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.

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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)

Heaven Has No Money

When my two sons Andrew & Stephen spend time with me, if I close my eyes I can see them wearing clothing that you'd find in commonplace stores anywhere in the West.

Long sleeved shirts with wide stripes on them. PJs for night time. They say they wear jeans, and of course they'll wear parkas or hoodies in the Winter.

These etheric versions of clothing are provided by Heaven. But they're NOT FREE. They're given when souls will help others out -- other souls in Heaven or those of us in incarnate form.

But this also illustrates, how, if mankind just got rid of money altogether...what kind of world would we have...that as long as we help each other out...we'll get our needs met...clothing, housing, a car...anything we need would be just there for us....Just like on Star Trek.

Abusive Mom Supported by CFS is Exposed!

"The mother went from claiming her husband emotionally abused her, to claiming he was a sexual abuser and murderer who used his eldest child “as a gun in his hands to try to kill the mother of these three children,” Harper wrote. 

Recordings, text messages and e-mails showed the woman to be verbally abusive to her sons and often drunk. 

The boys repeatedly tried to alert the CAS to their mother’s violence, alcoholism and manipulation, only to see the agency side with her."

I bet alot of these false allegations of 'abuse' from the single moms of the 1990s, made against Men, and supported by the CFS/CPS establishment were what went on in a lot of cases.

I'm so glad that this is finally being EXPOSED for what it is...

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2014/04/20140410-195616.html

Trust in the Water

I had lunch at the Ground Floor restaurant in downtown Winnipeg this afternoon with both of my spirit sons.

Right away Andrew wanted to sit behind me in the chair.

I told him, "no, I want you both to sit in separate chairs" so that I'm not viewed as favouring you." He started to exclaim that and insisted on sitting behind me.

Now a bit of background... Recently I've discovered how spirits can eat and drink with us...not by eating the physical food & drink but by eating the etheric or spirit version of it.

As I understand it, what happens technically for a spirit to drink a liquid is that they put their index finger somewhere mid-point in my rear chest, and take it in that way.

Andrew says that I cannot gulp down liquids anymore if he wants to ingest the liquids too. I must take "little boy sips" as he calls them. 

That works just fine when Andrew is alone with me and he has been taking in water, or Stella's iced tea, or an ice cream at DQ.

I've also had Stephen with me last year when we shared an ice cream together at DQ. I just had to hold the cone in front of me, and tell him (telepathically) that he can have a few licks. So fast forward to today.

Today I wanted Stephen to drink some of the ice water at the restaurant. I made the mistake of not managing the boys' take from the water properly - sharing it.

I did give Stephen the first sips, then Andrew. If they were both incarnate, of course we'd all have separate cups and wouldn't be sharing.

It's easy to look after kids if all you do is cuddle them....That's the easy part. The challenge is to maintain their trust and yours for lifelong time and not to destroy it while raising them. I was almost saying subconsciously to Andrew "Hey, I don't know why you want to sit behind me even though we do it regularly and there is no problem. I don't trust you with the water."

What an awful message I was sending both boys.

I'm sorry Andrew & Stephen the way I acted. I'm apologize for assuming that Andrew wouldn't share the water. I will do things different from now on.

Iced Tea

Every day I learn more and more about pre-birth communications.

Now I find, I'm 'eating for two'...Myself, and my yet to be born son.

I eat the 'physical version' of the food & drink, while he eats the 'etheric version'.

So I have a container of Safeway brand iced tea (I won't buy the others because they include 'silicon dioxide'), and while I know it's not the best, it's cheap liquid to go along with food.

He says that it'd be better to drink plain water rather than the iced tea...says the iced tea is "yuck". But just the other day he really liked this lime drink I bought from that ethnic store on Notre Dame . Also he was reluctant to try Stella's homemade iced tea, something I've tried for at least the last 2 yrs. I told him that it has less sugar. He took 'little boy sips' from me and loved the taste of their mix.

Interview - Doreen Virtue