Review & Quotes: Absent Fathers, Lost Sons - The Search for Masculine Identity

Review:

In the past couple of weeks I've been delving into the subject matter of so-called "coming of age" material on the Internet. This has been in the form of old European made movies published on Youtube, as well as writings on web pages.

This week I stumbled upon a book titled Absent Fathers, Lost Sons at a used book shoppe.

And what I have concluded, based on reading and viewing is that, some force has socially engineered Western civilization to suppress male sexuality, especially at the puberty stage.

Something is really really broken and it may take another two generations before things swing back to their natural state of healthy sexual relations with one another.

Quotes:

"On the whole, children who have been adequately fathered show more self-confidence, in their studies, in choosing careers, and in their personal initiatives." (pg. 17)

"In the United States and Norway, several studies involving boys with behavioral problems arrived at conclusions that flew in the face of accepted belief: male children absolutely need their fathers in the first two years of their existence. The boys in the studies all experience absent fathers in the first two years of their lives. In most cases their fathers were soldiers who had gone away wen their sons were still very young, or sailors who were away from home nine months a year. What is striking is that these boys showed the same kind of atypical development as orphans in inadequate  foster homes or as boys brought up in single-parent families and deprived of possible father-substitutes. In all sons who lack fathers, research has revealed systemic deficiencies in social, sexual, moral, or cognitive levels."
(pg. 20) 

"It is absolutely necessary for men to spend more time cuddling their children, especially their sons; doing so they will open up their children's sensitivity -- and discover their own sensitivity at the same time. Sensuality will then no longer be denied to men and women be trapped in it. Men too have bodies; they need to be touched in order to maintain their sense of well-being and in order to be reminded that they are alive." (pg. 30)

Children's Rights

I believe in children's rights.

I believe that each kid has the right to:

• A warm, safe from the elements home
  
• Enough healthy food daily. He or she should not go to sleep feeling hungry.
  
• No abuse of any kind - no physical, verbal, sexual.
• A family that wants him.
• The right to be himself and the age that he wants to be.
• The right to finish his or her babyhood period. The right not to graduate from the crib not to be pushed out because a newborn sibling has come along, toilet trained before he/she is ready. The right to use a pacifier and/or a baby bottle for comfort.
• The right to own one or more stuffed animals / teddy bears, etc, for comfort.
• The right to clean, fashionable clothes daily.
• The right to be taught and practise good hygiene.
• The right to have neighbourhood and/or school friends over to play indoors.
• The right to experience being a child and with few exceptions be allowed to be the age they are.
• The right to host or to stay at a friend's or cousin's home overnight for a sleepover.

Head-based Clinical Moms Cannot Love Their Children

I had the opportunity to spend a few hours at St. Boniface Hospital on November 21st. I've had this thang with so-called Clinical-types, especially Women. So I used this opportunity to say to 3 of the staff "You as a Clinical person cannot love your children the same way a Heart-based person can." Do you know what happens in every instance? The Woman nurse will stand up and leave the room. Every single time. Does that mean I am telling the truth and they are going to another room, perhaps a broom closet to CRY? A Clinical-type Mom will say to her son or daughter "I love you." But these words come from the Reptilian brain complex, which has no empathy. No love at all. These are just words. A Heart-based Mom will say the same words to her son or daughter "I love you." But these words come from the Heart, connected to the soul and spirit. Feelings-based.

Mama's Boy Moms / Overprotective Moms

I was told, when I was little, before I had my current phys. and mental health issues..."no" you cannot pick up" "no, you cannot feed" your sister.

What you see in this video clip of two other strangers - an older brother and a younger sister (could have been a younger brother too) is what I desired to do with Pat in '73-75.

Some of these photos show Mason (the boy) laying next to Mercedes (thegirl)..Ouch...Maybe the boy shouldn't be so close to his sister like that. He might roll over on top of her. She is too delicate...This is what I learned from my Mommie growing up. Girls are too DELICATE to be too close to. Better to "look but don't touch".

We cannot go back to the past. But please god (divine)...please bring me a lil one to interact with like this...

Yes, I already have Andrew & Stephen my spirit sons, but they are in spirit and are not acknowledged by clinical-type persons.

Please.

---

Basically this is what I wanted to do with my sister Pat back in Sept. / Oct. 1975 when she was age 2 yrs.
Mom said "No!".
41 yrs. later and Pat almost cut me out of my Dad's Will. Had it not been for other sister , I would have been left with 10% proceeds from the Sale of the family home.
This is why sibling BONDING is crucial to good relations decades later.
But overprotective Mommies are just being SELFISH for thinking of Mommies' needs FIRST.
Little do they know how TOXIC relations they are sprouting.

---
wrote on Building Boys's Timeline. 3 November 2016 03:12 Hi,
I have been a member of this group for some time.
I have a nephew who just tuned 8 yrs. one week ago.
He has a Mom and a Dad. They are in the process of divorcing.
I believe that my nephew is a Mama's Boy and that the is in danger of inability to develop healthy relationships with Women once he becomes an adult.
I have tried bonding with my nephew, but every time I try, he is sitting on his Mom's lap or is conversing with his older sister (10 yrs.).
My Dad just died in Sept. and my Mom is deceased since Jan. 2010.
I feel that now that my parents are gone, they cannot question me wanting to bond with my nephew.
So what's the best way to go about this?
Just to note, my sister has dominated him so much that I have never ever had the opportunity to pick him up and just hold him and bond with him. Sister is just always there with him. Sister has said that her husband has been disinterested in his son, but now that I have had a conversation with her soon to be ex-...he has told me that the therapy that he and his son had a while back has helped. The downside is that ex-husband/father will have every other weekend with his kids.
The next time I see him will most likely be Christmas Eve.
I intend on picking him up into my arms, making a selfie video. I have no other photos of nephew with me.
I am sure that sister and nephew will balk at my interest in him. But I don't want nephew to grow to be dysfunctional in adulthood and not be able to form healthy relationships with women.
I believe that nephew is still fixable.

Strange Requests

I have a nephew, a boy who was born in 2008.

Back near the day he was born, I remember my sister phoning me and telling me that she is going to have a son.

She was asking ME to pick his birthdate. Should it be on the 26th or the 27th or 28th?

I thought this was strange because relations between myself and my sister have always been strained since she was little.

My feeling at the time of course is...How should I know, he's going to be your son.

Additionally does not invite me to the Hosp. to see newborn nephew. To this day I don't know which Hosp. he or his older sister was born at. Doesn't really matter anyways.

So 6 mos. in same sister calls me up. It's March 29th, 2009. One of my cats just passes away from old age.

She asks me two things:

1. Can I borrow your Hi8 camcorder?
2. Can I borrow your cat for a few days. We have a mouse problem in the basement.

So sister even picks me up. Drives me to their home. Proceeds to breastfeed nephew in front of me.

Shows me around the house.

She drives me back home.

Bluetooth in Fedora Linux

Getting Bluetooth working in Linux can sometimes be a PITA.

There are screens in Fedora. Other setup screens on the phone device.

If devices are not seeing each other or not connecting, you need to know the following:

1. In GNOME 3, right click on "Settings..." which brings up the Settings applets. Choose 'Bluetooth'.
2. The screen will say "Not Connected" or similar.
3. Press that key.
4. A Passkey will be auto-generated.
5. Press Confirm.
6. Key in this 6 digit number into your phone device.
7. It should Pair at that point and you can now Upload and Download files to and from both PC and Phone.

