USMB Coffee Shop IV

[Kat]

I have survived Nate! I walked out on the deck to survey the destruction caused by the most violent storm to hit the Alabama coast in a couple weeks. My garbage can is laying on its side a foot, maybe 14" from where it was pre-storm and the table cloth on the table in the gazebo is messed up for the second time.

I was thinking about you and Kat when I saw how close to you where the eye came on shore. So glad it was one of those quick hit and run storms. And I'm happy you're both okay.

I was on the screened in porch some of the time. I saw that eye looking at me!

 

[Ringel05]

I have survived Nate! I walked out on the deck to survey the destruction caused by the most violent storm to hit the Alabama coast in a couple weeks. My garbage can is laying on its side a foot, maybe 14" from where it was pre-storm and the table cloth on the table in the gazebo is messed up for the second time.

I was thinking about you and Kat when I saw how close to you where the eye came on shore. So glad it was one of those quick hit and run storms. And I'm happy you're both okay.

I was on the screened in porch some of the time. I saw that eye looking at me!

That was me, I was peeping.......

 

[Montrovant]

This is annoying. I use an old laptop to play videos on my TV. It's running Linux Mint 17. I sometimes find that the VLC player on the laptop won't play files that the VLC player on my Windows machines will play. Well, I put Linux Mint 18 on this PC, and the VLC in this version seems to play the videos without trouble. Unfortunately, I can't load Mint 18 on the laptop. I've tried, but it just freezes up when I try to boot 18 from a USB. I don't know what it is in 18 that is different, if there's some codec or what.

I can convert the files and get them to play on the laptop, but it's annoying.

Try it via Terminal.

How to upgrade to Linux Mint 18 from Linux Mint 17

I'll give that a try. However, since I have a ton of stuff on the laptop I'd want to save, and I don't want to go through the process of moving it onto the external HD yet again, I'll probably wait until Monday or Tuesday when no one is home.

Upgrading to 18 through the terminal seems to have worked. There was a bit of a hiccup when it first started; it didn't recognize the wireless, then it didn't want to shut down when I told it to, instead just logging out and back in. I also had a problem getting it to add the multimedia codecs: it kept telling me I held a broken package. I was able to get the machine restarted eventually, and that problem went away on its own. After it restarted, the wireless was recognized. And I learned that if you use aptitude instead of just apt-get in terminal, it apparently works harder to follow your command; using aptitude let the codec package go through. So for now, and I have the laptop shut off at the moment, 18 seems to be functioning. It kept all of my files safely, so I didn't end up needing the backups. The video files that weren't playing in 17 are playing in 18, at this point I'll give this a

Try Bleach Bit to clean up files, it's easy to use and is in the Software Manager. I use App Grid myself, I find it to be a better software source. A better cleaner is Stacer but it's not in either manager as of yet, terminal install only.
How to install Stacer for quick Linux system optimization

Mint 18 seems to be running well enough on the laptop now. I really just use it to play videos on the TV in my room, so I don't need a whole lot of functionality. I only went from Mint 17 to 18 because 17 had problems playing some video files and I couldn't figure out how to fix it.

 

[Ringel05]

This is annoying. I use an old laptop to play videos on my TV. It's running Linux Mint 17. I sometimes find that the VLC player on the laptop won't play files that the VLC player on my Windows machines will play. Well, I put Linux Mint 18 on this PC, and the VLC in this version seems to play the videos without trouble. Unfortunately, I can't load Mint 18 on the laptop. I've tried, but it just freezes up when I try to boot 18 from a USB. I don't know what it is in 18 that is different, if there's some codec or what.

I can convert the files and get them to play on the laptop, but it's annoying.

Try it via Terminal.

How to upgrade to Linux Mint 18 from Linux Mint 17

I'll give that a try. However, since I have a ton of stuff on the laptop I'd want to save, and I don't want to go through the process of moving it onto the external HD yet again, I'll probably wait until Monday or Tuesday when no one is home.

