Neo, meet Mister Anderson...

Brain-computer interface for Second Life

From the safety and security of my life-pod I can now virtually venture forth and...

...wait, can anyone else smell the Matrix...or was that cookies?

(Thanks Jeremy)

My Citizen Commuter Permit

My Citizen Commuter Permit (CCP) says 6:15 to 7:15 AM and 4:15 to 5:15 PM. I was able to convince the Civilian Transportation Board (CTB) that with an extended window I could take my children to school on the way to work thereby saving a significant amount of fuel. The Transportation board finally agreed and wrote my permit for the additional 30 minute window. They did not see fit to increase my Fuel Allotment Permit (FAP) citing my assurance of 'saving a significant amount of fuel'.

I was not really surprised about my Fuel Allotment Permit. If they really stuck to a person's recorded driving history, the one they get from each of our vehicles, I am sure the Allotment could be a much smaller. It is an allotment after all. They are not really rationing it. They are always quick to say that by permitting fuel use they can be assured of sufficient supply. Thereby insuring that everybody gets there fair share.

We all understand that if the Fuel Allotment Board (FAB) were to calculate our usage more exactly then the World Oil Conglomerate (WOC) would begin to grouse. Lower profits for the Conglomerate would in turn cause them to reduce the supply. We all know that the FAB is really protecting us from the usury and opportunistic meddling of an outside influence on our great country's fragile economy.

We all know that the FAB is protecting the WOC from us. By offering the fine line illusion that there is sufficient amount of albeit expensive petroleum based fuel the FAB is keeping the radical bio-mass-fuelers at bay. The FAB knows well how quickly garages and garden sheds would be turned into micro refineries (ethanol stills). Soy beans, field corn and grass clippings would all be in short supply.

The Public Information Bureau (PIB) released a statement today that the last W*l-mart in our region has closed. PIB reported that due to the collapse of the "Free Trade Agreements" with other members of our World Community that the prices for non-durable goods could no longer be properly controlled. Fearing what they said could only be characterized as radical or terrorist free market forces on pricing structures the Consumer Protection Board (CPB) had little choice but to curtail all imports of non-durable goods for the foreseeable future.

Heralding the CPB's decision to curtail imports as a 'real achievement in the balancing of trade" the Office of Federal Economic Organizations (OFEO) predicted that the country would stop "hemorrhaging" jobs to the cheap labor of those radical and terroristic free marketeers that are intent on debasing our freedoms and challenging our way of life.

OFEO officials estimated that within 18 months to two years citizens of our great nation will be producing those same items at those same prices. "Jobs will be plentiful as citizens of this great nation work at base pay to insure the American way of life. Young people, as well as the elderly, in this country will never have to worry about getting a job or that new pair of denim jeans they want. We can now return to a time when American Made means made in the USA."

God Bless and keep the Security Home Lights burning bright...

Who?

They grok me...

...they really really grok me.

I wrote just moments ago (internet time) that I was having difficulty finding a definitive guide to Linux Kernel compilation. In this morning's feeds was the following...

Linux Kernel in a Nutshell

Author : Greg Kroah-Hartman
ISBN : 0-596-10079-5
Pages : 198
Publication Date : December 2006
Publisher : O'Reilly
Free License : Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 license

After digging through the different HOWTOs and the Linux kernel Documentation directory, I came to the conclusion that there was no one place where all of this information could be found. It could be gleaned by referencing a few files here, and a few outdated web sites there, but this was not acceptable for anyone who did not know exactly what they were looking for in the first place.

AND BEST OF ALL...

Linux Kernel in a Nutshell

...is available under the CC License

This book is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 license. That means that you are free to download and redistribute it. The development of the book was made possible, however, by those who purchase a copy from O'Reilly or elsewhere.

SPECIAL NOTE: Even more important than offering this book for free under the CC License is the awareness that I am much more inclined to purchase a paper copy of this book. In fact we who support the likes of the CC License are obligated to show our support of such efforts by making sure the authors are paid for the fine work that they do.

From where you are standing...

I put on my father's clothing...

- Bruce Springsteen

Don't buy the iPhone!!!

Henry Ford is said to have uttered the most famous advertising line in automotive history, "You can have any color you want as long as it is black." People of his day understood implicitly his position. Steve Jobs, today, says, "You can have an iPhone." And people seem confused. They seem to think that because they want it to be TheirPhone that Jobs is at fault for merchandizing the iPhone.

WRONG!!!

People this is really really simple. If you don't want the iPhone that Jobs is selling do not buy the iPhone that Jobs is selling. Apply the 'laws' of market influences. Don't buy crap and then complain that it is not the crap you wanted to buy. Send the proper signal to Jobs. Do not buy his product unless or until he/they make it the way you really want it. Sheeeeesh, rocket science here.

(Quitcherbitchen!)

I am impressed...and sooooo busted.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North   You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Just so happens I am a transplanted Yankee from.... wait for it.... Michigan, home of the Inland Lakes...Sheeeeeesh!

Free-Burma.org

Kernel dreams and compilation nightmares

Being fearless and being stupid ... two sides of the same coin?

Long ago I attempted to recompile my Linux kernel - seems that the original did not support some sort of feature that I was after at the time. I saved out my original running kernel (a provision which has saved me repeatedly over the years) and issued the immortal make menuconfig command. I rummaged around until I found the possible "fix" and enabled it. I saved my new .config and then held my breath and uttered the then cryptic command incantation make - and off it went on its merry way. I copied the new kernel to /boot, reconfigured lilo to access it and held my breath. When my PC rebooted and ran the new kernel AND worked correctly I let out a huge sigh of relief and thanked the programmers each and every one. They had done it, I was just the messenger.

That was then... now I am wiser and more knowledgeable and in many cases just as ignorant as I was the very first time. So I went in search of clear and concise documentation for the mysterious .config file that is the foundation of recompiling the Linux kernel. Then I made the greatest discovery of my Linux career - and the most disheartening. I found out that I am not a geek, not by any stretch of the imagination. Sure, I can successfully recompile a kernel but truly knowing what I am doing is not the case.

So, my question and my quest is to find a good set of documents that offer real insight into the .config file contents. I have an underlying fear this is somewhat akin to asking, "What does the face of God look like?"

1000 Words... [ Free Burma ]

Just another FaceBook in the crowd.

Cyber communities are walking dead.

Oh, sure there will always be a few die-hards that don't know when to give it up and go home. For the most part every internet community that I have seriously been associated with has lost its luster and polish after about two short years. I am not talking just about FaceBook and MySpace. They are the Johnny-come-latelys. What did happen to Orkut?

I am talking about Internet Relay Chat communities that began in the late 80's. Real IRC channels with Ops and members and real rules and everything. CompuServe forums that thrived and then withered. CompuServe may be long gone (or reincarnated) but forums still exist only the people have changed repeatedly. Two, maybe three years tops and then the steam just runs out. Some times new folks show up...sometimes the old-timer just sit around and say the same things over and over again.

