I was surprised by Gold Farming in China... Oh yeah, surprised is not the word I will continue to use...
David Sugar in his FreeSoftwareMagazine article, From freedom to slavery; a week of two distros, issues a rallying cry, bemoaning the Novell+Microsoft deal. His rhetoric is strong and his positions are compelling. My first inclination is to uninstall my most recent SUSE instance and wave my GPL/FOSS flag high.
Yet I am left wavering... first, wishing to acknowledge that Novell's SUSE is a great distro. One of the few that, as a tool, has 'met my hand''. ("If the tool does not meet the hand do not pick it up.") SLED10 is well appointed and comfortable. The comfort is an indication that thought and preparation went into the UI. Right from the 'box' SUSE is both accessible and visually appealing. Form without function is the downfall of many distros - the Chameleon's selection of Gnome based applications provides a well integrated suite of software tools. (I once heard a Novell rep refer to the lizard as a gecko - I don't think so!)
More important than my personal tastes in Linux distributions is a base, fundamental question; Where will the reconciliation start? To this end I applaud both Novell and Microsoft in their willingness to face the reality of our current situation and hammer out a working arrangement. Only the hind sight of history will validate or vilify this agreement but... at least M+N are trying to move forward.
Technorati Tags: Linux, Novell, Microsoft
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Rent-a-Bum has been assimilated into the corporate Borg.
"This ain't our first rodeo, it is our last."
Had I stayed and kowtowed to the great borg I would have had the pleasure to roadie for the "Killer" - Mr. Jerry Lee Lewis... but that is not what it was all about... kowtowing. Being a Rent-a-Bum was about being above all that. It was about hard work, professionalism, and a close association with the bands and performers. Rent-a-Bum was not about kowtowing to the corporate borg.
Rent-a-Bum was about being a shield. Being a barrier between the acts and the corporate world that wanted a piece of them. Venue owners want special privileges, back stage access, glad handing. Audience members, grrrms, want special privileges, back stage access, glad handing. Acts and talent just want to be normal people, treated with respect for their professional contributions. Acts and talent just want to get the job done and relax without being grabbed, picked at or fawned over. Rent-a-Bum was about providing that layer of professional space.
I have never really been hungry.
I don't know what gnawing perpetual hunger is. I don't know what going to bed hungry every night is all about. I have never really wondered where my next meal was coming from.
I have never been so dehydrated that I had to drink contaminated water.
Really cold as in continuously unable to generate enough body warmth to be comfortable.
I have always had an address. I have always had a house to live in.
Work hard for days on end, exhausted at the end of the day and bone-tired at the beginning of the day.
I do not know how 80% (at least) of the worlds population feels every minute of every day of their entire lives.
I posted the previous (Cyber Agricultural Engineers, Oh my!) rather as an off-hand remark. More like an exclamation. Then I began to internalize exactly what 'Gold Farming' represented in my world view. Then the warning klaxon began to sound in earnest.
Perhaps as much as two years ago I slack-jaw marveled at an NPR story about a fellow who had paid ~$12,500 USD for a virtual island in one of the on-line games. The reporter went on to suggest that this enterprising individual would do what any self respecting property developer would do... sub-divide, build, sell and make a fortune. A real fortune, selling digital dreams to other would be digital Barons.
So if this adheres so closely to the brick and mortal model of value enhancement then why am I so excited about it? Real world value is being assigned to virtual world entities. With this assignment we are leaving the reality of our terra firma for the vast uncharted space of our fantasies. The gap between values and Values is widening with no regard to the cost in human terms. Literally, while people on one side of our planet are starving to death, people on the 'other side' of reality are spending real time, real money and real energy achieving status in a pretend world. In the ether of the net.
It will always be easier/cheaper to offer a person the picture of a bowl of rice than it will to offer the bowl of rice. Pictures will not feed the outer person. Pictures will not sustain the inner person.
Neo, take the blue pill.
I have in the past lovingly referred to Farmers as Agricultural Engineers. Then I read an GigaOM article that referenced Gold Farmers which lead me here...