Upgrading to 18 through the terminal seems to have worked. There was a bit of a hiccup when it first started; it didn't recognize the wireless, then it didn't want to shut down when I told it to, instead just logging out and back in. I also had a problem getting it to add the multimedia codecs: it kept telling me I held a broken package. I was able to get the machine restarted eventually, and that problem went away on its own. After it restarted, the wireless was recognized. And I learned that if you use aptitude instead of just apt-get in terminal, it apparently works harder to follow your command; using aptitude let the codec package go through. So for now, and I have the laptop shut off at the moment, 18 seems to be functioning. It kept all of my files safely, so I didn't end up needing the backups. The video files that weren't playing in 17 are playing in 18, at this point I'll give this a

Try Bleach Bit to clean up files, it's easy to use and is in the Software Manager. I use App Grid myself, I find it to be a better software source. A better cleaner is Stacer but it's not in either manager as of yet, terminal install only.
How to install Stacer for quick Linux system optimization

Mint 18 seems to be running well enough on the laptop now. I really just use it to play videos on the TV in my room, so I don't need a whole lot of functionality. I only went from Mint 17 to 18 because 17 had problems playing some video files and I couldn't figure out how to fix it.

Well install Bleach Bit to get rid of all the leftover trash files and it will run even better.

 

[gallantwarrior]

I had to go to the doc yesterday and saw a doe laying on the side of the road. I pulled over to see if it was still alive, but it wasn't. If it was, I was gonna haul it to a vet if I could lift it in my van. Alas...it was already gone. When I was coming home from the doc, I saw the county animal control truck lifting it into their truck. It made me sad.

I rather like the system we have in Alaska. Whenever a moose gets hit by an auto or train, there is a "call list" of charities who will send out a team to salvage the meat, which finds its way to local soup kitchens and food pantries. When I lived back East, I could not believe the wanton waste of good game meat, dozens of dead deer on the roadsides, just rotting. Unbelievable.

 

[Kat]

I had to go to the doc yesterday and saw a doe laying on the side of the road. I pulled over to see if it was still alive, but it wasn't. If it was, I was gonna haul it to a vet if I could lift it in my van. Alas...it was already gone. When I was coming home from the doc, I saw the county animal control truck lifting it into their truck. It made me sad.

I rather like the system we have in Alaska. Whenever a moose gets hit by an auto or train, there is a "call list" of charities who will send out a team to salvage the meat, which finds its way to local soup kitchens and food pantries. When I lived back East, I could not believe the wanton waste of good game meat, dozens of dead deer on the roadsides, just rotting. Unbelievable.

When I lived in Alaska, I was in a car late at night that went around a curve and hit a moose. Killed it. It haunted me for so long. The police called one responsible to salvage, and feed others.

I am having a very hard time reading all this stuff. It gets to me big time.

 

[Gracie]

I hit a rabbit once. I pulled over and got it from the middle of the road. It died in my lap. I was so upset.

 

[Gracie]

Sorry Kat. No more from me on this topic. I know how you feel. Bothers me too.

So....all is well in KatLand? No loose patio table covers or trashcans walking a foot or two?

 

[Kat]

Sorry Kat. No more from me on this topic. I know how you feel. Bothers me too.

So....all is well in KatLand? No loose patio table covers or trashcans walking a foot or two?

Yes. We protected what we needed to, and then the winds and rain came. Now it's gone, but for it feeling like a sauna outside.......but even that is better.
Thanks for asking.
I would rather not go through that again, but probably will.

 

[Ringel05]

Just a note, I decided to take another look at a few distros and right now have Mint 18 on my Linux desktop. I installed the Cinnamenu applet which give you a Gnome 3 style "start" menu.

I love it.

I try to avoid the menu by putting the programs I use most often in my cairo-dock.

My most used programs go on the panel, I hate Cairo-dock mostly because it always "broke" on me. I like the Gnome 3 menu because it's larger and more easy to search.
I tried the latest Kubuntu Plasma (KDE) but it has a definite learning curve and takes time to configure besides with the newer Plama 5 screen it appears some things just can't be undone if one makes a mistake with their personalization. I was using kubuntu with Plasma 4 just a few years ago before I did a multi distro reexamination.

No understand dis language.

01010111 01101000 01111001 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00111111

By the way that's binary for "why not?"

 

[Ringel05]

Sorry Kat. No more from me on this topic. I know how you feel. Bothers me too.

So....all is well in KatLand? No loose patio table covers or trashcans walking a foot or two?