If you Pair via this method it is not necessary to use Blueman to Pair devices.

The Crucial Importance of the Sibling Bond

Basically this is what I wanted to do with my sister Pat back in Sept. / Oct. 1975 when she was age 2 yrs.

Mom said "No!".

41 yrs. later and Pat almost cut me out of my Dad's Will. Had it not been for other sister Marie, I would have been left with 10% proceeds from the Sale of the family home.

This is why sibling BONDING is crucial to good relations decades later.

But overprotective Mommies are just being SELFISH for thinking of Mommies' needs FIRST.

Little do they know how TOXIC relations they are sprouting.

Vintage 1962-1968 Fisher-Price Music Box Teaching Clock Toy #998, Grandf...

Alpha Pectaurus Star System

Two years ago (2014) I was informed by my spirit son Andrew, that I've been incarnating in the Sol star system (our sun/star) on Earth where I've been the past 28,000 years.

Prior to this I had incarnated for 250,000 in a red dwarf star system 500 light years away, Alpha Pectaurus.

I don't have any memory of life on Alpha Pectaurus 2, also known as Ion (pronounced Eee Ahn). So I have not been told nor do I have any sense or memory of being there.

I was not told where Alpha Pec. is in the night sky. It could be in the West or the East. I don't know. The reason I was told was that the existence of a red dwarf star system 500 ly away is probably not acknowledged or known by scientists and needs to be kept secret for them to discover.

Boy George - The Crying Game

Coming Novembe 6, 2016 to the Winnipeg Arena!

I bought my ticket already, so I am def. GOING.

This Is Home - Bryan Lanning (Official Music Video)

Oh Father - You Can't Hurt Me Now

My abusive Dad passed away Sept. 29, 2016.


You Can't Hurt Me Anymore, Dad.

http://passages.winnipegfreepress.com/passage-details/id-239254/JAWORSKI_FRANK

Effects Broken in Kdenlive 16.08

I've been a user of Kdenlive 09.10 since either 2010 or 2013. The software has an easy learning curve and works on regular hardware (non-high-end).

So recently I upgraded from Fedora 22 to 23 and Kdenlive stopped working properly. It crashed and froze continually just by playing clips. Not good.

OK, so then I said, I'll have to go from Fedora 23 to 24, which I did, and now I can Play video clips just fine, but getting Video Effects like Pan & Zoom, which worked effortlessly in 09.10 do not work now.

So to Review, Kdenlive:

09.10 - Works great. Issues with HiDPI displays like my 1680 res. Lenovo T61.

16.04 - Issues with freezing just by playing a video. To its credit, this version introduced Proxy clips, which helps in Playback of HD video in the Clips or Project window.

16.08 - Issues with Video Effects not working, such as Pan & Zoom, despite setting Keyfames.

Maybe to get twirlin pan and zoom effect I need to use Affine Transition...

https://userbase.kde.org/Kdenlive/Manual/Transitions/Affine

Kdenlive Forum

More Than One Keyboard At Once In Bristol Synth.

While playing around in Bristol Synth. programme today, I discovered that you can load more than one keyboard at once and both can play at once, creating a fuller sound.

Also discovered that computer keyboard maps to the music keyboard and that pressing the [Spacebar] over a music key makes that key constant. To unpress the key, just hover over it again and press [Spacebar] on computer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwHtUr-eMRg

cute guy singing in competetion

11 out of 10 performance!

The History of Frame Rate for Film

Shirley Temple - War Babies

Burning A Single Video Using DeVeVe

When burning a DVD-Video using DeVeDe and Brasero, while the disc is being burned, never ever perform a Cancel and Eject disc while the Finalizing Disc status is shown.

Always wait until the whole disc burning process has completed. When it is done, Brasero or your disc burning software will automatically Eject the finished DVD-Video.

After the disc has completed, test it out on a stand-alone DVD player, not just one connected to a PC or Mac.

Rhythmbox 3.2.1 Cannot Edit AAC Metadata

Last night I downloaded a song in AAC (Advanced Audio Codec, .aac) and they play fine in Rhythmbx 3.2.1.

But if you want to edit the tag, as was the case, it cannot be done in Rhythmbox 3.2.1 (Linux 64-bit) because the software doesn't have the function to edit .aac tags yet.
MP3 ID3 tags. Yes. AAC tags. No.

When opening AAC files, they will play, but the some of the tag metadata shows "Unknown", just like in this post to a web forum

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2180188

At this time I am not sure whether the newer Rhythmbox ver. 3.4 has added this functionality yet. I am unwilling to switch to anothe music player because I am happy using Rhythmbox since 2005.

This Weekend I Realized A 47-Year Dream

This past weekend, after 47 years, I finally realized a dream that I've had since before age 3 (1969).

/home/.cache folder

After a while of running a *nix workstation or server, the operating system will store files in the ~/.cache folder.

Some of the files stored are cover art images for Rhythmbox media player, the cache of Tracker the desktop search program for *nix.

So it is entirely OK to delete the contents of the ~/.cache folder (not the folder itself).

Afterwards I went from 64.2% of a 94 GB partition to 64%, whatever that is in Megabytes.

Recent Acomplishments

Recently I accomplished several things:

1.  Bought a Yamaha  organ for myself on 2016-08-27, something I've wanted Electone practically all of my life.
2. Bought my first audio mixer, a 4-channel Yamaha ____ so that I can combine music from the organ and play along with music from the laptop (MP3 or YouTube) and not disturb my housemates.
3. Got a 2-table relational database working in LibreOffice Base. The usual training example is to set up an order entry system, which requires 4 tables (customers, products, employees and orders). The one I set up requires but 2 (payee and cheque). It's a Cheque Register. And it works! I can locate a Payee and key in a Cheque number, Amount and Date and the database will keep them separate from one another.
4. Sending files via BlueTooth from my BlackBerry device to my laptop now works. Before this month I could send from the laptop to the phone, but it would not work the other way. I suspect it has something to do with the desktop environment I'm running. Was running MATE in 2015 and since upgrading RAM earlier this year run GNOME 3 exclusively.

Creating LibreOffice Base Reports from Multi-table Queries

When you want to build a LibreOffice Base Report sourced from two or more tables, you must use the Query in Design mode to select all the required tables.

If this is not done, when it comes time to design the database report, LibreOffice will allow you to select exclusively one table or another, but not more than one at a time.

For example, two tables in a cheque register database application:

Table 1 contains a list of Payees and their contact info
Table 2 contains a list of Cheques and details about each

In Query Design mode, select all required fields in Table 1 (Payees), then select all required fields in Table 2 (Cheques).

Each column in the Design window will be available to you in the Report Builder later on.

Three Rock Songs That Influenced Me

I may have written about this in my blog already, but I can do it again.

In the early 1970s instead of getting a Yamaha Electone organ from my Dad, I got instead a plain chord organ.

I did play this chord organ a bit...firstly learning to play Christmas carols, then in the mid-1970s could play ABBA material ear.

But it wasn't until about 1979 when the chord organ was in the basement and I had basically gotten over my fear of going downstairs. There was a demon jinn named Aern there and he used to scare me just by being there and watching me.

In fact, even in '79 when I'd be all alone in the early evening, where I got the courage to go downstairs, turn on the table radio and play the chord organ to the music on FM radio.

