Rubenerd

Changing habits, and services you once loved dearly, are hard. But I’ve been using a Pinboard for a few days now, and it’s so much better I’m regretting not switching sooner. You’d never guess the terrible username I chose!

I didn’t want to move from del.icio.us; I registered for my account in 2003 and used it fairly consistently ever since. Almost every bookmark I’ve ever saved for a decade and a half is on there, making it a fascinating trip back in time now. It even generated a ton of linkblog posts here back in the day.

Unfortunately, in what has become the new normal for beloved online services, it has been passed around like a that licorice jelly bean nobody wants, and regurgitated every time. It was sold to Yahoo!, then (famously) listed as sunsetted, then sold to AVOS, then sold to Science, Inc, then sold to a new company owned by Science and Domainersuite.

The latest iteration of the site is a bit of a mess; aesthetically and functionally. They’ve also got an online shop, not selling merchandise (sorry, “merch”), but reselling everything from security tokens to online courses. What these have to do with social bookmarking is a bit beyond me; perhaps its just a last-ditch attempt at monetisation.

The frustrating thing is it didn’t have to be this way. I like Pinboard because it reminds me of the classic, no-nonsense delicious, and I’m happy to help pay Maciej’s bills. With a simple design and clear business model, he’s been profitable from day one. del.icio.us could have done that.

To their credit, del.icio.us still has a data export option, which Pinboard was able slurp up with ease.

I saw this image by Jon Proctor on Wikimedia Commons and knew I had to share it. How spectaculary retro, right down to the eagle logo on the tail for the type.

The Tristar was the second “jumbo jet” to be announced, after Boeing’s legendary 747-100 and the newly-renamed McDonnell Douglas DC-10. Financial troubles at Rolls-Royce delayed the introduction of the TriStar, resulting in the DC-10 commanding a lead in the market Lockheed could never recapture.

From a design perspective, the second nacelle “s-duct” made the type look more like a jumbo Boeing 727 than a DC-10; the latter’s protruding engine looks ungainly by comparison. I was too young to ever fly on a TriStar, but its curves and clean lines render it one of my favourite commerical aircraft designs.

For those interested, Airliners.net has the best L-1011 photo archive, along with every other aircraft out there.

Matt Holden’s list of terrible Australian café trends for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age was so good, I’m brushing off my HTML definition lists instead of using Markdown.

Milkshakes with stuff on top

Strongly agree. Cut that out.

Doughnuts

Neutral. I like them, but Krispy Kreme and their ilk have tainted them.

Sliders

Mildly agree. I liked these for their kitch American diner value at Billy Bombers, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they've been abused to sell less food.

Tumeric lattes

Strongly agree. Dear god, why?

Flowers in everything

Mildly agree. As Matt posits, this is probably to do with sweet, sweet Instagram marketing. I did used to like rose sauce on salmon though, that was amazing.

Kale in everything

Strongly agree. Kale isn't as bad as everyone says. It's worse.

Superfood salads

Strongly agree. Quinoa is lovely in breakfast porridge, but psudo-science doesn't belong anywhere, not least salad.

Pulled pork

Mildly agree. Okay I did used to really like this. Most of what people sell it as barely qualifies though.

Coffee in wine glasses

Neutral. If only because I may have done this once. But coffee definitely belongs in a mug, and nothing else.

Hybrid pastries

Mildly agree. Cronuts are amazing, but I'm not really sure how they're supposed to taste like a croissant.

The tireless iTerm2 contributers keep pumping out awesomeness. The second point in their 3.0.9 release notes shows especially shows the care and attention they put into this:

- Fix a bug where iTerm2 would hang if a profile’s command terminated quickly, or could not be executed.
- When a profile’s command can’t be executed, print the reason for the failure to the session.
- Fix a bug where you could remember the “cancel” action when prompted about pasting.
- Make Japanese keyboards produce a backslash when Yen is pressed so long as shift is not also pressed.
- When a profile’s command can’t be executed, print the reason for the failure to the session.

I was Terminal.app user with dvtm for years, but iTerm2 won me over with its native (and restorable) tiled terminals. Coupled with the new polished UI and a giant screen, you can’t get much better.

The Overnightscape Central is a fun weekly podcast hosted by the illustrious PQ Ribber. Hosts and listeners of The Overnightscape Underground participate in a topic each week, and you’re welcome to join.

03:06:40 – Jimbo!! Shambles!! Doc Sleaze!! Frank Edward Nora!! Chad Bowers!! Rubenerd!! Mike Boody!! A Magnificent Seven Stalwart and wise contributors make this an incredible entry in this incomparable series!! PQ Ribber is your host!! Jimbo provides the ONSUG Week In Review!!

