From 525a6c7d003e57ba90b95843728851f20db4359b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Neale Pickett Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2022 16:18:29 -0600 Subject: [PATCH] I'm bringing blogging back. (Yeah!) --- .gitignore | 1 + _config.yml | 3 +- _layouts/default.html | 9 +- _posts/2004-10-27-Debian-Digimatrix.md | 276 +++++++++++++ _posts/2021-12-22-drwho.md | 17 + _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E01-cavemen.md | 37 ++ _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E05-daleks.md | 80 ++++ _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E12-button.md | 29 ++ _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E14-china.md | 39 ++ _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E21-chips.md | 97 +++++ _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E27-mexico.md | 66 +++ _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E31-sensorites.md | 46 +++ _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E34-france.md | 14 + .../2021-12-23-drwho-S02E01-ants.md | 14 +- _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S02E04-moo.md | 11 + _posts/2022-08-01-private-pages.md | 7 + _posts/2022-08-01-reblog.md | 67 +++ .../blog}/susan-well-hello-there.mp4 | Bin assets/css/default.css | 6 +- blog.md | 7 + papers/drwho/season01.md | 385 ------------------ papers/html-tutorial.md | 8 +- 22 files changed, 819 insertions(+), 400 deletions(-) create mode 100644 _posts/2004-10-27-Debian-Digimatrix.md create mode 100644 _posts/2021-12-22-drwho.md create mode 100644 _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E01-cavemen.md create mode 100644 _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E05-daleks.md create mode 100644 _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E12-button.md create mode 100644 _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E14-china.md create mode 100644 _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E21-chips.md create mode 100644 _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E27-mexico.md create mode 100644 _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E31-sensorites.md create mode 100644 _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E34-france.md rename papers/drwho/season02.md => _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S02E01-ants.md (71%) create mode 100644 _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S02E04-moo.md create mode 100644 _posts/2022-08-01-private-pages.md create mode 100644 _posts/2022-08-01-reblog.md rename {papers/drwho => assets/blog}/susan-well-hello-there.mp4 (100%) create mode 100644 blog.md delete mode 100644 papers/drwho/season01.md diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore index 2a0d7df..11a2ca7 100644 --- a/.gitignore +++ b/.gitignore @@ -1,2 +1,3 @@ *~ _site/ +.jekyll-cache/ diff --git a/_config.yml b/_config.yml index 199bf78..5b7ce20 100644 --- a/_config.yml +++ b/_config.yml @@ -1,6 +1,5 @@ defaults: - - - scope: + - scope: path: "" values: layout: "default" diff --git a/_layouts/default.html b/_layouts/default.html index c6263d1..b7292a8 100644 --- a/_layouts/default.html +++ b/_layouts/default.html @@ -17,8 +17,14 @@ -

+

{{ page.title }} + {% if page.collection == "posts" %} +
+ + {{page.date | date: "%Y %B %-d"}} + + {% endif %}

@@ -34,6 +40,7 @@
  • Tartans
  • Poems
  • Papers
    • +
  • Blog
  • Toys
    • diff --git a/_posts/2004-10-27-Debian-Digimatrix.md b/_posts/2004-10-27-Debian-Digimatrix.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1dca393 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2004-10-27-Debian-Digimatrix.md @@ -0,0 +1,276 @@ +--- +title: Debian on Digimatrix +--- + +Introduction +------------ + +We have a Digimatrix hooked up to our high-definition television. We +use it for a number of things: + +* Watching DVDs +* Playing music from OGG and MP3 files +* Recording and playing back television shows +* Storing pictures and movies from our digital camera +* Hosting our pictures and movies, along with those of our friends, + on a web server +* Playing Super Nintendo video games +* Occasional desktop tasks + +MythTV and Freevo vs. KDE +------------------------- + +This sounds like a MythTV box, right? I tried MythTV, and Freevo, and +while I was impressed with how pretty they were, I just couldn't get +them working quite right. + +[MythTV](http://www.mythtv.org/) gave a blank screen trying to watch or +record TV, with no useful error messages, and try as I might I just +couldn't figure out what the problem was. After spending three days on +it I gave up. + +[Freevo](http://freevo.sourceforge.net/) had its own problems; I don't +remember exactly what they were now. I do remember feeling like Freevo +was held together with bailing wire and chewing gum, while MythTV had a +much more polished and easy-to-use feel to it. + +Neither of them worked well out of the box with the Digimatrix remote +control. + +In the end, I decided it'd be easier for everybody if we just used KDE. +It lets me bind actions to the key sequences the remote control sends +out, and for most TV-type activities the remote does enough to move +around in [Xine](http://xinehq.de/) and +[Konqueror](http://www.konqueror.org/). The +[x2x](http://x2x.dottedmag.net/) program allows us to use our laptops to +control things over the wireless network, when the remote doesn't +suffice. The Unix `at` utility and a little shell script lets us +schedule TV recordings with more ease than a VCR. + +Best of all, there's no meta-information filed away in some obscure +database layout. Everything is a file somewhere and can be manipulated +with Konqueror or the shell. + +This turns out to be a very workable setup. + + +### Installing the base system + +I had to install the testing (etch) installation CD for it to have a +driver for the SiS 900 10/100 network card. Installation went smoothly +enough. Everything is detected at boot time except: + +* LED Panel and front panel buttons (including volume) +* Infrared receiver +* 802.11b card ([Ralink rt2400 chipset](http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/)). + While I've gotten the rt2400 drivers to work, the card won't seem to + associate with my WAP until some other device does it first. This is + so inconvenient that I've run a long CAT-5 cable under the house so I + can use the 10/100 ethernet port. + + +I installed the following additional packages to help me administer the +machine: + +
