Well all, I'll see you on the flipside.
This is the last Blogger.com blog I'm doing, as I'm moving to a WordPress blog on my own site.
This is also the only blogger only blog I have, as I have imported all the old ones from here to the new one for future viewer perusal.
Later, Blogger.
Saturday, 7 March 2009
Friday, 6 March 2009
Oklahoma! (More censorship_
As an atheist, a liberal, and someone against censorship, I think that fair and balanced viewpoints are important.
According to this site, however, Mr Thomsen, state representative for Oklahoma, has taken it upon himself to try and block Richard Dawkins from speaking at Oklahoma University.
I'll save myself repeating what I said to him, and just copy/paste the email:
Your opinions on this?
Even if you are not a fan of Richard Dawkins (hell, I know plenty atheists who aren't, never mind theists!) I would encourage you to contact Mr. Thomsen about this matter, especially if you are an Oklahoma resident.
As a final note, I would also like to say that the strength of the title of my last post was neutered by Blogger. It was intended to say "Censorship is bull[censored]" but I used < > tags (like "Bull < censored>") and It must have treated it as html tags, lol.
According to this site, however, Mr Thomsen, state representative for Oklahoma, has taken it upon himself to try and block Richard Dawkins from speaking at Oklahoma University.
I'll save myself repeating what I said to him, and just copy/paste the email:
From: "Michael Douglas"
Subject: Richard Dawkins
Date: Fri, March 6, 2009 5:31 pm
To: todd.thomsen@okhouse.gov
Hello Mr. Thomsen,
It has recently come to my attention that you intend to block Mr.
Richard Dawkins from speaking at Oklahoma University and I am shocked
that this could actually be considered.
Whenever it comes to speaking on a subject where one or both the sides
are so emphatic about their side, you need to make sure you have the
best speakers possible, and Dawkins is undeniably one of the best
speakers you could find to talk about Evolution and about Atheism. He
has done extensive research into both Atheism/Evolution and into
Theism/Creationism, and he is an eloquent, powerful speaker.
I'm afraid the only reason I can think of for you not wanting him to
speak is in case too many people see things his way after his visit, and
I can understand why you would want to avoid this, but that would be a
very bad example of censorship. Censorship should only be used in
certain extreme situations such as child pornography or extreme violence
depictions, not in a case of something where it should be up to an
individual to decide what he or she believes.
I look forward to any correspondence you may or may not send, and I have
encouraged a number of people at my University to also send some emails,
though they may not spend their time.
I strongly encourage you to listen to all correspondence your recieve on
this situation, and to look to any news stories online about it, such as
the one I heard about this from, so you can make the correct decision: a
balanced and fair one for everyone involved.
Thank you for your time,
Michael Douglas
Your opinions on this?
Even if you are not a fan of Richard Dawkins (hell, I know plenty atheists who aren't, never mind theists!) I would encourage you to contact Mr. Thomsen about this matter, especially if you are an Oklahoma resident.
As a final note, I would also like to say that the strength of the title of my last post was neutered by Blogger. It was intended to say "Censorship is bull[censored]" but I used < > tags (like "Bull < censored>") and It must have treated it as html tags, lol.
Censorship is Bull
I was using Stumbleupon, as I have been known to do (username: mehalld) and I found this site with a great video telling people about censorship online just now.
It's not just those mentioned either, as Australia is trying to implement a filtering service which would be the largest in the world, bar the Great Firewall of China, and New Zealand is trying to pass extreme "guilty upon accusation" legislation, Italy has blocked The Pirate Bay (though granted, they had another site up for Italians inside of something like an hour.)
Comcast has been in trouble for throttling the speeds of P2P users, and the stories of more ISPs throttling continues.
The Only good news I have heard recently for net neutrality is that Obama has appointed a net neutrality advocate to the FCC (though he needs approved first.)
People need to realise that if the highest level of net neutrality possible isn't maintained, then it is far too easy for even a liberal country like the UK, the US, or even Sweden to end up, 50, a hundred years down the line, with something that would make the Great Firewall look pitiful.
If a government can try to get away with suppressing information, they inevitably will, since it makes their jobs so much easier.
Gah, this was just supposed to be a quick blog, but I've ended up ranting on again, lol.
Just a quick reminder in case anyone actually reads this;
My Twitter Profile
My Identi.ca Profile
My Site
My Bebo Profile
My Myspace Profile
If you're looking for me on anything else (or are wanting my email address) drop a comment.
It's not just those mentioned either, as Australia is trying to implement a filtering service which would be the largest in the world, bar the Great Firewall of China, and New Zealand is trying to pass extreme "guilty upon accusation" legislation, Italy has blocked The Pirate Bay (though granted, they had another site up for Italians inside of something like an hour.)
Comcast has been in trouble for throttling the speeds of P2P users, and the stories of more ISPs throttling continues.
The Only good news I have heard recently for net neutrality is that Obama has appointed a net neutrality advocate to the FCC (though he needs approved first.)