So my point is that it is just plain silly for pundits to claim that Twitter is the new and improved Blog. Hawg wash! Twitter is just the latest fad that has the spynsters running around in circles frothing over their keyboards. Microsoft's Ballmer, for all his foibles, has hit the FaceBook fad right on the nose. In another two years you will all have to use the "Recover Password" function to get back into your FaceBook accounts because 'time, tide and fickle consumers wait for no person'.

Oh look, a shiny new bauble. Want one?

self correcting society

UMBRAGE ALERT! This will certainly cause grumbling and mumbling in the B'sphere

Jeneane Sessum titled one of her most recent posts...

Raising a Manufacturing Class in a Knowledge Worker World

Having heard a prospective college student deride the value of a Liberal Arts education I must assume that society is correcting itself. The complaint, "Why should I learn stuff that I will never use?" suggests to me that the correction is one of reducing the supply of Thinkers and Artists. Evidently there are too many for the current market to bear.

If the law of Supply and Demand holds in this instance then it is about time we reduce the over abundance of frivolous Thinkers and Artists. Simply by reducing their bloated numbers we as a society can raise their respective social worth. And I say it is about time. What this country really needs are more Good-ol-boys and Home-girls. Lets put an end to this extravagance of Knowledge Workers. Lets return to a simpler time of punch-the-clock work-the-line and then go home to the suburban family.

[ End of tongue-in-cheek rant ]

I grew up continuously criticized by my peers, "Why you all the time usin' them big words?" Coming from a literate family I had an inherent sense of the meaning of words. I unconsciously used the words that expressed the width and breadth of my intended message. Later, while receiving an excellent Liberal Arts education, I came to understand that language is the living history of our society and culture. When I used 'them big words' I was then and am now rebelling against the cheapening and debasing of our real heritage: a civilized society.

The inside and the outside

I recently inherited a website and a large legacy application. Both are in-house initiatives. Custom built solely for the purposes of our manufacturing process. Previously, in my role as Manager of Information Systems, I recognized the merit and value of these entities. Their essential merit being the recording and archiving of business information. Ease of entry and subsequent reporting being paramount in their daily use. As Information Management systems they fit the hand.

When a tool fits the hand pick it up.

This has been a long standing mantra of mine when counseling customers/users regarding their computer needs and requirements. There certainly is little sense in trying to use an uncomfortable or ill-suited tool to do a job. To extend the metaphor, this a simple retelling of the old saw, 'trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.'

So all of that is the outside - I inherited the inside.

"Ease of entry and subsequent reporting..." are the result of great planning, deliberation and of course elegant execution. My predecessor did an admirable job at every turn. Alas, my predecessor embodied the living knowledge of both of these initiatives. What then falls to me is the labor of learning the insides.

Where my predecessor enjoyed the luxury of an intimate growing and evolving relationship with each project I receive each as a stone cold tool. The website and the application were crafted to fit the hand of the customer/user. The inside of each, however, as a tool fit his hand. So I now find myself having to pick up a tool that feels very foreign to my hand. A feeling that is diametrically opposed to my mantra.

The hummers are gone...

...long live the sparrows.

I dismissed my wife's observation that this was the week that the hummingbirds would leave us. I scoffed. Just last Sunday, sitting at this very kitchen table, I watched half a dozen dance and parry for airborne superiority and territoriality. The days still feel long and hot. There are full beckoning feeders. Summer is still upon us in Kentucky. What earthly reason would prompt the hummers to forsake such bounty in favor of some other locale?

The seed feeders were empty. I could understand why the sparrows were staying away. My lack of attention to their feeding stations was unwelcoming. They had good reason to not grace us with their presence.

So I took a minute out of my busy Sunday morning ritual time and filled the seed feeders. In less than two minutes the perches were again graced by the anxious group flight behaviors of sparrow families. So simple are the joys.

Most likely we will not see the hummers again until next spring... long live the sparrows.

I am so affluent...

...that I can afford to feed prisoners better than students. (Listen toward the end of the presentation.)

RetroSoGood

Food Fantasy: Stuffed Mushrooms

1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon olive oil

Sweat the garlic and onions until just translucent

Add 5 chicken livers chopped

In a separate pan brown 2 ounces (1 patty) spicy pork sausage
crumble the sausage as it browns, turn it out on a piece of paper towel to remove any excess fat

Combine the sausage and chicken livers and continue over very low heat - let them become acquainted. Add small amounts of liquid (2 tablespoons of chicken stock or water) so that the mixture does not become too dry.

Add a 1/4 cup of sour cream to the mixture and continue. Add a little more liquid to maintain a thick creamy consistency. Continue to reduce.

Prepare 8 (or so) large mushrooms, washing then patting dry.

To each mushroom add a couple of drops of olive oil and one or two drops of balsamic vinegar.

Just prior to stuffing the mushrooms add two tablespoons of fine bread crumbs. This is not so much filler as it is a binder to soak up the sauce.

Stuff the mushrooms firmly with the mixture and mound as high as possible. (Usually I don't endorse such abuse of mushrooms but in this case go ahead and stuff.)

Prepare a shallow chaffing dish with a thin layer of marinara sauce (last night's lovely spaghetti sauce, thanks to The Saint). Gently float each stuffed mushroom in the dish, careful that they don't touch one another.

Place the chaffing dish in a preheated (325F) oven for 25 to 35 minutes.

Sprinkle the stuffed mushrooms with fresh grated Parmesan cheese and place under the broiler until the cheese is toasted (just begins to show color).

Enjoy.

Marcel Marceau

... a moment of silence ...

Good fun!

Up to my ankles...

...in alligators!

This is my tongue-in-cheek version of the old maxim, "It is hard to drain the swamp when..."

So I thought I would investigate 'anklegators' to see if I was onto something. Turns out that there are such things as ankle gators for both sking and skin diving. But there are/were no Google hits for 'anklegator' so I guess I get to claim the critter for my very own.

Gee mom, it just followed me home. Do you think I can keep it?

One Peace, One Day... Soon!

Peace Day

Foreboding sense of Linux

I don't want Linux to be desktop friendly.

There, I said it.

I believe that all of the efforts to make Linux friendly for Joe Sixpack have had a very destructive effect. In order to accommodate the mainstream user Linux is being cheapened. Soon it will be as distant from the user as Windows are now. To make Linux acceptable it will be encapsulated, buffered and then sugar coated. All for what? Why should Joe Sixpack swallow the blue Linux pill when they already have a belly full of the red-mond pill?

Shogun by James Clavell

I just finished the luxuriously long and sensual read, Shogun by James Clavell. This was the umpteenth time I have read it. I manage to wind my way through it about every other year. It is a comfort read for me. I can celebrate the story and the characters. Like any really accessible work of fiction I can see myself in it. I can slip into its second skin and for a few minutes drift in another time and place.

