The Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/Print/2014 ... ackground/]Amazon granted patent for taking photos against a white background – seriously

What will it take to get the Patent Office cleaned up?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

About a decade ago, my uncle introduced me to Linux.  He gave me a Knoppix live-cd, which I promptly played around with.  It was slow, and a lot of things didn't work, but the concept of a free OS that wasn't Windows that could run off of a CD got my attention.  Ever since then, I've been trying, on and off, to build some real skills, in one distro or another... and I've been failing.
In college, I set it up on some older laptops.  When I got a new laptop, I ended up shelving them.
More recently, I set up a dual-boot on my desktop.  I kept forgetting to boot to it.
The Raspberry Pi got shelved, mostly because using it in my current setup is a major pain.
Then I tried setting up a VM on my current laptop.  Turned it off because of battery draw and lack of need.
I figured out that what I needed was a convenient, Linux-only machine- something with no VMs to start or special boot options to choose.  So I got a Chromebook, upgraded the SSD, and loaded up Chrubuntu.  It works remarkably well... except I've nothing (aside from Firefox and LibreOffice) on it to do.  Can anybody recommend useful/entertaining Linux apps I can throw on this thing?  Nothing that uses heavy 3D graphics, please.
Thanks in advance!

"No more slogans. No more excuses. No more blinding our eyes and baring our asses to the world. We have the power! We have the resources! We have the energy! Let's get together and WRECK SHIT!!"
It's a sampled refrain from an electronica song called We Have The Energy" by Evil Nine. That's the sum total of the lyrics, and being an electronica dance mix (I originally heard it on one of The Crystal Method's "Community Service" samplers, which features bands that they work with/produce), I don't think that it'd spark Doug's metagift. But the sentiment strikes me as one that he could get behind.
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

Am I the only person who's noticed this?

When I'm perusing posts or electronic articles, I'm prone to scanning through them to try and pick out the pertinant information, rather than chewing through it all thoroughly. With the net result being that I sometimes miss very important things because they get stopped by the unconscious filter as not being relevant to the specific topic in my mind

I've noticed that I've started doing the same thing while reading books too.... scanning through and spotting things that match my mental image of the scene, right up until I crash into something and wonder where it came from, how it got there... or when we changed locations. And then I go back to check and find it was mentioned a few paragraphs - or even a page ago and I have to jump back and start again.

It's becoming annoying.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

One of the more difficult songs to get the most out of in Doug's arsenal, and also one of the few with an effect that lasts while the song is not playing. He must keep the target in mind and inside his AoE while Three Strange Days plays from beginning to end, with the actual effect only beginning when the song ends. The target is locked into a "waking dream" fugue state for 72 hours, during which they will be largely apathetic if left to their own devices, and pliant to suggestions as long as they don't lead to immediate or obvious harm. It is an unquestionably powerful effect, but the difficulty of setting it up and the fact that as mental control it sometimes simply fails limits the overall utility.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

May the Fourth be with you! 8)
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin

A new Cat-tales has begun (can't figure out a direct link)http://catwoman-cattales.com/
Part 18 of Slayer by Gaslighthttp://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-30186-18 ... slight.htm
More Terawatthttp://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-28614-17 ... x+Mack.htm
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin

DOMEL: None shall pass.
OKITA: What?
DOMEL: None shall pass.
OKITA: I have no quarrel with you, good Sir, but I must cross this Rainbow colored star cluster.
DOMEL: Then you shall die.
OKITA: Stand aside!
DOMEL: I move for no man.
OKITA: So be it!
(Lots of animated space battle carnage as ships are battered on both sides until the drill missile reverses back into a carrier, which blows up)
OKITA: Now stand aside, worthy adversary.
DOMEL: 'Tis but a scratch.
OKITA: A scratch? You lost a carrier!
DOMEL: No, I didn't.
OKITA: Well, what's that, then? (points at fireball)
DOMEL: I've had worse.
OKITA: You liar!
DOMEL: Come on, you pansy!
(More animated space battles, fighters shooting each other out of the sky, then another 2 carriers blow up)
Okita: Victory is mine!
We thank Thee Lord, that in Thy mer--
DOMEL: Hah!
(Shots blow up secondary turret 1) 
Come on, then.
OKITA: What?
DOMEL: Have at you!
(Boom)
OKITA: You are indeed brave, General, but the fight is mine.
DOMEL: Oh, had enough, eh?
OKITA: Look, you stupid bastard. You've got no carriers left!
DOMEL: Yes, I have.
OKITA: Look!
OKITA: Just a flesh wound.
(BOOM)
OKITA: Look, stop that.
DOMEL: Chicken!
(shots go wide)
Chickennn!
OKITA: Look, I'll have your Command ship!
(observation dome blows out)
Right!
(Shock cannons tear into command ship, leaving naught but Domel's bridge module.)
DOMEL: Right. I'll do you for that!
OKITA: You'll what?
DOMEL: Come here!
OKITA: What are you going to do, explode on me?
DOMEL: Saaaaay... 
OKITA: Oh crap....

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27224995]BBC Obithttp://www.cnn.com/2014/04/30/showbiz/o ... ?hpt=hp_t2]CNN Obit
Random Bob Hoskins trivia:  In the 80s, I hung out on CompuServe's Comic Books SIG ("special interest group" -- a forum).  One of the other habitues was Chris Claremont, who circa 1986 posted his "dream cast" for an X-Men movie.  Bob Hoskins was his choice for Wolverine.  (Diane Lane - then still a teen - was his choice for Kitty Pryde; I can't remember any of the others, sadly.)
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.