Wed, 23 Jul 2008
06:22
My god. It's full of
butthurt.
Through all the screaming about smoke filled rooms and OMG ITS PIDGIN ALL OVER AGAIN ELEVENTY: It is my considered opinion that unlike in the Pidgin debacle, the KDE devs have not earned and do not deserve this backlash of vitriol. And 99% of it is people stubbornly repeating you can't take my desktop from me, while ignoring the fact that they can continue to use KDE3 and wait for their distribution of choice to include KDE4 and/or declare it ready for general use. Aaron Seigo told people over and over that nobody would stop them from making 4 behave like 3, if that was what they wanted. In return, he received so much abuse he made his blog invite-only for a while just to read it.
Now today I find
Killing the Desktop Metaphor with GNOME. And given the previously mentioned events, I don't think it's unfair to assume that even if the author is not a principal GNOME developer, outlining plans for the future: If the teeming millions get hold of this, it'll be unending butthurt all over again.
Meanwhile, I remain content with Openbox.
PS: Half the time Beranger makes sense, but most of the time whatever point he might have is obscured by the flecks of foam. (Says the pot of the kettle.) Far better to be found at Human Readable and Penguin Pete's.
KDrama
Tue, 22 Jul 2008
17:59
In this case,
DadHacker's story of working with the Secret Service.
Unintended Consequences show up everywhere
Wed, 16 Jul 2008
23:05
This is a fraud. With a name like that, I expect a Linux distribution that focuses on the console.
If you search Distrowatch for all distributions with "no desktop", the vast majority are geared toward firewalls, file servers and other appliances.
People have been asking for years. And after all this time, it still seems that noone has felt like scratching this particular itch. At this time, it appears the best one can hope for (other than building one's own Linux From Scratch) is a metapackage that installs a chosen suite of "best of breed" console applications, along with whatever tweaks are neccessary (i.e., none of this nonsense).
I want words, not pictures
First it's a novelty, then it's a convenience, then it's the standard and the alternatives are actively discouraged, then everybody thinks you're a paranoid nutcase if you don't go along, and finally no alternative is available.
It shouldn't be this hard.
Followup: TTYLinux is superminimal (12Mb disk space, more or less). GRML Small is primarily based on Debian, with the goal 'to be a distribution well suited for users of texttools and sysadmins'. Minibuntu is obvious, containing only four packages (two of them meta). And there's INX ("Is Not X"), a console-only live CD derived from Ubuntu (the install routine is incomplete and a work in progress).
So things are looking up.
[/freedom/technology] [#permalink]Sat, 05 Jul 2008
19:21
All you who say "Microsoft" instead of "Microsoft representatives"?
You're lazy and stupid.
All you who say "government" instead of "government representatives"?
You're lazy and stupid.
Stop referring to entities that do not exist.
That is all.
Your stupid minds
00:15
It's fifteen years later.
Future Vision
Thu, 03 Jul 2008
15:55
Andrew Tridgell's classic account of How Samba Was Written via the "French Cafe technique".
What's the big deal about SVG? Firefox 3 users can get a taste.
Two Unrelated (Data) Points
15:55
Penguin Pete: You Can Hack an OS, But You Can't Hack People.
Seven part series. Very recommended, along with everything else on the site.
The Tragedy of Linux
15:55
Mark D says it's a good thing.
Blosxom sucks
Mon, 30 Jun 2008
03:53
"I was taken out of context" followed by "Then what did you really mean" hardly ever results in actual clarification. Here is no exception.
Hands off - this is private property
02:59
More specifically, Blosxom with tags. I haven't tweaked the technical side of things here in ages. If I do, this should be one of the first.
On slimming down: Have been exploring more Linux/etc distributions geared toward providing power in a small, sleek package. PCFluxbox, derived from PCLinuxOS, has potential but has crashed at two different points on two different machines during boot/install -- a shame, as its successful users seem very appreciative. LXDE is still on the 'to try' list, as are PUD (LXDE Edition) and CrunchBang Linux. (For even more specialized tasks, there's the free NAS OpenFiler; and for ready to use Asterisk and more, Elastix.)