The three songs that I really got to like playing along with were:

Gerry Rafferty
Baker Street
Rel. Feb. 1978
Video: link

Dire Straits
Sultans of Swing
Rel. Jan. 1979
Video: link

Herb  Alpert
Rise
Rel. Sept. 1979
Video: link

and also this one

Blondie
The Tide Is High
Rel. 1978
Video: link

I used to get soooo emotional when I played these songs, especially Rise, because it is such a feel good melody.

Importing MySQL Database Into LibreOffice Base

Ten years ago I had played around with MySQL in Linux.

I had designed a few flat-file tables to catalogue my book collection as well as my family's book collection.

These files have been backed up over the years and have the .sql filename suffix.

The tables were created using MySQLAdmin and MySQLWorkbench.

Somewhere near the time that Oracle bought Sun, MySQL was updated and the way to initially set up MySQL had changed.

So I stopped using it.

In the intervening years I had learned a lot about spreadsheets - MS Excel 2010 and LibreOffice Calc 3, 4, and now 5.

So now I'd like to import these tables into LibreOffice Calc  by connecting via MySQL.

I know as a first step I needed to install MySQL server. DONE.

I know that I also needed to install PHP. DONE.

MySQLPHPAdmin is where I'm having problems with. This is the newer way of setting up and maintaining tables and access lists (Access Control List) in the DBMS.

I regret now not making any notes here or in a Writer file, something that I could have used to help me regain access to the MyBooks.sql file.

Getting it to work will require manually editing the .php file and I believe once I do get that that the Admin console will work.

Until then I'm just learning LO Base 5 and viewing MS Excel and Access tutorials on YouTube.

The database engine that LibreOffice Base uses is the Java-based HSQLDB 2.x.

To make a query on some data in a table, for example, use:

SELECT "Business Name", "Full Address", "Postal Code" FROM "Database Table"

The box to enter and edit queries in SQL format directly isn't as good as in MySQLQuery. That is because the text box font is super super tiny on my screen.

Toddler Tantrums - Boys Town Center for Behavioral Health

Yamaha PSR230 Jam Mode

To use Jam Mode you must press at least 3 or 4 keys (chord) on either side of the keyboard, otherwise the function won't work at all.

Features in Adobe InDesign CC 2015

Features in Adobe InDesign CC 2015 that I'd like to see in Scribus:

1. Favourite Fonts. This is a feature where you star your most used fonts so that the list can be filtered that way and won't show the fonts you don't or won't use.
2. Adobe Stock (Photos) (not what it's called). This feature can get images from the Net and you can license them for your project.

Inkscape has a feature where you can import coloured clipart from the OpenClipArt.org library.

Adobe CS2 InDesign Small Menu Text

In trying out InDesign CS2 I find the menu text, for example the Swatch panel, teeny tiny.

Now I know that this is an issue with not just myself, but other users of Adobe software.

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/644884

As I see it, Adobe has tailored their products to work best in Mac OS X, despite having a version for MS-Windows.

The people complaining on the Adobe Forum are saying they're using the Windows version of Photoshop and are having the very same problem as my trial version of CS2 for Windows -- teeny tiny menu text.

I use Scribus in Linux, and for now, it doesn't have teeny tiny text at 5 pt. size.

Unbelievable that people pay $800+ for this.

Complex Trauma: Understanding and Treatment

LibreOffice Table Styles

LibreOffice Calc & Writer have a table formatting option in Autoformat, where you format a table (min. 3x3). So you are not limited by the 11 coloured formats that come with LO.

You can, in LO Calc, specify ISODD() or ISEVEN() for alternating colours to create a bar effect. This can also be done much easier in Autoformat, just have one row white and the other as a light shade of a colour or a shade of grey.

However, you cannot Import or Export these formats, also if you decide to use another colour combination or font, you have to re-select the whole table or tables, and select the format.

This is the how MS-Excel 2010 does table styles. I like how, in Excel, if you add more rows and tell the programme this, it'll restyle the new cells:

It has been this way for all of StarOffice, OpenOffice, and LibreOffice existance.

Now, the LibreOffice Design Team are seeing that this is too limiting and are investigating ways of improving table editing capabilities.

Here's a mockup, from the LO developers, new Table Styles:

I'm currently using LO v4.4 and the newest is v5, so once they have formally introduced Table Styles, then I will upgrade.

Much needed feature.

Create CMYK Files with Inkscape

PDF/A-1a & PDF/X-1

There are several PDF formats to choose from, and some of them are meant for pre-press work, some others are for archival-quality documents. Others are regular PDFs.

LibreOffice can create PDF/A-1a (ISO 19005-1), which means Archive.

Scribus can work with pre-press ready files, so if you need to send to a large press machine, say printing thousands of copies of a brochure, or a magazine, then use one of the PDF/X (ISO 15930) variants:

PDF/X-1a -- all fonts need to be embedded and all images need to be CMYK or spot colors
PDF/X-3 -- Colour-managed, CMYK, Gray, RGB or spot colour data are supported.
PDF/X-4 -- Colour-managed, CMYK, Gray, RGB or spot colour data are supported.

But for the rest of us, PDF 1.3, 1.4, or 1.5 is the one to choose.

Scenarios. What IFs...

I grew up in the 1970s. A period where parents were rough and tough -- strict, on their offspring. I was no different.

They were like this because, they claimed, they "loved us".

Well, my experience was like that too. Specifically, as I have written here about 3 years ago, my babyhood was  cut short in the Spring of 1969 due to my Mom not wanting to look after two babies at once.

Yet, at the time, I had three spirit guides advise me to wet the bed so that I'd be put back in to diapers, something that i wanted. I gave excuses like "I'm scared of the reaction from my Dad and his Dad".

So, decades later, all I'm left with are the "what if's". Scenarios of what could have been, had I listened to my guides.

OK, here we go...

I had these two neighbours who lived across the street from me. Sean and Paul Currie. Sean was my age when I met him, around 5 yrs. old or so. While Paul, his younger brother, was 3 yrs. old.

Sean used to cross Harrow to come to the door to ask if I could spend some time playing together.

If this alternate timeline had happened, it'd go something like this...

It's warm Summer day in June 1971 around 17h30. The sun is shining. I am sitting cross legged in the living room, watching television, when the doorbell rings. I am in my cloth diaper, plastic pants and an undershirt. My diaper is wet.

My Mom was cooking supper but answers the door. It's Sean. She asks that he wait for a few minutes, but doesn't say why.

I hear his voice and immediately go to my room, while Mom asks if I need my diaper to be replaced with a clean one. I say yes.

I climed up on my mattress and pulled off my wet diaper. Then she used a wet washcloth to gently clean my diaper area of urine, so that I don't smell of it.

Next, I lay down while Mom pulled the clean cloth diaper up over the front of my privates, and pinned it together. Finally had my legs lift up so she could put a clean pair of plastic pants on me.

I was almost ready to go to play with Sean and Paul.

I had to choose some summer clothing because it was really hot out.

I picked out a baby blue coloured striped t-shirt and I put on a pair of navy blue shorts.

I was now ready to go outside to play for a bit while Mom made supper. I was not to go away from the yard because supper was almost ready. The Currie family had supper at 5 pm like all the other neighbourhood kids families. We ate at 6 pm for some reason.

I opened the back door and said "Hi Sean and Paul". "Hi Jim".

I can't really remember what we used to talk about when we were playing, but I remember we used to go to the neighbourhood park on Harrow a lot.

My friends stayed in my yard while I had to go back in to eat. I went back out a few minutes later and we walked over to Harrow Park.

