A friend sent me link to more information on the topic of water consumption.
What caught my eye about the topic is that everyone seems to forget that they get water from their food too. Does a person who eats salad and lots of fruits need as much water. Theoretically no because the food they're consuming is heavy in water to begin with.
I guess what I'm focusing in on are the people who pound water all day. It should be a gradual process. I know people who believe they should have a specific amount drank by different times of the day and if you disrupt their routine they'll go mental. How can this be healthy? All they hear is "drinking water is bad for you" when i say "forcefully drinking that much water in a limited time frame is probably bad for you". Maybe they couldn't hear me because of the sounds of water sloshing around. :)
Most importantly on this topic are those that consume bottled water. Go to a grocery store and stand in the soda/water isle for a couple of minutes. You're bound to see someone come up and grab multiple cases of water. If I'm in a more affluent part of town, it's my observation that I'll see this even more.
This brings up the bottle vs tap argument. I'm not sure whether people are using bottled water as a status sign, or if they're lazy, or if they're that clueless and so they buy into the propaganda.
I say "status sign" because it appears that people go out of their way to show they're drinking their bottle of water everywhere that they go. As though they're soooooo healthy that they need to flaunt that they're not putting that low brow toxic stuff in their system. Watch them. They display their bottles very prominently in meetings and even on their desk. Like coffee cups of yesteryear, your bottle of water reflects what you're trying to say about your lifestyle.
I said "lazy" because there are a lot of people who use it for the convenience factor. As soon as their done with their serving, maybe they'll even throw it in a recycling bin. It frightens me when i see this happening in homes. Grab the bottle because it's more convenient than actually filling a glass. That's OK though because it'll get recycled (hopefully) when they're done and they'll grab a fresh one in a couple of hours. Yes I'm calling you lazy if you do this. Get over it. You've got a million excuses but in the end you know they're pretty flimsy.
There's countless sites dedicated to the argument of bottle vs tap. Those that are adamant about using bottled don't use them though and prefer to use the facts written on the labels or information that "someone told me a while back but i don't remember who or when" which is usually code for THIS IS BULLSHIT COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH BUT IT SOUNDS GOOD. I find it ironic that in the easy access information age that we are in today how few people fact check stuff even after they're called out on it.
I'm not saying drinking water is bad. That much should be obvious. I'm saying that the hype about how much you should drink is incorrect. I'm also saying that people need to stop buying multiple cases of bottled water at a time because they're wasting their money on a product who's packaging does more harm than good.
--------
About me: I have a case of water in my freezer since it's summer time and I can pull a frozen bottle out and have it be cold in a couple of hours after sitting in a cooler. I also use those frozen bottles in coolers instead of buying ice packs because as serve a dual purpose of chilling things and when they thaw I can drink them. I strongly prefer my water to be cold. I have a bottle on my desk every day that starts off frozen and I refill it constantly so the water stays cold as the ice melts. I do this to cut back on my soda intake which has been known to hit 6-7 cans a day easily. I also take my bottles home with me, fill them up from the tap and toss them in the freezer for the next day. When they are all gone I will be using old soda bottles. I do this because there is no reasonable source of ice cubes throughout the day for me at work. I'm anti plastic whenever possible and work to minimize that type of packaging in my life.
You may now attack my views.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
FBI Raids Hunting Down Anonymous
Courtesy of CBSNEWS.com
This is of course on the heels of Anonymous threatening to release Sun and News Of The World Emails today after defacing The Sun earlier today...
Can't help but wonder why the FBI is launching these raids. Why the attention?
Clearly these "hackers" are a threat to national security and will bring down our freedoms and encourage rampant homosexuality and promiscuity and any other nonsense that is being spewed out by hate mongers on both sides.
The fact is yes they've been attacking very large multinational corporations lately. The reality is it's only a matter of time before law enforcement comes after you when you've been in the headlines as much as they have been. The fact is Anonymous is a boogie man for law enforcement to chase down and a great way generate news to draw attention away from other more pressing issues. There are bigger problems in the world than companies like Sony being 'hacked' but law enforcement is doing what is in their best interest (assuming they want to stay employed much longer). The global economy is unstable right now, countries in Europe are defaulting on their debts, the USA's credit is tanking, oil prices are constantly on the rise courtesy of OPEC (not directly because of BP, Exxon, or the other oil companies kids!!!), and China's economy is expanding at a rate that is not sustainable long term which can lead to a major crash in time.
Yeah. Chasing down rogue 'hackers' makes a lot of sense.
A part of me now wants to watch the original Hackers movie and yell "Hack the planet" tonight... :)
This is of course on the heels of Anonymous threatening to release Sun and News Of The World Emails today after defacing The Sun earlier today...
Can't help but wonder why the FBI is launching these raids. Why the attention?
Clearly these "hackers" are a threat to national security and will bring down our freedoms and encourage rampant homosexuality and promiscuity and any other nonsense that is being spewed out by hate mongers on both sides.
