Frontierland at Dusk (Tilt Shift)

Frontierland at Dusk (Tilt Shift)
Originally uploaded by Averain

I just really love how this came out. It really looks miniature.

Creating Kindle Files from Plain Text on a Mac

I really like the Kindle 2 my wife got me and one of the best parts about it is how easy it is to get text files onto it (especially because of all the free books in plain text format at sites like Project Gutenberg and Christian Classics Ethereal Library).  When I first got the Kindle I wasn't real sure how easy it would be to read text on a screen.  I've tried reading text on all sorts of screens over the years and I could never get through an entire book without feeling like I was reading it off of a screen.  That's important to me.  When I really get into a book I seem to forget that I'm actually reading something and just meld with the book.  If you're a reader I think you'll understand this.  When I used to read books off a screen I never got that feeling of really being a part of what was happening in the book and it made it hard to keep reading so I rarely finished books I was trying read on the computer, for instance.

The Kindle doesn't have this problem.  I've read through many books on the Kindle now and it feels like reading it from the printed page.  The other thing that has happened with the Kindle is that it has effectively killed my Barnes and Noble addiction.  Unfortunately I think it has worked by replacing one strong drug with a stronger one.  This is because I have found with the Kindle that the "bookstores" of free books on the web and being able to browse through Amazon's Kindle Store using the built-in cellular connection are working well as feeds to the book addiction I have - better even than a Barnes and Noble or Borders because of the extremely wide availability of material.

Now, reading plain text on a computer screen is just awful.  It is worse than trying to read nicely formatted text on a computer screen.  And reading an entire novel this way just a non-starter for me.  But reading plain text on a Kindle is another story entirely.  So here is how to get a plain text book off of a site and onto the Kindle.  I wrote this on a Mac but there are directions for doing in in Windows at other sites and you can use the same steps on a Windows system as well since there is a version of Stanza for Windows as well.  Also, you don't have to use Stanza at all if you just want to copy the text files directly over (although you'll still probably want to remove the line endings).

1. You'll need to download Lexcycle's Stanza application if you don't have it already.  Yes, it is free.  Everything in this blog post is free.  You'll also need a text editor that can remove line endings.  I used TextWrangler, which is also free (see?), for this.  Some smarty pants may point out ways of doing this with TextEdit but I'm lazy and TextWrangler has this nice selection in a menu, making all of this a snap.
2. Choose the text file you want to transfer and save it somewhere accessible.  In this example we will take The Wind in the Willows and put it on the Kindle.  Navigate to Project Gutenberg's page for The Wind in the Willows.
3. Go to the bottom of the page where the links are and grab one of the ones in Plain Text format with a compression of "none".  To do this, Ctrl-Click the link for downloading plain text and select Save Link As... to save the file somewhere you can get to it later.
   
   
4. Now, open the file in TextWrangler (or some other text editor that can handle removing line breaks from the file)
5. Once you are in TextWrangler with the file open, select the Text menu and then Remove Line Breaks.
   
   
6. Now, I like to make sure that the file comes up in the Kindle with the right title and author because "Unknown" is a little difficult to find later on.  To make sure that it will convert nicely go to the top of the file and insert the following two lines of text:
   

   Title: The Wind in the Willows
   Author: Kenneth Grahame

7. Now save the file and you can close the text editor.
8. Open the text file in Stanza (either with the File->Open File... command or by Ctrl-Clicking the text file and selecting Open With->Stanza).
9. In Stanza, select File->Export Book As->Amazon Kindle
   
   
10. Make sure you note where the .azw file gets saved to.
11. Plug in the Kindle
12. When the Kindle has been plugged in to the Mac it will mount as a drive.  This is what you want.  Open the "Kindle" drive in the Finder and select the "documents" folder.
    
    
13. Now copy the .azw file to the documents folder and eject the Kindle.
14. The next time you power on your Kindle you should have The Wind in the Willows available as a selection to read.
    

Insalata Caprese

DSC00427
Originally uploaded by dpserik

This isn't my picture but it was taken by a good friend who won't mind my blogging about it. This is one of my favorite things in the whole wide world.

Best Insect Photos I've Ever Seen

Opo Terser's Photostream on Flickr has some of the best insect shots I've ever seen in my life.

No Pants

I'm just experimenting with Picasa, but I do love this picture. I always think of this poor duck as though he is having those dreams of himself where he is naked and everybody can see him but he doesn't know why. I'm sure he is psychologically damaged.

Famous!

Jellyfish
Originally uploaded by Averain

Well, okay, maybe not really famous, but it was still fun to get asked to post this pic in another blog. The post is here.

Desert Flowers

Field of Yellow 3
Originally uploaded by Averain

This has already been a fantastic year for wildflowers and it just keeps getting better. There are seas of yellow on the sides of the hills around here.

Sheep In The Desert

Sheep Group
Originally uploaded by Averain

When I was growing up we would go out driving in the desert and sometimes we would go to a place called "Sheep Springs" which my parents told me had a well for watering flocks of sheep. Thinking of sheep in the middle of the desert seemed very strange to me, but you do see signs every so often that flocks are led through this area. This particular flock was right off the side of the road as I was taking the 395 south out of town.

