Just lego yo feelin's

Maniac T-Shirt

Again with the negative vibes...

"Why Linux Is Not (Yet) Ready for the Desktop"

Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 18th May 2009 19:06 UTC

We all know them. We all hate them. They are generally overdone, completely biased, or so vague they border on the edge of pointlessness (or toppled over said edge). Yes, I'm talking about those "Is Linux ready for the desktop" articles. Still, this one is different .

Let me be very clear here: Linux should not be used for mainstream desktops.

That being said it doesn't matter how succinct or eloquent the kvetching ... it is still kvetching. Artem S. Tashkinov ( this one is different ) has simple stated the one-sided obvious - a.) Linux is not Windows and b.) Linux is not suited for mainstream desktop use.

Okay! Please take your ball and bat and go home! Stop kvetching that something you obviously don't like isn't meeting your standards. Okay! Use Windows!

Linux should not be used for mainstream desktops. This is in part true because most desktop users are not computer literate enough to use anything but the most simple point-n-click user interface. This is in part true because the majority of users don't care how/when/why/where things get done - they only want it to happen in a way that they won't have to think about.

Windows is the best OS for automatons! Don't let them near Linux, they will only hurt themselves.

(I have been using Linux as a desktop OS since the turn of the century. I know first hand that it is not Windows. From my ivory-tower geek perspective the merits of Linux so far out-weigh Windows that the seeming sacrifice is well worth it.)

Too much "stuff"...

Recently I have become aware of a growing interest in small homes...

Welcome. Come on in. My name is Jay Shafer and since 1997 I have been living in houses smaller than some people’s closets. I call the first of my little hand built houses Tumbleweed. My decision to inhabit just 89 square feet arose from some concerns I had about the impact a larger house would have on the environment, and because I do not want to maintain a lot of unused or unusable space. My houses have met all of my domestic needs without demanding much in return. The simple, slower lifestyle my homes have afforded is a luxury for which I am continually grateful. Read more…

I once lived in an apartment with two other college chums in the "good old days". It was a two bedroom apartment but we talked the landlord into allowing me to move in ... to the 6Wx9Lx10h closet. (Desperate times called for desperate measures.) It was a time before "stuff". Previously I had been living in my step-van - one of those little right-hand drive mail delivery trucks. I just didn't have much "stuff".

With a 6'x2' window at the far end and a 4'x8' loft for sleeping suspended I had both a vista and almost twice the floor space, as it were. Rolling out of bed in the morning was a bit interesting ... a nearly 6' drop to the floor required a clear head and certain physical agility.

Now when I see how well appointed some of these tiny homes are I am very envious. But more than the appointments I am envious of the lack of "stuff". How very neat and clean these small homes appear. Oh to have such a simple life. Oh the irony of having just purchased a 10x16 'shed' (unfinished on the inside) to hold just some of my "stuff". Some of the "stuff" that owns me.

How conveeeeenient.... more Bushillt!

Bush's 'Smoking Gun' Witness Found Dead
IndictBushNow files Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to get to bottom of story

The cover-up of Bush-era crimes is taking a shocking but not unexpected turn. A fateful move has been made and it is certain to backfire.

Colin Powell used al-Libi's tortured and knowingly fabricated testimony to tell the United Nations that Saddam Hussein's government was helping al-Qaeda develop weapons of mass destruction to kill Americans. It was all a lie.

IndictBushNow.org is joining with the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and the ANSWER Coalition to demand that the truth be told. We have filed a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) with the CIA, Department of Defense, Department of State and other agencies to reveal information in their possession about Libi’s imprisonment, torture, false testimony on Iraq and the circumstances of his death. To read a copy of the FOIA, click this link.

A prisoner who was horribly tortured in 2002 until he agreed - at the demand of Bush torturers - to say that al-Qaeda was linked to Saddam Hussein is suddenly dead. Several weeks ago, Human Rights Watch investigators discovered the missing inmate and talked to him. He had been secretly transferred by the administration to a prison in Libya after having been held by the CIA both in secret “black hole prisons” and in Egypt.