The fact is yes they've been attacking very large multinational corporations lately. The reality is it's only a matter of time before law enforcement comes after you when you've been in the headlines as much as they have been. The fact is Anonymous is a boogie man for law enforcement to chase down and a great way generate news to draw attention away from other more pressing issues. There are bigger problems in the world than companies like Sony being 'hacked' but law enforcement is doing what is in their best interest (assuming they want to stay employed much longer). The global economy is unstable right now, countries in Europe are defaulting on their debts, the USA's credit is tanking, oil prices are constantly on the rise courtesy of OPEC (not directly because of BP, Exxon, or the other oil companies kids!!!), and China's economy is expanding at a rate that is not sustainable long term which can lead to a major crash in time.
Yeah. Chasing down rogue 'hackers' makes a lot of sense.
A part of me now wants to watch the original Hackers movie and yell "Hack the planet" tonight... :)
Monday, July 18, 2011
I have to pee
I have to pee. Seriously. I really need to go.
In the past couple of weeks I've started on a quest of self improvement when it comes to my diet. I still drink like a fish and will eat the hell out of some chicken wingz. I've always believed that you can eat anything you want as long as it's in moderation. As part of this attempted lifestyle change I began to record what i ate. Not getting overly granular and recording portion sizes and quantity etc. Just more or less making notes. I try to keep track of how many Dew's I have but beyond that I'm not going to waste my time trying to figure out if i had a two servings of cookies vs three based on what the package said. I'll worry about portion sizes another day...
I was inspired to do something like this because of something I heard on NPR a couple of weeks ago. The topic was childhood obesity and I hope you'll forgive me for not remembering too many of the details of the show. The nutritionist on the program said the first step she had parents do before bringing their children in was to record what they ate for two weeks. The parents were in denial that they and their kids ate so poorly but there it was in black and white. Attempts were made to rationalize why the kids ate hot dogs and mac n cheese every night for a week. Most parents genuinely believe their kids eat better than they really do. Kids don't like their veggies which is no shocker. The parents being referenced in this show were amazed at just how badly they were feeding their kids.
This got me thinking. I don't think i eat THAT badly. I like my veggies. I know i buy them when i go shopping. I know i like to eat them when i go out. In fact I ate veggies... last night...errr... lunch the day before... err... shit I can't remember now!
I began recording my consumption last week and I'm very much not proud of what I'm reading when i look at it. I didn't realize how little water I've been consuming recently and it's summer when I should be consuming more!
The first lifestyle change so far isn't too drastic and gradual. I bring a bottle of frozen water to work every day and keep filling it up through out the day so it stays cold. Bottle is appx 16 oz and on Fri I estimate I had over four bottles (only recorded four because I'm not trying to cheat myself here). My bladder went into overdrive!!! Every time i turned around I had to go to the bathroom again.
A friend of mine gave me a piece of advice when it comes to increasing water consumption. Always take your bottle with you whenever you go somewhere. It's easier to sip then as you're going somewhere whether it's at work or out in public. I only like water when it's very cold so i purposely have a smaller bottle. This means it won't get warm too fast. Also means i get through it quicker (nice morale boost). Every time I have to go pee now I bring the bottle with me to fill up on my return back to my desk.
Aside from the constant flushing, am I noticing an effect yet after increasing the water intake in the past week? I can't pinpoint anything one way or another yet so i can't answer this question yet. What's most important for me is that I'm becoming more aware. I don't call this a diet. I call this a lifestyle improvement. As i said before, I still drink like a fish and will tear up some chicken wings if given the opportunity to. I'm not looking to change my entire lifestyle. Just looking to tweak things a bit.
No joking... I have to pee again...
In the past couple of weeks I've started on a quest of self improvement when it comes to my diet. I still drink like a fish and will eat the hell out of some chicken wingz. I've always believed that you can eat anything you want as long as it's in moderation. As part of this attempted lifestyle change I began to record what i ate. Not getting overly granular and recording portion sizes and quantity etc. Just more or less making notes. I try to keep track of how many Dew's I have but beyond that I'm not going to waste my time trying to figure out if i had a two servings of cookies vs three based on what the package said. I'll worry about portion sizes another day...
I was inspired to do something like this because of something I heard on NPR a couple of weeks ago. The topic was childhood obesity and I hope you'll forgive me for not remembering too many of the details of the show. The nutritionist on the program said the first step she had parents do before bringing their children in was to record what they ate for two weeks. The parents were in denial that they and their kids ate so poorly but there it was in black and white. Attempts were made to rationalize why the kids ate hot dogs and mac n cheese every night for a week. Most parents genuinely believe their kids eat better than they really do. Kids don't like their veggies which is no shocker. The parents being referenced in this show were amazed at just how badly they were feeding their kids.
This got me thinking. I don't think i eat THAT badly. I like my veggies. I know i buy them when i go shopping. I know i like to eat them when i go out. In fact I ate veggies... last night...errr... lunch the day before... err... shit I can't remember now!
I began recording my consumption last week and I'm very much not proud of what I'm reading when i look at it. I didn't realize how little water I've been consuming recently and it's summer when I should be consuming more!
