From Datamation
Headlines I Never Expected to Read
Warning sounded over 'flirting robots'
Microsoft pulls plug on potty-mouth Santa
How Your Creepy Ex-Co-Workers Will Kill Facebook
Your Computer Thinks You're Lazy
Cops: More Smoke Toad Venom to Get High
White House Mum On Destroyed CIA Tapes*
* Just kidding. This one's no surprise at all.
Posted by Chris Nerney at December 10, 2007 01:47 PM
Silence should be put on the endangered list.
We live out in the county. That is a way of saying 'out in the country' or 'out in the sticks' or 'out in the boonies'. Sure the road out front is two-lane blacktop. And yes, the "highway" that is half a mile away is two-lane blacktop as well but out here at the 12 Mile marker we are about as far away from things as a body can get. Why, any farther away and ya'll start gettin' closer to somethin' else. If you get my meaning, if ya'll catch my drift...
So I made a point of pausing the most excellent work of The James Quintet. That leaves only the chiclet clicking of this laptop's keyboard and the rhythmic ticking of the two battery driven clocks that are in audible range. If you open your mouth slightly (improves the acoustic resonance - lets you hear better) you can make out the low rain slick whisper of the occasional car on on the highway.
Returning from town this morning after dropping my eldest off early I absentmindedly reached to turn on the car radio. I thought to myself how comforting it would be to hear the familiar NPR Weekend Edition. Then I stopped (not the car) and asked just why is it so comforting?
Certainly it is familiar - like hearing from an old friend. It is part of my vehicular ritual - listening to NPR during my regular morning and afternoon commutes. I also noted that the sound of the radio covers a multitude of niggling little 'road' noises - those little audio reminders that I am driving a 10 year old car that really wants a little more TLC than it is receiving.
I occurs to me there is one other reason, one personal pressing reason that I want something on the radio, something comforting. I really don't want to be left in my own personal silence. I don't want to have to listen to myself. I don't want to hear what I truly have to say.
If sound were a drug I would be the worst kind of junkie. Jonesing when the music isn't playing. Getting the shakes and the delerium tremins when the TV isn't on and blaring. (How about those odd moments when the TV is on but the volume is off?) Heck fire, I've even taken to talking to myself just to fill up the silent spots.
Now I am curious. Just what would I say if I would just shut up and listen.
Thank you Betsy Devine ...
Our mother’s belief system, summed up in four lines: “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without.”
From the wonderfully twisted mind of Platicus at Sandwich Flats... The "Fatal Attraction" Kitchen Set
I wan' it, I wan' it, I wan' it... NOW!
Here is something fun to say...
...a silicon photonic wave guide...I want one...or a few... hundred.
Joi Ito received this when attempting to access Twitter...
While the United Arab Emirates are well within their rights to block objectionable content it is imperative that we see first hand the result of their actions.
When I posted "Open little "w" windows - MinWin" I tried to put the best possible spin on a commodity that I grudgingly endorse, Microsoft Windows. As an IT professional I have to embrace Windows even if I find them contemptible. When I learned about MinWin I thought there might be some redeeming value... until I heard this
TWO THOUSAND AND TEN ?!?!?Monday, December 3
Maximum Wait for MinWin, Windows 7.0
Microsoft Partners: Use Of Downgrade Rights Is Surging
4:49 PM EST Mon. Dec. 03, 2007
Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) claims that adoption of Windows Vista and Office 2007 is chugging along nicely, with more than 88 million Vista licenses and 71 million Office licenses sold in the past year.But these numbers belie the fact that some organizations just don't see the value in upgrading to Vista and Office 2007, and are perfectly content with XP and Office 2003. Many solution providers are seeing surging interest in downgrade rights, which Microsoft offers to business users of both Vista and Office, and which allow companies to use previous versions of Microsoft software.
Emphasis mine! This is the final tolling of the Microsoft death knell. "Surging interest" in downgrading from Vista to XP means that Microsoft's income stream will shortly dry up to a trickle. Couple that with a 'wait until 2010' forecast for the future and I can only ask if Microsoft can survive its own desolation?
It used to be that Linux was a fringe alternative. Now it is looking like the mainstream choice.
Amid the raging controversy of whether blogging is dead comes a not so quiet report from Rebecca McKinnon ...
Is Web2.0 a wash for free speech in China?
This is a picture of Zhai Minglei's computer after his hard drive was removed and confiscated on Thursday.
Blogger and publisher of the recently-shut-down grassroots newspaper "Minjian," Zhai posted the photo on Friday along with an account of the questioning he had undergone that afternoon. See John Kennedy's translation of Zhai's Thursday blog post describing how his home was raided. Friday's post is a long account, which hopefully somebody will translate in full. His hard drive was returned to him, with "Minjian"-related material removed.