Born under a bad sign...

You know we are all in lot of trouble, Linux-wise, when we need explicit instructions ...

Howto Boot debian in text mode instead of graphical mode (GUI)

I just got a bit harrumphish when I realized that Linux is old enough so that the young'ins don't remember a time before the GUI. The same argument that shied folks away from early Linux is being raised in the face of the latest distros.

I cannot use a PC unless it has pictures and a mouse pointer. That is why I am sticking with Windows er, uh, Gnome or KDE.

- Papa, Slackware: what was old is GNU, again

Curious Clock

...tells unsettling time.

Calculating your "Life-Time": the current time when your life is scaled down to 1 day

LifeTime – What time are you?

My LifeTime

5:24pm

Slackware: Don't take my word for it...

Slackware: There's something totally sane about it

Slackware hard? You set up networking by typing netconfig at a prompt and filling in the blanks. What could be easier? Installing software with pkgtool? Except for the dependency problems, which at least make you more aware of what your system is all about, it's easy and intuitive.

...more aware... (emphasis not mine) IMHO this is the very heart of the matter. Pretty much any OS will let you use your computer but how many allow you to be in control?

I owe, I owe, its off to work I go...

This past weekend I lazed. Actually, that isn't exactly accurate. It suggests that I actively and aggressively engaged in lazing. More to the point I practiced the fine art of being lazy. In the oppressive heat of western Kentucky I laid low. I enjoyed the rigors of horizontal meditation while being bathed in near continuous air conditioning. We all know it is not the heat, it is the humanity.

In between near exhaustive bouts of napping I managed to consume some comfort-pulp-fiction. Now I do understand that there is a new title by William Gibson, Spook Country that is being met with rave reviews. (Why am I not surprised that Frank Paynter knows about the MacGuffin.) But that is not the sort of fiction that floats my boat when I am engaged in the fine art of loafing. Give me Robert B. Parker. Oh yeah.

Reading Parker is like watching television without the commercials and not having to learn how to use the remote.

You have to admit that that is the very depth of decadence. So I reread Cold Service just because I started it while killing time at our local Books-A-Million - one of the few decent places to get a real cup of coffee in this two-bit town. A swing through the new library landed me two more new titles that I hadn't seen - mostly 'cause I don't get out much. Hundred-Dollar Baby has Spenser back in the humanitarian saddle dealing with 'good-girl-gone-bad' April Kyle as she whines and deigns through the high and low life of Boston's upscale back alleys.

Those occupied most of Saturday and Sunday. Then the real work of Labor day began on Monday. A Jesse Stone tale called High Profile. No details to follow 'cause you will just have to read it for yourself. I will say that Parker has done an interesting thing by intertwining some of his more memorable characters into each other's lives.

Love's labors, not lost.

AFCAQTWCA

Any Fool Can Ask Questions the Wise Can't Answer

...and shouldn't have to. We have all had bosses, significant others and or teachers that insisted on asking questions. Questions that were not formulated to be answered but rather for the asking. So that the interrogator can feel empowered.

How often I have heard, "I was just asking..."

Little does it matter that a question asked demands an answer. Seldom is consideration given on the part of the interrogator how disruptive the demand might be.

"I was just asking. Sheeesh, you don't have to be so grumpy."

Little does it matter that a question can be asked without being responsible for the answer. How happy I would be if the interrogator had to pay in some fashion for every rhetorical or self-centered question asked.

The selfish and self-centered formulate questions to gain attention. It takes very little effort to formulate an interrogative sentence. Then when confronted with this antisocial behavior they claim that they were only trying to make conversation. That is like a bank robber suggesting that they are only trying to bolster the local economy by making a mandatory withdraw. I suggest that stealing is stealing.

Anyone have any questions?

Quechup Stains?

Quoth the Head Lemur

Quechup is the Clap of Social Networking. You get it from letting Quechup touch your address book.

Faceless in Kentucky

On the advice of sage council I cut my ties with Facebook. Since then I have felt just a slight tug to find out what my peers are doing. I assume that this 'tug' is the same feeling that keeps others coming back time and again. Undoubtedly it is the same feeling that serves as the adhesive in our larger social orders. I have to wonder if it is the same glue that binds Lemmings as they take their inexorable journey to the edge of the precipice?

All we are saying is ....

---

3D Stereogram generator

Thanks Pen-Elayne

Don't trust... who?

John says, "Don't trust the servers."

To analyze the illogic of certain trends, I like to employ a trick I call the "reverse timeline." I ask myself, "What happens if the timeline goes the other way?" In this instance, you'd start with server-based online applications, and then suddenly a new technology—the desktop computer with a quad-core processor and huge hard drive—appears. Now, you do not need to do all your computing online. The timeline is reversed.

Why is it that pundits like this fellow above just insist on purveying an all or nothing perspective? Could it be ... the media? Could it be the fact that we as a society desperately want to see things in black or white? Could it be that 'journalism' panders to this bi-polar disorder?

This polarity is laughable. Individuals who report on it run the very great risk of becoming a casualty of their own rhetoric. "Since the majority of Dvorak's articles deal with absurd and contrived polar extremes he should be completely discounted."

Hmmmmm, that has a curious ring to it.

Quantity vs. Quality

This should be a 'no-brainer'...

Knowledge Retention vs. Critical Thinking

Why do the many and varied Education systems seem to test for Knowledge Retention?

"They respect what you inspect not what you expect."

Heartbroken

.:dydimustk:.

speaks of a journey. He said...

...I have been trying to figure out what might be a better framework for the next generation of Christ followers. I have been involved in this whole Emerg[ing|ent] line of questioning and exploration, and yet it seems many of our attempts to reengage the culture get hung up in christendom models. No matter how cool we are, or how welcoming we make our services, or how politically sensitive we try to be–if our goal is to get people in our doors, I think we have lost sight of the gospel. Jesus asked his disciples to follow him out into the world. He never asked them to bring anyone back anywhere.

...My heart is broken for all my friends and all the people I see every day for whom the church has no value, no purpose. At best, they’ve just never encountered Jesus because the idiots on TV turn them off. At worst, they been judged and condemned by the church–hurt physically and emotionally. That breaks my heart.

...I have written The Broken Heart Manifesto. I have tried to write it in such a way that anyone can take it up, hopefully without any barriers (other than the English language), and allow it to re-form their lives. I an anxious to see what it does to mine. I will be journaling the process, and invite you to do the same.

I am not a biblical scholar. Some would suggest that I am not even a "good" Christian.

The The Broken Heart Manifesto resonates with me because it speaks to reverence for the human condition without all of the trappings of a given religion or "Church" order. In this way it clears away the noise of society and popular culture. This Manifesto speaks to the central value, love, that I as one person must have for all of my brothers and sisters.

