Occupy Wall Street Explained


This decades old Calvin and Hobbes comic strip perfectly and succinctly explains the Occupy Wall Street movement.


Evolution of Apple Ads


Print ads from 1975 to 2002.


CardSharp


It’s a credit card sized and shaped when folded up, and a pocket knife when open. I love designs like this. via @thecurtain


Online Checkout - in Real Life


Yes, it’s a Google Analytics commercial, but it makes a really good point.


Quantum Levitation


This made my head asplode.


How to Move VirtualBox Guest Hard Drives


The guest hard drive created by VirtualBox to house each guest operating system is rather large. If you want to move this directory to another location on your system to regain space, here’s how.

Locate the VirtualBox Configuration XML file

VirtualBox stores information about guest operating systems and the setup of your VirtualBox installation in a file called VirtualBox.xml. On Mac OS X this file is located in the system Library folder: /Library/VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml. On most Linux distributions it is located in ~/.VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml.

Note that VirtualBox doesn’t expect you to edit this file manually. The comment block opening the XML file indicates you should use the VBoxMange command line tool or the VirtualBox Manager GUI to make changes to this file. Edit the XML file at your own risk. Make a backup first. You must stop all VirtualBox guests, and quit VirtualBox before manually editing this file. Otherwise when you quit VirtualBox it will overwrite your changes.

Edit the VirtualBox Configuration XML file

Use your favorite editor to edit the XML file. Locate the <MachineRegistry> block in the file. This is where the location of each guest OS is specified. On my Mac OS X system, each entry looks something like this:

`<MachineEntry uuid="{52dd04ba-a6e6-498c-9f9e-b3435a51ef3c}" src=/Users/mark/VirtualBox VMs/Ubuntu/Ubunt.vbox"/>`

Change the src parameter to point to the new location. Save the XML file.

Move the Guest OS directory

Move the guest operating system directory, in the example above the Ubuntu/, to the new location.

Start VirtualBox

Start VirtualBox and select the newly moved guest OS and everything should work as before.

In my case I moved six guest operating systems (Windows XP, Windows 7, Ubuntu 10, Ubuntu 11, Xubuntu 11, and Fedora 16) from the SSD drive to a spinning drive on my iMac, freeing up nearly 60 GB of SSD space.


Twenty Eight Years


Twenty-eight years ago today, on October 17, 1983, I started my first full-time programming job after getting out of college. It was for the Illinois Department of Agriculture in Springfield, Illinois. I worked on COBOL programs at first, and then NOMAD2 programs. NOMAD was a 4GL language that ran on IBM’s VM architecture. I was also heavily involved in administering our local mini computer, and IBM 8100. It was a good job, and one that I still have fond memories of.

A tremendous amount has changed and happened since then, both profressionally and personally. One thing that hasn’t changed is my love for computers, and my love for working with them every day.

In twenty-eight years I’ll be 78 and hopefully retired from working. I suspect that computers will still be an important part of my daily life even then. What will be fascinating to me, is to see what shape and form computers and our interaction with them will be like in twenty-eight years. The first programs I wrote more than thirty years ago in high school existed on optical scan cards and paper tape. Today I carry two or three computers with me nearly everywhere I go. Who knows what another three decades will bring.


Vim Shortcuts


The creation of this link posting was made using some of these shortcuts.


New Programming Language Checklist


Not that you would have time to keep up with the near daily release of some new language to rule them all, but still a useful thing.


Touchscreen Braille Keyboard


Instead of fingers having to find the buttons, the buttons find the fingers. A keyboard for vision impaired people at a fraction of the usual cost.