Also following K Mandla after reading application recommendations; Linux Mint Blog though I haven't yet tried it (another "Ubuntu killer" reputation-wise); Splashtop Blog and being quite pleased to hear that not only will Asus be incorporating this Linux BIOS in every one of their motherboards, not just the higher-end models, but will also begin including it in some of their notebooks. More Mini-ITX news, and if that wasn't enough, even if I don't get in on the alpha it's exciting to learn about Boxee, taking Xbox Media Center to new places and heights. First in the comments here, one of the guys from Neuros hooks up with the Boxee folks, then this 5-minute presentation with Q and A overwhelmingly takes first place as people's favorite.
Exciting times, if turbulent.
Want: Asus motherboard with Splashtop/other Coreboot style goodies, to boot OS in under 30 seconds; then 8Gb solid state disk for a lightning-fast home directory that can still fit on one dual layer DVD backup. All other data on external drives and/or network storage. Works for desktops or portables.
Long-term because so many other things take priority: Still have the Speedstream 5861 ADSL router we used for years at the office until it died. I determined it was a fraction too small to contain a then-current Mini-ITX motherboard, but I'm glad I held onto it because the latest models are less than 7 inches square. Would be a fun retrofit to turn into a "real" router, non-highdef media player, lightweight workstation as described above -- just add 16Gb solid state disk for enough room to dual boot Windows and Linux. (Next step -- getting Coreboot on these mini motherboards, and more mobile devices and ultraportables...)
More advanced than I know what to do with but I pick as much low-hanging fruit as I can: Git Magic. Along with Linus' original Google presentation on Git.
Tags
Thu, 24 Apr 2008
21:35
First they bend over for the lawyers.
Then they remove useful information -- which after a shitstorm of complaint, and the development of a third party workaround, they grudgingly added back in a half-assed implementation that wastes screenspace. All while mouthing platitudes about how "some people are never satisfied", "some people will complain about anything", and "everyone's preferences are different" (talk about failing to see the point).
Then they change the simple, unobtrusive "user is typing" indicator to an obnoxious text spam. In your face, in your way.
And most recently, in a yet-again example of "my way or the highway", they determine that you, the user, have no real need to resize your text entry area, just an irrational "preference" that in their opinion, you have no real "need" for. After the expected outbreak of butthurt, the final straw tipping point is reached, and a response given:
Also: Double middle finger to these twats for trying to erase history. Deleting the older source and packages? Stupid, stupid rat creatures. It only makes you look worse.
PS: Even before the name change, the writing was on the wall.
Screw it. I'm going back to Bitlbee.
One Step Closer to MS-DOS Communism
Thu, 17 May 2007
15:38
"Gaim is now Pidgin"? Are you fucking kidding me? The more people knuckle under to these bastards, the more they get away with.
In the spirit of contribution, I suggest PING: Pidgin Is Not Gaim.
"No way! Why should I change? He's the one who sucks!"
Like we needed another reason to kill lawyers
"Well, why don't you just go by Mike instead of Michael?"
[/freedom/technology]
[#permalink]
Thu, 03 May 2007
18:13
Campus killer thinks guns should be eliminated. 'Cause, y'know, he wasn't responsible and he can't control himself.
Pull the other one
"Leave it up to a murderer to propose disarming the rest of society. Would you take his advice?"
[/freedom]
[#permalink]
Thu, 19 Apr 2007
15:21
Never Again
Mon, 19 Feb 2007
14:17
More on the growing raw milk crackdown. As seen on FreeRepublic:
Silly Freeper. Amish don't vote. So from a political perspective, nobody
cares what they think.
(And to think there are people who believe this problem could be solved, if the
farmers, co-ops and milk drinkers were to engage in some elaborate charade of not
actually "buying" and "selling" milk, but forming the pretext of "cow shares" where
the milk drinkers are merely paying farmers to keep the cow on their property... No, it's all rubbish, and anyone with any sense or knowledge of history
already knows why.. If government officials can get away with claiming that a farmer growing wheat on his own property, to feed his own animals, is "interstate commerce"; then anything and everything, including the infamous ham sandwich, can be declared such.)
The power to destroy
Apparently the Feds are not afraid of upsetting the Amish street. Wonder how
this would play out if they were Muslims?
Sun, 18 Feb 2007
16:00
Roger von Bakel takes Jim Henley to task:
Should we be OK with that, with any of that, or even just turn a blind eye to
it? Should we consult the chapter in our Political Correctness Handbook which
teaches that all cultures are morally equivalent, then acquiesce and nod
politely because within those countries' cultural and legal frameworks,
legalized brutality is par for the course?