Yes. We protected what we needed to, and then the winds and rain came. Now it's gone, but for it feeling like a sauna outside.......but even that is better.
Thanks for asking.
I would rather not go through that again, but probably will.

Move to the desert southwest, rain? Humidity? What are those........

 

[Gracie]

I try to avoid the menu by putting the programs I use most often in my cairo-dock.

My most used programs go on the panel, I hate Cairo-dock mostly because it always "broke" on me. I like the Gnome 3 menu because it's larger and more easy to search.
I tried the latest Kubuntu Plasma (KDE) but it has a definite learning curve and takes time to configure besides with the newer Plama 5 screen it appears some things just can't be undone if one makes a mistake with their personalization. I was using kubuntu with Plasma 4 just a few years ago before I did a multi distro reexamination.

No understand dis language.

01010111 01101000 01111001 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00111111

By the way that's binary for "why not?"

I may surprise you, but I knew it was binary something or other. How did I know? No clue. Sometimes my brain surprises me with tidbits

 

[Gracie]

Meanwhile..it is EXTREMELY windy right now. I hope one of those 50ft ponderosa pines don't land on the roof over our rooms.

 

[Kat]

Sorry Kat. No more from me on this topic. I know how you feel. Bothers me too.

So....all is well in KatLand? No loose patio table covers or trashcans walking a foot or two?

Yes. We protected what we needed to, and then the winds and rain came. Now it's gone, but for it feeling like a sauna outside.......but even that is better.
Thanks for asking.
I would rather not go through that again, but probably will.

Move to the desert southwest, rain? Humidity? What are those........

Humidity keeps the skin from aging. Your dryness ages it.

 

[Nosmo King]

My family business celebrates its 94th year next week. A print shop down at the foot of the hill on St. Clair Avenue Keystone Printing is the city's third oldest family owned business.

The shop is a combination of amazing machinery, bustling productivity and museum. Up until 1978 when my brother joined the shop, everything done there was done the way commercial printing shops had done it since the turn of the 20th century.

Pop ran the Linotype. A Rube Goldberg inspired machine if there ever was one. Pop sat at a keyboard not at all like the typewriter QWERTY keyboard you are using right now, but a keyboard where all the upper case letters were on the left, lower case on the right with various punctuation marks scattered in a seemingly random pattern. As he struck the keys, mechanisms controlling a matrix of type face molds would open up and deposit the individual letters to a slot at eye level. Once a line of type (Linotype, get it?) was in the slot, Pop would push a lever and the type face molds would get injected with molten lead. The resulting lead slug would then drop on to a tray at Pop's left hand. Then the tray would be taken back to my Uncle Bill and his array of presses.

Uncle Bill was the head pressman inking up the Heidelberg or Windmill or Little Giant with its open gas flames drying the ink. Uncle Alex ran the platen presses, those hand fed clinkity clankity presses demanding rhythm and skill. Uncle Robert composited pages of text from the great type cabinets with drawers of little cubby holes each containing a separate letter or punctuation mark. These are the drawers sought after as shadow boxes to feature thimble collections.

Aunt Dorothy, Uncle Bill's wife and sister to Alex and Robert, kept the books and picked up jobs, a term referring to collation. In the middle of the shop stood a tube AM radio that had an orange lighted dial and a gothic arched chestnut cabinet.

My memories of the shop are immediately recalled whenever I go in there as it has not substantially changed in sixty years. The family is gone, save my brother. The radio is gone replaced by an iPhone and a Bluetooth speaker to listen to podcasts by. The Linotype are gone replaced by a bank of computers, monitors and digital plate making equipment used in the offset presses. But everything else remains to the amazement of those who haven't been in there for years, or those who know something about the history of printing and have never been in there.

All my brother has to do I should make it to his 61st birthday in 2021 to make our little business one hundred years old. I think that's a lead pipe cinch.

 

[Foxfyre]

Just a note, I decided to take another look at a few distros and right now have Mint 18 on my Linux desktop. I installed the Cinnamenu applet which give you a Gnome 3 style "start" menu.

I love it.

I try to avoid the menu by putting the programs I use most often in my cairo-dock.

Eh, I'm an LX-type. Shortcut on desktop-done. I guess it does have a docky-mathingy.