    +# apt-get install less zile screen ssh strace sudo ntp ntpdate
+
    + + +Web server +-------------- + +Waldorf needed to run a web server to host photo albums. + +
    +# apt-get install mathopd stunnel4 php4-cgi rssh
+# apt-get install netpbm jhead exiftran libjpeg-mmx-progs libjpeg-progs
+
    + +I won't detail my web server configuration here, since that's unique to me. + +X +---- + +
    +# apt-get install x-window-system
+
    + +To my surprise this brought in x.org. I run an HDTV over DVI, so to get +full screen, I had to change the configuration as follows: + +
    +Section "Device"
+        Identifier      "Generic Video Card"
+        Driver          "sis"
+        Option          "ForceCRT1Type" "DVI-D"
+EndSection
+
+Section "Monitor"
+        Identifier      "Generic Monitor"
+        Option          "DPMS"
+        HorizSync       30-65
+        VertRefresh     30-60
+        ModeLine "720p" 74.160 1280 1352 1392 1648 697 725 730 750 
+EndSection
+
    + +I also had to add "720p" to the `Modes` of the `Display` subsection of +`Screen`. + +You may notice I only have 697 pixels vertically. That's because my TV +puts about 23 lines in the "overscan", preventing me from seeing my KDE +toolbar. I haven't yet found a way to recenter the screen, this just +chops off the bottom. As a hack, I put empty KDE toolbars on the top, +left, and right borders. This keeps windows inside the viewable area. + + +### KDE + +I like KDE. I've tried MythTV and Freevo and found it's just easier to +run KDE and occasionally use a mouse and keyboard. The only thing we +don't get is a snazzy interface to recording TV shows, but we don't tend +to want to do that very often. I may work on a web interface to XML-TV +listings later on. + +
    +# apt-get install kde kdm
+
    + +I don't know if this is typical or not, but Debian's KDE went on without +asking me a single question. Kudos to the packagers. + + +### Sound + +
    +# apt-get install alsa-base alsa-utils
+
    + +We use the Digimatrix's S/PDIF output (isn't it lame that it comes out +the front?). I know from a previous installation that if you just use +the defaults, you need to reboot between playing 2-channel audio and +using Xine's pass-through option to play a 7.1-channel DVD. I'm sure it +has something to do with the sound card resetting something or other. +The solution seems to be having ALSA multiplex audio, and while I don't +get why this works, work it does. + +I put the following into `/etc/asound.conf`: + +
    +pcm.asus-hw {
+    type hw
+    card 0
+}
+
+pcm.!default {
+    type plug
+    slave.pcm "asus"
+}
+
+pcm.asus {
+    type dmix
+    ipc_key 1234
+    slave {
+        pcm "hw:0,0"
+        period_time 0
+        period_size 1024
+        buffer_size 4096
+        rate 48000
+    }
+}
+
+ctl.asus-hw {
+    type hw
+    card 0
+}
+
    + +### A decent desktop + +At this point I was able to browse the web and play music using KDE's +"JuK":http://developer.kde.org/~wheeler/juk.html, so I took a break to +dance around the living room with my 1-year-old daughter as ABBA sang to +us. + + +### Playing DVDs + +I like kaffeine, mostly because it's part of KDE and I'm a purist. It +can play all sorts of movies and even has a nice startup screen that +allows you to type in numbers for various actions (play from playlist, +play DVD, etc.). + +
    +# apt-get install kaffeine
+
    + + + +### DVD drive speed ### + +Linux does not use DMA on IDE devices when it boots up, you have to turn +that on yourself. I'm not sure what the reason is for this, probably +compatibility with some ancient thing that blows up if you attempt DMA. +In any case, turning on DMA will allows your DVD drive to keep up with +the data on the DVD. + +
    +# apt-get install hdparm
+
    + +To turn on DMA, I put the following at the end of `/etc/hdparm.conf`. +While I was at it, I turned ot DMA for the hard drive too. + +
    +/dev/dvd {
+	dma = on
+}
+
+/dev/hda {
+	dma = on
+}
+
    + + +### Try a DVD ### + +At this point I was able to watch DVDs, so I did. I watched the first +DVD of the first season of Buffy, which turned out to be a terrible idea +since it's pretty dark and not very high quality. I played around with +the gamma settings in the KDE configuration tool, and set my gamma at +1.25. Then I adjusted the brightness, contrast, and saturation of +Kaffeine, and got what I think is a pretty nice-looking configuration. + + + +### The remote control + +What good is a home theater system if you have to get up off your butt +to press buttons? This is America, man! I want to be able to eat +cheez-doodles and watch porn all night without having my feet hit the +floor, ever. + +### The keyboard thingy ### + +My Digimatrix came with this IR receiver thingy that goes in between the +keyboard and the keyboard port on the Digimatrix. It synthesizes +keypresses in response to your remote. Pretty slick! This is good +enough for most things, and for a long time I just bound remote +keystrokes to do certain things in KDE applications, and to certain +actions in Xine. + +### lirc ### + +lirc is the Linux Infra-Red Control system. It provides a standard +interface to various IR recievers and remote controls, and supplies +events to whatever wants to listen to it. KDE has a module to listen to +it, so I figured I'd give it a go. + + # apt-get install kdelirc + +Unfortunately, lirc 0.7 (the version in debian testing and unstable) +does not compile on Linux 2.6.12 and newer, so I had to install from +source code. + + diff --git a/_posts/2021-12-22-drwho.md b/_posts/2021-12-22-drwho.