Happy Birthday Ian! You're 6 Years Old Today :)

Hey There,

This post is dedicated to my son, Ian, who just turned 6 today (well, actually yesterday, but - as most regular readers know - I publish a day in advance. Makes life confusing sometimes ;)

The ASCII art I used as an inspiration for the scripts below was, again, grabbed from Joan Stark's ASCII Art Gallery, which is a great place to find quality ASCII art for almost any occasion.

The second bash script below, as usual, contains X's where spaces should be, so you don't get a bad pull from a copy/paste off of the web page.

Not much more to say except:

Click the greeting below to see it in IMAX ;)



Cheers,





This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

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#!/bin/bash

#
# ibday.sh - Happy Birthday Ian!
#
# 2009 - Mike Golvach - eggi@comcast.net
#
# Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
#

echo -ne "\n           ~                  ~\n     *                   *                *       *\n                  *               *\n  ~       *                *         ~    *          \n              *       ~        *              *   ~\n                  )         (         )              *\n    *    ~       (_)       (_)       (_)    *\n           *      # )     ) #       ( #           *\n              _ .-#(_)- -(_)# - - -(_)#-. _    \n  *         .'    # #     # #       # #    \`.   ~     *\n           :        #     #         #        :   \n    ~      :.       #     #         #       .:      *\n        *  | \`-.__                     __.-' | *\n           |      \`\`\`\`\`\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\`\`\`\`\`      |         *\n     *     |         | ||\ |~)|~)\ /         |    \n           |         |~||~\|~ |~  |          |       ~\n   ~   *   |                                 | * \n           |      |~)||~)~|~| ||~\|\ \ /     |         *\n   *    _.-|      |~)||~\ | |~|| /|~\ |      |-._  \n      .'   '.      ~            ~           .'   \`.  *\n  jgs :      \`-.__                     __.-'      :\n       \`.         \`\`\`\`\`\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\`\`\`\`\`         .'\n         \`-.._                             _..-'\n              \`\`\`\`\`\"\"\"\"-----------\"\"\"\"\`\`\`\`\`\n\n           #     #\n           #     #    ##    #####   #####    #   #\n           #     #   #  #   #    #  #    #    # #\n           #######  #    #  #    #  #    #     #\n           #     #  ######  #####   #####      #\n           #     #  #    #  #       #          #\n           #     #  #    #  #       #          #\n     \n   ######\n   #     #     #    #####    #####  #    #  #####     ##     #   #\n   #     #     #    #    #     #    #    #  #    #   #  #     # #\n   ######      #    #    #     #    ######  #    #  #    #     #\n   #     #     #    #####      #    #    #  #    #  ######     #\n   #     #     #    #   #      #    #    #  #    #  #    #     #\n   ######      #    #    #     #    #    #  #####   #    #     #\n     \n               ###      #    #     #\n                #      # #   ##    #\n                #     #   #  # #   #\n                #    #     # #  #  #\n                #    ####### #   # #\n                #    #     # #    ##\n               ###   #     # #     #\n     \n                      #   #\n                     ### ###\n                      #   #\n                 \n                     #     #\n                     #     #\n                      #   #\n                       ###\n"

---

#!/bin/bash

#
# xbday.sh - Happy Birthday Ian!
#
# 2009 - Mike Golvach - eggi@comcast.net
#
# Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
#

