May Site Updates

Posted on May 2, 2011 by Jesse Zylstra

Happenings:
April 5th, 2:09a-5:40a: A router failure caused the site and IRCD network to become inaccessible, as well as the website. IRCD resumed operations at 5:49a, and HTTP services at 5:40a. The amount of time the site was down was significant, but not during peak hours of traffic.

April 8, upgraded to WordPress 3.1.1

April 10, changed the header image to a new updated image. All images inside said header are from OpenClipArt.org.

April 18, from 11:39a-12:01p the site was likely inaccessible from the outside. The server was performing automatic maintenance which caused various services including Apache, MySQL, and FTP to go down multiple times. (Even if it were accessible, the page load would have been very slow.) Our name servers most likely took over the page requests during this time period.

April 25, a town-wide power outage occurred and the servers were down for all networks from about 6:25PM to 7:15PM. ClourFlare (our nameservers) probably took over during this time, leaving the site static but visible.

Statistics:
Motion Control (an April Fools report about Gmail’s prank) jumped to post No. 1 on the blog, and a search result for “motion control” on Google lists us as result no. 14.

Top Pages

  1. Google Introduces Motion Control to Gmail | ZylBlog
  2. Accordion Fingering Chart (bass) | ZylBlog
  3. Run The Sims 3 under Linux | ZylBlog
  4. Is it okay to leave your computer on? | ZylBlog
  5. banshee | Search Results | ZylBlog
Top Referrers 

  1. computerhope.com
  2. j-dude.com
  3. zylstrablog.co.nr
  4. christianpf.com
  5. flores-online.golbnet.com
 Top Searches 

  1. accordion bass chart
  2. hootalollie
  3. motion control open source
  4. +amtrak ticket pricing
  5. 12 button accordion fingering chart

 

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Open Clip Art: Open Source Clip Art

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Jesse Zylstra
Official logo for the SVG (Scalable Vector Gra...

Image via Wikipedia

Article No. 200!

You may have noticed a change to the website home page, the header image has been completely updated. This was something I put off for far too long, and I am glad to have changed it.

I am in no way a graphics designer, and I put the image together using various other images — all from www.openclipart.org. OpenClipArt is a resource that provides completely 100% free images (mainly svg vector graphics images) for use in any way you want to use them. The professional quality of images varies quite a bit from image to image, but it is not hard to find images that may suit your needs — whether it be for a business, organization, or a simple poster.

Vector Graphics certainly make this a special website because of how “cool” these graphics can be. Vector graphics van be zoomed in as much as you want as true vector graphics never get blurry. They are stored as (and this is an oversimplification) math on a grid, indicating where each line or shape is and what color it is, ect. As Wikipedia puts it:
“Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon(s), which are all based on mathematical equations, to represent images in computer graphics.” Continue reading →

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Ubuntu 11.04 Beta 2

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Jesse Zylstra

Linux has come a long way. Linux is arguably the third most popular operating system in existence. Linus Torvalds, the main creator of the first Linux operating system, probably never imagined his computer code would go so far in the world. Seldom do we actually install an operating system that contains only Linux — Linux itself is a kernel and does not do much else. Distributions of Linux allow for a desktop user interface and other programs making the desktop experience functional. Of all the distributions, Ubuntu has probably made the most progress for being user friendly and up-to-date.

Despite the fact that I no longer want to primarily belong to the world of technology, I still enjoy trying out new software before most other people. Ubuntu 11.04 beta has finally reached a point in stability that it can manage as a primary desktop without too much trouble. When I first started reading about the beta, I learned that Ubuntu would no longer have a Gnome desktop, but would be replaced by a new desktop interface called Unity that is quite unlike anything I had ever used before. Unity is probably the biggest new feature of Ubuntu 11.04. I was quite skeptical, but I held my judgmental tongue and gave it a try. It is quite neat! I am surprised at what a new experience it has brought to my desktop. Continue reading →

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Ninite: An Automatic Installer (Windows & Linux)

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Jesse Zylstra

Ninite is a free online service that creates “mega-installers”, allowing you to simply check the box of each program you want to use and download an installer which will download the programs for you, and install them.

No clicking next, no accepting agreements, it just installs the software.

Ninite is mainly for Windows, but has a Linux version. The Linux version has a limited amount of software. Continue reading →

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Earworms: Forgot a song? Try a new way to find it.