Gold farming in China
According to estimates, around 100,000 people in China are employed as gold farmers, as of December 2005. [1] This represents about 0.4% of all online gamers in China. Chinese gold farmers typically work twelve hour shifts, and sometimes up to eighteen hour shifts. Wages depend heavily on location and the size of the gold farming company. One gold farming operation in Chongqing in central China with 23 gold farmers was reported to pay its employees the equivalent of about 75 U.S. dollars per month, while workers at a larger gold farm in Fuzhou earn the equivalent of about 250 U.S. dollars per month. The rising prevalence of gold farming has led to the creation of gold farm brokerages, such as UCdao. [2]
The great thing about pulp fiction is that it is just like TV ... without the commercials. Ahhhhhhh!
Stone Cold, Robert B. Parker
Tucker, Louis L'Amour
Spring Moon, Bette Bao Lord
And...
Fairy Tales for Computers, The Eakins Press, Copyright @ 1969
The Machine Stops, E. M. Forster
The Nature Theater of Oaklahoma, Franz Kafka
Notes on a Dream, Theodor Herzl
The Book of the Machine, Samuel Butler
On Intelligence, Paul Valéry
The Nightingale, Hans Christian Andersen
(Read "I was taken..." then come back and read this - the only problem with blogging is the reverse time warp-thing that happens, FILO, etc. )
One of the other offers that I receive frequently always strikes a chord with me... "Earn your degree on-line in minutes..." In this day and age of 'padding' one's resume to secure that cherry position with that Web2.0 startup having an extra PhD laying around is handy... sure I could just "claim" my position in life and who would be the wiser? I would! Therein lies the problem...
So my resolve is to implement the opposite... I intend to receive my Letters from IU (Internet University) the old fashion way - I will write. Some will read.
Pa^2 - The Way... began as an essay. As I started into it I realized that I will spend a very long time trying to do justice to the "simple" ideas that I have put forth.
Not a day goes by that some individual doesn't make it their business to worry about the length, volume, and functionality of my... "The pen is mightier than the sword." I am touched by their heartfelt expressions of concern. I am up-lifted by their offers of encouragement. I am buoyed by their offers of assistance in this most delicate matter.
Heckfire! I am just pleased beyond words to receive a daily onslaught of personal correspondence offering me just what I need to over-come my deficiencies. I feel better already knowing that the answer is just a click away...
Oh! The title of this post... sorry, I should have put up the entire thing.
In my view one of the greatest lines ever penned in popular culture... "I was taken by a photograph of you." Joni Mitchell's clear and soaring voice comes a ringing through...
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A press briefing on Thursday by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld drew wide attention when he deflected heated questions from reporters by asking them to calm down and "just back off" and wait, again, for positive results in Iraq.
Michael Bérubé responding to criticism leveled by "Maximilian Pakaluk’s recent review of my book in the National Review Online." offered the following position....
As I explain in What’s Liberal?, there’s another reason I don’t share Harris’s faith (or that of any other “ethical realist") in mind-independent concepts: I think that believing in them can have nasty consequences. That is, people who believe that they’ve discovered objective moral principles out there in the ether (as distinct from people who think they’re working out sublunary moral principles with their fellow human beings) are especially likely to think of people who believe otherwise—or who simply believe in other principles—as not merely mistaken about this or that but objectively wrong as measured by some nonhuman, observer-independent criterion. Or, as I write elsewhere in the chapter, “you might conclude that people who disagree with you are not simply working from different moral premises but, rather, are alien—or opposed—to morality itself. It then becomes all the easier to exclude them from the conversation, from all forms of human community.” And one of the purposes of the liberal arts—golly, but I thought this argument was as clear as a mountain stream—is to teach people how to think about fundamental disagreements in human affairs, and how to conceptualize fundamental disagreements without coming to the conclusion that the people who disagree with you must be expelled or exterminated.Not to sound fawning or patronizing but this is the clearest explanation of a "Liberal" position that I have ever encountered. In the space of one paragraph, albeit a complex one, Bérubé is able to point to the crux of the matter, mind-independent concepts. I see his discussion not just as a personal one but as a world-view as well - clarifying many, if not all, of the world struggles.
Jeneane iffen you are going to offer comments (spray graffiti) on another's blog site (my wall) then you have to know that I get to do what I like with my wall. If that means repainting it, so be it. If it means charging admission to view my wall, extant with your graffiti then so be it.
Steven over at WinExtra pointed us toward a product that you just don't see every day. Here is a product that really does exactly what it claims. It comes clearly packaged, it is easy to install, does exactly what it says it will do, doesn't have any back-doors or hidden "features"... NaDa, zip ziltch, zero... just exactly what you would expect from every good software provider.
