Updated 03-Aug-2025 Pix is another Linux Mint application (the second I use, along with Nemo) that is a useful, lightweight, simple image editor, good for cropping, scaling, and converting between filetypes. However, for actual editing, Inkscape is my editor of choice (I find GIMP hard to use). The latest versions of Inkscape may not be ... Read more
Updated 11-Jul-2026 How to set and modify hostnames hostname commands hostname and hostnamectl will display the static, transient hostnames (hostnamectl also provides other host information). sudo nano /etc/hostname can be used to edit the hostname that will be displayed upon reboot or restart. This can be done more easily from the command with sudo hostnamectl ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 LXPanel is the panel for LXDE. Like Longfellow's little girl: > When she was good, > She was very good indeed, > But when she was bad she was horrid. The horrid part comes when something happens and all the settings are lost, which requires about 30 minutes or more of reconfiguring the ... Read more
Updated 20-Jun-2026 Update May 2025 Most of the below is crap. I hate Jack. Pipewire isn't any better. But I did find a bit of a fix for my PulseAudio settings (a bit more control) from this page: sudo apt purge pulseaudio-equalizer # removes the old EQ # the order in which the services are ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 Introduction to Dorothy Sayers - The Lost Tools of Learning In 1947, at the age of 56, Dorothy Sayers -- a writer of advertising and detective novels -- wrote an essay on education entitled The Lost Tools of Learning. Sayers was also a Christian apologist, and translator of Dante, having learned Latin starting ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 To format a USB drive from the Linux command line, we use the following commands: df - disk free umount - unmount filesystems, see also the mount command mkfs - make filesystem lsblk - list block devices df command to display drives df -h Identify the USB drive to format umount command to ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 DRAFT For Debian LXDE there are a few places to configure the keyboard and keyboard shortcuts. LXPanel Enable the Keyboard Layout Handler in Panel Preferences > Panel Applets Once enabled, right-click on the Keyboard Layout Handler and select "Keyboard Layout Handler" Settings Change Layout Option set to grp:lwin_toggle which sets the left windows ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 This is meant as a set of resources regarding the Anti-vaxx movement, in general and specifically in the light of Covid-19. Studies and Findings regarding the Anti-vaxx movement > Widespread acceptance of a vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) will be the next major step in fighting the coronavirus disease ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 See all Covid-19 articles: Covid-19 Updates Covid-19 Vaccines Facemasks and Covid-19 Herd Immunity and Covid-19 Why People won't get Vaccinated Most recent updates This is meant to show latest news and updates to Covid-19. It is not meant to be comprehensive, but rather suggestive and providing some recent information that might not fit ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 See all Covid-19 articles: Covid-19 Updates Covid-19 Vaccines Facemasks and Covid-19 Herd Immunity and Covid-19 Why People won't get Vaccinated This is by no means exhaustive, and is currently incomplete, but is meant to help me better understand those who are vaccine-hesitant and vaccine-rejectors in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. In some ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 Linode Longview is a nice web GUI to see instance resource utilization for the last 12 hours (or more if paid). Unfortunately it is easy to get an error installing Linode Longview with their script. Below is how to perform a manual installation. For troubleshooting once it is up and running, see this ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 Exporting Images with Inkscape 1.1 The image export functions of Inkscape have improved significantly with the release of Inkscape 1.1. The menus for this feature are not elegant, and even image export is still labeled Export PNG Images. However, the functionality for a variety of export filetypes and settings are now in Inkscape, ... Read more
Updated 06-Apr-2026 See also Ruizu mp3 player Sandisk Clip Jam mp3 player mp3 players and Linux Silly name, a bit bulky, but overall a functional mp3 music player. The venerable ipod shuffle is sorely missed. Note 2024-10-08 This item appears to be no longer manufactured (prices on Amazon are crazy). What appears to be the ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 My five-year-old is obsessed with size comparisons of planets, stars, and larger and smaller astronomical objects (as well as structures on earth). His interests have expanded greatly my own knowledge of astronomy. At first I thought it would be interesting to buy a telescope and play with that, but there isn't much to ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 The needs of an expatriate family, especially one with small children, are dramatically different from that of a single expat or a couple. The same could be send for the differences between female and male expats, though they are not as numerous. There are so many areas that are impacted: Healthcare Schooling Visas ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 See all Covid-19 articles: Covid-19 Updates Covid-19 Vaccines Facemasks and Covid-19 Herd Immunity and Covid-19 Why People won't get Vaccinated Herd Immunity is when a population has enough of its members immune from infection (either through the presence of antibodies due to previous infection or vaccination. Depending on the disease, the percentage of ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 I tried the VB6 diet and here is how it went
Updated 03-Aug-2025 This was a time of innovation. Somewhere between 4,000 and 3,001 BCE (6,000-5000 years ago): Beginning of the Bronze Age Writing systems emerged (Mesopotamian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphics), proto-writing may have emerged earlier Probable first domestication of the horse (Ukraine) Earliest known numerals (Egypt) Lyres, harps, flutes and clarinets (Egypt) Desertification of Northern ... Read more
Updated 11-Jul-2026 Salt aka NaCL, Sodium Choride, is 40% sodium and 60% cloride. This is a trace mineral that is essential to our bodies. Apparently we need about 200-500mg per day for daily body function. However, it is common to oversalt food, and processed foods are heavily oversalted (to add taste to tasteless products). Excess ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 See all Covid-19 articles: Covid-19 Updates Covid-19 Vaccines Facemasks and Covid-19 Herd Immunity and Covid-19 Why People won't get Vaccinated This is meant to try and keep up with the latest science on the Covid-19 vaccines, some of which are appearing to be quite effective, and others not as much. Vaccination Procedure Most ... Read more