Friday, November 24, 2006

Google Toolbar for Ubuntu Edgy Firefox

I installed ubuntu's Edgy-Eft distribution early this month. I'm very happy with it. But... the Google toolbar wouldn't install in the firefox version that came with the distribution. Firefox would tell me that it wanted plugins compatible with linux-gnu_x86-gcc3.

Happily, it's easy to fix. First, you download the .xpi file. Despite the extension, it's in zip format. Unzip it, and open the file install.rdf and look for where it says

<em:targetPlatform>Linux</em:targetPlatform>

and replace it with

<em:targetPlatform>linux-gnu_x86-gcc3</em:targetPlatform>.

This package is signed, so you also have to delete the signatures for firefox to take it. Just delete the directory called META-INF to erase the signatures.

Finally, zip the contents back into your .xpi file, and point your browser at it. It should install without a problem.

Of course, I disclaim all liability for anything that might happen if there are problems... and while I don't thing the nice people at Google will have a problem with you doing this, I expect they'll also prefer that you keep the modified package to yourself.

I was able to get the Mozex plugin working using a similar method (tell it that it is, in fact, compatible with firefox 2.0.*).

Happy hacking!

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Adventures on the CTA: Snakes on the Train!

I got a new pet yesterday!

Her name is "Mrs. Snake", a seven year old albino corn snake. She is about four feet long, and likes to be worn around people's necks.

I got her from a friend Sylvia who lives in town. I had brought a pillowcase in which to transport her, but Mrs. Snake had climbed into my my shirt when it was time to leave, so I just put on my jacket and headed back to the El.

Walking over to the train, Mrs. Snake started to wonder what was up, so she climbed into my coat sleeve and poked her head out to investigate. It was chilly out, so she didn't to much more than that. I made her go back in when I got on the El, since I wasn't sure what the CTA people would have to say about this. (I did see a guy wearing a ferret in his jacket before, though....)

On the car were a bunch of girls all talking simultaneously on their cell phones, a few people heading back from a late night at work, and some vaguely european-looking guy staring across the car yelling "yummy! yummy!" like he was constipated. (No, I don't know what yelling constipated people sound like. But if you were to tell me that he was constipated, and that that was why he was yelling "yummy! yummy!" on the train, I would admit that this is how I would expect such a person to sound.) The girls on their cell phones would glance his way periodically to make sure that he was content to stay in his own seat while yelling "yummy yummy".

I started to wonder what would happen if Mrs. Snake chose that particular moment to become curious of her surroundings. I decided it would be best not to find out, and made sure she stayed in my coat sleeve for the rest of the ride home. But imagining the scene was a lot of fun.

For her cage, I repaired the cage that G'Kar used to have (G'Kar was my old corn snake, who escaped during my move to Chicago, and is probably now in the sewers, and will grow to be 100 feet long and start eating tourists in Lincoln Park) with the help of some Gorilla Glue ("The strongest glue on the planet!"), and put in some coconut shavings as substrate. She seemed to like the coconut substrate, and burrowed into in almost immediately. I was glad to see that; I want her to like her new home.

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Accent

It's official...

What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Midland

"You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.

The Northeast
The Inland North
The South
Philadelphia
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have?
Take More Quizzes
Looks like they forgot to put the CSS in the "cut this and paste it" part, but basically, the top three bars should be red nearly 3/4 the way across, and all the same length. The rest drop off quite a bit after that. And yes, for those who wondered, I told them that "pin" and "pen" sound the same! :-)