Because they had always known me prior to me re-entering babyhood, and because his brother Paul had been wearing diapers even at age 3 yrs, they never ever said anything to me like "why are you still wearing diapers?" I was thankful for this.

We spent some time on the merry go round, the swings and the sandbox.

Back then we were what's called "free range kids", meaning that as long as our parents knew where we were, we could roam the neighbourhood playing with our friends.

After about 1 hour, we had to return home to go to sleep.

I wet my diaper a bit while I was walking back home, but it wasn't enough to require another clean one for the night.

How to setup artwork for print

When setting up a document that requires a bleed, use a bleed minimum of 2 millimeters.

Creating EPS Graphics

When importing a LibreOffice Calc table or Writer table you cannot place it directly into Scribus. You must first convert it into an EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) file.

Here's how.

1. Select the whole or portion of the table you want to place into Scribus. Use the filter function if necessary.
2. Use Edit > Copy to copy the table to the Clipboard.
3. Open up LibreOffice Draw.
4. Use Paste Special and select the one that says 'calc' plus a number.
5. Press OK.
6. Resize the image as necessary.
7. Export to EPS.
8. Name the saved EPS file.

That's it. This file can now be imported into various programs, including Scribus and Adobe InDesign.

cups-calibrate

I found a new Linux utillity programme that will help to calibrate the colours for a printer.

It is cups-calibrate, and it is a piece of CLI software that is part of the CUPS/ suite part of GNU.

It requires a working printer and 2 pages (double sides) to print off small squares where you identify which squares are the darkest.

[lilzebra@nightowl ~] $ cups-calibrate

ESP Printer Calibration Tool v1.0

Copyright 1999-2000 by Easy Software Products, All Rights Reserved.

This program allows you to calibrate the color output of printers

using the Gutenprint CUPS or ESP Print Pro drivers.

Please note that this program ONLY works with the Gutenprint CUPS or

ESP Print Pro drivers. If you are using the Gimp-Print stp driver of

GhostScript or the drivers of the Print plug-in for the GIMP, this

calibration will not work.

These drivers by the text "CUPS+Gutenprint" or "ESP Print Pro" in

the model description displayed by the CUPS web interface, KUPS,

the ESP Print Pro Printer Manager, or printerdrake.

If you are not using the correct driver, press CTRL+C now and

reinstall your printer queue with the appropriate driver first.

To make a calibration profile for all users, run this program as

the "root" user.

Printer name [default]? 

Resolution [default]? 

Media type [default]? 

Press ENTER to print pass #1 or N to skip... 

Sending calibration pass #1 for density/saturation levels...

Calibration pass #1 sent.

Please select the character that corresponds to the black block that

is 100% saturated (dark) while not bleeding through the paper.  If

the saturation point appears to occur between two characters, enter

both characters.

Black density? 50

Now select the character that corresponds to the yellow block that is

100% saturated (dark) while not bleeding through the paper. If the

saturation point appears to occur between two characters, enter both

characters.

Yellow density? 100

Now select the character that corresponds to the red block that is

100% saturated (dark) while not bleeding through the paper. If the

saturation point appears to occur between two characters, enter both

characters.

Red density? Red density? 170

Thank you.  Now insert the page back into the printer and press the

ENTER key to print calibration pass #2.

Press ENTER to print pass #2 or N to skip... Sending calibration pass #2 for gamma levels...

Calibration pass #2 sent.

Please select the character that corresponds to the column of gray

blocks that appear to be 1/2 and 1/4 as dark as the black blocks,

respectively.  If the transition point appears to occur between two

characters, enter both characters.

Gamma? 3 

Thank you.  Now insert the page back into the printer and press the

ENTER key to print calibration pass #3.

Press ENTER to print pass #3 or N to skip... 

Sending calibration pass #3 for red, green, and blue adjustment...

Calibration pass #3 sent.

Please select the character that corresponds to the correct red,

green, and blue colors.  If the transition point appears to occur

between two characters, enter both characters.

Red color? 4 3

Red color? Red color? 3

Green color? 3

Blue color? 3

Thank you.  Now insert the page back into the printer and press the

ENTER key to print the final calibration pass.

Press ENTER to continue... 

Sending calibration pass #4 for visual confirmation...

Calibration pass #4 sent.           

The basic color profile for these values is:

        *cupsColorProfile -/-: "0.375 1.600 1.000 0.000 0.000 -0.400 1.000 0.000 0.127 -0.567 0.733"

You can add this to the PPD file for this printer to make this change

permanent, or use the following option with a printing command:

    -o profile=375,1600,1000,0,0,-400,1000,0,127,-567,733

to use the profile for this job only.

Calibration is complete.

Would you like to save the profile as a personal default (y/n)?  y

Calibration profile successfully saved.

Some documentation/a review of cups-calibrate is here.

Working With Facing Pages in DTP Workflows

When using master pages mode (facing pages) in a DTP application and you want to add or remove a single page, you must really add or delete two pages.

This is because pages are paired together and the software will get confused and spew out errors if you do not go by the rules of desktop publishing.

If this error does occur in Scribus, all that is needed to make the document pass the pre-flight test is to drag 'Normal Left' and 'Normal Right' or to go into .... and select Normal Left for all even pages and Normal Right for all odd pages.

That's it.

DisplayCAL 3.1

In 2009 I purchased a Spyder3 colorimeter from Don's Photo here in Winnipeg. Because I run Linux there was initially no software to run this piece of hardware.

But in 2011 came DispCalGUI, since renamed to DisplayCAL.

I have been running DispCalGUI ver. 2 since 2013-14 on my Lenovo T61 laptop, in Fedora Linux MATE.

Running just fine until ver. 3 came out in 2014-15. That's when I began to have problems even loading the software, as it required a newer version of Python to run at all. I went thru the whole '0install' thing to no avail.

I finally gave up for a bit, frustrated that I may never get this great utility to work again.

So after several months I found the answer.

The newer version of DisplayCAL absolutely requires GTK 3. Not only that, but it will no longer run in MATE, which is based on the older GTK 2.

DisplayCAL 3 would not run the ambient light sensor in MATE. It would not auto-install new profiles. As a workaround for that second problem, I had to use a kluge (workaround) in my Startup list using 'dispwin' and the name of the profile I wanted to load. All of these problems disappear once I used the software from within GNOME 3.

Switch to GNOME 3, and everything is fine.

So to successfully have DisplayCAL run correctly, you need to be running the GNOME 3 desktop environment.

Scribus 1.5svn

I have been a user of Scribus since 2007 when I designed a 3-fold pamphlet for TRUWinnipeg.org.

Played with it for a few years, but not really seriously because it's newer than InDesign and PageMaker before it. Scribus just doesn't (yet) have all of the features that make desktop publishing software a breeze to use.

So recently I've been testing out the new 1.5svn (Beta) version of Scribus and it has some additional features that weren't there years before. I'm using it to create a 10-12 page document making recommendations on improving public transit here.

It does now have support for bullets and numbered lists. It has klunky support for creating Tables of Contents.

Data Tables

Data table (cell-type) feature has been reworked, but needs a lot of TLC before it's usable. For example, it is extremely time consuming to style each and every cell. You cannot just select a whole Row and say "use Header1". No, you must select each one. Same thing with the data cells. InDesign does it better, and has a built-in feature where you can color alternate rows.

TOC (Table of Contents)

To create a Table of Contents page is not as easy as it is in LibreOffice or MS Office. You need to create a frame, create a style for it. When that is done, you also need to right-click on the text frame and select 'Attributes..." from the menu so you can manually enter each TOC entry.

