It took three days (or so), but the task has been completed. Today I deleted my one millionth, one hundred and thirteen thousandth, nine hundred and seventy fifth Koran. To celebrate, here is the Reason Train kicking dogmatic, vile, vitriolic, superstitious ass!
Choo choo…
I first came across tiling window managers with Wmi. I was looking for a light-weight window manager that could be driven with the keyboard, and it was (literally) the first one I found, and I stuck with it—until Wmii came out a couple months later. Wmii remained on my system for a couple years (with occasional breaks for ratpoison, ion, scrotwm, and—others, that I can not remember), until I found Xmonad.
Initially, I was uncertain about installing Xmonad due to the size of its dependencies (now 600+ Mb), but after reading a slew of positive reviews, I decided to give it a try. I liked it—more than any of the other window managers I had tried—but not enough to switch. So back to Wmii I went—until its next release (repeatedly) failed to compile properly on my system. Not being a patient fellow, I decided to give Xmonad another go (despite its dependency bloat), and this time it stuck (probably more out of necessity than anything else).
Xmonad remained on my system for the better part of two years, until yesterday, when I found Subtle. This was a quick switch for me, as it was light on dependencies (its total installed size is 19 Mb), and could be made to almost exactly replicate Xmonad’s environment (once I figured out how to properly use the configuration file). The only real adjustment that I have had to make is that Subtle has strict tagging, and so programmes will only open in views with the appropriate tag, rather than in the current view.
Importing (if it can be called that) my Xmonad setup required some trial and error editing of Subtle’s configuration file, so I copied the default config file (subtle.rb) from /etc/xdg/subtle to ~/.config/subtle and got down to work.
Under “Options” I changed the border size from 1 pixel to 0 pixels (borders are for the weak).
# # == Options # # Border size in pixel of the windows set :border, 0
Under “Screen” I got rid of the default panel entirely by commenting it out, and adding in an empty referrer for the “top” panel.
# # == Screen # screen 1 do top [ ] # top [ :views, :title, :spacer, :keychain, :spacer, :tray, :sublets ] bottom [ ] end
Next came the key-bindings. I had to edit these since the default setup relied heavily upon a user having a keyboard with a Windows key, and I no longer have one of those. I have a 102 key buckling-spring monstrosity that can be alternately used to beat burglars into submission, and annoy cubicle-mates to the point of homicidal insanity. It is wonderful.
So I modified the key-bindings to as closely resemble those of Xmonad as possible, added “grab”s (key-bindings) for dmenu and the five additional views I was going to create shortly thereafter, and changed the default terminal emulator to lxterminal.
# # == Grabs # # ==== Mouse buttons # # [*B1*] = Button1 (Left mouse button) # [*B2*] = Button2 (Middle mouse button) # [*B3*] = Button3 (Right mouse button) # [*B4*] = Button4 (Mouse wheel up) # [*B5*] = Button5 (Mouse wheel down) # # ==== Modifiers # # [*A*] = Alt key # [*C*] = Control key # [*M*] = Meta key # [*S*] = Shift key # [*W*] = Super (Windows) key # grab "A-p", "dmenu_run" # Jump to view1, view2, ... grab "A-S-1", :ViewJump1 grab "A-S-2", :ViewJump2 grab "A-S-3", :ViewJump3 grab "A-S-4", :ViewJump4 grab "A-S-5", :ViewJump5 grab "A-S-6", :ViewJump6 grab "A-S-7", :ViewJump7 grab "A-S-8", :ViewJump8 grab "A-S-9", :ViewJump9 # Switch current view grab "A-1", :ViewSwitch1 grab "A-2", :ViewSwitch2 grab "A-3", :ViewSwitch3 grab "A-4", :ViewSwitch4 grab "A-5", :ViewSwitch5 grab "A-6", :ViewSwitch6 grab "A-7", :ViewSwitch7 grab "A-8", :ViewSwitch8 grab "A-9", :ViewSwitch9 # Select next and prev view */ grab "A-S-Right", :ViewNext grab "A-S-Left", :ViewPrev # Move mouse to screen1, screen2, ... grab "C-A-1", :ScreenJump1 grab "C-A-2", :ScreenJump2 grab "C-A-3", :ScreenJump3 grab "C-A-4", :ScreenJump4 grab "C-A-5", :ScreenJump5 grab "C-A-6", :ScreenJump6 grab "C-A-7", :ScreenJump7 grab "C-A-8", :ScreenJump8 grab "C-A-9", :ScreenJump9 # Force reload of config