Making Arora (and all other Qt apps) look better

This is for all who occasionally run Qt apps (All KDE apps) on Gnome. Out of the box, Qt uses the Windows 95 theme on all applications, which looks like ass for the lack of a better word. Here’s Arora, and amazingly fast browser with the default theme:

Yuk! Let’s fix this. Close any Qt apps. Open terminal app and type “qtconfig”. Qt Configuration dialog will pop up:

There, select a GUI theme you desire. “Cleanlooks” is basically Clearlooks which is the defailt Gnome theme. As soon as you apply the change the Configuration dialog will look instantly better. Don’t forget to File -> Save before you close the dialog.

Now Arora looks as good at it runs! Enjoy

Clarifying butter

Here’s a quick way to clarify some butter. The normal method was described by Alton Brown on his Food network show “Good Eats”, and involves using a sauce pan and melting the butter over some low heat. Enter: the magical microwave oven.

Things I used:

• 1 quart glass measuring cup (Microwave-safe)
• container to strain the butter into
• cotton-based paper towels (Bounty brand)

Method:

1. Heat the butter in the measuring cup until it completely melts.
2. Let the butter sit for at least a minute. This will allow milk solids to drop to the bottom and float to the top.
3. Skim as much of the top solids as you can using a spoon.
4. Put the paper towel over the other container and strain the butter through it. Go slowly and try to avoid getting the bottom solids into the container. It’s impossible to avoid it completely, but you can save yourself a few steps by leaving most of the solids on the bottom the the measuring cup.
5. Depending on the quality of your paper towels and how many layers you used, you might still have some solids on the bottom. Clean out your now empty measuring cup, dry it thoroughly, and strain the butter into it using some more paper towels.
6. Repeat the process until the solids are filtered out.
7. Transfer the butter into an airtight container and keep the the fridge. Since the milk solids have been removed, the pure fat will soak up funky fridge smells like a sponge so make sure you have a good seal. Also, this operation should extend the expiration time of the butter but since you can’t guarantee a sterile environment I’d stick with the original expiration date.

A few things to note:

Clarified butter is pure animal fat (not lard, but still) so use this stuff sparingly if you value your heart. I would not use this in recipes that call for butter since they rely on milk solids still being there. The main point of clarifying your butter is to push the smoking point of the butter up quite a bit so if you use the smoke as a reference point in any of your recipes you’ll end up with burned food.

My first impressions were very positive. I sauteed some onions and mushrooms for an omelet. It went very well, no smoke, just perfection.

Hope this helps anyone. Enjoy!

New layout, rants, and a new project

What can I say, Twitter has silenced the casual bloggers. Those who keep it up have a lot more to say then 140-some characters could hold.

So, my work finally provided me with a new laptop, a shiny new MacBook Pro. I probably should have waited until after the WWDC but I’m not expecting any world-shattering hardware released, except maybe for the much unticipated iPhone2. I am, however, expecting some awesome software news, like the rumoured announcement of OS X 1.6 “Snow Leopard”. It will supposedly be mostly security updates and tweaks and will be Intel only. If the last prooves true, this will mark the end of the PowerPC chapter in Apple’s book of CPUs.

Now for some rants. Twitter has been around for a while now and Twitter clients are popping up like weeds after the rain. Except that’s all they are, weeds! TwitterBerry blows. It’s horrible, so pointing the Blackberry browser to the Twitter home page is about the only way to have full functionality and none of the weirdness. Then there are a billion AIR apps that attempt to do Twitter. They all have a giant flaw: AIR! I love Adobe products, but AIR ain’t one of them. I think the ease of development is a blessing and a curse. On one hand it’s easy to make cool apps, on the other there are a lot of half-baked apps by people “dabbling in programing”.

I feel at this time there is a need for a multiplatform client that is:

1. Fast
2. Reliable
3. Checks for Twitter status
4. Checks for accidental double posts.

Therefore I’m stating an open-souce Twitter client project – BirdFeeder. It will be Ruby-based, with UI provided by the closest native UI to the platform the app is running on (i.e. Cocoa on Mac, GTK on Linux, and QT on Windows). I’ve applied for a SorceForge project page. We will see what happens. I will keep you all posted.

Dog’s life

Saw this on a postcard today. I think this will be amusing to anyone with a dog.

Dog’s Schedule:

5:35 am – Wet-nose the sleeping owner

5:55 am – Pee on the world

6:30 am – Make poopy

6:31 am – Smell poopy

6:32 am – Seriously think about eating poopy

7:00 am – Eat some creepy bug instead

8:00 am – Throw up the pieces of said bug on the carpet

9:00 am – Find a couch. Sleep for 17 hours. Repeat.