The first lifestyle change so far isn't too drastic and gradual. I bring a bottle of frozen water to work every day and keep filling it up through out the day so it stays cold. Bottle is appx 16 oz and on Fri I estimate I had over four bottles (only recorded four because I'm not trying to cheat myself here). My bladder went into overdrive!!! Every time i turned around I had to go to the bathroom again.
A friend of mine gave me a piece of advice when it comes to increasing water consumption. Always take your bottle with you whenever you go somewhere. It's easier to sip then as you're going somewhere whether it's at work or out in public. I only like water when it's very cold so i purposely have a smaller bottle. This means it won't get warm too fast. Also means i get through it quicker (nice morale boost). Every time I have to go pee now I bring the bottle with me to fill up on my return back to my desk.
Aside from the constant flushing, am I noticing an effect yet after increasing the water intake in the past week? I can't pinpoint anything one way or another yet so i can't answer this question yet. What's most important for me is that I'm becoming more aware. I don't call this a diet. I call this a lifestyle improvement. As i said before, I still drink like a fish and will tear up some chicken wings if given the opportunity to. I'm not looking to change my entire lifestyle. Just looking to tweak things a bit.
No joking... I have to pee again...
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Nintendo DS Games
I need to dust off my DS and play some games. The problem is, I'm having a difficult time trying to find games I want to play. I gravitate towards the puzzle games a lot because I can play the hell out of them for a while and then put them down and not miss a beat. I'm also open to a decent RPG. Never did finish the last Zelda game i was playing a couple of years ago because i got to be too busy.
http://ds.ign.com/index/games.html
Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks looks promising. Phantom Hourglass was good but never finished it.
http://ds.ign.com/objects/143/14333936.html
Sonic Rush looks good too. I've always been a fan of Sonic.
http://ds.ign.com/objects/683/683045.html
Plants Vs Zombies just looks fun. :)
http://ds.ign.com/objects/084/084432.html
Star Fox?
http://ds.ign.com/objects/826/826993.html
Ahhhh good ole Mega Man...
http://ds.ign.com/objects/794/794195.html
Bejeweled 3?!?! Considering how much of my life has been sucked up by the first two, this looks bad for any prospects of me getting something useful done.
http://ds.ign.com/objects/111/111908.html
Thanks IGN. I now have a list of games to hunt for again. Time to load up the ole DS with fresh games and pack it away so I can have something to do while the laptop is being exploited for frontierville purposes. :)
Now that I've wasted your time reading my ramblings, you may now go back to your regularly scheduled boredom...
http://ds.ign.com/index/games.html
Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks looks promising. Phantom Hourglass was good but never finished it.
http://ds.ign.com/objects/143/14333936.html
Sonic Rush looks good too. I've always been a fan of Sonic.
http://ds.ign.com/objects/683/683045.html
Plants Vs Zombies just looks fun. :)
http://ds.ign.com/objects/084/084432.html
Star Fox?
http://ds.ign.com/objects/826/826993.html
Ahhhh good ole Mega Man...
http://ds.ign.com/objects/794/794195.html
Bejeweled 3?!?! Considering how much of my life has been sucked up by the first two, this looks bad for any prospects of me getting something useful done.
http://ds.ign.com/objects/111/111908.html
Thanks IGN. I now have a list of games to hunt for again. Time to load up the ole DS with fresh games and pack it away so I can have something to do while the laptop is being exploited for frontierville purposes. :)
Now that I've wasted your time reading my ramblings, you may now go back to your regularly scheduled boredom...
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Google to Retire Blogger & Picasa Brands in Google+ Push
Original Story
I can't say I'm horribly shocked that they're re-branding everything under their name. This is both a good and bad move. Some people may be reluctant to use some of these services for lack of a known name behind them. On the other hand this is becoming tighter integration with other Google products which means there is less separation of services. Although my blog costs me nothing (and generates zero revenue so far) I like the idea of it being separate from its parent company. Realistically I know it's not but i like the appearance of it.
Is this a wise decision right now? Yes there's the launch of Google+ and this will make that smoother but at what cost? There is a growing sentiment that Facebook has gotten too big and is perceived as evil. I for one am nervous about how much influence Facebook now has over its users, customers, and other technologies that it appears to be expanding into.
I'm drawn to Google+ right now not only because it's new but because Google has advertised that it will not have the perceived down sides that Facebook has. I've entrusted my email to Google. They've been my search engine for years since I was on dial up and they only had one ad on their site. I've entrusted them to advance technology with phones and their green initiatives. They owned Blogger/Blogspot before I even dreamed of starting this. I should be OK with this and yet I'm not sure this expansion of the brand name sits well with me.
Is Google spreading their name too far too quickly? Is this a step in the right direction for their growth? Should we start listening to those wearing the tin foil hats about this giant entity that is trying to be our friend so that it can exploit us? Is it possible to trust one company more than another knowing that no successful business can ever truly have my best interests in mind?
