the blog of an aspiring intellectual and digital renaissance man
Playing with The GIMP a few days ago in a moment of relative idleness, I created this cool looking image which I might use as an avatar, or at least a “signature” on the forums I am known to frequent.
The evolution of the design is somewhat intriguing. I usually sign my emails “-Matt”, but screwed up once, and typed “_matt”. I thought this looks pretty cool (though I couldn’t tell you why), so I started using it. But then I thought of an abbreviation: “_m@”. Voilà. Idea + GIMP = avatar.
I recently happened upon a cool and little know digital oddity: alt codes. The basic idea is that you hold down the alt key while pressing a number (or several), and a henceforth un-typeable character is printed where your cursor is. Here are some of the more interesting ones (they are easier to see the larger you are rendering the text):
Alt+1 & 2: ☺ ☻
Alt+3 - 6: ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠
Alt+11 & 12: ♂ ♀
Alt+13 & 14: ♪ ♫
Alt+21: §
Alt+0165: ¥
Alt+0169: ©
Alt+235: δ
And many more. Go ahead, try it out. You know you want to.
I have recently been experimenting with making cool looking stuff using Inkscape and The GIMP. These are tools for vector and general image manipulation (respectively), and beyond both being very powerful and well designed, they are also open source and free.
Anyway, after roughly an hour of manipulation, I made this image (below), which I think may signify a new hobby: when I don’t have anything else to do (a state which is, unfortunately, rare) I can draw stuff without having to worry about paper, pencils, skill I don’t have, etc. I intend to use this image for an avatar somewhere, or maybe just leave it lying around my hard drive until I delete it in twenty years. Regardless, I hope you like it.
I tried to think of some sentimental and appropriate way to start this, properly honoring the amazing development of the Internet and all that, but it is more expedient to cut right to the chase. The Internet is awesome, and a ton of people use it. Some even have a computer specifically for the purpose of going online. So here I set out to identify and describe what I consider to be the best applications and services to use in conjunction with an internet connection. Oh, and yes, I was feeling octal today.
10. StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon, also affectionately known as “Stumble”, is a Firefox extension used by recreational web surfers to “Stumble Upon” pages which they will most likely enjoy, according to their interests as identified to the service. It is a very, very fun way to waste time, but can also be used constructively (searching for popular pages relating to science, for instance).
7. vBulletin
vBulletin is online software that is used by many forums to manage, well, the whole thing. I don’t use it personally, but I might some day, and I frequent many forums that rely on it.
6. WordPress
Now, WordPress, I do use. You are actually looking at its results right now. WordPress is software, kind of similar to vBulletin, but for blogs. It makes it easy to post, administer, organize, etc, while still providing room for creative licence (you can mess with the themes, and stuff). It is easy to use and set up. And fun. You should try it.
5. SourceForge
SourceForge is the largest repository and host of open source software there is. I have two programs hosted there (Affinity and SiteDrive), and I am very pleased with their services. After you submit a request for hosting, they will provide you with space to put your software, publicity tools, a spot to put a site for your product, and many other great services.
4. Wikipedia
Almost everyone knows about Wikipedia, the user edited online encyclopedia. While many think that the fact that almost anyone can edit it makes it less accurate, I think it actually makes it more reliable, as more people have the option to correct and add to the articles there. Oh yeah, and there is lots and lots of information there, enclosed in over a million articles (in English; many can be found in other languages), on almost anything you can imagine. Amazingly cool and useful.
3. Gmail
Mentioned in several other posts, Gmail is the free web mail service offered by Google. It provides over two gigs of space for your mail, so you never have to delete (using the handy “archive” function instead). The interface is nice, smooth, easy to use, and unique from all others. The service is fast, innovative, and highly customizable. I highly suggest Gmail over any other email service.
2. Google
Well, everyone has heard of Google. It’s even a verb now. And rightly so: it is the best search engine on the web. Highly inclusive and easy to use, it almost always provides the results desired by the searcher. Google also has many other services for everyone from webmasters (Google Analytics) to those desiring 3D modeling easily done (SketchUp), all of which are free and immensely useful.
1. Firefox
The ultimate browser. Firefox is customizable, simple, reliable, cross-platform, open source, and tons of other great things. There are many extensions to add capabilities, fix problems, ease use, and more. If you use anything else, you are cheating yourself out of the best browsing experience you can have.
A while back, I was trying very hard to get a certain piece of video editing software for Linux to work. Cinelerra, as it is known, seems to be very difficult to get working, as a whole bunch of people I encountered in forums also seemed to be unable to initiate its use. Recently realizing that kdenlive, the video editor I was using in Cinelerra’s stead, was on the fritz again, I made the decision to renew my efforts at getting Cinelerra to work. And, after picking up several tips from UbuntuForums, I succeeded.
Previously, I could install it, though it would not run, complaining of some illegal instruction and dumping the core. I decided to try to install it from a different source. Now it wouldn’t install at all, due to some discrepancies in the versions of several packages it wanted. I learned that by manually uninstalling these packages, I could trick it into installing the ones it wanted by itself. And, after a little further ado, it worked! Now I just have to figure out how to work the darn thing.
If you are having similar problems, read on to find instructions to carry out the installation. Continue reading ‘Cinelerra Works!’
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