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea8272f --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2021-12-22-drwho.md @@ -0,0 +1,17 @@ +--- +title: All of Doctor Who +tags: + - drwho +--- + +I'm going to try to watch every episode of Doctor Who, in order. +Then I'm going to write up what I think. + +A few rules I'm setting out initially: + +* It's okay to skip an episode if I just can't handle it. +* I don't have to write a big ol' treatise on each one. +* I fully understand I lack cultural and temporal context for a lot of this, + and I'm not going to feel bound to try and attain said. +* I will be viewing this though my personal biases. +* I may create more rules later on. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E01-cavemen.md b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E01-cavemen.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7c54dd --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E01-cavemen.md @@ -0,0 +1,37 @@ +--- +title: "Doctor Who S01E01-E04: Cavemen and Fire" +tags: + - drwho +--- + +I guess this first story pretty clearly established that they travel +through time. + +## S01E01 - An Unearthly Child + +Oh man, the pacing is just slow. +I like how they're exploring "what if a time-travelling alien disguised itself as a human and went to high school." + +Okay, there are two high school teachers, +and this highschool aged timelord girl who's the Doctor's grand-daughter. + +The doctor is kind of a jerk. + + +## S01E02 - The Cave of Skulls + +Right, okay, cavemen. And of course they're all short-term-memory idiots. +Okay, sure. + +## S01E03 - The Forest of Fear + +I forgot what this one was about, +because I didn't decide to write things down until later. + +## S01E04 - The Firemaker + +The man teacher makes a fire because of course the man does that in 1963. +And then the leader of the cavemen goes hunting. +They make some skulls on fire to distract everybody, +which is pretty cool, +and then they escape. diff --git a/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E05-daleks.md b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E05-daleks.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f8b4bef --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E05-daleks.md @@ -0,0 +1,80 @@ +--- +title: "Doctor Who S01E05-E11: Daleks!" +tags: + - drwho +--- + +Holy crap! I didn't realized the Daleks went all the way back to episode 4! +Also there are some Dutch-looking people who are of course the good guys. + +## S01E05: The Dead Planet + +They find a dead city which, oops, high background radiation. +Cool doors open up and some neat architecture. + +You know what, for the time and (I assume) paltry budget of the first season, +this is pretty badass. + +This Doctor is a jerk. Faking a broken part to force everyone to do what +he wants. + +## S01E06: The Survivors + +Daleks! It's cool that they waited until the second episode to bring them out. +They're pretty clearly assholes right at the outset here. +No moral ambiguity with the Daleks. + +The Doctor is pretty frail. Honestly, the rest of the crew seems more +important than he is. + +## S01E07: The Escape + +I think we really meet the Norwegians here. I don't recall exactly. + +I'm pretty sure this is the one where +the Norwegians try to meet up with the Daleks and forge a peace treaty, +not knowing the Daleks are complete assholes. + +## S01E08: The Ambush + +They start taking out the Daleks. There appears to be some sort of +creature inside, which can be taken out, and the dude teacher crawls in. + +This is actually pretty cool, I liked this one. + +## S01E09: The Expedition + +I think the guy teacher tries to convince the peaceniks to fight the Daleks, +by presenting them with the possibility of him screwing up their stuff. + +The Norwegians traipse around through some cool looking sets to +look like an alien landscape. + +I think this is when the Daleks realize they need high background radiation +in order to survive, because the Norwegians (the Thaals I guess) anti-radiation +drug kills them. They plan to dump ionizing radiation onto the planet's +surface. + +A Thaal dude goes to get water and gets sucked up by a vortex or something. + +## S01E10: The Ordeal + +Half the episode was watching people jump over a chasm in a cave. +The pacing on this, holy crap. + +I think this is the one where the Doctor screws up their electrical grid. + +## S01E11: The Rescue + +Everybody runs around in the cave some more, and eventually they pop out +in the Dalek city. +The Doctor and his Grand-daughter +are imprisoned and he volunteers to teach them about his ship and how to +travel through time if they let him go. + +The Norwegians and teachers rain holy hell and kill all the Daleks. +Everybody goes home. + +Honestly, man, for being written 60 years ago, I'm surprised by how +compelling the Daleks were written when viewed by me today. + diff --git a/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E12-button.md b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E12-button.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae8b3ce --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E12-button.md @@ -0,0 +1,29 @@ +--- +title: "Doctor Who S01E12-E13: A Tardis Button Gets Stuck" +tags: + - drwho +--- + +This story was bathouse crazy. +Part of it was probably that I wasn't paying full attention, +but it was also just nuts. + +## S01E12: The Edge of Destruction + +People alternate between normal and crazy. +There's a lot of screaming. +Random weirdness takes place and it doesn't make sense. +Everybody turns of everybody and then suddenly it's fine and dandy. + +## S01E13: The Brink of Disaster + +The Doctor starts piecing together some clues. +Turns out the Tardis itself has been trying to send them a message +by dropping obscure clues. +He figures it out and unsticks the "go back to where you just were" button, +which, because it was stuck down, sent them back to the origin of the +solar system. + +You know, not awful. +It felt pretty incoherent but I was willing to go along. + diff --git a/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E14-china.md b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E14-china.