Adding table borders in Scribus

After having created a table in Scribus (version 1.3.3.12), I was surprised to see that when I created a pdf file, the table borders were invisible. I wanted the cell border lines to be visible.

Searching the web for possible solutions seemed futile.

But after playing around for some more time, I was able to figure it out and hence this blog post for someone else who is also seeking the solution.

To create borders for the cells in a table:

1. double click the cell
   
2. right click to view properties (keyboard shortcut F2),
   
3. under 'line' properties, check the check-boxes in the 'Cell Lines' group

Selecting a cell border twice (for instance once from a cell as 'Line at the left' and then from the next right cell as 'Line at the right'), will result in darker border lines. So, for each cell, be cognisant of the cell borders which already exist.

And that is it, even before exporting, you will be able to visually see darker cell border lines.

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Recovering from Hard disk failures

Recently the hard disk drive in a Dell Inspiron 1420 laptop running Windows XP stopped working. The first sign of trouble was when the OS could not load and kept on prompting for safe mode boot. After a few hours of trying the safe mode option, and a lot of hung screens, the prompt for this option also stopped appearing and instead of seeing the familiar OS screen, the laptop would try to load up 'Media Direct' and hang after a few seconds.

I went on a search engine usage spree to find what tools I could use to get the hard disk drive working.

The first thing I tried, was to remove the hard disk drive from the laptop, house it within an external SATA-to-USB case and plug it in to a Ubuntu machine. This did not work well. The Ubuntu machine failed to mount the partitions. Upon trying to mount the partition which I thought was the C:, the Ubuntu OS failed to do so and recommended that I run "chkdsk /f" from another Windows machine on the hard disk.

Thus I then tried connecting the HDD to a Windows Vista laptop. The Vista OS went into an infinite loop of mounting the partitions and then immediately unmounting them. So this option was closed to me.

I decided to use Knoppix to correct the issue. I downloaded the latest version of Knoppix (v6.2.1), burnt it on a CD, installed the faulty HDD back on the laptop and ran the Knoppix live CD. Knoppix also failed to automatically mount the HDD. Manually attempting to mount the HDD resulted in the same fate as what happened on the Ubuntu OS.

While on my internet search spree, I had come across this great IBM article: "System recovery with Knoppix - What to do when good disks go bad".

I played around with the information that I got from that web page, but did not have much luck.

By this time, I had come across a tool (new to me) called 'TestDisk' which seemed to be promising.

The Knoppix live CD had the tool and so I proceeded to play around with it. After many hours, I came to the conclusion that the NTFS partition table was corrupted and TestDisk would allow me to rectify the problem.

For what it is worth, here is the partition table which TestDisk found after its "deeper search" analysis:

Primary Bootable	FAT 16 > 32M	0	1	1	11	254	63	192717	Dell Utility
Deleted	FAT 32 LBA	12	0	1	4189	254	63	67119570	Unlabeled
Deleted	HPFS-NTFS	12	28	17	1317	134	33	20971520	Recovery
Deleted	HPFS-NTFS	1317	134	34	30074	207	13	461985784
Primary	FAT32 LBA	30074	239	54	30401	42	41	5240832	Media Direct

I went ahead with TestDisk and decided to delete one partition on the HDD which did not make much sense to me (the second row in the table above). Upon writing the new partition table structure to the HDD, I found that upon booting, I was able to get to the Microsoft OS prompt again. Windows XP was prompting me again to boot into the safe mode option. I tried that and also tried booting normally but both attempts were in vain.

I removed the HDD, placed it within the external enclosure and connected to the Ubuntu OS.

Voila ! I was able to mount the partition that I thought was the C: and was able to recover all important data from it.

TestDisk did save the day ! +1 for OSS tools !

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Emergency Western Union Money Transfer Scams

Recently, I came across these two Western Union scam emails asking the recipient to transfer money. Although these seem similar to the Facebook Western Union scam emails, there does not seem to be much about these emails on the internet.

