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http://moria.greycastle.net//blog.html
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2011-11-12T17:39:46Z
The Copiale Cipher
http://moria.greycastle.net//blog/thecopialecipher.html
James Davidson
Copyright © 2011 by James Davidson
2011-11-12T17:39:46Z
2011-11-12T17:24:00Z
<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copiale%5Fcipher">Copiale Cipher</a> used by an
18th century secret society <a href="http://stp.lingfil.uu.se/~bea/copiale/">has been deciphered</a>.</p>
<p>Decrypting secret codes has to appeal to the kid in all of us.</p>
Android It Is, Then
http://moria.greycastle.net//blog/androiditisthen.html
James Davidson
Copyright © 2011 by James Davidson
2011-07-02T05:30:00Z
2011-05-15T01:37:00Z
<p>After the <a href="http://moria.greycastle.net//blog/notthedroidyourelookingfor.html">discusison on picking up a Maemo
device</a>, it just did not work out that
way.</p>
<p>First, the successor to the N810, the N900 was never released in
Canada. So I'll have to wait for a Maemo device I could use I
thought. Second, Nokia partnered with Intel to merge Maemo and Moblin
into Meego. Ok, I can wait a bit longer unit a Meego device is
available in Canada.</p>
<p>But then the final event just killed it. Nokia decided that <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2011/feb11/02-11partnership.mspx">another
mobile OS</a> would be better for its future devices. As they
say, "I don't do Windows."</p>
<p>So that leaves me with Android. And, as soon as it was available in
Canada, I got myself a Nexus S.</p>
git notes
http://moria.greycastle.net//blog/gitnotes.html
James Davidson
Copyright © 2010 by James Davidson
2010-09-17T04:58:35Z
2010-09-17T04:54:00Z
<p>The <a href="http://progit.org/">ProGit blog</a> has a nice post on using the new
<a href="http://progit.org/2010/08/25/notes.html">git notes</a> feature.</p>
Emacs Daemon
http://moria.greycastle.net//blog/emacsdaemon.html
James Davidson
Copyright © 2010 by James Davidson
2010-04-07T05:22:11Z
2010-04-07T04:48:00Z
<p>Just now catching up with <a href="http://emacs-fu.blogspot.com/2009/02/emacs-daemon.html">using Emacs in daemon
mode</a>. On that
blog post, <a href="http://emacs-fu.blogspot.com/2009/02/emacs-daemon.html?showComment=1243944489441#c7542621984318751799">an anonymous
commentor</a>
shows the best way to use emacsclient to start the Emacs server if it
is not already started.</p>
<p>One last note is that the <code>-c</code> option will result in the same
behaviour as the <code>-t</code> option if the DISPLAY environment variable is
not set.</p>
Chromium and Flash on x86_64
http://moria.greycastle.net//blog/chromiumandflashonx86_64.html
James Davidson
Copyright © 2010 by James Davidson
2011-05-15T00:28:00Z
2010-03-30T03:52:00Z
<p>I am starting to <em>feel</em> the slowness of Firefox so I wanted to see if
Chromium could fulfill my web browser needs. So far so good.</p>
<p>The first big issue was getting Flash working with my x86_64 version
of Chromium. I found a <a href="http://www.rikbrown.co.uk/2010/01/flash-on-64-bit-chromium-linux-fedora-12/">tidy set of
instructions</a>
to get and install the 64-bit Flash plugin. Just make sure you get
the <a href="http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/square">latest
version</a>
of the plugin.</p>
<p>Update: The 64-bit version of flash is too old and has many security
vulnerabilities. You should really get the latest 32-bit version and
use the 32-bit plugin wrapper for your browser if you run a 64-bit
version of Linux.</p>
Fix Pidgin to work again with AIM and ICQ
http://moria.greycastle.net//blog/fixpidginaimicq.html
James Davidson
Copyright © 2010 by James Davidson
2010-02-19T05:52:29Z
2010-02-19T05:36:00Z
<p>Recently I have been getting "Received unexpected response from..."