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb1bbf7 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E14-china.md @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +--- +title: "Doctor Who S01E14-20: Doctor Who goes to China" +tags: + - drwho +--- + +I guess the film for this was lost, +so it was sort of a slideshow playing over a radio drama. + +## S01E14: The Roof of the World + +I made it as far as them getting into a hut in Mongolia and meeting +Marco Polo, +and then I skipped to the next story. + +## S01E15: The Singing Sands + +More British people pretending they're in China, I presume. + +## S01E16: Five Hundred Eyes + +Skipped + +## S01E17: The Wall of Lies + +Skipped + +## S01E18: Rider from Shang Tu + +Skipped + +## S01E19: Mightly Kublai Khan + +Skipped + +## S01E20: Assassin at Peking + +Skipped + diff --git a/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E21-chips.md b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E21-chips.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3ef52d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E21-chips.md @@ -0,0 +1,97 @@ +--- +title: "Doctor Who S01E21-26: Finding the Chips" +tags: + - drwho +--- + +The Scooby gang has to find some microchips scattered around the planet, +so a machine can be repaired to mind-control everyone into +being peaceful. + +## S01E21: The Sea of Death + +This was the episode during which I decided to start writing this. + +It's really interesting how they kept the sort of stumbling around delivery +of lines, rather than shooting another take. I kind of like it. +It's like watching a play. + +LOL at the alien costume with swim flippers. + +Frickin' Susan is, disappointingly, pretty much a horror movie character. +Just sort of blithely wandering around all over the place and screaming +a lot. Amusingly, they just assumed it was her from her scream. + +Okay, got the main plot point. The dude needs to recover some keys so they +can mind-control people to make everybody peaceful. I really hope they don't +just accept this without question. + +Their mime acting could use some continuity work, LOL. + +## S02E22: The Velvet Web + +When the statue's eyes lit up and the creepy lady came out to put rocks +on everybody's forehead, it really felt like a 1970s episode from when +I was a kid. + +Aww yeah, brains in jars getting killed. + +## S02E23: The Screaming Jungle + +The Screaming Jungle, eh? Must be about Susan. + +For crying out loud, yep, she's screaming again. +I read that this actress quit early on. +I don't blame her. What a limiting role to have to play. + +Now Barbara's screaming. A statue grabbed her. + +Now she's screaming again. A net fell on her. + +Third time screaming. Some plants grabbed her. + +Apparently the scream in the jungle was mostly Barbara. + +## S01E24: The Snows of Terror + +Okay, now Ian and Barbara are cold. And a beardo has rescued them. + +Ian left for some reason, +and Beardo's giving off some really rapey vibes. +Oh, sure enough, he's got all their junk. + +Susan and a blonde woman are in a cave. +I've decided I don't like Susan at all, +her sole role appears to be screwing things up and screaming. + +Oh boy. They're all in another cave, and they're going to explore it.. +Oh, okay, we don't have to watch that. They melt some ice and... +Susan's screaming again as some dude with a cardboard sword wakes up. + +Great, they found another key. + +## S01E25: Sentence of Death + +The Scooby gang vs. the Japanese Criminal System, I guess. +They assumed Ian is guilty and he has to prove he's not. +The Doctor is going to be his defense. + +I've seen this episode at least three times on Star Trek, +and once on the Brady Bunch. +I might skip this one. + +Oh, neat, a dude who hits his wife. + +Okay, but you know what, I dig the costumes. + +## S01E26: The Keys of Marinus + +I don't like Barbara's hairstyle, though. + +Oh, snap! What a twist! I seriously was not expecting this one. +I mean, I probably should have, from a casting standpoint, but I'm not +really devoting a lot of mental energy to this. + +Okay, I guess they decided the mind-control machine wasn't so great. +Kind of a naive take but whatever, it was a pretty fun story. + diff --git a/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E27-mexico.md b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E27-mexico.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2598968 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E27-mexico.md @@ -0,0 +1,66 @@ +--- +title: "Doctor Who S01E27-30: Doctor Who goes to Mexico" +tags: + - drwho +--- + +A bunch of white people pretend to be Aztecs, and explore their moral +perspectives on human sacrifice. + +To its credit, there is at least lip service to the notion that +this is some other culture and maybe you can't impose your current moral +structure over it. + +## S01E27: The Temple of Evil + +Oh goodie. Barbara's gone and gotten herself in trouble again. +I'm not sure I can stomach this one. + +Yay, let's focus on human sacrifice. And let's frame it as summoning rain, +because I'm sure that was the beginning and end of the philosophy behind it. + +LOL the sword fight. + +Haha, Susan's screaming desecrated an Aztec temple. + +## S01E28: The Warriors of Death + +Damn, the Doctor's pissed. + +Holy crap, the Vulcan Nerve Pinch! 