EarthTainer – my customizations

The EarthTainer is a wonderful idea, but over time I think the Rubbermaid totes in the stores will get thinner and thinner (and less and less opaque) as the corporation cuts costs; this may make my tweaks required instead of preventative steps.

1.) After the main tub has been prepared (holes drilled and such) use the landscaping fabric to make an inside curtain from the top of the tote to the bottom in a full circle (if you like the look, feel free to do it on the outside – the black will absorb the heat from the sun).
This curtain should slow the sunlight and algae growth.

2.) Put in your support bench and cover all inside surfaces with the landscape fabric – much like a fabric cup. This should make it easy to pick up the soil as a package (no digging in the fall) and may keep most of the roots out of the water.

3.) Do NOT drill a hole for the feeder tube but cut an upside down U just below the bench level – best on the side facing away from the sun to slow algae and evaporation. This stiff flap stays closed until top up time.
Random tip: drill the ends of the cut so the cut doesn’t turn into a travelling crack as the plastic gets more brittle.

I plan to use a flexible hose (that’s stored away from the sun) to top up the water. I will probably have rain water in a large bucket and use a simple syphon to move the water.

Also: the second cup-like wrapping of landscape cloth will come in handy shortly… I forgot to drill holes in the bench for drainage into the water section. Heh, oops.

Cure multi-page articles with Repagination and Adblock Plus

I don’t know about you, but when I see what should be a one page article spread across 6 pages in tiny chunks, it drives me nuts! Call me crazy, but I don’t want to wade through ad-saturated page after ad-saturated page just to read a simple article!

A few examples of this are:

• computerworld.com
• environmentalgraffiti.com
• ew.com
• gamesradar.com
• instructables.com
• itwirecom
• maximumpc.com
• rd.com

While Adblock Plus usually makes short work of the ads, there are also self-promoting ads on every page as well. I may be interested in these on the first page, but by the second, third and fourth pages they’re nothing but the visual equivalent of static noise.

Repagination (a Firefox add-on) stitches all of the pages together, much like taking a report and taping the pages end to end to create a large ribbon.

Add in Adblock Plus’ side kick “Element Hiding Helper” to zap the noise, and you can actually do what you set out to do – read the article!

How-to:

Requirements:

• Firefox
• Adblock Plus
• Adblock Plus – Element Hiding Helper
• Repagination (the official project doesn’t support Firefox 3, but a simple edit or alternative source will allow you to use it)

The first thing you’ll need to do is stitch the pages together:

1. Right-click on the Next link
2. Choose Re-pagination
3. Choose All
4. Wait as it loads (you should see your scroll bar shrinking and jumping up)

Then I’d recommend scrolling down to the second page, or even just the last page.

Once you’re there, you’ll want to use Adblock Plus’ Element Hiding Helper to target the areas that are not related to the article (header, footer, “you might be interested in” links, etc.)

The way I target each annoyance is:

1. Right-click on the Adblock Plus icon and choose “Select Element to Hide”
2. Move your mouse over the offender
   
3. Hit W (wider) on the keyboard until it outlines an area that affects the content
   
4. Hit N (narrow) to go back down a level
   
5. Hit B (blink) to see what removing that selection would affect.
   
6. Hit S (select) to choose that area
7. Go into the advanced editor
   

Here’s the tricky part… I, personally, don’t like the first page affected by the slimming process.

In the advanced editor,

1. scroll up the tree until you’re just under the body area,
2. choose the one that’s the ancestor of your target
   
3. then find the ancestor with the SAME name on the same level.
   

Troubleshooting:

Every once in a while Repagination inserts a frame for the next page, which foils adblock’s selection.

The easiest solution to this is to go into Adblock Plus’ Preferences, finding the rules for the site, and replacing (as an example):

instructables.com##*#container + * + * + * + * + * + * + * + * + * + * + * + * + * + *#container > DIV#sidebar

with

instructables.com##*#container ~ *#container > DIV#sidebar

The tilde (~) means “any sibling after”, and so this would target all of the “container”s after a “container” that are on the same level. It’s usuall shift + `, which is called a “back tick” and is in the very top left of most keyboards.

