Ubuntu

Ubuntu Linux 6.06 --

Ubuntu is one of the fastest growing Linux distros out today, probably one of the most trendy as well. RedHat and SuSe don't really have anything to worry about with this latest release replacing their server market. Microsoft, on the other hand, should be getting a little bit worried about the, "just know a little bit, but tired of paying for the least Windows," crowd, cuz baby, this distro will win 'em over. Well . . . it could.

I downloaded this update to the Ubuntu offerings at the very time that Slashdot posted that it was on the mirrors, burned it to CD, and cranked 'er up. The Ubuntu have stepped ahead of the crouw with the ease of the installation. They' have combined the Live CD and the installation CD onto one media. One boots to the CD and finds oneself in a real live, fully functional Linux environment complete with gnome. A convenient icon on the desktop reads Install and a simple double-click fires off the installation.


The installation is fully graphic and extremely easy. The ease of the installation process is a definite turn-on for the inexperienced Linux novice. It walks you through setting up a new user, setting local variables, partitioning the hard disk, and oddly mounting the disks detected on the system. While it isn't obvious how to tell the boot loader to install to the mbr or customize the boot loader, the installer will detect other OSs and automatically configure the menu.lst. While a huge advantage for a novice, the new installer is a little bit too automatic for a more seasoned Linux vet. The installer does everything for you, including select the packages you want. I found that to be a little annoying. But hey that's the point of the system, ease of use.

A couple of problems I've encountered have been to do with dual display and firefox java and flash plugins not installing automatically. Each of these problems has a basis in other late releases of Linux like Fedora. The dual head problem can be fixed with a BIOS tweak, making the PCI video card the primary and the AGP secondary. As far as I can tell it's a problem with xorg 7 or so. Also, the flash plugins and java plugin come with instruction for installing manually,s o nothing terrible there.

So far Ubuntu is all I expected as far as stability. They've included the same quality they've always had, and gave 6.06 a little spit-shine while they were at it. The system is no enterprise server, but it's not supposed to be. It is, however, a Windows replacement OS. With 3 full years of support, the sleek design, and the reliability Ubuntu brings a wonderful product and a strong competitor to the market. Oh and did I mention that it's free!!

"You Can't Fix Stupid" Phooa

So here's the scene: early evening a man finds an abandoned box located at the end of his driveway. No one was on the street, save some passing cars with drivers looking questioningly at the suspicious package at the end of the drive. Like the man, they too know that this package, this mysterious container of unknown contents, is indeed out of place. Instictively the man peers at the package and suddenly without warning his instincts kick in, and flushes all common sense out of his mind. He instantly recalls the terror-level indicator for the day just before a terrible realization hits, "this could be terrorists, terrorists come to destroy Fyffe, AL! I've got to do somthing." And something he did, he called the local authorities in to investigate, and I'm sure poke the box with a stick. The thing missing from this story and apparently his conciousness was that just hours before some electricians were there working on the utilities, with tools, and connectors commonly found in a toolbox, which they just happened to drive off and leave at the scene of the crime. To make a long stupid story short and stupid, the package on the end of the driveway, strangely resembled a toolbox. Really people, when confronted with situations, let's add up all of the factors divide by two and handle accordingly. I really doubt that terrorists are going to go after Fyffe, AL, something tells me they've got a few bigger fish to fry right now.

So I just watched, as you can see my the title, Ron White's "you can't fix stupid." Now I've always admired stand up comics. One reason is because it's H-A-R-D to come up with material that's both fresh AND funny. Just because people tend to want to laugh, doesn't mean that they will. In fact, I think one of the hardest things to do in the world is to make someone laugh. Second, they speak a lot of truth when they're doing their social commentary. They make it funny, and comical, blazingly insightful, and cuttingly truthful. And Ron put into a concise billboard what I've been trying to say since I realized just how many stupid people are sucking wind, "you can't fix stupid." It's true, stupid will prevail every time simply because it is stupid. Stupid is one of the only circular arguments that works every time! You can't argue with stupid, you can't reason with stupid, you can't debate with stupid, therefore stupid wins and stays stupid. Parents today, at least the loudest minority, are a prime example of, "next time you have a thought, let it go."

Case in point, in another local story parents are upset that four judges used objective criteria to select the high school cheerleading squad. Turns out that when, in competition, the best are singled out for their talents, a true refection of the diversity isn't always accomplished. Were not only talking racially, we're also talking about the junior high school from which the girls came. Parents, this is crazy! Could it be that these ten girls from the same school were the best from the group? Could it be that there were girls trying out that suck at being cheerleaders? Could life not be fair? All this and more coming of the next episode of, "Common Sense and Get a Life," the best scripted-reality-zit since "Survivor-- The Sun." I don't know about you, but I think this one is a prime candidate to be deferred to the Dept. of Homeland Security, they've probably been talking already . <zinger> I just don't know if we common people can handle day-to-day affairs without help anymore. I mean that with more truth than I'm comfortable admitting. It seems we, as a society need to take a dose of common sense and read an ode to reason, before thing really get out of hand.

