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.

Noh Reservations, Patty Dew

Anthony Bourdain kicks a$$ and takes names. I thought that the Food Channel was going down the tubes when the show No Reservations left. Compared with the pablum that is usually served by the foodie network I thought Tony Bourdain was GREAT. I was televideologically devastated when he abandon the ship and left it to only us rats.

Ah but my faith in humanity was resurrected... The Travel Channel had the good sense to recognize that Bourdain's travels to eat in exotic places were twice as interesting as just the eating as displayed on the Fud Channel.

Enter of all groups... Red Hat - those wacky Linux folks... who in an attempt to show just how well rounded they are... publish a 'Summer Reading List'. Now sure there are some 'nerd' titles... Infotopia and Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software... But I was very pleasantly surprised to see the first book listed as The Nasty Bits by none other than Anthony Bourdain. Oh yeah!

Bonus: Anthony Bourdain sometimes slithers into the blog of his alleged friend Michael Ruhlman and post rants and raves.

Progressive Urban Folk

In my world 'The Saint' is not the fictional character recently portrayed by Val Kilmer and earlier by Roger Moore. 'The Saint' is my wife of nearly 25 years. To have put up with me for nearly a quarter century is proof in and of itself that she has saintly qualities. So when The Saint speaks I pretend to ignore her...while hanging on her every word...


She was listening to Tom Waits'* (Looking for the) Heart of Saturday Night featured on NPR's Barren River Breakdown. Her observation was that she never hears Waits on the radio. Which in turn prompted me to observe that it is difficult to classify Waits' music. What genre does it fit into?

The Saint replied, "Progressive Urban Folk".

I liked the sound of it. Spoke clearly to me of his musical experimentation style (Progressive). His gritty inner-city themes and flavors (Urban). As well as his just plain down to earth, street level raw emotion (Folk). So you can imagine how surprised I was to see him labeled; Rock/Pop.

Any hoooo, I will be sticking with The Saint - seein' as how she's stuck with me all these years. :)

Wear our hearts on our...T-Shirts.

borrowed from NobodyAsked

Thanks Frank

LenovO vs. LenovA

If you Google 'lenova' you are asked if you meant 'lenovo' which is a courtesy extended by the great and munificent Goz. Which would be alright but the Goz then goes on to list a number of entries for 'lenova'. Which prompts me to ask if there is a mass misspelling of the name of the company? Or is it a gender thing; masculine lenovO or feminine lenovA?

Anyone have any insights on this?

Don't even consider Linux!

I have a growing feeling. A feeling that I cannot deny. It is a sense that Linux is suffering. It is suffering from 'Joe-Average-Everyday-Desktop-itis'. And I would like it to stop. So I am pleading with you gentle reader - Don't even consider Linux.

When I came innocent to the Linux fold in 1996 I wanted a better Operating System. I wanted to be unshackled from the bonds of corporate megalomaniacs who insisted that they knew what was good best for me. I wanted stability, security, and a clean fast PC. I wanted to be captain of my own ship, steering my own computing destiny.

By sheer dumb luck I stumbled upon Slackware. I would like to tell you that it was a well researched intelligent decision. I would like to tell you that I made an informed choice. I would like to tell you that I listened to the voice of popular opinion. Nope, I just bought the book and CD-ROM that caught my eye. A book that at the time I could afford.

So when I read the following article from Think Thick it struck a resonate chord with me. Among other things it speaks to the work that a user must do to make the most of Linux. I believe this work is exactly what set Linux apart from the other OSs. In addition I believe that this prerequisite work is what is missing from the 'Joe-Average-Everyday-Desktop-itis' distros that tout themselves as the next great Linux.

Then I came across this excellent article from tuxmachines.org entitled Slackware 12: The anti-'buntu. From the title alone I knew the author had hit the nail on the head. Then I had this great idea. I would respond to the Think Thick '10 Things' article (in RED) with excerpts from the 'anti-'buntu' article (in GREEN). So here goes... (NOTE: You should read each article independently too.)

Confessions of a Linux Fan: 10 Things You Might Want To Know Before Switching Over To Linux

1. The basic installation of most mainstream Linux distributions is very easy, but a first time user might run into trouble when trying to depart from the defaults.

The "setup" script is a simple menu-based utility. The SlackBook, a well-written reference manual and tutorial on how to install and use Slackware, has a good walk-thru of the process (including screenshots). It's quite simple and fast, if you take the setup utility's recommendation and install everything (which avoids the setup utility asking you which packages you want to install).

