Once again, sunbelt to the rescue when i need material to read!
http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/seth-macfarlane-to-be-infomercial-host.html
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Gardening in Havana
Original article here.
Here we sit in the midst of a recession with the economy in the toilet, unemployment is up drastically, and yet we're obese. Food prices are going up, money is tight, and yet we less and less self sufficient as a country.
After reading about the farming that's going on in Cuba I realized that's exactly what we need. It just makes sense economically, socially, and physiologically.
Why would you not produce goods like produce where the consumers are? Transportation costs would be negligible, need for storage would be eliminated, and convenience for consumers would be unparalleled. People could buy the tomatoes, carrots, and lettuce needed for a salad right there on their lunch break rather than trekking the same distance to 'Burger World' and spending the same amount for inferior quality foods that have been soaked in chemicals using very Scotched Earth tactics. What's this? A good quality product for the same price as its mass produced competition? This must be a mistake!
Large scale growing and production within a major metropolitan area would also be a means to jump start the local economy. Active and consistent commerce tends to bring other commerce and we need only look at malls with their anchor stores to see this holds true. Local labor who is out of work would have an opportunity to be participants again in the economy whether they're laborers, growers, or sellers. Whatever their 'job', they would have some form of income which enables them to be consumers rather than a leech on the system. Even if they make $20/day, that's $20 less that they need to borrow or be given and more importantly it's EARNED.
The social effects of what is going on in Havana can't be comprehended by outsiders. Concepts like pride, hope for former unemployed workers, and aesthetics are all intangibles that can't be measured (yet somehow are major factors). Pockets of green like parks are already on the decline in most major metropolitan cities. These are pockets of green that not only produce marketable goods but cut back on air pollution in addition to their aesthetic value. The notion of eating something that was grown right near your employer can't be measured and yet will make most people smile.
Access to fresh produce can only have positive effects on peoples diets. Even if they just use that fresh tomato on their grease burger, it has more nutritional value than anything highly processed and mass farmed using heavy amounts of chemicals. Tomatoes are red, not pink. Look at a homegrown one next to one from the store. Case closed.
What strikes me the deepest about Havana is that they learned a lesson the hard way that we are blinded to.
Havana has almost 200 urban allotments - known as organiponicos - providing four million tonnes of vegetables every year - helping the country to become 90% self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables.
How is this a bad thing? A country that is 90% self sufficient in fruit and vegetables can weather economic crisis better as Havana is showing us. They're eliminating dependencies on foreign oil which means their country won't hit the panic button when Gas hits $4+ per gallon like it did in the US during the summer of 2008. The more self sufficient you are, the better you can cope with problems that arise.
Here we sit in the midst of a recession with the economy in the toilet, unemployment is up drastically, and yet we're obese. Food prices are going up, money is tight, and yet we less and less self sufficient as a country.
After reading about the farming that's going on in Cuba I realized that's exactly what we need. It just makes sense economically, socially, and physiologically.
Why would you not produce goods like produce where the consumers are? Transportation costs would be negligible, need for storage would be eliminated, and convenience for consumers would be unparalleled. People could buy the tomatoes, carrots, and lettuce needed for a salad right there on their lunch break rather than trekking the same distance to 'Burger World' and spending the same amount for inferior quality foods that have been soaked in chemicals using very Scotched Earth tactics. What's this? A good quality product for the same price as its mass produced competition? This must be a mistake!
Large scale growing and production within a major metropolitan area would also be a means to jump start the local economy. Active and consistent commerce tends to bring other commerce and we need only look at malls with their anchor stores to see this holds true. Local labor who is out of work would have an opportunity to be participants again in the economy whether they're laborers, growers, or sellers. Whatever their 'job', they would have some form of income which enables them to be consumers rather than a leech on the system. Even if they make $20/day, that's $20 less that they need to borrow or be given and more importantly it's EARNED.
The social effects of what is going on in Havana can't be comprehended by outsiders. Concepts like pride, hope for former unemployed workers, and aesthetics are all intangibles that can't be measured (yet somehow are major factors). Pockets of green like parks are already on the decline in most major metropolitan cities. These are pockets of green that not only produce marketable goods but cut back on air pollution in addition to their aesthetic value. The notion of eating something that was grown right near your employer can't be measured and yet will make most people smile.
Access to fresh produce can only have positive effects on peoples diets. Even if they just use that fresh tomato on their grease burger, it has more nutritional value than anything highly processed and mass farmed using heavy amounts of chemicals. Tomatoes are red, not pink. Look at a homegrown one next to one from the store. Case closed.
What strikes me the deepest about Havana is that they learned a lesson the hard way that we are blinded to.
Havana has almost 200 urban allotments - known as organiponicos - providing four million tonnes of vegetables every year - helping the country to become 90% self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables.
How is this a bad thing? A country that is 90% self sufficient in fruit and vegetables can weather economic crisis better as Havana is showing us. They're eliminating dependencies on foreign oil which means their country won't hit the panic button when Gas hits $4+ per gallon like it did in the US during the summer of 2008. The more self sufficient you are, the better you can cope with problems that arise.
As well as marigolds, basil and neem trees are planted around the containers to keep the aphids and beetles at bay. Sunflowers and corn are also planted around the beds to attract beneficial insects such as ladybirds and lace wings. Sticky paper or plastic funnel-shaped bottles are positioned throughout the beds to trap harmful pests that do get into the garden.
And the methods work. Lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, squash, sweet potatoes, spinach, herbs and many other crops are grown in huge quantities and sold cheaply. Mangoes are 2 pence (3 US cents) a pound. Black beans 15p (25 cents) and plantain, just 12p (20 cents).
What's this? A good quality product for the same price as its mass produced competition? This must be a mistake!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Vietnam massacre soldier 'sorry'
Vietnam massacre soldier 'sorry'
We are haunted by our past. Today the US is actively involved in both Afghanistan and Iraq and yet the echo's from our past are hard to silence. Vietnam was the first conflict that the US lost and My Lai had become the turning point for public opinion of the US in South East Asia.
Someone somewhere issued the order to wipe out a village in cold blood. Only God will know who truly issued the order but Lt William Calley is the one who was punished. I don't doubt his sincerity when he stated that he feels remorse and is sorry. What i question is how did this happen?
Wikipedia
We will never know what truly happened there. A shrinking number of people can come close to even comprehending the circumstances surrounding My Lai. The facts are that in 2009 Mr Calley apologized, proclaimed his remorse for past deeds, and still maintains that he was following orders. Despite serving his time and the intervention of Nixon, Mr Calley has forever been branded by history as the culprit in this. To this day he insists he was following orders but does not deny that he took part in this action.
Was this in fact murder or an atrocity within a war? What were the surrounding circumstances that this happened in? Will history ever judge this person fairly in context of actions versus in the vacuum of today? What worries me the most is that I know there will be similar incidents that will come to light in the coming years from Afghanistan and Iraq. Will the accused be as fortunate? How will history judge them versus Mr Calley?
No, the last of the ghosts of Vietnam have not been heard from, nor have we scratched the surface on todays conflicts.
Has he paid his price? Has Mr Calley suffered enough with the life long memory of what happened that day even though his formal punishment was minor in comparison? Is it reasonable to assume that his long time insistence that he was following orders should imply that his superiors let him take the fall so that they could further their careers?
May we never grow deaf to the echo's of our past.
We are haunted by our past. Today the US is actively involved in both Afghanistan and Iraq and yet the echo's from our past are hard to silence. Vietnam was the first conflict that the US lost and My Lai had become the turning point for public opinion of the US in South East Asia.
Someone somewhere issued the order to wipe out a village in cold blood. Only God will know who truly issued the order but Lt William Calley is the one who was punished. I don't doubt his sincerity when he stated that he feels remorse and is sorry. What i question is how did this happen?
Wikipedia
We will never know what truly happened there. A shrinking number of people can come close to even comprehending the circumstances surrounding My Lai. The facts are that in 2009 Mr Calley apologized, proclaimed his remorse for past deeds, and still maintains that he was following orders. Despite serving his time and the intervention of Nixon, Mr Calley has forever been branded by history as the culprit in this. To this day he insists he was following orders but does not deny that he took part in this action.
Was this in fact murder or an atrocity within a war? What were the surrounding circumstances that this happened in? Will history ever judge this person fairly in context of actions versus in the vacuum of today? What worries me the most is that I know there will be similar incidents that will come to light in the coming years from Afghanistan and Iraq. Will the accused be as fortunate? How will history judge them versus Mr Calley?