...and I am prepared for the worst. This is the price to be paid in struggling for freedom of speech and media freedom.China: NGO blogger’s house raided, hard drive confiscated
Published by November 29th, 2007
...In an urgent post [zh] on 1bao this morning, Zhai writes:
At just after 10 this morning, on November 29, 2007, five people from the Shanghai Municipality Cultural Market Administrative Enforcement Squad (three men, two women) suddenly showed up at my home. Three of them produced identification, two did not, and they proceeded to search through every room and every corner of my house. Even the paper in my printer was confiscated, along with my last remaining copies of the forty-one issues of Minjian. At the same time, they demanded to search my home computer. They searched through files on the computer, and even removed the hard drive which they took with them. The reason they gave was my involvement in work on the illegal publication Minjian.
I told them:
1. Minjian is internal material pertaining to the Civil Society Center at Sun Yat-sen University, and not something I have published privately.
2. Minjian is non-profit.
3. Minjian contains nothing pornographic reactionary or related to religious minorities.I respectfully asked them to work appropriately and in good faith as they carry out their work.
As they left, they told me that on the afternoon of the 30th, tomorrow, I am scheduled to undergo an investigation.This is most likely connected to the notice I posted online informing readers of Minjian’s closure [zh], and I am prepared for the worst. This is the price to be paid in struggling for freedom of speech and media freedom.
Fortunately, I was able to express myself fully in [zh] the online notice, and it is also my formal statement in this matter: the shutting down of Minjian was illegal, a violation of academic freedom, of freedom of the press, and of media freedom in general.
Zhai signs off in a solemn, but carefully-worded tone; Minjian translates to ‘the civil,’ or ‘that among the people’:
Pass this news on to as many readers as possible, tell them to take proper care of Minjian, to appeal on behalf of Minjian.
[…]
Yours,Zhai Minglei
November 29, 2007
Microsoft has driven the last nail in Vista's coffin if the reports about MinWin are true.
From an end-user and "integrator" perspective this means never having to say I am Vista. It also means another 12-18 month delay before I make another significant Microsoft investment.Microsoft Partners: MinWin Could Soothe Vista Headaches
7:19 PM EST Fri. Nov. 30, 2007
In the year that has passed since Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) released Windows Vista to business users, the operating system has gained a reputation in the channel as a bloated memory hog that many companies are avoiding like a trip to the dentist.But Microsoft partners have a more positive opinion of Windows 7, the next generation of Windows that Microsoft expects to ship in the 2010 timeframe. That's because Windows 7 will be based on MinWin, a scaled down version of the Windows core that will also serve as the framework for Windows Server and Windows Media Center.
MinWin's source code base takes up about 25 megabytes on disk, compared to about 4 gigabytes for Vista. Solution providers see this as a sign that Microsoft has learned its lesson from trying to cram too much into the Windows OS, and some feel that Windows 7 will be a roaring success in the market.
At the recommendation of the august Blogist and Philosopher Frank Paynter I clicked on a link that took me to the writings of Ben Paynter. Most specifically the article in The Pitch - Don't Look Down.
Ben, you've done it again!
Who plants trees although he knows he'll never sit in their shadows has at least begun to recognize the sense of life. - Anonymous
Our forefathers should be forewarned
about the potential abuse of forearms...
Thanks to The Way I Think for the pic
As I have posted earlier I have no love for FaceBook. So it is sort of antithetical that I offer the solution to FB's privacy issues.
According to the WSJ's informal survey some 60+% of FB users would not like their friends to automatically be notified if they bought Prada or tickets to see Lion King. Ok, the answer is simple.
FB users should be notified that X number of their friends have bought the latest Stephen King thriller. Then privacy is maintained. No specific user is named. But the endorsement is implicit. AND the unknown aspect of X will only server to create a greater conversation (reads more FB traffic = more FB revenue.)
Somebody over at FB owes me a nice fat check!
In a recent segment broadcast on NPR about Privacy I heard (paraphrasing)
'A potential employer might discover something about me that I hadn't intended them to find.'The segment was concerning the publishing of personal information on sites like Facebook or MySpace and that employers were 'researching' prospective employees as a part of the vetting process.
Chris Sanders, who claims to be full of I.T., said he was thankful for growing up here-abouts...in Kentucky...just a bit west of here...
