Daniel Von Fange

Spotlight from the command line.

You can use Apple's Spotlight searching feature from the command line. Want a list of all audio files on your computer that are longer than 40 seconds? Open up the terminal and run:

mdfind "kMDItemContentTypeTree == 'public.audio' && kMDItemDurationSeconds > 40"

Want to read a file's spotlight metadata? Run:

mdls yourfile.mp3

It looks like you can find out more in this Macworld article.

Chinese Underground.

I think a Western community organizer, if he were candid, would have to say that whoever these Chinese underground dudes are, they are in the top rank. It's one thing to coordinate a pyro attack on a Starbucks Cafe in Seattle hoping to be carted away by fascist pig American policemen in the strobe effect of a dozen flashbulbs. That's only playing at organizing. It's another thing to sneak around in southern China against security forces that have never heard of the McCain Amendment and to stand fast against live ammo. That's the real thing.

-- Belmont Club on Chinese Agricultural protests

In China, if you are one in a million, there are 1,306 people just like you. The population is huge. The odds of having somebody with natural knack of staying alive and poking the government hard are pretty good. Lech Walesa was an electrician. Mao Zedong was born in a small farm village.

Here's to the guy who leads the toppling of the most bloody government still in existence today.

BzFlag.

I keep getting addicted to free games. Once I realize I've hit the point of madness, I drag the game into the trash bin and empty the trash. Then a week later I pick up another game, and it starts all over again.

Usually, I'm pretty competent at the things I do. (I do things I enjoy, and with enjoyment comes practice, and with practice comes skill.) And I'm fairly good at games. So when I downloaded BzFlag, an online first person tank game, I was just subconsciously expecting to do well. I started out on the bottom of the score list. No surprise there.

But after weeks of playing, I was still at the bottom of the score list. I stank. I would get killed three or four times before even getting a shot off. I'd press the home key, to look at stats and my accuracy would be the lowest in the server.

This much skillessness was unheard of. I couldn't stand seeing "Brains", my game nickname on the bottom of the list all the time. I did something I have never done since I first played online - I changed my nickname. "Wallace" was what I came up with, and as "Wallace", I continued to dominate last place.

Until three days ago. With no warning, I found myself in second place. Then several times I've been on top of the score list.

Then randomly, I'm back to doing poorly. Oh well, the change was nice for a while.

Operation Christmas Child.

I volunteered an evening again this year at the Operation Christmas Child processing center in Charlotte. The Charlotte center will sort, inspect, and pack 1.2 million gift filled shoeboxes in less than a month.

Squirrel.

Nothing like a squirrel next to the porch to brighten your morning.