You can view this episode on the Underground, listen to it here, and subscribe with this feed in your podcast client.

I just got this email from UTS, and am publishing the text-based version for posterity.

UTS Spring 2016 Graduation: Confirmation of your Graduation Registration: ‘Collect’

Dear Ruben,

We are pleased to confirm that you have successfully registered to collect your graduation documents in-person.

Your graduation documents will be available from the Building 10 Student Centre, Level 2, 235 Jones Street, Ultimo, from Monday 10 October 2016.

Please be advised that your graduation documents will be held at the Building 10 Student Centre for a period of 12 months from 10 October 2016. If uncollected after 12 months, graduation documents will be destroyed (see testamurs, academic records and AHEGS), and you will be charged a fee for reproduction.

Should you have any further queries or require assistance contact your Student Centre online via Ask UTSor phone 1300 275 887/+61 2 9514 1222.

I’m not going to the graduation ceremony. Partly because I don’t need the pomp and circumstance, but also I’ll be overseas on leave, and spent the money I would have put towards aforementioned pomp and circumstance on a graduation reward camera : ).

K-On!! key visual by Kyoto Animation, used here to review the fact I unashamedly loved the original, and that they're graduating like me!

I really have no idea how I stumble upon things like this, but I’m captivated by this eBay auction in a way I haven’t been in a very long time. The model number absolutely nails it.

USB DESKTOP AQUARIUM MINI FISHTANK w/ RUNNING WATER + LIGHT + CLOCK [Model No: USB-FISHTANK]

And look at the features, taken right from the page:

• USB Desktop Aquarium
• Mini Fishtank
• Running Water Circulator Pump
• River Rocks + Artifical Plant
• USB Power Connector
• LCD Calendar Clock
• Alarm Clock w/ Snooze
• Multifunction Penholder
• Multicolour Interior Light
• Nature Sounds

This tickles me in the same way the Mug Boss did in 2006. I would never buy one of these, or accept one as a gift, but I can admire it as the clearly spectacular piece of abstract modern art that it is.

Work has started mandating use of Microsoft Office for Mac. I’ve been happily using Open/Neo/LibreOffice for almost my entire professional and personal life, so I’m having to do a lot of learning and relearning. For example, Microsoft has this tool called OneNote, which for someone who uses nvALT and similar tools looks fascinating.

Unfortunately, OneNote 2016 asks for a login, and there’s no way around it. What if I want to use this notebook offline? Or synched with Dropbox? Or for private business work that has no business being on a public cloud?

Judging from this request on Microsoft’s User Voice forum, I wasn’t alone in being baffled by this.

In some cases you do not want or are not allowed to upload your notes to a cloud, therefore you should add offline notebooks to OneNote for Mac.

Microsoft’s official response wasn’t encouraging.

Thanks for expressing your support for local notebooks on Mac. We have no plans to support local notebooks in our other clients, since storing your notebooks in the cloud enables experiences that are not otherwise possible.

This is tantamount to saying water is wet because it’s not dry. Like all those people who tweet “use a MasterCard” when I ask about Amex, or “use Windows” when I ask about a Linux distro, their suggestions are technically correct and completely unhelpful.

It’s their software, and they’re free to add and remove whatever features they want. I’m also free to close and uninstall it, now that I know it’s not usable.

Podcast: Play in new window · Download

28:38 – A somewhat sleep-deprived ramble into promises, fascinating accents and creoles, the wondrous benefits of rampling, recordings for other shows, moving in with significant others, introversion, and FINALLY timing a DHL sign.

Recorded in Sydney, Australia. Licence for this track: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0. Attribution: Ruben Schade.

Released September 2016 on The Overnightscape Underground, an Internet talk radio channel focusing on a freeform monologue style, with diverse and fascinating hosts.

Subscribe with iTunes, Pocket Casts, Overcast or add this feed to your podcast client.

You have a calendar on your Mac, Linux and BSD box called cal, another fine utility by Wolfgang Helbig over at FreeBSD. If you don’t, your distrubution is terrible and you should switch.

What I love using it for is looking at hysterial historical calendars using the -d option. As you can see above, I was born a long time ago, on a Thursday.

 $ cal -d 1986-03
 ==>      March 1986
 ==> Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
 ==>                    1
 ==>  2  3  4  5  6  7  8
 ==>  9 10 11 12 13 14 15
 ==> 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
 ==> 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
 ==> 30 31

My main gripe is it doesn’t support stardates.