This will be fun to reread in a couple of years. :)
I can't say I'm horribly shocked that they're re-branding everything under their name. This is both a good and bad move. Some people may be reluctant to use some of these services for lack of a known name behind them. On the other hand this is becoming tighter integration with other Google products which means there is less separation of services. Although my blog costs me nothing (and generates zero revenue so far) I like the idea of it being separate from its parent company. Realistically I know it's not but i like the appearance of it.
Is this a wise decision right now? Yes there's the launch of Google+ and this will make that smoother but at what cost? There is a growing sentiment that Facebook has gotten too big and is perceived as evil. I for one am nervous about how much influence Facebook now has over its users, customers, and other technologies that it appears to be expanding into.
I'm drawn to Google+ right now not only because it's new but because Google has advertised that it will not have the perceived down sides that Facebook has. I've entrusted my email to Google. They've been my search engine for years since I was on dial up and they only had one ad on their site. I've entrusted them to advance technology with phones and their green initiatives. They owned Blogger/Blogspot before I even dreamed of starting this. I should be OK with this and yet I'm not sure this expansion of the brand name sits well with me.
Is Google spreading their name too far too quickly? Is this a step in the right direction for their growth? Should we start listening to those wearing the tin foil hats about this giant entity that is trying to be our friend so that it can exploit us? Is it possible to trust one company more than another knowing that no successful business can ever truly have my best interests in mind?
This will be fun to reread in a couple of years. :)
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Fedora 15 - Gnome 3
These are the comments that I posted elsewhere and thought they were worth keeping.
http://ostatic.com/blog/fedora-15-released-gnome-3-looks-good
(not me)
1) Stop trying to hide all of the configuration options. How can I change my system fonts? Have to hack it. 2) Then you hide the important stuff - like how to restart the fucking system - put that in the menu option when I click my user name - why should i have to hold down the ALT key to make Suspend go to Poweroff? or logout in order to restart? 3) No real screensaver - really? Who's the dipshit that thought of that? 4) Minimize - the old minimize missing button war - i've read all of the reason behind it, but if i can still right click on the window bar and minimize the window, all of those reasons are bullshit. Put the fuckin' minimize button back on the window. 5) Accessing workspaces requires me to move my mouse to the upper left hand corner hotspot to get the desktop overview display and then all the way back to the right to select my workspace. Again, who's the dipshit that though of that? Why not create a hotspot in the upper right hand corner that brings up the workspaces? This is not that hard folks. Is anyone who works on Gnome 3 actually using Gnome 3?
It is not complete horrible, but it is not good either. There are definitely some complete morons working on this project from an overall design and usability perspective.
(me)
I agree with Enzo. Trying to turn my machine off was confusing and so i got pissed and found a terminal window. It has been off for 2 days now while i decide if i want to deal with this again. I came over to Linux so that I could customize and change things. Gnome 3 is very reluctant to let me do that.
Wasn't aware of Enzo's observation about the (lack of) screensaver and use of the Alt key.
I am a new Mac owner and I have to tell you this is not what i was looking for in my Linux desktop. I see a lot of potential in Gnome 3 but right now it's utter crap. Why would you release a version of software with so many glaring usability flaws? It feels like they were trying to push this release out the door the way Mozilla crew is pushing out FireFox and Thunderbird quicker just to inflate their release numbers.
-------
Now that I've had 24 hours to reflect on things and play with Gnome some more, I still feel the same way. One of the old jokes about Linux is "fixing stuff is part of the fun of using it." Bull shit. That mindset went out the window five years ago when they got the brilliant idea to believe it could be a threat to the desktop world. If people want to make an interface that kicks ass then they should spend the time to make it instead of churning out a half finished product and expecting everyone to put in a lot of work to finish it. If they have a vision as to what they're trying to build then to hell with the release dates and version numbers... finish the damn product!
The other argument I've heard for years is that since it's open source it's OK that things aren't working perfectly. You should expect it to be a bit buggy and you get what you pay for. Sorry but that's a cop out. Most people involved in these projects do this for a living where their code is held to a standard. Dare I say, experienced coders would bring a level of professionalism. I'm sure most are genuinely upset that people like me are unhappy with their product but then the entire team should not only take pride in their accomplishments but also feel ashamed of their short comings.
For what it's worth, I finally figured out how to change the background on my desktop but no chance at changing the theme colors or even a screensaver. Took me 30 min to figure out where Firefox went when minimized it and wasn't too happy to find all 15 of my instances when i did figure it out.
Gnome 3 is failing for me right now...
http://ostatic.com/blog/fedora-15-released-gnome-3-looks-good
(not me)
by Enzo on May. 25, 2011
Looks good, works bad. I'm trying to give Gnome 3 a fair chance and have been using it for awhile now on a daily basis, but a few things still bug the shit out of me and plenty of other people as well.1) Stop trying to hide all of the configuration options. How can I change my system fonts? Have to hack it. 2) Then you hide the important stuff - like how to restart the fucking system - put that in the menu option when I click my user name - why should i have to hold down the ALT key to make Suspend go to Poweroff? or logout in order to restart? 3) No real screensaver - really? Who's the dipshit that thought of that? 4) Minimize - the old minimize missing button war - i've read all of the reason behind it, but if i can still right click on the window bar and minimize the window, all of those reasons are bullshit. Put the fuckin' minimize button back on the window. 5) Accessing workspaces requires me to move my mouse to the upper left hand corner hotspot to get the desktop overview display and then all the way back to the right to select my workspace. Again, who's the dipshit that though of that? Why not create a hotspot in the upper right hand corner that brings up the workspaces? This is not that hard folks. Is anyone who works on Gnome 3 actually using Gnome 3?
