Blake's Notes

Writely.com

2006-05-02T19:43:00.000-04:00

I'm posting this using Writely.com as my editor. I signed up for an account at Writely months ago, but didn't really explore much. After seeing that Google bought Writely , I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. My conclusion, Writely rocks. My only problem was trusting my data to a little startup, but Google had fixed that. Writely has all sorts of neat features like being able to save in Word, OpenOffice, HTML, or PDF format; plus it has the ability to publish directly to several of the more popular blogs. One note: now that Google owns them, they really should add "Google" to their spellchecker dictionary.

Rojo sans Slashdot?

2005-06-24T09:46:00.000-04:00

I love Rojo (a cool, relatively new feed aggregator), but I'm about to dump it because Slashdot banned it for polling its feed too often. What's the point of an aggregator without the mother of all feeds?

Goodbye bookmarks, hello Spurl.net

2005-05-18T23:23:00.000-04:00

I haven't bookmarked any websites in weeks. I have Spurled lots of stuff though. Spurl is the solution to my bookmark management problems. I use upwards of 4 or 5 computers a week, and my bookmarks never seem to be on the machine I am using. ("Where's that link? Oh yeah, I bookmarked that on my Linux box.")

Spurl keeps your bookmarks on their servers, so you can access them on any computer you happen to be using. You can organize them, search them, export them to del.icio.us, you name it. You access your links through sidebars. It works well in IE or Mozilla Firefox, and probably others. For Firefox, there is a nice sidebar extension. Truly portable bookmarks.

Google Toolbar

2005-05-18T07:33:00.000-04:00

I love the Google Toolbar. If I have to use IE, which I do at work, the Google toolbar makes life bearable. Pop-up blocking, quicker access to searching, convenience buttons (like the Blogger button), and now spell checking! The new spell checking tool is the coolest thing I've ever seen. It works on any site, it is fast, and (so far) seems to be really good at suggesting the word you meant. The funniest thing is that if you use Blogger's spell checker, which is owned by Google, it flags both "Google" and "Blogger" as misspelled words, but the Google Toolbar gets them right.

Firefox Extensions

2005-05-04T10:38:00.000-04:00

I work on five different computers regularly, and others occasionally. Between all of those it seems like I am installing, upgrading, or otherwise configuring Firefox on nearly a weekly basis. I'm tired of remembering which extensions I like, so once and for all I am going to record them here for future reference.

Adblock
Download Manager Tweak
Spurl Sidebar
Gmail Notifier
Translate
Image-Show-Hide
WebmailCompose
BlogThis
AutoCopy
Fetch Text Url
Duplicate Tab
QuickTabPrefToggle

Blogging Software Test

2005-04-30T17:47:00.000-04:00

Just for kicks, I'm trying out Zoundary Blog Writer and w.bloggar to post, edit, and repost this, um, post. Both software packages seem relatively easy to use, but their best feature is the ability to edit past posts. Very cool. I'm leaning towards w.bloggar right now. I think the interface is a little cleaner and the formatting options more readily available.

EncFS for Ubuntu

2005-04-26T00:30:00.000-04:00

It just took me two (late) nights to get EncFS working with Ubuntu. It wasn't the package's fault. I'm still getting used to Ubuntu. It turns out I just need to apt-get libfuse-dev and openssl-dev and a few other simple things before compiling EncFS from source. I know. It sounds easy enough.

The worst part is that I don't even need encrypted filesystems. I don't exacly have any national secrets to keep. I just have a disorder compelling me to compile, install, and configure software.

Ubuntu Rocks!

2005-04-22T23:56:00.000-04:00

So I just installed Ubuntu Linux on my old PC, and I am totally blown away. In the past six years, this PC has run Red Hat, SuSE, Mandrake, Storm Linux, Rock, VectorLinux, and (most recently) Debian. (I think I may have missed one or two. Oh, and I didn't count live distros like DemoLinux and Knoppix.) I thought I had finally settled on Debian about a year ago, but then Ubuntu upped the ante. Ubuntu has all of the latest software I want (Python 2.4.1, Firefox 1.02+, etc.), and the whole thing just looks slick. All of the benefits of Debian (apt-get, Synaptic), but none of the drawbacks, i.e. OLD packages.