No, the last of the ghosts of Vietnam have not been heard from, nor have we scratched the surface on todays conflicts.
Has he paid his price? Has Mr Calley suffered enough with the life long memory of what happened that day even though his formal punishment was minor in comparison? Is it reasonable to assume that his long time insistence that he was following orders should imply that his superiors let him take the fall so that they could further their careers?
May we never grow deaf to the echo's of our past.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Beginner’s Guide: Is that a real anti-malware product?
http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/beginners-guide-is-that-real-anti.html
This link to SunBelt is to an article i found potentially useful. They always do a good job and are extremely informative. I'm posting this because i've recently seen a couple people i know personally who have fallen for this, and education is always important. May they be the last...
This link to SunBelt is to an article i found potentially useful. They always do a good job and are extremely informative. I'm posting this because i've recently seen a couple people i know personally who have fallen for this, and education is always important. May they be the last...
Friday, June 5, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
garden status
tomatoes (10 total):
2 lemon boys
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/30940/
green zebra
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53465/
mr stripey
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/57866/
big zac
early girl
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54789/
box car willie
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/60426/
beefmaster
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/57262/
pink
jet star
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/30970/
3 kahlarabi
carrots
mixed lettuce
3 tomatillos
red onion
peppers (18 total):
red
yellow
3 types of asian/thai 'hot' that have no tag
long red slim (cayenne)
2 purple beauty
anaheim
jalapeno
jalapa
hot banana
spanish spice
serrano
hungarian yellow wax
valencia orange
salsa
I regret to report that my basil is already dieing from some kind of bug. I lost my basil to the same "bug" last year in the same area and thus will not attempt basil there again in the future. In the meantime i'm looking to acquire a planter box to grow fresh basil in for this season.
As of today, tomatoes are coming along slowly, some peppers already have flowers on them, lettuce and carrot leaveshave pooked through, and finally have peas poking through.
2 lemon boys
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/30940/
green zebra
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53465/
mr stripey
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/57866/
big zac
early girl
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54789/
box car willie
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/60426/
beefmaster
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/57262/
pink
jet star
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/30970/
3 kahlarabi
carrots
mixed lettuce
3 tomatillos
red onion
peppers (18 total):
red
yellow
3 types of asian/thai 'hot' that have no tag
long red slim (cayenne)
2 purple beauty
anaheim
jalapeno
jalapa
hot banana
spanish spice
serrano
hungarian yellow wax
valencia orange
salsa
I regret to report that my basil is already dieing from some kind of bug. I lost my basil to the same "bug" last year in the same area and thus will not attempt basil there again in the future. In the meantime i'm looking to acquire a planter box to grow fresh basil in for this season.
As of today, tomatoes are coming along slowly, some peppers already have flowers on them, lettuce and carrot leaveshave pooked through, and finally have peas poking through.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
happy memorial day
...Yes i actually had someone say this to me this past weekend...
Memorial day in the US is allegedly about remembering both veterans and those who have left the Earth before us. Somewhere along the line, it's original intention has taken a back seat to the overwhelming majority of people who view it as a 3 day weekend to either vacation or to party. How hard is it to take a few minutes out of your 3 day weekend to remember it's focus? Seriously.
I worked all weekend. I am directly responsible for a lot of burgers and a lot of steaks being sold to those that were going to celebrate their extended weekend away from work. Since i had to work on the holiday (monday) i asked for (and got) a shorter day. Everyone at work seemed to pause and hesitate when i told them i wanted to leave by 1pm so that i could have time to join friends to go to visit the grave of one of our friends. This bothered me.
Everywhere i turn lately i see people that are more concerned with their own lives than those around them. Why is it that it's such a novelty that someone is going to visit a grave on MEMORIAL day? I know that people are trying to be polite but where do they get off saying something like "happy memorial day" to those around them. What, is this Christmas?
I'm not saying that people should go to the parades or wave flags etc on occasions like this. All i'm asking is that they spend a couple minutes remembering what the actual name of the holiday is and put forth half an effort to keep that in mind as they enjoy an extended weekend.
It truly is bull shit to have to deal with slack jawed knuckle heads who are bragging about the size of their grill (penis anyone?) and how good their food will be this weekend when all they can concern themselves with is 'relaxing' and 'getting away' and not taking a few minutes to even acknowledge the underlying reason for their 3 day weekend. Yet another person sighs in frustration because of the extra work that has piled up and emails that must be responded to in order for the world to continue rotating. Yet another person has their BlackBerry out and gets annoyed because some event dared to interrupt their self entitled extended weekend.
I don't know about you but the thought of grilling up these burgers while breaking in my brand new grill is the core reason why this 3 day weekend exists!!!
Excuse me, someone needs me help them pick out some steaks to help them impress their guests for their cook out...
Memorial day in the US is allegedly about remembering both veterans and those who have left the Earth before us. Somewhere along the line, it's original intention has taken a back seat to the overwhelming majority of people who view it as a 3 day weekend to either vacation or to party. How hard is it to take a few minutes out of your 3 day weekend to remember it's focus? Seriously.
I worked all weekend. I am directly responsible for a lot of burgers and a lot of steaks being sold to those that were going to celebrate their extended weekend away from work. Since i had to work on the holiday (monday) i asked for (and got) a shorter day. Everyone at work seemed to pause and hesitate when i told them i wanted to leave by 1pm so that i could have time to join friends to go to visit the grave of one of our friends. This bothered me.
Everywhere i turn lately i see people that are more concerned with their own lives than those around them. Why is it that it's such a novelty that someone is going to visit a grave on MEMORIAL day? I know that people are trying to be polite but where do they get off saying something like "happy memorial day" to those around them. What, is this Christmas?
I'm not saying that people should go to the parades or wave flags etc on occasions like this. All i'm asking is that they spend a couple minutes remembering what the actual name of the holiday is and put forth half an effort to keep that in mind as they enjoy an extended weekend.
It truly is bull shit to have to deal with slack jawed knuckle heads who are bragging about the size of their grill (penis anyone?) and how good their food will be this weekend when all they can concern themselves with is 'relaxing' and 'getting away' and not taking a few minutes to even acknowledge the underlying reason for their 3 day weekend. Yet another person sighs in frustration because of the extra work that has piled up and emails that must be responded to in order for the world to continue rotating. Yet another person has their BlackBerry out and gets annoyed because some event dared to interrupt their self entitled extended weekend.
I don't know about you but the thought of grilling up these burgers while breaking in my brand new grill is the core reason why this 3 day weekend exists!!!
Excuse me, someone needs me help them pick out some steaks to help them impress their guests for their cook out...
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
I am God.
Q: How do I blow off steam after dealing with finding out the car needs brakes, i hate my job, lack of $, people being stupid, family bickering, and a splitting headache?
A: Play god. Seriously. Go out in the yard, dig some holes in the garden, spread my seed (lettuce, carrots, onions) into the ground and then water generously. I am their god. I am the giver of life. I am the bringer of nourishment (water) and protector of their lives (damn those bunnies). I chose who will exist and where. All else is irrelevant. My domain is growing and my followers have been fruitful and multiplied. This pleases me.
Once i put things in perspective like this, the world seems just a little bit better...
A: Play god. Seriously. Go out in the yard, dig some holes in the garden, spread my seed (lettuce, carrots, onions) into the ground and then water generously. I am their god. I am the giver of life. I am the bringer of nourishment (water) and protector of their lives (damn those bunnies). I chose who will exist and where. All else is irrelevant. My domain is growing and my followers have been fruitful and multiplied. This pleases me.
Once i put things in perspective like this, the world seems just a little bit better...
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sarah Connor Chronicles - CANCELED
To those at both Fox and Warner Brothers, a hearty FUCK YOU from the bottom of my heart. Thanks for selling out fans of a sci fi show once again. Thank you for jerking it around and cutting it loose after abusing it like a $3 whore. Thank you for restoring my faith in the idea that the networks care nothing about fans. Thank you for not being clever enough to capitalize on a growing fan base on the eve of an anticipated theatrical release of a sequel to the series.
http://www.fmqinc.com/terminator-cancelled/
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/04/terminator_the_sarah_connor_ch_4.html
I'm going back to downloading all of my tv shows rather than watching the broadcast versions.
http://www.fmqinc.com/terminator-cancelled/
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/04/terminator_the_sarah_connor_ch_4.html
I'm going back to downloading all of my tv shows rather than watching the broadcast versions.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Why I Deserve New Toys
The other day I had a conversation with a girl I work with at my part time job (grunt work). This being grunt work should rightfully imply that those around me aren't all that educated or even well to do financially. I always like comparing it to Mos Eisley . :) This conversation really bothered me and I think it will continue to bother me for a long time.
