Friday, July 4, 2008

3.04 am

At 1 am it was cool and fresh, the perfect time to go the gym. I am about 90% sure that my bike has been stolen (if I were to find I had left it locked up somewhere in the neighbourhood I would not be surprised, exactly, but I'm pretty sure it's gone) so this means walking. I go. I get back and check e-mails, as one does. Suddenly remember that a commenter on the blog suggested XeTeX. I go over to the XeTeX site and find:

"Ven. Pandita", Sun, Jan 27, 2008 03:54 (CST)
hyphenation

Hi!

I am a Buddhist monk who uses Lyx (1.5.3) and XeTex (part of TexLive 2007) on Ubuntu Linux (7.10) to type Pali, Sanskrit, phonetic symbols and English together in the same document.

The problem is that XeLatex would produce PDF files with seemingly random hyphenation in the middle of lines instead of at linebreaks. So I change the language setting of Lyx to Welsh, of which there is no language file on my system; my purpose is to force manual hyphenation. But that random mid-line hyphenation still appears.

What should I do to remedy it?

Changing the language setting of Lyx to Welsh, of which there is no file on the system, as a way of forcing manual hyphenation - how like life.

(The opening line of this letter reminds me somehow of Anne Tyler's Morgan's Passing. An unimprovable way of introducing oneself, which one would naturally love to try.)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is no part of that post that is not unimprovably charming.

"Post-Google" by TAR ART RAT said...

Nein, keklaute Fahrrad, neiiiiin! True story (I cannot really explain the following events):
-Bike bought in 2006, hardy but kind-of crappy flohmarkt bike with many problems, gets chronic flat tires, I stop using it and lock it up in the Hinterhof
-Bike is no longer there, it has vanished
-I forget about the bike
-Bike is then found later still in the Hinterhof.
-Bike disappears sometimes on and off...
-FF to 2008, ma friend comes to stay for the Summer so I take the bike to the shop and get it repaired, buying a new lock as well.
-Bike is stolen from the Hinterhof.
I look everywhere, it is really REALLY NOT THERE.
-Bike returns the next day, broken and locked up.
-My flatmate suggests I put the heavy-duty lock on it, I forget to do this.
-Bike is stolen again during the night.
-Bike is returned within 24 hours, re-locked and completely repaired and -seemingly- even tuned-up!
-I finally do put the heavy duty lock on, all is well...

Helen DeWitt said...

TAR, well, nothing to match that, but at one point I came downstairs and found that someone else had put a lock on my bike. No idea what to do. Was later walking down the street when a guy introduced himself as Alex (different Alex) and explained he had locked the bike because, um, couldn't really follow because he seemed to say he was worried someone would steal it (?). The bike was actually locked to the bike rack, so, hm. (I had initially thought it was some kind of practical joke, but he seemed to think he was being helpful.) Anyway, I assumed he would now take his lock off, but no, it just stayed there for several days. So finally I left a note on the bike saying Alex, please take your lock, and it went away again.

Now, though, I think I just have to find another bike. And a better lock.