<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	>

<channel>
	<title>equivocal ramblings</title>
	<atom:link href="http://inactiva.org/journal/feed/rss2/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal</link>
	<description>the occasional journal of kevin francis</description>
	<pubDate>Sun, 26 Oct 2008 08:06:37 +0000</pubDate>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5</generator>
	<language>en</language>
			<item>
		<title>GNOME is Home</title>
		<link>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/10/gnome-is-home/</link>
		<comments>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/10/gnome-is-home/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 26 Oct 2008 08:06:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin Francis</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/?p=125</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dell mailed me my Vista SP1 disc a couple of weeks ago and I decided to take the opportunity to install fresh and see how I liked Vista. Overall it&#8217;s been much better than the initial release of Vista. Things don&#8217;t randomly freeze up (as much) and file operations don&#8217;t randomly take hours to complete [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Dell mailed me my Vista SP1 disc a couple of weeks ago and I decided to take the opportunity to install fresh and see how I liked Vista. Overall it&#8217;s been much better than the initial release of Vista. Things don&#8217;t randomly freeze up (as much) and file operations don&#8217;t randomly take hours to complete for no reason (as much).</p>

<p>Vista is a lot more compatible with my hardware (webcam works, USB drives work faster in general etc.) than Linux is, and this has been nice. Having full syncing with my Sony Ericsson K850i is also nice.</p>

<p>Still, I don&#8217;t feel comfortable using Vista. Whenever I boot into Ubuntu and log in to my GNOME desktop I almost feel a sense of relief. It&#8217;s that same feeling you get when you return home after a vacation. Granted, the vacation might&#8217;ve been just what you needed, it was nice etc. but you still love that you&#8217;re home and that you&#8217;ll be sleeping in your own bed again. That&#8217;s the feeling I get when booting back into GNOME from Vista.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/10/gnome-is-home/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>SonicGear EarPump Headphones</title>
		<link>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/10/sonicgear-earpump-headphones/</link>
		<comments>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/10/sonicgear-earpump-headphones/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 04 Oct 2008 16:50:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin Francis</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/?p=123</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I just bought my first pair of &#8216;noise-isolating&#8217; earbuds today &#8212; SonicGear&#8217;s EarPump. I paid RM 39.90, so I wasn&#8217;t expecting much from them.



I was wrong. The fit is excellent &#8212; with three different sizes of rubber in-ear seals to choose from, and a spare set of the medium seals there&#8217;s something for most ear [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I just bought my first pair of &#8216;noise-isolating&#8217; earbuds today &#8212; <a href="http://www.sonicgear.com.sg/?id=2&amp;pcid=29&amp;pid=200&amp;iid=1331">SonicGear&#8217;s EarPump</a>. I paid RM 39.90, so I wasn&#8217;t expecting much from them.</p>

<p><a href='http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/earpump-earbuds.jpg'><img src="http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/earpump-earbuds-256x300.jpg" alt="SonicGear EarPump Headphones" width="256" height="300" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-124" /></a></p>

<p>I was wrong. The fit is excellent &#8212; with three different sizes of rubber in-ear seals to choose from, and a spare set of the medium seals there&#8217;s something for most ear sizes. In my case, the mediums fit perfectly and comfortably, sealing out most outside noise.</p>

<p>Overall I&#8217;m quite happy with sound reproduction. Treble comes through loud and clear, with bass being a little too far on the restrained side for me. The mid-range is somewhat strong, but that doesn&#8217;t bother me too much. Overall I&#8217;m quite happy with sound reproduction though I wish the bass was a little more defined.</p>

<p>Apart from the headphones and extra seals, the package comes with a carry case which has spare room for a small <em>MP3</em> player; something along the lines of a <em>Creative Zen Stone</em> would fit perfectly in there with the phones.</p>

<p>A serious problem that has emerged after my testing is that the majority of MP3s in my library aren&#8217;t ripped well enough and have a constant background noise to them. My commercially purchased tracks, as well as higher bit-rate rips sound excellent however.</p>

<p>P.S.: I think EarPump sounds like something you&#8217;d rather <em>not</em> have happen to yourself :(</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/10/sonicgear-earpump-headphones/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Deep Character Skills</title>
		<link>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/09/deep-character-skills/</link>
		<comments>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/09/deep-character-skills/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:01:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin Francis</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Brilliance]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Games]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Internet]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/?p=117</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I saw this ad on a gaming website and was rather amused:



Yes, I&#8217;m sure deep character skills are a big part of the game.
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I saw this ad on a gaming website and was rather amused:</p>

<p><a href='http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/deep-character-development.png'><img src="http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/deep-character-development.png" alt="Deep Character Skills" width="300" height="250" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-118" /></a></p>

<p>Yes, I&#8217;m sure <em>deep character skills</em> are a big part of the game.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/09/deep-character-skills/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>On Pain</title>
		<link>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/08/on-pain-2/</link>
		<comments>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/08/on-pain-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:26:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin Francis</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Asides]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/08/on-pain-2/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[

I&#8217;ve learned that even when I have pains, I don&#8217;t have to be one. &#8212; Dr. Maya Angelou


]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote>

<q>I&#8217;ve learned that even when I have pains, I don&#8217;t have to be one.</q> &#8212; Dr. Maya Angelou

</blockquote>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/08/on-pain-2/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Merging Kopete Contacts</title>
		<link>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/08/merging-kopete-contacts/</link>
		<comments>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/08/merging-kopete-contacts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:14:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin Francis</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Brilliance]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Internet]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/?p=113</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For Google and my forgetful self:

To merge two contacts in Kopete into one, right click on the contact you wish to be added to the other, go to the protocol menu (usually last) and choose *Change Meta Contact*. Now search and pick the one you want to add it to.