2 years before it showed up in Star Trek! + +More 1960s dudes wrasslin'. But there's a twist, he got scratched. + +## S01E29: The Bride of Sacrifice + +Aha, the old Saffron maneuver, eh? Looks like the Doctor's gettin' hitched! + +The gang has a moral dilemma about altering the culture of the Aztecs by +Barbara abusing her god status to outlaw human sacrifice. The Doctor gets +married or engaged or something. Susan finally expresses an emotion other +than terror: + +![well hello there](/assets/blog/susan-well-hello-there.mp4) + +I'm back to being uncomfortable with the cultural framing here. I mean, +maybe this is useful for viewing 1960s British culture, but that's still +too recent for me to not feel squicky about it. The only reason I didn't +skip this entire story is because Wikipedia said it was one of the best +stories of the entire franchise. + +## S01E30: The Day of Darkness + +They found a tunnel or something, to get back into the burial chamber +containing the Tardis. Susan is going to get married or sacrificed or +something. Ian does the Vulcan Nerve Pinch on a white guy dressed as a +brown guy, saving the white lady. They find a way to escape, and +somebody gets sacrificed, and then Barbara gets to watch Susan get +sacrificed or something, I'm not sure. + +Oh, more 1960s dudes fighting. I skipped it. I presume the British +high school teacher beats the Aztec warrior who's been training his +entire life. + +Barbara has some sort of moral quandry about her inability to change +the past, which I guess was the point of the story. I sure hope +they don't wind up on earth again in the next story. diff --git a/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E31-sensorites.md b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E31-sensorites.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..894f87c --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E31-sensorites.md @@ -0,0 +1,46 @@ +--- +title: "Doctor Who S01E31-36: The Sensorites" +tags: + - drwho +--- + +### S01E31: Strangers in Space + +They're in a spaceship, thank goodness. The lighting is pretty bad. + +Okay there are these sensorites messing with peoples' minds. Aw, crap, +we're sort of on Earth. At least it's in the future. + +This is a cool premise, +taking over a ship by manipulating everybody's emotions. + +### S01E32: The Unwilling Warriors + +Hey! Creepy! I like this story. + +Susan is doing something! Nice! + +Susan makes a sacrifice + +### S01E33: Hidden Danger + +Susan needs to get out of this place! The Doctor's being a real jerk. Again. +Seems like she's growing up and needs her own space. + +Anyway. The Sensorites are cool. And I'm glad Barbara seems to get an equal +say in matters. Like, she just argued with Ian about something, and she was +like "well then it's settled, we'll do it my way". +Still can't abide her hairstyle, though. + +Ian seems really British. It's not difficult to imagine pretty much +everything he does being done by an older dude with a brandy in his hand. +He doesn't seem to get to grow as a character, +he's already fully grown, I guess. + +I dig that the sensorites have internal debates. + +## S01E34-36: More Sensorites + +I guess I didn't write anything down here. +I really enjoyed this story, though! +A marked contrast to the rest of this season. diff --git a/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E34-france.md b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E34-france.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef68c3e --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S01E34-france.md @@ -0,0 +1,14 @@ +--- +title: "Doctor Who S01E37-42: Doctor Who vs the French Revolution" +tags: + - drwho +--- + +Ugh, I just couldn't get myself to care about another one of these. + +I'm noticing there are two basic plots here: + +* Doctor Who goes back in time on Earth (I don't like these) +* Doctor Who goes to some other planet (These are cool) + +I guess that's still true today, in 2022. diff --git a/papers/drwho/season02.md b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S02E01-ants.md similarity index 71% rename from papers/drwho/season02.md rename to _posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S02E01-ants.md index 414a5cf..f49c80f 100644 --- a/papers/drwho/season02.md +++ b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S02E01-ants.md @@ -1,9 +1,9 @@ --- -title: Doctor Who: Season 2 +title: "Doctor Who S01E01-E03: Honey, I shrunk Doctor Who" +tags: + - drwho --- -# Story 1: Honey, I shrunk Doctor Who - ## S02E01: Planet of Giants They're on Earth again, but they're tiny. @@ -23,6 +23,10 @@ Holy hell, Barbara faints! I can't stop thinking about how much fun it must have been to build this set! +Note to self: I think this was the epsiode with the insane foley. +I should make a little video of it, +there's a full 2 minutes of just insane analog noise and nothing else. + ## S02E03: Crisis This is very cute. @@ -30,7 +34,3 @@ This is very cute. Yeah, just store that giant poison seed next to Barbara, who's suffering from poisoning. - -# Story 2: Earth. Again. Also Daleks. - -They go back to earth, and find a whole mess of Daleks. diff --git a/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S02E04-moo.md b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S02E04-moo.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..65f230f --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2021-12-23-drwho-S02E04-moo.md @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +--- +title: "Doctor Who S02E04-E09: Earth Again, and Daleks again" +tags: + - drwho +--- + +They go back to earth, and find a whole mess of Daleks. +Everybody's got some stupid helmet that puts them under Dalek control, +but they manage to start an rebellion and some people throw Daleks around. + +Maybe I should take a break before doing any more of these. diff --git a/_posts/2022-08-01-private-pages.md b/_posts/2022-08-01-private-pages.