1999 (The 9 Years, Part 7)

As we are now in 2009, we can expect to see a great many articles trumpeting the 70th anniversary of the fabled "Best Movie Year," 1939. This is tradition, dating back probably to every 9 year of every movie-oriented decade. But is 1939 really the best year for movies? I don't know about that. It was great, but after the watershed year 1979, I started having my doubts. In 1989, I started

1999 (The 9 Years, Part 7)

As we are now in 2009, we can expect to see a great many articles trumpeting the 70th anniversary of the fabled "Best Movie Year," 1939. This is tradition, dating back probably to every 9 year of every movie-oriented decade. But is 1939 really the best year for movies? I don't know about that. It was great, but after the watershed year 1979, I started having my doubts. In 1989, I started

Saturn, the Lion, the Moon

Saturn is visible high in the evening sky for the coming months. The ringed planet is a gem to see through a telescope so if you have a telescope now is the time to get it out and take a look at one of the most impressive sights in all of the universe.

Saturn, like all the other planets and the Moon, travels around the Solar System in a path called the Ecliptic. This path extends through twelve constellations known as the Zodiac. Saturn, which takes nearly 30 earth-years to travel around the Sun once, spends about two and a half years moving through each sign of the Zodiac and is presently moving gradually eastward through Leo the Lion. This constellation is a favorite for many because its shape is quite distinctive and resembles a Lion in the sky with its furry mane and head pointed to the west and its tail and hind quarters to the east. As you can see in the diagram, Saturn is below the constellation and to the left (east) of the bright star Regulus.

Offline Install or Update Ubuntu Packages (Without Internet)

So you have a machine without Internet or the Internet is very slow and you want to update or install Ubuntu and packages.

There is a simple way to install packages and softwares in machine that doesn't have Internet with it.

First go to the machine that doesn't have Internet, i.e. the machine you want to install packages.

1. Open Synaptic Package Manager from System-Administration Menu.
   
2. Select the packages you want to install.
3. Go to File and select Generate Package Download Script
   
   
4. Save the file and bring it to the computer that has Internet.
5. Run that file.
   
6. It will download all the packages and its dependencies.
7. Put them in a removable drive.
8. Bring the drive back to the old machine.
9. Open Synaptic Package Manger again.
10. From File menu choose Add Downloaded Packages.

You're done. That's 10 easy steps to install software and add packages to Ubuntu box which doesn't have Internet.

To update your system follow the same above procedures but instead of 'step 2' Go to Edit and Mark all Upgrades.

Cosmic Juxtaposition: Pleiades, Mercury and Moon

The next three evenings present a visually stimulating lineup of objects near and far in a juxtaposition that is just right for binoculars. You will need a clear western horizon so I have my fingers crossed that conditions permit this at Ocean Beach in San Francisco, but wherever you are, the diagram shows the close alignment of Mercury and the Pleiades star cluster and the daily motion of the Moon through this configuration. On Saturday 25th the challenge will be to spot the very young Moon. On Sunday 26th the sight of all three things in one binocular-field-of-view. And if you get a weather trifecta and see this three nights in a row, then Monday 27th you will have seen just how far the Moon *and* Mercury move in 48 hours - and I think the results will surprise you.

Happy Viewing!

compiz problem in Jaunty solved

Today I upgrade few machines to Jaunty Jackalope 9.04. However in machines with Intel's graphic driver I faced two kind of problem with compiz.

Problem 1: After upgrading to Jaunty, compiz couldn't be enabled.
The error was saying that the driver was backlisted.

To solve this create a file ~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager and put

SKIP_CHECKS=yes

Now enable compiz and it should work.

Problem 2: After upgrading to Jaunty, compiz is very slow.
You'll easily notice the performance degradation.

To solve this you can revert to intrepid driver by following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReinhardTartler/X/RevertingIntelDriverTo2.4

But what I did was used "UXA" instead of "EXA". UXA is new and far better but this has some bug, which prevented it from being default in jaunty.
To do this open your /etc/X11/xorg.conf and add

Option "AccelMethod" "uxa"

under Section "Device"

A Dawn Spectacle: Moon Occults Venus on Wednesday April 22

Wednesday morning in the pre-dawn skies we have a rare opportunity to witness a very unique spectacle, an occultation of the planet Venus by the Moon. Think of it as an eclipse of Venus, a brief time when the Moon's orbit blocks out brilliant Venus for about an hour. From here in San Francisco the Moon and Venus will just be rising above the eastern horizon around 5:00 am and by approximately 5:11 am the Moon will close in and cover the planet. As the Moon rises and the earliest light of dawn arrives, the Moon will reveal Venus again at approximately 6:05 am. For more information, click on the image.