Because sometimes, the horses NEED to be frightened
Stoning adulterers is not justice in any third-millennium, human sense of the
word. Honor killings of young women (with the authorities looking the other
way) don't amount to justice either. Nor do the executions of gay people; the
clitorectomies performed on writhing, screaming young girls; the insistence
that women must not drive cars and may not wear anything other than a burqa in
public; the state-sanctioned persecutions of former Muslims who've converted to
Christianity; the crackdown on dissent in places like Egypt and Algeria, where
bloggers and journalists face police beatings and jail time if they don't toe
the Islamic line. And on and on...
[/freedom]
[#permalink]
Thu, 28 Dec 2006
17:26
Not once since I gave up tobacco have I felt the craving for nicotine, or even
the physical act of smoking. But every time I see one of these bullshit re-educationist
anti-smoking commercials the government forced the tobacco industry to "produce" (the
most ironic possible word in this context), I want nothing more than to run out and
light up a whole carton at once.
By the same token, other than a few lights and decorations in the living room, we don't
make a big deal out of Christmas. But then I read Your Lawn Looked Stupid This Year. Not a word about however much poor taste the author's opinion of you may be,
even if you're "white trash" you still have the right to go to hell in your own
handbasket, and I think, what the hell business is it of this buffoon what
I choose to do with my goddamn property and just what the hell is this
crap doing in a "libertarian" publication anyway?
I close with an email to the author:
"You can protect your delicate sensibilities by turning the fuck away."
Merry Christmas anyway.
-dj
Statism infects yet another grand old "libertarian" publication
>But honestly. . . I shouldn't have to look at it.
[/freedom]
[#permalink]
Sat, 18 Nov 2006
15:14
'Colbert Defends Limbaugh For "Carrying The Water'"?
Limbaugh could have stayed honest and advocated liberty, like he used to.
Instead, he chose to suck the Republican cock, and now he wants to whine about
how sorry he is? Fuck that slimey piece of shit. His hypocritical ass should be
tossed into the deepest, darkest, ass-rapingest prison cell imaginable. Here's
your War on Some Drugs, bitch. It's only your dignity. Suck it!
Alien Versus Predator, Redux
Tue, 14 Nov 2006
16:32
Business Week on my home state's latest jack booted thug maneuver:
Everything not forbidden is compulsory.
Everything not compulsory, is forbidden.
Move along. Nothing to see here.
The Scourge of Raw Milk
What's behind these crackdowns by major states against producers of raw milk? I
suspect it's a combination of two forces at work.
First, there's the simple matter of growing demand from consumers seeking food
with as little processing as possible, who want to buy it from local farm
producers (see BusinessWeek.com, 10/16/06,
"The Organic Myth"). Organic
Pastures has seen its revenues climb 35% to 40% annually since it switched to
selling raw milk in 2000. Similarly, the Family Farms Co-op has grown from
nothing to nearly 1,000 members over the last four years.
Second, as raw milk and organic milk (milk which is pasteurized, but obtained
from cows fed organic feed, with no hormones) become more popular, large
dairies are becoming concerned and exerting pressure on agriculture officials
to crack down on the raw-milk producers. Just take a look at the Web site
milkismilk.com to get a sense of the conventional dairies' concern.
Wed, 08 Nov 2006
15:54
From
Anarchist's Progress by Albert Jay Nock,
1927:
And that's all I have to say about that
"It has sometimes been remarked as strange that I never joined in any
agitation, or took the part of a propagandist for any movement against the
State, especially at a time when I had an unexampled opportunity to do so. To
do anything of the sort successfully, one must have more faith in such
processes than I have, and one must also have a certain dogmatic turn of
temperament, which I do not possess. To be quite candid, I was never much for
evangelization; I am not sure enough that my opinions are right, and even if
they were, a second-hand opinion is a poor possession. Reason and experience, I
repeat, are all that determine our true beliefs. So I never greatly cared that
people should think my way, or tried much to get them to do so. I should be
glad if they thought -- if their general turn, that is, were a little more for
disinterested thinking, and a little less for impetuous action motivated by
mere unconsidered prepossession; and what little I could ever do to promote
disinterested thinking has, I believe, been done."
[/freedom]
[#permalink]