KOL GM Scripts – My picks from OneTonTomato’s huge list

These are the OneTonTomato scripts I can see myself using, ymmv.

• Auto Choice(1,799)
• Bargain Hunter(2,511)
• Chat Functions(2,369)
• Familiar Hotlist(4,568)
• GeneriQueue(1,344)
• Inline Descriptions(3,835)
• Manage Prices(3,157)
• Meat Transaction Helper(2,389)
• Mind Control Device Link(2,026)
• Mind Control Device Select(1,195)
• Outfit Swapper(796)
• Price Gun(16,671)
• Pulverize Groups(6,529)
• Sell Stuff Helper(1,538)
• Sort Mall Activity(1,457)

Please note that some, but not all, are on the wiki so there may be duplicates to my previous post.

Repost – run greasemonkey scripts in all browsers

run greasemonkey scripts in all browsers

* Greasemonkey, an extension for Firefox. Make sure to restart the browser before trying to add the script.
* Trixie, one of the best Greasemonkey-like plug-ins for Internet Explorer
* SIMBL and GreaseKit for Safari
* no additional software for Opera, but you need to enable the feature from Opera’s interface
* Konqueror Userscript for Konqueror

I mentioned my doubts on Greasemonkey scripts working in all these browsers as GM scripts use GM-only commands. The Trixie looks promising (but don’t say I said that)

KOL GM – My picks from the KOL wiki

Louvre It Script – Keeps track and automates the louvre it puzzle

Fortune Cookie Script – which will help get semi-rares.

Pulverize Groups – sort smashables by what / how much they give.

Recipes – but it’s out of date. See previous post for an up-to-date version.

Strange Leaflet Spoiler

Mr. Script – The ultimate script

HP Colors – I can use this with my new version of my skin as it (should) let all the shades through.

Inline Descriptions – because I hate having to resize and close windows. Yes, I’m THAT lazy.

Meat Transaction Helper – helps us visual people figure out how much meat we’re dealing with (9000000 looks a lot better as 9,000,000)

Previous Adventures – because sometimes I like to REALLY backtrack.

Pulverize-Malus – somewhat unneeded because of the extra links in the top supplied by Mr. Script, but still nice to have.

Chat Functions – nothing like nickname autocomplete, eh?

Bargain Hunter – great to check that the deal is actually a deal.

Mall Helper – Because manually buying 15 things from 12 stores takes too bloody much time! NOTE: if it says it applies to every page (*), cancel and right-click on it, choose “view user script source” and then use the button at the top.

Manage Prices – great way to find the non-100-meat price.

Auto Choice – Because clicking on “Ignore the wheel” 4 times in a row really messes up my autoadventuring.

d0om’s Combat UI enhancer Gold – the previously mentioned autoadventuring.

Bang Potion Minder – very needed now due to the changes in the lair gates.

Pricegun – because a few of my friends use it and I need to add it to my KOL – Blue w Gradient – GM Tweaks style (make it blend in with the skin)

Auto Login – less typing, more playing. It gives a button to click that logs you in.

A new(ish) month, a new(ish) Firefox

Yes I’ve been off of WordPress for a while… life happens.

Anyways, I’ve made it a habit to create a new profile for Firefox every month. Why? I’m easily amused? Also, it lets me take a fresh look at the things I use every day and drop those things that were cool at one point but I grew out of or just didn’t really use.

A little late into the month, and I’m creating my January profile as I type this. I created a new profile by closing down Firefox and typing into the command line / terminal the following:
firefox -ProfileManager

Yes, changing a shortcut to do the same works quite as well.

Ok, on to add-ons:

I’ve found that installing add-ons that I know I use everyday all at once (not restarting Firefox between each one) is probably the best way… it’s certainly the fastest.

First stop is the Firefox add-ons site, and I add them to my search engine list (in the top right corner).

NoScript – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722
(I minimize the add-on pop-up that says I need to restart Firefox)

Adblock Plus – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865
Adblock Plus – Element Hiding Helper – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4364

CookieSafe Lite – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5207

Greasemonkey – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748

Context Search – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/240

Stylish – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2108

At this point my brain reaches a blank, so I go and take a quick look through the popular list, and find some of my favourites.