Go here, get yours => Get your NaDa here
I got mine and it is great!
Spent 8 of the last 9 days on "vacation" ...
Getting to spend time with an old friend, priceless. Getting to attend the Goodrich Club Board Meeting, invaluable. Setting aside 1 day to visit my father's cousin in Holland Michigan, beyond measure.
Working my butt off trying to keep pace with my old friend - a daunting challenge at best, an exercise in futility at worst. Ken Shenstone is building a studio complex to compliment the 20 year old wood fire Anagama kiln. Not one to enter into small projects Ken and Buck, in partnership, are building two major studio spaces and a common room/kitchen/music studio. As soon as I get the old fashioned film pictures developed I will post a few. (And, as soon as I get permission I will post earlier pix from mid summer that contrast the progress being made.)
So here is a partial list of accomplishments*...
Roofing: Installed metal ribbed roof and trim (rake side x2 plus high side) on a 37' x 52' slant roof
Roofing: Bituthene and roof felt for the common room
Electrics: Bore 4" hole through 12+ inches of 4000lb concrete
Carpentry: Sheathing exterior wall of common room
Carpentry: Bituthene and Typar wall of ceramic studio
Landscape: Prepare area between house and studio for grass planting
Landscape: French drain (stone over drainage pipe) back of commom room
Social: Friday night losing 3 out of two games of Cribbage to Rusty (Yup, got skunked.)
Social: Saturday night, won 2 out of 2 games of Cribbage from Rusty (small revenge.)
* Fine Print Disclaimer: I merely assisted in these accomplishments. Ken is duly credited with doing the actual work.
Technorati Tags: Goodrich Club, Anagama
Log into Google and go to Google Docs
While the entire world is a buzz with the GoogleTube extravaganza Google has continued to quietly build the state of the art online office experience. Google Docs appears to be the central interface of access to the "working" side of the online office.
My son, of whom I am very proud, was excited beyond words with the thought of his stop-motion videos being accessible via Google. His interests are not in the business of websites but rather the enjoyment of his creations. GoogleTube will be just the forum for the display and admiration of his videos. Keep up the great work!
tag: Google, Online Office,
Anthony Bourdain has no reservations. Thank the deity of your choice. To my ears and eyes Tony brings a new standard of excellence to television. Breaking the traditional Travelogue mold, swearing and eating his way across this country and a nation near where you live. Poking fun at all things commercial. Favoring instead local flavors, street foods and strong drink.
In particular watch for his Beirut episode. It is truly disquieting. We get to see a side of television production that isn't often available. Bourdain avoids the the sensationalism of the "News" media. He and his team focus on the reality of being in a place that is rapidly becoming unpredictable.
What I found most telling was Bourdain's precarious position of not being in control. Here is a rugged individual who is relegated to being a refuge. His world is tossed and he just has to go for a ride. We see a man who doesn't quite know what to make of it all - and in showing us this side Tony Bourdain becomes one of the real people. He becomes one of the people he takes such delight in shocking us with in any other setting.
Odds are that Bourdain and the entire 'No Reservations' production team will not get anything more than a passing attaboy - and that is a damned shame 'cause they did really good work. Yeah, they worked their asses off when the going got tough. All the while focusing on people.
Saturday morning at our house is often filled with the smell of frying bacon. Then hash brown potatoes. Then eggs and finally toast. Saturday morning breakfast is my weekly reward. It is also a vestigial remnant of my youth. A reward from a time of poverty. A time when as church-mouse poor college students we would splurge and spend a couple of early Saturday morning hours at Kate's Kitchen. Those were the days of Camel non-filters and countless cups of scalding counter coffee. Those were the hours when we would be served and satisfied. Two over easy bacon whole wheat... For an hour or two the poverty and the winter wind and the studies were pushed away in favor of a classic 'greasy spoon' breakfast.
Kate's is gone even if the building remains. A big name pizza franchise lives there now.
Doug Karr's original post... When I tried to respond to Doug's questions my answer just seemed to grow beyond a comment post... so I put it here...
What follows will appear to be off-topic initially but I assure you it will circle around to the issues that you have brought up...
I am a dyed-in-the-wool Slackware Linux advocate. I am particular about Slackware. I am particular about Linux. These two combined means that I am particular about Open Source Software. This in turn means that I am particular about “free” software.