Calculator.NET

2005-02-08T23:48:00.000-05:00

I have finally found a functional, free, and (dare I say) attractive RPN calculator for Windows. Do all RPN implementations HAVE to look ugly? I guess I get that impression because too many Tcl/Tk programmers with more time than aesthetic sense seem to get the urge to write their own RPN calc. Anyway, my new favorite is called Calculator.NET . For straight functionality, I would run one of the HP 48/49 emulators, but I have never liked the feel of programs emulating calculators. Emulating an interface designed for dedicated (and size limited) hardware is always a bad idea. You can easily come up with something better suited for the mouse/keyboard interface.

TrueCrypt

2005-02-08T23:27:00.000-05:00

One of my new favorite programs is TrueCrypt. It does on-the-fly encryption of disks or psuedo-disks. The interface is slick and easy to use, and it offers several respectably robust crypto algorithms. I have been looking for a good, open-source, on-the-fly encryption program ever since I started carrying a USB flash drive with me everywhere. The thought of losing my drive (with notes, passwords, etc.) on it makes me more than a little nervous. Not anymore. TrueCrypt also runs in "traveler mode", so it doesn't need to be installed on a computer to use it. From what I've seen, this is the best program in its class.

Inkscape in, Sodipodi out

2004-12-20T23:14:00.000-05:00

I replaced Sodipodi with Inkscape on my Essential Windows Software list. I don't know where I have been, but I just recently checked out Inkscape, which is a 2003 fork of Sodipodi. Version 0.40 is really impressive. The thing that kept me from trying it for so long was the 14+ MB download. Holy crap, that's huge.

Mp3tag

2004-11-15T20:26:00.000-05:00

I just updated my Essential Software List to include Mp3tag. It is a really great tag editor for audio files. Don't let the name fool you; it supports a whole bunch of formats, including OGG Vorbis.

It Couldn't Be Done

2004-10-11T21:00:00.000-04:00

A quick excerpt from the poem "It Couldn't Be Done":

Somebody said that it couldn't be done
But he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one
Who wouldn't say so till he tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it!

Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959) is the poet. You can find more on him here.

Python: Custom Grep Template

2004-10-11T20:28:00.000-04:00

Sometimes a normal grep doesn't cut it. A template for a fancier grep written in Python would look like this:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import fileinput, sys
searchterm = sys.argv[1]
sys.argv[1:] = sys.argv[2:]
response = "%s: '%s' found %d times on line %d."
for line in fileinput.input():
    num_matches = line.count(searchterm)
    if num_matches:
        print response % (fileinput.filename(),
            searchterm, num_matches,
            fileinput.filelineno())
        print line

This would be a baseline for something more useful.

Christianity: Interdenominational Arguing

2004-10-11T20:24:00.000-04:00

And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out demons in thy name; and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us. But Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against you is for you. Luke 9:49-50 (NIV)

I think this could be considered good advice concerning interdenominational arguing...

Christianity: Arrogance of Disciples

2004-10-11T20:19:00.000-04:00

Luke 9:49 John said, "Master, we saw someone driving out demons in your name. We tried to stop him, because he wasn't a follower like us."
- Some translations say "he wasn't in our group".
- They didn't like someone else using "their" power.
Luke 9:54 When his disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them, as Elijah did?
- Like it was their place to do so!
Luke 9:46 Now an argument started among them as to which of them might be the greatest.

Three Great Web Applications

2004-10-11T17:46:00.000-04:00

I never used to use web-based applications for anything, but I have recently discovered three that have changed the way I access information and use the computer. Gmail, Bloglines, and Blogger are the culprits.

Gmail is still in beta, but it is already my email client of choice. Standard email clients are great (my personal favorite being Thunderbird), but they typically tie you to a single computer. IMAP is a choice, but for personal email that seems like overkill. Most webmail interfaces to existing POP3 accounts are just bad imitations of a real client. Gmail is different, and it rocks. It really must be experienced. I now have total access to my email from any net-connected machine sporting a web browser.

Bloglines has really changed the way I read news, blogs, and anything else with a RSS/ATOM/etc site feed. I want to read news at home in the evenings and from work at lunch. Dedicated RSS readers don't really solve this problem unless they run off of a USB drive. Additionally, I often just read sites like Slashdot and OSNews from the actual site anyway, so I could never keep track of what I had read or not read. Bloglines provides a way to read all of my favorites sites wherever I am, and keep track of whether I've read them yet or not.