This Manifesto is not an imposition of my views on others but rather a view that I choose to accept for myself. What follows are observations about myself. By engaging in this conversation I hope to illuminate my often unspoken feelings and thoughts. By engaging in this conversation I hope that feelings and thoughts of others might be revealed.

---

Love hurts

To love is to endure emotional pain
With great investment of personal caring and affection
comes the potential of disregard and detachment

Inherent in the belief of love is the desire to be loved;
we should be loved equally by those that we love

In choosing to love we accept in equal measure the pain
of being unloved

Unconditional love is the act of endless giving.

bhmt01

BOYCOTT Open Source Violators

Open Source developers do not expect remuneration for their efforts. This is implicit in the Open Source agreement. Then the only recourse available to them in the case of [alledged] Open Source License violation is for the public to actively and aggressively BOYCOTT the violator(s).

Model train software spat threatens future of open source

By Kevin Fayle in San Francisco

Throws copyrights from the train

Analysis A dispute over some open source software used for model railroads resulted in an important decision last week, involving the scope of open source licenses and the remedies available when they are violated.

The decision has triggered alarm in the open source community, with a prominent open source licensing advocate charging that the court fell asleep at the switch in its legal analysis of the case.

[. . .]

Interpreting open source licenses as contracts removes the possibility of injunctive relief preventing license violators from further copying, modifying and/or distributing source code. Such a remedy is available for copyright violations, but not contract breaches.

For broken contracts, the remedy is damages - whatever it would take to put the plaintiff in the position he would have been in had the contract been fully performed. Since this is usually money, many providers of open source software would get the shaft, since they don't expect any remuneration for the copying of the software.

[. . .]

A.) Read the entire article

B.) If it is to work (without the support of the legal system) then it is up to us, the community of users, to insure that the integrity of Open Source is upheld.

C.) BOYCOTT Open Source violators.

Slackware: what was old is GNU, again

I shouldn't be too snarky. This article, Midnight Commander in Action, is very comprehensive and well illustrated.

I just got a bit harrumphish when I realized that Linux is old enough so that the young'ins don't remember a time before the GUI. The same argument that shied folks away from early Linux is being raised in the face of the latest distros.

I cannot use a PC unless it has pictures and a mouse pointer. That is why I am sticking with Windows er, uh, Gnome or KDE.

MC is the very reason that I have such an allegiance to Slackware. From the first day MC, or should I say mc has been my best Linux friend. Allowing me to traverse the file system. Providing easy access to compressed files. Copy, move and rename at a keystroke. MC even gave me access to the mystical chown/chmod attributes with just a couple of keystrokes.

All of that brings me to this insight... Slackware, in its most fundamental state, is not about the end-user experience. Slackware is about Linux, the kernel, running the on a computer platform.

Quick, someone get the men in white coats and butterfly nets. Papa has really lost it this time.

While we wait for the funny-farmers to arrive let me meander on ... To over-simplify, Slackware is old school. Slack came out of an era when only mainframes ran *nix and users all enjoyed the same interface: green characters on a black CRT display. The Slackware distribution sought to emulate that stable, robust mainframe experience while running on a PC.

I will surmise that Patrick Volkerding sought then, and still seeks, to provide an environment in which the Linux kernel runs as well as humanly possible. I would even go so far as to suggest that this is his first priority. I predicate my assumption on the premise that if the kernel runs well then everything that runs subsequently will do so at an optimum level.

Modern Linux distros and modern users have succumb to the Madison Avenue ploy of selling the sizzle while Patrick Volkerding and Slackware are in the business of selling the steak. Users are welcome to enjoy any GUI sizzle that they like when running the old-school prime-cut Slackware.

Windows: Perception, perspective and definition

Having recently been tasked with responsibilities that include MS-Access, MS-IIS and MS-SQL I have a new found respect for the Windows "program".

Windows is a program that I run in order to provide access to the other 'services' that operate in the Windows environment. This is a subtle rhetorical point but it helps to clearly define my perception of the Microsoft "OS" and associated programs. I employ Windows as just another application suite. So much so that I have to specifically choose to run it. For me Windows is not the ubiquitous underlying foundation for my computing environment.

I suggest that if this is my perspective then sooner than Microsoft is comfortable with the general public's perspective will also be changing. I would further suggest that as the public becomes more reliant on hand-helds (cell phones and to a lesser extent PDAs) then the perception will change radically away from the Windows paradigm. Windows will become the archaic interface that we used to use when we were stuck in front of our desktop PCs.

For now I can affirm that when dealing with the Microsoft suite of programs then Windows is my first choice. For the rest majority of my computing needs I enjoy the comfort, speed, and robust nature of ... Linux.

Workplace Linux

Rory Curtis, a United Kingdom Software Engineer, writing at Linux And Other Rants did a nice piece by interviewing his work mates to get their input on Linux in the Workplace: What the Users Think. I thought I would follow suit and offer my answers to his questions as well.

Q. What motivated you to try Linux?

In a word, curiosity. I had been working with IBM's OS/2 and knew there were PC alternatives. The prospect of a *NIX clone was just too much. I had to give it a try.

Q. What did you think of Linux before switching?

I was the worst sort of noobie - I wanted Linux to be and do Windows. Took me the better part of a year and a half to stop being sooooo dumb. Unfortunately for Linux those were the days when office desktop software was a bit thin. Once I began to work with Linux 'services' then the light went on and I began to see its real potential.

Q. What concerns did you have about switching to Linux?

Pretty much the same concerns that I have had all along: now I have to support two Operating Systems. One that I felt comfortable in and could depend on, Linux. And one that I had to support professionally, Windows. From a Information Management perspective file incompatibilities (prior to OpenOffice and some others) made the prospect of rolling Linux out almost impossible. Thankfully that is behind us.

Q. What were the major issues you faced in Windows?

The 3 "C's" ... Cost, Complexity and Crashes. When evaluating Cost there is the unit price of the OS and then the cost of the programs and applications. Personally I could afford the hardware and the OS that was packaged by default but I could not afford the programs. I ended up with a nearly useless PC.

The Complexity of Windows has really begun to impact its value for me and my users. To attempt to insure a safe(r) computing environment it has been necessary to implement a large number of the draconian measures Windows uses to protect it self. Each time one of these measures in activated the user suffers from another layer of complexity.

Crashes = BSOD ... 'nuff said. (To be fair, Windows XP Pro is much better about this one aspect of my dissatisfaction.)

Q. What are the major issues you have with Linux?

The only real issue that I can cite is that of succession. With the "expertise" (term used very loosely) that I have gained over the years I have implemented Linux in key roles in my network infrastructure. A competent replacement, somebody knowledgeable in Linux, is probably too qualified to work in my market. Conversely, in todays market there are untold numbers of proficient Windows Admins.