Sad

Sad
Originally uploaded by Averain

I was supposed to be on my way to see this today, but things happen in life that you hadn't planned for. Anyway, my poor little car which I love very much suddenly developed a problem in the power steering and the dealership pointed out that I am still under warranty and, better yet, that would cover the delivery of the car for service as well as its return (which is pretty cool, actually).

But just look at the poor little thing. Doesn't it look like a sad little person on that truck?

Snowmobile

Snowmobile
Originally uploaded by Averain

This thing is in our Christmas Parade every year and every year I think of how cool it would be to ride around in it in the snow. Elena told me I should go and get lost in the snow and then I could get a ride but that sounds a little dangerous.

Rock and Roll Lifestyle

One of the greatest songs ever.

My favorite part:

"Excess ain't rebellion, you're drinkin' what they're selling. Your self-destruction doesn't hurt them. Your chaos won't convert them."

Ghost Stories

Haunted Driveway
Originally uploaded by Averain

It is that time of year and I thought I would post some of my favorite spots for reading ghost stories:

http://www.horrormasters.com/Themes/Haunted_Houses.htm
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/l#a272 (Le Fanu is amazing)
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/j#a2768 (M. R. James is my favorite ghost story author of all time.)
http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/

Relay For Life Ridgecrest 2008

Relay For Life Ridgecrest 2008
Originally uploaded by Averain

I participated in the Relay for Life again this year and it was a great experience. I highly recommend it.

Political Speech (aka. Lying)

From this article:

"We don't have a lot of leeway on time. One of the individuals in the caucus today talked about a major insurance company. A major insurance company -- one with a name that everyone knows that's on the verge of going bankrupt. That's what this is all about," Reid said prior to the Senate's approval of the $700 billion bailout bill.

and from a little later in the article:

A spokesman for Sen. Reid backtracked a bit Thursday and said that the senator was not aware of any company being in danger of bankruptcy.

"Senator Reid is not personally aware of any particular company being on the verge of bankruptcy. He has no special knowledge about [a bankruptcy] nor has he talked to any insurance company officials," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Sen. Reid, in an email to CNNMoney.com.

"Rather, his comments were meant to refer to the conditions in the financial sector generally. He regrets any confusion his comments may have caused," Manley added.

So saying, "One of the individuals in the caucus today talked about a major insurance company ... one with a name that everyone knows that's on the verge of going bankrupt" is meant to "refer to the conditions in the financial sector generaly" and does not refer to "any particular company being on the verge of bankruptcy."

Right.

I wish our politicians could tell the truth, really I do. I guess that they would get voted out of office in favor of the lying ones (just like when somebody says they don't like a "negative campaign" and then votes against somebody on the ticket because of all the bad things they heard about them) but just once it would be refreshing to have them not flatly contradict themselves in public.

How to Increase Your Flickr Views

Little Cat
Originally uploaded by Averain

Apparently nothing quite brings up the Flickr view count like a picture of a cute cat. This one has my highest number of comments, the most group invites, and the most faves I've had on any photo since I started with Flickr.

The Most Dangerous Cake

I got this in an email today and thought it was too good to not share!

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

1 Coffee Mug
4 tablespoons flour(that's plain flour, not self-rising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional) some nuts (optional)
Small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well . Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high.
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT!
(this can serve 2 if you want to share!)
And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?
Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

One Degree of Separation

A friend of mine from High School wrote the score for this movie, which just seems cool to me. I'm always amazed that anybody I know has a job like that.


DO AS I SAY - Official Trailer (1080p) from DO AS I SAY Movie on Vimeo.

Sweet, Sweet Basil

Sweet Basil
Originally uploaded by Averain

This is my great pride and joy, my sweet basil plant. When I planted it at the beginning of the season, it looked like this.

This may not be so impressive to you, but I have a thumb as brown as the fence in the background (note that I killed the tomato and jalapeno plant that used to share this barrel with the basil) so I'm quite pleased that this little plant grew so well. I'm a bit sad that its leaves are getting smaller as the season nears its end and I'll miss Caprese Salad and basil in my scrambled eggs, but I'll be buying a basil plant first thing next year when they show up at the stores.

The Desert

Power Line Sunset
Originally uploaded by Averain

I love the desert. I didn't used to, but now I love long stretches of nothing and dry air; dirt roads that stretch to the horizon.

Stroustrup, C++ and Java

In the June issue of SD Times there is an entire article on how "spec-laden" and "bloated" the Java language has become. When I read it I was immediately reminded of Bjarne Stroustrup (the inventor of C++) and what he said in response to the question, "Is Java the language you would have designed if you didn't have to be compatible with C?" Keep in mind that he wrote this when Java was considered superior to C++ for its simplicity and he was being mocked in the press for creating such a "bloated" language. This is from his FAQ:

Much of the relative simplicity of Java is - like for most new languages - partly an illusion and partly a function of its incompleteness. As time passes, Java will grow significantly in size and complexity. It will double or triple in size and grow implementation-dependent extensions or libraries. That is the way every commercially successful language has developed. Just look at any language you consider successful on a large scale. I know of no exceptions, and there are good reasons for this phenomenon.

When he wrote this (back in the 90's) people pooh-pooh'ed this statement and said he had sour grapes but of course you shouldn't second-guess somebody of Stroustrup's caliber because, of course, he was right, Java is "spec-laden" and "bloated" now but also, "there are good reasons for this."