Far Manager has two keyboard shortcuts to copy file name to clipboard:

• Ctrl+Ins copies selected file name
• Alt+Shift+Ins copies full path to selected file

These shortcuts also work if multiple files are selected which is great for creating batch renames.

Let’s say file name contains spaces. In this case Far Manager adds quotes around file name. Supposedly this saves time if you construct some command line somewhere. Personally I find this totally unnecessary. I can add quotes myself, thank you very much.

Here’s how to disable this behaviour:

1. Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Far2\System
2. Create QuotedName as DWORD value
3. Set it to 1

Official documentation for this feature is a bit obscure:

File or folder names, containing characters specified in rule  34,  will
be quoted when inserted into the editor/command line or the clipboard.
The key "System/QuotedName" of DWORD type controls this behaviour.
Bits:
  0 - if set then file or folder names will be quoted inserted into
      the editor/command line.
  1 - if set then file or folder names will be quoted inserted into
      the clipboard.
The default value = 0xFFFFFFFF (quote file or folders names).

I think you need to be a developer to understand this.

Note two similar shortcuts:

• Ctrl+Enter copies selected file name to command line
• Ctrl+F copies full path

For this auto-quoting is actually useful, therefore I set QuotedName to 1, not 0.

Solyanka is a traditional Russian soup, very tasty. This recipe is from cooking site say7.info, translated from Russian.

Ingredients

• 700 g beef
• 6-10 types of ham, smoked ribs, sausages, salami, hot dogs, small sausages etc. Total weight 1 kg.
• 150 g carrot
• 150 g onion
• 200 g pickled cucumbers
• 5 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons capers
• black pepper
• 3-4 bay leaves
• vegetable oil
• 1 lemon
• olives to taste
• dill or parsley

Method

Place beef in a pan. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for one and half hour (on medium, skim off the scum).

Take the meat out, let it cool, chop into small pieces.

Chop onion.

Grate carrot on medium grater.

Dice cucumbers.

Dice or julienne meat items (cervelat, ham, smoked ribs, sausages, salami, hot dogs, small sausages, bacon etc).

Fry meat items slightly on vegetable oil.

Fry onion slightly on vegetable oil.

Add carrot, fry a bit.

Add cucumbers, fry for 2-3 minutes.

Add tomato paste, simmer for 5-7 minutes on low.

If tomato paste is too thick you can add some water.

Add meat items to the boiling stock.

Then add beef. Simmer for 5-7 minutes.

Add few capers to taste.

Add fried onion, carrot and cucumbers.

Add half of cup of cucumber or olive pickle. Simmer for 5-7 minutes more.

Add bay leaves, pepper, dill, parsley.

Add salt if needed. Leave it covered for 15-20 minutes. Remove bay leaves.

Pour soup into bowls. Put lemon and olives into each bowl.

Enjoy!

Sometimes I need find address on Melway site. Most of the time, I already have address in electronic form. I don’t need to type, just copy and paste.

The problem is I need to enter address parts separately on Melways site: street number, street name and suburb:

For example, if I have 235 Russell St Melbourne I need to copy and paste 235 first (click-Ctrl+C-switch-click-Ctrl+V), then Russell St (switch-click-Ctrl+C-switch-click-Ctrl+V) and finally Melbourne (switch-click-Ctrl+C-switch-click-Ctrl+V-down-down-Enter).

If I can save 30 seconds of my time why not to do it? Introducing:

Melway address lookup

It has just one field for address. Now all I need to do is to copy address (click-Ctrl+C), paste it (switch-click-Ctrl+V) and press Ctrl+Enter. Done.

New Post Charges Booklet is online on Australia Post web site.

Oddly enough, postage rates for parcels inside Australia didn’t change at all.

International rates have increased by about 3%. It used to cost you $58.50 to send 2 kg parcel to United Kingdom by Air Mail before. Now it costs $60.35.

Summary

Local rates didn’t change. International rates increased insignificantly.

Australia Post has increased its rates in September 2007. If you open Post Charges Booklet (pdf) you can see these changes:

Distance charge has increased for most destinations by 5 or 10 cents per kilogram. International rates for parcels didn’t change.

Summary: rates have increased slightly. Next rate increase will be in March 2008.

The first stop for calculating shipping costs is official Postage Calculator on Australia Post web site.

It’s very easy to use: select “Parcels within Australia”, enter your postcode, destination postcode and package weight. Very handy.