Quiqi is a greasemonkey script and firefox plugin which shows you quick answers to your search queries inline and unobtrusively in Google searches. Quick answers are provided by users, editable by anyone.

Some example answers (so far mostly answers to programming questions):

ruby string to int -> str.to_i
apt-get ab -> apt-get install apache2-utils
jquery checkbox status -> .is(\’:checked\’)
js string to int -> parseInt(str)
usb 2 speed -> 480Mbps
javascript array copy -> new_copy = original.slice()
php referrer -> $_SERVER[‘HTTP_REFERER’]
water couscous -> 1 1/2:1 water to couscous
when to plant thyme -> outside: 2 weeks after average last frost or when soil is ≥ 70° inside: 8 weeks before last frost
error: ‘memcpy’ was not declared in this scope -> #include

And an example screen shot. Notice how the answer isn’t provided in the excerpted content.

Fix: create empty file: appname/appname/controllers/init.py

Anytime I tried to load a page in my pylons app, I received the error message: ImportError: No module named controllers.index I had just deleted all of the .pyc files because I was getting wrong magic number errors, and somehow this problem resulted.

I have a Dell Inspiron 1520 which started to get a whining noise right under the DELL logo below the screen right in the middle. It would change pitch depending on how bright the screen was set at. I replaced the inverter which cost me $15 on ebay. The process was fairly simple but I took more things apart and made things generally more difficult on myself than I needed. Here is the most simple way to repair your inverter on a Dell 1520 Inspiron laptop.

• Remove the plate covering the power button and numlock/capslock keys. This can be done by twisting a screwdriver under the little slot on the top right hand side of the cover.
• Remove the frame around the screen. Do this by removing the 6 little pads and and stickers covering the screws to remove the frame from the screen. There is one in each of the corners and two near the center/top. Unscrew these screws. To remove the screen cover frame you will need to twist and pry a little bit near the hinges. Don’t be afraid it does require some force.
  Once it is removed it should look like this:

• With the frame off, remove the screws holding the screen to the lid. There are some that screw down from the top and other that screw into the side of the screen, just look around. Next, remove a couple screws holding the microphone/webcam board above the very top of the screen. This will allow you to safely move the entire screen and get to the inverter. Once you have done this, you can open your laptop lid all of the way so it is almost flat and move the screen and webcam board so they are flat on the keyboard. It should look like this:
  

• Replace the Inverter. At this point you should be able to easily get to the inverter which is between the hinges below the screen. There are two cables to unplug. One has a blue ribbon to pull on and the other a white connector to pull out.

• Once you’ve switched them out, put everything back together and you’re done.

It took me a long time to realize that if I removed the screws to the microphone/webcam board it would move with the screen which led to lots of problems trying to get to the inverter while the screen was still attached to the lid. That is really the only trick.

Good luck!

Ubuntu 8.04 has pyclutter 0.6.2 in the repositories while the current stable version is 0.8.2. Here is how I installed pyclutter 0.8.2 with all of the extra available libraries (gtk, gst, cairo):

download:

• pyclutter-0.8.2
• clutter-0.8.4
• clutter-gst-0.8.0
• clutter-cairo-0.8.2
• clutter-gtk-0.8.2

also make sure you have python-cairo-dev libgstreamer0.10-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-dev installed. There may be more required, but these were the only ones I didn’t already have installed.

For some reason I had to configure all of these libraries with –prefix /usr to get pycluster to see all of them.

Also, configure pycluster with –enable-docs if you want any documentation.

have fun!

Here is my obligatory Hello World post. I’ve been working on a web project which I have been hoping would have a facet facing the web as my blog. In the meantime, this conventionally coded and maintained blog is running wordpress.

Couscous is not grown. Couscous is made of wheat, and traditionally rolled by hand for days before being sun dried for months. doh

I just went out to see the newly poured foundation, which was great. Shaina was worried that it wasn’t the right size, and there was some confusion earlier due to Tip’s drawing. It indicated that the foundation should be 23’ 6” long instead of 27’ long. 23’ 6” is the correct interior length, but it was marked on the drawing as the exterior length. I measured the finished foundation and everything was the right size. The only reason we caught this was because my dad and I had staked out the corners of the foundation earlier using the correct dimensions, and the guys pouring the foundation noticed and asked about the discrepancy. I did find out that the sewer pipe was placed inside the west wall instead of the east wall. Not good. Its sticking up right where the door is supposed to go … not sure what to do about it yet, waiting to hear back from Tip …

simple rules that ants follow create emergant behavior which is the ant colony

simple rules that people follow create emergant behavior which is the society and culture

simple rules that the universe follows creates emergant behavior which is ???

Feeling down about doing what you love?

watch this

Last night, Nate and I were able to sucessfully and intuitively control up to 3 or 4 individual drums based on different sounds vocalized into a mic. The bass drum would play when ‘oooh’ was sung, a snare when ‘eee’ was sung and a cymbal when ‘aaah’ was sung. There are still some kinks in the system, but as a proof of concept, it works fairly well. The mapping between input sound and MIDI event are learned in real time so you are not restricted to different vowel sounds. The 3 distinguishing sounds could have just as easily been a clap, growl and whistle. The code: fftknn.