The girl in question is HS drop out and an unwed/uninsured mother in her early 20's that is partially supported by the father who does similar grunt work. The child is appx 5-6 years old and is being raised in a very unpleasant neighborhood. Race is intentionally being withheld because it's a non-factor. She brings her Nintendo DS to work regularly in addition to her iPod. They have a Wii and a PS3 at home and I'm unsure about the TV situation for those consoles. She can't/won't work overtime because the additional money will change how much government assistance she receives. Yes, she found the loop holes and is using them to her advantage.
I'd not seen her in 6 months so the conversation consisted of her showing me her new iPhone that she now has. Apparently they have matching iPhones in addition to matching iPods.
What bothers me the most is the amount of technology that they have despite lack of income. There's a child growing up in this environment. These people are partially funding their technology habits with government money. Rather than working hard to get ahead and earning their toys, they're using loop holes to cover their daily expenses while spending what money they have on pop culture technology.
Is it fair that those that earn less than I do and pride themselves in working as little as possible have nicer things than I do? Is it fair that tax payers are helping support them and others like them? The only thing they've learned from our “system” is that it discourages them from working more to get ahead. Pride? Whats that? Why would you need pride when you've got your electronic devices that everyone covets without putting forth the effort to earn them?
Something is seriously wrong here. They genuinely believe that they are entitled to stuff like this because they work hard raising their kid AND they have jobs. Congratulations! You bothered to attempt to do your parental duties while bothering to get out of bed and go to work a couple days a week. Wow. You're such a trooper. We should build statues in your honor because of how noble you are. You clearly deserve your desert for your dinner even though you didn't eat your vegetables or do your homework. You're entitled to the best that society has to offer solely because you made an effort within the confines of your situation. That's OK though. You deserve it all.
This is one of many people I work with. This is actually a very typical scenario for those that work there. These jobs will be gone in < 5 years and everyone knows that. Yet they keep self medicating with material possessions like this. No one seems to care that this is happening. Everyone that I work with has the attitude of “they beat the system and so more power to them”. I guess this is should be chalked up as my jealousy fueled rant. I've done my share. I've worked hard for years and have next to nothing to show for it. I feel as though I deserve all of those toys more than others do. Why? Because I'm special and I get out of bed every day. I pay my bills on time and sacrifice personal comforts so that I can continue to pay. This must be jealousy. Someone has something that I covet and therefore I'm bitter because I want what they have.
To the Right wing conservatives out there: I'll make sure to pass on a hearty “Thank you” to these people for your ammunition against social programs.
The girl in question is HS drop out and an unwed/uninsured mother in her early 20's that is partially supported by the father who does similar grunt work. The child is appx 5-6 years old and is being raised in a very unpleasant neighborhood. Race is intentionally being withheld because it's a non-factor. She brings her Nintendo DS to work regularly in addition to her iPod. They have a Wii and a PS3 at home and I'm unsure about the TV situation for those consoles. She can't/won't work overtime because the additional money will change how much government assistance she receives. Yes, she found the loop holes and is using them to her advantage.
I'd not seen her in 6 months so the conversation consisted of her showing me her new iPhone that she now has. Apparently they have matching iPhones in addition to matching iPods.
What bothers me the most is the amount of technology that they have despite lack of income. There's a child growing up in this environment. These people are partially funding their technology habits with government money. Rather than working hard to get ahead and earning their toys, they're using loop holes to cover their daily expenses while spending what money they have on pop culture technology.
Is it fair that those that earn less than I do and pride themselves in working as little as possible have nicer things than I do? Is it fair that tax payers are helping support them and others like them? The only thing they've learned from our “system” is that it discourages them from working more to get ahead. Pride? Whats that? Why would you need pride when you've got your electronic devices that everyone covets without putting forth the effort to earn them?
Something is seriously wrong here. They genuinely believe that they are entitled to stuff like this because they work hard raising their kid AND they have jobs. Congratulations! You bothered to attempt to do your parental duties while bothering to get out of bed and go to work a couple days a week. Wow. You're such a trooper. We should build statues in your honor because of how noble you are. You clearly deserve your desert for your dinner even though you didn't eat your vegetables or do your homework. You're entitled to the best that society has to offer solely because you made an effort within the confines of your situation. That's OK though. You deserve it all.
This is one of many people I work with. This is actually a very typical scenario for those that work there. These jobs will be gone in < 5 years and everyone knows that. Yet they keep self medicating with material possessions like this. No one seems to care that this is happening. Everyone that I work with has the attitude of “they beat the system and so more power to them”. I guess this is should be chalked up as my jealousy fueled rant. I've done my share. I've worked hard for years and have next to nothing to show for it. I feel as though I deserve all of those toys more than others do. Why? Because I'm special and I get out of bed every day. I pay my bills on time and sacrifice personal comforts so that I can continue to pay. This must be jealousy. Someone has something that I covet and therefore I'm bitter because I want what they have.
To the Right wing conservatives out there: I'll make sure to pass on a hearty “Thank you” to these people for your ammunition against social programs.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Links
These are notable links that I've read lately.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp#Broken_and_discarded_lamps
http://earth911.com/plastic/plastic-bottle-recycling-facts/
http://www.container-recycling.org/mediafold/newsarticles/plastic/2006/5-WMW-DownDrain.htm
http://www.wayneporter.com/2009/03/22/the-end-of-wayne-unplugged/
http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/History/
http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/browse/sort-by-votes
https://help.ubuntu.com/7.10/basic-commands/C/
http://www.hulu.com/
http://comics.com/pearls_before_swine/
http://xkcd.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp#Broken_and_discarded_lamps
http://earth911.com/plastic/plastic-bottle-recycling-facts/
http://www.container-recycling.org/mediafold/newsarticles/plastic/2006/5-WMW-DownDrain.htm
http://www.wayneporter.com/2009/03/22/the-end-of-wayne-unplugged/
http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/History/
http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/browse/sort-by-votes
https://help.ubuntu.com/7.10/basic-commands/C/
http://www.hulu.com/
http://comics.com/pearls_before_swine/
http://xkcd.com/
Saturday, April 4, 2009
dreams
Is it better to have never dreamed than to have dreamt and then had those dreams swept away?
How many times can you endure being built up just to have everything crumble before your eyes?
Perhaps ignorance really is bliss.
How many times can you endure being built up just to have everything crumble before your eyes?
Perhaps ignorance really is bliss.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Comments on "Is there life after Windows?"
Courtesy of Independent.co.UK
I am now a Linux user. Not only am i a user but I'm also using the same distro mentioned in this article. Yes my version is 8.04 vs 8.10 but there isn't all THAT much difference between them.
I thoroughly enjoyed the article and the feedback comments at the bottom really make it complete. That fact that they bothered to identify what most average users use their computer for (browsing, IM, Office, and music) was a relief. For years i have argued that most of the garbage on a standard PC isn't needed by home users. At best, they need a thin client and they'd never notice the difference. Finally an article has addressed what i've felt has been obvious for a long time. One of the reasons for making the switch for myself was specifically because the bulk of what i do daily can be done on any platform.
When reading the feedback of the 4 testers I found myself having flashbacks. Every lesson learned over the years of dabbling came flooding back to me in an instant as i read the words of the reviewers.
My first reaction to this was that none of the 4 testers had the same problem. As maddening as this can be, i think it's a sign that things have really come a long way. Everyone views their computer in a different way. For some people it's a media center where they have their music collection that gets them through the day. Some people base it's performance solely on how Office behaves. Others use it excusively for browsing and checking sports scores. This is what it comes down to. Developers shouldn't tell people how to use their machines. People have to tell developers how they use it and developers should react accordingly.
The feedback comments seem to really focus in on the tester named Tony Messenger. He tried to zero in on codecs being the issue which seemed to me to be his way of seperating himself from the rest of the pack. The reality is, this was a vanilla install and therefore didn't have any mp3/flash/adobe plugins enabled because of EULA's that need to be agreed upon and other fun stuff. If this had been a virgin install of Windoze, he would have had the same problems. Perhapse it's been too long since he's had a clean install or maybe he's never even used a clean install before.