Q. What do you miss most about Windows?

Absolutely nothing. I am, however, very frustrated that Lotus Notes has been so poorly ported to Linux.

Q. What do you like most about Linux?

(This is the question that prompted me to do this Q&A thing in the first place.) Linux allows me to stay current with evolving technology AND not go broke doing so. Thanks to the huge effort of Patrick Volkerding I have a great distro of Slackware (v.12) that runs my aging laptop very well. In addition the software meets and exceeds all of my computing needs. Last but not least, it is all legal.

Q. Any other info you would like to share?

Linux is not as difficult as you were led to believe. On many occasions I have had to load Linux onto my family PCs. While my wife and children prefer Windows they have never had any difficulty working in Linux. Aside from some rather esoteric operations (that require instructions in Windows too) I have never even had to explain how Linux works. They just sit down and use it like any other PC.

---

I know from my work in Information Technology that Windows will be with us for a very long time. I know from my work with Linux that there are very viable alternatives available.

Rupert Murdoch had to pay for the WSJ somehow

So he raised the daily newstand price to $1.50 USD. Now here in Kentucky, unlike the big city of New York, a dollar and a half is real money ... most of a lunch ... so to spend it on a bird-cage liner is just too much. Sorry Rupert but I won't help you buy the WSJ - you have to do that on your own.

Hugh hijinx

So nice to see hugh back in action!

He gave a gift...

[He]...who knew how to bring about a work worthy of God.

The Man Who Planted Trees

Special Note:

In 1953, Jean Giono dedicated to the public domain his story L'homme qui plantait des arbres. English translations have been made, but copyright was and still is claimed in these translations. As this seemed completely contrary to Giono's purpose, in 1993 Peter Doyle made a new and fully independent translation, and dedicated it to the public domain.

[Note: The "Peter Doyle" link does not resolve. I am currently seeking an up-to-date link.]

What can I give?

What do you get for the person who has everything?

What if that person was your Aunt or Uncle who's familial love was unconditional?

What gift could be given to a person 'who has everything' that they might value or cherish?

These are questions that I have faced once a week for the past 33 weeks. Each Sunday morning I have sat, often before this very keyboard, and wrestled. In the earliest weeks I sat here and could hear only the echoes of previous Sundays swirling through my thoughts. Slowly those noises abated in favor of the actual sounds of the mornings. Entire Sunday mornings spent on the back stoop listening to the bird calls and occasional cars. Other Sunday mornings spent soaring and searching cyberspace for the latest offerings of insight and wisdom. Yet under it all ran an undercurrent of questioning.

Only now, today, have I been able to pose the questions above.

What gift could be given to a person 'who has everything' that they might value or cherish?

The gift that I can give is the same gift that would be given by the person 'who has everything'.

The only thing that is of such value that it could be gifted by the person w-h-e is the only thing that is worthy of being given to such a person.

If I give of myself in the same manner that the person w-h-e gives then I am contributing to the nature of his or her gift.

Premise:

• the person w-h-e cannot get anything more as he or she already has everything.
• the person w-h-e can do nothing and will receive nothing in return.
• the person w-h-e can give of his or her everything and gain the satisfaction of such giving.

To the person w-h-e I can give as they give and in turn receive the satisfaction of such giving. Thus, the only thing I can give to the person w-h-e is to give as I am able to those that the person w-h-e gives to.

Another load of laundry, another pot of coffee

Ha!

And I thought the morning was going to be a total write-off. I spent the better part of 90 minutes composing my views on the future of blogging...only to realize that I was blogging about blogging. While it was well written, if I do say so myself, it was still the ultimate form of mental masturbation. (So I have ended up blogging about blogging about blogging instead. I am really moving forward now.)

Chopping wood and carrying water.

When the intellectual monkey mind runs amok there is only one thing to do. Do another load of laundry and make another pot of coffee.

Sunday: In the beginning...

Lisp


Thanks xkcd

Light is where you find it...

Thank you Toledo Marie

Free Microsoft: A License to steal.

My RSS Reader showed me this...

Then I read ...

Windows Is Free

The impact of pirated software on free software

by Dave Gutteridge on August 15, 2007

... I wanted know how Dave Gutteridge had managed to read my tiny little mind. I also wanted to quote the entire post because it is so good but that would be a form of er, uh, well, stealing.

Here are some things that I have learned through the years...

1. People started out "borrowing" Windows in the early years... with Microsoft's tacit approval.
2. People do not realize that they are buying an separate OS when they buy a computer.
3. People do not discriminate between the OS and the computer (Reference my posts on "Microsofting")
4. "I already have Microsoft Windows on my computer. Why should I change?"
   
5. "Just what do you mean, 'You don't own the software.' I bought it didn't I?
   
6. "It's not like Microsoft really cares about little old me and just one more copy of Office."
   ... and last but not least...
   
7. If the retail cost of an item exceeds the perceived value of the item then it is "OK" to steal it.

Seems this is a meme who's time has come...

Best read of the year - so far

-wolfgang.lonien.de

who points to...

Windows piracy

(Bonus link: Why 'Windows Is Free' doesn't cut it for me )

(Disclaimer: I am not advocating stealing anything. Lets review the title... "Free Microsoft" This is a directive and not a declaration. Liberate Microsoft from all the encumbrances of being a commercial entity. "A License to steal." Is a social commentary on today proclivity to "borrow" a legal commercial instrument, a license, for personal use. It does not suggest permission to commit a felony.)

I am so affluent...

...that I can afford:

Cost of the War in Iraq

(JavaScript Error)

To see more details, click here.

Pssssst!...Hey buddy, can you spare an extra $200 MILLION for another day in Iraq?

As always, thanks Milton.

Empire: The Sun never sets on Google...

Google bowls for Microsoft Office buyers with free StarOffice

Free StarOffice... Free, says it all.

More to follow...

- 30 -

Post Secrets

Sound bites and the lone voices...

Recently lone voices have carried across the digital expanse. Voices carrying the questions and sentiments of peace in a time of great conflict. Voices that serve to remind us that we have a choice. Voices that urge us to choose. Voices that extol the virtue and morality of peace.

Hearing those clear voices I reflect back upon a piece that I wrote many years ago in a time when we faced conflict and social turmoil. It was the time of the birth of the sound bite. It was the time of media polarization. The sound bite sorted us all out, for or against, pro or con, left or right, hawk or dove. The 20-second message was on point. There could be no room for dissenting perspectives. Soon there was no room for humanity...

Amid Warring Cries

Amid warring cries for peace

we have heard the lullaby

and succumb to the dreamless sleep

rocked in the handmade cradle

of the eternal holocaust.

We drift a warm bed made

when half the world away

a mother cries, “My Sargent son

of only nineteen years is dead;

laid aside his hero father.”

