Word Separator (・) in OS X Kotoeri Japanese Input

To separate hiragana, type a slash ('/') and then press enter.

e.g. 日本 = に・ほん

づ ("du" or "dzu") with OS X Kotoeri Japanese Input

To create the kana づ, type "du" rather than "dzu".

e.g. 小包 (こづつみ, parcel)

Knoppmyth Upgrade Trouble

While trying to upgrade my KnoppMyth installation, using apt-get dist-upgrade, I ran into trouble with package conflicts:

# apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
libdrm2
The following packages will be upgraded:
libdrm2
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 215 not upgraded.
335 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B/20.7kB of archives.
After unpacking 16.4kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
Selecting previously deselected package libdrm2.
(Reading database ... 81718 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace libdrm2 2.0.2-0.1 (using .../libdrm2_2.3.0-4_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement libdrm2 ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libdrm2_2.3.0-4_i386.deb (--unpack):
trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/libdrm.so.2.3.0', which is also in package via-drm
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/libdrm2_2.3.0-4_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Attempting a libdrm2 caused a conflict with via-drm, and vice-versa:
#apt-get install libdrm2
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
libdrm2
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 215 not upgraded.
335 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B/20.7kB of archives.
After unpacking 16.4kB of additional disk space will be used.
Selecting previously deselected package libdrm2.
(Reading database ... 81718 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace libdrm2 2.0.2-0.1 (using .../libdrm2_2.3.0-4_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement libdrm2 ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libdrm2_2.3.0-4_i386.deb (--unpack):
trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/libdrm.so.2.3.0', which is also in package via-drm
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/libdrm2_2.3.0-4_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

In the end, the only way to get apt-get back on track was to force one of the two problem packages to install using dpkg. I gave dpkg's -i (install) argument the path to apt's .deb file cache, which I found in the above output (/var/cache/apt...):
dpkg --force-all -i /var/cache/apt/archives/libdrm2_2.3.0-4_i386.deb
(Reading database ... 81718 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace libdrm2 2.0.2-0.1 (using .../libdrm2_2.3.0-4_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement libdrm2 ...
dpkg - warning, overriding problem because --force enabled:
trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/libdrm.so.2.3.0', which is also in package via-drm
dpkg - warning, overriding problem because --force enabled:
trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/libdrm.so.2', which is also in package via-drm
Setting up libdrm2 (2.3.0-4) ...

Now, apt-get install and apt-get upgrade proceed normally.

Snippet Compiler (C#)

SnippetCompiler allows you to quickly compile snippets of code.

Launch VMware Instance at Startup

note that this approach is silly. You should almost certainly be using VMware Server if you need to start VMs at system startup!

A VMware virtual machine can be automatically launched at startup by using VMware's command line parameters and the system Task Scheduler:

Under the Task tab, place the following string into the Run edit box:


"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmware.exe" -x -q "PathToVirtualMachine.vmx"

In the Schedule tab, select "At System Startup" under "Schedule Task".

The next time your machine reboots, a corresponding vmware-vmx.exe process should appear in your Task Manager.

VS2005 Unable to Load Resources

Visual Studio 2005 was unable to load my resource files, always giving me a dialog which said, "Fatal Error RC1107". I found the solution here, which was to add an extra backslash to the last path in the VC++ include directories!

Campwood Software's SourceMonitor code metrics

Campwood Software's SourceMonitor is an excellent tool for estimating code complexity and monitoring it over time.

Best spam subject ever

Subject: Mature women expose their inveterate slutness whoredom and reach down the pants of young boys.

in·vet·er·ate Pronunciation Key (n-vtr-t)
adj.
1. Firmly and long established; deep-rooted: inveterate preferences.
2. Persisting in an ingrained habit; habitual: an inveterate liar. See Synonyms at chronic.

Auto-update Cygwin

This page explains the command line options to run Cygwin's Setup.exe without user intervention. Essentially:

setup.exe -R c:\cygwin -s ftp://your.mirror.com -n -q

Menalto Gallery: Add a description next to each thumbnail in an album

I wanted to display my image description next to its thumbnail. I'm using the Classic theme.

Editing themes/classic/templates/album.tpl, I added an 'else' condition, changing this:

 111  {if !empty($child.summary)}
 112    <p class="giDescription">
 113    {$child.summary|entitytruncate:256|markup}
 114    </p>
 115  {/if}

into this:

 111  {if !empty($child.summary)}
 112    <p class="giDescription">
 113    {$child.summary|entitytruncate:256|markup}
 114    </p>
 115  {else if !empty($child.description)}
 116    <p class="giDescription">
 117      {$child.description|entitytruncate:512|markup}
 118    </p>
 119  {/if}