Someone like Mr Messenger needs to heed the advice of Yoda and "unlearn what you have learned". The harsh reality is that this is a fairly typical response for someone who has used Windoze exclusively. It's easy for commenters to sit back and say "all you need to do is enable this via add/remove and it'll grab the packages for you and do the work". I would laugh if someone had the same problem if it was their first time on a Windoze machine. "Didn't you know you're supposed to install flash so you can view youtube? Duh!" It was only after reading the simple documentation about mp3's + linux that i understood why it's like that out of the box. Just because it's logical doesn't mean it's common sense!
Finally, the tester named Androulla Polydorou hit the nail on the head with their comment: "I had a few problems at first, such as finding the right icon to turn up the volume. I think perhaps I'm so used to Windows that I'm not used to searching around for icons." There's a glimmer of hope yet! Rather than attacking Mr Messenger about his inablility to deal with the "codecs" issue I'd hoped that the feedback comments would have zeroed in on this instead. Here was someone who was able to acknowledge their own personal bias based on history and they seem acutely aware of how it's influencing their testing experience. Whether you're using a Mac, PC, or *nix, you should be aware of what you're used to seeing. The benchmark has already been set.
Do I think Ubuntu/linux is ready for the people en masse as an alternative? No. There are still dependencies and "quirks" which need to be resolved. People will not be willing to make the jump until they know they can do everything they're used to doing on their old PC. They're willing to roll the dice and deal with their AV's and malware if it means their machine runs the way they're used to. Installing windoze apps under Wine can still be a nightmare.
In the end, people don't like change. When WinXP launched, the die hards said they were sticking with 98 or 2k forever. Where are they now? Running XP. Vista/7 are drastically different from XP and once again users will not have a choice. In 2 years there will be less grumbling because users will be acclimated to the new environments and resistant to the newest release. Facebook recently changed their layout again. Everyone wants it to revert back to the old way. Nevermind the fact that when the "old" version launched 6 months ago, people grumbled and wanted it to go back to the version before that. The changes held and there was no mass exodus. The world did not stop spinning.
I would like to say that i really liked this article. It never announced a verdict one way or another. It presented the facts and left everything open ended. My only grumble that i have is that they should have given users vanilla installs of a Windoze OS on identical hardware for a side by side comparrison. Hindsite is 20/20 and this doesn't keep me from enjoying what i read. I look forward to reading further articles on this topic as time goes by.
I am now a Linux user. Not only am i a user but I'm also using the same distro mentioned in this article. Yes my version is 8.04 vs 8.10 but there isn't all THAT much difference between them.
I thoroughly enjoyed the article and the feedback comments at the bottom really make it complete. That fact that they bothered to identify what most average users use their computer for (browsing, IM, Office, and music) was a relief. For years i have argued that most of the garbage on a standard PC isn't needed by home users. At best, they need a thin client and they'd never notice the difference. Finally an article has addressed what i've felt has been obvious for a long time. One of the reasons for making the switch for myself was specifically because the bulk of what i do daily can be done on any platform.
When reading the feedback of the 4 testers I found myself having flashbacks. Every lesson learned over the years of dabbling came flooding back to me in an instant as i read the words of the reviewers.
My first reaction to this was that none of the 4 testers had the same problem. As maddening as this can be, i think it's a sign that things have really come a long way. Everyone views their computer in a different way. For some people it's a media center where they have their music collection that gets them through the day. Some people base it's performance solely on how Office behaves. Others use it excusively for browsing and checking sports scores. This is what it comes down to. Developers shouldn't tell people how to use their machines. People have to tell developers how they use it and developers should react accordingly.
The feedback comments seem to really focus in on the tester named Tony Messenger. He tried to zero in on codecs being the issue which seemed to me to be his way of seperating himself from the rest of the pack. The reality is, this was a vanilla install and therefore didn't have any mp3/flash/adobe plugins enabled because of EULA's that need to be agreed upon and other fun stuff. If this had been a virgin install of Windoze, he would have had the same problems. Perhapse it's been too long since he's had a clean install or maybe he's never even used a clean install before.
Someone like Mr Messenger needs to heed the advice of Yoda and "unlearn what you have learned". The harsh reality is that this is a fairly typical response for someone who has used Windoze exclusively. It's easy for commenters to sit back and say "all you need to do is enable this via add/remove and it'll grab the packages for you and do the work". I would laugh if someone had the same problem if it was their first time on a Windoze machine. "Didn't you know you're supposed to install flash so you can view youtube? Duh!" It was only after reading the simple documentation about mp3's + linux that i understood why it's like that out of the box. Just because it's logical doesn't mean it's common sense!
Finally, the tester named Androulla Polydorou hit the nail on the head with their comment: "I had a few problems at first, such as finding the right icon to turn up the volume. I think perhaps I'm so used to Windows that I'm not used to searching around for icons." There's a glimmer of hope yet! Rather than attacking Mr Messenger about his inablility to deal with the "codecs" issue I'd hoped that the feedback comments would have zeroed in on this instead. Here was someone who was able to acknowledge their own personal bias based on history and they seem acutely aware of how it's influencing their testing experience. Whether you're using a Mac, PC, or *nix, you should be aware of what you're used to seeing. The benchmark has already been set.
Do I think Ubuntu/linux is ready for the people en masse as an alternative? No. There are still dependencies and "quirks" which need to be resolved. People will not be willing to make the jump until they know they can do everything they're used to doing on their old PC. They're willing to roll the dice and deal with their AV's and malware if it means their machine runs the way they're used to. Installing windoze apps under Wine can still be a nightmare.
In the end, people don't like change. When WinXP launched, the die hards said they were sticking with 98 or 2k forever. Where are they now? Running XP. Vista/7 are drastically different from XP and once again users will not have a choice. In 2 years there will be less grumbling because users will be acclimated to the new environments and resistant to the newest release. Facebook recently changed their layout again. Everyone wants it to revert back to the old way. Nevermind the fact that when the "old" version launched 6 months ago, people grumbled and wanted it to go back to the version before that. The changes held and there was no mass exodus. The world did not stop spinning.
I would like to say that i really liked this article. It never announced a verdict one way or another. It presented the facts and left everything open ended. My only grumble that i have is that they should have given users vanilla installs of a Windoze OS on identical hardware for a side by side comparrison. Hindsite is 20/20 and this doesn't keep me from enjoying what i read. I look forward to reading further articles on this topic as time goes by.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Idle Time
You'd think that while being unemployed now I'd have lots of time to blog and spew my semi-coherent thoughts onto the interwebz. Then you lok at my posting history this month and realize something is missing.
The adjustment to this amount of free time is hard for someone like me who needs structure of stuff going on. I spend a lot of time trying to find things to queue up to do so that i can just be "busy" for a while. This consists of everything from working on a computer, to going for a walk or bike ride, or playing obnoxious amounts of Star Craft. In between all of that excitement I've been teaming up with a friend trying to come up with the next big business idea that will make me rich. Of course these plans won't get off the ground but they seem to have some real potential. Nothing like getting a Philosophy graduate to help you think outside the box!
I think part of what's keeping me from posting lately is i'm afraid to think too deeply these days for fear of shaking my blind confidence and hopes of finding a job again. If i focus in on what's going on around me and the reality i'm going to have to face in the coming months, it's damn scary. The last thing i need to do is get scared or even nervous because my confidence will be shaken when i interview and it's all down hill from there. The best way to prevent that is to just ignore the obvious as long as i can.
Is this a cop out? Maybe i'm in denial. Perhapse i'm subconsciously setting myself up to fail. Can it just be as simple as trying to keep my chin up like everyone tells me to? Do i even believe anymore? Is this the right time to start reevaluating "faith" in general?
See? There's still plenty bouncing around inside the ole skull!!!
The adjustment to this amount of free time is hard for someone like me who needs structure of stuff going on. I spend a lot of time trying to find things to queue up to do so that i can just be "busy" for a while. This consists of everything from working on a computer, to going for a walk or bike ride, or playing obnoxious amounts of Star Craft. In between all of that excitement I've been teaming up with a friend trying to come up with the next big business idea that will make me rich. Of course these plans won't get off the ground but they seem to have some real potential. Nothing like getting a Philosophy graduate to help you think outside the box!
I think part of what's keeping me from posting lately is i'm afraid to think too deeply these days for fear of shaking my blind confidence and hopes of finding a job again. If i focus in on what's going on around me and the reality i'm going to have to face in the coming months, it's damn scary. The last thing i need to do is get scared or even nervous because my confidence will be shaken when i interview and it's all down hill from there. The best way to prevent that is to just ignore the obvious as long as i can.