2. If you want a proper Linux installation, you are going to have to mess around with the partition table.

Before running setup, however, you will need to parition your hard disk, if you haven't already. (I personally prefer to create partitions prior to installing a distro, regardless, using the GParted live CD.) Instead of providing a graphical partitioning utility (like gparted), Slackware offers you fdisk (which is completely command-line-driven) and cfdisk.

3. You will have to learn how to use the command line.

Now it's time to get busy adding a regular user account and configuring the X server. There are two utilities you can use to configure X, "xorgconfig" and "xorgsetup". The former will prompt you to provide quite a bit of detail about your hardware; the payoff is an "xorg.conf" that's extremely well-commented (i.e. the purpose of each section is explained). The latter will do the configuration automagically, but leaves the comments out.

4. All those pretty effects of wobbly windows and cube desktops require some work from the user.

If you're planning on installing the proprietary NVIDIA driver, this is a good time to do it. If you installed everything, you'll already have the needed kernel source. Using "xorgsetup" is the better than using "xorgconfig" if you're going to install the NVIDIA driver. I chose to let the NVIDIA installer write its own entries to "xorg.conf" after running "xorgconfig", and it made a huge mess of the comments.

5. Yes, more hardware works with Linux than with Windows. No, not all hardware works 100% like it's supposed to.

(See #4)

6. If you need/want to install a package not included in the repositories, or install from source, you might need to do some research.

To help you compile programs from source, there's a utility named checkinstall. After running the standard "./configure" and "make" commands in your source directory, you run "checkinstall" instead of "make install", and it will create a Slackware package for you (and also install it, if you choose). See checkinstall's README file for more information. (Although checkinstall was included in the "/extra" directory of the Slackware installation media until the very last minute, it was removed due to some sort of incompatibility. As of this writing, a new version hasn't been released yet.)

7. Most mainstream software manufacturers forget about Linux.

My guess (by looking at my package logs) is that the entire Slackware distro proper consists of somewhere around 800 packages, give or take. (Contrast this with Debian's pool of around roughly 18,000 packages.)

8. Linux is not for the meek of heart.

Compiling from source can sometimes be frustrating, but that's usually the fault of the software developer. For example, Slackware includes a nice bittorrent client named "bittornado" in its "/extra" repository, but doesn't include wxPython, which you need to install in order to run bittornado in GUI mode.

9. Linux is almost entirely virus/trojan/spyware free, but you will still need some kind of protection.

The Slackware article makes no mention of virus/trojan/spyware so I am including the '10 Things' answer...

Protection for Linux usually means a firewall, either installed in your computer, or in a router/hardware firewall. This, of course, implies a little bit more work for the user.

10. Linux assumes that you are an intelligent person.
And then there's Slackware, which is more traditional. Slackware is the oldest surviving Linux distribution; its first version came out in 1993. Version 12 was recently released. As its Wikipedia entry notes, it's got a reputation for sacrificing ease-of-use (in terms of configuration and package management tools provided by the distribution) in favor of letting the end user configure the system and its software by herself.
If you want an easy-to-use Linux distribution that doesn't make you work too hard, Slackware might not be for you. On the other hand, if you want a distro that's quick to set up, and know how to configure it by hand (or aren't afraid of learning to), you might fall in love with Slackware. It's definitely an interesting way to learn how to use Linux. And it's definitely a way to get a stable server up and running in very little time.

So your only real choice is Slackware! And if you are not up for the challenge then please ... Don't even consider Linux!

New Perspectives in Psychology ...just not PC!

Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature

...(Excerpted)...

Human behavior is a product both of our innate human nature and of our individual experience and environment. In this article, however, we emphasize biological influences on human behavior, because most social scientists explain human behavior as if evolution stops at the neck and as if our behavior is a product almost entirely of environment and socialization. In contrast, evolutionary psychologists see human nature as a collection of psychological adaptations that often operate beneath conscious thinking to solve problems of survival and reproduction by predisposing us to think or feel in certain ways. Our preference for sweets and fats is an evolved psychological mechanism. We do not consciously choose to like sweets and fats; they just taste good to us.

The implications of some of the ideas in this article may seem immoral, contrary to our ideals, or offensive. We state them because they are true, supported by documented scientific evidence. Like it or not, human nature is simply not politically correct.

Emphasis mine...

It is about (explicative deleted) time that somebody called a spade a shovel!

My daughter is on mission...