Alas, there is minimal documentation page on the Scribus Wiki on how to create a TOC. It's too short and most likely needs to be rewritten to explain the procedure better. There is but one video on Youtube on how to do it. The guy doing the video spent a whole 2 mins. Besides those two tutorials, you're pretty much on your own with this feature.

I managed to create the first line and then had problems creating subsequent TOC entries. Do I use the same 'Attributes..." screen (item 2, item 3, etc...), or do I create newer ones?

There has been talk of a newer interface and procedures for TOC creation. Other people who use Scribus have recommended just creating them manually for now. Easy for a short document, but a PITA for longer ones.

Scribus would really benefit from a Google Summer of Code program.

Laptop Running Smoothly Now

Since moving to the place where I have been living since
Aug. 2014 I have had a couple of issues with my Lenovo brand laptop running Linux Fedora OS.

1. Google Chrome after a while would slow to a crawl and that would sometimes hang the laptop and make it practically unusable for anything else besides web browsing.
2. Lenovo brand laptop would, after about 3 or 3.5 days, suddenly lockup and would auto reboot or require me to press the Reset button for a hard reboot.

Late last year I bought an additional 2 Gigabytes of RAM. Laptop now has a capacity of 4 Gigabytes. This fixed the problem with Google Chrome and I use Chrome pretty well exclusively now.

At the same time  that I got the additional RAM, I got te computer store to do a general internal cleaning of the innards. That didn't fix the rebooting. I thought maybe it's just heating up inside because it contains a Dual Core CPU. But that wasn't it either.

Recently when I was in the Hosp. the laptop ran for a total of 7 days there, and then another 7 days...without a single reboot. 14 days total.

And that was also the time when my housemate was also in the Hosp. (separate one).

So what I concluded was that the laptop would only reboot when my housemate used his laptop at the same time as mine.

The answer was to replace the plain power bar with one of those that "conditions" the AC output from the wall and "cleans" the power so that the laptop has as good electricity as possible.

This AC line conditioner, which looks the same as a power bar, except that it also accepts coax and telephone (RJ11) inputs, also features an indicator for "Grounded". This light was not ON when plugged into the wall outlet.

So putting that in there has basically made my laptop run flawlessly for the past 8 days and counting.

Trevor Eissler "Montessori Madness!" - 321 FastDraw

Radio s Future requires Innovation

iframe width 480 height 270 src https://www.youtube.com/embed/paGGTbUtO8E frameborder 0 allowfullscreen> /iframe>

Lenore Skenazy "All Fear All the Time"

How To Evoke Spirits To Physical Appearance - Full Seminar

iframe width 480 height 270 src https://www.youtube.com/embed/FYTeFJvY-oQ frameborder 0 allowfullscreen> /iframe>

Temporary fix for dispcalGUI ICC profile install

dispwin LP154W02-TL06\ 2015-09-02\ 86cdm²\ D5000\ 2.2\ F-S\ 3xCurve+MTX.icc

A web page that I found says to do this and to create a shell script to execute dispwin (part of Argyll) with the name of the .icc profile you want to use.

Transcona Detailed Area Plan

Author: Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg
Publ. Date: 1971
Size: 831 K

Detailed Area Plan - Transcona

CNN HeadlineNEWS 1989 CGI How To

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y_y85iLGWY

Finding Supportive Men's Groups

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/is-machismo-the-cause-of-the-male-suicide-emergency/

Fear. Freedom. Government.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. 

Thomas Jefferson

Children's Rights

I believe in children's rights.

I believe that each kid has the right to:

* A warm, safe from the elements home

* Enough healthy food daily.

* No abuse of any kind - no physical, verbal, sexual * A family that wants him

* The right to be himself and the age that he wants to be.

* The right to clean, fashionable clothes daily.

* The right to be taught and practise good hygiene.

Dallas Hansen to Brian Bowman: Get Aboard Subway Rapid Transit

Given WT's recent issues with bus troubles and that the 2nd phase of (Bus) "Rapid" Transit is in danger of making commuting take longer due to the "dogleg" route through the Parker Lands in Fort Garry...

I'm linking to Dallas Hansen's wonderfully-written open letter to then newly elected mayor of Winnipeg Brian Bowman.

Bill Menzies, who is/was (is he retired?) WT's Planner, would say that they wouldn't need to increase the size of the bus fleet with BRT (as compared to rail) because the buses would get to their destinations faster and could turn back the other direction sooner.

What Menzies failed to take into account was that the metro area's population is increasing, mainly from non-white 3rd world countries.

There is not enough transit capacity as it is, whether we had BRT, LRT, or a subway. Or just stayed the course and did nothing.

So it's up to the decision makers at City Hall to "grab the bull by the horns", show some leadership, get rid of (fire) the people who need to be fired and start to rebuild and grow our Transit system the way a big city is supposed to do.

That means putting aside BRT and installing subway rail instead, like Dallas so eloquently said in his piece, linked below.

http://dallashansen.com/wp/?p=532

Why No Fort Garry BIZ Group?

The Fort Garry Detailed Area Plan, written by the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg in 1970 said of the northernmost part of the RM of Fort Garry:

The “Norwich Plan”, which has been successful in some Canadian locations, for example, Niagara Falls, Victoria and Oakville, is a co­operative venture of local businessmen, local community organizations, and local government agencies to improve the appearance of a given street or streets in a community. The essence of the Plan is that it can be adapted to any locality as it is a proposal for improving the general appearance of a particular area in a city, without major alteration or expense, yet providing a dis­tinctive atmosphere to the area. The success of the idea depends on the co­operation of the majority of the business people and local government in the area. Where such a plan has been implemented, the area concerned has experienced an improvement in busi­ness, become a tourist attraction, and has re­awakened a spirit of community pride. The suggestion is made that the use of the Norwich concept by local businessmen and the Municipality may be suitable as a means of improving the appearance of the commer­cial areas.

 So why would Fort Garry businesses not want to create a BIZ group which can help in beautifying the area, creating a community identity, in the absence of a real autonomous city for that area?

There area already successful BIZ groups in metro Winipeg, that have created this community feel along commercial streets, namely the Old St. Vital BIZ, the St. James Village BIZ, the Transcona BIZ, and the Norwood Grove BIZ.

I don't own a business in Winnipeg. I'm just here to create awareness. Awareness of the need for a proper mass transit system here. Awareness of geoengineering/chemtrails going on, etc...

So it's up to the local businesses of the Beaumont, Wildwood, and McGillivray Local Planning Areas to come together and create the Fort Garry Business Improvement Zone.

The domain would be:

fortgarrybiz.com

CKND Manitoba Tonight ca. 1982

A year or two ago I spotted an old CKND-TV clip from 1982 of their local news programme, Manitoba Tonight, which aired between 10:30 pm and 12 midnight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Inc5tXXWbZA

Sorry, I didn't have a VCR till '87. But that's another story altogether.

Ctrl-Alt-Bksp to exit a bad X session

In X Window System in fvwm, Motif, CDE, etc...you're able to exit out of a corrupt, hung, disk thrashing session just by pressing the key sequence:

Ctrl-Alt-Bksp

This is a very cool feature and saves one from having to do a complete reboot. Using this key combo. takes you back to the GDM login scrreen.

To add this feature, use the Gnome Tweak Tool and in the Typing tab, select the option Key Sequence to Kill the X Server, like so:

DONE.