It is not complete horrible, but it is not good either. There are definitely some complete morons working on this project from an overall design and usability perspective.
(me)
I agree with Enzo. Trying to turn my machine off was confusing and so i got pissed and found a terminal window. It has been off for 2 days now while i decide if i want to deal with this again. I came over to Linux so that I could customize and change things. Gnome 3 is very reluctant to let me do that.
Wasn't aware of Enzo's observation about the (lack of) screensaver and use of the Alt key.
I am a new Mac owner and I have to tell you this is not what i was looking for in my Linux desktop. I see a lot of potential in Gnome 3 but right now it's utter crap. Why would you release a version of software with so many glaring usability flaws? It feels like they were trying to push this release out the door the way Mozilla crew is pushing out FireFox and Thunderbird quicker just to inflate their release numbers.
-------
Now that I've had 24 hours to reflect on things and play with Gnome some more, I still feel the same way. One of the old jokes about Linux is "fixing stuff is part of the fun of using it." Bull shit. That mindset went out the window five years ago when they got the brilliant idea to believe it could be a threat to the desktop world. If people want to make an interface that kicks ass then they should spend the time to make it instead of churning out a half finished product and expecting everyone to put in a lot of work to finish it. If they have a vision as to what they're trying to build then to hell with the release dates and version numbers... finish the damn product!
The other argument I've heard for years is that since it's open source it's OK that things aren't working perfectly. You should expect it to be a bit buggy and you get what you pay for. Sorry but that's a cop out. Most people involved in these projects do this for a living where their code is held to a standard. Dare I say, experienced coders would bring a level of professionalism. I'm sure most are genuinely upset that people like me are unhappy with their product but then the entire team should not only take pride in their accomplishments but also feel ashamed of their short comings.
For what it's worth, I finally figured out how to change the background on my desktop but no chance at changing the theme colors or even a screensaver. Took me 30 min to figure out where Firefox went when minimized it and wasn't too happy to find all 15 of my instances when i did figure it out.
Gnome 3 is failing for me right now...
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Fedora 15 Install Progress
I installed Fedora 15 the other day. Initially it looked like a good product. The install went pretty smooth. I have /home on a separate disk so had to specify my mount points of / (root) and /home which was to be expected. Installer made me format / as ext4 whereas it had been ext3 in the past. No big deal for me. Since /home/username already existed and i chose there was a little confusion for the installer. It apparently had to change permissions on the directory. Finished install and ran updates.
Welcome to Gnome 3!
Yeah. Not a fan of it out of the box. It looks pretty. I installed a few programs and they were able to sync up with the preexisting user data in /home/username. Despite the different look and feel of Gnome things were starting to work again so I thought I'd give it a shot and try to get with the times.
Right now I'm hung up on trying to update the Nvidia drivers which seem to be a bigger pain than they need to be. I tried:
Another issue I'm running into is when i open up terminal and pwd, I'm not in /home/username where i should be. I have a hunch this is the ghost of my old profile and planning on testing this by creating a different user to see if this holds true. If so, then I'll back up important files and blast the old user and then recreate. Sounds simple enough which is why I'm sure something will go wrong!
Meantime I'm starting to read up on Gnome 3 some more. I couldn't save anything to my desktop which I tend to do a lot. Not sure if this is considered normal or not. Also had issues copying stuff from a flash drive to /home/username. It was very awkward and not intuitive.
Game plan is to take another crack at a couple of my issues one of these evenings. Then reinstall and take better notes as I go along.
I'm conflicted right now. I wanted to like what I saw. I knew things would be broken out of the box like with every other Linux distro. Right now I have a sinking feeling in my stomach because of what I've experienced with it. For all of the prettiness that I saw I'm not not as impressed. KDE is quickly becoming an option and I'm even considering going in a different direction and use Kubuntu. I want to like this creation of mine but I have a feeling that in order to save it I might be forced to destroy it.
This situation is going to take some consideration.
Welcome to Gnome 3!
Yeah. Not a fan of it out of the box. It looks pretty. I installed a few programs and they were able to sync up with the preexisting user data in /home/username. Despite the different look and feel of Gnome things were starting to work again so I thought I'd give it a shot and try to get with the times.
Right now I'm hung up on trying to update the Nvidia drivers which seem to be a bigger pain than they need to be. I tried:
- /etc/init.d/gdm stop
- killall x
- init 3
Another issue I'm running into is when i open up terminal and pwd, I'm not in /home/username where i should be. I have a hunch this is the ghost of my old profile and planning on testing this by creating a different user to see if this holds true. If so, then I'll back up important files and blast the old user and then recreate. Sounds simple enough which is why I'm sure something will go wrong!