To enter the maternal void

of wedding white she bespeaks

the seed of new cries, she carries

tears to his shroud, accepting

his honor within a folded flag.

There alone to join as one:

we have laughed and loved,

and now fought and died,

all in the name of freedom,

it's golden chariot to ride.

As the one, another yet becomes,

amid warring cries of peace

we drift a warm bed made

to enter the maternal void,

there alone to join as one,

as the one, another yet becomes,

rocked in the hand made cradle

of the eternal holocaust.

Struggling with my 20-second sound bite polar disorder I seek to hear the message of my heart. There the lone voices resonate.

upon the canvas
in my kitchen
the meal I prepare
to paint
is to nourish
as bright image for the moment of the eye
and sadly if simply left then to rot and return.

Lunch Fortune

---

It's not the end yet.
Let's stay with it.

---

From the Department of Redundancy Department

Master Your Information Manifesto: 21 Tips to Deal with Info Overload

Can you say, "Waaaaaaaay too much information?" I knew you could.

Next!

10 things your IT guy wants you to know...

Starting a conversation by insulting yourself (i.e. “I’m such an idiot”) will not make me laugh, or feel sorry for you; all it will do is remind me that yes, you are an idiot and that I am going to hate having to talk to you. Trust me; you don’t want to start a call that way.

Bubble rich, karma poor

Are you using any of this software? Then go here ( this link ) and pony up for all the hard work that Steven Hudson has done to make your life a little easier.

TwitBox for Twitter

TwitBox is my Windows client for being able to view and post to the Twitter service.

Pulse for MP3’s

Pulse is just a simple littler program for cleaning up those screwy MP3 filenames you sometimes get when downloading MP3 for various spots on the Internet.

Scrappy

Scrappy is a simple drag and drop interface for creating and unzipping zip files

---

(Disclaimer: I have known|collaborated with|laughed with|cried with Steven for many years. Unfortunately he writes for Windows so I cannot use his great programs.)

Confliction: Stuff

I am pacing. Unable to focus. Unable to sit still. I am pacing.

This is a sure sign of my conflictions.

I am conflicted about...

My owning and being owned by stuff.

The worst stuff in this respect may be stuff you don't use much
because it's too good. Nothing owns you like fragile stuff. For
example, the "good china" so many households have, and whose defining
quality is not so much that it's fun to use, but that one must be
especially careful not to break it.

To further complicate my confliction is the fact that I cannot seem to find a way to get rid of this stuff. I recently inherited the 'good family china'. Boxes and boxes of fragile and expensive plates, bowls and unidentified serving things. Oh, and did I mention the 'good family silver'?

Initially I thought I could make it 'live' so we unpacked it all. Gently washed and stacked it all. Counted pieces and even went so far as to photograph them. And we polished silver. The entire family polished until our fingers were blackened and the piles of flatware gleamed. We even set a table, once, to see just how it felt to use such finery. Then slowly the pieces went back into their respective boxes. As I type the flatware sits, nicely sorted, in its own plastic 'silverware' drawer insert on a table at my elbow covered unceremoniously with an old hand towel.

In an attempt to resolve this owner/owned situation I prompted one of my daughters to explore the possibility of posting select pieces on E-Bay. Her diligence paid off. She came to realize the value of the select pieces. And the cost of posting them. And the likelihood of actually selling them. And the real market value of the pieces. And, most importantly, that the likely 'buyers' of such pieces didn't really want them for their 'possession' value but for their potential resale value. It turns out that when it comes to 'stuff' people don't really want it, they want the value it represents - and the opportunity to sell it to someone else who unknowingly will be owned by their new stuff.

Folks let me tell you that some of this stuff is really very good, expensive stuff.

So, I don't know what to do. I have given some consideration to just giving the stuff away. Yet this resolution is not without issues. I believe that the recipient of such gifted stuff must value it. Must have some sense of what they are receiving and should be able to 'value' the gifted pieces as they are and not for their immediate resale value.

Another scenario is simply to destroy the pieces. In a sense releasing their value such that they can no longer own anyone. While altruistic I push back from this resolve. Something deep down inside is repelled by the thought of destroying valuable works of art and craftsmanship. I liken this feeling to the repulsion I feel about burning books. I cannot bring myself to consider destroying 'bad' books. (I won't go into 'bad' in this post but sufficed to say there are books that don't warrant reading the first time let alone a second.)

So ironically that which my father worked so hard at preserving for his heirs turns out to be the same burden that he paid so dearly for through the last half of his life. Looking back I can now see that he paid hundreds if not thousands of dollars to be owned by his inheritance. Prior to this newly found awareness I just assumed that he was 'old school' upholding values that he got from his parents. It never occurred to me that I might have been just as lost as I am now.

My real concern now is that I figure out a way to not burden my children with the legacy of my father's inheritance.

New Poet Laureate: Charles Simic

Charles Simic

Thanks to the WashingtonPost....

A Master's Verse

COUNTRY FAIR

If you didn't see the six-legged dog,
It doesn't matter.
We did, and he mostly lay in the corner.
As for the extra legs,

One got used to them quickly
And thought of other things.
Like, what a cold, dark night
To be out at the fair.

Then the keeper threw a stick
And the dog went after it
On four legs, the other two flapping behind,
Which made one girl shriek with laughter.

She was drunk and so was the man
Who kept kissing her neck.
The dog got the stick and looked back at us.
And that was the whole show.

---

Add-on:

The six-legged dog played well here in Kentucky and the girl that shrieked with laugher was his cousin.

Ain't gonna study war no more...ok, maybe just a little

I naively believed in peace. I believed that when candidates began talking about the mistakes that got us into and keep us in the Iraq conflict ... that they would not make those mistakes. The next round of candidates would not 'study war' but rather would celebrate peace... Golly-gee-whizzikers, I am naive.

BarackObama.com | The War We Need to Win

The time has come to turn the page on a failed approach.

We must stop fighting the wrong war and start fighting the war we need to win.

The next President of the United States must commit to getting our troops out of Iraq and taking the fight to the terrorists. We must reinforce our mission in Afghanistan with additional troops. We must press Pakistan and President Musharraf to close down terrorist training camps and stop the Taliban from using Pakistan as a safe-haven. If Musharraf acts, we will stand with him. But if Pakistan will not act against Osama bin Ladin and the terrorists who killed 3,000 Americans, we will. These are achievable goals, and when I am president we will wage the war we need to win with a comprehensive strategy

Oh well, guess we'll study war some more...

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87% of the people equals roughly an 'overwhelming majority'...

Of seemingly STUPID people?

Pew Research Center: Public Blames Media for Too Much Celebrity Coverage

An overwhelming majority of the public (87%) says celebrity scandals
receive too much news coverage. This criticism generally holds across
most major demographic and political groups. Virtually no one thinks
there is too little coverage of celebrity scandals, according to new
national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the
Press.

