +0000

This was surprisingly tough to figure out.

Extract the cursor theme to ~/.icons as you would any other icon theme
If it doesn’t already exist, create the directory ~/.icons/default
Create or edit the file ~/.icons/default/index.theme so that it that contains following lines:


[Icon Theme]
Inherits=IconThemeDirectory

Restart your X server (Ctrl-Alt-Backspace)

Yes, Of Course, This Is Hello

Evan — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:44:30 +0000

The most fascinating avatar I’ve ever seen:

When Open Source Software Jumps The Shark

Evan — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:59:10 +0000

VLC had been my favorite media player for quite a while, until a recent release when the development team decided to change the way the player reads files and directories. As of version 0.9, VLC calls opendir() recursively on everything the app is given when opening media. This causes a problem on HFS+ drives when the file system allows the call on both files and directories. The VLC development team has made it very clear that they don’t intend to fix the problem, stating that:

The HFS+ filesystem accepts opendir() on a file. This is a bug in the file system driver, not in VLC

[...]

The HFS+ driver has a horrible bug. The blame is entirely on the HFS+ driver. And the way VLC operate is good. Full point.

We are not going to “fix” this.

… Despite the fact that, as one user puts it:

[...] if its a kernel bug / file system driver problem, why is it that every other video player i have plays the files perfectly & vlc doesn’t?

So here we have a tossing-back-and-forth of the responsibility in fixing this application. The Linux kernel team can’t or won’t do anything about the problem, and the VLC team simply refuses to.

As another user says in the support thread:

So it’s nobody problem, nobody cares about that. At the end of the day VLC is still not able to read files from HFS+ filesystems in Linux.

And this is when open source software fails. There is now a large group of users completely unable to use VLC short of reformatting their hard drives (myself included). The dismissiveness of the VLC devs in the above support thread hurts me as an FOSS advocate. I understand that VLC is a piece of software offered freely and without any kind of guarantees, but it is still a piece of software that is now broken and at a standstill.

Albus

Evan — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 03:14:18 +0000

Linux users –

I give you Albus: An Album Art Plaything.

The Importance Of Opera

Evan — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:27:02 +0000

Prepared and performed for my Acting 150 class.

I don’t understand you! You’re all up on perches, but it doesn’t hide your arseholes! You don’t give a shit about gods and heroes! If you are honest- each one of you - which of you isn’t more at home with his hairdresser than Hercules? Or Horatius? (To Salieri) Or your stupid Danaius, come to that! Or mine- mine! Miradate,King Of Pontus!-Idomeneo, King Of Crete! All those anguished antiques! They’re all bores! Bores, bores bores!

(Suddenly he springs up and jumps on to a chair, like an orator. Declaring it) All serious operas written this century are boring! (A pause. He gives his little giggle, and then jumps up and down on his chair…) Look at us! Four gaping mouths. What a perfect Quartet! I’d love to write it- just this second of time, this now , as you are! Herr Chamberlain thinking ‘Impertinent Mozart: I must speak to the Emperor at once!’ Herr Prefect thinking ‘Ignorant Mozart: debasing opera with his vulgarity!’. Herr Court Composer thinking “German Mozart; what can he finally know about music?’ And Herr Mozart himself, in the middle, thinking ‘I’m just a good fellow. Why do they all disapprove of me?’

(Excitedly, to Van Swieten.) That’s why opera is important, Baron. Because it’s realer than any play! A dramatic poet would have to put all those thoughts down one after another to represent this second of time. The composer can put them all down at once- and still make us hear each one of them. Astonishing device; a voice quartet! (More and more excited )…I tell you I want to write a finale lasting half an hour! A Quartet becoming a Quintet becoming a Sextet. On and on, wider and wider - all sounds multiplying and rising together - and the together - and the together making a sound entirely new!

…I bet you that’s how God hears the world. Millions of sounds ascending at once and mixing in His ear to become an unending music, unimaginable to us! (To Salieri.) That’s our job! That’s our job, we composers; to combine the inner minds of him and him and him, and her and her - the thoughts of chambermaids and Court Composers - and turn the audience into God. (Embarrassed, Mozart blows a raspberry and giggles.) I’m sorry. I talk nonsense all day: it’s incurable - ask Stanzerl. (To Van Swieten.) My tongue is stupid. My heart isn’t.

Only On The Internet…

Evan — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:50:05 +0000

In the original post:

… the error message may as well have been in Klingon (’ORA-01555: arlogh Qoylu’pu’? Hab SoSlI’ Quch! “_SYSSMU6$” qoSlIj DatIvjaj 10) …

And in the comments:

I’m impressed that they got the Klingon right.

(Except for the missing initial apostrophe in {’arlogh Qoylu’pu’}.)

…

Great, now we have Klingon grammar Nazis

A Conversation With God, Excerpt No. 14

Evan — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:04:22 +0000

“So what am I supposed to call you? God? Allah? Zeus?”

Don’t use it up.

“Your name?”

Your word count. We’ve recently had to cap the number of things new arrivals can ask me — things were starting to get ridiculous with some of our new residents — and a word count proved to be the fastest way to do it.

“Really? People were taking up too much of your time? That seems kind of –”

Come on, sonny — I have a lot of people to greet each day. I can’t be devoting hours and hours to a small few of them.

“So who’s asking all the questions? The Christians? I bet it’s the Christians.”

Actually, it’s the nonbelievers that ask the most questions. The religious arrivals don’t say much.

“Huh… Ironic.”

Yeah. All the knowledge in the universe in front of them, and all they want to do is grovel.

Was It Lost? Or Was It Just Misplaced?

Evan — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 23:27:10 +0000

Jarrett and I, having decided upon a need for a concrete distinction between the terms lost and misplaced, have decided upon the following guidelines:

An item is to be considered lost if its erroneous placement falls outside one’s domain. One’s domain is to be defined as the space “in which and, to a reasonable extent, around which, one spends periods of time equal to or greater than one hour more than three times a week. A misplaced item, in contrast, is one placed erroneously within one’s domain. If, however, the missing period of the item in question exceeds a month, that item is to thereby be considered lost, regardless of the domain rule.

There you have it. An item under the sofa for a week? Misplaced. An item left in a movie theater? Lost.

Just in case any of you were wondering. Objections?

The Most Legendary Metallic Kangaroo Steed Of All Time

Evan — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:31:07 +0000

I think I’ve done it. I think I may have found the most absurdly over-the-top, axe-tastic album cover ever made. My friends, I give you Frank Gambale’s Thunder From Down Under.

It’s not enough to simply darken the skies, to summon comets and lightning alike with a mighty thrust of your platinum pink rapier of rock, oh no — You have to do it from atop an enormous, metallic kangaroo steed. Only then, and only with the help of a pair of midnight-black leather pants and a mullet to rival that of John Stamos, a rock god will you be.