Is this a cop out? Maybe i'm in denial. Perhapse i'm subconsciously setting myself up to fail. Can it just be as simple as trying to keep my chin up like everyone tells me to? Do i even believe anymore? Is this the right time to start reevaluating "faith" in general?
See? There's still plenty bouncing around inside the ole skull!!!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Mexican soldiers deploy to Juarez
Courtesy of dailymail.co.uk
My initial comment about this was how much I love the caption under one of the pictures.
"Bringing out the big guns: Armed federal police prepare to patrol the streets as they arrive in Ciudad Juarez yesterday"
What strikes me the most about this article is not the number of murders in one month (250) but the fact that there's already 2500 troops there. This is a city of 1.6 million people and there were 250 people killed last month. This isn't a city, it's a war zone.
Questions worth considering upon reading this article:
Is sending in more federal troops merely going to displace this problem while murder rates drop to "an acceptable level"? What will be the measure of progress? Is this "iron fist" rationale the best way to deal with organizations that are above the law? How long can an occupation of a city like this continue? How long will it take before the local military officers get bought out to look the other way? What's to stop the cartels from working with the military against each other and thus letting the military do their dirty work (by raiding, arresting, and hampering) in the struggle against their opponents?
My initial comment about this was how much I love the caption under one of the pictures.
"Bringing out the big guns: Armed federal police prepare to patrol the streets as they arrive in Ciudad Juarez yesterday"
What strikes me the most about this article is not the number of murders in one month (250) but the fact that there's already 2500 troops there. This is a city of 1.6 million people and there were 250 people killed last month. This isn't a city, it's a war zone.
Questions worth considering upon reading this article:
Is sending in more federal troops merely going to displace this problem while murder rates drop to "an acceptable level"? What will be the measure of progress? Is this "iron fist" rationale the best way to deal with organizations that are above the law? How long can an occupation of a city like this continue? How long will it take before the local military officers get bought out to look the other way? What's to stop the cartels from working with the military against each other and thus letting the military do their dirty work (by raiding, arresting, and hampering) in the struggle against their opponents?
Thursday, February 26, 2009
MyFace/SpaceBook
Social networking sites have gone from popular, to overboard, to irritating, and now they're getting downright obnoxious. Everyone has to add clutter to their page to show their individuality. I liked facebook once upon a time because it was clean. I did the myspace thing because it was easier to keep tabs on music groups. Myspace was (in my eyes) for people who can't spell HTML and yet wanted a gaudy 'pimped out' page. Facebook was once for those that wanted to stalk easier because of how lax people had their security settings and were gullible enough to fill in all of their personal info.
Today, both sites are overrun with widgets, plugins, apps, and overall bling which i find to be obnoxious. I don't care about what you're doing via twitter, who you superpoked, or what music plays every time someone loads your page.
I've decided to create a name for these people. They will be the ones that 'pimp out' their pages. They are the ones that toss so much multimedia content on their page that it's slow to load irregardless of connection speed and machine performance. These are the people who have a ton of youtube clips embedded in addition to different apps that spam their friends into submission to join them.
Both sites have picked up more and more traits of the other and it's getting difficult to tell them apart. Because of the blending that has happened between both sides, i've decided that they need a new name. A name that not only reflects what has happened to the sites, but also their users.
I propose MyFace.
MyFace will be used by me as an insult referencing these people. MyFace is my new catchall word for these sites and their individuality craving, bling polluting, bandwidth consuming, eye sores that people create.
Oooo... someone has just sent me a beer on MyFace and i need to go return the favor!
***********
(EDIT)
http://www.myface.com/
Looks like i'm going with spacebook instead of MyFace. Doh!
Today, both sites are overrun with widgets, plugins, apps, and overall bling which i find to be obnoxious. I don't care about what you're doing via twitter, who you superpoked, or what music plays every time someone loads your page.
I've decided to create a name for these people. They will be the ones that 'pimp out' their pages. They are the ones that toss so much multimedia content on their page that it's slow to load irregardless of connection speed and machine performance. These are the people who have a ton of youtube clips embedded in addition to different apps that spam their friends into submission to join them.
Both sites have picked up more and more traits of the other and it's getting difficult to tell them apart. Because of the blending that has happened between both sides, i've decided that they need a new name. A name that not only reflects what has happened to the sites, but also their users.
I propose MyFace.
MyFace will be used by me as an insult referencing these people. MyFace is my new catchall word for these sites and their individuality craving, bling polluting, bandwidth consuming, eye sores that people create.
Oooo... someone has just sent me a beer on MyFace and i need to go return the favor!
***********
(EDIT)
http://www.myface.com/
Looks like i'm going with spacebook instead of MyFace. Doh!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
People Amuse Me
I love people watching. When i do this, some days i can almost hear a British/BBC voice doing a commentary as events are unfolding.
Yesterday the city closed off a major street near me because of a sink hole. Cops blocked both ends of the street and bridge for obvious safety concerns. I wandered over there to check it out for myself as a pedestrian because i honestly had nothing better to do and it was a nice day out.
It was approximately 5pm when i was on the scene. I wish i had a web cam to set up and stream this because it was just too funny for me. Here's a squad car parked blocking traffic with caution tape up and the road is clearly closed. As i walked by i saw no less than 3 cars try to turn onto the street and go under the caution tape. These people were promptly discouraged by a quite angry police officer who was not afraid to yell at them.
Here's an example of what i heard:
"Hey! The road is closed."
"Where do you think you're going?"
(my favorite...)
"Why do you think i'm parked blocking traffic? I don't care if you need to go through. You need to go around. I'm hear to keep you safe and i don't care where you think you need to go."
I've seen similar things happen with people and police officers when they're blocking traffic and it never ceases to amaze me. I normally do my polite head nod or wave acknowledging that i see them and go on about my business while keeping out of their way.
Once upon a time i thought i wanted to be a police officer. For various reasons, i decided that it wasn't for me. I can't help but think what i would have said in those situations. In hindsight i don't think i would have been nearly as diplomatic with these people. Perhaps it's for the better that i never went into that career field after all... :)
*******
Last summer while riding my bike i saw a car cut around an ambulance into oncoming traffic because they clearly were in a hurry. The ambulance hit their lights and waved the person to pull over and proceeded to ream them out. Technically this would be an illegal stop and the ambulance drivers could have gotten in hot water. Yeah. Right. Good luck finding me someone who will prosecute THAT one.
*******
These incidents are funny at face value for me but they're also saddening when i stop to think about it. Is it a lack of respect for authority figures that i see? Is it people being too selfish and into their own personal lives/interests to consider others? Is this summed up as "me first" mentality? Is this just blatant stupidity? Have we as a society lost all sense of etiquette?
I try to not read too much into peoples actions but it's hard. Their actions are funny to me but after a while i can't help but wonder what inspired them. I've always believed that "actions speak louder than words" and so these people are saying a LOT about themselves.
Pardon me for ending abruptly. There's a bridge that's out and i need to go have another laugh at other peoples expense.
Yesterday the city closed off a major street near me because of a sink hole. Cops blocked both ends of the street and bridge for obvious safety concerns. I wandered over there to check it out for myself as a pedestrian because i honestly had nothing better to do and it was a nice day out.
It was approximately 5pm when i was on the scene. I wish i had a web cam to set up and stream this because it was just too funny for me. Here's a squad car parked blocking traffic with caution tape up and the road is clearly closed. As i walked by i saw no less than 3 cars try to turn onto the street and go under the caution tape. These people were promptly discouraged by a quite angry police officer who was not afraid to yell at them.
Here's an example of what i heard:
"Hey! The road is closed."
"Where do you think you're going?"
(my favorite...)
"Why do you think i'm parked blocking traffic? I don't care if you need to go through. You need to go around. I'm hear to keep you safe and i don't care where you think you need to go."
I've seen similar things happen with people and police officers when they're blocking traffic and it never ceases to amaze me. I normally do my polite head nod or wave acknowledging that i see them and go on about my business while keeping out of their way.
Once upon a time i thought i wanted to be a police officer. For various reasons, i decided that it wasn't for me. I can't help but think what i would have said in those situations. In hindsight i don't think i would have been nearly as diplomatic with these people. Perhaps it's for the better that i never went into that career field after all... :)
*******
Last summer while riding my bike i saw a car cut around an ambulance into oncoming traffic because they clearly were in a hurry. The ambulance hit their lights and waved the person to pull over and proceeded to ream them out. Technically this would be an illegal stop and the ambulance drivers could have gotten in hot water. Yeah. Right. Good luck finding me someone who will prosecute THAT one.