and sublets grab "A-C-r", :SubtleReload # Force restart of subtle grab "A-C-S-r", :SubtleRestart # Quit subtle grab "A-S-q", :SubtleQuit # Move current window grab "A-B1", :WindowMove # Resize current window grab "A-B3", :WindowResize # Toggle floating mode of window grab "A-S-f", :WindowFloat # Toggle fullscreen mode of window grab "A-space", :WindowFull # Toggle sticky mode of window (will be visible on all views) grab "A-C-s", :WindowStick # Raise window grab "A-S-r", :WindowRaise # Lower window grab "A-S-l", :WindowLower # Select next windows grab "A-Left", :WindowLeft grab "A-Down", :WindowDown grab "A-Up", :WindowUp grab "A-Right", :WindowRight # Kill current window grab "A-S-c", :WindowKill # Cycle between given gravities grab "A-KP_7", [ :top_left, :top_left66, :top_left33 ] grab "A-KP_8", [ :top, :top66, :top33 ] grab "A-KP_9", [ :top_right, :top_right66, :top_right33 ] grab "A-KP_4", [ :left, :left66, :left33 ] grab "A-KP_5", [ :center, :center66, :center33 ] grab "A-KP_6", [ :right, :right66, :right33 ] grab "A-KP_1", [ :bottom_left, :bottom_left66, :bottom_left33 ] grab "A-KP_2", [ :bottom, :bottom66, :bottom33 ] grab "A-KP_3", [ :bottom_right, :bottom_right66, :bottom_right33 ] # Exec programs grab "A-S-Return", "lxterminal"
Next came the tags. This took me the longest to figure out, but once it was clear, it was stupidly simple. The basic setup is: tag "<view tag>", "<programmes>". It tells Subtle under which “View” a programme should be added.
# # == Tags # # Simple tags tag "terms", "lxterminal" tag "browser", "uzbl|opera|firefox|navigator|seamonkey|vimprobable2" tag "ink", "inkscape" tag "libreo", "libreoffice|lowriter|localc" tag "gnuo", "abiword|gnumeric" tag "pdf", "epdfview|lyx" tag "xine", "xine"
Finally, there was the “View” section, which I edited concurrently with the “Tags” section. The basic setup here is: tag"<view name>", "<view tag>". The “View Name” is—well, the name of the given “View”, and is also what would show up on the panel if I had one displayed. The “View Tag” refers back to the “Tags” entry, and tells Subtle what programmes can be displayed in a particular “View”.
# # == Views # view "terms", "terms" view "www", "browser" view "gimp", "gimp_.*" view "ink", "ink" view "libreo", "libreo" view "gnuo", "gnuo" view "pdf", "pdf" view "xine", "xine" view "default", "default"
Terry Jones is a sad little man, and a troll to boot. On 11 September 2010, he was going to conduct a book burning, for which the kindling was going to be a copy of the Koran. This resulted in a huge media shit-storm, with everyone from world leaders, straight on down to the local hobo under the overpass, having some kind of opinion on the matter, and collectively working themselves into a frenzied lather. Prophecies of impending doom came from all corners: from Muslims, from sycophants and apologists, from the aforementioned world leaders, and from everyone on the internet—times two.
But when the day came, there was no burning—the troll seemed to have misplaced the gas, or something—and all those who cowered in fear of offending, breathed a collective sigh of relief, and the world went about its business, and everyone forgot the whole, pathetic affair.
Now fast forward to 20 March 2011, when Terry Jones finally managed to locate his misplaced fuel, and get down to that all-important task of Koran burning. The world shrugged at the infantile display, having matured infinitely in the preceding sixth months, and Pastor Jones trundled off into obscurity once again.
If only that were true.
Instead, 14 U.N. aid workers were killed in Kabul, Afghanistan on 1 April 2011. All because some troll burned a book.
Many condemn Jones, and blame him for the deaths, rather than placing the blame squarely where it should be: on the shoulders of the cruel, malicious, cretins who did the killing. They had a choice, and they chose violence. What is worse, is that they are enabled by people in the West who are of the opinion that we must tip-toe around Muslim sensibilities for fear of offending them.
Science forbid that ANYONE should EVER be offended.
Well, I have decided to help offend. I have been inspired by the videos of Thunderf00t, and Illuminatiprimus, and am taking part in the first ever ‘Delete a Koran day.’