The only other information that I could find after a brief search on the internet which is similar to this is: http://hospitalera.com/an-emergency-i-think-not/ and was written up in January this year.

Here is the text of the emails that I have seen:

From: "xx" <xx-yahoo@yahoo.com>
To: xx@yahoo.com
Date:
Subject: In dire need of your expedient aid to this
I am in a hurry writing you this note, Just wanted to seek your help on something very important and I do hope you will come to my aid. Because something very terrible is happening to me now, I need a favor from you now, I had a trip here in London for a seminar on modern education.

Unfortunately, all my money got stolen on my way to the hotel along with my bag were my passport was ,And since then i have been without any money, I am even owing the hotel here.

I currently have limited access to emails for now, I would have called but i don't have access to a phone at the moment,please I need you to lend me about
£1500 so that I can make arrangements and return back please, I have spoken to the embassy here but they are not responding to the matter effectively, I will return the money back to you as soon as I get home, I am so confused right now.

Here are my details for western union transfer:

<xx's NAME>
110 Great Russell Street, London, England, WC1B 3NA

I will be waiting to here from you soonest please as thigs are taking a different turn here.

Best regards,

<xx's NAME>

The text of the second email:

From: yy <yy@yahoo.com>
Subject: I'm Worried
To:
Date: Monday, February 15, 2010, 11:28 AM

I had an emergency trip to London to attend a Medical Conference unfortunately I got robbed at the hotel I lodged, all cash including my ATM cards and some valuable document were stolen, I'm seriously stranded and I need your assistance, please can you go to the Western Union outlet and send me 740 pounds, I'm currently having problems sorting the hotel bills and my return flight, I'll definitely refund the money immediately I return back home.

Note the Western Union Money transfer detail bellow:
Receiver Name: <yy's NAME>
Address: 31-35 Craven Hill Gardens
London U2 3EA, United Kingdom

send the MTCN to my mail immediately the transfer is done so that I can receive the money at the nearest Western Union Outlet, I still have my passport and I need contact the Embassy and also the police immediately.

Regards,
<yy's NAME>

These scams are more effective in eliciting a response from the victim than the generic Nigerian scams.

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How to scratch out envelope 'Facing Identification Mark' (FIM) ?

I have been saving all the envelopes that I get within mail such as cell phone bills, credit card bills and any spam mail with return-envelopes. Consequently I now have a huge pile of clear window envelopes. I have been trying to reuse these envelopes and in that process discovered the significance of the pre-printed bar codes on such envelopes.

The most common lines are the bars on the envelope near the right upper edge and to the left of the postage stamp area. These bars are called 'Facing Identification Marks'. All the envelopes that I have saved have the FIN A bar code on them.

The following image shows the FIN bar code on a postcard.


So now when I reuse these envelopes, do I need to scratch the FIN bar code or should I leave it?

The USPS web site says:

A FIM must be printed on all letter-size BRM and on business reply labels affixed to letter-size mail. One purpose for FIMs is to face the mail as it is processed through the advanced facer canceller machine. The other purpose is to direct the mailpiece to either the optical character reader or the barcode sorter, depending on whether it has a barcode applied.

So, leaving it in will at the very least allow the sorting machine to now which way is face up. Wikipedia states:

FIM A is used for courtesy reply mail metered reply mail with a preprinted POSTNET bar code. In both of these types of mail, the postage is prepaid, either by a postage stamp in the case of courtesy reply mail or by a postage meter in the case of metered reply mail.

Since, my envelopes do not have a postnet bar code on them, I guess eventually the system will get confused and this may delay the sorting of my mail or worse, increase the chances of it getting lost.

I am still not sure as to what is the best way to strike out these bar codes and on the lookout for the information.

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New Hipster PDA

In my last blog post, I mentioned that I was looking around to find out how I could make myself a Hipster PDA. I downloaded a few templates, printed them, cut them and used my Hipster PDA for sometime.

