2015 — 18 February: Wednesday
I'm a bent, wizened, old man1 and thus rarely surprised by much these days. I'm old enough, in fact, to recall back when I last had the privilege of being ruled by a working Win8.1 "overlord" whose speed of booting from an SSD was a thing of comparative wonder. Linux Mint 17.1 booting off a similar spec SSD? Makes Win8.1 look positively sluggish. I also note, with mild pleasure, that default Firefox re-opened on Workspace #1 not only logs back into my email session, but has even somehow recalled how I prefer my Amazon emails to be served up in English no matter from where they originate. I'm being offered "Into the Night", but still only on DVD, not Blu-ray...
This gives me time to reset the preferences of "Pluma" (silly name for a file editor) so what I'm editing right now is actually highlighted, once again, as HTML markup. Though when I opened further SHTML files to complete the task of today's first diary jotting, each of them was shown as plain text (no fancy tag highlighting). Still, I only need to touch them briefly to get my 'molehole' navigational ducks in a row. Today's "working" file is the only one I actually need highlighted to reduce the risk of over-much webby embarrassment.
Default Firefox re-opened on Workspace #3 pointed straight at my internal home page; extra goodness.2
I succeeded...
... in my attempt to get one of my more familiar media players (VLC, as it happens) to accept music files from one of my NAS boxes. A process that turned out to be rather trickier than I'd hoped. And currently beyond the ken of several unfamiliar media players, all of which seemed most unwilling to venture on to my LAN. Most odd. Oh well, it's just gone 07:20 and the radio news puts me in need of my next cuppa :-)
One might think that Big Pharma's lack of success in Alzheimer treatments would spur greater efforts rather than cutbacks in research funding. Do I detect the malign influence of bean-counters, I wonder? (Wonder if there's a cure for that nasty modern ailment? They'd probably be stupid enough to fund initial research. After all, an earlier doctor observed a capitalist will sell you the rope with which you intend to hang him.)
Now...
... here's a question I find myself asking more and more:
Multiple Worlds, huh?
I wonder if an alternative me...
... has already got "Sublime Text" working as a replacement for "Pluma" yet in one of these alternative worlds? I recall Junior mentioning (or do I mean raving enthusiastically / waxing lyrical about?) this editor in my bad old days as a Windows user, and promptly found it already sitting waiting for me in Mint's software set having first been reminded of it via this potentially-interesting site.
Tip of the hat to my walking companion later today — but, my word, it looks uninvitingly frosty out there at the moment... I've just had to draw the curtains at the back as you don't want to know the effect of blazing sunshine impinging on a large, shiny screen at an acute angle. (Instant migraine.)
Bishops are calling for "a fresh moral vision". I really must restore NPR reception!
Meanwhile, answering my own recent question:
The Android SHIELD Tablet PC has just completed its own OTA update. Is there no end to this rush of new software?
My word, you...
... really have to look carefully at the fine print. I spotted a nice-looking Canon i-SENSYS MF229dw Wi-Fi All-in-One Mono Laser Printer with Linux support... only to find that its built-in scanner isn't actually supported under Linux. Only printing is. How stupid is that? [Pause] Better throw another couple of layers on before I hit the icy roads out there. TTFN.
Back from the walk
The next item is lunch (late) followed by "buy more fresh food" and "pick up ailing SSD for further experiments". In that order. Oh, and drink (nearly cold) tea. [Pause] Being about to break off for my evening meal (late), I shall merely note that I've reverted to the default text editor for now. "Sublime Text" nagged me, and suggested I should (now that I'd evaluated it!) cough up $70 — I'm by no means convinced I'm quite ready for such a costly relationship.
I wonder if I can run my beloved TextPad under WINE? :-)
I'm currently enjoying...
... for the nth time an album called "Low Estate" by an American group called 16 Horsepower. I first heard it (and of them) in a shop in Calais and had a bit of a struggle to get the very stylish young French sales assistant to realise that, yes, if she had a moment to spare in between adjusting her lipstick and chatting to some young natives, I was quite keen on buying3 the CD that was actually playing. My ripped MP3s are playing perfectly in the newly-installed Decibel audio player.
Although that also has (see above) no idea how to browse the contents of my NAS, I managed to fool it by first browsing the NAS myself, highlighting all the tracks, and then right-clicking my selection and specifying "Open with... Decibel". After a suitable wait of a few seconds (either just to remind me who's really in charge or, possibly, to copy the files somewhere temporarily... who knows?), track #1 (as numbered by meta-tag) comes through beautifully, and we're off to the races. Excellent.
It seems...
... the only way to get the BBC to reverse idiotic (some say ill-informed) audio download decisions is to protest about the loss of "High Definition" sound from Radio 3 despite continuity announcers continuing to mention it. I've just snaffled last night's "Late Junction" in all its accustomed 320kbps glory but, alas, the various Jazz programmes from last Saturday and Sunday are conspicuously absent. (Link.)