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b2c1c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2022-08-01-private-pages.md @@ -0,0 +1,7 @@ +--- +title: Private Blog Pages +published: false +--- + +I'm not sure why I would want to make a private blog entry that's also checked into Git, +but this file will serve as a reminder to myself how to do that. diff --git a/_posts/2022-08-01-reblog.md b/_posts/2022-08-01-reblog.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e1c5e39 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2022-08-01-reblog.md @@ -0,0 +1,67 @@ +--- +title: Return of the blog +--- + +It was fun for a while, +but it seems like letting a big company host my blog posts wasn't actually a great idea. +So I'm starting the blog back. + +I'll probably drop little updates here and there about what I'm up to. +I doubt I'm going to get into the sorts of tirades I used to. +An advantage of being older now: +I rarely feel the need to convince anybody of anything. + +I thought it would be fun to pull some of my old blog entries out of the archive, +but it appears I mostly used my homepage to keep lists and record information. +Maybe one day I'll find out what happened to all that stuff I wrote. + + +## Self-Hosting is cool again + +I've also been moving my source code back onto my own site, +removing things from my phone that demand attention, +and just generally reeling stuff back in to self-hosted. + +One thing I really am not looking forward to self-hosting again is email: +SMTP is just a nightmare. +You need the SMTP server, +the IMAP server, +the anti-spam stuff, +domain certificates, +rate limiting, +and just ugh. +I may have to do email if Google really fouls up, +but I really don't want to. + + +## Pocket Computers: turns out, kind of a pain + +The phone app removal has been interesting. +After removing the news aggregator, +I wound up having to remove news updates from the web browser app +and from the search app. +It took a couple of days to get used to not getting constant news updates, +but it seems okay now. +I can still read the news on my laptop, when I want to do that. + +My phone/pocket computer has turned back into a bunch of neat tools, +like a great camera, and a way to send and receive messages to people, +and a low-stress low-stakes low-attention game I've been playing. + + +## Books + +I really like electronic books. +Amy and Ginnie got me a new ebook reader, +to replace the 10-year-old one I've been using. +There was nothing wrong with the 10-year-old one, +but my eyesight has gotten worse, +and the low contrast screen has become difficult to read. + +The new device is a Kobo Clara HD, +with better contrast. +It can also check out ebooks from the local library, +over a wireless connection. +I like it a whole lot, +and I find it amusing that the old one lasted me 10 years. +Amy has it now, she might pick it up when she finishes her current book. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/papers/drwho/susan-well-hello-there.mp4 b/assets/blog/susan-well-hello-there.mp4 similarity index 100% rename from papers/drwho/susan-well-hello-there.mp4 rename to assets/blog/susan-well-hello-there.mp4 diff --git a/assets/css/default.css b/assets/css/default.css index c2fa371..79c5f65 100644 --- a/assets/css/default.css +++ b/assets/css/default.css @@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ input { border-bottom: 1px solid black; } -#title, td.main { +.title, td.main { background-color: #e0e4cc; border-radius: 0.25em; padding: 0.1em 0.5em; @@ -35,6 +35,10 @@ input { box-shadow: 0.2em 0.2em 1em rgba(0,0,0,0.1); } +.subtitle { + font-size: 60%; +} + h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { color: #e64; } diff --git a/blog.md b/blog.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6630247 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog.md @@ -0,0 +1,7 @@ +--- +title: Blog Posts +--- + +{% for post in site.posts %} +* [{{post.date | date: "%Y %B %-d"}}: {{post.title}}]({{post.url}}) +{% endfor %} diff --git a/papers/drwho/season01.md b/papers/drwho/season01.md deleted file mode 100644 index d708219..0000000 --- a/papers/drwho/season01.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,385 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: Every Episode of Doctor Who ---- - -I'm going to try to watch every episode of Doctor Who, in order. -Then I'm going to write up what I think. - -A few rules I'm setting out initially: - -* It's okay to skip an episode if I just can't handle it. -* I don't have to write a big ol' treatise on each one. -* I fully understand I lack cultural and temporal context for a lot of this, - and I'm not going to feel bound to try and attain said. -* I will be viewing this though my personal biases. -* I may create more rules later on. - -# Season One - -## Story 1: Cavemen and Fire - -I guess this first story pretty clearly established that they travel -through time. - -### S01E01 - An Unearthly Child - -Oh man, the pacing is just slow. -I like how they're exploring "what if a time-travelling alien disguised itself as a human and went to high school." - -Okay, there are two high school teachers, -and this highschool aged timelord girl who's the Doctor's grand-daughter. - -The doctor is kind of a jerk. - - -### S01E02 - The Cave of Skulls - -Right, okay, cavemen. And of course they're all short-term-memory idiots. -Okay, sure. - -### S01E03 - The Forest of Fear - -I forgot what this one was about, -because I didn't decide to write things down until later. - -### S01E04 - The Firemaker - -The man teacher makes a fire because of course the man does that in 1963. -And then the leader of the cavemen goes hunting. -They make some skulls on fire to distract everybody, -which is pretty cool, -and then they escape. - - -## Story 2: Daleks! - -Holy crap! I didn't realized the Daleks went all the way back to episode 4! -Also there are some Dutch-looking people who are of course the good guys. - -### S01E05: The Dead Planet - -They find a dead city which, oops, high background radiation. -Cool