I found that:

I flip through the pages of my Hipster PDA more often than I add or remove sheets.

The clip I was using to hold the Hipster PDA in place did not allow me to flip through the pages easily. So most of the times the first front page would be the most often used page and other pages would go unused.
So this weekend, I made myself a new Hipster PDA and I am pretty happy with the outcome!

Here is a photo of this new Hipster PDA:



Here is a mini-howto for making this Hipster PDA:

Step 1: Download, print and cut a template you like or use index cards. You can refer to my last blog post for some URLs to do this.

Step 2: I bought a punch from a local craft store. This punch makes a tiny hole - 1/16th of an inch.

I used this punch to make a little hole on all the template printouts and index cards I was going to use in my Hipster PDA.

The punch is really not important, since you can make a small hole in the paper in a variety of ways. The punch just makes it easier to do this task.

In my first run, I punched the holes too close to the corner. The next time I punch new sheets, will take care to ensure that the holes are neither too close nor too far.

Step 3: I bought a pack of 'jump rings' from the same store. I wanted a ring based Hipster PDA so that I can easily flip through the pages.

These rings are used to make jewellery. So any store which supplies caters to jewellery hobbyists will have these rings. Or better still, you could take a jump ring out from an unused old key chain and use it.

I did not use a blinder ring, since I did not want the Hipster PDA to become too huge to comfortably fit into a pocket.

Open the ring a little and pass it through all the index cards/template printouts. Close the ring to have your new Hipster PDA ready for use!

I am a little afraid of the pages tearing off the ring. So, I might end up punching a hole in the left bottom corner and use another jump ring there to secure the pages. But then, since I normally clip a pen with this PDA, my fear of the pages getting torn may be unfounded.



The Pilot G2 pen 05 ("Extra Fine Point") pen goes very well with this PDA.

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Hipster PDA

I am thinking of making one for myself. My needs from an organizer of this kind are:

• Should be a pen-paper solution (beauty in simplicity)
• I should be able to move the pages around, so as to group them better
• I should be able to carry it around in my pocket

It seems that the Hipster PDA will be a good choice. The mind.Depositor is also interesting. But I guess I will stick to plain index cards and clips :)

A good site for templates is Active Voice’s download page.

LiveJournal Tags: Hipster PDA,GTD

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Top 50 Linux Alternatives to Popular Apps

A very nice posting on Open Source alternatives:
Top 50 Linux Alternatives to Popular Apps (http://laptoplogic.com/resources/top-50-linux-alternatives-to-popular-apps)

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Back...

I have been silent for a long time now. Maybe I am back now.

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Month of Bugs in Captchas

I missed hearing about the 'Month of Bugs in Captchas' project until recently. I haven't gone through all the Captchas that were analyzed and the vulnerabilities that were found yet. The summary page of this project seems interesting.

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Blogspot displays incorrect time stamps

What time did I write this post? Blogspot/Blogger is reporting incorrect time! For the last two posts, the timestamp was behind the actual time by around 20-30 minutes. Google though is reporting the correct time.

What is going on?

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Movies over the internet

Apple's decision to take on Netflix, Blockbuster and others, with their online movie viewing business plan sounds interesting.

While reading about this development, I learnt (btw, Google thinks that 'learned' is the correct word and not 'learnt'!) about a new web online movie download web portal. Undoubtedly all such ideas are built on the primary assumption that the viewer has a very good internet connection. Anyway, here is a list of the many ways one can watch a movie on via the internet:

Free

1. Youtube
2. Google Videos
3. Internet Archive
   

Paid

1. Netflix
2. Jaman

UI Talk:

BTW I liked Jaman's UI for helping the viewer select a movie. As shown in the screenshot, one has to move the various sliders and depending on that, movies are recommended.

I don't know how they classify their movies. Most probably after watching a movie, the viewer is asked to judge it. A viewer can of course intentionally provide the wrong ratings, but what is the chance that the majority of Jaman's paying customers will do that?