I can’t say that I will stay in Graves County for the rest of my life, as we all know how twists and turns can throw things off course. I will however, guarantee that no matter where I go and what I accomplish, I will always be Chris Sanders from Mayfield, KY. That would be about 30 miles southwest of Possum Trot, 40 miles southeast of Monkey’s Eyebrow, and about 10 miles north of the state line….just in case you were wondering….Way to go Chris... now they will never leave you alone. Prolly be two or three more people a week be round to look you up. :)
J. C. Penney is opening at 04:00 (AM for those not on a 24 hour clock) ...
Need I say more?
...or the best justice that money can buy?.
Nov. 20, 2007
York Capital Management's proposed Asset Purchase Agreement and its associated credit agreement for SCO make it clear that if the bankruptcy court lets York buy SCO, that York will be bankrolling SCO's continued lawsuits against Novell, IBM and other Linux-using companies.
Groklaw published the APA and its associated credit agreement during the last few days. The most interesting aspects of the proposed deal are in the credit agreement.
York, a private equity firm, is offering a complex purchase agreement for SCO. While the total amount of the deal comes to $36 million, a close look reveals SCO would get $10 million in cash and what amounts to a $10 million line of credit to use to continue its legal fights with Novell and IBM.
...
While you would be hard pressed to find anyone who believes SCO's claims that Unix code is hidden within Linux after almost five years of lawsuits without any real evidence, York, if it can get the bankruptcy court to approve its bid for SCO, is willing to take a small bet that somehow profits may yet be reaped from SCO's lawsuits.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware will hold a hearing on the proposed sale on Dec. 5.
Quick! Tell me about two commercials you saw during the last Super Bowl.
Funny, neither can I. Ok, tell me the company or product offered in the banner ad in the last page you went to.
Funny, neither can I. You can only imagine how it must sound to the Marketing Survey caller when I honestly say that I cannot remember any of the advertisements in such-n-such magazine. Even though I had skimmed it only two days ago.
This awareness brings me to one of two possible conclusions. Either advertising works...on a subliminal level. Or, advertising is grossly over priced for the effect it has on the viewer.
I wonder if Advertising folks would be willing to fess up to either position? It would probably involve Lawyers speaking for the interests of the industry.
Hmmmm...
Guess these folks didn't watch the Kermit the Frog video... Same as it ever was!
Microsoft's Bill Hilf Reveals Its Open Source Strategy
The man in charge of Microsoft's strategy for living in harmony with Linux lays out the company's opportunities with open source and the open source business model.By J. Nicholas Hoover
InformationWeekNovember 16, 2007 06:01 AM
...InformationWeek: Are there any specific areas where you would see Microsoft placing things in an open source development environment as a way to further its own products or to better interoperate with things?
Hilf: When people buy commercial software, really what they're buying is a guarantee. You're buying a guarantee that what you have will perform, and has been tested and there's someone you can call up, and if things go really bad someone's liable if something doesn't work. You're buying this ecosystem of accountability. One of the challenges of open source and really the challenge with the open source business model is: it's hard to replicate that ecosystem of accountability and that guarantee.
Emphasis mine.
One of the great social philosophers of our time, Steven Wright, asked the pointed question, "If you had everything where would you put it?"
The answer is very simple. "Everywhere."
If we did in fact dominate the world where would we put it? Would we rearrange the continents? Rename the countries? Demand that people change the color of their eyes? Standardize on a universal breakfast cereal?
If we did dominate the world we would leave it just as it is. Nothing would change. We would still have a world economy. Neighboring people groups would still have long standing disagreements. Some areas of the planet would be warmer/colder/wetter/drier. Local political leaders would be subject to the influences of area political leaders who in turn would be subject to the influences of regional political leaders who would be influenced by ... all the same people who are influential now.
We need to realize that no one wants to dominate the world. No one wants the responsibility of managing any more people or territory than they already have.
Let me be clear on one very serious point here: We, the world population, must remain vigilant. We cannot allow atrocities to occur.
By unburdening ourselves of fear we can begin to grow. When we stop the false "competing" that our respective governments have committed us to we can begin to work cooperatively. Instead of investing in systems and mechanisms that are designed to keep us separate and apart we can concentrate on joining together. Joining as brothers and sisters.
This is just One World. Where else would we put it?
In previous "Open" posts I have focused on the disparity of what we have verses what we need. Today I want to focus on what has come to be known as OLPC. I am astounded at the foot dragging and stone-walling that has been going on with what will be the single greatest contribution to computing community. And I know why the industry hasn't stepped up to OLPC.
My experiment with being PDAless didn't last beyond the first hour of work today Monday, 11/05/07. Can anyone guess why? Of course, DST trumps PDAless every time. The first time I had to log into an obscure video switching system to set its display clock to/from DST... required my PDA and its encrypted list of obscure passwords. Sheeeeeesh.