Questions at Parker Lands BRT Hearing

https://youtu.be/Kp40NsAHyPQ

 

http://citycircus.ca/transit-official-claims-if-brt-part-of-marion-freeway-plan-public-engagement-will-follow-successful-parker-lands-brt-model/

For decades (since 1973) the Plan for BRT (or LRT) was to use Markham as the point at which the line would veer off to and from the University of Manitoba.

Except now we hear that it was interference meddling with Shindico and Katz and the University of Manitoba itself that lead to another, smaller road being chosen instead.

Pambrun's an idiot.

"CompuVision" computer store display CED videodisc (1984)

Telephone Documentaries

Youtube - AT&T Tech Channel

Youtube - British Telecom (BT) Let's Talk

Winnipeg Area Travel Survey (2007)

I've been looking for some data on the traffic volumes experienced between Winnipeg and Selkirk and I think I've found something relevant.

The Winnipeg Area Travel Survey of 2007 was conducted by iTrans Consulting (now HDR Inc.) of Ottawa.

The two areas of interest to me are labelled [1]:

External District #23 - East St. Paul & West St. Paul, and

External District #27 - 'North Northeast' and includes Selkirk, Winnipeg Beach, Grand Marais, and St. Andrews.

They surveyed over 366 households[2] in 'North Northeast' who regularly commute to/from this area.

For External District #23, the report has a combined population of 13,230, contains 4,390 households, and of that 8,760 active commuters using a total of 10,480 vehicles.[3]

For External District #27, the report has a combined population of 33,200, contains 12,650 households, and of that 12,700 active commuters using a total of 24,910 vehicles.[4]

When the figure for Active Commuters in External Districts #23 and #27 are combined, it totals 21,400 vehicles daily.

While installing commuter rail line between Winnipeg and Selkirk areas might encourage more people to live beyond the Perimeter Hwy., it is inevitable that growth in the Winnipeg Capital Region will create this anyways.

A diesel (DMU) commuter train can carry 50-300 passengers at once compared to one diesel bus of 50 passengers.

A Diesel Multiple Unit train provides a much smoother ride for passengers because the train glides along smooth track, rather than having to ride along poor quality asphalt roadway.

A DMU train can be kept outdoors and does not require any indoor heating, unlike a bus that needs to be kept warm in the Winter.

[1] "2007 Winnipeg Area Travel Survey Results - Final Report", iTrans Consulting Inc., pg. 7
[2] Ibid. pg. 6
[3] Ibid. pg. 80
[4] Ibid. pg. 88

The Winnipeg Capital Region - List of RMs

1.  RM of East St. Paul - Birds Hill, North Hill, River East Estates
   
2. RM of Headingley
   
3. RM of Macdonald - Brunkild, Domain, LaSalle, Oak Bluff, Sanford, Starbuck
   
4. RM of Ritchot - Glenlea, Grande Pointe, Ile-des-Chenes, St. Adolphe, Ste. Agathe
   
5. RM of Rosser - Rosser, Marquette, Meadows, Gross Isle, Little Mountain Park, Gordon, Lillyfield
   
6. RM of St. Andrews - Clandeboye, Petersfield, Lockport (W of the Red River)
   
7. RM of St. Clements - Beaconia, East Selkirk, Grand Marais, Libau, Lockport, Thalberg
   
8. RM of St. François Xavier
   
9. RM of Springfield - Oakbank, Dugald, Anola, Cooks Creek Hazelridge, Glass
   
10. RM of Tache- Dufresne, Landmark, Lorette, Rosewood, Ross, Ste-Genevieve
    
11. RM of West St. Paul -Middlechurch, Rivercrest

St. James-Assiniboia Detailed Area Plan

Author: Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg
Date Publ. February 1971
Size:  903 K

St. James-Assiniboia Detailed Area Plan

Commuter Rail Needed Between Winnipeg and Selkirk

Other regions have 'em. They enable commuters to live further outside the central city and commute without taking their cars.

Commuter rail here existed 100 years ago in the form of the Winnipeg, Selkirk and Lake Winnipeg Railway (ca. 1908 - 1939) ... interurban trains. They were replaced by  Beaver Bus Lines in 1948 and haven't returned since.

Interurban train on Eveline St. (Selkirk, Manitoba)

While electric transit with its guy wires are cool looking, lots of bigger metropolitan areas use DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit). These were called Interurbans in the early part of the 20th century, and later Budd Rail Co. called them RDCs (Rail Diesel Cars). Either way, they enable a transit authority to provide expanded capacity to haul many more passengers at one time than a bus, and do it more comfortably.

The current bus line between Winnipeg and Selkirk could use improved options for passenger travel between both cities.

In fact, the Partnership for the Manitoba Capital Region ... stated in their Capital Region Transportation Master Plan (CRTMP) released in 2014:

The large majority of the survey respondents indicated the City of Winnipeg as their primary residence.
 
Major themes generated by the survey questions and respondent feedback included:
 ...
A need for alternative modes of transportation including active transportation and regional transit.

 Current populations of metro Winnipeg and points north:

There is currently ample population that could handle a DMU-type transit, as a replacement for the Beaver Bus. It's time to switch back to rail, which helped this region grow.

Service could also be extended somehow to the communities on the east side of the Red River, such as East St. Paul, which currently lacks any form of public transit.

The current Beaver Bus schedule provides 11 runs from Selkirk and 11 runs from Winnipeg, daily. The trip one-way takes about 55 mins.:

 No bicycles are allowed on Beaver buses. So, for example, if a person in Winnipeg wanted to do a day trip to Selkirk and ride around, they could not do it. However, if the Beaver bus was replaced by a Beaver train you could accomplish this.

The whole Beaver Bus fleet consists of several Orion V buses, each with a passenger capacity of about 50 each. A rail-based DMU could handle about 70 seated passengers at once per rail car, 140 if two cars were joined.

One of the benefits to using DMUs is that each rail car is self-powered, so adding extra rail cars for capacity doesn't burden the lead car.

See also:

IRFCA - DMU FAQ
RM of St. Andrews - Winnipeg, Selkirk, and Lake Winnipeg Railway Co. 
Bombardier VLocity DMU in Australia 

Fort Garry Detailed Area Plan

Author: Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg
Publ.: September 1970
Size: 895.2 K (PDF)

Fort Garry Detailed Area Plan

Map 1 - Location and Extent of Development
Map 2 - Urban Growth Pattern
Map 3 - Existing Land Use
Map 4 - Existing Zoning
Map 5 - Fort Garry Future Land Use
Map 6 - Local Planning Areas Index Map
Map 7 - Beaumont Future Land Use
Map 8 - Wildwood Future Land Use
Map 9 - McGillivray Future Land Use
Map 10 - University Future Land Use
Map 11 - Fort Richmond Future Land Use
Map 12 - Waverley Future Land Use
Map 13 - St. Norbert Future Land Use
Map 14 - Existing Services
Map 15 - Proposed Linear Riverbank Open Space System

Eyesores of Winnipeg

This blog post is gonna out all of the fugly or not well kept, or outlived its usefulness buildings and other public infrastructure in and around Winnipeg, Canada.

Osborne Village Inn

1. Osborne Village Inn
   
   It's been there for years. It just needs to go, and be replaced with something bigger, nicer, taller. Make the new building a landmark for the whole of Osborne Village area.
   
   Looks like other people feel the same way, as it was announced on 2015-08-11 that the Osborne Village Inn has been sold for redevelopment into a newer "botique" Hotel. Good news!
    