Download Statusbar – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/26

FasterFox – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1269

Web Developer – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60

StumbleUpon – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/138

Image Zoom – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/139

ColorZilla – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/271

This looked interesting: CSSViewer – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2104

Menu Editor – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/710

Aardvark – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4111

At this point I start to realize that the list is getting long, and I save this post and restart Firefox.

And as I come back I have a few dialogues to go through:
Choosing my locale for Adblock Plus (EasyList (USA))
Closing the slightly annoying, but only appears once image zoom pop-up (it’s handy to learn tricks about how to use it, but I already know them).
I hide the Web Developer toolbar from view (I use it’s right-click menu), as well as the StumbleUpon one (until I get around to looking up my login details).
I move the Adblock Plus icon from the toolbar (top) to the status bar (bottom).

And then I visually clean up Firefox – I know what everything means and where everything is, so I don’t need big icons or labelling or every thing on it’s own horizontal zone.

I right-click between the Help and the loading icon (8 dots that go around in a circle) and choose to Customise.

First I tick off (check) the Use Small Icons Box, then I drag the back, forward, reload, stop, home, address toolbar and search toolbar all up beside the Fire Edit View toolbar. Then I remove the separator bar that’s there from before.

Now that the navigation toolbars’ contents have been moved, I can hide that as well.
I delete the Getting Started and Latest Headlines (default bookmark toolbar contents) and make the Bookmarks toolbar disappear until I find sites I want to have there.

I then make it so that NoScript doesn’t show me when it’s blocked scripts (in an inch high bar across the bottom), but to just change it’s icon.

After all that I sit back and try to remember what to set-up next. Oh, yes… the search engines I use.
Wikipedia, userstyles.org, theKoLwiki, Firefox add-ons (from before)

And I remove the ones I don’t:
Yahoo, Amazon, Answers, Chambers, Creative Commons and Ebay.

I’ve been busy…

My slight obsession with KOL has progressed to the point that I’m now writing Greasemonkey scripts for it. Well… more of editing an existing one to add functionality.
But then again, why reinvent the wheel?

http://userscripts.org/users/26909

The KOL forums are a big help in some ways, but I usually make a habit of using Google to search for answers first.

Ubuntu / Linux myths

There seem to be a few things that people believe about Ubuntu, here’s some of the ones I used to think myself:

1. Leaving Windows means leaving updates.
   1. Ubuntu has a lot of updates over time – possible more than Windows. The difference is that Ubuntu updates EVERYTHING. All programs, all underlying stuff… everything. In one window!
2. Using Linux means using a command line / terminal
   1. It is entirely possible to use Ubuntu and NEVER know where the terminal is, nevermind using it.
   2. Using the terminal is NOT hard. Most of the time it’s just literally copying and pasting. Nothing hard about that, right?

   To be continued…

Slow your pet’s eating for better digestion

Does Your Dog Eat Too Fast?

Slow Your Pet Down!

If you let your dog eat too fast, you risk health complications like GDV or Bloat. Slowing them down also reduces re-eating and associated problems. The Eat-Slow dog food bowl prevents this.

Helps reduce the risk of Gastric Dilatation-Volvulus (GDV or ‘Bloat’)
Slower eating makes an animal feel more full and reduces instances of ‘re-eating’
Veterinarian tested and recommended
Works with kibble or canned food
Safe, no-tip shape
Durable, dishwasher safe plastic

$14.95

 http://www.handicappedpets.com/acc/bowl/index.html

Yahoo oddness – reloading login page every second with no obvious answer.

Today Yahoo was acting oddly – on the “Sign in to Yahoo!” page it was reloading every second. The actual Yahoo.com or the my.yahoo.com pages were fine.

I saved the page and took a look… Yahoo uses a tonne of Javascripts! But I didn’t really see anything that would do that – the meta-refresh was fine at 600.

I then saw that Adblock Plus was turned off for some reason – I turned it back on and tried again. No change.

I recently changed some settings in CookieSafe and now chose to let Yahoo’s pages set cookies.

No change.

I was running out of ideas… except there’s this flash file (.swf) in the middle of the page and it doesn’t actually show anything. I’m sure it’s for storing data.

Blocked it with Adblock Plus… and now Yahoo’s behaving like normal.

Odd.