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Since my Windows partition on my SSD disappeared again last week (the previous time was only in December), I’ve been taking a break by setting up a fallback Ubuntu installation on another disk. Ah, Ubuntu...such a mixed bag, but I’d forgotten how much fun it can be. Even though there are two other Ubuntu installations in the house, they’re not regular desktops so I spend more time on them when something’s gone wrong. So, although I have been keeping a log of the extensive installation and tweaking, I thought I should dump some of it here too.
Like many things in the Linux world, Rhythmbox (the default music player in Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr) is almost, but not quite what I want it to be, which is Foobar2000 really. The Album setting for ReplayGain is particularly bad. Still it has a certain amount of configurability and has a plugin API which allows more. It comes with quite a few installed already but there are more to be had. Here are a few I’m going to try out.
fossfreedom Repository
A lot of these plugins are available through a repo which makes installation easier.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:fossfreedom/rhythmbox-plugins sudo apt-get update
Art Display
Displays album art at the bottom of the left pane. A little glitchy—e.g. you can’t size it at all and the only way to make it go away is to uninstall.
sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-artdisplay
Countdown Playlist
Play for a set amount of time.
sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-countdown-playlist
lLyrics
More features than the standard Lyrics plugin, which uses an annoying floating window. This shows lyrics in the side pane. Sadly these are only downloaded, unsynched lyrics which is irritating when you’ve added synched lyric tags to a lot of files.
sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-llyrics
OpenContainingFolder
Self-explanatory? When you need to find the actual music file, right-click and this new option appears in the context menu.
sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-opencontainingfolder
Podcast-Pos
Saves your place in all downloaded podcasts so you can not come back to them later.
sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-podcast-pos
Random Album Player
Want to listen to an album, but can’t decide which one?
sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-randomalbumplayer
Radio-Browser
An interface for browsing the many internet radio stations. Also includes a recording facility.
sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-radio-browser
Remember the Rhythmbox
Shouldn’t all players remember what they were doing when you closed them down? Ah...unfortunately, now I’ve tried this out I absolutely hate it. It doesn’t just remember, but automatically starts playing. It also doesn’t remember the context you were in before—it reverts to the Music view, so it won’t keep playing the playlist, but whatever random thing appears next.
sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-remembertherhythm
Suspend
Let Rhythmbox suspend or shut down the computer when it’s finished playing. Something else I use in Foobar2000.
sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-suspend
Wikipedia
Right-click to look up Artist, Album, Track or Genre on Wikipedia.
sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-wikipedia
The full list of plugins in this repository
Stop After Track
I use the ‘stop after current track’ feature in Foobar2000 a lot. This plugin is a bit more troublesome to install. It seems there was a StopAfterCurrentTrack plugin which was then merged with a ‘stop after a selected track’ plugin.
Oops, not updated to work with Rhythmbox 3!?
- Install git:
sudo apt-get install git
- Clone the repo somewhere, e.g.
mkdir stopaftertmp git clone git://github.com/radus/rhythmbox_stop_after_track stopaftertmp
- Run the install script:
sh ./stopaftertmp/install_stop_after.sh
- Delete the temp folder:
rm -rf /stopaftertmp
OK, that was more ‘fun’ than fun. I’ll stop now.
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From the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo:
SIGOLÈNE VINSON
DOG STEPSClick-clack click-clack..At Charlie we have a dog, a red cocker spaniel called Lila. Well, she doesn’t really belong to all of us, just Eric. Of the team, it’s Cabu who’s her favourite. Last Wednesday, 7 January, she was excited to see him. You should know that on the table were Breton galettes brought in by Coco and a marble cake I’d bought for Luz’ birthday. Without a doubt, Cabu would give her her share.
Click-clack click-clack..At Charlie we have a dog, a red cocker spaniel who scratches the parquet. Riss and Charb tease her sometimes so that Luce will come to her defense and pat her head. Honoré prefers cats. Tignous, kids. Wolinski, he has a weakness for Catherine and Zineb.
Click-clack click-clack..At Charlie we have a dog, a red cocker spaniel who’s there for all our discussions. “For or against Louis de Funès?” Jean-Baptiste is for. Strangely enough, so is Philippe. Fabrice couldn’t care less as long as the world keeps turning. Before giving an answer, Laurent has to launch an enquiry. Antonio had better be against. Gérard is the mediator. Pelloux says, “I’ve got his mobile number.”
Click-clack click-clack..At Charlie we have a dog, a red cocker spaniel who goes back and forth through Mustapha’s office. Bernard doesn’t hear her, laughing (with his South-West accented laughter...yes, there is such a thing!) and watching Elsa gesticulate as she tells us about Lacan.
At Charlie we have a dog, a red cocker spaniel who doesn’t understand why, on Wednesday, there are so many people here. The rest of the week there’s only Angélique, Simon and Cécile to keep her company. On Mondays, there’s a chance she’ll see Martine.