The next step would definitely be to add a rating and recommendation system as Amazon has in place.

Netflix on the other hand has a simple UI.

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Linux and 'screenshot' Applications

I had to again search for ways to take a screen shot in Linux while working on a blog post. A quick google revealed the following ways to take a screen shot in Linux (primarily these methods work on Gnome, I will add newer methods for KDE as I find them):

1. Using PrintScreen button (alt+printscreen for the active window only)
2. Using ImageMagick (from command line)
3. Using Scrot (from command line)
4. Using 'gnome-panel-screenshot' (for Gnome)
5. Using ksnapshot (for KDE)
6. Using Gimp
7. Using Firefox web browser extension - Snapper
8. Using Firefox web browser extension - ScreenGrab

References:
How to Take a Screenshot in Linux (Ubuntu)
How to Take a Screenshot in Linux (GNOME) Revisited
Taking Screenshots with Linux

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CAPTCHAs and P0rn

At last some proof that CAPTCHAs are being solved using p0rn. The Panda labs blog speaks about an application, which when installed on the system, offers p0rn in exchange for solving CAPTCHAs. They detect the client side application as Trj/RompeCaptchas.A.

I wonder how the application gets to know if the answer to the CAPTCHA is right or wrong. A desperate individual might enter wrong answers to view the images quickly.

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RC Indoor Helicopters

Tried out two RC indoor helicopters during the last few weeks (well, one is modeled after a chopper while the other is modeled after a fly).

The first one was the $30 one from Brookstone. For the price this is a great buy. The looks are good and when it is turned on, a flashing led gets turned on too. The chopper comes in four models. Each model looks alike but differs in the frequency it works on. So four people can have the A,B,C and D models flying in the same room without their radio controllers getting confused. One advantage this model has over the 'Micro Mosquito' model (discussed below), is the landing skids (the ski like structures instead of wheels). These allow it to take off from any kind of surface (rough or smooth).

The chopper is not too tough to control. The problem is that it is not very responsive to the controls and it kinda has a mind of its own. For instance, turning left on the control won't result in the chopper turning left immediately. It slowly will turn by when it would have already flown ahead on its course.

Since the turns are not sharp and while taking off it strays off-course, a big room is necessary to fly this. Perhaps with more control I will be able to fly it in a smaller room and the ultimate test would be to fly it in the passage in my house. It requires 6 AA cells in the radio controller. Charging takes a 10-20 minutes and after a full charge, I am able to fly it for around 10 minutes.

The chopper has a single rotating blade. The top most blade (as can be seen in the image) is not an actual blade. It has a tail rotor which I guess functions pretty much as the real chopper's tail rotor does.

The other beauty is the famous superstar 'Micro Mosquito'. This is priced at $70 at your nearest Radioshack outlet. Although the price is higher than the Brookstone model, this helicopter has amazing control. I am currently playing around with it.

Taking off is pretty easy since the amount of thrust that it generates results in a near vertical take off. Controlling it to move forward and backward seems to be a little tough. It is pretty sensitive to AC ducts in the house.

Since the 'Micro Mosquito' is really not modeled on the lines of a helicopter, there are a lot of differences between it and a real helicopter. The mechanics of flying are explained well here. Due to its sharp projections like legs on which it stands, it can not take off from carpets and requires a smooth surface to take off from. This is a disadvantage. I guess the manufacturer was trying to imitate a fly in appearance.

(I don't like the name 'Micro Mosquito'. The name suggests something that is smaller than a mosquito, while the product is definitely not! I really believe that if such trends continue, and people keep accepting them, English words will loose their current meanings.)


There are amazing YouTube videos on this chopper.

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Trying to squeeze through the 'rabbit hole'

"Would you teach me how to dance, uncle"
asked the little boy,
"No" said the dance to the uncle,
"I do not wish to be his toy!"

