armb's journal

And may 2022 be better than 2021 for everyone.

Also, said laptop should be able to switch from a wired network connection inside a firewall, to wifi outside firewall with VPN, transparently, when undocked/unplugged.

Or failing that, manual switching should be easy.

Recommendations? (For Ubuntu 11.10 or 12.04)

Shocked to learn of keristor's death in a road traffic accident on Thursday.

http://smallship1.livejournal.com/702005.html?thread=4880437#t4880437

My home PC stopped booting Windows this weekend. There are backups of the important stuff that can't be reinstalled, but this could be tedious. Currently watching ddrescue (from a Linux (Debian Mint) USB stick) copying a disk image to NAS. About halfway through (having run all day), Only 1 error so far.
(It seems determined to drive my monitor at 700x400 - I can select other resolutions and the size of things changes accordingly, but not the lack of detail.)

Once I have as full and up-to-date a backup as possible, time to try Windows Restore Console. And buy some new disks possibly....

What's the difference between a Cultivator ("for preparation of ground prior to sowing or planting"), a Power Digger ("For digging uncultivated ground"), and a Rotavator (different web site, no description)?

I have, incidentally, been absolutely forbidden to buy a "project" tandem like http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330460076823&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT or http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ladyback-tandem-frame-50-60s-spares-repair-/120610031787?pt=UK_Bikes_GL

I didn't mention http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~armb/cycling/tandem.html (or the (slightly incomplete) tandem chainset that has been in the shed since a previous Mildenhall Cycle Rally Jumble).

I think I'm going to need varifocals Real Soon Now. For reading fine print on things, or reading in low light, or looking closely at detailed maps or GPS screen on holiday, I'm peering over the top of my glasses so I can hold things closer.

Or contact lenses and reading glasses. Or more than one pair of glasses for different things. Or another possibility I haven't thought of.

(I wore hard gas permeable contact lenses for years, but gave up when I was losing tolerance for wearing them all day (with long commute partway though house moves). If I had to wear glasses part of the day, it was easier to just wear them full time. But lens technology has moved on in the around ten years since then, so going back to them might be an option. Varifocal contact lenses of a sort do exist, but I don't find the idea very convincing. But maybe they work better than I expect.)

Is there an option I've missed? Suggestions? Recommendations?

(Laser surgery to correct the basic short sight is an "eww, squick, I don't want anyone doing that to my eyes" option.)

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/012497.html
"H.P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness (from here): George Orwell.
George Orwell, Burmese Days, chapter one (from here): Margaret Mitchell.
Charles Manson quotes (from here, both pages, with the words “Charles Manson” removed): Kurt Vonnegut.
Mao Tse Tung (in translation, sources of quotes removed, from here): Kurt Vonnegut.
Unabomber’s Manifesto (from here): Mario Puzo.
Hitler’s Mein Kampf, chapter one (in translation, from here): Ernest Hemingway."

"Foo. Wanted cool; got balonium."

Cartoon at http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20100702