Pop pop pop pop...then quiet as the grave. Jean-Luc and I stay on the floor.
And then: Click-clack click-clack!
At Charlie we have a dog, a red cocker spaniel who lets us know it’s OK, that we can get up now, they’re gone.
Lila was spared. Maybe because she’s female.
To all my friends. And the others.
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There seems to already be a move afoot among the more righteous and puritanical of the Anglo-Saxon left to suggest that using the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie (sometimes spellchecked into #JesusIsCharlie !) will mark you out as a support of racism, sexism and homophobia. While it’s definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, the satirical mag Charlie Hebdo takes aim at many targets and I find such simplistic denunciations a bit hard to credit. But what the murders have produced is a lot of cartoons in response so I thought I’d focus on that rather than on whether Charlie Hebdo is worthy of sympathy.
Chappatte (New York Times)
Chappatte (Le Temps)
Mort de rire or mdr (“died laughing”) is a French equivalent of LOL.
Dave Brown (The Independent)
Dave Pope (Canberra Times)
Ouest-France
Making a reference to the controversial headline that killed Charlie Hebdo’s predecessor Hara-Kiri: « Bal tragique à Colombey : 1 mort » (Tragic ball at Colombey: 1 dead) which referred to the death of General de Gaulle, contrasting it to a fire in a disco the same month that killed 145. Bal = ball, balle = bullet.
Ixène: “Asymmetric War”
Joep Bertrams: “Immortal”
Plantu (Le Monde)
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My more abstract edit of this may never be finished, so in the meantime there’s this.
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Glad to see SpongeBob made it to Bethlehem for Christmas.
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I watched an excellent French documentary last week about Immigration and Delinquency, which I started writing about, but never quite finished.
Last Tuesday, along came this very affecting doco in the same series, in which lesbians and gays tell about the violence and discrimination they’ve experienced. I’m busy translating sub-titles for it at the moment, so thought I’d share their teaser video.
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A translation (for the Irish-impaired) of an article on tuairisc.ie—más maith leat an leagan Gaeilge a léamh tá sé anseo.
St. Peter was a Communist!
As much as the Church has tried to keep it hidden, it’s clear that St. Peter was a communist. You could say Pope Francis wasn’t too far from that same communism, perhaps.
Seosamh Ó Cuaig
Monday, December 1 2014 at 7:00 am
As all the greatest journalists will tell you, it’s come to light now that the first Christians were Communists with St. Peter at their head. I’ll prove it to you shortly.
This has been known in the Church for a long time, but it’s not something that any Pope has drawn attention to in two thousand years. Pope Francis has been going close to it lately and it wouldn’t surprise me if he issued a pastoral letter soon explaining it to the faithful.
There are few days now that he doesn’t make an attack on the finance system while speaking on behalf of the poor. He did it recently in the European Parliament. Indeed, many people on the left are suggesting that he is a Communist himself.
I gave a “sermon” on this topic in Cill Chiaráin a while ago.
It was the parish priest, Father Pádraig Standún, who asked me to give it. I explained to him that I was an atheist and a Communist. That didn’t put him out at all. “We must discuss these things,” he said.
The sermon appears in this month’s edition of the magazine Comhar.
But back to the first Christians. If you have any doubts, go to the Irish edition of the Bible from Maynooth. Visit the Acts of the Apostles and you’ll find there the story of Ananias and Sapphira. It’s under the heading COMMON PROPERTY. What’s that but another word for Communism?
It’s well worth publishing it here now.
Common property
There was also a man called Ananias. He and his wife, Sapphira, agreed to sell a property; but with his wife's connivance he kept back part of the price and brought the rest and presented it to the apostles.
Peter said, 'Ananias, how can Satan have so possessed you that you should lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land?
While you still owned the land, wasn't it yours to keep, and after you had sold it wasn't the money yours to do with as you liked? What put this scheme into your mind? You have been lying not to men, but to God.'
When he heard this Ananias fell down dead. And a great fear came upon everyone present.
The younger men got up, wrapped up the body, carried it out and buried it.
About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had taken place.
Peter challenged her, 'Tell me, was this the price you sold the land for?' 'Yes,' she said, 'that was the price.'
Peter then said, 'Why did you and your husband agree to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Listen! At the door are the footsteps of those who have buried your husband; they will carry you out, too.'
Instantly she dropped dead at his feet. When the young men came in they found she was dead, and they carried her out and buried her by the side of her husband.
And a great fear came upon the whole church and on all who heard it.
Translation taken from the Jerusalem Bible Online — Leagan Gaeilge: An Bíobla Naofa
There are two other things to say about that: if the Sunday Independent was there at the time, you can be sure they’d say that St. Peter had set a “kangaroo court” on the pair.
After all, the Roman Empire wouldn’t accept that court.
The judgment would remind you of Joe Stalin. He sentenced people to death who opposed the Communist system in Russia.