I have had the luxury, the inclination, the opportunity and the technological resources to become a moderately fluent Linux 'Business' user. (I have 7 linux servers in production providing a number of "back office" services (e.g. firewalls, proxy, HTTP, router/gateway, alpha-numeric paging, and network management).) It has taken time and effort to capitalize on my situation. Time and effort that most likely is not available to Joe Average.
I have sampled many of the mainstream Linux distributions (distros). I have had the opportunity to try a myriad of avant-nerdy-custom distros.
[I am supposed to add here; not for the faint of heart.]
Linux is born on the back of Open Source Software (OSS).
The business model that has evolved out of
This business model extends to individual applications as well. PostgreSQL, the RDBMS with the difficult to pronounce name, is a very good example. PostgreSQL is readily available for download at no cost. It comes complete with _very_ comprehensive documentation. Additionally there are publicly accessible forums where usage discussions and even some problem solving is available, again for free. If however you want or need to please the PHB by being able to point to a service contract that stipulates the terms of support - PostgreSQL is more than happy to oblige, for a price. Do not mistake my levity in this matter for a slight against PostgreSQL.
After all that Slackware Linux OSS evangelizing I now put on my professional hat: I am the Manager of Information Systems for a mid-sized manufacturing concern here in the mid-west. We do business the old fashioned way - Microsoft Windows: 9 Servers and 70+ desktops. We use Windows as a business resource because that is what our most important business resources, people, are trained and proficient with. We use Windows because our second most valuable business resources, our customers, use Windows. We use Windows because the business applications we depend on are Windows based. So, regardless of my personal preference I am a staunch supporter of Microsoft Windows.
I have also 'enjoyed' the polite invitation from Microsoft to run an internal audit and verify that all of my PCs and servers running Windows were and are duly licensed. I assumed that if I had not complied with their polite request I would have ended up on a list to be visited by the BSA. I am not a lawyer and I do not suggest that I fully understand the dotted "i's" and crossed 't's" of the EULA but I am relatively sure Microsoft was and will continue to be within their rights to respectfully offer such 'Invitations'. My position, whether I personally like it or not, is that I do business using Microsoft products and I am honor bound to adhere to a contractual agreement regarding their use.
The problem is that Windows is not a qualifiable or even quantifiable product. It does not wear out nor is it [intentionally] designed to stop working after a specified period of time. It is not, in and of itself, a dependable income generator over time. That coupled with the fact that software (
The
So it would appear that Microsoft is in the unenviable position of having to establish and then protect its product in order to realize a monetary return.
The New York Times reports...
FRISCO, Tex., Sept. 28 — “Keep the ‘Art’ in ‘Smart’ and ‘Heart,’ ” Sydney McGee had posted on her Web site at Wilma Fisher Elementary School in this moneyed boomtown that is gobbling up the farm fields north of Dallas.
But Ms. McGee, 51, a popular art teacher with 28 years in the classroom, is out of a job after leading her fifth-grade classes last April through the Dallas Museum of Art. One of her students saw nude art in the museum, and after the child’s parent complained, the teacher was suspended.
Although the tour had been approved by the principal, and the 89 students were accompanied by 4 other teachers, at least 12 parents and a museum docent, Ms. McGee said, she was called to the principal the next day and “bashed.”
She later received a memorandum in which the principal, Nancy Lawson, wrote: “During a study trip that you planned for fifth graders, students were exposed to nude statues and other nude art representations.” It cited additional complaints, which Ms. McGee has challenged.
The school board suspended her with pay on Sept. 22.
The following is taken from the Washington Post
A growing concern to whom? Spin Doctors on both sides of every aisle have been bending the truth since the term Nom de Guerre was coined. Stan Collender should be more concerned with the 'Cliche Phenomenon' than anything else in this unseemly matter. As we all know a cliche exists because it holds some essential truth. Pamphleteering worked because of the essential truth expressed, however egregiously presented.Stan Collender, a public relations specialist at Qorvis Communications LLC in the District, said the potential for bloggers to damage the reputation of a business or person is a growing concern.
"It's like pamphleteering on the corner, only its cheaper, quicker and vastly more broad," Collender said. "But unlike the traditional media, it's completely unregulated in that there's no fact checking, no editing. It has all the potential for creating a lot of damage to someone's or something's reputation very quickly, and it's almost impossible to eliminate it. Any unsubstantiated rumor has a very good chance of getting out there."
