Sunday, November 23, 2008

The Perfect Linux for desktop?

I have recently been using ubuntu server edition for my desktop of all things. It seems to be faster, more stable, and a whole lot more usable than the normal 'bloated' desktop they seem to ship. I installed basic kde 4.1 (which has come a long nicely), and feel no need at this time to go back to gnome. I had previously hated kde, and usually went with gnome or xfce4.

My load times from a suspended system to working (from power on) is 60 seconds. That means they FINALLY have hibernation working (never worked before on ANY linux distro for my desktop!), and things 'just work.' I am happily surprised thus time. Also my open office load times went from 45 seconds in fc8 to 9 seconds in Ubuntu 8.10 server edition.

Friday, November 14, 2008

The power of repetition and dress rehearsal

I just completed a large job for my employer. The only way that it was able to succeed was with two installs in a lab. Doing it the first time the entire system was hosed. The second time things went O.K. Even with all this rehearsal, there were still glitches in the upgrading (a kernel dump bug)...Thank heavens for load balancers!

THomas

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Not so free speech tunnel-- The slow road to fascism

I live in North Carolina, and a local news story came to mind. Basically there is a 'free speech' tunnel at NC state. Someone posted some 'hate' speech in the supposedly 'free speech' tunnel, and everyone is getting their shorts in a bunch.

I have yet to hear the sheer irony of a 'free speech' tunnel that limits speech to what we find 'acceptable'. Might be better termed a 'politically correct' free speech site.

The erosion of free speech by so called 'social' justice advocates is nothing less that restraint of free speech.

While I think that prejudice and hate have NO place in a society, 'free speech' does allow such people, no matter how much I dislike them, to have a voice.

If we want to get righteous about it, why not just go to various countries where people are killed for their opinions. The slippery slope to fascism begins with restraint of 'inappropriate' speech.

Thomas

Thursday, November 6, 2008

My lap dog

One of my favorite games that I play with my pet (whoose name shall remain anonymous, due to identity thievery), is to try to catch her. She will run all over the room, and finally I will trick her, and turn her into my lap dog. Its her penalty for trusting me. I sit her on my lap when I go on the computer. Keep in mind that she weighs 45 lbs!

Thomas

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Being spiritually in the right place

It is too easy to rely on the 'right things' in order to keep my life in balance. When I live by self-will, I cause myself to revert to old bad behaviors. I try to fill the emptiness with something, rather than my Higher Power, and suffer the consequences. This seems to be despite my best intellectual efforts to be self-reliant. Surrender is a very hard thing.

When I am spiritually in the right place, I rely upon something outside myself, and can draw on the strength that goes beyond my own.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Pandora Sadness

The Pandora (a new open sourced gaming system) has been delayed due to display manufacture inventory shortage. There also seems to be a little fishiness going on with banks as well, some people have to re-order.

I hope the dream (of owning an open-sourced gaming system NO horrid homebrew hacking required) doesn't become a nightmare.

Beware the ides of Faucets

Well, the studies keep coming in. I have read two interesting articles on science news that show Lead in new faucets can be really dangerous.

The first article cites a university that had new faucets and lead concentrations at 1000ppb a WHOLE LOT higher than epa guidelines. The solution? Keep running the water faucet for a while.

Second article cites the danger of faucet aerators and how they can collect lead. Clean out your aerators!

Thomas

My First Post

Well, it looks like my vote is the kiss of death. I have unsuccessfully attempted to elect 3 presidents in my voting life, and all 3 have lost. We will see if things continue down this bad road.