Zzot!

Since I do occasionally have to fiddle with a Windows server, and there are little things about Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Client that bug me (only one session open at a time, for example), I wondered if the matter was scriptable somehow. Here’s one way (after installing rdesktop via DarwinPorts):

#!/bin/bash
#
RDC="/opt/local/bin/rdesktop -a24 -g 1024x768"
#
set -x
if [ "X$DISPLAY" = "X" ]; then
    open-x11 $0
else
    exec $RDC -ushloob example.com
fi

The interesting thing (to me anyway) is having the script exec itself inside X11, to avoid having two dumb files laying around for each server listed. (A benefit that becomes irrelevant if you wrap it up in a nice, tidy AppleScript bundle so it is doubleclick-able)

If you’re enough of a command-line wonk to think a slew of new scripts in your path is actually a shortcut for something, just put a copy of this in your path for each server and mark them all executable. Building a generic script that creates a temporary file (open, for which open-x11 is simply a wrapper, doesn’t let you specify arguments to the command) and flings that at X11.app is left as an exercise.

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At times, I miss the punch and gas economy of my Civic, even though that was two cars ago now. At no time, however, do I miss squeezing my 6′ 5″ frame into a Civic. Where’s a convert any gas vehicle to a biodiesel-electric hybrid for less than a year’s salary service when you need one? :)

Then again, how many years would pass after such a surgery before someone accuses you of wasting money on gasoline so you can tell them “my car runs on discarded fryer grease from my nearby McDonald’s with the wads of potato shrapnel filtered out. From the way they look at me, they must think I’m drinking the stuff.”

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You know what the most important thing in comedy is? Timing.

For this trick, you need a cat and an audience — I used my own cat, and Lins was the audience. Pick up the cat, and hold it in a manner the cat finds slightly uncomfortable. How slightly? Just enough that cat doesn’t miss its cue — this works best with cats you’re familiar with (see the most important thing in comedy for details). Now, feed the cat your straight-line:

I wonder if it’s latent fish DNA; “I don’t want to be here anymore!”

The cat, right on queue, flails its tail around, either because you’re holding it weird or it detests being used as a plot device in bad melodrama (the joke works either way).

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The previously mentioned link problems are by no means the only issues; they’re just the most likely to be noticed by anyone.

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Okay, I think I’ve officially spent too much of this weekend messing with my website. It’s running the new, nearly released supposedly, Movable Type 3.2b4, and I’m running templates that far more closely match the default ones (and for the moment the default, albeit brand-new, style sheets).

It turns out that the big secret about the new templates is that they’ve gone to a standardized model between all Six Apart products; Movable Type, TypePad and LiveJournal now use the same structure, block IDs, etc.; mind you, if Lins starts using her blog that’ll be two MT users I know (me and her), plus one LiveJournal user, so it probably wouldn’t make a huge difference in my life, even if everyone (my site and two others) wanted my help with stuff. Plus, I’m not a graphic designer, last I checked.

There’s a part of me that thinks I should start using some sort of hosted service, just so there would be less reason to mess with the innards of the site to the exclusion of messing with, say, content; but then I start thinking about the $ per GB of disk and bandwidth at DreamHost vs. the same attributes of one of those services, and I’m horrified. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t think the DreamHost guys are wrapped too tight, but the price is nice.

As an aside, the new site footer includes a referral link to DreamHost, and their referral program is very cool. :) [end shameless plug] And yes, I know there are bad links in my site footer, so wait until I think my site is working before you tell me I’m wrong wrong wrong.

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From a blog I rarely read (as opposed to a blog everyone rarely reads — like this one):

Salesclerk: Wait. Are you the one who just called about this thing?
Me: Yeah, that was my dad.
Salesclerk: Oh, okay. I couldn’t believe there would be two people wanting that tonight.
Me: Yeah, well. I like Westies
Salesclerk: Okay…I’ll get it.

My parents then asked if there were any other prints of this caliber and she proceeded to show them a beagle in military attire along with The Officer’s Mess (my painting).

Salesclerk: We had to remove these from the sales floor because of complaints.
My parents: What kind of complaints?
Salesclerk: People were saying they were offensive.

Offensive? I’d give on tacky or weird, but offensive?

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