echo -ne "\nXXXXXXXXXXX~XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX~\nXXXXX*XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX*XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX*XXXXXXX*\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX*XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX*\nXX~XXXXXXX*XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX*XXXXXXXXX~XXXX*XXXXXXXXXX\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXX*XXXXXXX~XXXXXXXX*XXXXXXXXXXXXXX*XXX~\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX)XXXXXXXXX(XXXXXXXXX)XXXXXXXXXXXXXX*\nXXXX*XXXX~XXXXXXX(_)XXXXXXX(_)XXXXXXX(_)XXXX*\nXXXXXXXXXXX*XXXXXX#X)XXXXX)X#XXXXXXX(X#XXXXXXXXXXX*\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_X.-#(_)-X-(_)#X-X-X-(_)#-.X_XXXX\nXX*XXXXXXXXX.'XXXX#X#XXXXX#X#XXXXXXX#X#XXXX\`.XXX~XXXXX*\nXXXXXXXXXXX:XXXXXXXX#XXXXX#XXXXXXXXX#XXXXXXXX:XXX\nXXXX~XXXXXX:.XXXXXXX#XXXXX#XXXXXXXXX#XXXXXXX.:XXXXXX*\nXXXXXXXX*XX|X\`-.__XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX__.-'X|X*\nXXXXXXXXXXX|XXXXXX\`\`\`\`\`\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\`\`\`\`\`XXXXXX|XXXXXXXXX*\nXXXXX*XXXXX|XXXXXXXXX|X||\X|~)|~)\X/XXXXXXXXX|XXXX\nXXXXXXXXXXX|XXXXXXXXX|~||~\|~X|~XX|XXXXXXXXXX|XXXXXXX~\nXXX~XXX*XXX|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX|X*X\nXXXXXXXXXXX|XXXXXX|~)||~)~|~|X||~\|\X\X/XXXXX|XXXXXXXXX*\nXXX*XXXX_.-|XXXXXX|~)||~\X|X|~||X/|~\X|XXXXXX|-._XX\nXXXXXX.'XXX'.XXXXXX~XXXXXXXXXXXX~XXXXXXXXXXX.'XXX\`.XX*\nXXjgsX:XXXXXX\`-.__XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX__.-'XXXXXX:\nXXXXXXX\`.XXXXXXXXX\`\`\`\`\`\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\`\`\`\`\`XXXXXXXXX.'\nXXXXXXXXX\`-.._XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_..-'\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXX\`\`\`\`\`\"\"\"\"-----------\"\"\"\"\`\`\`\`\`\n\nXXXXXXXXXXX#XXXXX#\nXXXXXXXXXXX#XXXXX#XXXX##XXXX#####XXX#####XXXX#XXX#\nXXXXXXXXXXX#XXXXX#XXX#XX#XXX#XXXX#XX#XXXX#XXXX#X#\nXXXXXXXXXXX#######XX#XXXX#XX#XXXX#XX#XXXX#XXXXX#\nXXXXXXXXXXX#XXXXX#XX######XX#####XXX#####XXXXXX#\nXXXXXXXXXXX#XXXXX#XX#XXXX#XX#XXXXXXX#XXXXXXXXXX#\nXXXXXXXXXXX#XXXXX#XX#XXXX#XX#XXXXXXX#XXXXXXXXXX#\nXXXXX\nXXX######\nXXX#XXXXX#XXXXX#XXXX#####XXXX#####XX#XXXX#XX#####XXXXX##XXXXX#XXX#\nXXX#XXXXX#XXXXX#XXXX#XXXX#XXXXX#XXXX#XXXX#XX#XXXX#XXX#XX#XXXXX#X#\nXXX######XXXXXX#XXXX#XXXX#XXXXX#XXXX######XX#XXXX#XX#XXXX#XXXXX#\nXXX#XXXXX#XXXXX#XXXX#####XXXXXX#XXXX#XXXX#XX#XXXX#XX######XXXXX#\nXXX#XXXXX#XXXXX#XXXX#XXX#XXXXXX#XXXX#XXXX#XX#XXXX#XX#XXXX#XXXXX#\nXXX######XXXXXX#XXXX#XXXX#XXXXX#XXXX#XXXX#XX#####XXX#XXXX#XXXXX#\nXXXXX\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX###XXXXXX#XXXX#XXXXX#\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX#XXXXXX#X#XXX##XXXX#\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX#XXXXX#XXX#XX#X#XXX#\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX#XXXX#XXXXX#X#XX#XX#\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX#XXXX#######X#XXX#X#\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX#XXXX#XXXXX#X#XXXX##\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX###XXX#XXXXX#X#XXXXX#\nXXXXX\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX#XXX#\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX###X###\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX#XXX#\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX#XXXXX#\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX#XXXXX#\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX#XXX#\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX###\n"