2. Sherbrook Inn
   
   Same thing with the Sherbrook Inn. The area around it is being gentrified. There are newer apartments, a Stella's cafe. The area doesn't need an SRO hotel with drunks wandering at night to make it unsafe.
   
   Just demo it and build something else. It doesn't have to be a Hotel or Inn. Make it a destination for the whole of the Sherbrook / West Broadway neighbourhood and those passing thru it.
3. Fort Rouge Leisure Centre building signage. It's the ugliest Rec. Centre signage in the metro area! It SHOUTS out "1975". It's outa date fonts, colours needed a serious update YESTERDAY! The integrated Osborne Library Branch is fine. I like it. But the Rec. Centre fascade needs to be changed to get with the times.
4. Legion No. 84 - Smith St.

   Veterans Legion No. 84 has been abandoned several years ago. It still stands empty to this day. Unused with no vision no possibility to be used for something else.

   The BEST thing that could happen to this building would be for the owner or the City to have it demollished for something bigger & better.

   This corner has a lot of potential, because of its proximity to the downtown Library, The Forks, and nearby public transit.

   Back in the 1980s I used to pass this building when it was still occupied. It meant that I was getting close to the Library and it'd be soon time to get off the  bus.

Greater Winnipeg Investigating Commission

Greater Winnipeg Investigating Commission [  K, April 1959]

Tuxedo Detailed Area Plan

Tuxedo Detailed Area Plan [601.8 K]

Author: Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg
Publ.: November 1970

St. Vital Detailed Area Plan

Below are a few of the city planning documents written by the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg. These date back from the late 1960s into the early 1970s.

I have done my best to transcribe these documents as accurately as possible, though it is possible there may be errors.

As soon as I have more of the text I will place each plan onto a separate blog post and add in the maps (as PDFs) for your viewing pleasure.

Detailed Area Plan - St. Vital [903.2 K]

Author: Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg
Publ: December1968

St. Vital - Map 1
St. Vital - Map 2
St. Vital - Map 3 (Existing Land Use)
St. Vital - Map 4
St. Vital - Map 5
St. Vital - Map 6
St. Vital - Map 7 

Upgrading from Fedora 19 to Fedora 20

This morning I upgraded from Fedora 19 to Fedora 20.

One of the reasons is that I see updates of software and the current minimum to find RPM package files is 20.

The other is a problem that I've been having with dispcalGUI 3.0.0/3.0.1 ever since I upgraded to F19 on June 14th. The 0install programme complains that the python software library is not working together or installed properly or something like that.

When I updated to 20 today, some functionality was increased in Gnome-Dock. Prior to 20 the Calendar graphic would remain static and not update the 'date card'. Now it does. The other applet I have on the Dock is a Moon Phase. It didn't show any future Moon phase dates. However in Fedora 20 both these applets now work as advertised.

I temporarily lost audio output, but doing a search led me to have to reinstall the pulseaudio driver, as described here in Comment #24:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1046153

So I did:

sudo yum reinstall alsa-plugins-pulseaudio

Rebooted, and that did the trick


I found that Fedora 19 was snappier than 18, and that 20 is about on par with 18 in terms of speed.

My hardware is:

• Lenovo T61
• 2 GB RAM
• WD Scorpion 160 GB SATA DASD
• ext4 filesystem

Upgrading from Fedora 18 to 19

Last night I upgraded my 2 1/2 yr. Fedora 18 laptop by typing:

fedup --network 19

The process took about 3 hrs. and after that I got a much faster system  because it must have cleaned out a lot of junk that I built up since February 2013.

What works:

• MATE 1.6.3

What doesn't work (for me):

• Cinnamon (either)
• dispcalGUI 3.0.1

What's better:

•   Evince / Document Viewer

Adobe InDesign CS2 in Linux

A couple of years ago, Adobe decided to make freely available and freely usable its CS2 suite, which was originally released in 2005.

Although there are quite excellent similar programmes that run in Linux for photo editing - GIMP, and vector graphics in Inkscape, and desktop publishing in Scribus ... the last one, Scribus, the interface takes more getting used to because it was just designed differently.

So to get Adobe InDesign CS2 working in Linux, you need the following:

1. Linux OS (Fedora, Ubuntu, Mint, etc...)
2. WINE or Play on Linux (I used WINE 1.61)
3. A Copy of Adobe InDesign CS2 (Windows)

I'm gonna leave the first two steps for you to have ready, and concentrate on Step 3, getting and installing InDesign CS2:

1. On the Adobe website is a whole page, with CS2 applications and their corresponding Serial #s, which you'll need to enter in order for the programme to load.
2. Find the InDesign CS2 for Windows (not Mac) .exe file. It's about 700 megabytes, and download it to your hard disk.
3. Use WINE Config and click on the [Install...] button.
4. Locate the InDesignCS2.exe file and click on it.
5. During the install process, copy/paste the serial # from the web page and paste it into the serial # box on the screen.

Book Collection Managers for Linux

Last year I moved from one location to another, and so I was uprooted yet again. One of several moves since 2012.

It has given me the opportunity to check out various book collection managers available for Linux.

Ten years ago I had two bookshelves with over 200 books, ranging from large coffee table type publications to religious booklets. Now I've had to 'downsize' to about half of that.

Anyways, I've discovered a couple of software utils. to list, sort, vote on, my collection of books:

1. Alexandria Book Collection Manager, which has been available for years.
2. Tellico, a new software available since 2013.

Both promise to assist in tracking the books you physically own, as well as those you have read. The latter allowing you to put your favourites in a 'want' list so you can remember to purchase a copy at a later time, if need be.

Alexandria ver. 0.6.9

Alexandria just tracks books. Ones you have read, ones you want to purchase. You can arrange your collection list by title, author, publ. year., publ. co., rating, read, and want.

One of the things I like about it is the font-size of the menus is good for using over several hours while I was going thru my books, adding them to the database.

What works

Basic features like Saving (this is a database program, and it autosaves), Sorting (by clicking on the top headers), exporting to Tellico's xml-based .tc format and exporting to .csv creates a semi-colon based list which you can then import into a spreadsheet or anything else that reads in .csv format.

When it comes to adding new books, you don't have to key in all of the data, just the ISBN or the Title, or the Author, and the programme will find it for you and insert the remaining data. However, you need an Internet connection for this to work because it connects with the Library of Congress and others to import the metadata.

What doesn't work

Alexandria gives you the option to export to .bibtex format, used for bibliography work, but this didn't work and generated an error msg. "undefined method 'force_encoding' for nil:NilClass" with a 0 byte file instead. Now granted, I'm not really experienced in using bibliographic databases. But it would be nice if it did work, "just in case" I need such a feature.

Because this programme has not been updated since 2010-11 it may be a while before this error is fixed, if ever.

Tellico ver 2.3

Tellico is the second programme I tested for book managers available for Linux.

It can manage more than just books. It can also list your CDs & DVDs, Comics, and more.

What works

Importing my current Alexandria database, it found the right file, and put all the right field data in the right spot.

What doesn't work

Tellico is supposed to be able to write Reports based on your collection, arranged by Title, Author, and the other fields. However, the programme abended (crashed and disappeared) when I tried to do this. It didn't matter what kind of report I requested.

Winnipeg Transit Doesn't Serve Its Customers Well

Winnipeg needs to get with the times and massively upgrade its bus-based system.

For a metro area of 741,893 [1] they rely on 595 diesel vehicles. This amount is insufficient, as it no longer matters what time of the day one rides Winnipeg Transit (WT). The buses are _always crowded_, morning, noon, and night. Of course the politicians love hearing this.

