Author: Brian Sargent

Categories
Linux

First Faltering Steps in Ubuntu

I’ve had a PC with Ubuntu linux on it for a while but it was an old pile of junk and I never had much motivation to work on it or even use it. I had considered buying a KVM switch so I could run both side by side but I’ve taken a bolde step. I’ve done a dual boot on my system – Windows XP and Ubuntu 6.10. It’s not been problem free so far but I’ve managed to find my way through (I’ll post my handy hints for Nvidia graphics users later) but I’m enjoying it and there is very little I can’t do in Ubuntu that I can do in XP.

It’s a learning experience but I like the idea of being free of HAVING to use MS software. I’ve grown to love open source software like gaim, firefox and filezilla – ubuntu promises so much.

Categories
Internet Personal Useful Links

Sensible UK Copyright Laws – Sign the Petition

Did you know that if you rip a CD to MP3 files and then copy those onto your Ipod or other MP3 player, then you are breaking the law?
There’s a Petition to the Pirme Minister to look at more sensible copyright laws.
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to create a new exception to copyright law that gives individuals the right to create a private copy of copyrighted materials for their own personal use, including back-ups, archiving and shifting format.
You can sign the petition here.

Categories
Superpowers

Superpower #1: I can't leap tall buildings . . .

A Bed
. . . but I can sleep in to an impressive degree – woke up at 11am yesterday!
Don’t let anyone ever tell you you’re not a superhero. Everyone has superpowers, you just have to look deep inside to find them. What can you do that other people generally can’t? Think about it – maybe your mutant powers could save humanity. Or maybe I’m just lazy . . .
I’ll be keeping an eye out for my powers and posting them whenever I can.

Categories
Video

The Muppet Matrix

I vividly remember a muppet sketch which consisted of two orange tubes with eyes doing a dance routine which ended with the little one blowing the big one up. Youtube came up empty, but I did find this – The Muppet Matrix:

Categories
Fun Personal Video

I'm not much of a dancer

But I remember dancing to this when I was at school discos, circa 1985.

Categories
Music Personal

My Winter Musical Mystery

Jack Frost FlyerBack when I was about 9 years old I took part in a musical at school and I can’t for the life of me remember the name. I think I was some kind of elf – it was my first and last experience with makeup and I hated all the work taking it off. I remember 2 things:
Euan Morton played the lead role of Jack Frost, and I remember one of the songs

Dear Santa Claus please bring to me,
A great big shining Christmas tree,
A three wheeled bike. a model plane,
A cowboy suit and a stream-line train,
A baseball bat and a catcher's mit,
A hunting knife and a cooking kit,
And fill my stocking to the top,
I think that's all so I will stop.

Google doesn’t know the lyrics, so I felt I should share with the world (don’t think you would like to hear me sing them.)

Categories
Video

Charlie Says

I totally remember these adverts, watching them along with PlaySchool

Categories
Personal

Edward Hopper

Chop SueyI was in the local shopping centre at lunchtime and they have a big stand up selling calendars. For the past couple of years I’ve had an Old New York calendar, with old black and white photos of the City. I saw the Edward Hopper calendar too, and now I’m torn as to which I should get. Maybe I’ll just get both.
I reckon I’ll use the calendarclub website – maybe I’ll get one of those desk calendars – farside or “worst case scenario”

Categories
Fun Personal

Childhood Memories: The Serompie

I grew up around some pretty imaginative people. For several years my parents helped run a beach mission in St Andrews, and I was one of the kids who got to run around and play with all of the enthusiastic young people running it. I do vividly remember my first Serompie though. I would be about 8 (and incredibly gullible) and I had not been allowed to go to one before I was too scared. It was held in St Martyrs church hall; all the boys were “Seromperiferers” and all the girls were “Seromperiferinas” There were games and the like, but the highlight of the evening were the refreshments.

We were all sat down and told to be very quiet. It was explained to us that the biscuits (gingernuts) we were about to eat were very dangerous, and we couldn’t eat the biscuits without drinking the special safety juice (diluted orange juice with green food colouring), otherwise we’d explode. What on earth convinced me to eat them in the first place I have no clue, but I was totally sucked in.

They wheeled in a borrowed shopping trolley, done up with sheets, as if transporting something very delicate. They may even have been wearing surgical masks. About 10 seconds after they walked in the door an old fashioned alarm clock went off and scared the willies out of me. I was very careful to have a sip of juice with every bite of the biscuit, and miraculously I survived.

Categories
Fun Personal

A blistering expose of . . . Squirt-On Cheese

I don’t think that issues like this get enough coverage and I, for one, am glad to see this in depth article from Wired magazine on What’s inside Squirt-on Cheese.