Blogger is really amazing. I used to keep my online notebook at my website where I had a series of Python scripts that kept track of dates, content, markup, and then published the site every time I added an entry. Blogger is much easier, looks better, and is accessible from anywhere. (My system required ssh shell access to my site host.) I am rather snobbish when it comes to "user-friendly" tools (I like using tools other people can't figure out), but Blogger is too good to pass up. It really makes life easier.

Unix: Colorized Prompt for the Bash Shell

2004-10-04T13:33:00.000-04:00

Try this prompt:


PS1="\e[0;32m\]\u\e[0;31m\]@\e[0;33m\]\h \e[0;36m\]\w\n\e[0;33m\]> \[\e[m\]"

Then check out the definitive document on the subject.

Christianity: Jesus Tests Disciples' Faith

2004-10-04T13:29:00.000-04:00

In Luke 9:1 Jesus gives the disciples power, they use it, and come back to report all their deeds (Luke 9:10). Yet they immediately forget God's power. They tell Jesus that there is no food for the people.

Jesus says "you feed them" (Luke 9:13). He wasn't intending on performing the miracle! He wasn't feeding the people for their sake (no one was going to starve from missing a meal), he was showing the disciples how they should be thinking about situations. Think about what God is capable of, not the impossibilities of the situation.

Christianity: Losing Salvation

2004-10-04T13:25:00.000-04:00

A list of verses possibly pertaining to losing one's salvation:

2 Peter 2:20-21
Hebrews 6:4-6

to be continued...

Guitar: Great Chord Progressions

2004-10-01T15:33:00.000-04:00

This will be my running list of favorite chord progressions.

D Dmaj7 D7 G
This is a really great sounding progressing to get a song started. The Dmaj7 can be played xx0222.

Am G F E
This sounds a bit like Spanish guitar if played quickly.

Christianity: Memorizing Scripture

2004-10-01T01:09:00.000-04:00

This will be an on-going list of verses related to memorizing scripture.

Luke 4: When Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, he responds three times with "the Scriptures say". (Luke 4:4, Luke 4:8, Luke 4:12) Scripture helped him fight temptation because he knew what was right.
Psalms 37:31 says the law is in a godly man's heart, so he won't slip from the path.

Python: Directory/File Walking

2004-10-01T01:04:00.000-04:00

This template walks through all directories and files under the current directory.

#!/usr/bin/env python
import os

for root, dirs, files in os.walk('.'):
    print "root", root
    print "dirs", dirs
    print "files", files

Guitar: Finger-picking Patterns

2004-10-01T01:01:00.000-04:00

My favorite pattern right now is:

|---------0-------|
|-0---------0---0-|
|---0---0-----0---|
|-----0-----------|
|---------0-------|
|-0---------------|
  m i T i m i T i
  T       T

It has an alternating bass as well as a treble part that alternates, so it sounds like a lot of stuff is going on. This is especially cool on a 12-string.

Guitar: Fill-ins

2004-10-01T01:00:00.000-04:00

If you have a measure (or part of one) between lyrics, a quick chord change for a beat or two can spice things up.

If you are playing a D, switch to a Dsus4 (xx0233) for a beat. For longer fills, try a D-Dsus4-Dsus2-D progression. (Dsus2 is played xx0230.)

My Bio

2004-09-30T23:29:00.000-04:00

I cannot imagine that this site would be interesting or useful to anyone but me, but feel free to look around. I mainly use this site to keep a collection of links and notes that I can access from work, home, or wherever I happen to be. I also use this blog to keep track of my thoughts until I have time to do something with them. It functions as a notebook that I don't have to carry around and is always accessible. Having said that…

I am Blake Garretson. On the off chance that you find me as fascinating as I do, I will give you a brief bio. Also, the articles and links make more sense in context. Anyway, I am a registered Professional Engineer living in Liberty Center, Ohio. My degrees are in mechanical engineering, but I enjoy pretending that I am a computer science engineer in my spare time. Because I get paid to do it, I perform nonlinear finite element analysis and administer some Linux and Unix servers used for number crunching. Going against all odds and despite my profession and personality, I am married and have two kids.

