Travel, Tech, Thoughts…
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Kubuntu 22.04 – Pending update of “firefox” snap
In the 22.04 version of Ubuntu/Kubuntu, Firefox was switched from a repository to a snap. I don’t know enough about the technical reasons for that, but it does mean that how Firefox is updated has changed. It also introduced a very annoying notification message that you’ve probably seen (and which is why you’re here: Switching…
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LibreOffice – Set Image as Background/Watermark
I don’t do this very often, but occasionally I need to write a letter or something of that sort and I want to use an image as a background to the letter. A background image of this sort is often referred to as a “watermark.” (If we’re getting technical, a watermark is really a faint…
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Sociologist: It’s called ‘culture war’ for a reason
On May 2nd, 2022, the Haven, Kansas city council voted to remove decals from police cars that said “In God We Trust.” They did so in a sensible effort to recognize the separation of church and state. Sixteen days later, after an intense backlash from conservative citizens in Haven, the city council reversed that decision.…
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Maybe religion isn’t dying, but it’s definitely not well
In their recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, Byron R. Johnson and Jeff Levin, referring to a paper they recently published in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion (IJRR), argue that religiosity is not declining in the US but rather, “Americans are becoming more religious, and religious institutions are thriving.” This claim is incredible in…
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Hillsborough County 2022 Primary Election Information
Below you will find information on most if not all of the primary races (and one ballot issue) in Hillsborough County, Florida. I try to provide basic information on each candidate without being partisan. The goal is just to make it easier for you to do your research on the candidates. While I’m trying to…
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Kubuntu 22.04 – How to Reset Plasma 5 Desktop
Kubuntu is my distribution of choice. I really like the flexibility of the KDE Desktop. But, pretty much every time I install Kubuntu, something goes haywire with the desktop, typically it is panels behaving strangely. For instance, I have dual monitors. I like to have a panel on the far right side of my two…
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Norway Trip – Part 2 (of 2) – Stranda
Day 9 Sunday, June 5th, we drove from Bergen to our second AirBnB, which was located near the Sunnmørsalpane Skiarena Fjellsætra (you can ski directly to the house where we stayed). The drive took somewhere around 6 to 7 hours. It was rainy and driving in a foreign country is a bit stressful, but manageable…
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Driving in Norway – June 2022
We spent just over two weeks in west-central Norway in June 2022. We rented an Audio E-tron and drove all over the place. Here are a few things I noticed while driving in Norway. Driver’s License Some European countries require an international license. From what I can tell, international licenses are basically a scam to…
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Norway Trip – Part 1 (of 2) – Bergen
My wife, Debi, had an opportunity to contribute to a workshop run by a professor at the University of Bergen. Her involvement helped pay for her travel and lodging for a week, so we decided to make a trip to Norway our family vacation for the year. We booked a week in Bergen and a…
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Google Calendar Time Zone tricks
I regularly collaborate with scholars around the world. One problem that arises from that, however, is that we have to coordinate time zones. As a result, I have picked up a couple of really nifty features of Google Calendar that manage that for me. Here are the two I use most frequently. Add a Meeting…