According to the National Restaurant Association's report Restaurant Spending -- 2004:
Pictured here is the People's Home of rural China. This is a standard 5 room house. The central room fronted by the porch in the middle and is flanked by two rooms on either side. Above is a open loft.
Average Meal in London now the Most Expensive in the World
Well, this is hardly a surprise: London has been awarded the honor of being the most expensive city in the world for dining out.
According to a recent article in the Guardian, a typical three-course meal and a glass of wine now costs an average of $79 per person in the British capital. Ouch!
Paris takes second place with $72. Tokyo averages $71 while New York comes in at a comparatively cheap $39.
The data is based upon the ubiquitous Zagat Guide. The most recent London edition has just been published and the 2.9% increase in the average cost of a meal from last year's edition has concerned local foodies. As for myself, London just keeps dropping lower and lower on my list of places to visit. I'd rather just hang out in New York where the food is half the cost. And, of course, much tastier!
particularly in comparison with how much the majority of the world eats.
Encourage the group to, in turn, to cook a World Meal for a different group of people and thereby spread experiential awareness of how much we overconsume in Western society. Continue cooking World Meals for groups of people at least until you've activated a critical mass of awareness for a snowball effect.
Reporting in the
MySpace Joins Google Alliance to Counter Facebook
By MIGUEL HELFT and BRAD STONE
Published: November 2, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 1 — MySpace and Bebo, two of the world’s largest social networking sites, on Thursday joined a Google-led alliance that is promoting a common set of standards for software developers to write programs for social networks.
...
“OpenSocial is going to be become the de facto standard for developers right out of the gate,” said Chris DeWolfe, chief executive of MySpace, in a press conference at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. “It will have access to 200 million users, making it way bigger than any other platform out there.”
The open standards could create a boom of innovation around social networks as applications reach more users than ever and encourage developers to create more Internet tools.
Water ... worth more than gold and necessary for survival above all other resources on earth.
And yet, over one billion men, women, and children (more than four times the population of the United States and Canada combined) do not have safe water to drink and therefore cannot live a healthy life.
|
Who are these people?
They are the innocent children and desperate families living in overcrowded urban ghettos, in refugee encampments, and in towns and villages too numerous to count in rural areas of developing countries.
Here, less than 50% of the population have access to safe drinking water and only 25% have access to sanitary systems.
They are unfortunate victims of drought and ever-changing environmental conditions. When drought occurs, their countryside is transformed into an arid wasteland where every living thing seems to cry out for lack of water.
These precious people do not have enough water to grow and harvest food, enough water to keep their livestock alive, enough clean water to protect themselves and their children from hunger and disease.
They do not have enough water to survive
Running a number of common access PCs means having to lock them down tight! When I learned that Microsoft had entered the 'access management' arena I was excited. Alas, my excitement was short lived.
Turns out that in its most "secure" state the SteadyState PC will still let the users shoot themselves and the PC in the foot. My question is why didn't Microsoft go the full mile and lock the system completely? I would have thought that Microsoft would have learned again the lesson of their OSs failures. Start with everything locked and then allow users only what you want them to access.
An NPR segment this morning related concerns about Internet Privacy and the need for a "No-Track" list. Such concern is admirable. Then the question crossed my mind, "At what expense?"
I am not speaking here of the relative cost of personal Internet Privacy.
What 'real world' (my choice of words) ... what 'real world' issues are being pushed aside in favor of concerns about Internet Privacy? What slight percentage of the Family of Man can afford to be concerned about Internet Privacy?
Hungry families also face tough choicesThis is certainly only one example. It is not "exciting". It doesn't have political "sex" appeal. So this and other issue stand in the shadow of Internet Privacy? At what expense?
between food and basic necessities:
• 41% of households had to choose between paying
for food and paying for utilities and heating fuel
• 32% had to choose between paying for food and
paying for medicine or medical care
• 18% had to choose between paying for food and
paying for rent or mortgage
The Saint, my wife of some twenty-fourish years, is a Scrabble addict. Very early in the morning and very late at night she is found staring bleary eyed at an assortment of consonants and not enough vowels. She plays against the computer because ... well, it is just more convenient. (I am not even sure of the program she plays - I could find out if I took the time.) One thing is clear - the price per game per play has fallen to the point where the author should consider paying her to play the game. My point is that she has gotten much more than her initial capital outlay for the game AND she doesn't have to pay for it again and again and again.
Out of curiosity I am now going to open another Firefox tab, enter some cryptic Google criteria and see if... Aha! Just as I thought... Internet Scrabble Club ... I registered my user name, password and my e-mail address. Downloaded the java interface and BINGO! Er, uh, I mean... SCRABBLE!