Meantime I'm starting to read up on Gnome 3 some more. I couldn't save anything to my desktop which I tend to do a lot. Not sure if this is considered normal or not. Also had issues copying stuff from a flash drive to /home/username. It was very awkward and not intuitive.
Game plan is to take another crack at a couple of my issues one of these evenings. Then reinstall and take better notes as I go along.
I'm conflicted right now. I wanted to like what I saw. I knew things would be broken out of the box like with every other Linux distro. Right now I have a sinking feeling in my stomach because of what I've experienced with it. For all of the prettiness that I saw I'm not not as impressed. KDE is quickly becoming an option and I'm even considering going in a different direction and use Kubuntu. I want to like this creation of mine but I have a feeling that in order to save it I might be forced to destroy it.
This situation is going to take some consideration.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Patching Adobe
(rant)
Dear Adobe:
I hate you. I hate your face. I hate your retarded patching system. Why oh why can you not be less of a PITA? Because people pay for your products, does this mean you're supposed to be a d-bag and make it even harder to patch your software? People are getting slammed by Adobe exploits not because of the hackerz but because your patching from an admin perspective is as retarded as your face.
(example)
Administrative deployment
Administration Installation Point (AIP) deployments must not apply a quarterly update AIP in which a security update was the most recently applied update. Because a quarterly update includes the changes implemented in all recent security updates, the quarterly update forcibly bypasses those updates entirely. To deploy a quarterly update from an AIP, create a AIP which includes only quarterly updates as follows:
Acceptable: Acrobat 9.0.0 -> 9.1.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.1.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.2.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.3.3 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.4.5 (Quarterly)
Acceptable: Acrobat 9.0.0 -> 9.1.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.1.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.2.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.3.3 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.4.3 (Security) -> 9.4.4 (Security)
Unacceptable: Acrobat 9.0.0 -> 9.1.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.1.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.2.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.3.3 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.1
(Security) -> 9.4.2 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.3 (Security) -> 9.4.4
(Security) -> 9.4.5 (Quarterly)
----
So what this is saying is that to go from 9.4.3 to the latest which is 9.4.5, I have to go back to 9.4.2 and apply the update to 9.4.5 thus bypassing 3 & 4 because i assume they're all built into 5. Wish i'd known this before i put a dent in my wall on fri last week trying to figure out why 9.4.5 wasn't applying to 9.4.4.
In closing, I hate you. You're dumb. No one likes you for anything but your money. You uniqueness is not quirky but annoying. You have products like Photoshop which are meant to make things look better by cheating reality but the fact is that you need to Photoshop your face because it's still dumb and i still hate it.
Sincerely,
Someone Too Sober.
-----EDIT-----
Patching Adobe with Administrative Install Points (AIP's) is starting to make more sense. What bothers me is that you need to apply patches to the quarterly releases and not just the previous version number. Theoretically you would work with a much lower version number in order to install the latest patch. It makes sense somewhat now that I've had time to think about it. Security patches are applied to fix something and then they tend to cause another hole which in turn needs to be patched. We've seen Microsoft do this for years and so it shouldn't be much of a surprise. There's very much a learning curve in all of this and trying to get used to how they do things. My advice is to note what is in italics above and that will help you start understanding it.
Here are a few links that I have been using as a guide as I've worked on these Adobe updates:
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/888/cpsid_88814.html
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/498/cpsid_49880.html
http://www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/
http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/479
The last link has actually been a huge help for me! I'd also like to note that the Adobe customization wizard is actually pretty nice too. I had to use it the other day when I had to rebuild the install.msi file and got a chance to see first hand how powerful it can be. Want to suppress the customary reboot at the end of install? No problem. Hide the EULA so this can be an unattended install? Done. Pesky icons on the desktop that no one uses? Not a problem.
In closing, I'm still mad at Adobe. Perhaps if it will buy me dinner while it tries to make up for the stress it gave me I'll forgive it but i seriously doubt that it will. For better or worse, I'm stuck with it as long as I'm in my current position.
Dear Adobe:
I hate you. I hate your face. I hate your retarded patching system. Why oh why can you not be less of a PITA? Because people pay for your products, does this mean you're supposed to be a d-bag and make it even harder to patch your software? People are getting slammed by Adobe exploits not because of the hackerz but because your patching from an admin perspective is as retarded as your face.
(example)
Administrative deployment
Administration Installation Point (AIP) deployments must not apply a quarterly update AIP in which a security update was the most recently applied update. Because a quarterly update includes the changes implemented in all recent security updates, the quarterly update forcibly bypasses those updates entirely. To deploy a quarterly update from an AIP, create a AIP which includes only quarterly updates as follows:
Acceptable: Acrobat 9.0.0 -> 9.1.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.1.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.2.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.3.3 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.4.5 (Quarterly)
Acceptable: Acrobat 9.0.0 -> 9.1.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.1.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.2.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.3.3 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.4.3 (Security) -> 9.4.4 (Security)
Unacceptable: Acrobat 9.0.0 -> 9.1.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.1.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.2.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.3.2
(Quarterly) -> 9.3.3 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.0 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.1
(Security) -> 9.4.2 (Quarterly) -> 9.4.3 (Security) -> 9.4.4
(Security) -> 9.4.5 (Quarterly)
----
So what this is saying is that to go from 9.4.3 to the latest which is 9.4.5, I have to go back to 9.4.2 and apply the update to 9.4.5 thus bypassing 3 & 4 because i assume they're all built into 5. Wish i'd known this before i put a dent in my wall on fri last week trying to figure out why 9.4.5 wasn't applying to 9.4.4.