Under conditions of extreme torture, the prisoner, Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi, agreed in 2002 to supply the Bush-ordered interrogators what they sought as a political cover for Bush’s marketing of the pending war of aggression against Iraq. Mr. Libi agreed to tell them whatever they wanted in exchange for an end to the torture. The now famous Torture Memos providing legal cover for the torture were written at the same time starting in the summer of 2002.

Libi’s tortured and knowingly fabricated testimony was the source of information used by Bush to sell the war to the U.S. Senate, and the source for Colin Powell’s bogus and lying presentation to the United Nations in 2003.

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice are now running around saying that the torture regime “protected the country from terrorist attack.” But the torture was used for the personal political goals of Bush and Cheney: namely, to sell their Iraq invasion to a very skeptical and disbelieving country.

Having been discovered by human rights investigators two weeks ago, Mr. Libi’s story coincided with the release of the Torture Memos and the growing clamor for criminal prosecutions of Bush officials.

His testimony is the smoking gun that would reveal that the torture regime was not for “national security” but for the personal political aims of Bush and Cheney.

He was Exhibit A in the indictment that alleges that tortured confessions and the contrived legal justifications of torture set up by Justice Department lawyers in July/August 2002 were central to the launch of the war against Iraq.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died and tens of thousands of U.S. service members have either been killed or badly wounded in a war that was based on lies fortified and promoted by the most sadistic torture.

Mr. Libi is suddenly dead. A Libyan “newspaper source” says that his death is an apparent suicide. His friends don’t believe that.

Barack O Spock, man

"Now that we have a vulcan in the Whitehouse..."
- comment by NPR interviewee



















Thanks /Ambivalence

Graffiti - Watchmen

Smashing Magazine

Busting your Bubble: Security is on the rise...

...perhaps because us niche Geeks are demanding it.

In a quiet and understated expose my long time Internet friend and verbal jousting opponent, Mr. Steven Hodson, in his rambling diatribe, Whining about a secure Windows, took me to task for asking "Why?" Why we can't get a secure copy of Windows XP.

He states and I agreed that Microsoft has provided a product for 'Joe Average' who "... just want[s] to be able to turn on the machine and do their stuff." Security down through the Windows ages, says the Crankster, ...

wasn’t high on anyone’s priority list.

Microsoft paid heavily for this and continues to pay for it to this day. Unfortunately though Microsoft suffered from another major problem – it was too popular. While it may have had made billions from this popularity they did it by appealing to everyone and their proverbial brother. They weren’t in the market to cater to niche type users.

Yeah, well, I guess I am just a niche guy looking for a secure OS. Now, here is the rub - as the Cranky Old Fart was so very gracious to point out - I am a network administrator. I am the guy that people call when their instance of Windows XP doesn't allow them to blithely "do their thing and not worry about all that ‘other stuff’."

I am the 'Computer Police'. I am the policy enforcer who has to employ all the cobbled together bits and after-thought pieces that Microsoft finally acknowledged as necessary security "fixes". And yes, my 'Joe&Jane Average' users complain mightily when they encounter the cold hard edges of Administrator imposed limits. But you should hear how LOUD they complain when their WinXP won't allow them to work at all because of some "harmless" visit to You2CanWinMillions.com.

I do not disagree that the majority of Windows XP users just want to be able to turn on their PC and do what ever they do without having to jump through a huge number of hoops. I do not however believe that just because the average user has no more PC savvy than the plastic mouse they so delicately fondle while surfing God know where that this is a valid excuse for knowingly fielding the height of OS mediocrity.

Now, lets take a brief moment to check in on some 'average' friends of mine, XP users. On average their PC is delivered to Dave-the-PC-Guy three times a year for a Format-n-Reload. Why? Because my friends Jim&Jill Average are the typical users you described. AND... Microsoft Windows XP is sooooo vulnerable - UNLESS - you jump through all.those.freaking.pesky.hoops.