Now wait just a tile-sorting minute... I am not advocating the ISC. Not even if I were to get a triple word score for "apostate" or some such... My point is that we don't need contrived SocialSewingCircles or Walled-Gardens when the Internet is the greater "social network". Marshall McLuhan and Pogo were/are right: "We have met the message and it is us."
It is only when self-serving bottom-line profit-margin hyphenated-a$$holes attempt to extract their pound of flesh that we end up "needing" social communities. In part it is our own failings. We want to belong. We want to belong to something other than the greater population. So Monied interests pander to our desires, our wants and our fears. All the while putting advertisements in front of our eye-balls.
And while I am on a rant&roll ... how about those purveyors of "Love"? Purveying and preying on the most vulnerable, those "lookin' fer love [in all the wrong places]." Preying on the most basic, deep seated, human need/desire... to be loved. Offering the man or woman of your dreams... s/he is just a click away. Just enter all your vital statistics, all your private information, all your deepest secrets...and Oh yeah, your credit card number and we will fix you right up. "Step right up, ...
A desktop search engine that I didn't ask for and don't want!!!!
More to follow when I can get my anger under control.
Seth Godin: I know you are enamored with those little contradictions in life and advertising... but I really think you missed the "ice-cream-for-the-freezer" on this one... give it another look.
Ubuntu is still a little "rough"... according to the WSJ.
PERSONAL TECHNOLOGYBy WALTER S. MOSSBERG
This column is written for mainstream, nontechie users of digital technology. These folks aren't necessarily novices, and they aren't afraid of computers. They also aren't stupid. They simply want their digital products to operate as promised, with as little maintenance and hassle as possible.Emphasis mine...
So, I have steered away from recommending Linux, the free computer operating system that is the darling of many techies and IT managers, and a challenger to Microsoft's dominant Windows and Apple's resurgent Macintosh operating system, OS X. Linux, which runs on the same hardware as Windows, has always required much more technical expertise and a yen for tinkering than average users possess.
...I've been testing one of those Dell Ubuntu computers, a laptop called the Inspiron 1420N. I evaluated it strictly from the point of view of an average user, someone who wouldn't want to enter text commands, hunt the Web for drivers and enabling software, or learn a whole new user interface. I focused on Ubuntu and the software programs that come bundled with it, not on the hardware, which is a pretty typical Dell laptop.
My verdict: Even in the relatively slick Ubuntu variation, Linux is still too rough around the edges for the vast majority of computer users.
...
I have previously posted about AWM (which is not to be confused with Ardent Window Manager). Alpt-wm is the ultra simple, ultra small and BLAZINGLY FAST window manager...
http://freaknet.org/alpt/src/alpt-wm
svn co http://dev.hinezumi.org/svnroot/alpt-wm
alpt-wm - dynamic window manager
================================
This is my custom, window manager. It's small, functional and fast.
It is based on dwm ( http://www.suckless.org/wiki/dwm ) and it is just ~1800 lines of code.
As any parent can tell you there is little difference between a child's perception of want and need. In the field of IT I have observed that customers as well distinguish only slightly between their wants and needs. Clearly I remember the users at one customer's site insisting that they needed sound cards for each of their PCs. Unlike today, PCs were both very costly and poorly appointed when they arrived from the manufacturer. Adding a sound card to each PC was both economically costly as well as person-power intensive. All for what? So that the users could hear "You've got mail!" Beyond that "need" there was no other business line objective being met by the expenditure of time and money on sound cards.
[Digression: (Sound Card = $65.00 + Person-hours (2 per PC @ $35.00/Hr) = $70.00) x 35 PCs = $4,725.00 = "Oh yeah! You got mail, baby. And the company got pwned!" ...but I digress.]
...changing perspectives...
My interest was piqued by an entry in the Freshmeat.net listing this morning. AWM is listed as a minimal windowing environment.
It's small, functional, and fast. It is based on dwm and is just ~1800 lines of code.I am a Linux gadget geek and so the prospect of a minimal window manager just begged to be explored. The entire tarball for awm-0.0.7.tar.bz2 lists ( ls -alth ) at just 20K. A window manager in less than 20K (~1800 lines of code). Unbelievable!
"Tell me what you want, what you really really want..."
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...
...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...
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.
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!)
| 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 | |
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?"
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?
UMBRAGE ALERT! This will certainly cause grumbling and mumbling in the B'sphere
Jeneane Sessum titled one of her most recent posts...
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.'
...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.
...that I can afford to feed prisoners better than students. (Listen toward the end of the presentation.)
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.
