Open a new window here in Ubuntu Linux

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One of the things I missed a long time ago in Windows completely was the handy “start” command I could type from a command prompt to open a new Windows Explorer window in whatever directory I was in. Can you still do that? Does anyone use Windows from the command prompt any more?

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I have since discovered you can do the same thing in Ubuntu Linux (and any other Linux for that matter of course!). I’m a big fan of Gnome, which uses the Nautilus file manager. If you’re fond of navigating your computer using a terminal, it’s really easy to open a Nautilus window in the current directory. Simply run ‘nautilus .‘ and a new window will open in that directory.

Don’t tell me you’re a keyboard junkie, I am too. I use Vim! Nautilus is still very useful though. Besides it’s obvious use as a file manager It’s dead handy for copying files to a remote server using any number of transmission protocols from ssh and SMB through to plain old ftp. But more on that some other time eh?

Matt Damon: on fatherhood and acting

Two quotes from a Sunday Times interview with Matt Damon, star of the Bourne series of movies. He and his wife, Luciana Barroso, have a 14 month old baby daughter and despite all the money and lavish lifestyle, they have some of the same experiences all new parents have ..

“Sometimes I wish I could go back to sleeping on the couch,” he says. “I think back to those days when I was sleeping on friends’ couches. For years I had two duffel bags and I went from set to set and everything I had in the world was in those two bags. I didn’t have a house. I had nothing. And I loved that and there was incredible freedom in it; I could be in and out of a place in a minute – I could have everything on my body and moving. And now I have 20 bags and cribs and strollers and Pack ’n Plays.”

Last night my daughter was up all night,” he says, rubbing his eyes. “My wife tries to help me when I’m working – she tries to do everything at night so I can rest, but the reality is that when you’re in a room with a baby who’s crying it doesn’t matter whether or not you’re the one who’s changing the diaper, you’re still going to be awake.

“Halfway through the movie Paul Greengrass [the director] looked at me and said, ‘You look terrible.’ I told him, ‘I’m sorry. I’m awake all night with the baby’, to which he said, ‘No, it’s really good. She came along just at the right time – she’s really helping your performance.’ In the previous two Bourne films I’d have to achieve that same ragged look by staying out all night in Paris.”

Not all of us have to jet across the world or party all night in Paris to look grubby in the morning but you get the idea. When a baby comes along your life is turned upside down!

Finally, first I’ve heard of him, but apparently Jimmy Kimmel has a long running gag surrounding Matt Damon. Unfortunately Matt “freaks out” when he finally gets on the show.

Continue reading “Matt Damon: on fatherhood and acting”

WordPress MU 1.2.4

The new WordPress MU 1.2.4 went live this afternoon and can now be downloaded. This is based on WordPress 2.2.2, a security release, so it’s important to update your WordPress MU install too. If you haven’t changed any files, all your need to do is copy over the new release and things should work fine.

  • Kses has been reverted so you can use class and id attributes in your HTML tags again. Conor is already happy because his microformats will work again!
  • The installer has been smartened up and is now friendlier and may catch a few more problems before they arise.
  • Lots and lots of bugs have been squashed. It’s been messy but they had to be exterminated.

If you’re comfortable with Subversion and merging file changes, then the list of changed files should come in useful. You can also download a diff file there if that suits. Check the forum announcement for feedback.

It's Toddtime at Sacred Heart

Some said “Even The Todd wouldn’t wear those” but I think he would. In a recent episode of Scrubs, Todd had a tshirt with the url, thetoddtime.com emblazoned on it. Fearful for what I’d find there, I visited thetoddtime.com and discovered something so unreal, so shocking that I had to share it with you.

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If the Quicktime movie doesn’t load for you, someone kindly uploaded it to YouTube as well. Click the “Read more” link to view it as I want to spare the sensibilities of the casual visitor here. It’s so YEEEEA!!!