openSource Phooa

OK so I'm an open source supporter, I use it, I customize it, and I love it. Thing is though, open sourcers tend to have this fanatical tick about them in which they want EVERYTHING to become open source. I know that they just want to see how the insides work and help work bugs, but it comes across as they want someone to spend time and energy(and money) to develop a product, but then just open up how it works so that anyone can do it. I never thought I would say it, but there is a small minority of the open source fanatics out there that make me understand old Bill(ion)'s hatred of all of us. I mean where would we be if everything was open source, if individuals just opened up their way of doing stuff to the world based on trust and good graces? It would squeeze the life out of the economy and innovation with one fateful swoop. We need a good balance of open source along with closed source over pricing. I mean where would Elmer Fudd be without his Buggs Bunny, Superman without Lex, Holmes without . . . well you get the picture. The fact is that all of these guys bring a sense of balance to each other's world. Without the other their world would be single-sided. They would be out of tune with what makes them heroes because they would never get a chance to find it in themselves. So to the opensourcers in the world, you write, download, modify, tinker, and build. To the closed sourcers, you keep those doors locked tight and push out your product however you like to do that, and make the best man win, cuz that's not what it's about anyway.

Phone Tapping Phooa

Phone tapping. Hot topic right now. Bush and friends say we need it to be safe. Privacy people say we don't need it and it's against the constitution. There it is, in a nutshell.
Basically, we are not entitled to privacy while using leased lines or anything of the sort, unless otherwise expressly written into a contract. It's true we are not just magically entitled to privacy on the phone, Internet or any other medium that we lease time on someone else's property. Think of it as renting an apartment from a landlord. If you just pay the money to stay, without signing a contract, the landlord can enter into the property at anytime he/she deem fit. If you're a bright tenant, you have a contract that establishes parameters for the landlord to enter without your consent and if those parameters aren't met then you do have a right to your privacy and it's illegal for the landlord to enter into the property without your consent. Same goes for the copper and fiber lines that all of our transmissions travel every day. Without an express agreement otherwise, the phone co. has the right to look at anything that they choose.
Now that that's out the window the problem with W's actions in tapping phones lies well within a debate over the power of government. That's right, it should not be a whether you have a right to privacy thing, it should be all about how much power the federal government has. The federal government should have only the power that it has been expressly given by the people. This phone tapping business, I believe, is not given as a power of the federal government and is a expression from the people in power to the citizens of how they are going to stay in power. The real flaw here isn't the privacy issue, nor is it just a phone tapping issue, it's about the power of the people to govern themselves being given slowly to the central government, to do with what they may.
Now I'm not trying to say anything to be radical here, but I'm just expressing an opinion. I want America to remain the greatest country that the world has ever seen. I want the American people to stand up and take pride in their country. I want to see America DO right and not just debate about who is right. I'm just afraid that we have become too apathetic as a people and have given up too many liberties, just because we don't want to have to deal with the responsibility of having them.

State of the Union Phooa

The state of the union address by the president has been a staple of American life for many many years now, but what is relatively new is the news media commentary. The State of the Union actually has a pregame show now! At many anchor desks across the channels we see a team of 'experts' who will speculate on what the President is about to say. Now let me ask; have Americans become so dumb that we can't watch a speech and decide what that person is saying in plain English (and with W plain English is what your gonna get) without being 'prepped' in advance. Slightly less insulting to American intelligence is the after-game show we see when all of the networks, sometimes for days afterwards, will analyze, debate, and decide what the President said. While this is less scary, it's very sad as many Americans just forget about the speech(that is if they even bothered to watch) and go with whatever their favorite new anchor said that W said.
Now, the speech. Nothing exciting, nothing new. Basically we the most interesting part was the fact that Mr. Bush made the comments he did about oil. Everything else seemed to be war, medi-care, social security, and . . . well I told you it was wasn't very interesting.
Basic point here is that Americans should take the time to listen, read, and make up their own mind about things instead of having someone chew it up and digest it for them.

Ode to the unsolicited checks Phooa

You keep my mailbox full
You keep my shedder busy
The first hundred-thousand were cool
But now all the paper just makes me dizzy
Please stop sending me all this mail
The whole idea really is quite stale
With all the trees you've paid to kill
You could have saved me money on my bill

FREAKING FIRE Phooa

OK so I've neer seen a hard drive catch on FREAKING FIRE before, well without pro-incindiary chemicals, until today. Yes I am saying it caught on FREAKING FIRE! I plugged in some Maxtor 300GB drives to wipe the info, loaded Darik's BnN, and let 'er rip. Not far did we get until smoke -- spark -- boom -- BLAZE. Yup and not the kind of blaze that goes away on it's own, the kind that one might have to smother to make it okay again. So, be afraid, be very afraid of what you used to think of as your never-catch-on-fire hard drive, as you too may be burned! [b]