My first stop was Project Gutenberg, where I obtained a copy of the Koran. Step two, was to create a folder (titled burn), and two sub-folders (titled one, and two). Step three was to cobble together a bash script that repeatedly copies and deletes a file (or files). (I am sure there is a better way to do this, but it suits my needs for now.)
#!/bin/bash
COUNT=0
until [ $COUNT -gt 1000000 ]; do
cp ~/burn/one/*.txt ~/burn/two
rm ~/burn/one/*.txt
let COUNT=COUNT+1
echo Value of count is: $COUNT
cp ~/burn/two/*.txt ~/burn/one
rm ~/burn/two/*.txt
let COUNT=COUNT+1
echo Value of count is: $COUNT
done
And finally, step four was to set it loose upon the copy of the Koran that was occupying space on the hard drive.
I am pleased to say that, as I write this, it has just finished deleting Koran number 180510. I am hopeful that I can reach 1000000 before the end of the day.
I am a console kind of person. It is not that I object to Xorg, it is more that I object to the mouse (so maybe I am more of an anti-mouse kind of person). I much prefer a keyboard driven interface wherever practical (I concede that gimp needs a pointer, though in its case, I use a stylus instead of a mouse), and that tends to lead me to console programmes, over GUI ones.
It has taken a couple years to gather the current programmes together (it took me until last week to discover moc), and there is still work to be done—new software to be discovered. But enough with chatter, onto the programmes.
I do not understand why people would support Stephen Harper’s efforts to end subsidies to political parties. Sure—it is not a perfect system of funding, but it is better than the alternative, namely parties bought and paid for by large corporations—just like in the United States.
I would rather pay a small amount of money—less than $2.00 worth of small—than have a government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich. I do NOT want to live in the United States.
That said, if people are really so put out by the party subsidy, I would make a counter proposal: let us eliminate political parties from the equation. Ban them from running campaigns, operating in Parliament, and providing funding to individual candidates. Instead, I suggest a return to the good old days that never really were, where the citizens of a riding voted for an individual, rather than a party, and that individual then went to Ottawa and represented their constituency. Place a time limit on campaigning of three weeks, and a spending limit of $10 000.00, and I think we would have the basis of a reasonable and rational electoral system.
In this fashion, the small and simple minded do not have to worry about some fraction of their $2.00 going to whatever party they hate and despise, and I do not have to worry about living under the best government money can buy. It is win-win.
Just under two weeks ago, Mozilla released Firefox 4, and everyone went off to download it—except me. I went off to to get a copy of Icecat, and was disappointed to find that an updated version did not yet exist. So, I went in search of another browser to serve as my backup to Vimprobable 2, and settled on Midori.
It did reasonably well, but by yesterday I had concluded it just wan not what I was looking for. Yes, it is a small programme, but it can also struggle with some websites (cbc.ca—I am looking at you), so I decided to start my search again.
I started with some lesser known browsers (Netsurf, Epiphany, and Arora), but they all suffered from the same problem as Midori: some pages just could not be handled. And if there were other tabs open, crashes ensued. So I decided to try the major browsers—oh the shame…
I started by looking at Konqueror, but even before that, I knew it was not going to win out. I just wanted to see how big the install would be, and the answer is: 210 Mb. There was no way I was installing that.
Next up was Chromium. It had an installed size of 73 Mb, which was much more acceptable, and so I gave it a whirl—only to discover why I had removed it before: the lack of http:// in the address bar. So out the window it went.
I moved on to Opera, whose 34 Mb install size is the smallest of all the major browsers, but could not get past the EULA screen. I just could not accept it—for whatever reason. So it to received the heave-ho. This left me with Firefox, and a browser that I had actually forgotten about—Seamonkey.
I tried to install Firefox, but I just could not bring myself to do it. At 93 Mb, there just seems to be too much back-end for what is at the front. And my experience with Firefox 4 has been ok, but the glitches, especially where flash is concerned (keep in mind, this is not meant to be my primary browser, but the backup browser for sites that don’t play nice with Vimprobable 2, and Elinks, so it needs to be able to handle flash well), helped rule it out. It was at this point—when I had thought that I had exhausted my options—that I remembered Seamonkey.
Seamonkey has an installed size of 50 Mb, and yet has a mail client, an HTML editor, an address book, and a chat client all rolled into it. And while it still seems like overkill to me—especially as I do not use those particular features—it won the day.
But even as my search concluded successfully, I am left wondering: why is Firefox (or more specifically, xulrunner) so large? What magic does it do that necessitates such size? Should it not be smaller and lighter on its feet than a full-on browser suite? Or am I missing something?…