---

, Mike

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Happy Birthday To My Wife: Firefox Spotted In Outer Space

Hey there,

Today's post is dedicated to my wife, who shall remain ageless ;)

These photos are actually from about a year ago, when we were just starting this blog and the rest of my family ceased to exist for a little while :) You can check out the original post on blog.wired.com, but I've included the entire post here (minus the surrounding link-love logos) Her birthday was actually yesterday, if you put any stock in the date stamp on these posts ;)

Happy **th birthday, sweety :) (Her actual age has been removed to protect the innocent... who am I kidding. I'm guilty as Hell ;)

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Firefox Logo Spied In Deep Space

By Charlie Sorrel April 11, 2008 | 6:43:02 AMCategories: Elsewhere in the Tubes  

One of these is a photograph taken by the Hubble space telescope on December 17, 2002, featuring the variable star V838 Monocerotis. The other is the same photograph overlaid with a familiar logo. Can you tell which is which?

Below is another photo of the same star, from the Wikipedia entry on V838 Monocerotis. If the above photo has been photoshopped to look more like the Firefox logo, the editing seems minimal: it's been rotated relative to the photo below, and some of the gas cloud may have been edited out around the "tail" of the fox.

If you've got a link to the original Hubble photo used above, let us know in the comments so we can compare. UPDATE: An eagle-eyed commenter, Wevah, spotted the original version of the Firefox-like nova photo on Wikipedia. It looks like the only modification was to rotate the image. It must be a sign from the stars!

Firefox logo spotted in deep space by the Hubble Telescope

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, Mike

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Happy New Year! Unix and Linux Resolutions.

Good morning/afternoon/evening... is it January 2nd already?!?!?!?!

Today's bit of humour might help you shake off the hair-of-the-dog that you (if you're like me) are completely covered in by now. It's oddly amusing that New Year's Day (we're not counting however long you made it past midnight yesterday ;) is generally composed of a confusing and awkward hangover coupled with a nagging half-memory of something really stupid you promised to do this year (probably something beneficial and good-for-you... when will you ever learn ;)

The beauty of the New Year's resolution is that no one ever really expects you to keep it. I can't tell you how many people promised to quit smoking in 2009, at the party I attended last night, proceeded to light up within 5 minutes of midnight and got away with it scot-free. It's not that the information is classified, I just don't remember all that well. One of them may have been me ;) In any event, the life of a New Year's resolution (from my experience) usually plays out like this:

1. An inebriated promise/vow/declaration is made at some time before midnight (local time zone) regarding quitting a really bad habit or, conversely, working to form a really good one.

2. Within the half hour previous to midnight on New Year's Eve, this promise is made again, at least once. Often, the pronouncement is backed up by some form of peacocking and/or strangely primal mammalian behaviour ;)

3. About 5 minutes after midnight, on New Year's Day, the resolution is broken. All is not lost, however, due to an unwritten rule of universal law (Jim Beam's 67th Time-Space Assertion) which actually redefines the strict rules of linear time by allowing for the previous year to continue until the person who invokes the rule either falls asleep or passes out. Many people don't know this (and they'll never teach it in our public schools), but this is the real reason there are 365.25 days in a year, give or take. The concept of the leap year (along with all of its Byzantine provisions), and every calendar ever widely used, was invented as a way to keep from traumatizing our youth and instilling a sense of order in a universe powered by chaos but inhabited by "intelligent" life. I understand that most human beings need order and/or a sense of purpose in order to justify the "sanctity of life" they, out of necessity, hold so dear (except for the life of "pesky critters" and animals that taste good ;), but you must always consider that your God is probably still rolling on the floor laughing about how a simple brain-tweak that allowed you to realize you exist is "still" messing with your thought process, giving you a false sense of security in your species' superiority and causing you to exponentially waste more and more of your life philosophizing. I'm kidding, of course... Your God doesn't have a sense of humor anymore. He's been around a long long long time and he's well beyond bitter at this point ;)

4. The next day, the resolution is broken again, although, this time, after several minutes of nagging self doubt and an occasional burst of enthusiasm or really positive thought that's inevitably trampled under foot.