But St. Peter had it much easier; God was always there to do the deed for him.
“I never heard either that St. Peter gained a bad reputation like Joe Stalin,” a Communist friend said to me when I told him the story.
If God is on your side, you can do anything.
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What I’ve learned skimming through the finalists in Macedonia’s Skopje Fest:
- triangles are still really ‘now’ in Macedonia (maybe they are everywhere and I haven’t noticed)
- dull songs win national competitions too often
- Vera Janković was a drag queen in another life (or maybe this one)
- Xena apparently now lives in Macedonia
Masochists can go straight to the YouTube playlist—ordered from losingest to the dull winner.
Place |
Points |
Artist |
Song |
Video |
Notes |
Composer(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
22 |
"Lisja esenski" |
|
Joacim Persson, |
||
2 |
20 |
"Brod što tone" |
|
|
Robert Bilbilov |
|
3 |
18 |
Evgenija Čančalova |
"Da ne te sakam" |
|
Bond-esque, |
Grigor Koprov, |
4 |
8 |
"Se što ti vetiv" |
|
The cage action can’t save it. |
Lazar Cvetkoski, |
|
5 |
8 |
Aleksandar Tarabunov & Toni Mihajlovski |
"Marija" |
|
Puppet dancers |
Robert Bilbilov, |
6 |
7 |
Nade Talevska |
"Znam" |
|
Dancers in white |
Aleksandar Masevski, |
7 |
7 |
Viktorija Loba |
"Edna edinstvena" |
|
|
|
8 |
6 |
Sanja Gjoševska |
"Sakam da letam" |
|
|
Duke Bojadziev |
9 |
6 |
Aleksandra Janeva |
"Vo tvojot svet" |
|
|
Vančo Dimitrov, |
10 |
5 |
"Ako mi se vratiš" |
|
|
||
11 |
5 |
Joce Panov |
"Ni Lj od ljubovta" |
|
|
Saša Dragić, |
12 |
2 |
Miyatta |
"Zaljuben" |
|
Xena? Glad she has warrior-princessing |
|
13 |
2 |
Nina Janeva |
"Bluz za..." |
|
|
Davor Jordanovski, |
14 |
0 |
Lena Zatkoska |
"Alo" |
|
Classic Europop |
Risto Samardziev |
14 |
0 |
Vera Janković |
"Se plašam" |
|
I’m scared too! |
Darko Tasev, |
14 |
0 |
Risto Samardžiev & Vlatko Ilievski |
"Sever-Jug" |
|
Lame gender trickery! |
Vladimir Dojčinovski, |
14 |
0 |
Aleksandra Mihova |
"Srce čuva spomeni" |
|
“na, na-na-na naaaa”...nah |
Andrijana Janevska, |
14 |
0 |
Lidija Kočovska & Marijan Stojanovski |
"Sonce niz oblaci" |
|
Mega duet |
Trajče Stavreski, |
14 |
0 |
Goran Naumovski & Sanja Kerkez |
"Mig bez tebe" |
|
Opera can be groovy...maybe not. |
|
14 |
0 |
Verica Pandilovska |
"Samo za tebe" |
|
|
Salvatore Monetti, |
More info about this than anyone needs @ Wikipedia: Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015
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Даниел Кајмакоски: Лисја есенски · Daniel Kajmakoski: Lisja esenski (“Autumn Leaves”)
Daniel Kajmakoski is the winner of Skopje Fest and will represent Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015.
Is it just a co-incidence that his family moved to Vienna (host city for Eurovision 2015) when he was 7 years old? Will layered greys matched with bright yellow shoes become the signature look this year? Such weighty questions to ponder!
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AM - 18/11/2014: Nairobi women protest public shaming of women for their dress A disturbing trend - the public stripping and humiliating of women - appears to be on the rise in sub Saharan Africa. There have been recent attacks in South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Last week a woman in the Kenyan Capital Nairobi was attacked for wearing a mini-skirt and a singlet. Since the attack Nairobi women have mobilised, organising a protest march that brought the capital's centre to a standstill.
WMA audio and transcript at the link above. |
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This chicken-flavoured ditty is “Chick Chick” (小雞小雞 Xiǎo Jī Xiǎo Jī) by Wáng Róng (王蓉 “Hibiscus Wong”), whose name sounds the same as the 9th century warlord 王鎔.
Can we detect a challenge here to both Gangnam Style and What does the fox say? ? It’s bekerk anyway!
- Woodlands Park
- Unofficially officious
- Is it just me?
- Not Safe at Home
- The mountie Jesus
- Melbourne’s concrete heart
- Súgradh Scanrúil ~ Spooky Playground
- Abhainn Bhuí ~ Yellow River
- The call of the north
- Religion going it alone
- What (some) Muslims think
- Doom
- The Escalator
- Maréchal nous voilà!
- What’s in a name? What’s in an aim?
- Google, où est Kiribati?