Continue reading “It's Toddtime at Sacred Heart”

Someone in London loves my luggage

On my way out to San Francisco my luggage was delayed in London and in similar fashion, when I got into Cork Airport it was again delayed in London. For all I knew my luggage was lost! I wouldn’t mind except:

  • Once per trip is enough, please British Airways, keep track. It’s simply not fair.
  • My flight from San Francisco arrived at 1pm, flight to Cork was scheduled for 2:15pm. It’s cutting it a bit tight but I’ve been in this situation before and my luggage came through. How close before? Let’s just say we had to sprint from one terminal to another in Heathrow to catch the next flight!
  • My flight to Cork was delayed for over an hour. First the flight captain fell ill in Cork and had to be replaced, thus bumping the boarding time to 3:15pm, then we actually started boarding at 3:25pm, before waiting on the tarmac for at least 40 minutes because repairs and tests had to be made to the plane. I finally arrived in Cork at 5:20pm.

Don’t you think British Airways could have moved my luggage from one plane to another in 2 hours? Not a chance. Thankfully it was delivered this afternoon, almost 20 hours later by Aer Lingus staff.

I guess someone in British Airways has a fetish for luggage with pink and blue ribbons. Yes, I bet it was the ribbons.

Dvorak vs Malik at WordCamp on video

John Pozadzides has released the first video from WordCamp and it’s sure to be one that will interest many. John C Dvorak debates with Om Malik on the subject of Blogging vs Journalism. It’s hosted on blip.tv and John has uploaded a high quality version there.

I won’t embed it here, go look at John’s post for the video! Thanks John for doing such a great job!

We spent a good portion of today at SFMOMA, where they have a really interesting photography exhibit, and some of the modern art on the first floor really caught my eye, especially the self portrait of Andy Warhol and the image containing the pencils across the room from it. Blew my mind they did.
Later we went for dinner but in between we relaxed in a local park. Here’s a photo Alex took of me and Matt. Alex has a neat little RF transmitter and receiver for his camera and flash. He lay the flash on the bench next to him while he shot this photo. Good fill flash and it’s not in-your-face like an onboard flash would be. I have to get my hands on an RF transmitter to go with my 580EX!

While on the subject, this is Automattic. There are quite a few of us now, and as you can see, we’re really getting into the formal “must wear a suit to work” dress code.

WP Tip: don't blog as Administrator

do not blog as administrator

The default user when you install WordPress is called “Administrator” and many people don’t change it which unfortunately leads to anonymous looking posts made by Administrator instead of by Matt, Mark, Lloyd, Joseph, Alex or your own name of course.

I would venture to say it’s a new user problem but I remember seeing Administrator posts by old hands at the blogging game so it might be worth double checking, just in case. Your template might not show Administrator, but your RSS feed isn’t as clever.

It’s simple to check and fix. Log in to your WordPress blog, go to Users, and then Your Profile. If you haven’t changed your first and last names, do it now. Click “Update Profile” and then change your “Display name” to a friendlier name.

One final tip, it’s probably much safer to blog as a non-admin user. If you’re logged in all the time, consider creating an editor or author user. If you leave your laptop unattended in a busy area for a moment it’s much less likely that someone will do real harm to your blog. (Presuming they don’t rob the laptop first!)

If you’re a WordPress.com user, then don’t worry about Administrator showing up on your blog posts, it won’t happen as your login name is your author name. Isn’t that nice?

Roaming in America

One of the problems with traveling is the cost of calling home. I enabled roaming on Meteor, but it’s a bit pricey at €1.39/minute or €0.32/sms. I checked roam4free as well but that appears to be more expensive yet at €2.50/min.

Enter Skype where I can buy credits and call an Irish landline for €0.02/min or Irish mobile phone for €0.184. It’s great as everywhere in San Francisco I’ve traveled to has WiFi access. This morning I roamed about the house with my laptop in hand, headset on and spoke to my wife Jacinta for over 18 minutes and it cost me less than €4. That’s pretty cool and it was great to hear her and baby Adam.

It’s not quite the same sort of roaming but WiFi is fairly ubiquitous in the United States, so Skype on my laptop is painless, and very cheap.

Later … Out of curiosity I checked how much it costs to ring a mobile phone from an Irish landline. I use UTV’s service and Skype is cheaper at all times except for the weekend. Crazy stuff!

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Ad-blocker not detected

Consider installing a browser extension that blocks ads and other malicious scripts in your browser to protect your privacy and security. Here are a few options.

  • uBlock Origin is a free, open source, ad blocker for your browser.
  • Use pi-hole if you have a spare Raspberry Pi on your network.
  • Set the private DNS settings on your phone to dns.adguard.com to block adverts and trackers.