Geek Stuff category archive
Geeking Out 0
Fluxbox on Slackware —Current with qmmp playing The Abandoned Room, the GKrellM usage monitor (bottom right), and (shaded) Terminator and Firefox on my new-to-me Gateway monitor that I picked up for 15 bucks at the local DAV thrift store.
(The wallpaper automatically changes every 30 minutes because I wrote a script. I do like my pretty pictures.)
The Hottest Thing in Tech 0
Click to see the image at its original location.
Rumor is that Samsung’s new model will be the “Samsung Nova.” Initial reports are that it’s a blast to use.
Hack Reporting 0
El Reg interviews breach expert Troy Hunt, who is skeptical of the spate of reports of government-sponsored data breaches. A snippet (emphasis added):
“Blaming state hackers has become like a ‘dog ate my homework’ excuse,” he added.
El Reg caught up with Hunt for 30 minutes shortly after he spoke about data breaches and other matters at the ScotSoft conference in Edinburgh on Thursday.
He said that large datasets such as the LinkedIn cache were commonly dumped online by hackers when when they are “no longer profitable to sell”. There are exceptions to this rule such as Ashley Madison, where hackers immediately leaked the purloined data as wide as possible in an effort to embarrass and pressurise the business.
Details at the link.
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. 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, October 6.
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)
Join the forums.
Geeking Out 0
A week ago, one of my UPS’s died. It was getting on to 10 years old, so I can’t complain, though it maliciously chose to beep its way out of existence in the wee hours, sending me crawling about in the dark to find from whence comes that )*#)*##a$&% beeping. . . .
One of the computers attached to it survived without incident. On the other, a Lenovo graphics tablet configured to dual-boot Windows 7 and Mageia 5, it took out Mageia, which was the running operating system at the time. I decided to throw Debian on the machine, as I quite like Debian and had mastered Mageia; plus I wasn’t in the mood to troubleshoot the system (it would boot, but only to the emergency repair terminal).
I installed Debian with MATE and KDE (I’m not a big fan of the KDE desktop interface–too many flashing lights and sounding cymbals–but I generally prefer KDE applications over their Gnome equivalents. Yesterday, I did some basic configuration. Today, I installed and fine-tuned E17, which will be my primary desktop interface on this machine.
Geeking Out 0
Surfing the web with w3m in the Konsole terminal emulator under the Enlightenment desktop on Linux Mint 17.
Do You Sue Yahoo?
0
According to El Reg, a prime motivating factor for the suit was Yahoo’s waiting almost two years to notify users of the theft.
The Snaring Economy 0
One more time, Uber and Lyft are nothing more than gypsy cabs with cellphones.
Facebook Frolics 0
Conspicuous consumption frolics:
(snip)
But often, there’s something deeper going on: “We are socially comparative creatures by nature,” says psychologist and author Nancy Irwin. And the use of social media makes comparisons to others just a scroll or a click away: “Social media can be the modern day version of ‘Keeping up with the Joneses,’” she says, and some people “feel inferior if someone they know has a shinier or bigger toy than they do.”
Droning On 0
How is this not biological warfare?
