Voder-Vocoder

I noticed that someone had the bright idea to layer Adobe Flash objects *over* images using a <div style="background-image:url($IMAGE_URL)">. That way, when the Flashblock add-on blocks a Flash object, you can give users an idea of what you are blocking. Here’s an example of the technique in use, but it won’t make any sense if you aren’t using Flashblock.

Classics of American literature I may have missed: what should I read?

The City & The City by China Miéville (034549752X). At first I had trouble suspending disbelief on the premise, but the book was so well written that the suspension happened anyway. How? The author stuck to the premise perfectly, creating a perfectly self-consistant world. I was somewhat upset that even though most of the mysteries of the book were resolved in the final act, the wierd history was never really explained.

When I was looking for downloadable audiobooks from the public library, I checked out the audio version of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (0743273567), and read by Alexander Scourby (1602834725). I'm glad I finally got around to this one; I keep telling myself that I'll read all the classics of American literature, but I never did, until I got started on the idea of listening to audiobooks while bicycling.

No comparison. APT (the Advanced Packaging Tool) beats Windows Update by a million to one. I had hoped that Windows Seven would improve things, but no such luck.

APT: You run this script, once, in the background and it does everything.

#!/bin/sh
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get clean

Windows Update: You run this program—

%windir%\system32\wuapp.exe

—then click on some things, then it downloads and installs, then it asks you to reboot. Then while it shuts down it does things, then while it boots up it does things, then you have to repeat the same process THREE TIMES to get all the updates!

Also, here’s my full script:

#!/bin/sh
# ${HOME}/bin/agu -- "Apt, Get Updates"
# Written by Hal Canary
# Dedicated to the public domain.
#
# You may want to add the following lines to the /etc/sudoers file:
#
##  %admin ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/nice /usr/bin/apt-get --yes update
##  %admin ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/nice /usr/bin/apt-get --yes dist-upgrade
##  %admin ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/nice /usr/bin/apt-get autoremove
##  %admin ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/nice /usr/bin/apt-get clean
##  %admin ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/nice /usr/bin/dpkg --configure --pending
#
echo "Running apt-get update, dist-upgrade, autoremove, clean"
echo ""
sudo /usr/bin/nice /usr/bin/apt-get --yes update && \
sudo /usr/bin/nice /usr/bin/apt-get --yes dist-upgrade
sudo /usr/bin/nice /usr/bin/apt-get autoremove
sudo /usr/bin/nice /usr/bin/apt-get clean
sudo /usr/bin/nice /usr/bin/dpkg --configure --pending