Emphasis mine! Let 87% of the public STOP BUYING TRASH and we will see how the media covers celebrity anything.

NEWS FLASH: Overwhelming majority of public are featherless bi-peds. Film at 11:00....

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Microsoft takes careful aim...at its own foot.

Mary Jo reports ...

» Ad-funded Microsoft Works pilot starting soon | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com

The Works 9.0 SE (which isn’t an acronym for anything, according to
Senior Product Manager Melissa Stern) version will be a desktop-client
product. Ads — from vendors which Microsoft declined to disclose — will
appear in the Works task pane and task launcher. The ads will be served
up by Microsoft’s display-ad platform, Stern said.

So, my question is... didn't Microsoft learn the Opera lesson? People just won't sit still for embedded ads ... or they will find an alternative. Like FireFox, perhaps?

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Sure do miss him...

Was visiting a Cozy Shack and saw this...just pulls at the heart strings...

Feeping Creatures

Uh, Ken... Could you be just a wee bit more specific?

Digital Common Sense » ScribeFire - Dying from Feeping Creaturism

Except for 'working correctly with Blogger' I am not sure I see the feeping creatures to which you refer.

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WSJ ...you should be ashamed

Security Musings: Getting around IT?

The Wall Street Journal had an article today Ten Things your IT Department Won’t Tell You

Publishing this kind of article is just plain wrong. While 'security through ignorance' has been shown impractical there is no excuse for 'educating' users in methods of circumventing security best practices.


Technorati Tags: WSJ, Security,

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Repeat after me...

gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards": s.f. update

[REPEAT AFTER ME: "Hugh got to hang out with Evelyn Rodriguez and I didn't. I am insanely jealous etc etc etc."]

Ok, you got me...

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He's got it bad...can you help?

Platicus asks...

Now, I need your help.
Does anyone have copies of the other 3(Bart, Lisa, Homer) that they do
not plan to keep ? If so, I beg of you to send them to me. I would
gladly reimburse for the price of the mag and mailing costs

Sandwich Flats

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Me^2 Tagged

Looking up...from my z-list position on the blog food chain ... I realized that I am one of the last bloggers to get tagged with this meme. (See below) This means two things as far as my participation goes... 1.) I am ecstatic to have actually been tagged. And 2.) all of the people who I have a clue about in the blogosphere were tagged with this meme weeks ago. So there is no one that I can tag...

This meme has hit the bottom of the blogosphere.

The meme stops here.

In nomine Patris virtualis, et Filii virtualis, et Spiritus Sancti virtualis.

Gospel 2.0: Jesuits move into Second Life

Meme Tagged

My good friend Steven Hudson at Winextra 'tagged' me with this meme...

Initially I was a bit uneasy - then I started looking in the dark corners of my sordid life ... turns out I remembered stuff that even I didn't know. :) Well, most of it is true...

Eight things you might not know about me...

1. As a mini-kid I spent a summer on Kodiak Island, AK with family friends while my parents worked a halibut trawler, The Yukon. (Which was prominently 'featured' in a picture of the great earthquake - in the middle of the street, downtown Anchorage (I think.))
   
   
2. Learned FORTRAN 4 (1970-71) - Wrote a Tic-Tac-Toe program that could not be beaten - best you could hope for was a tie. A special subroutine was called so that 'turns' could be entered in the washing machine sized 'keyboard' interface of the IBM 360 (instead of having to re-run the punch card deck with the new turn.)
   
   
3. Junior Achievement "President of the Year" 1970-71 (Lansing Michigan) - Heady times when rules were made to be bent... Leading was just the willingness to take one more step than the folks standing next to you. (Object lesson: There are no friends in business and there should be no business among friends.)
   
   
4. Summered in Guadalajara Mexico
   
   1972: Worked with Don Pablo Muños, "El Quetero" (The Rocketman") - Speaking Spanish faster than any person I have ever heard Don Pablo showed me the ins and outs of making firework displays, Castillos.
   
   1973: Set up a darkroom in the hotel bathroom. At night processed B&W film and printed pictures. During the day of took photographs of 'Street People' - gritty, grainy, high contrast images of real people making their way in daily life.
   
   
5. Attended the Saturday, January 20, 1973 Counter-Inaugural March in Washington D.C. - No More War! - Caused traffic tie-ups by claiming the van I was driving was stalled at intersections.
   
   
6. Summer of 1975 - Ran away to the Circus Kirk - Three Rings Under The Big Top - World's Largest Brass Band - weeks on end of 18+ hour days, wet tired hungry and very sleepy - and then ran away from the circus
   
   
7. Evening Announcer for WKLA AM & FM in Ludington MI. 'The Captain' offered a late night array of low rumbling 'Barry White' intros to some of the coolest and hottest Jazz ever heard in north west Michigan.
   
   
8. Last and certainly not least, there is a roman numeral after my son's name ... VIII ... which of course means the roman numeral after my name is VII, my father was VI, his father was V, etc.

...from this point on this is a self-appointing meme. If you like the premise please feel free to self-tag and post your 8 things list.

System Administrator Appreciation Day

July 27th, 2007 (Last Friday Of July)
8th Annual
System Administrator Appreciation Day

If you can read this, thank your sysadmin

Advice to employees on the proper use of the System Administrator's valuable time

(In following examples, we will substitute the name "Ted" as the System Administrator)

Here are a few that I 'never' get... :)

• Never write down error messages. Just click OK, or restart your computer. Ted likes to guess what the error message was.
• When Ted says he coming right over, log out and go for coffee. It's no problem for him to remember your password.
• Send urgent email ALL IN UPPERCASE. The mail server picks it up and flags it as a rush delivery.
• When the photocopier doesn't work, call Ted. There's electronics in it, so it should be right up his alley.
• Feel perfectly free to say things like "I don't know nothing about that boneheaded computer crap." It never bothers Ted to hear his area of professional expertise referred to as boneheaded crap.
• When you send that 500-page document to the printer, don't bother to check if the printer has enough paper. That's Ted's job.
• When Ted calls you 30 minutes later and tells you that the printer printed 24 pages of your 500-page document before it ran out of paper, and there are now nine other jobs in the queue behind yours, ask him why he didn't bother to add more paper.

78's, 45's, LP's, 8-Tracks, Cassettes...

T. Colin Dodd in his article ODF: The inevitable format makes two very important observations...

The original data had been misplaced, and when the huge magnetic tapes
that stored the data were found, they were “in a format so old that the
programmers who knew it had died.”

and...

The tragic sense that would have accompanied the loss of this knowledge is echoed in accounts of the destruction of the Library at Alexandria, and probably why book-burnings are seen as a sure sign that a society is unhealthy

While the title of this post is a bit absurd it points to everyday examples of the same problem. Here are a few more that I have encountered ...

