LinuxLefty's personal blog

We're Moving

As Laura and I will be married on April 17th, 2007, we are shutting down our blogs and combining them in a new website: http://naud.us . Quite a cleaver name if I say so myself

You can mosey over and check out Peter Naudus and Laura Naudus' Personal Website or if you still want to read a blog you can check out the Blog for Peter Naudus and Laura Naudus.

Sometimes the best (and easiest things) in life are free...

Recently, I've started listening to audio Bibles in the morning as I get ready for class and then at night as I'm drifting off to sleep. The Bible says we should meditate as we rise up, walk along the way, and as we fall asleep, so I'm trying to do that.

I found the EXTLINK:@http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Product/ProductDetail.htm?ProdID=com.zondervan.9780310918639&QueryStringSite=Zondervan | NIV Audio Bible Dramatized@ which looked like an awesome audio Bible. So, I scoured the Internet trying to find a place where I could purchase a mp3 version. Zondervan has an mp3 CD version but that's not what I'm looking for. Since I'm currently in China anything involving shipping is a bad idea. Of course there where tons of places that I could download it via torrents, but I decided to be good and press on looking for a place to purchase it.

Finally, I saw that Audible was a incensed reseller of Zondervan material and had the audio Bible. It was normally $41.99, but Audible had a special deal where if you signed up for the Gold membership of $7.99/month you got one free audio book/month. So I plunked down my $7.99 and then used my one free audio book purchase to get the audio Bible.

With Audible, you can't just download the audio books, you have to use their special downloader (which of course there is no Linux version). No problem, says I, WINE comes to the rescue!! After fighting with wine, I finally get the Audible downloader installed and happily add the first audio book. Problem #1 was that it was in an encrypted format that Linux couldn't play. I could have used the Audible downloader to export to an mp3 or burn it to a virtual CD and then rip it, or try to find some kind of converter. But, there are like 4 books of the Bible per audio file, which is rather dumb. I like to listen to one chapter at a time, not 4 books of the Bible / time. I could have fired up Audacity and then cut the file into chapters ... but that would have taken FOREVER.

So what did I do? I did what I was tempted to do in the first place: download them from bittorrent. Not only did they come in MP3 format, but also every chapter had its own mp3 file and they were nicely grouped together in folders by book of the Bible. Some people might frown at the "illegal" activity. However, I payed for the book, they make it impossibly complicated, I dumped them and did it my own way. It made me wonder, though... why I even bothered to give them money since I just wasted a lot of time and ended up just download it on bittorrent.

When will company's learn DRM kills? Just let me use the data I bought, for crying out loud.

~Peter

Team Day!

Every break, we try to have a team day where the Chinese staff and theAmerican facilitators get together to hang out. This break, I was incharge of organizing the team day. First, we went into town for muttonsticks. Afterwards we had good 'ol American-style ice cream Sundays.

Mmmm.... ice cream!

Continue reading "Team Day!"

Freaking Huge URL Generator

For quite a long time I've used EXTLINK:@http://www.tinyurl.com|TinyURL@ to take very long links and make them tiny.

However, some crazy guy decided to create something on the opposite extreme: the EXTLINK:@http://www.freakinghugeurl.com/index.php|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

Five Things I Want to do Before I Die

WRITING_PROMPT:@List five things to do before you die. | Plinky@

See that I'm leaving the world better than I found it
Get married
See my kids making a difference in the world
Make a real, lasting difference in at least 50 people's lives
visit Alaska and Europe

Get Email Updates!!

My blog already has an RSSfeed so that if you have a EXTLINK:@http://www.feedreader.com/|downloaded RSS reader@ or an EXTLINK:@http://www.google.com/reader/view/|online RSS reader@ you cansubscribe to my blog's feed.

However, if you prefer to get email updates of my blog, you can use EXTLINK:@http://www.feedmyinbox.com|Feed My Inbox@ which will send you anemail every time I post a new entry on my blog. To sign up, simply usethe form below:

Blog Upgraded!

EXTLINK:@http://www.s9y.org| Serendipity@ came out with several newversions since I last upgraded. I have some down time so I went aheadand upgraded to the latest version I went from version 1.3 to 1.4.1. Yay!

It went fairly smoothly. I had to reinstall some plugins and put back insome of my custom hacks. I keep those all in external files so it wasfairly simple. Let me know if anything is wonky.