I am particularly fond of this special event for it was during an occulation of Venus that I first became interested in astronomy as a young boy. So my advice is to take a few minutes to experience this rare and impressive sight. It might just move you too.

Time to order free Jaunty Jackalope CD

https://shipit.ubuntu.com/

enjoy!!!

captcha full form

I hope you know what captcha is and what it does. But do you know its actually a acronym and it stands for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart".
Well, I didn't knew it.

April Mornings above Golden Gate Park

The next few mornings promise rewarding sights if you are up before sunrise. For me, this is the view when I go out to get the morning newspaper. I have a good south-eastern view and I find the waning Moon to be an engaging beacon above the trees of Golden Gate Park. As the Moon rises later each day, it sweeps past three planets now visible in the morning sky, Jupiter, Venus and Mars, and it appears lower and lower each day until it is lost in the glare of the Sun at the end of next week. The illustrations show how much the Moon moves from one day to the next -- a little over 12 degrees. Why is that? You just need some simple division to get the answer yourself: The Moon travels 360 degrees in each orbit around the Earth, and it takes 29 1/2 days to circle the Earth once (from our Earth-bound perspective)

Watch This: 400 Years of the Telescope

A new astronomy documentary has arrived and is being featured on PBS this week. In the Bay Area you can see the new film "400 Years of the Telescope" on KQED Channel 9 on Tuesday April 14th at 9:00 pm. From the "400 Years" team, here's what you can expect:

In 400 Years of the Telescope, viewers take a visually stunning journey from Galileo's first look at the cosmos in 1609, to today's thrilling quests to discover new worlds and glimpse the formation of the first stars after the Big Bang. Writer and producer Kris Koenig traveled the globe, interviewing leading astronomers and cosmologists against a backdrop of the world's greatest observatories, to create a vivid film that presents the human quest of the past 400 years to understand the structure and nature of the universe. 400 Years of the Telescope is an official product of the International Year of Astronomy 2009.

1989 (The 9 Years, Part 6)

As we are now in 2009, we can expect to see a great many articles trumpeting the 70th anniversary of the fabled "Best Movie Year," 1939. This is tradition, dating back probably to every 9 year of every movie-oriented decade. But is 1939 really the best year for movies? I don't know about that. It was great, but after the watershed year 1979, I started having my doubts. In 1989, I started

1989 (The 9 Years, Part 6)

As we are now in 2009, we can expect to see a great many articles trumpeting the 70th anniversary of the fabled "Best Movie Year," 1939. This is tradition, dating back probably to every 9 year of every movie-oriented decade. But is 1939 really the best year for movies? I don't know about that. It was great, but after the watershed year 1979, I started having my doubts. In 1989, I started

1979 (The 9 Years, Part 5)

As we are now in 2009, we can expect to see a great many articles trumpeting the 70th anniversary of the fabled "Best Movie Year," 1939. This is tradition, dating back probably to every 9 year of every movie-oriented decade. But is 1939 really the best year for movies? I don't know about that. It was great, but after the watershed year 1979, I started having my doubts. In 1989, I started

1979 (The 9 Years, Part 5)

As we are now in 2009, we can expect to see a great many articles trumpeting the 70th anniversary of the fabled "Best Movie Year," 1939. This is tradition, dating back probably to every 9 year of every movie-oriented decade. But is 1939 really the best year for movies? I don't know about that. It was great, but after the watershed year 1979, I started having my doubts. In 1989, I started

San Francisco Star Parties - photos

On April 2 and 3 as part of the "100 Hours of Astronomy" event, I took part in two of three nights of star parties in San Francisco. It was fun and I enjoyed meeting new people and sharing the sky with them. I'll be posting more of this on the "100 hours" website next week. Meanwhile, here are two photos (courtesy of Rick Prelinger) that he took with a simple camera phone and a time lapse exposure. With a bright moon directly overhead, the scene was lit exclusively by moonlight (well, ok, with the exception of some headlights in the parking lot) and looks strangely surreal but the images capture the essence of the star party. You can see some stars in the images. Very cool!

vi/vim quick reference

Movement Commands:

h move one character left
j move one line down
k move one line up
l move one character right
H move to Home (start of first line displayed
M move to start of Middle line displayed
L move to start of Last line displayed
O or ^ move to start of current line
$ move to end of current line
tc move forwards to just before character c
Tc move backwards to just after character c
fc move forwards on to character c
Fc move backwards on to character c
; repeat last t, T, f, or F command
w move forwards to the start of the next word
e move forwards to the end of the next word
b move backwards a word
% move to matching bracket: () [] {}

Movement Searching:

/ Search forwards for regular expression
? Search backwards for regular expression
n repeat last search in the same direction
N repeat last search in the reverse direction