*******
These incidents are funny at face value for me but they're also saddening when i stop to think about it. Is it a lack of respect for authority figures that i see? Is it people being too selfish and into their own personal lives/interests to consider others? Is this summed up as "me first" mentality? Is this just blatant stupidity? Have we as a society lost all sense of etiquette?
I try to not read too much into peoples actions but it's hard. Their actions are funny to me but after a while i can't help but wonder what inspired them. I've always believed that "actions speak louder than words" and so these people are saying a LOT about themselves.
Pardon me for ending abruptly. There's a bridge that's out and i need to go have another laugh at other peoples expense.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Ironies in life (II)
- Getting laid off exactly 2 years to the day that i ended my last "professional" job which lead to my ongoing job hunt.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Do Something About It
"If you don't like your situation, then do something about it."
These are words I live by. A long time ago I became empowered the first time I left a job that I didn't like. In hindsight, the feeling was quite liberating. No longer was I stuck going somewhere and doing something i grew to hate. Taking control of my destiny for the first time like that had a lasting impact on me and my approach to life in general today.
How should someone like myself then deal with a person who is in denial over how much they hate their job and has no ambition to advance or even leave? They say they don't hate their job but then all they ever do is bitch about people there. They refuse to even explore other options because they "don't want to compete with those that need it worse".
We all have complaints about work. We all complain to others about some aspect of work. There's nothing wrong with this and it's perfectly healthy.
I understand that insurance is a strong motivating factor for staying somewhere. There's also the fear of the unknown. It's clearly difficult to leave a job for another and expect a similar salary. Is not a pay cut worth the mental health? Does it make sense to stay somewhere that you have no hope for advancement and you voice how much you hate it? I'm not saying you have to have lofty goals and your entire career mapped out. How hard is it to want something just a little better in life?
In my eyes, i equate this as a personality that is destined for abusive relationships. Too and timid to take a stand. Denying their own words and justifying actions as "not all that bad" or "just venting". It's funny. When i hear the complaints about work and the subsequent denials of them, i keep thinking to myself "honestly officer, i just fell!"
These are words I live by. A long time ago I became empowered the first time I left a job that I didn't like. In hindsight, the feeling was quite liberating. No longer was I stuck going somewhere and doing something i grew to hate. Taking control of my destiny for the first time like that had a lasting impact on me and my approach to life in general today.
How should someone like myself then deal with a person who is in denial over how much they hate their job and has no ambition to advance or even leave? They say they don't hate their job but then all they ever do is bitch about people there. They refuse to even explore other options because they "don't want to compete with those that need it worse".
We all have complaints about work. We all complain to others about some aspect of work. There's nothing wrong with this and it's perfectly healthy.
I understand that insurance is a strong motivating factor for staying somewhere. There's also the fear of the unknown. It's clearly difficult to leave a job for another and expect a similar salary. Is not a pay cut worth the mental health? Does it make sense to stay somewhere that you have no hope for advancement and you voice how much you hate it? I'm not saying you have to have lofty goals and your entire career mapped out. How hard is it to want something just a little better in life?
In my eyes, i equate this as a personality that is destined for abusive relationships. Too and timid to take a stand. Denying their own words and justifying actions as "not all that bad" or "just venting". It's funny. When i hear the complaints about work and the subsequent denials of them, i keep thinking to myself "honestly officer, i just fell!"
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
He's an "intelligent" guy...
Intelligent.
in·tel·li·gent
–adjective
1. having good understanding or a high mental capacity; quick to comprehend, as persons or animals: an intelligent student.
2. displaying or characterized by quickness of understanding, sound thought, or good judgment: an intelligent reply.
3. having the faculty of reasoning and understanding; possessing intelligence: intelligent beings in outer space.
4. Computers. pertaining to the ability to do data processing locally; smart: An intelligent terminal can edit input before transmission to a host computer. Compare dumb (def. 8).
5. Archaic. having understanding or knowledge (usually fol. by of).
I hear that word thrown around as an adjective a lot these days. Not really sure if this is a new trend or if it's more coincidental.
What is it then that makes a person earn this description? Is it formal education? Reading habits? Job experience? Comprehension of vague abstract concepts? Or is it others perceptions of you that earn you this branding?
"He's an intelligent guy..."
A formal education doesn't necessarily equate intelligence. I think we all know someone that has an advanced education (degree, certifications, etc) that can be classified as "an educated idiot". Having witnessed this first hand, going to college doesn't necessarily mean that an individual is capable of retaining what they were exposed to. How many times have you taken a class (even in high school) and forgotten the bulk of the information after the final exam? With how common this is for people, is it that far of a stretch of the imagination to assume that this happens on all levels of education? We need only look at pop cultures TV show "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?" to see first hand how much we feel that we knew at one time but then promptly forgot because it was never reinforced. All you need to do is have a flash back to grammar structure in grade school and you'll know exactly what i'm referring to!
Does the fact that you've read the works Plato and Shakespeare equate as intelligence? Do you earn the brand of "intelligent" based on the fact that you've read a number of books about etymology? If not, then why is it that people continue to refer to a person like that as "intelligent"?
A person who can read a document and comprehend it immediately is considered intelligent. A person who can listen listen to something explained, interact with the presenter, and comprehend the topic is not considered as intelligent because they had to have outside help. Never mind that these are different styles of learning.
I guess i'm not "intelligent" and it's time for me to swallow that bitter pill. I don't read all that much these days and never cared for the deep thinking philosophy or literature genres (history was my passion). I need someone to explain to me abstract concepts rather than reading documentation. I graduated from college but then didn't retain much in most of my subjects (much like my peers). I'm comfortable with this so don't patronize me by calling me something that i'm clearly not.
No one has ever called me "intelligent" and, based on the above criteria, i'm comfortable knowing that they never will.
in·tel·li·gent
–adjective
1. having good understanding or a high mental capacity; quick to comprehend, as persons or animals: an intelligent student.
2. displaying or characterized by quickness of understanding, sound thought, or good judgment: an intelligent reply.
3. having the faculty of reasoning and understanding; possessing intelligence: intelligent beings in outer space.
4. Computers. pertaining to the ability to do data processing locally; smart: An intelligent terminal can edit input before transmission to a host computer. Compare dumb (def. 8).
5. Archaic. having understanding or knowledge (usually fol. by of).
I hear that word thrown around as an adjective a lot these days. Not really sure if this is a new trend or if it's more coincidental.
What is it then that makes a person earn this description? Is it formal education? Reading habits? Job experience? Comprehension of vague abstract concepts? Or is it others perceptions of you that earn you this branding?
"He's an intelligent guy..."
A formal education doesn't necessarily equate intelligence. I think we all know someone that has an advanced education (degree, certifications, etc) that can be classified as "an educated idiot". Having witnessed this first hand, going to college doesn't necessarily mean that an individual is capable of retaining what they were exposed to. How many times have you taken a class (even in high school) and forgotten the bulk of the information after the final exam? With how common this is for people, is it that far of a stretch of the imagination to assume that this happens on all levels of education? We need only look at pop cultures TV show "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?" to see first hand how much we feel that we knew at one time but then promptly forgot because it was never reinforced. All you need to do is have a flash back to grammar structure in grade school and you'll know exactly what i'm referring to!
Does the fact that you've read the works Plato and Shakespeare equate as intelligence? Do you earn the brand of "intelligent" based on the fact that you've read a number of books about etymology? If not, then why is it that people continue to refer to a person like that as "intelligent"?
A person who can read a document and comprehend it immediately is considered intelligent. A person who can listen listen to something explained, interact with the presenter, and comprehend the topic is not considered as intelligent because they had to have outside help. Never mind that these are different styles of learning.
I guess i'm not "intelligent" and it's time for me to swallow that bitter pill. I don't read all that much these days and never cared for the deep thinking philosophy or literature genres (history was my passion). I need someone to explain to me abstract concepts rather than reading documentation. I graduated from college but then didn't retain much in most of my subjects (much like my peers). I'm comfortable with this so don't patronize me by calling me something that i'm clearly not.
No one has ever called me "intelligent" and, based on the above criteria, i'm comfortable knowing that they never will.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
A-Rod and Baseball
Knowing that professional sports have become more business oriented than actual sporting, it's harder and harder for even casual fans to stomach what is happening. In case you've been living under a rock MLB is dealing with skyrocketing salaries, a team that spent 250,000,000 this off season just to sign 3 players, prices continually going up, $6 for a beer served by someone making just over minimum wage, a commissioner that has reportedly earned 18,000,000 last year, and a drug testing policy that is arguably more lax than even the NBA. To sum up the situation, people (not just fans) are getting fed up.
