[ foodgun ]

Fuming didn’t work so well, so I wasn’t holding out much hope for ebonizing my oak as it’s a few more steps than fuming.

To recap, fuming oak is pretty simple. Just put the oak in a closed(ish) box with a small dish of ammonia. Stronger solutions work faster, but I got results with ammonia from a big box store and a 24 hour fume. It was greenish (a known issue with American red oak), but the chemical reaction took place as expected.

Ebonizing is a little more work as you have to prep a solution. I took one pad of #0000 steel wool and rinsed it in water. I cut that into little pieces and put the pieces into the remains of a gallon plastic bottle of white vinegar (~1 cup). The steel wool will begin to rust over a few days. I let mine sit for about 1 week. You can then decant and filter this solution into another container. Brush it onto the wood, and the color change is almost immediate. I also bought a little container of ebony stain to try that out.

Here’s one coat of ebony stain (left) and one application of ebonizing fluid (right):

Not quite what I was looking for in either case, but the ebonizing fluid surprised me greatly. It’s just the little veins of oak that don’t react (no tannins there, I guess), keeping that from being a winner. I wonder how it’ll work if I add the stain to the home made fluid?

I think we have a winner. Now to pick a finish coat (shellac/poly/etc).

When upgrading from (k)ubuntu Hardy to (k)ubuntu Jaunty, it looked to be seamless. Until I launched konsole, yakuake, or xterm. The former two just returned a cursor sans prompt, the latter just wouldn’t launch. I stumbled on the solution thusly:

1. Get a console login with Ctrl-Alt-F1
2. login
3. run `apt-get command`
4. • It doesn’t matter what command, we’re just looking for something that doesn’t return with no action; you just want an error. ‘autoremove’ worked for me)
5. I got this error: Can not write log, openpty() failed (/dev/pts not mounted?)

and indeed, /dev/pts wasn’t mounted. Mounting /dev/pts manually with `sudo mount -t devpts devpts /dev/pts` gives me a usable konsole. I’d installed virtualbox and modified /etc/init/mountdevusbfs some time ago. According to https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-terminal/+bug/360160, the workaround is no longert needed, so the custom script can be replaced with the dpkg one and all will be well with your terminals. This still didn’t solve the problem for me. So, I’ve added a line to /etc/fstab:

devpts /dev/pts devpts rw 0 0

which works wonderfully.

Sources:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-terminal/+bug/360160
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/313947

Considering fuming as a furniture finish? Using red oak? Try something else. My test piece did exactly what others are reporting – red oak (American, at least) turns greenish when fumed with ammonia:

Fumed and Unfumed Red Oak

Both the fumed piece, left, and the control piece have one coat of tung oil. Disappointing, too, as the fuming went perfectly. Ammonia from the big box store, a small plastic box, 3 nails and tape to hold up the scrap, the bottom of a water bottle to hold the ammonia, and 24 hours in the closed box outside in the sun gave the oak its expected post-fume gray sheen. Until the oil went down.

SYMPTOMS:
When opening the Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook Configuration Wizard you see:

"Microsoft Dynamics Configuration for Outlook with offline access has already been configured for use on this computer. Only one user can be configured per computer for Microsoft Dynamics CRM for outlook with Offline Access."


CAUSE(S?):
When there’s a previous CRM 4.0 install coupled with a corrupted user profile and creation of a new profile, the uninstall of Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook doesn’t uninstall the MSSQL$CRM data under the old user profile.

WORKAROUND:

1. Uninstall SQL.
• You will likely see (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919945):
  "The setup has encountered an unexpected error while Setting Internal Properties. The error is: Fatal error during installation".
• Clearing the SPGroup key worked in my case.
2. Uninstall Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook.
3. Reinstall Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook allowing it to reinstall SQL for the new user profile.

STATUS:
Foodgun has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the “Applies to” section.

APPLIES TO:

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Happy Pi Day!

SYMPTOMS:
When editing navigation in Microsoft Office SharePoint Services 2007, you see the following error:

The page has been modified by another author time


CAUSE(S?):
Unknown.

WORKAROUND:
Everything I’ve read says to:

1. Remove all lists from the heading (Settings->Title…->View on Quick Launch)
2. Delete the heading
3. Change a list setting to show on the quick launch. This will re-create the heading.
4. Repeat for the other lists

In my testing, I’ve only had to take one list off the quick launch.

1. Remove one list from the corrupt heading
2. Change the list setting to show on the quick launch. This will create a duplicate heading.
3. Move the lists from the bad heading to the new one
4. Delete the bad heading
5. OK the navigation changes

it’s certainly faster than hiding/un-hiding them all.

STATUS:
Foodgun has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the “Applies to” section.

APPLIES TO:

Microsoft Office SharePoint Services 2007

LHC FTW!

Quoting someone else, “Look, it’s a 10^-19 chance, and you’ve got a 10^-11 chance of suddenly evaporating while shaving.”