5. Lather, rinse, repeat ;)

Seriously, I hope you have a great New Year and keep at least one resolution (one of the good ones :) - Worst case, you can exercise your right to be a better person, quit a bad habit, start a good habit, etc, any day of the year. Once the year's freshness seal has been cracked, the year may be old, but any day is just as good a day as any :)

Happy New Year, everyone!

BTW: See this post if you're curious to know how I feel about computer-illiterate people referring to us all as geeks and play a fun little bloody Ninja penguin game to go with that Bloody Mary. Kill your headache and some virtual corporate goons at the same time :)

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From GeekOfTheDay.com

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Geek New Year's Resolutions

The upcoming new holds much hope and promise, and like everyone else, geeks have their own goals to meet . When it comes down to it, aren't that much different than regular, ordinary people. Right? Geek New Year's Resolution List 1. Promise to install Linux on: Portable DVD player; Timex Ironman watch; Talking Santa; House arrest ankle bracelet 2. Learn to identify all O'Reilly books just by animal on cover 3. Remember Pi to at least 12 more decimal points 4. Finish writing thesis on Silly String theory 5. Establish skin re-pigmentation process using mild solar radiation exposures (ie. get out more) 6. Market own brand of open source Cola with triple-caffeine 7. Start another rally outside Paramount about reviving Star Trek franchises--this time without the massacre of ten thousand baby tribbles 8. Master control of three "World of Warcraft" characters simultaneously 9. Buy every copy of The Butterfly Effect 2 from Blockbuster Video and place in time capsule for me to find when I'm older 10. Appeal restraining orders from Geri Ryan, Jolene Blalock, and, um, Nichelle Nichols

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, Mike

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Happy Holidays - More ASCII Art

Happy Holidays to you all and Merry Christmas To Some Of You :)

Not much more needs to be said. I hope that you, like me, are spending some time with family and friends or, at least, writing a festive shell script ;)

As usual, click the picture below and it will appear larger than it is!




Cheers,

NOTE: ASCII art copy write "Joan Stark" from her ASCII Art Christmas page

echo -ne "\n"
echo -ne "      |   | .  , |_  . ,_       \_/ _,_,     |__) _  _   _  _   /  \,_\n"
echo -ne "      |_|_|_|_/_)| |_|_| |_\_|   | (_) |_|_  |  _(/_(_|_(__(/_  \__/| |_\n"
echo -ne "                          __/\n"
echo -ne "   __                              ___\n"
echo -ne "  (_  _  ,_-|-|_     _  ,_   _|     | ,_    \_/ _,_,   ,_    |__|  _  _  ,_-|-\n"
echo -ne "  (__(_|_|(_|_| |_  (_|_| |_(_|_   _|_| |_   | (_) |_|_|(_   |  |_(/_(_|_|(_|_\n"
echo -ne "\n"
echo -ne "                                                      _..._\n"
echo -ne "                                            _..._   .'  _  '.\n"
echo -ne "                                          .'  _  './   (a) .-'-.\n"
echo -ne "                                         /   (e) .-'-.     '-,-'\`\n"
echo -ne "                                         |      '-,--'\`     /\n"
echo -ne "                                         ;       / ;       |\n"
echo -ne "        _                                /       |/       .\    _\n"
echo -ne "       (_\                          __..;__      \        ::\ ,/_)._\n"
echo -ne "        _;\;\`\`\"\"----...___...---:\"\`\`  .-'_ \`'.    \        '::.()\__)\n"
echo -ne "     (\())(\`._'- \`-._  ,:-\"    '.    '.    -  :    ;        '::\--;__\n"
echo -ne "       _\()\`''----...__ \`-._    '-.    '._   .'    |        .:::|()\_)\n"
echo -ne "      (_/\`;-. jgs _  ()\`-.  \`\"\"--...____..-'\`      ;_       .:::| \`.\n"
echo -ne "           \_) _;/_)/).;()'._              (\`\.-();/_).__  .::::/().-./\`)\n"
echo -ne "              (_\\\`;(()(_/(()/(.        __.--;();\`\_)()\__) .::()--;__:()\n"
echo -ne "                 '-;---()_;\_/()\"-._  (_/ (/ /()';();--._\_::'\`.();\_)\`\n"
echo -ne "                  ,()   (_.-(); \._ \`\`\"\"(_.();_().(\`\.-();__)\`(_/ \`--.__\n"
echo -ne "                 (_/       (_/() \_)     __/(_/|\();__\_)\`            \_)\n"
echo -ne "                             \`          (_/    \_)\`-._);\n"

