Rotate Video in Linux

I have a habit of recording with my camera tilted by 90 degrees which on my camera does not register when its saving the file so I end up with a video not meant for someone with vertigo.  The solution, which is decently simple once you find it, is to run the command

 mencoder -ovc lavc -vf rotate=1 -oac copy input.AVI -o output.AVI

The rotate=1 can be replaced with whatever you want. Alternatives include:

0 Rotate by 90 degrees clockwise and flip (default).
1 Rotate by 90 degrees clockwise.
2 Rotate by 90 degrees counterclockwise.
3 Rotate by 90 degrees counterclockwise and flip.

Mounting a .iso file and running a program through wine

I have a .iso file which I want to mount in Ubuntu 10.10.  I then want to run the program through Wine, but the issue is that Wine can't find the drive.

Solution:

Mount iso:
sudo mount -o loop /home/liz/image.iso media/cdrom

Tell Wine that this directory is where the cd is by making a symbolic link
cd ~/.wine/dosdevices
ln -s /media/cdrom e:
ln -s /home/liz/image.iso e::


The latter step need only be done once.  Then, when I installed the program on the .iso, it was able to find the cd when run.

Dear Ubuntu

Dear Ubuntu,

We have spent three wonderful years together, but I may have to leave you soon. When we met, I was a naive user who thought there was only one viable option for an operating system. I know now how wrong I was.

Through you, I discovered that I could actually control a computer and didn't just have to let Bill or Steve decide what I would want. I had access to every preference imaginable, everything from the color scheme of the windows right down to overclocking.

So, imagine my horror when I installed 11.04 with that awful Unity. It was like you pulled the rug right out from under me. I suddenly couldn't find anything. I couldn't control anything. The settings were so deeply hidden that even some basic command prompts were not going to fix the situation. There were bars on the side of the screen bouncing out of control, the top menus were gone, I couldn't even install a basic system monitor on the panel. Seriously?!?! I devote all this time to you, and for what? You seem to think I want a Mac. I don't want a mac. I want linux.

This is why I think it may be time for us to part ways. I have learned all I need from you, but we want different things. You want to be so user-friendly that you are a replacement for windows or mac for those that can't seem to find the file system, I want to have an OS that asks me what I want rather than making assumptions.

Please don't take this too hard. I will always remember the good times we had together.

All my love,

Liz

Grading is torture

After 7 hours of grading finals, I got to this little gem. It says "normal distribution, mean distribution."

Why every potential topologist should play Portal 2.

I am absolutely and inconsolably addicted to Portal 2. As a gamer who is absolutely awful at most games where aiming a gun is a necessary requirement but loves a good puzzle, there is nothing more perfect. A lack of enemies to shoot means I can spend my time thinking about how to solve the puzzle rather than getting worked up about the fact that I am incapable of aiming. Admittedly, I haven't finished the solo part of the game yet, nor have I touched the multi-player capabilities. What can I say, I am trying to draw out the wonderfulness that comes with a new game.

As a topologist, the mind-bending idea of using portals to glue to locations in space to me seems so obvious. A large portion of my time is dedicated to visualize spaces where certain portions have been glued together. For example, if we start with a space which is a long rectangle and glue the short ends together with no twisting, we obtain a cylinder. If we give the ends a twist before gluing, we have a Mobius strip. So, the portal is just some room in $\R^3$ with two points in space glued together.

If I ever teach a topology class, Portal may be required reading.