• photographic 'slides' - processed film positives (as opposed to negatives) mounted between two pieces of thin glass, bound with black cloth tape. I don't know of anyone who still has a slide projector let alone one that is robust enough to handle these.
  
  
• Reel-to-reel recordings. The old Wollensak hasn't been seen in ages.
  
  
• Super-8 films - both the editor and the projector are in the same place as the Wollensak
  
  
• Opened a box and discovered ... Punch Cards
  
  
• 3.5" Floppies (1.44M - There are still a large number of these drives around. But...)
  
  
• 5.25" Floppies
  
  
• RLL/MFM Hard disks

Technorati Tags: data formats, anchient memories

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Kudzu excuse me for a moment?

Usually I slip, stumble and twist in your calculated cultivated vines.

Today I have been slapped straight and slid onto a sizzling griddle to be served up pink in the middle rare

Life is soooooo good

I need to get a real life...

"...we get baptized in Walden pond amongst a searing mob
because the cleansing blood of Jesus couldn't do a Thoreau job..."

ThankStew

This is why Theater is so important!

Ripped but not torn

He said...

I am doing business as /Message, where I tell people my title is /Messenger.

Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected. -- Gandhi

Proud of the hole I have dug

When I worked with Alcoholics and Substance Abusers (Hi, my name is Bill...) I would sometimes turn to the 'parable' of the man with a shovel who began to dig a hole...

As anyone who has ever operated a shovel can tell you it is hard work. And unless there is a treasure to be found the act of shoveling is just plain hard work. Often it is thankless work. The prevailing belief is that anyone can do it so what is so great about digging a hole. All that leads me to this, the shovel operator quickly begins to positively reinforce his or her own work.

In very real sense we begin to 'own' the hole. We take great pride in the straight vertical walls. We gain a sense of accomplishment as the depth of the hole increases. Once we have committed a significant amount of time to the digging process we don't feel that we can give up 'all that hard work'. So we continue to dig...and dig...and then a stunning realization befalls us.

We have succeeded in digging a hole so deep that we can't get out. Yet because we have such a vested interest in the hole we cannot stop digging. The elation and euphoria of achievement slowly becomes replaced with frustration. Literally the walls begin to close in upon us. Faint light shows down on us from a small opening high above. Only occasionally do we get to see the sun. Depression soon follows.

But because it is the only thing we know, the only thing that has given us meaning and value, we continue to dig.

In many respects I have dug a Linux hole. And while doing so I have thrown dirt in many different directions. I attempted to heap a large pile on Microsoft. I believed that the Redmond Behemoth was a monopolistic blood sucker intent on depriving me of my right to self determination. I have even gone so far as to suggest that Microsoft decided what was best right for me.

I was so busy admiring the depth and verticality of my hole that I missed the fact that I was in so deep that I couldn't climb out. Then someone started to throw dirt down on top of me. Dirt from the heaping pile I had tried to bury Microsoft under.

Ok, now watch carefully because this is important...

Being tasked with the responsibility of maintaining and developing Access2003 databases in conjunction with a IIS server offering .ASP pages that contained ActiveX components and VisualBasic code segments means that I now need all the Microsoft assistance I can get.

The wonderful irony of my 'hole' situation is the dirt that is being thrown down on me feels initially like the insult that I originally threw so freely at Microsoft. It is in fact just what I need. I will stop digging. I will allow my hole to be filled back in and I will eventually be able to climb out. True, I may come up covered with dirt but I will emerge into a day full of sunshine.

Hopefully I can leave my pride at the bottom of the hole.

I am a heel and crust-y sorta guy

My cardiologist rolls over in his BMW everytime he hears me say it but ...

Breakfast is the luxury meal of the weekend. Fried potatoes, half a rasher of bacon, 2 eggs over easy and ... toast. Hot buttered crunchy toast.

Everything else was happily sizzling away when I went to the 'fridge to secure a couple of slices for toast. After rummaging about for a couple of seconds I pulled the limp bread bag from the back of the lower shelf. There, in the inner cellophane (?) wrapper, was the objects of my desire, the precursor to ... toast.

Slithering my hand forearm deep into the bag I latched on to my objective. Wriggling, twisting and turning I withdrew the treasure. Then my eyes lit up! I not only had in hand the prize but... the best of the best. Not one but 2 crusts, heels if you will. Contrary to the expressed tastes of most everyone I know I covet the crusts. More flavor, more texture, more goodness. And when toasted, more substance than those flat pallets of dried bread. I told you I am a heel and crust-y sorta guy. :)

The Incredible Shrinking Internet

I ran Lil'BBS, a Wildcat Bulletin Board, for a number of years. That was in 1988 or so and continued until 1992-ish. In that day and age there were the really "big boys" (multi-line boards) or the mega-services of the age (CompuServe). Mostly it was prohibitive long-distance calls or monthly service changes that separated the digerati from the small town folks like me and mine. So I put up a one-line BBS - I was a big fish in a small town pond.

Then along came that "Internet" thing. Where people and companies had previously established their presence at the end of a phone line they now had to build these cumbersome "website" things. So the fearless started in with fancy fonts and graphics and everything - no more ASCII pictures or console text for them. Others simply opened a telnet port on their BBS system and didn't change a thing. No need to fix what ain't broken.

In the heady days that followed the vast and uncharted wilderness of the Internet would be likened to America's Wild West - vast and uncharted and lawless. Soon there would be thousands of sites - offering content about hundreds of things...oh yes, and sex. Then the following week there would be hundreds of thousands of sites offering content on thousands of topics...and sex. Earlier this morning there were millions of sites offering everything all the time everywhere.

Which is my exact point: now there is only one Internet. Sure, it is everything all the time everywhere but it has become one entity.

Let me offer a slightly different perspective of the same phenomena. In the course of about 20 minutes I can read my e-mail, scan my gReader feeds, double check my social sites and I am done. Then I sit in front of my computer and think that there should be more to this Internet experience. Where once I was enamored with the vast complexity of the net I am now sated by the handful of "feeds" that have distinguished themselves as important in my world (net) view.

It should be noted that my shrinking experience is not a case of 'turn-it-on, read for a bit and then turn-it-off. Rather the Internet is an integral part of my computing environment. I no longer differentiate between my computer and the Internet. To that end I find myself doing less real computing with my personal computer. All this brings me to what I think is a logical conclusion. I don't really need all of this Ghz horse power or the HD resolution to do my regularly scheduled digital interfacing. I could just as easily get by with a device specifically designed for the incredible shrinking Internet.

The preceding ramblings have been brought to you with the Palm Foleo in mind. Now before you good folks go all ballistic because I have lead you down the commercial prim rose path please note that I am not touting Palm. Rather I am acknowledging that to be most effective the tool 'must fit the hand'. If the tool doesn't fit the hand - don't pick it up.