Insert Mode

i Insert before the current character
a Insert after the current character
o Open a new line after the current line
O Open a new line before the current line
I Insert before the first non white character on the current line
A Insert after the last non white character on the current line

Deleting text:

x Delete the character under the cursor
dM Delete to where the movement M would take the cursor
dd Delete the current line
D Delete from the current position to the end of line

Changing text:

rc Replace the current character with c
s Substitute the current character: enter insert mode
cM Change to where the movement M would take the cursor and enter insert mode
cc Change the entire current line and enter insert mode
C Change from the current position to the end of last line
R Replace text, end with Escape

Yank buffers store text:

yM Copy text into yank buffer to where the movement M would take the cursor
yy Copy the current line into the yank buffer
Y Copy from the current position to the end of line into the yank buffer
p Paste the text into the yank buffer after the current line
P Paste the text into the yank buffer before the current line

Colon commands are based upon ed(l) commands. In many of these % will be substituted with the name of the current file, and # with the name of the previous file. Some commands may be prefixed with line number ranges. . means the current line, S means the last line in the file: 2,5 s/fred/joe/ changes the first fred to joe on lines 2,3,4,5; l,$ s/fred/joe/g changes every fred to joe in the buffer. % may be used as a number range and is short for l,$. Number ranges may also be: .+N (N lines after current line), $—N(N lines before end of bufer), fred/+n (N lines after next fred). Tf you only want one line, omit the comma and second number: .-4 s/fred/joe.

:q Quit
:q! Quit without the sanity checks (unsaved buffers, etc)
:w [f] Write the buffer to file f
:w !cmd Write the buffer as stdin to shell command cmd
:wq Write and quit
:x Like :wq but only write if changes have been made
:r file Read file into the current buffer after current line
:e f Edit file f
:e # Edit the previous file, often bound to C-
:n Edit next file
:p Edit previous file
:rew Rewind to first file
:! cmd Execute shell command cmd
:s7a/b/ Substitute a with b on the current line.
:s/a/b/g Substitute every a with b on the current line. (g means global)
:s/a/b/gc Substitute every a with b on the current line, ask for confirmation
:d Delete the current line

Display (screen) control:

C—e scroll line with cursor up a line
C—y scroll line with cursor down a line
C—d scroll display down l/2 a screen
C—u scroll display up l/2 a screen
C—f scroll display forward a screen
C—b scroll display backward a screen
C—l redisplay the screen

Misc:

J Join the next line to the current line
u undo the last change. Repeat for previous change.
C—r Redo a change undone by u .
U Undo all the changes made to the current line
. Repeat the last change command
~ Invert case (upper/lower) of the current character
!!cmd Replace the current line with the otput of shell command cmd
C—g Display current line number
G Move to the last line in the buffer
nG Move to line number n in the buffer
ml Mark the current line with the label
'l Go to the line with label l
''Go to the last line that you jumped from

Labels may be used in : commands:

's,'e:s/fred/joe/g changes all fred to joe for all lines between those labeled s and e
nC Repeats the command C n times
qr Start recording into register r. If r is upper case, append
q Stop recording
@r Execute keystrokes in register r
<< Move text left by an indent
>> Move text right by an indent
C—z Suspend (shell job control)

Visual (block) mode

v Start character visual mode
V Start line visual mode
c·V Start block visual mode

Once a visual area is marked

b delete
c change
y yank
~ swap case (upper/lower>
u make lower case
U make upper case
! filter through external program
:dis Display the contents of all yank buffers

Split windows and multiple buffers:

C—ws Split the window in two
C—wc Close the current window
C-wM Move to window in direction M, e.g. k means up
NC—w+ Increase display size of current window by N lines
NC—w— Decrease display size of current window by N lines
:files Display files currently being edited and buffer numbers
:N b Switch to buffer N in the current window

Useful options (put in ~/.exrc):

set ic Ignore case in searches
set number Line number node
set showmode Display INSERT on bottom line in insert
mode

Handy sequences

xp swaps two adjacent characters
lOdd Deletes lO lines to the buffer
:.,$d Deletes from the current line to the end of the buffer
:. w ! od —c Filter the current line through od to see if it contains any strange characters
:. w ! sh Execute the current line as a shell command

Redhat

1969 (The 9 Years, Part 4)

As we are now in 2009, we can expect to see a great many articles trumpeting the 70th anniversary of the fabled "Best Movie Year," 1939. This is tradition, dating back probably to every 9 year of every movie-oriented decade. But is 1939 really the best year for movies? I don't know about that. It was a superb time for movies, but after the watershed year 1979, I started having my doubts about

1969 (The 9 Years, Part 4)

As we are now in 2009, we can expect to see a great many articles trumpeting the 70th anniversary of the fabled "Best Movie Year," 1939. This is tradition, dating back probably to every 9 year of every movie-oriented decade. But is 1939 really the best year for movies? I don't know about that. It was a superb time for movies, but after the watershed year 1979, I started having my doubts about

1959 (The 9 Years, Part 3)

As we are now in 2009, we can expect to see a great many articles trumpeting the 70th anniversary of the fabled "Best Movie Year," 1939. This is tradition, dating back probably to every 9 year of every decade. But is 1939 really the best year for movies? I don't know about that. It was great, but after the watershed year 1979, I started having my doubts. In 1989, I started noticing a trend.