Lies

WRITING_PROMPT:@Write about a lie you told to someone else, or to yourself|The One-Minute Writer@

Lies are a particular thing. When close to a lie, it can be almost impossible to spot the lie as it is alarmingly intertwined with every fiber of life. However, it can be easily and quickly spotted by those removed.

The biggest lie that I have struggled with is the lie that "what is done in private will only affect you." Of all the lies that people struggle with, this is the most dangerous and deadly. When buying into this lie I have gotten into more trouble than any other. That is why I always need to remember that sin is always sin and it will always affect everyone around me.

Because It's There!

Sometimes this is how I feel about my work in China. Sometimes I ask myself, why am I here? Why did I give up a good job with a good future to come to China and help sometimes-no-so-cooperative students? Why am I sorting and counting hundreds of pieces of paper in preparation for the next session? And then the answer comes. It's because I might have the opportunity to make an impact in the student's life here and for all eternity. That's why I'm here.

Winner, Loser

WRITING_PROMPT:@Write a brief, fictional piece about someone winning, someone losing, or both|The One-Minute Writer@

His face was locked in a concentrated stare as he focused all of his energies on the ten pins silently standing at the end of the lane, awaiting and certain and swift demise: almost like prisoners standing before a firing squad. Taking a deep breath, Frank's 235 pound frame slowly eased into motion as the ball was gently and purposefully drawn back, cocked and ready for action. Then exhaling, his body fluidly began propelling itself forward; arms, legs and torso all working together to provide a maximum velocity. As Frank reached the foul line, he released the ball, his body straining to give it one last bit of energy.

Upon the release, a satisfied grin crept over Frank's face. It had been a good night. With five straight strikes in a row, his luck was strong tonight and he felt confident that this bowl was a winner. The ball crashed into the pins, sending pins sprawling in every direction. All the pins had been decimated, racking up yet another strike. Frank performed his victory dance and raised his hands to high-five his onlooking friends. The fires of his enthusiasm were quickly doused with the apathetic glazes of his friends. One of friends put his arm around Frank and said soothingly, "Frank, we're happy for you, we really are. Maybe tomorrow you can play without the bumper guards!". Frank sighed.... baby steps; baby steps....

Plinky!

The other day I found out about EXTLINK:@http://www.plinky.com/|Plinky@, a service that sends you a daily writing prompt. It can also link into various different social networks. However, I just use it for its EXTLINK:@http://www.plinky.com/prompts|writing prompts@. Hopefully this will get me to practice / improve my writing and I can blog more! I created a new "musings" category and I'll be putting all my writing from Plinky in there

EDIT:

I also found the EXTLINK:@http://oneminutewriter.blogspot.com/|One Minute Writer@. I'll be using both of these. I can take one minute every day to improve my writing

Special Projects and Coffee Hour

The students with the lowest English levels go to special projects so that they can be in a smaller class and more personalized attention. I am teaching special projects and I've been really enjoying it. Today we went over body parts and the students practiced tagging each other and labeling each other's body parts. It was a lot of fun

Today we also had coffee hour where we invite the students over to the teacher dorm for coffee and time to visit. Here is a picture that I took of Laura's class

Praise and Prayer

I had a good conversation with a student today at dinner. He was talking about the Olympics and mentioned the Beijing Olympic slogan of "One world, One dream". I asked him what the world's one dream was. We talked for quite a while and he told me that I have a lot of wisdom. I told him the source of all my wisdom.

I have one prayer request: please pray that I have a good attitude about things. God reminded me that every moment is a choice. Everything that happens to me I have a choice on how to respond to it. Please pray that I will choose to have a positive attitude. Thanks!!!

Teaching Science Club

Every weekday night during a TIP session, we have clubs. This gives thestudents a chance to focus on a particular subject and learn vocabularypertaining that subject. I usually teach Science club . When I firststarted TIP, the clubs were 5 days, but they have now been boiled downto three days to allow the students to go through more clubs.

Here is my usual lesson plan:

Day 1: Robots - We watch clips of robots and discuss various facets ofrobotics
Day 2: Robots (again) - The students design their own robot andpresent it to the class
Day 3: Bridges - The students build a bridge using chopsticks and thenwe see which bridge can hold the most books

Most of the students that come to Science Club don't like science andthink science is boring. But many of the students leave having a renewedinterest in science

Here are some photos that I took from last week's Science Club

China is not for tall people

At the school there is a stairway with a low clearance. I need to duck every time so I don't beam myself in the head! Check out how low the ceiling is!!!