Keeping it simple

Fantastic article in this month’s Wired Magazine outlines the history behind creators of Ruby on Rails. Web application development in Rails is so amazing that it has become a religion of sorts. I know religion is a strong word for it, but what else could move developers to scrap months or even years of work and re-write their sites in Rails. There are many such stories. Derek Sivers, creator of CD Baby (my favorite indie music store) for example scrapped his entire store and rebuilt it Rails-style (read his praises).

“ But if Hansson hasn’t changed much, neither has the programming framework he created or the business he heads. For some, that’s a problem. Hansson and Fried have steadfastly refused to grow their company, beef up their products, or explain their plans for the future. Now, critics argue, the pair’s reactionary embrace of all things minimal has made their products less useful and could cost them influence, customers, and millions of dollars.

Hansson has a predictable response to such charges. “I don’t usually go around saying ‘Fuck you’ to everyone I meet,” he says. “But sometimes it’s the appropriate answer.” “

Who says you need a business plan to be successfully?

More on SmashLab

I did a bit more research into the hosts of the show. If the Discovery website is to be believed:

• Two of them have BS in Mechanical Engineering
• One has BS in Industrial Design
• One may not have a degree, but has designed surgical tools for robots and is a chairman of “Shared Design Alliance”

So, then the question is why aren’t they acting like they have degrees and know something about engineering? I’m guessing the answer lies in the producer(s) of the show, and thus he/she/they should be fired inanimately. I don’t want to see Fisher Price version of MythBusters, I want to see a show about crash testing. I want to see the science behind the tests, and their purpose. I know that equations don’t make good television, but if you are going to convince me that these guys put half of thought into these experiments I want to see some goddamn proof. Blowing crap up in your backyard and videotaping it is reserved for YouTube. If you’re gonna do it on nationwide TV do it right.

On SmashLab

Discovery channel rolled out their latest show for the 2008 called SmashLab. First time I saw the previews for the show I was intrigued, but upon actually sitting through an episode I have figured out the equation they used to create the show. Ready? Behold:MythBusters – Intelligence – Knowledge + Acting School Rejects + Big Budget = SmashLabI mean you have got to be fucking kidding me??? Do these guys know what they are doing at all? I would love to see educational/job background on any of them. It’s like watching trained chimps trying to build a nuclear bomb. “What would happen if we build it this way, and wrap the whole thing in dust tape?” “I don’t know, but let’s smash a bus into it and see what happens!!!! HELL YEAH!!!”. Please, Discovery, the intelligence level of your audience is higher than that. Get those hacks off the air.

On pet insurance

I’ve been putting off getting the doggy equivalent of Blue Cross. Now, $3000 later I regret not getting it. On Christmas day my dog Howie (pictured above) began vomiting. He couldn’t keep down even water. I immediately knew it was a block, i.e. he ate something big and now it was acting as a cork in his tummy. We made it into Pet ER at 1:35 am on 26th. They took some x-rays and couldn’t locate the blockage precisely. Since he hasn’t eaten or drank anything for about 12 hours the vet advised to put him on IV and have him spend the night at the clinic. The ultrasound tech wasn’t going to be in until noon the next day, so we left him there. Sure enough the ultrasound found an obstruction in his intestine. After a phone call and a short visit Howie was taken into the operating room for a 2 hours surgery. They removed a piece on rubber chew toy roughly 1 by 1.5 inches. I have no idea how he managed to even swallow a piece that big. He’s perking up now, on a strict diet of horribly smelling prescription food and a cocktail of meds. He has a long incision down his belly, which spans about half of his body length. So, it was quite a Christmas. Oh well, all is well that ends well.

PS: Happy New Year everyone!

Comcast running out of bandwidth

I’ve noticed a recent trend in my cable television: pixilation and tearing. I don’t have digital cable so the problem is not on my end. Then a few weeks ago I started noticing announcements about certain channels will be available via digital cable only. This combined with Comcast’s plans to cut the analog cable February 17th, 2009. On that day all analog broadcasts in United States will be shut off as per “Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005″. The failure in that logic is the act only applies to over-the-air broadcasts. Earlier this year FCC ordered all cable carriers to continue offering analog cable after the 2009 cutoff date. However it was never mandated they keep all the channels, so Comcast decided this is a very good opportunity to get some extra bandwidth for their HD offerings to compete with satellite TV. Basically, analog cable eats a large place of copper the Comcast would love to use for other things. In the latest attempt to get people to switch, they’ve raised the price of the analog cable above digital. So, I’m gonna be switching to DirectTV pretty soon. I can get full digital TV, DVR service, and about 150 more channels for about the same price I’m paying for sub-par analog service right now. Now that’s Comcastic!

Laptop as a heater?

So, it’s getting colder in Fresno, and sitting outside with my crazy dogs in my pj pants is becoming less fun. Fortunately, my company-provided laptop can heat up not only my lap, but the radiant heat also warms my hands. Very nifty! Obviously if one were to use the laptop in temperatures above 40F they would encounter 3rd degree burns. Fun!