I&#8217;ve had to redo my contact [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For Google and my forgetful self:</p>

<blockquote>To merge two contacts in Kopete into one, right click on the contact you wish to be added to the other, go to the protocol menu (usually last) and choose *Change Meta Contact*. Now search and pick the one you want to add it to.</blockquote>

<p>I&#8217;ve had to redo my contact list a few times, and I&#8217;d been doing it to most braindead of ways: Removing contacts and readding them under the right meta-contact&#8230; Still this isn&#8217;t the most obvious of workflows.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/08/merging-kopete-contacts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Software Net Installers</title>
		<link>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/08/software-net-installers/</link>
		<comments>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/08/software-net-installers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 23 Aug 2008 15:26:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin Francis</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Morons]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/?p=112</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dear Windows Live,

Windows Live Messenger took 1 hour and 30 minutes to install thanks your installer deciding my offline package (downloaded just this afternoon) was too old. Apparently there was a minute version mismatch with the latest one in your repository.

Installing software on Windows in general is an already slow process, but you seem to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Dear Windows Live,</p>

<p>Windows Live Messenger took <strong>1 hour and 30 minutes</strong> to install thanks your installer deciding my offline package (downloaded just this afternoon) was too old. Apparently there was a minute version mismatch with the latest one in your repository.</p>

<p>Installing software on Windows in general is an already slow process, but you seem to think that it&#8217;d be awesome to slow me down further. Please bear in mind that not everyone has a T3 connection.</p>

<p>Please fix. Kthnxbai.</p>

<p>Sincerely,
Kevin.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/08/software-net-installers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>openSUSE 11</title>
		<link>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/08/opensuse-11/</link>
		<comments>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/08/opensuse-11/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:23:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin Francis</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Asides]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Brilliance]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/?p=111</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The installation process for openSUSE 11 is quite impressive. LVM, package selection, desktop selection etc. were all top-notch without any hiccups (unlike my past experiences with Fedora). Post-installation set up was quite smooth as well, except for the part where I wanted a static IP &#8212; took 15 minutes to figure the GUI for that [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The installation process for openSUSE 11 is quite impressive. LVM, package selection, desktop selection etc. were all top-notch without any hiccups (unlike my past experiences with Fedora). Post-installation set up was quite smooth as well, except for the part where I wanted a static IP &#8212; took 15 minutes to figure the GUI for that out. Seems more geared towards network administrators than end users.</p>

<p>I can&#8217;t say I expected the green to be pleasant, but I can&#8217;t complain &#8212; looks very nice. Overall, solid stuff.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/08/opensuse-11/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Audio Playback Suckage and Vista Service Pack 1</title>
		<link>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/07/audio-playback-suckage-and-vista-service-pack-1/</link>
		<comments>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/07/audio-playback-suckage-and-vista-service-pack-1/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:49:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin Francis</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Asides]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Morons]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/?p=110</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Vista Service Pack 1. I put music on, walk away and come back a while later. My screensaver is active. I click the mouse once to deactivate it, and what happens? Audio playback skips.

Vista Service Pack 1 Audio: Fail.

P.S.: I can&#8217;t help but notice that everything I write about Vista tends to the negative. About [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Vista Service Pack 1. I put music on, walk away and come back a while later. My screensaver is active. I click the mouse once to deactivate it, and what happens? <strong>Audio playback skips</strong>.</p>

<p>Vista Service Pack 1 Audio: <strong>Fail</strong>.</p>

<p>P.S.: I can&#8217;t help but notice that everything I write about Vista tends to the negative. About the only positive thing I can say is that <q>It&#8217;s <em>quite</em> pretty.</q></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/07/audio-playback-suckage-and-vista-service-pack-1/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How to Synchronise a Sony Ericsson K610i with Evolution</title>
		<link>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/06/how-to-synchronise-a-sony-ericsson-k610i-with-evolution/</link>
		<comments>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/06/how-to-synchronise-a-sony-ericsson-k610i-with-evolution/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:26:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin Francis</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Asides]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Brilliance]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[How To]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/?p=108</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Before I forget how to find this article again, I&#8217;ll just blog it. By the way this works fine for a K850i too &#8212; Synchronising a K610i with Evolution.
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Before I forget how to find this article again, I&#8217;ll just blog it. By the way this works fine for a K850i too &#8212; <a href="http://gronbaek.net/2008/03/10/synchronize-sony-ericsson-k610i-with-ximian-evolution-on-ubuntu/">Synchronising a K610i with Evolution</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/06/how-to-synchronise-a-sony-ericsson-k610i-with-evolution/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Passed the Undang-Undang (Highway Code) Test</title>
		<link>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/06/passed-the-undang-undang-highway-code-test/</link>
		<comments>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/06/passed-the-undang-undang-highway-code-test/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:25:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin Francis</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/?p=107</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve been saying for years that I was going to get my drivers license. Well, I took the first step today and passed the highway code test (46/50, 1 point lost to colour-blindness section&#8230;) and what should happen the night before? Petrol prices increase from RM1.92 straight to RM2.70. In August we&#8217;ll see that increase [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;ve been saying for years that I was going to get my drivers license. Well, I took the first step today and passed the highway code test (46/50, 1 point lost to colour-blindness section&#8230;) and what should happen the night before? Petrol prices increase from RM1.92 straight to RM2.70. In August we&#8217;ll see that increase again to market rates &#8212; about RM 3.50-4.</p>

<p>Oh well, at least I won&#8217;t be able to think back about the good old days of cheap petrol&#8230;</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://kevinfrancis.net/journal/2008/06/passed-the-undang-undang-highway-code-test/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
