My friend James is counting birds on Lake Superior. Check out their blog for a daily updated count! 

I was let down by the "app-dicts/edictionary-2.2" package for Gentoo. It is a Perl script that just does *not* work. I was getting tired of having to use a browser for simple dictionary lookups, so I wrote two Bash functions that let me define or match words via the command line and curl.
Add to your ~/.bashrc

function define {
    curl -# dict://dict.org/d:$1|tail -n +3|head -n -2|more
}

function match {
    curl -# dict://dict.org/m:$1|tail -n +3|head -n -2|more
}

Usage is simple. Just type "define onomatopoeia", and profit.
I chop off a few leading and trailing lines to make things easier to read.  

A while back I was having issues with one of my server machines locking up. I can't remember the exact reason why, but "noapic" and "nolapic" in the kernel options seemed to help. I also noticed that somewhere along the line I was only getting one penguin in the top left corner on boot. I had come to learn that this denoted how many cores the kernel had detected.

This bothered me, so I checked out the processor information via "cat /proc/cpuinfo". Sure enough I was only running on one core! I did a bit of research and found that the nolapic option will disable the ability to communicate with more than one CPU core. 
Read more (240 words)

Soon I will be bringing an explanation and tutorial to the huddled masses of command line Linux users that have not had the joy of utilizing bash completion for applications.

Bash completion offer hints for arguments. An example of this would be using Gentoo's "equery" for package property information. Alright, I want to know which applications have an "opengl" use flag. So after installing app-shells/bash-completion and app-shells/gentoo-bashcomp I can type:

[egon@bigred ~ ]$ equery [tab]

Which shows:

belongs   check     depgraph  glsa      list      stats     which     
changes   depends   files     hasuse    size      uses      

It looks like I want to use the "hasuse" argument to figure out which packages have an opengl use flag. I can even type part of the command, like has[tab] and it will complete to hasuse.

[egon@bigred ~ ]$ equery hasuse opengl
[ Searching for USE flag opengl in all categories among: ]
 * installed packages
[I--] [ -] app-emulation/emul-linux-x86-xlibs-20080810 (0)
[I--] [  ] media-libs/xine-lib-1.1.16.3 (1)
[I--] [  ] media-libs/libsdl-1.2.13-r1 (0)
[I--] [  ] games-emulation/sdlmame-0.129 (0)
[I--] [  ] media-video/mplayer-1.0_rc2_p20090731 (0)
[I--] [  ] gnome-extra/gnome-screensaver-2.24.1-r1 (0)
[I--] [  ] x11-libs/fox-1.6.36 (1.6)
[I--] [ ~] x11-libs/cairo-1.8.8 (0)

That's all for now...  

So much to say about this topic. I am extremely close to having RFCOMM working (i think) with my input devices (Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mighty Mouse) Once I am able to wake up/resume the computer from standby, then I'll post the goodness in all it's luscious detail. 

I know this isn't new news by any means, but I was trying to do simple things the other day on a friends Vista™ machine. Like say, drag a video file to a media player?
Save to desktop without having to click on the drop down menu of the first folder?
Removing File, Edit, and View, menu from the interface completely?
Utter stupidity. The users of these horrid code coagulations need to dumb themselves down to navigate their system. You need to tell the damned operating system 4 times that you REALLY ACTUALLY want to install a program! Gah!

-Goner Out 

While trying to write a little blurb about my interest in two articles I just read and linking to them, I realized that I should just list my delicious tags as news items with a random picture from google images or flickr and the delicious note as text. That way I could manage the content I like without having to copy the text or write an ineffectual message that doesn't need to be said. I tagged it, it's cool. next... making the 'could' 'did'. 

Soon to feature a steady stream of articles that the team deems worthy, Linux embedded firmware hacks, python web-mashups, tutorials, reviews... This space is a legend and will be changing rapidly over the next few months. All progress will be documented for repetition's sake and general knowledge. 

A team of Russian pilots will reportedly fly fighter jets through a narrow cave in central China in a tourist stunt that will cost people up to 840 dollars to watch.

The Russian air force jets, including advanced Sukhoi Su-30s and Su-27s, will fly through the famed Tianmen Cave in central Hunan province on March 17-18, the Hunan Daily said.  
Read more (141 words)

The Courier-Mail: " A FORMER spokesman for the Taliban, Rahmatullah Hashemi, has enrolled as a student at America's prestigious Yale University where he has taken a class on terrorism, The New York Times magazine reported today.

The ex-Taliban spin doctor and "roving ambassador", who has spent time in the presence of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, is now a Yale "freshman" improving his English through a special non-degree program." 
Read more (107 words)

Al-Qaeda has begun using new tactics to aid in it's fight against American invaders. Semi-professional videos have been appearing online and at stores all over Iraq (available under the table). These videos have content from propaganda to car bombs and snipers. In addition, web sites have begun to pop up that explain various things, including how to make a road side bomb, how to legally enter Iraq across the Syrian border, and how to financially support Al-Qaeda via PayPal.

Juba is a name that is becoming increasingly known. This name is becoming something like an Iraqi legend who is a sniper that fires only one shot, and has never hit anyone other than American soldiers. He supposedly uses a silencer as to maintain stealth. A video of one of his victims can be found here.

Upon analysis of these videos, there are questions raised as to who makes them. Director Phil Alden Robinson said "it was an attempt to look professional, but in fact it was pretty crudely done. They used a sort of phony film leader at the head, which is available from software. And they used some kind of cheesy animation and other effects, again, all available in consumer software. It was probably put together on a laptop computer. But it's an attempt to look like its a professional production." "I have a feeling this may have been done in America. I have that feeling because at the very beginning of the countdown leader says Adobe Premiere, which is a software which you use for video editing. There are also references to Tarzan and to Fox News and to green cards. it certainly feels someone who has some familiarity with American culture. It certainly is intended for American audiences. It's titles are in the English language and the references are American."

One web site, http://uruknet.info features articles that portray the darkest side of the American occupation of Iraq.

The Internet may be spreading Al-Qaeda/Jihad propaganda, but it is also allowing the rest of the world to see news of Iraq that is uncensored.

Listen to the original NPR story here 

Although the details are still unclear, it appears that a Rochester man is being hated on in what officials call "the worst case of hating we've ever seen". Please stay tuned for updates as this episode of hating continues. 

Man rapes children, builds church, starts school.

From freetimes.com: "He says he would never associate himself with Jesus, but his message is clear: He views himself as a self-sacrificial lamb. Getting caught, he says, was an intentional and necessary cost of his  
Read more (1 words)

From the Associated Press: " VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Right-wing British historian David Irving pleaded guilty Monday to denying the Holocaust and was sentenced to three years in prison, even after conceding he wrongly said there were no Nazi gas chambers at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Irving, handcuffed and wearing a navy blue suit, arrived in court carrying a copy of one of his most controversial books - "Hitler's War," which challenges the extent of the Holocaust.

"I made a mistake when I said there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz," Irving told the court before his sentencing, at which he faced up to 10 years in prison."  
Read more (44 words)