Mandriva Linux and Random Stuff

Eggs and Vodka VS Shampoo

olusikber — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 09:01:02 +0000

I figured out I must stop using shampoo. I’m probably allergic to sodium laureth sulfate and it makes my skin peel off in layers 30 minutes after I’ve washed my hair. This doesn’t depend on the brand or price range of the shampoo because all of them contain lots and lots of SLS. The shampoos adverised as “herbal” are still full of SLS and most likely do not contain herbs (at least the ones sold here). I can only wash my hair with Johnson’s Baby (which is much milder than others) and some German baby shampoo which doesn’t contain this SLS. However, they only work in combination with all sorts of herbal stuff I make myself.

So today I decided to ditch shampoo altogether and washed my hair with a mixture of egg yolks, water and vodka. It hasn’t dried yet but feels clean and soft, and the skin feels great too. However, bits of egg white somehow got in and then got cooked right in my hair as I was washing it, lol (but they are easy to comb out). And the smell isn’t exactly amazing (will go for less yolk and more vodka next time). But it’s better than having an itchy head with a layer of dead skin on top.

This Poem Is Brought to You By the Letter S

olusikber — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:05:59 +0000

This is a poem where all words except for “in”, “the” and “that” start with the letter S

Sorrow sleeps
In solitary spaces
In the soul that still
Seeks soundless paces…

Back to Mandriva 2010.0 (and my soundcard again)

olusikber — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:47:23 +0000

After working with Mandriva 2010.1 Beta 2 I’m back to 2010.0 .

The main problem was the proprietary nvidia driver which doesn’t work properly under 2010.1 with my GeForce 8600 GTS. Since I need 3D acceleration and am not planning to buy new hardware, I had to revert to 2010.0. Acceleration is much more important for me than msec improvements and all the other nice things in 2010.1. 2010.0 just works for me.

I’ve noticed that you get a slightly different system even when installing from the same CD. In Windows, you get different bugs with every reinstall, in Linux you sometimes get slightly different configurations (esp. in the case of authorisations). This time, I had a lucky install that even supports my weird soundcard and 5.1 out of the box!

A haiku about coffee and my cat

olusikber — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:11:43 +0000

Seaside Coffee

some mozzarella

and a blue cup of coffee

(the cat ate the cheese)

Can I Haz Four Crayons?

olusikber — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 09:49:16 +0000

If I had only 4 crayons to draw a picture, I would choose…

Black
Because you can draw anything with it and it will look ok
(you can draw a cloud in black but not in green, right?)

Blue
Because I like it.

Golden
I’ll probably draw a decorative border around the picture and draw in some golden details!

Cherry Red
Because it looks cool with golden.

Learning Japanese!

olusikber — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:03:49 +0000

I have started learning Japanese. For no particular reason. Probably because origami and amigurumi are SOOOO cool. And because I need to improve my visual memory.

Foreigners are supposed to start with katakana but I decided to learn hiragana first because I find it easier to remember. I’ve already gone through the first 4 rows of gojuon. Writing is somewhat tricky because Latin & Cyrillic writing uses a different set of elements (lines at different angles, lines differently curved etc). Starting with katakana supposedly gives you the advantage of recognising and understanding loan words, but hiragana is just simpler. And Japanese words are surprisingly easy to learn. I guess that kanji are the main problem in learning Japanese but I hope I’ll cope with them.

Can’t wait!

olusikber — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 08:28:53 +0000

3 days till Mandriva 2010.1 comes out!

Semester is Over

olusikber — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:53:50 +0000

Had the last exam yesterday. So will be writing more.

Currently I’m doing nothing and wondering when Mandriva 2010.1 comes out. I’m burning a Fedora LiveCD just in case, but still hoping for Mandriva to come out. I’m happy to hear that the company has been saved by investors, but I’ll be even happier when they release something.

I’m using Mandriva 2010.1 Beta 2 Free. I’m happy with it but I’m having issues with the proprietary nvidia driver, and the free driver doesn’t have 3D acceleration. And I badly want 3D to play EDuke and other games.

About Eurovision 2010

olusikber — Sun, 30 May 2010 10:21:58 +0000

I must admit I didn’t watch the final because I had no time last night, and I didn’t vote. I only watched the songs on YouTube a couple of days before the final.

I’m happy that Germany won. Well the lyrics aren’t exactly profound but the song is very fun & memorable and somehow makes me very happy. I also liked Norway, Ireland, Turkey, Denmark and Spain.

Ukraine was awful – it’s probably unknown outside the country but there was a huge scandal because Alyosha won the national contest with a plagiarised song (which was later changed). YES I HATE HER because her voice just makes me sick. BTW Alyosha is a male name.

Got Myself a Last.FM account

olusikber — Fri, 28 May 2010 06:45:09 +0000

But, for some reason, I can’t get any scrobbles from Banshee. And scrobbling from We7 doesn’t seem to work either.

UPDATE: I was stupid. Thought that scrobbling would be enabled automatically in Banshee. Turned it on & everything works!