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Jesse Zylstra

Earworms: when you get a song stuck in your head that just won’t leave. When you hear a song on the radio, television, or in a store that just gets stuck and it plays over and over in your head and you don’t know the title it can drive you mad.
Forgetting the title of a song sends you searching down Google Lane. Especially if you do not know the lyrics, or if the part of the song you remembered contains common words, it may be impossible to find your results. I once spent well over an hour trying to find “Video Killed the Radio Star” after I heard it on the radio for the first time.

What if you only have the music part of the song stuck in your head, and not the words? There is a service I discovered on the Internet a while ago that is built to tackle this very problem. Midomi, a website where you sing into your microphone and it attempts to find the song for you. Midomi requires flash, and flash to be configured to access your microphone. It is extremely handy. I gave it a few songs that I did know to try it out, and it was able to find the song I sang. It even picked up my very unique rendition of Lady Gaga’s: Bad Romance. (I swear, the only reason I listen is for the first part of the song — and not because I like it, but because I swear she stole it from someone and I am trying to remember the original song… her music is, in general, terrible, and you should not use your own name excessively in your songs. That is another article for a later date..)
Continue reading →

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Where’s George? Track US Dollars and where they go.

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Jesse Zylstra

When you spend a dollar in cash, where does it go to after it enters the cashiers till? For many, the thought of an adventure stops when it is out of our sight. Some people even think that cash, after spent, goes back to the bank where it is destroyed and replaced.
In fact, most cash that is still in good condition is redistributed back to people. The “natural” circulation of cash can leave a dollar bill in many different places all around the US — even the world.

A site called, Where’s George (www.wheresgeorge.com) set out in 1998 to allow people to track where their money goes after it is spent. Continue reading →

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Google Introduces Motion Control to Gmail

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Jesse Zylstra

Gmail has recently introduced a new feature to their online mail client: Gmail Motion! Certainly one of the most revolutionary ideas introduced to email and computing in general. The interactions require only a computer with Flash and a webcam. Making hand signals (such as a side motion to move onto the next message) can archive, reply, start a new message, and move through your inbox. Hands-free computing is sure to be the future of all computer applications. Gmail project manager Paul McDonals explains the feature and technology in this video.

Continue reading →

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Ad: Ticket America

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Jesse Zylstra
The Following is a paid advertisement.
We are not responsible for the content of the actual website.

Ticketamerica.com has tickets in calgary and edmondton canada and all birmingham alabama concert sports and theatre tickets.

calagary concert and sports tickets
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Special Number: 999
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Windows vs. Linux

Posted on March 2, 2011 by Jesse Zylstra

Today, I present an essay focused towards people who are not familiar with Linux, explaining from an unbiased view (as unbiased as I could get) the differences and similarities between Windows and Linux.

Brief: “What are Distributions?”
I would like to start with a brief explanation of “what is Linux really?” to better the understanding of distributions and why they exist.
As short as I can put it: Linux by definition is a kernel. It manages the way programs interact with hardware on your computer. (All operating systems have kernels). Linux is not usually known as being “just a kernel”. Linux is usually associated with various distributions (or “completed” and “compiled” “prepackaged” versions of Linux.) A kernel on it’s own does not really do anything. The desktop interface is a program added to the kernel amongst many other things (command line, basic commands, etc). When all of these different elements gets put together, we often think of that as an “operating system” (a system of packages for operation…)
Different people (and later, different groups of people) believe that these operating systems should be different. Therefor, they have created many different distributions that may specifically apply to their needs. For example: Debian is popular for servers, but Ubuntu, which is directly based off Debian, is meant to be more user-friendly. Can anyone make their own distribution? Yes!
Questions? Post a comment!
Now to the essay:

Windows vs. Linux

At first glance, the Windows Operating System may seem better than the Ubuntu Linux operating system. An in-depth look at both of these operating systems can reveal something quite different. Differences in the graphical user interface, the standard applications included with both operating systems, cost, hardware and software support, and system requirements greatly affect how these two operating systems appeal to different individuals.
Continue reading →

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Ad: Xbox Repair

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Jesse Zylstra

The following is a paid advertisement.
We are not responsible for the content of the actual website.

XBox 360 broken? Red Ring of Death? Why pay to send it back to Microsoft when you can fix it at home. Xbox 360 Repair can help you fix the problem from your own home.

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