But the thing is that riding with strangers, who sometimes are polar opposites in personality or whatever, can produce PTSD-like symptoms in passengers, who just want to get where they're going.

I suggest WT invest in expanding their fleet, increasing the numbers of 60 ft. "long buses", put aside their hate for rail-based transit, etc. 

Another thing that WT does to irritate its passengers is that many routes take jags here and there. For example on the 95 Morley-Taylor route, the 95 goes right into the parking lot of Pan Am Pool. Why? If someone is healthy enough to go swimming, why does WT have to literally go out of their way to accommodate them?

WT needs to reorganize its route structure like the TTC does. Bus and streetcar routes on the TTC generally follow straight-line paths, not here and there. So-called "Crosstown Routes" are too long and laborious. The 16 and the 18 should not come from the North End and end up in Tuxedo.

Recent reports suggest that the criminals who have been vandalizing cars and property in River Heights have been taking the 18.

Split up routes. Simplify them.

My suggestion is that the 95 should be split into two separate routes and each new route ...one from Polo Park to Stafford / Pembina, the other from Riverview Health Centre to Stafford / Pembina Loop. I remember in the 1970s the Morley bus used to be called Jubilee.

---
1 Statistics Canada 2011 Census Data

Force M D 's Tender Love

Colour Management in Linux

Since 2014 I have had  colour management software working in my Linux.

I have access to a software program called dispcalgui, which works in conjunction with a colorimeter.

Here are some settings that are specific and some variable for use with my hardware (IBM LP154W02):

• D50 / 5000 K
• White Level =86 cd/m2 screen brightness - this is the max. brightness that my particular LCD screen can produce.
• 174 lux. was setting for previous home. 21 lux is for current home
• 
  

Practice spreadsheet (LibreOffice) with Conditional Formatting - Colour Scales.

Alternating Colour Bars on Spreadsheets

There, I can do it now.

ComputerCorrect.com - Alternating Colours in LibreOffice Calc

DocumentFoundation.org - Defining Conditional Formats

LIVE Television Feeds Available via the Internet

I can access the following television networks via Live feed:

1. BBC World
2. NASA Tv
3. CHCH-Tv (Hamilton, Ont.)
4. CPAC - Canadian Public Affairs Channel

Local television newscasts:

CTV Winnipeg (CKY-DT) 6 PM

Storix System Backup for Linux

I wish there was a simple, easy to use, integrated software for Linux that allowed me to:

* create a compressed tar file
* allowed manipulation of the tape drive (erasing, forward, search, backup, restore, list of files)
* freeware
* GUI or really good char. mode interface

I think I may have found a decent GUI (char. mode) programme for Linux for backing up by tape. Storix System (Tape) Backup. I found it while typing in 'Linux tape' in Archive.org today. It's freeware for personal use.

The person who started the Storix company in 1999, , used to work for IBM, so the programme must be high quality.

I haven't tried it out yet, but here is a screenshot from Archive.org:

To install and run Storix, I had to do the following:

1. Download the .tar.gz files from Arcive.org
2. Login as root
3. Create the storix directory in /usr/local
4. Extract the .tar file into /usr/local/storix
5. cd /usr/local/storix
6. Type stinstall
7. All the install programme asked me was am I intending on running this as an Individual or as a Company? I chose 'p' for Personal (this is the freeware ver.)
8. To run the programme, just type sudo /usr/bin/stadmin

I will hopefully write more on how to run this, after I've tried backing up a couple of times.

Storix has a tutorial on Youtube on how to run it.

The Streetcars of Winnipeg: Our Forgotten Heritage

A new book about the history and use of the streetcar in metro Winnipeg has now been published... The Streetcars of Winnipeg: Our Forgotten Heritage by Brian Darragh. As part of the launch party, an interview was conducted by West End Dumplings host ... http://westenddumplings.blogspot.ca/2015/03/sundays-radio-edition-winnipeg.html

Update

1. Strabismus - Just one more week to go of Home Care visits. My eye has significantly improved since the operation. I have let them know that they can come at 8 am and 7 pm and that the 11 am and 3 pm I can just put the drops in myself.
2. OfE - I've contacted my new Employment Counsellor at OfE and am in the process of scheduling an appt. to meet with her, hopefully some time next week.
3. BlackBerry Phone? - On Tuesday I was at Superstore and spotted a BlackBerry z432 phone for $79. It is via ROGERS pay as you go...So when I get my CPP I can buy this phone, and then when I pay off the remaining bal. at MTS ($160) switch over my acct. to the BlackBerry but I'm still staying with MTS or ROGERS depending on who could offer the lowest monthly plan.
4. Left Foot - I've made an appt. with a nearby physiotherapist to take a look at my left foot that's been feeling stiff ever since I fell 2 yrs. off the bus 2 yrs. ago. The cost is $70 for a 1 hr. consultation.
5. Mental Health Worker - On Tuesday I met with *** and *** with *** at his office. The meeting went well. I have a follow-up appt. with Idalia next Wednesday at 11h. I should have brought my paper notebook with me to recall the list that L. and I wrote up a few weeks back "Goals of Therapy".
6. Bicycling Season Has Begun - Rode the bike firs time this year on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Friday the temps were below 0 C, and I had $0 so I just stayed inside.
7. Movies - Saw the movie The Imitation Game, about one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century, Alan Turing, who cracked the German secret crypto code during WW II. I didn't know that he was ostracized for being gay. He suicided himself in the early 1950s because they forced sterilization of him, despite having a girlfriend who knew he was gay.

That's all for now.

Haddaway - What is Love (Remix)

Good for jumping on a bed or inside a crib. It's that spring sound from the synth I like.

Heard this in a store in St. Vital Centre on Sunday.

Song was released in '93 but the rhythm sound is from the '90-'91 period.

What Is Spirit?

In my experience, spirit can do everything an incarnate can, and more...:

1. Has a form -- Animal, Human, or Demon
2. Has all 5 senses like incarnates - Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch, Temperature
3. Travel to/from Heaven/Hell
4. Communicates telepathically
5. Can eat food, not like an incarnate - the food and drink will still be there, but the 'etheric' part of the food and drink can be consumed by spirit
6. Can express emotion -  can laugh, cry
7. Touching an incarnate is easy, the reverse is more difficult.

Can A Demon Remove Your Blood?

Last month I had a demon visit me that attaches some sort of thing to me, and proceeds to remove my blood from inside of my body.

It feels very similar to when a nurse sticks a needle thru the skin, then finds a vein to draw blood from - for a blood test or donation.

The thing is what is preventing me from dying is that my spirit son "cast a spell on the demon so that he can't hurt you".

My child spirit son says that "I don't want you to die, we need you here."

Last Wednesday I attended a meeting with my CMHA Wpg. caseworker and her supr,, my Aunt, my sister, a social worker who can do assessments.

The purpose of the meeting was to review the Psych. Assessment (more of a background history this time around). The social worker concluded that, in his view, I don't need additional help...that I should just continue to attend OfE and get a job like everyone else.

However the others supported me in the view that that is not enough for me to get me back into the workforce.

The others recommend "supportive housing" and to be a part of the Provincial Special Needs programme.

Archival documents, electronically republished by me, for information purposes.

Greater Winnipeg Investigative Commission (1959)
PDF

Future Development of the Greater Winnipeg Transit System (1959)
PDF

CBC/Newsworld - New channels backlash (1995)