1959 (The 9 Years, Part 3)

As we are now in 2009, we can expect to see a great many articles trumpeting the 70th anniversary of the fabled "Best Movie Year," 1939. This is tradition, dating back probably to every 9 year of every decade. But is 1939 really the best year for movies? I don't know about that. It was great, but after the watershed year 1979, I started having my doubts. In 1989, I started noticing a trend.

1949 (The 9 Years, Part 2)

As we are now in 2009, we can expect to see a great many articles trumpeting the 70th anniversary of the fabled "Best Movie Year," 1939. This is tradition, dating back probably to every 9 year of every movie-oriented decade. But is 1939 really the best year for movies? I don't know about that. It was great, but after the watershed year 1979, I started having my doubts. In 1989, I started

1949 (The 9 Years, Part 2)

As we are now in 2009, we can expect to see a great many articles trumpeting the 70th anniversary of the fabled "Best Movie Year," 1939. This is tradition, dating back probably to every 9 year of every movie-oriented decade. But is 1939 really the best year for movies? I don't know about that. It was great, but after the watershed year 1979, I started having my doubts. In 1989, I started

San Francisco Star Parties - for 100 Hours of Astronomy

The San Francisco Amateur Astronomers are sponsoring three upcoming star parties over the duration of the "100 Hours of Astronomy" event this week. For those of you in San Francisco stop by Lands End on April 2-3-4 to take in the sky and meet local astronomy enthusiasts. The events starts at 7:30 (just at sunset) but come anytime until 9:30. Some of the SFAA members might stay past 9:30. The area for telescopes will be at the north end of the parking lot where the Lands End trail starts. I hope to see many people there. Be sure to dress warmly - it gets very cool there in the evening.

If you live outside of San Francisco, check the "100 Hours" website for other events happening in your area.

1939 (The 9 Years, Part 1)

As we are now in 2009, we can expect to see a great many articles trumpeting the 70th anniversary of the fabled "Best Movie Year," 1939. This is tradition, dating back probably to every 9 year of every movie-oriented decade. But is 1939 really the best year for movies? I don't know about that. It was undeniably magnificent, but after the watershed year 1979, I started having my doubts. In

1939 (The 9 Years, Part 1)

As we are now in 2009, we can expect to see a great many articles trumpeting the 70th anniversary of the fabled "Best Movie Year," 1939. This is tradition, dating back probably to every 9 year of every movie-oriented decade. But is 1939 really the best year for movies? I don't know about that. It was undeniably magnificent, but after the watershed year 1979, I started having my doubts. In

The 9 Years (Intro teaser)

As we are now in 2009, we can expect to see a great many articles trumpeting the 70th anniversary of the fabled "Best Movie Year," 1939. This is tradition, dating back probably to every 9 year of every decade. But is 1939 really the best year for movies? I don't know about that. It was great, but after the watershed year 1979, I started having my doubts. In 1989, I started noticing a trend.

The 9 Years (Intro teaser)

As we are now in 2009, we can expect to see a great many articles trumpeting the 70th anniversary of the fabled "Best Movie Year," 1939. This is tradition, dating back probably to every 9 year of every decade. But is 1939 really the best year for movies? I don't know about that. It was great, but after the watershed year 1979, I started having my doubts. In 1989, I started noticing a trend.

Film #122: The China Syndrome

This whole notion of life imitating art--it really doesn't happen too often. But it certainly happened in 1979, and in an unlikely, timely manner. On March 16th of that year, writer/director James Bridges (at that point most notable for giving us 1974's law school drama The Paper Chase), unleashed The China Syndrome upon American audiences. This taut, expertly-produced thriller imparted the

Film #122: The China Syndrome

This whole notion of life imitating art--it really doesn't happen too often. But it certainly happened in 1979, and in an unlikely, timely manner. On March 16th of that year, writer/director James Bridges (at that point most notable for giving us 1974's law school drama The Paper Chase), unleashed The China Syndrome upon American audiences. This taut, expertly-produced thriller imparted the