doors open up and some neat architecture. - -You know what, for the time and (I assume) paltry budget of the first season, -this is pretty badass. - -This Doctor is a jerk. Faking a broken part to force everyone to do what -he wants. - -### S01E06: The Survivors - -Daleks! It's cool that they waited until the second episode to bring them out. -They're pretty clearly assholes right at the outset here. -No moral ambiguity with the Daleks. - -The Doctor is pretty frail. Honestly, the rest of the crew seems more -important than he is. - -### S01E07: The Escape - -I think we really meet the Norwegians here. I don't recall exactly. - -I'm pretty sure this is the one where -the Norwegians try to meet up with the Daleks and forge a peace treaty, -not knowing the Daleks are complete assholes. - -### S01E08: The Ambush - -They start taking out the Daleks. There appears to be some sort of -creature inside, which can be taken out, and the dude teacher crawls in. - -This is actually pretty cool, I liked this one. - -### S01E09: The Expedition - -I think the guy teacher tries to convince the peaceniks to fight the Daleks, -by presenting them with the possibility of him screwing up their stuff. - -The Norwegians traipse around through some cool looking sets to -look like an alien landscape. - -I think this is when the Daleks realize they need high background radiation -in order to survive, because the Norwegians (the Thaals I guess) anti-radiation -drug kills them. They plan to dump ionizing radiation onto the planet's -surface. - -A Thaal dude goes to get water and gets sucked up by a vortex or something. - -### S01E10: The Ordeal - -Half the episode was watching people jump over a chasm in a cave. -The pacing on this, holy crap. - -I think this is the one where the Doctor screws up their electrical grid. - -### S01E11: The Rescue - -Everybody runs around in the cave some more, and eventually they pop out -in the Dalek city. -The Doctor and his Grand-daughter -are imprisoned and he volunteers to teach them about his ship and how to -travel through time if they let him go. - -The Norwegians and teachers rain holy hell and kill all the Daleks. -Everybody goes home. - -Honestly, man, for being written 60 years ago, I'm surprised by how -compelling the Daleks were written when viewed by me today. - -## Story 3: A Tardis Button Gets Stuck - -This story was bathouse crazy. -Part of it was probably that I wasn't paying full attention, -but it was also just nuts. - -### S01E12: The Edge of Destruction - -People alternate between normal and crazy. -There's a lot of screaming. -Random weirdness takes place and it doesn't make sense. -Everybody turns of everybody and then suddenly it's fine and dandy. - -### S01E13: The Brink of Disaster - -The Doctor starts piecing together some clues. -Turns out the Tardis itself has been trying to send them a message -by dropping obscure clues. -He figures it out and unsticks the "go back to where you just were" button, -which, because it was stuck down, sent them back to the origin of the -solar system. - -You know, not awful. -It felt pretty incoherent but I was willing to go along. - -## Story 4: Doctor Who goes to China - -I guess the film for this was lost, -so it was sort of a slideshow playing over a radio drama. - -### S01E14: The Roof of the World - -I made it as far as them getting into a hut in Mongolia and meeting -Marco Polo, -and then I skipped to the next story. - -### S01E15: The Singing Sands - -More British people pretending they're in China, I presume. - -### S01E16: Five Hundred Eyes - -Skipped - -### S01E17: The Wall of Lies - -Skipped - -### S01E18: Rider from Shang Tu - -Skipped - -### S01E19: Mightly Kublai Khan - -Skipped - -### S01E20: Assassin at Peking - -Skipped - -## Story 5: Finding the Chips - -The Scooby gang has to find some microchips scattered around the planet, -so a machine can be repaired to mind-control everyone into -being peaceful. - -### S01E21: The Sea of Death - -This was the episode during which I decided to start writing this. - -It's really interesting how they kept the sort of stumbling around delivery -of lines, rather than shooting another take. I kind of like it. -It's like watching a play. - -LOL at the alien costume with swim flippers. - -Frickin' Susan is, disappointingly, pretty much a horror movie character. -Just sort of blithely wandering around all over the place and screaming -a lot. Amusingly, they just assumed it was her from her scream. - -Okay, got the main plot point. The dude needs to recover some keys so they -can mind-control people to make everybody peaceful. I really hope they don't -just accept this without question. - -Their mime acting could use some continuity work, LOL. - -### S02E22: The Velvet Web - -When the statue's eyes lit up and the creepy lady came out to put rocks -on everybody's forehead, it really felt like a 1970s episode from when -I was a kid. - -Aww yeah, brains in jars getting killed. - -### S02E23: The Screaming Jungle - -The Screaming Jungle, eh? Must be about Susan. - -For crying out loud, yep, she's screaming again. -I read that this actress quit early on. -I don't blame her. What a limiting role to have to play. - -Now Barbara's screaming. A statue grabbed her. - -Now she's screaming again. A net fell on her. - -Third time screaming. Some plants grabbed her. - -Apparently the scream in the jungle was mostly Barbara. - -### S01E24: The Snows of Terror - -Okay, now Ian and Barbara are cold. And a beardo has rescued them. - -Ian left for some reason, -and Beardo's giving off some really rapey vibes. -Oh, sure enough, he's got all their junk. - -Susan and a blonde woman are in a cave. -I've decided I don't like Susan at all, -her sole role appears to be screwing things up and screaming. - -Oh boy. They're all in another cave, and they're going to explore it.. -Oh, okay, we don't have to watch that. They melt some ice and... -Susan's