Chincoteague, VA
Our waitress this morning, with no context:
“If you open the door and go outside and see a woman who when she opens her mouth bell noises come out, that’s because I shoved it down her throat.”
A thing-place
May 19
May 03
Web Services That Should Exist
txt -> png; png -> txt
Enter text, it spits out a 100 x 100, suitably random-looking block of colored pixels. Upload or link to one of those, it spits out the text that made it.
Preferably makes equally random-looking output on any input including null; preferably returns variable amounts of consistent, unique gibberish when fed images it didn’t generate.
phone number anonymization
Tell it your phone number and an amount of time, and it generates a number (or a code that can be entered via phone into a menu at a static number) that when called forwards to your phone number.
<To be continued>
Apr 08
Context Switching
Keystrokes I use on a (*semi-)regular basis to switch contexts:
cmd-tab, cmd-shift-tab (OS X applications)
cmd-`, cmd-shift-` (OS X windows within app)
cmd-Q (OS X quit app)
cmd-W (OS X close window)
cmd-opt-rightarrow/leftarrow (OSX Firefox/Opera tabs next/prev)
cmd-[0-9] (OSX Firefox/Opera specific tab)
cmd-k (OSX Firefox google search)
cmd-l (OSX Firefox/Opera URL bar)
cmd-t (OSX Firefox/Opera new tab)
cmd-w (OSX Firefox/Opera close tab)
cmd-fn-f12 (OSX Firefox undo close tab)
opt-space (invoke quicksilver)
*cmd-space (invoke spotlight)
opt-tab (Visor)
*cmd-n (new Terminal, new OS X FF window)
cmd-rightarrow/leftarrow (*Terminals, *X11 windows, Adium tabs)
ctrl-x-b (emacs buffers)
ctrl-z (suspend (usually emacs))
**ctrl-a-c (new screen in screen)
**ctrl-a-n/p (previous/next screen in screen)
fg (resume (usually emacs) )
*ctrl-alt-[f1-f12] (TTYs on CS dept. machines)
alt-tab, alt-shift-tab (KDE applications)
*ctrl-tab, ctrl-shift-tab (KDE workspaces)
alt-f4 (KDE close window)
alt-[0-9] (Linux FF specific tab)
ctrl-k (Linux FF Google search)
ctrl-l (Linux FF url bar)
ctrl-t (Linux FF new tab)
ctrl-w (Linux FF close tab)
ctrl-shift-n (Konsole new session)
alt-shift-left/right (Konsole sessions)
tab, shift-tab (Focus in almost everything)
j/k (next/prev in gmail/google reader)
u (return to inbox in gmail)
With all of this, my success rate the first time I try to switch contexts is probably around 70%, and only tht high because my high rate of trivial cmd-tabs… the worst situations are when less-used apps with interfaces similar to more-used apps don’t implement certain keystrokes (cmd-k in Opera, j/k/u in Google Groups, cmd-option-rightarrow/leftarrow in Linux FF)
and when there is transparency involved (If I am using multiple transparent terminal windows and Visor and another app at the same time (fairly often), my success rate choosing between opt-tab, cmd-tab, cmd-`, and cmd-rightarrow/leftarrow, not mention sometimes opt-space, drops to like 15% on the first try and maybe 50% on the second and third…
Mar 29
“
…she cut straight into the pointy end of a nice slab of brie, rather than slicing a thin segment as is usual.
Soon after she heard someone exclaim loudly,
“Which cretin has pointed the Brie?!”
Mar 04
Jul 21
“ Over the next few weeks, as the trial version winds down, we’ll be opting everyone into the new Facebook.
— the Facebook Redesign Page.
Jul 19
“ ‘Yes?’ she asks, compressing so much data into the twenty-four-bit monosyllable that if you could patent the algorithm, you’d be set for life.
— from Halting State, by Charles Stross.
Apr 28
Dec 09
Taking Notes
I’m in a small English class - seven students total. Everyone but me takes copious notes.
One day (a day a friend from highschool happened to be visiting) I raised my hand in class and made a pretty good point. Then there was this cinematic moment - a tiny silence, and then everyone else in the room picked up a pen and jotted down what I’d said.
I shivered. I hated them.