Rosemary, my eldest daughter, is on a mission trip. I cannot say where, only that it is half the world away. She is acting upon her faith. I must act accordingly.

Rosemary is truly away from home. For the first time she is not within emergency driving distance of concerned parents who would come if she called. Though she is with a group of good people she is alone with her God. Alone she can turn only to prayer and faith. Alone she is her own person.

I learned long ago that the greatest gift that I can give my children is to leave them alone. This is not to say that I cease to exist. Rather that I, while being available, allow my children to make their own way in the world. To that end it is I who must have faith. Faith in the knowledge that my children, autonomous, are capable of meeting the world without my heavy hand resting gently on their shoulder.

I must have faith as well that what ever might befall my child(ren) is as it should be. Early in their lives I observed that I could not prevent them from falling off their bicycles. Short of banning bicycles there is no way to prevent the inevitable pull of the Law of Gravity. I realized that my children will suffer at the hands of the world. Let me be clear that I take absolutely no personal comfort or pleasure in this awareness for I too have fallen and have endured skinned elbows and road-rashed knees. I do have some small insight into the implications of 'taking things on faith'.

So it is upon faith that I place my fears and concerns. The mind is a fertile field. In it can grow any number of horrific scenarios. My responsibility is to sow the fields with the seeds of faith knowing that what grows is as it should be - not as I would have it.

I can hear the critics voices, echoing a classic concern, "What if your daughter does not return?" I would be heart broken. A light in my life will have been extinguished. Here the key words are 'my life'. Too often we mourn the loss of a loved one as though it were their responsibility, something that they 'did' to us, something that they 'took' from us. When in fact our loss is a selfish clinging to what we knew not what we know.

It is my daughter's faith that has taken her on mission. She has no real knowledge of God's plan. She can take no solace or succor in personal comfort. She will be challenged in all her senses. Even the very concept of faith that has empowered her to take this bold step will be challenged. She knows that her life and perhaps her death is in God's hands. Who then am I to argue with God? Who am I to question the outcome of my daughter's journey of faith?

If my daughter does not return then my heart will be broken. A far greater catastrophy would be to have my daughter return and learn that her faith had been broken. I would much rather have my daughter wrapped in the loving arms of her Lord than returned to me empty and broken.

I cannot prevent my children from falling off their bicycles... I can only stand by the side of the road and watch.

Bless you and keep you Rosemary where ever you may ride.

Love

- Papa

Curious juxtaposition

Here it is my intent to report a blog phenomena, to faithfully represent these posts as they were actually presented in my reader ... the presentation of two completely different bloggers in proximity to one another.

Great minds ... think!

thanks Frank
thanks Hugh

P.S. Notice their choice of tags.

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	Jul 7, 2007 (9 hours ago) Power, patronage, and popularity from Listics by Frank Paynter The historical situation that is being pointed to is one in which artists have ceased to be attached to some nobleman’s entourage and now form a “class” of their own, a group apart, so that their circle of acquaintance consists of other artists. No longer enjoying aristocratic patronage but unable to look to the bourgeois for comprehension… their poems can be dedicated only to each other. But two further points arise in this connection. First, to the extent that the traditional function of the dedication as a means of seeking “political” protection and hence as an acknowledgment of social power survives here in a new guise, the esthetic dedication reveals to us an interaction, in Baudelaire’s social environment, between the world of art and the world of the “majority” with its “strength” - a majority whose taste, as a consequence of its strength, is what determines artistic reputation. Baudelaire’s Dedicatory Practice Ross Chambers SubStance, Vol. 17, No. 2, Issue 56
	Add starShareEmail (Updated)Mark as readEdit tags: a_people

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	6:52 AM (1 hour ago) mean, mediocre from gapingvoid by hugh macleod
	Add starShareEmail (Updated)Mark as readEdit tags: a_people

We're mad as Dell and not gonna take Vista anymore...

My daddy didn't raise any fools and I am an only child. He said, "Boy, watch which way the money flows. Where it comes from and where it goes." Truer words were never spoken.

That is the very reason I read the Wall Street Journal if I can find one that isn't three days old or been used for wrapping fish. Say for example Joe Average invents a wonderous new technology for storing petabytes of data on the head of a pin. Long before you or I have a chance to see it the WSJ will report on whether Joe's idea will be funded for production. If it isn't then no matter how important the invention the technology will not flourish. (Disclaimer: I am sure that there have been exceptions to this premise. Please leave comments detailing them.)