To address the drug/steroid problems, one can't help but come back to the money issues. That being said, I'm trying to avoid that topic but it will come up.
I enjoyed this editorial:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dwyre-a-rod10-2009feb10,0,3614747.column
To address the drug/steroid problems, one can't help but come back to the money issues. That being said, I'm trying to avoid that topic but it will come up.
I enjoyed this editorial:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dwyre-a-rod10-2009feb10,0,3614747.column
Monday, February 9, 2009
Facebook - Jobs
Mental note: Check Facebook profile before applying for a job.
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/jobsearchblogs/a/jobsearchblog.htm
No i haven't learned this lesson the hard way. This is my way of reminding myself (and others) to not shoot themselves in the foot. I've changed my profile image from a Smithwicks logo to an image of a Rib Eye steak. It's far more politically correct than a beer logo and shouldn't hurt my chances with future employers. I'm still debating on whether i want to change it to no image vs the steak but I feel that this should suffice. I find myself questioning how the image could be interpreted and in the end i don't see anything negative about the steak image.
Now it's time to cross my fingers and hope that this step of caution is worth it.
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/jobsearchblogs/a/jobsearchblog.htm
No i haven't learned this lesson the hard way. This is my way of reminding myself (and others) to not shoot themselves in the foot. I've changed my profile image from a Smithwicks logo to an image of a Rib Eye steak. It's far more politically correct than a beer logo and shouldn't hurt my chances with future employers. I'm still debating on whether i want to change it to no image vs the steak but I feel that this should suffice. I find myself questioning how the image could be interpreted and in the end i don't see anything negative about the steak image.
Now it's time to cross my fingers and hope that this step of caution is worth it.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Lesson Learned - Ubuntu
I've clearly been using windows too much. Despite warnings from my friend/mentor, my issues this weekend were my own fault. I accepted full responsibility for my ignorance surrounding the actions taken.
Saturday, my Ubuntu 8.04 machine notified me that i had "critical security updates." No new kernel. Some of the updates were for VIM which made me "wtf" and look closely at what was being offered. It was mostly libs and so i grabbed them blindly. After system restart, sound was no longer working and Pidgin would freeze as it loaded. Much like winXP and SP2, unexpected things broke.
I tried looking through forums about updates, sound, and Pidgin breaking for others but no luck. This being a new build, i opted for the fix that was the most drastic but would get me up and running quickest. Upgrade to 8.10 time!
No luck. My machine felt laggy and hesitated a lot more AND sound was still broken. So much for that idea. All that's left was to reinstall. After consulting with a friend, i had a better game plan as to how i would configure my setup.
Previously i had left the install as vanilla as possible and so everything was on one partition which means everything would be lost. I was advised to create a separate partition for /home which would mean i wouldn't lose my files again. What a novel idea! As i was in the partition manager during install, it dawned on me that i can have /home be a separate drive and so i plugged in a spare 40g sata drive. When all was said and done, the mount point for / would become the 40g drive and 1.5tb would be allocated to /home. Let the install begin!
Install was no problem. Everything was working fine. Success. Wait a minute. I can't leave a sleeping beast alone, can i?
Yesterday I reinstalled again blowing away all system files while keeping /home on the seperate drive. During install it found /home no problem and asked if i wanted to import the data and settings from there. Sure. Why not?
After install was completed and i logged in, my background and files were intact. Woohoo! It makes sense that all of these files and settings exist in /home and since that was untouched then everything should look the same again (excluding lack of programs). Just because it makes sense doesn't mean that I'll truly grasp it until the first time i do it though.
If not for me blindly trusting the "updates", i feel i wouldn't have learned this tidbit for a long time. It's refreshing to have a sense of safety now knowing that whatever i wind up having in /home will remain intact after cleaning up yet another mess. I was genuinely pissed when that sound issue arose. Rather than whine and complain and get bitter about it, i used it as an excuse to try something new and different. Today i sit here knowing that i have absorbed another piece of the puzzle that i'm trying to conquer in my spare time.
Now... I need a beer BADLY!!! :)
Saturday, my Ubuntu 8.04 machine notified me that i had "critical security updates." No new kernel. Some of the updates were for VIM which made me "wtf" and look closely at what was being offered. It was mostly libs and so i grabbed them blindly. After system restart, sound was no longer working and Pidgin would freeze as it loaded. Much like winXP and SP2, unexpected things broke.
I tried looking through forums about updates, sound, and Pidgin breaking for others but no luck. This being a new build, i opted for the fix that was the most drastic but would get me up and running quickest. Upgrade to 8.10 time!
No luck. My machine felt laggy and hesitated a lot more AND sound was still broken. So much for that idea. All that's left was to reinstall. After consulting with a friend, i had a better game plan as to how i would configure my setup.
Previously i had left the install as vanilla as possible and so everything was on one partition which means everything would be lost. I was advised to create a separate partition for /home which would mean i wouldn't lose my files again. What a novel idea! As i was in the partition manager during install, it dawned on me that i can have /home be a separate drive and so i plugged in a spare 40g sata drive. When all was said and done, the mount point for / would become the 40g drive and 1.5tb would be allocated to /home. Let the install begin!
Install was no problem. Everything was working fine. Success. Wait a minute. I can't leave a sleeping beast alone, can i?
Yesterday I reinstalled again blowing away all system files while keeping /home on the seperate drive. During install it found /home no problem and asked if i wanted to import the data and settings from there. Sure. Why not?
After install was completed and i logged in, my background and files were intact. Woohoo! It makes sense that all of these files and settings exist in /home and since that was untouched then everything should look the same again (excluding lack of programs). Just because it makes sense doesn't mean that I'll truly grasp it until the first time i do it though.
If not for me blindly trusting the "updates", i feel i wouldn't have learned this tidbit for a long time. It's refreshing to have a sense of safety now knowing that whatever i wind up having in /home will remain intact after cleaning up yet another mess. I was genuinely pissed when that sound issue arose. Rather than whine and complain and get bitter about it, i used it as an excuse to try something new and different. Today i sit here knowing that i have absorbed another piece of the puzzle that i'm trying to conquer in my spare time.
Now... I need a beer BADLY!!! :)
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
New and Improved!
I've been running Ubuntu 8.04 for a couple weeks now. Got sick of the constant M$ updates, adware, and patches and decided i was ready for a new challenge. This coincided with building a new machine and what better way to break it in than with a new OS, right?
The stats:
Why Ubuntu? Why not just install my copy of XP again and streamline it? Why not jump onto Vista or xp-64? I've been using windows for 10 years now and things have gotten boring in my life. Everyone is eager to jump on the M$ bashing boat but most refuse to put their money (or OS) where their mouth is. Out of the box Ubuntu mostly works with minimal swearing and headaches which is ideal for my home machine. I need an OS that won't cause me headaches and allow me to web bowse, IRC, IM, torrent, and listen to music. I don't have the patience anymore dealing with trying to remove some malware like Vundo that somehow got past my AV and decides to pop up 10 minutes before i leave for work. I don't have the patience to go looking for yet another burning program because i have an NRG file and i don't have Nero installed anymore. I don't have the patience to go out there and find a program that will make an iso image that i can later mount for VM's. I don't have the patience to go out and find yet a different app that will let me mount an iso file. This leaves me with Linux.
The reality is, i personally identify with linux more than i do with windows. I like how straight forward linux is. Once you find a decent text editor, linux is a bunch of conf files that need to be uncommented and edited. I can't play games on it easily yet but then i never played many games to begin with. Burning an iso was idiot proof with the default burning software (brasero) which was a huge relief. Gone are the days of fighting wth Nero and Power ISO and every other burner app i had to download just to get something unique to burn.
I'm still learning the structure gradually and so i have only a vague idea as to what these gremlins are doing. I don't care. Gone are the days of wondering what malware got hooked in startup in the registry. I've only begun to learn concepts of how to shell script. I don't care. I don't exactly know how to make a proper .bat or .vbs either so what's the point? I like the fact that most things log to an intelligible log file and so you can actually decipher what is going on from reading that file as opposed to looking at the cryptic event viewer in windows. There are days that i used to wonder if you needed an MCSE to understand the event viewer and what it was trying to tell you. I now have a machine in my life that i'm interested in and will help keep me in the work mindset more consistently. My machine is logical. It spews info into /var/log/messages where i can see problems arise in real time rather than waiting for a BSOD.