Yeah, I am the niche guy complaining loudly about security. Yeah, I am the niche guy who adopted Slackware Linux early. Yeah, I am the niche guy who has to worry about all the issues that Joe&Jane and Jim&Jill just simply ignore. Yeah, and then I read the last paragraph of the article that I quoted from earlier about the USAF...

Gilligan also said that he hopes that this project marks the beginning of the end of companies arrogantly resisting locking down their products. "They're still in the model that they want to give all the features enabled to clients," he said, "But I think we've reached a point where that model is one that is no longer effective. I'm of the opinion that all products ought to be configured with these locked-down configurations, and if the customer decides they want to undo them, then they can do that. They cannot continue fielding products where the cost that is being borne by the consumer in terms of having to maintain configurations and deal with attacks is so high." [Link to original article.]

---

P.S. Related Article

MCRC Blog - 2009

Apr 22, 2009

How a cybergang operates a network of 1.9 million infected computers

Today we announced our recent discovery of a network of 1.9 million infected computers controlled by cybercriminals. This is one of the largest bot networks controlled by a single team of cybercriminals (or cybergang) that we found this year. In this blog post we will provide you with additional details about this network, the malware in use and how the operators are using it to make money – after all, this is the main drive for cybercrime today.

Yeah, 1.9 million infected computers running Microsoft OSs.

Okay but how about the rest of us???

USAF's Locked-Down Windows XP Configuration

posted by Thom Holwerda on Sun 3rd May 2009 09:16 UTC, submitted by SReilly
. . .
So, the USAF talked to Ballmer, and the CEO actually got personally involved in the project. "He has half-a-dozen clients that he personally gets involved with, and he saw that this just made a lot of sense," Gilligan said, "They had already done preliminary work themselves trying to identify what would be a more secure configuration. So we fine-tuned and added to that."
. . .
So, how secure is this system? Gilligan said that 85% of attacks are blocked by the new configuration. "Turns out when you configure things properly and don't touch them, they actually work pretty well," he added. The Air Force configuration is now in use in many other departments because it has been such a success.

My first question is, "Why can't we 'regular' folks get the same level of consideration and protection from Microsoft???"

The only conclusion I can draw is that Microsoft doesn't care about us 'regular' folks. In their seeming lack of caring they are fielding a product that they know is substandard. They continue to sell us this substandard product because we, unlike the USAF, cannot afford to call Steve Ballmer on the carpet and demand it be fixed. So, now that it has been fixed, how about the rest of us?

When can I get my locked-down secure version of Windows XP???

Back to biscuits and blogging...

After a hiatus of more than two weeks Sunday morning finds me back in the kitchen at the keyboard...

The latest batch of biscuits are now cooling having been taken out of the oven just moments ago... hot melty goodness... flavored this time with sharp cheddar and spicy hot breakfast sausage. Here in Kentucky all I need is a little milk gravy made up from the sausage skillet and it would be a little bit of 'hawg heaven' on a plate. Iffen they aren't eaten right away they will make great hand breakfasts at least until Tuesday.

Blogging has taken a seat way in the back of my short bus. My last posting,
Words and work to live by..., was both a great observation made by Hugh ...and... prophetic. Allow me to elucidate.

I have the very great luxury of being able to work tenaciously at something I do in fact love ... Information System Management. Okay, so I'm a nerd. Sure, it doesn't have a distinctive ring, say like, "Musician" or "Artist" but it is my vocation and more importantly my avocation.

This pottering about with computers and networks and the like affords me another great reward. In addition to all the more mundane concerns I am afforded the opportunity to take time off. In this case my time began just after my last blog post and ran until last Wednesday. By the calendar it was 12 days. The first and last of those days were for travel from here in Kentucky to southern Michigan and then back again.

Albion is in southern Michigan. Shenstone's anagama kiln is in Albion. Firing of this, the largest kiln of its kind in north America, started just before midnight on Friday the 17th. 10 days later, just before midnight, the firing was declared complete and the kiln was sealed. A two week cooling period follows.

The following morning I got up and spent the day traveling back to Philpot Kentucky, back to hearth and home.

