Testing in Safari on Linux

Had the need to test Apple's Safari browser on a website or three. Issue: I'm a Linux (Ubuntu) user. Of course Linux is awesome and super good, but the big Apple doesn't make a version of Safari for Linux.

Solution: PlayOnLinux

Looks like it is popular for gaming, but it also has more practical use, it sets up and configures to let me run Safari through Wine. BTW, it also supports Google Chrome (yeah!).

Download it for your distro here.
  http://www.playonlinux.com/en/download.html

Many to choose from with instructions or simply use the available .deb file. Install and launch PlayOnLinux (it appeared in my Games menu).  Click the Install option, select Internet, choose Safari, click Apply, then walk through the screens and your all set. Once installed it will show up in your wine menu and desktop if you chose the desktop option (i had to manually make the desktop launcher executable).

Note while installing Safari: When asked about "Install Bonjour for Windows" and "Apple updates" uncheck both of these, you do not want them as they will cause problems.

Model Railroad

Beginnings of a model railroad in the basement. Additional videos over the next week, catch them on YouTube.

Screenshot? Shutter at the Thought

Formerly known as GScrot, Shutter is a fantastic screenshot tool for Linux.
In their own words,

Shutter is a feature-rich screenshot program. You can take a screenshot of a specific area, window, your whole screen, or even of a website - apply different effects to it, draw on it to highlight points, and then upload to an image hosting site, all within one window. Shutter is free, open-source, and licensed under GPL v3.

For what it's worth, Shutter comes highly recommended by me. I am currently using it for all my screen capture needs.

Downloads are available for multiple distributions, of course, including Ubuntu. A quick deb install and your all set.

Reorganizing & Merging PDF Files

Needed to merge and then reorder the pages several pdf files today. I don't have and prefer not to use Adobe tools when I can avoid them. A quick google turned up a couple of options.

1. Ghostscript from the command line to merge them
   (would have needed the pages in order first)
2. PDF-Shuffler GUI

A quick overview on Ghostscript can be found on linux.com.

Since my pages were not necessarily in order, I decided to give PDF-Shuffler a whirl. To give fair credit, I learded of PDF-Shuffler from bigbrovar.

PDF-Shuffler is a small python app packaged in a .deb file for the Debian flavors of Linux, including Ubuntu. Download, install deb, launch app from office menu, drag pdf onto application window. Once the pdf loads you can drag and drop pages to move them around, delete and rotate pages, or drag to add another pdf. When finished export the new pdf.

It's quick, easy, and worked without the slightest problem on my 12-15 files and merged them all into one 10 meg pdf.

California Coaster Train

Saw the Coaster in SanDiego; fantastic in real life, great on video, and cool surfliner in small scale. Check it.

Linux - Immutable Files

Here is a cool tip on how you can make files on your system immutable. By immutable, I mean even root can't delete the files if he choose to.

Architeuthis

How cool is this news from National Geographic?

In Antarctica's Ross Sea, a fishing boat has caught what is likely the world's biggest known colossal squid (yes, that's the species' name), New Zealand officials announced today.

Heavier than even giant squid, colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) have eyes as wide as dinner plates and sharp hooks on some of their suckers. The new specimen weighs in at an estimated 990 pounds (450 kilograms).

I'm not a zoologist by any means but it's facinating to see the creatures with which we share the world. I always hate to hear that the creature was caught in nets and/or died, however these huge sea creatures are simply wonderous.

Another story from National Geographic about the Giant Squid is available here. This one was apparently alive while it was being filmed. A gallery of photos is available.

Wikipedia has a good article on Architeuthis the giant squid.

Besides all this, one of my favorite bands of all time, Tourniquet, has a song titled Architeuthis in which they reference the giant sea creature. So I must go listen to that song again, as if Tourniquet isn't already playing in the background (which they are).

"Some people are born great, others are thrown into greatness."

I might add a couple of additional statements to say that, some people could be great, however they haven't been given opportunity while others have fortitude for greatness, they simply lack desire to attain.

Cell Scam

Have you ever wondered why just to check voice mail on your cellphone takes so long? It's not just because the cell phone companies enjoy putting in all of the boring verbiage. "You have N new messages", "to get messages press...", "voice call received at...", "to listen to this message press...", "to delete this message press..."

No, it's because for every second they can slow the call down, they are making money. This really aggravates me, because it should taking only a few seconds longer than the length of the message, to get the message. Instead it takes a minimum of two minutes.

Not that I don't have plenty of minutes in my cell plan, but i don't have time to waste just getting the message. We all have better things to do, and the phone companies should streamline these services instead of milking them for every cent they can.

Never!

As a web developer, never, never, never resize a persons browser!

Let me yell this in hopes of getting it through your thick heads.
NEVER RESIZE A PERSONS BROWSER!

I don't care what your manager/boss/ceo says, it's rude and makes myself and others furious!