Posts

By chance I encountered a reference to TiddlyWiki on a slashdot discussion.

I don't really like wikis all that much, but there was something that appealed to me about the idea of a single file wiki implemented in entirely javascript so that you didn't have to install any software at all. So I began experimenting.

I converted the old static html pages that I was using in this pseudo-blog into a standard TiddlyWiki file. In the meanwhile I continued researching the variations on TiddlyWiki. That first conversion process showed me pretty quickly that I wanted TagglyTagging, so I changed variants and imported the stuff I had already converted.

Now I've reached the point where I mostly like this presentation as a weblog. I'm not 100% sold on it, and there is always the serious problem of me not actually wanting to write anything for over 5 years. That makes for a pretty dull weblog.

So does talking about the software behind the weblog. But something invariably moves normally right thinking people to do it.

I've started running a MythTV box for my television viewing pleasure. Specifically, I'm running KnoppMyth.

MythTV is a very nice product despite its perpetual alpha state. But it has one really big flaw — virtually all the documentation is installation instructions. There is little to no documentation on the user interface.

I admit that most of the idea is fairly straight forward and the UI mostly does sensible things. But the gap between the sensible things and the other things is severe.

In my case, I really want to understand how the scheduler makes its decisions. Not because I'm not trusting its behavior, but because I'm spending too much time overriding the decisions. I know that you can tune the scheduler with a large variety of priority settings. But to do that effectively, I need to understand the program. Otherwise I'll have to learn it by trial and error, which is a slow process at best.

Not being one to just piss and moan (though I'm perfectly willing to do at least that), I've started creating the documentation for the UI. One weekend of work and I have the Web interface roughed out. But only for the TV functions, which is my primary interest. I started with the web interface because I could edit the docs at the same time as I played with the interface.

Today I am launching a feature in Fafnir's Hoard of an irregular opinion piece. Ok, so it's not really an opinion piece. Nor it is a regular rant off page to help me blow off steam. It's just a page where I will sometimes, hopefully regularly place some thoughts about things that interest, annoy, or just plain occur to me.

Today's Episode: How early do you know how your day is going to be?

Today I got my first clue on my bike ride into work. I ride a recumbent (ATP Vision R-40-- pictures to be scanned at some point in the near future.) and I've got these ultra chic fenders for diverting water away from my oh so tender hinney. I've also got "Power straps" on the pedals because I didn't want to have to wear a particular pair of shoes in order to ride my bike. On a recumbent your feet stick out in front of you and it is hard to keep them on the pedals without a strap or clips or clipless or something.

Anyway, on my way in to work, I had to stop at a street light. I took my foot out and put it on the ground. When the light changed I did something wrong and the strap got caught in the front of the fender and ripped the fender right off. Joy.

I've been riding this bike for three years and have only had the pedals interfere with the fender or front wheel once, way back when I was still adjusting to having my feet out in front of the front wheel. These days I don't even think about it.

Ok, so that was the fabu start of my day and it went down from there. I left work around 6:30 pm solely because I had managed to get the last dire emergency turned into a mere critical problem, which could be put off until tomorrow.