I'm home.
The stats:
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
- SAMSUNG 2232BW+ Black 22" 2ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 8000:1(1000:1)
- EVGA 512-P3-N807-RX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
- EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
- Kingston ValueRAM 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
- Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
- Samsung dvd burner
Why Ubuntu? Why not just install my copy of XP again and streamline it? Why not jump onto Vista or xp-64? I've been using windows for 10 years now and things have gotten boring in my life. Everyone is eager to jump on the M$ bashing boat but most refuse to put their money (or OS) where their mouth is. Out of the box Ubuntu mostly works with minimal swearing and headaches which is ideal for my home machine. I need an OS that won't cause me headaches and allow me to web bowse, IRC, IM, torrent, and listen to music. I don't have the patience anymore dealing with trying to remove some malware like Vundo that somehow got past my AV and decides to pop up 10 minutes before i leave for work. I don't have the patience to go looking for yet another burning program because i have an NRG file and i don't have Nero installed anymore. I don't have the patience to go out there and find a program that will make an iso image that i can later mount for VM's. I don't have the patience to go out and find yet a different app that will let me mount an iso file. This leaves me with Linux.
The reality is, i personally identify with linux more than i do with windows. I like how straight forward linux is. Once you find a decent text editor, linux is a bunch of conf files that need to be uncommented and edited. I can't play games on it easily yet but then i never played many games to begin with. Burning an iso was idiot proof with the default burning software (brasero) which was a huge relief. Gone are the days of fighting wth Nero and Power ISO and every other burner app i had to download just to get something unique to burn.
I'm still learning the structure gradually and so i have only a vague idea as to what these gremlins are doing. I don't care. Gone are the days of wondering what malware got hooked in startup in the registry. I've only begun to learn concepts of how to shell script. I don't care. I don't exactly know how to make a proper .bat or .vbs either so what's the point? I like the fact that most things log to an intelligible log file and so you can actually decipher what is going on from reading that file as opposed to looking at the cryptic event viewer in windows. There are days that i used to wonder if you needed an MCSE to understand the event viewer and what it was trying to tell you. I now have a machine in my life that i'm interested in and will help keep me in the work mindset more consistently. My machine is logical. It spews info into /var/log/messages where i can see problems arise in real time rather than waiting for a BSOD.
I'm home.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Blast from the Past
I graduated from High School in 1997. Early on in my HS days, my older brother and his girlfriend got robbed right before Christmas. The crooks got caught a couple days later and all items were retrieved. They had apparently pulled a couple robberies that night and so there were excellent descriptions of the perpetrators and their vehicle which made catching them easier.
The other day a letter came in the mail addressed to my brother. It turns out that one of the perpetrators had been up for parole in fall and this letter was to notify my brother that parole had been denied.
This got me thinking about what has all happened between that night and today. My brother is now married, was in the army and is now in the reserves, and is a completely different person than who he was way back when. A life time has passed since then.
More often than not you hear people argue that we need to have stiffer penalties on criminals. Even though i don't remember much of anything about the backgrounds of the defendants, I do remember that they weren't murderers, rapists, or hard core thugs. Just some punks that were out trying to pull a fast one because they were stupid. This person has lost a significant portion of their life because of their actions. The fact that parole was denied for this individual implies that he hasn't exactly been behaving himself while in prison. I find myself wondering how this person will ever transition to the outside world if/when he finally gets released.
The reality is that when someone like this is finally released, the world is drastically different and so mere suggestion of a smooth transition from 1996 to 2009 is a laughable. I'm not advocating for the release of an individual who was recently denied parole. My intention is to put weight behind the numerical value of a sentence. The threat of a 10 year sentence sounds rather light by our "truth in sentencing" standards but we need to take a step back and put things in perspective. Where were you 10 years ago? What were you doing back then? Did you know you'd be in the place you're in right now? Removal of an individual from society for 10 years is close to being a life time in terms of mentality. This is not an auction where the highest bid wins. These are individual lives we're talking about. People who could do much more important things in our society like consuming and producing goods and thus part of the greater organism that we all live in.
I sit here thinking back to that long ago incident and how heart broken i was when my brother was robbed of what would eventually be christmas presents. I was so young back then. So naive. So much has changed in both his life and mine and yet the individuals who did this sat and idled their lives away. I'm sure they learned their lesson a long time ago, but i wonder when it was that they forgot what they were supposed to learn?
The other day a letter came in the mail addressed to my brother. It turns out that one of the perpetrators had been up for parole in fall and this letter was to notify my brother that parole had been denied.
This got me thinking about what has all happened between that night and today. My brother is now married, was in the army and is now in the reserves, and is a completely different person than who he was way back when. A life time has passed since then.
More often than not you hear people argue that we need to have stiffer penalties on criminals. Even though i don't remember much of anything about the backgrounds of the defendants, I do remember that they weren't murderers, rapists, or hard core thugs. Just some punks that were out trying to pull a fast one because they were stupid. This person has lost a significant portion of their life because of their actions. The fact that parole was denied for this individual implies that he hasn't exactly been behaving himself while in prison. I find myself wondering how this person will ever transition to the outside world if/when he finally gets released.
The reality is that when someone like this is finally released, the world is drastically different and so mere suggestion of a smooth transition from 1996 to 2009 is a laughable. I'm not advocating for the release of an individual who was recently denied parole. My intention is to put weight behind the numerical value of a sentence. The threat of a 10 year sentence sounds rather light by our "truth in sentencing" standards but we need to take a step back and put things in perspective. Where were you 10 years ago? What were you doing back then? Did you know you'd be in the place you're in right now? Removal of an individual from society for 10 years is close to being a life time in terms of mentality. This is not an auction where the highest bid wins. These are individual lives we're talking about. People who could do much more important things in our society like consuming and producing goods and thus part of the greater organism that we all live in.
I sit here thinking back to that long ago incident and how heart broken i was when my brother was robbed of what would eventually be christmas presents. I was so young back then. So naive. So much has changed in both his life and mine and yet the individuals who did this sat and idled their lives away. I'm sure they learned their lesson a long time ago, but i wonder when it was that they forgot what they were supposed to learn?
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Ironies in life
I work in the same building that had the shrink i got sent to eons ago. Maybe that's why i'm ready to have a god damned break down.
My brother called asking if i knew anyone i could suggest for virus/malware removal. This further demonstrates how little he knows me.
Give me enough time and i can fix something. Put me on the spot in a production environment and i'm apparently useless.
I can't have anything that resembles a stable relationship. Then again, people turn to me for advice on how to handle friends/family/work.
I enjoy reading. I've not read more than 20 pages at a time in a book since spring.
Writing my random thoughts is one of my favorite past times. This blog is rather sparse.
My brother called asking if i knew anyone i could suggest for virus/malware removal. This further demonstrates how little he knows me.
Give me enough time and i can fix something. Put me on the spot in a production environment and i'm apparently useless.
I can't have anything that resembles a stable relationship. Then again, people turn to me for advice on how to handle friends/family/work.
I enjoy reading. I've not read more than 20 pages at a time in a book since spring.
Writing my random thoughts is one of my favorite past times. This blog is rather sparse.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Joyeux Noel
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424205/
This was a film I had been meaning to watch since i first heard about it. WWI and trench warfare have been a fascination of mine for a couple years. I'd heard/read about stories like this but to see a film so well done was breath taking.
You witness the French, Scottish (representing the British), and German POV as events unfold. The addition of a love story that didn't have the "forced" feel that I've experienced in the past wasn't as annoying as i thought it would be. More often than not, a love story gets thrown into films based heavily on history that wind up coming up short on quality. Overall I can best describe this film in one word: powerful.
Highly recommended if WWI and trench warfare are of interest.
This was a film I had been meaning to watch since i first heard about it. WWI and trench warfare have been a fascination of mine for a couple years. I'd heard/read about stories like this but to see a film so well done was breath taking.
You witness the French, Scottish (representing the British), and German POV as events unfold. The addition of a love story that didn't have the "forced" feel that I've experienced in the past wasn't as annoying as i thought it would be. More often than not, a love story gets thrown into films based heavily on history that wind up coming up short on quality. Overall I can best describe this film in one word: powerful.
Highly recommended if WWI and trench warfare are of interest.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
The Spreadsheet Turns 30
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2338796,00.asp
Happy birthday spreadsheet!!!
Happy birthday spreadsheet!!!
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