errors. I found <a href="http://www.techspot.com/blog/677/pidgin-aim-icq-unexpected-response-fix/">a TechSpot blog with a
fix</a>
that worked for me.</p>
This is not the Droid you're looking for
http://moria.greycastle.net//blog/notthedroidyourelookingfor.html
James Davidson
Copyright © 2009 by James Davidson
2011-05-15T03:10:32Z
2009-11-15T23:38:00Z
<p>I am not the only person <a href="http://xkcd.com/662/">pondering what mobile platform to get</a>.</p>
<p>Though <a href="http://moria.greycastle.net//blog/maemovsandroid.html">as I blogged already</a>, I'll be going with Maemo.</p>
Better Presentations
http://moria.greycastle.net//blog/betterpresentations.html
James Davidson
Copyright © 2009 by James Davidson
2009-11-16T00:22:52Z
2009-11-15T22:09:00Z
<p>Just listened to the <a href="http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/">IT Conversations</a> podcast
<a href="http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail4290.html">Great Public Communications Skills</a> which covers Carmine Gallo's new book,
<a href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=VRFqzM3XB3oC">The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be Insanely Great in Front of
Any Audience</a>.</p>
<p>Two clips Carmine mentions specifically to watch are:</p>
<ul>
<li>The return of Steve Jobs at <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEHNrqPkefI">MacWorld Expo 1997</a>.</li>
<li>iPhone release at <a href="http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=7618175491985339193&ei=9WAAS-_JGomeqAO7jdHiDg">MacWorld 2007</a> (jump to 26min mark)</li>
</ul>
<p>What I found interesting is that these 2 presentations, approximately 10 years
appart, use the same presentation techniques.</p>
Choosing Android or Maemo
http://moria.greycastle.net//blog/maemovsandroid.html
James Davidson
Copyright © 2009 by James Davidson
2011-05-15T03:10:32Z
2009-11-12T06:16:00Z
<p>I have devices that run both Android (OpenMoko Freerunner) and Maemo (N810).
With new devices now available that run newer versions of Android and Maemo, I
was trying to decide which one I would get (the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wife%5Facceptance%5Ffactor">WAF</a> will not allow both).</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.google.com/mobile/navigation/index.html">Google Maps Navigation</a> announcement really made me want the new
<a href="http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/CA-EN/Consumer-Products-and-Services/Mobile-Phones/Motorola-MILESTONE-CA-EN">Motorola Milestone</a> phone. That is a sweet app.</p>
<p>However, after reading
<a href="http://laforge.gnumonks.org/weblog/2009/11/04/#20091104-android_mythbusters">Harald Welte's summary of Android Mythbusters</a> and
<a href="http://cool900.blogspot.com/2009/10/comparing-freedom-on-maemo-and-android.html">Comparing Freedom on Maemo and Android</a> Android does not
seem like the platform I want. If reviews of the
<a href="http://jaaksi.blogspot.com/2009/11/houston-we-have-take-off.html">just now shipping</a> N900 are positive, that will be my choice.</p>
F-Spot Mangles EXIF Dates
http://moria.greycastle.net//blog/fspotmanglesexifdates.html
James Davidson
Copyright © 2009 by James Davidson
2009-11-16T00:22:52Z
2009-10-29T05:05:00Z
<p>My wife has been organizing all our family photos using F-Spot for several
years. After a long bout of inactivity, she started to work through the mass
of photos that we have just been collecting and not sorting through. After she
imported the pictured, she noticed that the date of the photos that F-Spot was
reporting was off from when she remembered taking the pictures.</p>
<p>Well it turns out that F-Spot is indeed getting the dates wrong and is changing
the EXIF header dates to be incorrect as well! A good summary of the problem
is
<a href="http://daniel-bartholomew.com/wordpress/2009/10/f-spot-considered-harmful/">F-Spot Considered Harmful</a>.</p>
<p>I think I'll take a look at <a href="http://www.digikam.org/">digikam</a>.</p>