In closing, I hate you. You're dumb. No one likes you for anything but your money. You uniqueness is not quirky but annoying. You have products like Photoshop which are meant to make things look better by cheating reality but the fact is that you need to Photoshop your face because it's still dumb and i still hate it.
Sincerely,
Someone Too Sober.
-----EDIT-----
Patching Adobe with Administrative Install Points (AIP's) is starting to make more sense. What bothers me is that you need to apply patches to the quarterly releases and not just the previous version number. Theoretically you would work with a much lower version number in order to install the latest patch. It makes sense somewhat now that I've had time to think about it. Security patches are applied to fix something and then they tend to cause another hole which in turn needs to be patched. We've seen Microsoft do this for years and so it shouldn't be much of a surprise. There's very much a learning curve in all of this and trying to get used to how they do things. My advice is to note what is in italics above and that will help you start understanding it.
Here are a few links that I have been using as a guide as I've worked on these Adobe updates:
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/888/cpsid_88814.html
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/498/cpsid_49880.html
http://www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/
http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/479
The last link has actually been a huge help for me! I'd also like to note that the Adobe customization wizard is actually pretty nice too. I had to use it the other day when I had to rebuild the install.msi file and got a chance to see first hand how powerful it can be. Want to suppress the customary reboot at the end of install? No problem. Hide the EULA so this can be an unattended install? Done. Pesky icons on the desktop that no one uses? Not a problem.
In closing, I'm still mad at Adobe. Perhaps if it will buy me dinner while it tries to make up for the stress it gave me I'll forgive it but i seriously doubt that it will. For better or worse, I'm stuck with it as long as I'm in my current position.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Wisconsin Senate passes concealed-carry bill
Original story
Pardon me for being just a bit more nervous. Despite all of the training that these users are supposed to go through, I'm skeptical.
This isn't the Old West. Why in gods name would you carry your gun to the store, to a restaurant, or to church? You may not but this has already happened locally as people pro-gun have built up to challenge the laws which lead to this.
I'm not going to go hide away scared but i genuinely don't see how this can help any. Perhaps my opinion is biased by those that i have met and know. Perhaps I don't have enough faith in my fellow citizens but this truly feels like a step back for us as Americans.
We as Americans tend to have a false sense of superiority. This comes from the country being both an economic and military power for over a generation. Everything we as a nation do we try to spin as being 'justified' in an epic battle of good vs evil. We would never invade a sovereign nation based off of flimsy intelligence. We only act on the behalf of good. We're a civilized nation and trying to spread our goodness and ideas of freedom and self determination to others (assuming that your not in the geographic regions currently known as: Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Vietnam, Libya, Cuba, Mexico, and Texas).
I'm sorry but if we're so 'civilized' then why is it that we have a disproportionate faction of the population currently incarcerated? Why is it that we're the only 'western' and 'first world' nation (implied = civilized) to allow JUVENILES on death row?
Sorry Tex but you I think you should check yer six shooter at the border where it belongs.
It hasn't happened yet but what scares me the most is citizens being armed. I'm not saying that I trust the government and its troops to act in my best interest. I'm saying I am genuinely waiting for the day that someone tries to be a vigilante with their weapon and try to prevent a crime happening. We entrust the police to carry potential deadly weapons because they go through extensive training in both handling those weapons and the circumstances as to when they should rely on them. I have little to no confidence in an individual who has gone through a training course in hunters safety to control themselves in a heated situation.
I frankly believe there will be a time that somewhere someone will pull their gun to try to 'do good'. The police will arrive on the scene and focus on the person screaming "i have a permit for this and it's my right." A tense situation will be escalated. Something bad is bound to happen. I'm not saying that i believe that this will be the norm. I believe that this will be a very rare occurrence but one that needs not happen in the first place.
What I'm saying is that this is now the law of the land. Fine. Now, much like smoking, please go away from me because i don't wish to be near people like you.
Pardon me for being just a bit more nervous. Despite all of the training that these users are supposed to go through, I'm skeptical.
This isn't the Old West. Why in gods name would you carry your gun to the store, to a restaurant, or to church? You may not but this has already happened locally as people pro-gun have built up to challenge the laws which lead to this.
I'm not going to go hide away scared but i genuinely don't see how this can help any. Perhaps my opinion is biased by those that i have met and know. Perhaps I don't have enough faith in my fellow citizens but this truly feels like a step back for us as Americans.