... back to biscuits and blogging.

Words and work to live by...

It was 20 years ago today...

For those of us who live in a free society ... we should remember the price that is paid. We must remember that freedom is not free.

The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 culminating in the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

The Cook's Biscuit

Another life lesson comes from the pursuit of the biscuit...

Once the dry and wet ingredients are combined the dough is turned out on a lightly floured counter. Absolute minimum kneading is prescribed. My objective is to bring the dough mass together incorporating the crumbly bits with the least amount of massaging. I then form the dough into a flattened layer approximately 3/4" thick.

The life lesson comes from the physics of cutting biscuit rounds from the formed dough. No matter how meticulous the placement of the cuts there are always edges and pieces. Combined and formed the pieces render one more cut round.

Once the last one is cut then there is the Cook's Biscuit. By combining the last pieces and parts there is one last biscuit, ill formed and imperfectly shaped. It is the biscuit reserved for the cook.

Didjaheartheoneabouthe...

A Jew, a Christian, a Buddhist and a Muslim all walk into a bar, and the bartender says “What is this? Some kind of joke?”

Thanks Boyd @ /Ambivalence

Oh by the way did I mention...

thank you, Gahan Wilson!

...lovingly borrowed from James Ford

Pa^2 agrees with Web^2

Web^2 (Web squared) has a nice ring to it.

O'Reilly's example gives me very serious cause to consider the iPhone. (Yeah, I actually said that.)

Big Brotha! (This makes me very sad!)

April 6th, 2009

Obama Administration Embraces Bush Position on Warrantless Wiretapping and Secrecy

Says Court Must Dismiss Jewel v. NSA to Protect 'State Secrets'

San Francisco - The Obama administration formally adopted the Bush administration's position that the courts cannot judge the legality of the National Security Agency's (NSA's) warrantless wiretapping program, filing a motion to dismiss Jewel v. NSA late Friday.

In Jewel v. NSA, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is challenging the agency's dragnet surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans. The Obama Justice Department claims in its motion that litigation over the wiretapping program would require the government to disclose privileged "state secrets." These are essentially the same arguments made by the Bush administration three years ago in Hepting v. AT&T, EFF's lawsuit against one of the telecom giants complicit in the NSA spying.

Read complete article at Electronic Freedom Foundation

Great Design @ Loose Canvas

hugh macleod's NEW upcoming book, "Ignore Everybody" chapter titles rendered by Patrick Brennan

Grumpy Papa stuff...

I am not going as fast
as you need to get there.

(Thoughts on not exceeding the speed limit.)

Biscuit Redough

When I turned my latest batch of biscuit dough out on the counter I was afraid that I had created the proverbial flour hockey puck ... or as the Blues Brothers famously cited, "a rrrrrrubber biscuit." Instead of the sticky adhesive biscuit-batter that I would have to try and very gently knead I had a dry solid mass.

Immediately recriminating thoughts ran through my mind, 'two table spoons of bacon crumbles was too much' and 'a 1/3 Cup of cheese was excessive' or 'I must have mis-measured the milk'. No matter what the possible cause I have killed this batch of biscuits.

Dejectedly I patted the mass down to 1/2-3/4 inch thickness and started cutting rounds. It was a bit disquieting to twist the cutter down and feel the crepitus
of bacon bits being crushed ... but I pressed on. I kept a wary eye on them during the 10th and 11th minutes of baking. Just quick checks so as not to cool the oven too much.

Oh me of little faith...

They didn't turn out great but they were good. I was pleasantly surprised. The tribe ate every last one, even commenting on how tasty they were. A hearty compliment to my Urban Gourmand Potato-Corn Chowder.

So this is where I wanted to make some insightful philosophical or theological observation on the importance of the symbolic marriage of flour, salt, milk and leavening. I wanted to acknowledge the primal importance of the food ritual and its sustaining of life. I wanted to pay homage to the beneficence of a greater power.

All I can really say is that my faith in the biscuit remains.

The race is on...

First saw it here ... really comes from Glennz