My wife is the one with icons adorning her screen like Christmas decorations on a tree me I like my desktop (virtual one) clean. Mint Cinnamon also lets shortcuts be placed on the desktop, see the little window in the open menu (Add to panel, Add to desktop, Add to favorites, Uninstall).

I'm with your wife. I like to keep things as simple and logical as possible. So I have a LOT of icons on my desk top but they are organized--the computer maintenance/access kinds of thing grouped together, message board links grouped together, news sources I like to check regularly grouped together, games grouped together etc. Keeps life simple, uncomplicated, and I don't have to remember where to look for things or what the exact file name is..

That's what the bottom panel is for.........

But there just isn't enough room there. I have a very busy computer.

 

[Foxfyre]

Sorry Kat. No more from me on this topic. I know how you feel. Bothers me too.

So....all is well in KatLand? No loose patio table covers or trashcans walking a foot or two?

Yes. We protected what we needed to, and then the winds and rain came. Now it's gone, but for it feeling like a sauna outside.......but even that is better.
Thanks for asking.
I would rather not go through that again, but probably will.

Move to the desert southwest, rain? Humidity? What are those........

Humidity keeps the skin from aging. Your dryness ages it.

Yes it does, but there are other advantages. And we always have Aveeno.

 

[Foxfyre]

Meanwhile..it is EXTREMELY windy right now. I hope one of those 50ft ponderosa pines don't land on the roof over our rooms.

Did you know that if you sniff the bark of a mature Ponderosa Pine, it smells like vanilla? Of course I embarrass Hombre going around smelling the trees.

 

[Gracie]

Meanwhile..it is EXTREMELY windy right now. I hope one of those 50ft ponderosa pines don't land on the roof over our rooms.

Did you know that if you sniff the bark of a mature Ponderosa Pine, it smells like vanilla? Of course I embarrass Hombre going around smelling the trees.

No. I didn't know that. I hugged one of the many in the front yard when we got here but I didn't smell anything, lol. And it loves dripping pine sap all over my windshield. That smells like pitch..not 'nilla.

 

[Foxfyre]

Not feeling any worse. Time pretty well tied up with our house guests this weekend but will check in when I can.

Good night darlinks, I really do love you guys.

And we continue to pray and/or send good vibes and/or positive thoughts and/or keep vigil for

Harper (Save's granddaughter),
Pogo’s friend Pat and special comfort for Pogo,
Nosmo's mom,
Rod, GW's partner,
Kat's sister,
Boedicca, her dad, brother, and family,
Sherry's Mom for treatment to be successful,
The Ringels in difficult transition
Dana, Foxfyre's friend recovering from heart transplant
Mr. and Mrs. Gracie in difficult transition
Ringel's injured shoulder and general wellness,
007's brother-in-law for a full recovery,
Saveliberty for positive resolution for difficult transition,
Mr. and Mrs. Peach174 for full recovery from setback,
Comfort to Mrs. Saveliberty & family in the loss of her brother,
And for our students, job hunters, others in transition.

And the light is left on for Noomi, Freedombecki, AgainSheila, Esthermoon, SFC Ollie, and all others we hope are okay and will return to us.

Not feeling any worse. Time pretty well tied up with our house guests this weekend but will check in when I can.

Good night darlinks, I really do love you guys.

And we continue to pray and/or send good vibes and/or positive thoughts and/or keep vigil for

Harper (Save's granddaughter),
Pogo’s friend Pat and special comfort for Pogo,
Nosmo's mom,
Rod, GW's partner,
Kat's sister,
Boedicca, her dad, brother, and family,
Sherry's Mom for treatment to be successful,
The Ringels in difficult transition
Dana, Foxfyre's friend recovering from heart transplant
Mr. and Mrs. Gracie in difficult transition
Ringel's injured shoulder and general wellness,
007's brother-in-law for a full recovery,
Saveliberty for positive resolution for difficult transition,
Mr. and Mrs. Peach174 for full recovery from setback,
Comfort to Mrs. Saveliberty & family in the loss of her brother,
And for our students, job hunters, others in transition.

And the light is left on for Noomi, Freedombecki, AgainSheila, Esthermoon, SFC Ollie, and all others we hope are okay and will return to us.

The storms of our lives always pass. . .