I enjoy playing stringed instruments like acoustic guitar, mandolin, banjo, dulcimer, and ukulele. I don't enjoy playing fiddle, Irish whistle, piano, or harmonica, mostly due to the fact that I play them badly or not at all.

I have read extensively throughout my life, however, I read much less now that there's a toddler and an infant in the house. My favorite non-fiction authors include C. S. Lewis, Henry David Thoreau, and Hugh Ross, while my favorite fiction authors include Ayn Rand, Frank Herbert, and J. R. R. Tolkien. I also enjoy the poetry of Rudyard Kipling, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Ernest Henley, and Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

I used to enjoy programming in C and C++, but I now thoroughly enjoy programming in Python.

My other interests include vintage slide rules, koine Greek (A.K.A. Hellenistic or Biblical Greek), instrument making, mathematics (especially number theory) and its history, Reverse Polish Notation calculators, and (most recently) digital photography.

I don't know if you could call it a hobby or interest, per se, but I also like beef in all of its glorious forms: steak, burger (with or without cheese), pot roast, stew, jerky, deli roast beef cold cuts, and the pinnacle of beefdom, Arby's® Roast Beef (which clearly deserves its own category).

I am especially prone to the overuse of "air-quotes" when speaking. They amuse me. I find that the technique annoys people, and I am pleased at the thought of people wondering to each other, "What's up with all the air quotes? They weren't even necessary most of the time." Exactly. Hence the amusement factor. If I were speaking these words, I would probably use air-quotes "here" and "here" for effect.

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Ecclesiastes 12:13

My List of Essential Windows Software

2004-09-30T17:50:00.000-04:00

This is my list of software that I find absolutely essential if I'm using a Windows machine. With this software, I can do everything I want to do on a computer. All of these programs are free of charge to use (none are shareware), and most are open-source as well.

Net Tools

Mozilla Firefox: the best web browser out there
Mozilla Thunderbird: nice email client (although Gmail is slowly making this obsolete for me)
PuTTY: shh/telnet client
FileZilla: ftp/scp client
Gaim: chat client for AIM, IRC, MSN, ICQ, Yahoo, etc.
TightVNC: remote desktop control

Document Creation/Publishing

MiKTeX: a port of the LaTeX document publishing system
TeXnicCenter: LaTeX IDE, including editor, spell checker, symbol toolbars, etc.
PDFCreator: PDF print driver
OpenOffice.org: full office suite
AbiWord: word processor
Asciidoc: converts marked-up text to html
WordNet: a lexical database
Vim: text editor
SciTE: text editor, especially useful for programming
Aspell: spell checker that integrates with Vim or Scite

Programming

Subversion: a version control system, command line only
TortoiseSVN: excellent graphical subversion client
Inno Setup: a great installer for packaging your own software

Python Programming

Python: best programming language ever
wxPython: GUI toolkit
Reportlab: PDF extension
Pmw: toolkit extension
Numeric: math module
MySQLdb: database module
PIL: image library
py2exe: creates "exe" files.
ScientificPython: science/math module

Utils/Other

SyncBack: excellent backup and synchronization program
e-sword: Bible software
UnxUtils: command line tools
Console: terminal app with transparency and lots of other extras
7-zip: archiver with great compression, useful from command line, nice GUI and Explorer integration, and it is fast.
Adobe Reader: PDF viewer
KeePass Password Safe: really neat password manager that is capable of running from a USB flash drive.
Keynote: a great note taking software that organizes notes in tabs and trees; allows for encrypted notes
TrueCrypt: on-the-fly disk and file encryption
AVG Free Edition: nice antivirus program with frequent virus definition updates
Process Explorer: List and interact with processes and file handles

Multimedia

burnatonce: small and simple cd burner that can burn ISOs and copy disks on the fly
CDBurnerXP Pro: professional looking CD/DVD-Writer program
CoolPlayer: lightweight OGG/MP3 player
Winamp: feature-rich multimedia player
CDex: CD ripper
Mp3tag: MP3 tag editor, works with OGG Vorbis too
Audacity: audio editor
GIMP for Windows: image/photo editor (like Photoshop)
Inkscape: vector-based drawing program
Vallen JPegger: picture browser
XnView: picture browser
IrfanView: picture viewer/editor

