2015 archive
New Toy 0
I recently purchased a new desktop computer to replace my Dell Dimension 4700, which I purchased at Second Source, the only outfit I ever trusted to repair an out-of-warranty laptop, oh, seven or eight years ago.
I purchased it from Zareason because they let you pick the distro of your choice. Natch, I picked Slackware, the distro that doesn’t hold your hand, the distro of iron, the distro that always works and never breaks.
I have spent the last few days configuring it to my liking. Today, I expect to get Mutt working.
There was one problem: the optical drive did not work; the tray would not even open. (I have an old Memorex external that I have used for years; it worked fine with the Zareason, so I was able to access optical disks, so the thing was workable.)
I called Zareason, where a real live human being whose menu options have not recently changed answers the telly phone. In a few days, I received a new optical drive in the mail; I swapped it in yesterday morning and it works like a charm.
This is the third Zareason device I’ve purchased. If you want a box with the Linux distro of your choice, I recommend Zareason wholeheartedly. They build good boxes, and they stand behind them.
I started my career working in a complaint department. I learned to judge a business not on whether something never goes wrong–that is an impossible standard–but on how it responds when something goes wrong, because something can always go wrong. Zareason passes the test, and passes it big time.
Oh, the Dell? I gave it to a fellow TWUUG member. May he have as much fun with it as I did.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness must be demonstrated when there are children in the home.
The GBI is investigating the shooting death of a 3-year-old boy in Jefferson.
(snip)
Investigators determined the child accidentally discharged a handgun, shooting himself, according to the GBI. An autopsy will be performed at the GBI Crime Lab.
NRA paradise. It’s a thing.
Splintering Groups 0
Upyernoz thinks that the who-shot-john over Indiana’s “yes you can mistreat folks because they are gay” law indicates the Republican alliance is starting to splinter.
What has happened in Indiana in the past week shows that does not work anymore.
I hope he’s right, but I expect he’s being optimistic. One constant in American politics is that hate sells. Hate has been the means to fame, fortune, and influence for a flock of preachers and pols, and the market seems unsated.
Hate has sold in the past, it sells today, and it will sell tomorrow.
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Learn how to use computers to do what you want, not what someone else wants you to do.
It’s not hard; it’s just different.
What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting.
Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.
Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.
When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, April 2.
Directions:
Lake Taylor Hospital
1309 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502 (Map)
Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks)
Uno Chicago Grill
Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (Janaf Shopping Center). (Map)
An Upsidedown Cake 2
Writing about Indiana’s recent decision to give legislative sanction to sanctimonious bigots, Emily Mills wonders what would happen if the cake were turned upside down (emphasis added).
That’s the biggest problem with laws like this one. The people who write them do so with an intensely myopic view of the scope, one focused almost solely on their own personal pet peeves, instead of seeing the way it could be applied right back at them. Say a gay couple owns a bakery, and decides they don’t want to serve the Republican couple that comes in to have a wedding cake made. The proprietors could claim that serving Republicans violates their own religious beliefs. Turnabout is fair play. Except when it’s not.
Smackdown! 0
Chauncey Devega wins the belt.
Metamorphosis 0
The right-wing has changed “freedom from discrimination” into “freedom to discriminate.” Quite clever, really, in all its vileness.
Via Raw Story.
Everybody Must Get Fracked 0
In Williston, North Dakota, the fracking “boom” has bust (as anyone other than the local Babbits knew it would).
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness is essential to rearing our young effectively.
The shooting occurred on Riverbend Road Saturday afternoon and is still being investigated at this time as a tragic accident.
The story does not indicate whether the child was practicing politeness on her own or in the company of others.
Flagging Interest 0
This news item shall certainly incite rabid wingnuttery:
Never mind that the U. S. Flag Code forbids wearing the U. S. Flag (see the complete Flag Code at the link–those who stridently claim to revere the flag and the republic for which it stands might do well to read and abide by it):
I reckon that, in Wingnut World, disrespect is the highest form of respect.
Or something.
The Snaring Economy 0
Steve Hill, writing on behalf of the Eugene, Oregon, taxicab industry, gets to the kernel of the Uber scam: it has nothing to do with sharing and everything to do with facilitating gypsy cabs. Here’s the telling bit of his column.
Speaking of Crazy . . . 0
. . . you ain’t seen nothing yet.
What could be better than a bunch of drunk frat brothers packing heat?
Cruzing through the Crazy 3
Aside:
As someone who lives near a golf course, I must admit that my opinion of George Soros just notched up.
Also, would Agenda 21 sound so scary if it didn’t have a name like a bad Tom Cruise movie?
Backsies 0
Steven D, considering what right-wingers mean when they say, “I want my country back,” recalls an incident from his growing up:
I’ve a similar story, which I’ve told before, but shall tell again.
When I was about ten, my mother, brother, and I were taking the bus to visit my grandmother in South Carolina, several years before the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. During a short stop in Raleigh, North Carolina, I walked into the the wrong waiting room–the “colored” waiting room. Conversation stopped; everyone looked at me.
I have never before or since felt so out-of-place and alone.
When the right says, “I want my country back,” what it demands is the ability to inflict that same feeling–the alone-ness, the out-of-placed-ness–on everyone, anyone, just because they can.
Follow the link and read Steven D’s entire post.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
(Link fixed.)
The polite ensure that they are adjusted well.
It’s about Time 0
Does anyone still read Time Magazine and, if so, why?
Still Rising Again after All the Years 0
Pap interviews Chauncey Devega and the racist debt peonage system in Ferguson, Mo. (and other places).
Via We Are Respectable Negroes.