metaruss

The Federal Aviation Regulations (“FARs” in aviation circles) are actually parts of the Code of Federal Regulations (aka, “CFRs”).  The two seem to get used interchangeably, though they mean the same thing.  The FARs are often bundled into the same publication with the Aeronautical Information Manual as the so-called “FAR/AIM”.

This book is the nitty-gritty.  If the Airplane Flying Handbook and the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge are the Java and C of aviation knowledge, the FAR/AIM is written in assembly.

The FAR is not really “readable” per se.  It’s more of a reference as it is written as a list of rules.  The AIM is more what you’d expect from a manual, though it is very dry and reads like stereo instructions.

There is a suggested study list at the beginning of the FAR/AIM that helps narrow the focus when seeking a particular license.  However, I found that the private pilot list tended to skip things that are important enough to be covered in other materials I have seen.  I used it as a rough guide to make sure that things were OK to skip, rather than as a definitive study list.  As you can see, I used those Post-It tabs to mark those sections plus others that I deemed important.

I’ve been using Linux Mint for years now. Like a lot of people, I switched around the time that GNOME and Ubuntu set out to gaslight the world about how everything about their workflows have been wrong for all this time. I tried GNOME Shell, but with each passing release they stripped more and more useful functionality from it. Linux Mint kept the GNOME 2 torch lit and eventually offered both MATE (a GNOME 2 fork) and their own Cinnamon (GNOME 3 based) desktop variants. I liked what Cinnamon had to offer, but it was a bit buggy and I so stuck with MATE instead.

Cinnamon continued to improve and at some point I decided to switch over to it. I was able to recreate most of my workflows, but one thorn in my side was that at some point they replaced the workspace names in the switcher with these useless numbers. It was either that or a tiny thumbnail of the desktop. I use workspaces in a very specific way that helps me keep my trains of thought in order and the naming convention is a big part of that. Thinking this was just temporary, I modified the JavaScript to bring back the names instead of numbers and kept reapplying the patch every time Cinnamon got upgraded.

Here we are years later and the silly thing is still broken! I sent the patch to dev that made the original change, but they didn’t take it because it has a one major flaw: the width of the buttons is hard-coded. I suspect this is the real reason behind why the simple view only shows the number. It’s tricky to know how to set the width, as it depends on the font being used, DPI, etc. I assumed there was some “proper” way to do this, but I guess not?

Anyway, I’m posting the patch here in case anyone wants it. If you want wider/narrower buttons, just change the constant at the top.

• workspace-switcher@cinnamon.org.patch

Things changed with our previous data center such that it is no longer a viable option. Thanks again to iMav for hosting me previously. It was great while it lasted.

I’ve moved everything again to my own virtual private server over at 1&1. I’m done with shared virtual web hosting, as the database performance is horrid and the setup limitations are annoying (I need to host several sites). So far, it has been working great….

Not as fast of a read as the Airplane Flying Handbook.  There is some overlap in the content, but this book goes into much more detail and hits the main topics needed in order to take the written exam.

It is also downloadable from the FAA’s website.

Some reading while I’m on the mend.  This book is more about the physics and mechanical aspects of flight.  It does have some procedural stuff, but it is more of a fun read than some of the other books.

It can be downloaded for free at the FAA website.