"When it rains, little boy" said the uncle,
"I will teach you how to boat".
"No" said the little boy to his uncle,
"I can't 'cause I'll be wearing a rain coat."

"In the winter, when it snows", said the uncle,
"I will teach you how to paint colors".
"No" said the snow to the uncle,
"I would rather prefer to remain duller."

What then, thought the uncle,
could he teach the little boy,
"Teach me to write a poem, uncle"
"For that would bring me a lot of joy!"

(c) Deapesh.

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More non-verse-sence !

Black text, grey cloudy messages,
foretelling the future;
like little birds flying away into the skies,
and fast disappearing into the horizon.

letters and thoughts unexpressed,
from feelings and experiences
felt and vicarious, prejudices all alike
appearing, asking again and again,
"can you not see it?"

And there at the break of the dawn,
smelling the awakening air,
in that stillness, I reach out
towards what is yet to come.
can you also feel it?

A tingling in your head, a twitching muscle,
a destiny, a long path ahead,
turning, twisting, as it may like,
courage and strength with you, on your side.

(c) Deapesh

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A poetic answer

to this.

IF three plus two wasn't five,
we surely today wouldn't have been alive,
but the waters still flow down daily,
as pretty smiles in those teary eyes.

What you may ask about life,
is provided in the riddle of the kite,
which flies daily high into the sky,
and at night, falls softly like a heavy sigh.

Creation and appearance, are all just so,
that we may ask, wonder and crave to know,
the clouds in their passing have told it all,
if only on your feet, you had landed on that fall.

Many have come, many more have left,
what remains at last, is just a 'beleft',
coming and going is just like a tide,
which has pushed many a dream to that side.

And yet tomorrow, the sun will shine,
your body will be locked in arms of mine,
the pleasures that you and I together seek,
have long borne fruit and struck roots deep.

Just counting the days you may simply pass,
the dreams dreamt over shadows on the grass,
but when you will wake up with a flushed face,
you will remember nothing of this place.

So go on, continue on your travels, sow what you have got,
and ask nothing of the questions which have been answered not,
and as these lines end in their length,
you will find hope, you will find strength.

(C) Deapesh.

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Alas, my window!

It is pretty unfortunate that my window is closed almost constantly. When I mean closed, I mean that the shades are always closed. This is the price one pays of living on the ground floor.

Only if someone could grant me a window that opens to a forest in some countryside or a window on a higher floor overlooking the hustle and the bustle of the city. But here I am stuck with a shaded window. What good it is to me?

I hear voices. Voices of people passing by. Weekend parties well spent are announced by loud cheery voices, a cell phone conversation is partially heard and mostly what is heard is the loud monotonous sounds of the construction activity going on.

Sometimes in the day I draw the window shades up and life flows in. People walking around, birds chirping and the change in light, as the day progresses are experienced. But that is only sometimes. All that I get is sounds, paartial sounds.

Alas, for the want of a window, I pine in sorrow and dream of the freedom an open window would have offered me.

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Unimaginative Brand Names - II

Before reading this, you should perhaps read the first part of my blog post.

As I was driving around today, I passed a rental car agency car which had an advertisement on its side. The ad as such did not catch my attention as much as their 1-800 number did. They had the easiest 1-800 number for a rental car agency - 1-800-rent-a-car.

Of course this irritated me, just as my previous complaints have. This rental car agency, just because it was first to register a 1-800 number, has got itself the easiest one. Undoubtedly this makes recalling the number very easy for the customers, but gives them an unfair advantage. Not only is this unfair to the existing competitors, it is also unfair to future competitors.

On another note, I got to know that Intel changed their naming process of their chips from 80856 name series to 'Pentium' name series, since they were not able to cipyright the numbering system.

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Captcha email-ids

We know the risks of posting our email ids on the internet and so resort to address munging (eg.: instead of posting my-mail-id@isp.com we post my-mail-id(at)isp.com).

Here is a utility which creates a small Captcha for the emai id, so that people can post the image.

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