, Mike

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Happy Thanksgiving - Unix/Linux ASCII Art

Happy Turkey Day!

Here's hoping you're all enjoying a day off of work, have nothing whatsoever to do and fully plan on doing it ;)

Below, a little ASCII art script that should run on any Linux or Unix distro. I don't know who created the original ASCII picture and I give credit to whomever it was. If this is your turkey, send me an email and I'll be happy to credit you with the catch!

Happy Thanksgiving and take care :)

Click below to see this gobbler super-sized ;)



...and click here to download the script just in case Blogspot completely destroys all the spacing or any special characters. We put the entire picture in one echo statement in a celebration of whatever anniversary of security through obfuscation this is.

May you be blessed enough to realize all you have to be thankful for.

#!/bin/bash

#
# htg.sh - Happy Thanksgiving :)
#

echo -e "\n                              ,+*^^*+___+++_\n                         ,*^^^^              )\n                      _+*                     ^**+_\n                    +^       _ _++*+_+++_,         )\n        _+^^*+_    (     ,+*^ ^          \+_        )\n       {       )  (    ,(    ,_+--+--,      ^)      ^\\n      { (@)    } f   ,(  ,+-^ __*_*_  ^^\_   ^\       )\n     {:;-/    (_+*-+^^^^^+*+*<_ _++_)_    )    )      /\n    ( /  (    (        ,___    ^*+_+* )   <    <      \\n     U _/     )    *--<  ) ^\-----++__)   )    )       )\n      (      )  _(^)^^))  )  )\^^^^^))^*+/    /       /\n    (      /  (_))_^)) )  )  ))^^^^^))^^^)__/     +^^\n   (     ,/    (^))^))  )  ) ))^^^^^^^))^^)       _)\n    *+__+*       (_))^)  ) ) ))^^^^^^))^^^^^)____*^\n    \             \_)^)_)) ))^^^^^^^^^^))^^^^)\n     (_             ^\__^^^^^^^^^^^^))^^^^^^^)\n       ^\___            ^\__^^^^^^))^^^^^^^^)\\n            ^^^^^\uuu/^^\uuu/^^^^\^\^\^\^\^\^\^\\n               ___) >____) >___   ^\_\_\_\_\_\_\)\n              ^^^//\\_^^//\\_^       ^(\_\_\_\)\n                ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^\n"
banner happy;banner thanks;banner giving

, Mike

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Happy Labor Day!

Hey There,

Another year has come and gone and, once again, the most counter-intuitive holiday rears its head ;) Today's a day when we celebrate labor by not doing any at all. Probably most comedians have already covered this material extensively, so I'll not tread on sacred ground.

From one Unix/Linux Administrator and User to all folks involved in any sort of labor (even home-makers, who should be making more than all of us. I'll complain about my job sometimes, but when my wife offers to change places with me, I suddenly realize how great I have it :)

To all of you out there:



Please refrain from any sort of menial labor and enjoy your labor day :)

Mike

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