If the WSJ is a good bellwether for new technology then CRN is the compass of existing technology. CRN are the folks who make a point of watching which way the money is going among the people who are in the existing technology business. Value-Added-Resellers, Technology Integrators, IT Consultants, and Solution Providers are all in the 'channel'. This channel is where the money flows.

All of that leads me to...

VARs Ripping And Replacing Vista For XP At Breakneck Pace

By Edward F. Moltzen, Steven Burke, CRN
6:01 PM EDT Fri. Jul. 06, 2007

Dell Computer isn't the only one warning clients of the pitfalls of moving to Microsoft's Vista operating system.

System builders and VARs, however, aren't just talking about it. They are are ripping the much ballyhooed operating system off desktops and notebooks at a breakneck pace because of the problems that come with moving clients to Vista.

...

"We are ripping it off systems 99 percent of the time," said Jay Tipton, vice president of Technology Specialists, a Fort Wayne, Ind., Microsoft Gold partner.

...

Technology Specialists won't even run the operating system internally on any of its production systems because Tipton does not want his technicians taking time out of their day to "debug Vista." The earliest Tipton sees that ripping and replacing ending is when Microsoft releases Service Pack 1 for Vista. "Hopefully at that time Microsoft will fix all the little gotchas that make the older software not work," said Tipton.

Glen Coffield, president of Smart Guys Computers, an Orlando, Fla.-based retail chain with six stores in central Florida, said his No. 1 service job right now is wiping Vista off sysetms and replacing it with Windows XP.

...

Coffield said that the biggest hurdles facing Vista are hardware and software compatibility issues. Clients don't want to replace all their hardware and software to move to Vista, he said.

...

The big question looming over the marketplace is what happens when Microsoft no longer allows big brand system makers and system builders from offering Windows XP?

"Customers won't buy PCs or they'll bootleg XP unless Microsoft does something to vendors and partners behind Vista," said Coffield. "It's not going to happen. People don't have to buy a new computer. They can get the one they have now fixed."

Sorry, this just has to be said...

Lucy?

Yes, Ricky?

Lucy, you 'splain somet'ing to me, ok?

What is it Ricky?

Lucy, why is it that this Paris Heeltone is guilty of being a deetz an' Lucy she has to serve her full sentence. Yes, Lucy?

That's right Ricky.

An' the guy who was found guilty of lying to the Federal Gov'mint, Meester Scooter Leebbee, he don' have to serve a day of his sentence? Lucy, you 'splain that to me, yes?

*Gulp* Welllllllll Ricky you see here in these United States anyone can come from an under-privileged hotel holding multi-millionaire family and get into trouble. But it takes crooked politicians to get you out of it.

No mo' ToDoCue ... sorry

Tried the Google/FireFox applet 'ToDoCue' hoping that it would serve as a 'ToDo' list that I could integrate into my G/FF Web 2.0 world. No bono ... looked good on the surface but a bit too quirky under the hood.

1. Repeatedly had to login even though 'Remember Password' was checked.
   
2. This is the deal breaker... repeatedly had to check the "Done" check box to make my ToDo items stay done. More over, had to check the done box for the same items on different platforms (with different OSs) - This may be the same problem with a different spin.

Ah well, back to the search for a suitable Web 2.0 ToDo list.

You have the right to remain...

Ludium 2, June 22-23, 2007

A DECLARATION OF VIRTUAL WORLD POLICY made by representatives of law, industry and academia, assembled in full and free convention as the first Synthetic Worlds Congress.

Whereas virtual worlds are places with untapped potential, providing new and positive experiences and effects, we resolve that:

1. A self-governance group of virtual world stakeholders should be formed.
2. A players’ bill of rights should be drafted and should include the right of free speech and the rights to assemble and organize.
   
3. A universal age verification system should be created to support the individual rights of all users.
   
4. Virtual world designers should have freedom of expression">Virtual world designers should have freedom of expression.
   
5. Virtual worlds should include plain-language End-User License Agreements (EULA) to enable all individuals to understand their rights.
   
6. There are different types of virtual worlds with different policy implications.
   
7. Access is critical to virtual worlds, so net neutrality must be maintained.
   
8. Game developers shall not be liable for the actions taken by players.
   
9. Fair use may apply in virtual worlds that enable amateur creation of original works.
   
10. The government should provide a comprehensive package of funding for educational games research, development, and literacy.

Meeting us on the other side

Peter Callesen

Caligraphy in the 21st Century

Tip of the cap to Virtual China