We as Americans tend to have a false sense of superiority. This comes from the country being both an economic and military power for over a generation. Everything we as a nation do we try to spin as being 'justified' in an epic battle of good vs evil. We would never invade a sovereign nation based off of flimsy intelligence. We only act on the behalf of good. We're a civilized nation and trying to spread our goodness and ideas of freedom and self determination to others (assuming that your not in the geographic regions currently known as: Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Vietnam, Libya, Cuba, Mexico, and Texas).
I'm sorry but if we're so 'civilized' then why is it that we have a disproportionate faction of the population currently incarcerated? Why is it that we're the only 'western' and 'first world' nation (implied = civilized) to allow JUVENILES on death row?
Sorry Tex but you I think you should check yer six shooter at the border where it belongs.
It hasn't happened yet but what scares me the most is citizens being armed. I'm not saying that I trust the government and its troops to act in my best interest. I'm saying I am genuinely waiting for the day that someone tries to be a vigilante with their weapon and try to prevent a crime happening. We entrust the police to carry potential deadly weapons because they go through extensive training in both handling those weapons and the circumstances as to when they should rely on them. I have little to no confidence in an individual who has gone through a training course in hunters safety to control themselves in a heated situation.
I frankly believe there will be a time that somewhere someone will pull their gun to try to 'do good'. The police will arrive on the scene and focus on the person screaming "i have a permit for this and it's my right." A tense situation will be escalated. Something bad is bound to happen. I'm not saying that i believe that this will be the norm. I believe that this will be a very rare occurrence but one that needs not happen in the first place.
What I'm saying is that this is now the law of the land. Fine. Now, much like smoking, please go away from me because i don't wish to be near people like you.
Response to Teen Sentenced to Year in Jail For Friends Death
Original Article
This bothers me. The issue is that a teenager (Madeline Kudlata) flipped her car while being reckless and her friend (Sydney Tabakin) died as a result. The driver is sentenced to one year in jail and on probation for 5 years. The year that she is in jail, she'll be allowed out to go to class while she starts her first year of college.
I'm normally for less harsh sentences but this just doesn't make sense. I understand that the driver lost one of her best friends and has to live with the survivors guilt for the rest of her life. I understand that her first year of college will be drastically different when compared to her fellow students. Where I have issue is that she's not doing prison time and instead is doing jail time.
Where I have issue is that she's only getting a year for her irresponsibility which in turn cost her friends life. Where I have issue is that this story normally ends differently. If the driver had been from a different area I believe the outcome would have been much harsher.
Going to college next year? Too bad. It has to wait. I don't believe the law should work around someone's long term plans when they're being punished. College can wait a year while she serves her sentence. She did the crime and now she must do the time even if it is such a limited amount. She is starting college. Her friend is not because of her.
Assistant District Attorney Mark Williams told Martens that the case could have been charged as homicide by drug-impaired driving, a 25-year felony, but that his office negotiated the lesser charge, and plea, in the interest of justice and the facts.
One year in jail instead of a 25 year life altering sentence is the punishment for taking her friends life. I'm sorry but i don't believe that one year is enough to compensate for another life. Especially when it's a life that she knew very well. This wasn't a complete stranger. This was much more personal than the typical accidental death.
It's the fact that she killed her best friend that actually comforts me in this whole scenario. I can't imagine what it's like to take a life. I can't imagine the level of guilt knowing that someone is gone because of my actions. I can only imagine that the loss of your best friend is some form of cosmic justice.
This bothers me. The issue is that a teenager (Madeline Kudlata) flipped her car while being reckless and her friend (Sydney Tabakin) died as a result. The driver is sentenced to one year in jail and on probation for 5 years. The year that she is in jail, she'll be allowed out to go to class while she starts her first year of college.
I'm normally for less harsh sentences but this just doesn't make sense. I understand that the driver lost one of her best friends and has to live with the survivors guilt for the rest of her life. I understand that her first year of college will be drastically different when compared to her fellow students. Where I have issue is that she's not doing prison time and instead is doing jail time.
Where I have issue is that she's only getting a year for her irresponsibility which in turn cost her friends life. Where I have issue is that this story normally ends differently. If the driver had been from a different area I believe the outcome would have been much harsher.
Going to college next year? Too bad. It has to wait. I don't believe the law should work around someone's long term plans when they're being punished. College can wait a year while she serves her sentence. She did the crime and now she must do the time even if it is such a limited amount. She is starting college. Her friend is not because of her.
Assistant District Attorney Mark Williams told Martens that the case could have been charged as homicide by drug-impaired driving, a 25-year felony, but that his office negotiated the lesser charge, and plea, in the interest of justice and the facts.
One year in jail instead of a 25 year life altering sentence is the punishment for taking her friends life. I'm sorry but i don't believe that one year is enough to compensate for another life. Especially when it's a life that she knew very well. This wasn't a complete stranger. This was much more personal than the typical accidental death.
It's the fact that she killed her best friend that actually comforts me in this whole scenario. I can't imagine what it's like to take a life. I can't imagine the level of guilt knowing that someone is gone because of my actions. I can only imagine that the loss of your best friend is some form of cosmic justice.
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