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Feb 8, 2004
By | Posted at 12:50:0
Well, after a really hectic week that culminated in a either a cold or a very mild case of the flu (might be — I had a flu shot, which should be worth something!), I'm back. Whew.
So, if you thought I must have fallen off into a bottomless pit, never fear.
Unfortunately, it does look like I missed blogger idol this week. Maybe I'll do last weeks along with the new one for this upcoming week. I also have failed to pick my favorites from past weeks. I'll hopefully do all that in the next few days.
In the mean time, I'm going to be a bit busy after hours this week. My pastor's Windows ME-powered laptop has data corruption that just happened to strike the area where c:\windows\system should have been (if it impacts any other directories is beyond me, I know c:\ and c:\windows\command are good). ScanDisk can't seem to handle whatever is wrong.
I'm going to try booting the system up with Knoppix (Linux live CD) to see if I can salvage his data tomorrow. I suggested, and he sounded interested, in moving to GNU/Linux after that. So the plan is to format the drive, install Fedora Core 1 and install a copy of Win4Lin using the church's extra Windows 98 license as the Win4Lin virtualized OS, thus letting him run TurboTax, etc., in a “sandbox” inside GNU/Linux. This should be interesting!
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Jan 30, 2004
By | Posted at 18:38:53
I, like Pressed, watched the Democratic Debate on January 22. I love debates, and this one was pretty good — although not as exciting as when the candidates are on opposite sides of the aisle. Since Pressed already gave a nice summary of each candidate in the post linked above, I'll just hit the high spots on who I thought won, etc. (This was originally written mostly on the 22nd, but I didn't have time to finish it, so here I am.)
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Jan 27, 2004
By | Posted at 18:19:24
Have you ever thought about your computer and freedom in the same thought? Have you ever thought about all of those licenses — contracts — you have to agree to just to get to your information, documents, and so on? If so, you may begin to understand why the Free Software movement works the way it does.
Imagine this scenario: a large corporation that provides software for creating letters, spreadsheets, and other documents might decide to patent its format and prevent you from opening your own documents in any tool other than their own. Sound far fetched?
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Jan 24, 2004
By | Posted at 18:58:37
Open for Business launched a new site today. Here's the announcement:
Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the Apple Macintosh computer.While the original Mac is certainly meager by today's standards, thereare few that would argue against its revolutionary status in the earlyyears of personal computing. In commemoration of that event, today alsomarks the launch of OfB MacFor.Biz, the new section of Open for Businessthat will cover the Mac in much the same way OfB covers GNU/Linux andBSD. In this premier piece, we will examine the latest Mac OS X, 10.3”Panther,” on two separate generations of Macintosh systems. Read more at MacFor.Biz.
Not much there yet, but more will be coming. Traditional OfB content will be moving to LinuxFor.Biz, and OfB.biz will have everything that gets posted to both sites.
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Jan 22, 2004
By | Posted at 14:24:33
A southern Baptist minister was completing a temperance sermon.
With great emphasis he said, “If I had all the beer in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river. “With even greater emphasis he said, ” And if I had all the wine in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river.” And then finally, shaking his fist in the air, he said, “And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river.”
Sermon complete, he then sat down. The song leader stood very cautiously and announced with a smile, “For our closing song, let us sing Hymn #365, Shall We Gather at the River.”
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Jan 21, 2004
By | Posted at 20:24:31
No one would even begin to consider me sympathetic to Rep. Gephardt's campaign. I have been disappointed with his 90% (or so) absence from congress over the last year as well. But, I can't help but feel sorry for him now that his presidential bid is over. This morning's Post-Dispatch had a large picture, on the front page, of Gephardt trying to keep his composure during his speech yesterday — the photo reflect the same pain you could tell he felt listening to him yesterday.
I listened to the speech on the radio, but I could tell how hard it was on him even just listening. With the campaign over and a life of political ambitions coming to a close, a certain sad sincerity seemed to come from the veteran representative of the Missouri 3rd district. Yes, I disagree with him on most of the major issues, but he is still a fellow human being, and yesterday, he was no longer simply a person guarded behind the usual politispeak. He was Dick Gephardt, fellow American.
If only politics didn't require politicians, to be, well, politicians, and instead be more like Gephardt was yesterday, I'm certain that we would be better off. I'm not sorry to see Gephardt's politics go after this congress, but I am sad to see the potential of what might have been, as well as the sadness of seeing his aspirations crushed.
Thank-you for that sincerity, Mr. Gephardt — it did not go unnoticed.
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Jan 20, 2004
By | Posted at 18:8:42
President Bush tonight offered yet another excellent State of the Union address, perhaps his best. The address, the 215th of the United States, covered all of the important bases and offered common sense solutions to almost all of the major issues. While I have disagreed with some of the president's actions, it is hard to deny he is a go-getter who is committed to the goals he promises to aim for and, by and large, Americans want. In this address, the president continued to show his visionary leadership by proposing many short and long term goals both domestically and internationally. My highlights (off the top of my head as I watch the address for the second time) are below.
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Jan 19, 2004
By | Posted at 16:41:36
Iowa Caucuses for the Democratic presidential nomination are wrapping up. According to CNN, over 90% of precincts are now reporting. As it stands, John Kerry (D-Mass) is nabbing 38% of the caucus votes.
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By | Posted at 16:24:19
I signed up to participate in Darren's “Blogger Idol,” but at first, I wasn't sure what to do with the first topical assignment. I'm not really much of a fan of the 1980's, you see, and that is what the topic is for this week. But, I figured out a very appropriate post, especially considering this is 2004 and the item of interest happened in 1984, just one week from today.
Best. Commercial. Ever.
Yeah, perhaps it takes a somewhat cheesy mind to decide to use this as an opportunity to talk about an advertisement, but
what an advertisement! If you have not already figured out what commercial, let me give you a hint and see if you can guess it - leave in the comments whether you did (don't cheat and look below first).
“Our enemies shall talk themselves to death and we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!”
Still not sure what it is? Okay, I'll help some more. Here's the ending of the commercial - this should be a dead giveaway to most folks who either watch TV or are into computers:
“On January 24, ____ ____ will introduce the _____. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like '1984.'” Read more...
Jan 17, 2004
By | Posted at 18:52:23
“Imagine the following scenario: 'OK, ad people. We want you to sell this really cool technology that's going to change the world. But it's not really our product. You can't hold it. You can't see it. And, um, there's no way to take a picture of it or even really show what it is. Oh, did we mention that the future of our $80 billion company depends on it? Thanks.'”
That's how an article on IBM and Linux begins. Find out what Thomas Mucha is talking about in this Business 2.0 article.
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