Piotr Szotkowski (Shot) sent me a mail explaining how when you use the gnome font dialogs, you are simply configuring ~/.fonts.conf and that config combined with /etc/fonts/local.conf governs how fontconfig does its rendering.

Piotr also says:

I personally hate when the smaller sizes are antialiased (but like when the smallest and bigger ones are), so I have the additional:

<match target="font">
 <test compare="more" name="pixelsize" qual="any">
  <double>9</double>
 </test>
 <test compare="less" name="pixelsize" qual="any">
  <double>15</double>
 </test>
 <edit mode="assign" name="antialias">
  <bool>false</bool>
 </edit>
</match>

which brings fontconfig about on par to pre-ClearType Windows rendering. Windows additionally antialiases all of the bold fonts, which can be acheved with:

<match target="font">
 <test name="weight">
  <const>bold</const>
  <const>black</const>
 </test>
 <edit name="antialias" mode="assign">
  <bool>true</bool>
 </edit>
</match>

Erich Schubert says here that he doesn’t see how you can get AA wrong if you’re careful to choose the right fonts. All I have to say on that point is that AA is a very personal thing (as Norbert, myself and Piotr have demonstrated) and different people find different levels and combinations of settings to be how they prefer their fonts to look.

Norbert Tretowski says here that he has never seen anti-aliased fonts look good.

Basically I’m certain that he’s simply never seen someone who has configured their fonts properly. I’ve never found a distribution which successfully configured anti-aliased fonts properly on all machines out of the box; but I have to say that my web-browsing experience was infinitely enhanced by correctly configuring fontconfig.

A (un-antialised)	B (anti-aliased)

How you can claim that image A shows clearer and nicer text than image B is beyond me.

Naturally if you’re not using an LCD of similar characteristics to mine then this demonstration will be slightly different. I assert that the antialiased variant looks infinitely better on my screen and if it looks utterly vile to you then what is important is that you would think AA fonts are vile until you configure them properly for your screen.

A week ago on Monday I went to the doctor. Such a romantic thing; an asthma checkup.

I did my usual explaining of my asthma symptoms and the nurse listened carefully and asked pertinent questions (as one might expect, and indeed as my checkups have gone for the past decade plus) however this time when I finished the story the nurse asked me again what asthma drugs I was on and what I had tried in the past.

I went through my drug history with her and this time she looked quite annoyed. She basically said that she wanted to eliminate the one very bad day per week I was experiencing on average. She got me to try a new drug which I had never tried before; in combination with a third drug and a replacement reliever inhaler.

I can say that without a shadow of a doubt my new preventer inhaler works like a charm. Symbicort combination turbohaler 100/6 buesonide/eformoterol fumarate. Bloody excellent. Oddly I can’t say the same of my new reliever. Although that’s no fault of the reliever; it’s simply that for the past eight and a half days (I.E. since I started the new preventer) I’ve simply not needed to use a reliever puff at all.

Now considering that for the past decade (plus a couple of years) I’ve been puffing away on relievers and tried all sorts of preventers, and rarely have I had days when I didn’t need at least one reliever puff let alone a whole week, I am understandably very very pleased with my new drugs.

If anyone out there needs ventolin (or bricanyl) and is on the standard becotide preventers, I strongly suggest that you talk with your doctor about the Symbicort buesonide/eformoterol combination turbohaler. While I don’t expect this fantastic result to continue indefinitely, simply in the past week it has changed my life.

A while ago now; a colleague and friend pointed me at the following poem by Leo Buscaglia

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams, before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken.
Because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
If you risk nothing and do nothing, you dull your spirit.
You may avoid suffering and sorrow, but you cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, and live.
Chained by your attitude, you are a slave.
You have forfeited your freedom.
Only if you risk are you free.

I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.

Today someone asked me about my keysigning stuff so I took a moment out to create a page on my website to at least make it easier for others to use my scripts.

Share and enjoy

Jesus Climent asked for a larger version of my sunset photo from here

On Sunday myself and some colleagues went up Table Mountain in Cape Town where we are currently meeting for work. I will publish a photo set at some point but, to tease you all, here is a quick photo of the sunset from one of the observation points on the top of the mountain.