screaming again as some dude with a cardboard sword wakes up. - -Great, they found another key. - -### S01E25: Sentence of Death - -The Scooby gang vs. the Japanese Criminal System, I guess. -They assumed Ian is guilty and he has to prove he's not. -The Doctor is going to be his defense. - -I've seen this episode at least three times on Star Trek, -and once on the Brady Bunch. -I might skip this one. - -Oh, neat, a dude who hits his wife. - -Okay, but you know what, I dig the costumes. - -### S01E26: The Keys of Marinus - -I don't like Barbara's hairstyle, though. - -Oh, snap! What a twist! I seriously was not expecting this one. -I mean, I probably should have, from a casting standpoint, but I'm not -really devoting a lot of mental energy to this. - -Okay, I guess they decided the mind-control machine wasn't so great. -Kind of a naive take but whatever, it was a pretty fun story. - -## Story 6: Doctor Who goes to Mexico - -A bunch of white people pretend to be Aztecs, and explore the moral -aspects of human sacrifice. - -To its credit, there is at least lip service to the notion that -this is some other culture and maybe you can't impose your current moral -structure over it. - -### S01E27: The Temple of Evil - -Oh goodie. Barbara's gone and gotten herself in trouble again. -I'm not sure I can stomach this one. - -Yay, let's focus on human sacrifice. And let's frame it as summoning rain, -because I'm sure that was the beginning and end of the philosophy behind it. - -LOL the sword fight. - -Haha, Susan's screaming desecrated an Aztec temple. - -### S01E28: The Warriors of Death - -Damn, the Doctor's pissed. - -Holy crap, the Vulcan Nerve Pinch! 2 years before it showed up in Star Trek! - -More 1960s dudes wrasslin'. But there's a twist, he got scratched. - -### S01E29: The Bride of Sacrifice - -Aha, the old Saffron maneuver, eh? Looks like the Doctor's gettin' hitched! - -The gang has a moral dilemma about altering the culture of the Aztecs by -Barbara abusing her god status to outlaw human sacrifice. The Doctor gets -married or engaged or something. Susan finally expresses an emotion other -than terror: - -![well hello there](susan-well-hello-there.mp4) - -I'm back to being uncomfortable with the cultural framing here. I mean, -maybe this is useful for viewing 1960s British culture, but that's still -too recent for me to not feel squicky about it. The only reason I didn't -skip this entire story is because Wikipedia said it was one of the best -stories of the entire franchise. - -### S01E30: The Day of Darkness - -They found a tunnel or something, to get back into the burial chamber -containing the Tardis. Susan is going to get married or sacrificed or -something. Ian does the Vulcan Nerve Pinch on a white guy dressed as a -brown guy, saving the white lady. They find a way to escape, and -somebody gets sacrificed, and then Barbara gets to watch Susan get -sacrificed or something, I'm not sure. - -Oh, more 1960s dudes fighting. I skipped it. I presume the British -high school teacher beats the Aztec warrior who's been training his -entire life. - -Barbara has some sort of moral quandry about her inability to change -the past, which I guess was the point of the story. I sure hope -they don't wind up on earth again in the next story. - -## Story 7: The Sensorites - -### S01E31: Strangers in Space - -They're in a spaceship, thank goodness. The lighting is pretty bad. - -Okay there are these sensorites messing with peoples' minds. Aw, crap, -we're sort of on Earth. At least it's in the future. - -This is a cool premise, -taking over a ship by manipulating everybody's emotions. - -### S01E32: The Unwilling Warriors - -Hey! Creepy! I like this story. - -Susan is doing something! Nice! - -Susan makes a sacrifice - -### S01E33: Hidden Danger - -Susan needs to get out of this place! The Doctor's being a real jerk. Again. -Seems like she's growing up and needs her own space. - -Anyway. The Sensorites are cool. And I'm glad Barbara seems to get an equal -say in matters. Like, she just argued with Ian about something, and she was -like "well then it's settled, we'll do it my way". -Still can't abide her hairstyle, though. - -Ian seems really British. It's not difficult to imagine pretty much -everything he does being done by an older dude with a brandy in his hand. -He doesn't seem to get to grow as a character, -he's already fully grown, I guess. - -I dig that the sensorites have internal debates. - -## Story 8: Dr Who vs the French Revolution - -I just couldn't get myself to care about another one of these. diff --git a/papers/html-tutorial.md b/papers/html-tutorial.md index 828a76f..4384229 100644 --- a/papers/html-tutorial.md +++ b/papers/html-tutorial.md @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ title: The 3-minute HTML tutorial --- As computer formats go, HTML is easy and logical. It's all just text -that you can edit with any basic text editor, like gedit under Gnome, or +that you can edit with any basic text editor, like `gedit` under Gnome, or notepad in Windows. Let's start out with an example. Say you have a sentence, and you want one word in it to be bold. That sentence would look like this: @@ -76,14 +76,14 @@ Now, for inline images:

    This is an - face image, and this is a link.

    Which will show up like this: ->

    This is an

    This is an alt="face" /> image, and > this is a link. @@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ The example above has an image tag, with two "attributes", "src" and "alt". The "src" attribute in an `` tag gives the URL to a picture, and the "alt" attribute is the text that's displayed to people who can't see images (blind users, folks without graphics capabilities, -or if there's a problem on your web server). The "alt" attribue is +or if there's a problem on your web server). The "alt" attribute is required, but you can set it to `""` if there's nothing appropriate for alternate text.