Verbosities

My discoveries and associated ramblings

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Physics freeware at RU
I was at trying to get some work done in a public space, but it was difficult to concentrate with all of the the converstations, annoying music, etc. in the environment. A quick google search found this page, where I picked up a white noise generator. I popped on my headphones and I was able to think again.

There's a lot of other cool acoustic software here as well.

Thursday, April 22, 2004

Magic Mushrooms - Open Source
I don't normally listen to garage band music, but I found this song on a Linux CD (Knoppix 3.3). Besides having really cool lyrics and a catchy tune, the song itself is distributed under the Green OpenMusic license, which is similar to the GPL. The lyrics can be found here.

The link at the top goes to an Ogg Vorbis format file. If you need an mp3 version, click here. Be warned that the mp3 file is a larger download and the quality isn't any better. Also, Ogg Vorbis is a free file format, where mp3 is not. Maybe I need to clarify this a bit. There are plenty of free mp3 encoders and players available, but the mp3 file format still isn't free because it is protected by patents. The Free Software Definition spells it all out. It's also an interesting read.

So is Ogg Vorbis better than mp3 because it's free? No. But it does fit the theme of the song better. :) Besides, Ogg Vorbis is better than mp3 for technical reasons. Compare for yourself.

I think that this is the most hyperlinks that I've put in a blog entry so far. Just in case anyone besides me cares.

Sunday, April 18, 2004

vim
The world's greatest text editor. I especially like the GUI version. I bet that there's not a person alive who knows every feature of vim. Even if you only learn how to use a small number of them, you will be hooked. This program is especially good for editing programs because of how it supports indenting and coloring.