GeekTool: Implementation Detail
As I stated in my last post, entitled Geektool (clever title, I know). I have now settled upon a workflow that I found both attractive and beneficial.
In this post, I will enumerate the “how” of my implementation.
First of all, nearly all of the implementations are simple unix commands. There are a few situations, the weather implementation in particular, where I want to be able to change cities with relative ease. To that end, I have pulled the script out of the GeekTool UI and into a .bash script that is called from the geeklet.
I won’t spend any time on GeekTool implementation…there are a variety of quality resources online to help with that.
In theory, I could simply uploaded a set of exported geeklets to this post and let you play to your heart’s content. In practice, however, this proves problematic. Your background may not be the same as mine…Your resolution set differently…Your textual color or format preferences different…etc.
It is worth noting that many of the scripts originated somewhere in the wilds of the internet. I simply re-used, updated, edited, as necessary. I invite you to do the same.
If you are reading this via the .rss feed I apologize…all syntax highlighting is server side.
Without further ado:
Geektool
I am enamored with GeekTool.
The ability to embed shell scripts (that I use to do a myriad of fun things) on my desktop makes me a happy tyler.
Having, now, used the tool for several years. I have happened upon a set of scripts/commands/etc that are useful for my daily workflow. At some point in the future, I will post all of the scripts/etc that I utilize in the application.
For now…delight with me in a simple, usable desktop environment.
“And I heard her whisper”: a story of hearing loss
As I mentioned in my post Kickstarter: a data analysis exercise, I am a guitarist.
So, basically, my life surrounds the following: (Please note, I chose an unordered list…for convenience purposes as I write in MarkDown…but this could, just as easily, be an ordered list.)
- Father of 2 lovely girls
- Husband to Jocelyn Hannan
- Platform Evangelist
- Community Builder
- Musician
And, in all of these circumstances, I began to notice a problem.
- A Television that was, perhaps, a bit loud at times
- Missing things said by my daughter
- Missing things said at the other end of the table in meetings
- Difficulty at Meetups, etc that prevented actually engaging with folk in discussion
- Minor frustration that everyone else in the world mumbled
Kickstarter: a data analysis exercise
I am a data nerd.
I am a platform geek.
I am passionate about commerce.
These are things that, if you have met me, you know.
What you may not know (unless you have seen the fingernails on my right hand) is that I also am a guitarist.
Music represents a unique creative outlet that I find wildly important. Recently, I have had the opportunity to partner with good friends at LaunchPad Studios, Inc. (in Arvada, Colorado) as a studio musician and a producer on an as needed basis.
Over the last several months, it has been interesting to watch as a high percentage of projects have been funded through Kickstarter. This, in and of itself, is not that suprising…after all, Kickstarter announced this week that their Platform has enabled more than 1 Million backers and more than 100 Million in funding.
Kickstarter is a platform, it enables a commerce workflow, is related to music, and generates a wealth of interesting data. Seems the perfect confluence of events and interests for a Friday night exercise…
I will warn/advise you, in advance, that the purpose of this exercise was not to discuss the methodology by which Kickstarter collects and disburses funds (although that is an interesting discussion) but to analyze the outcome of the funding process itself.
In discussing this process with several of these artists, there are some base assumptions that are made regarding the most popular level of backing, duration of project, etc. And, while experiential knowledge is important, I was interested in whether I could identify any patterns from some simple analysis of data available on the Kickstarter website.
My methodology was not what I would refer to as “rigorously scientific” but the analysis thereof did result in some interesting patterns. continue reading »