Mathematics

Maxima: full symbolic computation program
Scilab: numerical computation program
Calculator.NET: a nice, simple RPN calculator similar to HP 11/28/32/41/42/48 calcs

Not Essential Yet

These are programs that I want to like because they look cool, but I haven't figured out what to do with them yet, or they aren't quite ready to be called essential, or they just haven't displaced one of the tools listed above.

jEdit: Feature-rich, extensible programmer's text editor, but I still use VIM and Scite.
Miranda IM: I really 'want' to like Miranda IM because it is way lightweight and modular, but it has performed very flaky for me. I tried stable releases and nightlies, but either way it would connect very unreliably. (Maybe 30% of the time?) Firing up Gaim or AIM works every time.
Blender: Wow, this is amazing stuff, but I just don't need 3D rendering or animation right now.
VideoLAN: Plays streaming video and DVD, VCD, etc. Looks okay, but I don't run across very many videos that I feel the need to view.
VirtualDub: Video capture/processing utility; I guess I'm not high-tech enough to have a lot of digital home video.

Non-Free

Did I say that everything on this page was free? Okay, I lied. I had to list this one non-free program because it rocks.

Adobe Photoshop Elements: photo editor with lots of cool features

My Bookmarks

2004-09-30T17:36:00.000-04:00

Worship Guitar

Mathematics

Electronic Texts

Technology

Python

Religion

I don't necessarily agree with all of the views expressed on the following sites. Each has information that I find interesting, useful, or at least amusing.

Christianity: All Sin Not Equal?

2004-09-30T16:25:00.000-04:00

We always say that sin is sin, or that all sin is somehow equally bad. I'm not so sure. While all sin (or any sin) is sufficient to be in need of a savior, Luke 20:47 and Luke 17:2 clearly show some sin is worse.

Getting Your IP Address

2004-09-30T16:21:00.000-04:00

Want to get your IP in Python? Try this:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import socket
ipadd = socket.gethostbyname(socket.gethostname())
print "IP Address:", ipadd

That's it.

Guitar: Cool Chord Voicings

2004-09-30T16:17:00.000-04:00

Bm7 - x20202 Why on earth did it take me five years (!!!!) to discover that this can be fingered this way? For some reason, I always thought this should be played x24232, which is correct, but was so hard for my fingers that I used to just play a D instead! B - 024400 This is really a Bsus4, but it sounds close enough most of the time. However, it sounds likes it wants to get resolved to a B. If you don't play the 1st or 6th string, you get a B with no 3rd, which may sound better in some songs. C#m - 046600 This is actually a C#m7 unless you mute the second string (e.g. 0466x0). Ab - xx1344 Try this instead of the E shaped 466544. This is actually Absus2.

Guitar: 2 and sus2 chords

2004-09-30T16:14:00.000-04:00

The difference between 2 and sus2 chords are often confused, but the they are actually quite simple. A major chord is constructed with the 1, 3, and 5 intervals. The 2 chord adds a 2, while the sus2 replaces the 3 with a 2. That is it. Having said that, the two chords can often be played interchangably without any problems. I like fingering a C2 (same as a Cadd9) on guitar better than a Csus2, and it almost always sounds just fine.

Slide Rules

2004-09-30T15:31:00.000-04:00

Wow. I recently found out that there are people out there as dorky as I am. Lately, I have been wanting to learn the fine art of the slide rule. I didn't have one, so I looked around for one only to find out that nobody in the entire world manufactures straight slide rules anymore. So I poke around the web for slide rule info and discover that there are people out there who collect, catalog, and use slide rules regularly. I love it. These are my people. I've never had "people" before. Anyway, a quick eBay auction later and I now own my own magnesium Pickett Model 500 Ortho-Phase Log Log slide rule. It's old, but it works great. Its copyright says 1948. It has a metal cursor so it can't be any later than 1950 since they started using plastic after that on that model. It makes me want to do calculations just for fun. Anyway, here a few good slide rule links: The Slide Rule Universe Eric's Slide Rule Site The Oughtred Society Greg's Slide Rules

First Post!

2004-09-30T13:58:00.000-04:00

I need a place to store random notes that I can access from home, work, or wherever else I may be. This seems like as good a place as any. Besides notes on various topics, I may throw in a few other random thoughts just for my amusement.