September, 2011 archive
Wubi: Ubuntu for the Linux-Curious (Updated) 1
Wubi is the Windows Ubuntu Installer; it installs a stripped-down Ubuntu Linux in a container on a Windows system. Instead of installing a full office suite, for example, it installs a word processor and a spreadsheet application.
You need not repartition the hard drive or touch your Windows installation. Instead, Wubi creates a “virtual” hard drive in a container on the actual hard drive.
I started playing with it a couple of days ago and am typing this under Wubi. I wanted to verify that all the hardware in this here XP box would work fine with Linux, because I’m considering Linux-fying it, since I have a newer Windows machine at my disposal.* (Linux hardware issues are rare these days, but they can still happen, primarily with a couple of brands of wireless chipsets, some USB network adapters, and certain brands of printers: Lexmarks and Canons are notoriously cranky with Linux; HPs and Epsons usually work smoothly.).
If you are curious about Linux, but don’t have a spare computer to throw it on, aren’t ready to make a complete switch, or are hesitant about setting up dual-boot, Wubi will satisfy your curiosity.
Facebook Frolics 0
“Here’s looking at you,” writes Ed Chen at Science 2.0:
He goes on to describe several techniques for following your followers.
QOTD 0
Leo Tolstoy, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
History would be a wonderful thing–if it were only true.
Go Phillies 0
Clinch.
Phillies clinch fifth straight NL East title with win over Cardinals
And in this part of the world, what we get on the telly vision is the Washington Senators Nationals, who are first in war, first in peace, and last in the American National League, and the Baltimore Starlings, who used to play in the Bigs and are now struggling to get to Williamsport.
Afterthought, Corrupt and Contented Dept.:
There were five college football games on the telly vision today.
But no discussion of which college violated the most NCAA rules.
The Candidates Debate 0
Daniel Ruth of the St. Petersburg Times reports on his experiences observing the teabaggery at the recent CNN Republican candidates sideshow. A nugget:
But wait, it only gets more loopy.
At one point, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman suggested Texas Gov. Rick Perry was flirting with treason simply because Perry believes trying to build a 1,200-mile fence along the border is a crazy idea. Now Perry may very well possess the intellectual firepower of a Lhasa apso, but opposing a border fence for pragmatic reasons hardly rises to the level of becoming the Lord Haw Haw of the Rio Grande.
Later in the spin room, even Huntsman’s spinners were flummoxed over the treason allegation. When the best explanation your surrogates can come up with is “Beats me,” it might suggest the campaign is getting close to toe-tag status.
“Loopy” would seem to be an understatement.
Finding Felines 0
At the Guardian, Paul Mcinness considers the adventures of Willow, the Wandering Cat, and what they might indicate about cat-kind:
It is a delightful little piece of fluff to brighten your day.
He wouldn’t be writing it with such a light heart if he know what cats really do when they disappear for a time.
Lies, Damned Lies, and Michelle Bachmann 0
Michelle Bachmann’s lies about the HPV vaccine have been amptly reported. The best analysis I’ve seen is Dick Polman’s. Here’s a snippet:
To which Bachmann replied: “I have no idea…I’m not a doctor, I’m not a scientist, I’m not a physician,. All I was doing is reporting what this woman told me.”
I have no idea…There it is. On a family public health issue, Bachmann admits she doesn’t know what she’s talking about, and thinks it’s fine to recycle stuff that she hasn’t checked out.
One more time, wingnuts will say whatever they need to say to make a sale. Truth and facts are irrelevant in their world.
Care Package 0
Shaun Mullen could care less.
QOTD 0
Walter Winchell, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
An optimist is someone who gets treed by a lion but enjoys the scenery.
Update from the Foreclosure-Based Economy 0
Maybe this has something to do with why Georgia leads the list in failed banks:
Blinders. Also, Gags. 0
Last night, I was at a function which turned out to have much smaller attendance than normal.
There were six of us, three white folks and three black folks, though mostly five persons were present at a time because persons came and went. So we had one of those lively interesting delightful conversations that cannot happen in a group of 15 to 20, the typical size of the gathering.
The conversation turned to the racism that floats freely in our society. Everyone had stories, some appalling, some quite nice.
The racism is there, all the time, everywhere (though not in everybody), lurking just under the surface of day-to-day life in America. You have only to open your eyes to see it.
Meanwhile, over at Balloon Juice, there seems to have been a kerfuffle about several somethings ABL posted. John Cole, the proprietor of the site, has stepped in regarding that, but what John Cole said could apply everywhere, not just at his own not-so-little blog.
As I have mentioned before, the reason we don’t “have a conversation about race” in America is because white folks don’t want to talk about it. Everyone else is willing to “have a conversation” (God, how I hate that overblown pretentious phrase!), but it would force white folks to face up to what white folks have done, so they ain’t talkin’.
So, what John Cole said.
On False Prophets 0
My friend called my attention to this. I had read about it, but it had not registered in my small mind.
Robertson, chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network and former Republican presidential candidate, said he wouldn’t “put a guilt trip” on someone for divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer’s disease, calling Alzheimer’s itself “a kind of death.”
My mother suffers from advanced Alzheimer’s.
My father nourished her until he died, one month short of their 60th anniversary.
When I visit her, it is a gesture, for my mother is no longer present, except in a ghostly way. There is no one home in the house of her body.
Visiting her is something I do, sometimes reluctantly, because it is duty, for visits are painful and empty.
My father showed me through example that to do your duty is the highest calling–to do what you should do because it is right.
I consider myself Christian–one of those Christians who bases his beliefs and who tries to base his actions on the teachings of Jesus, not on the teachings of the Book of Leviticus.
Pat Robertson does not live in the world my father graced.
I do not want to live in Pat Robertson’s world.
Misdirection Plays, Reprise 0
The Republican fuss over social security has one goal and one goal only: Using the social security fund to fund Wall Street’s gambling ambition.
Everything else is smoke and mirrors.
Tricked by Trickle Down 0
Republican economic theory does exactly the opposite of what Republicans say it does.
Thom Hartmann explains:
Key quote:
You can’t build an economy and a nation if the only thing you are producing is derivatives.
