Animal Update, XFCE, Meetings and Miscellany

[tcpip]

Well, poor Mac the cat has found himself in a cat fight, something which is probably not very good at. He's ended up with a nasty, deep, and infected wound in his head and a temperature over 40 C. We've taken him to Dr. Jack's, who has informed him of his need for surgury (and a necessary bill that runs into several hundred dollars). It is the second animal issue for the week, with the elder Bambi rat passing away quietly; we had been looking after her whilst her owner was in Norfolk Island. Whilst on the topic of rodents, spent a large part of weekend rigging XFCE to work "just right" on a couple of laptops and notebooks at home. One minor annoyance is permanently storing modifications to xmodmap; my left-alt key is broken so I'm linked its functionality with the left super key (aka Windows key), along with modificatons for compose keys etc. Playing with keyboard mappings is, of course, an activity fraught with danger and adventure.

Next Saturday is Software Freedom Day and the formation meeting of the Labor-Green Alliance (FB event page), both terribly exciting for those in that very small intersection which combines technology, freedom, social democracy, and environmentalism. Perhaps it's larger than I give it credit (or marketing) for? On topic, looking forward to the Melbourne Crypto Party later in the month given impending changes to legislation concerning data retention. Finally, put in my nomination for the position of treasurer of the Melbourne Unitarian Church; let's see how that goes.

Robbie C., visited on Saturday, having returned from an epic world tour. We took her for a smaller tour of the Willsmere estate, and had a bit of a chat about her impending speech therapy business. Disappointed to discover that someone had "borrowed" a fine collection of books from the library. Said location will be home to the next session of Horror on the Orient Express this coming Thursday. Last Thursday was a session of Pendragon, mostly around the Battle Terrabil (a PC kill in the opening round, first blow!), and King Arthur's very strange wedding - all as per Malory (which I am still working through). On Friday my review of RuneQuest II was published on rpg.net; today played through another session of Diaspora.

Comments

[reddragdiva]

Yeah, I actually created a startup item that calls xmodmap. A user interface to the various X options is in the class "things no-one's written yet", not things they don't want :-)

[tcpip]

Yeah, I actually created a startup item that calls xmodmap

That looks like the extent of it at the moment.

A user interface to the various X options is in the class "things no-one's written yet", not things they don't want :-)

I do recall that GNOME has some mappings UI. I'll have a second look...

[fluffyblanket.livejournal.com]

Poor puss ! And very poor you if you have to foot the bill for his treatment !

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Well, the reality is that animals cost at least the same, and if not more, than human when they need medical treatment. Novice pet owners are often in bit of shock when they discover such prices, but that's just part of the responsibility.

I'm waiting to see whether Mac will have to wear a "cone of shame".

[caseopaya.livejournal.com]

There is no Medicare for pets

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Supportable only within fairly strict limits. Animal hoarders require their own treatment!