People need to realise that if the highest level of net neutrality possible isn't maintained, then it is far too easy for even a liberal country like the UK, the US, or even Sweden to end up, 50, a hundred years down the line, with something that would make the Great Firewall look pitiful.
If a government can try to get away with suppressing information, they inevitably will, since it makes their jobs so much easier.
Gah, this was just supposed to be a quick blog, but I've ended up ranting on again, lol.
Just a quick reminder in case anyone actually reads this;
My Twitter Profile
My Identi.ca Profile
My Site
My Bebo Profile
My Myspace Profile
If you're looking for me on anything else (or are wanting my email address) drop a comment.
Monday, 2 March 2009
Sony, Sony, Sony.... *shakes head*
Sony has admitted that the PS3 is hard to code for. Not only this, but they designed it that way.
It's part of their plan for the PS3 to be a ten-year console.
A direct quote from the Official Playstation magazine by Kaz Hirai, the CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment says: "We don't provide the 'easy to program for' console that (developers) want, because 'easy to program for' means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so then the question is, what do you do for the rest of the nine-and-a-half years?"
The PS3 has been struggling behind the XBox 360 since before it even launched (something to the tune of 8 million less units sold) yet they insist on making things HARDER for developers to develop for? Sony seem to be doing everything they can to make the PS3 fail, and the more worrying this is that it isn't working. They did this with the PSP as well, but the damned things just won't die off.
Anyway, lets look at this from simple terms, in that there are two PS3 exclusive games you'd really want to own: Metal Gear Solid 4, and Little Big Planet.
First, MGS4. I think it was a HORRID decision by Hideo Kojima to have that game only on PS3. He didn't make a game, he made half a game and half a blu-ray movie, and that's why it's on the PS3: blu-ray discs, so more storage for all the FMV.
If you cut that game back to more gameplay, less footage, and better levels, you could easily have it on all three consoles yet, even with Solid Snake appearing originally on Nintendo consoles and making his return to them with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Kojima didn't let Snake come full circle for his final outing, when it would have benefited everyone involved had he done so.
Now, Little Big Planet. Little Big Planet (LBP) seems to go against this Sony theory of "make it hard to use, and hard for anyone to get" in the most major way. (See: The Onion on Sony NSFW)
LBP has tons of user made maps, many of which are ridiculously involved and made with the same tools as were originally used to make the levels for the main game. Anyone can make a map and upload it to the web.
LBP is the main selling point for the PS3 right now, and it's the only lasing content they have right now, despite wanting to be able to have people using and buying PS3 games for the next 9 years. I see problems with this...
I will admit, I have been stung by Sony.I got, one Christmas, the Sony NWA-3000 20GB mp3 player, which was one of the first with an OLED display. It's the model where, if the screen is off, you can;t see there is a screen there, and it does look damn cool. Except for the part where it lasted under a year, yet I know 3 people who bought them almost a year later (around July, September and October for the three) and all there's still work fine, yet mine and another friend who got his at the same time as me both have non-working product.
I never bothered asking Sony for a refund/replacement etc, because the things were so shoddily made that I had caused accidental damage in daily use, which is obviously a way for them to escape their responsibilities under the warranty.
My only advice is this: Sony make everything hard for themselves, and their customers, and always give a good number of months after release before buying a Sony product (Sony Ericsson phones generally excluded from the rule thankfully) since there is a high likelihood it won't work for very long, and there will be little support since they will release a new version with half the battery life and twice the features you never use inside of a year.
On a brighter note, It's becoming more and more likely they WILL be pushing out USB3 onto their laptops faster than expected, though still not till February/March time 2010 (which, in Sony time, means they'll rush it out for the xmas release the year AFTER it's expected, so hopefully Novemeber 2010, when Asus will already have managed to get it affordable into a EEE series computer)
It's part of their plan for the PS3 to be a ten-year console.
A direct quote from the Official Playstation magazine by Kaz Hirai, the CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment says: "We don't provide the 'easy to program for' console that (developers) want, because 'easy to program for' means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so then the question is, what do you do for the rest of the nine-and-a-half years?"
The PS3 has been struggling behind the XBox 360 since before it even launched (something to the tune of 8 million less units sold) yet they insist on making things HARDER for developers to develop for? Sony seem to be doing everything they can to make the PS3 fail, and the more worrying this is that it isn't working. They did this with the PSP as well, but the damned things just won't die off.
Anyway, lets look at this from simple terms, in that there are two PS3 exclusive games you'd really want to own: Metal Gear Solid 4, and Little Big Planet.
First, MGS4. I think it was a HORRID decision by Hideo Kojima to have that game only on PS3. He didn't make a game, he made half a game and half a blu-ray movie, and that's why it's on the PS3: blu-ray discs, so more storage for all the FMV.
If you cut that game back to more gameplay, less footage, and better levels, you could easily have it on all three consoles yet, even with Solid Snake appearing originally on Nintendo consoles and making his return to them with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Kojima didn't let Snake come full circle for his final outing, when it would have benefited everyone involved had he done so.
Now, Little Big Planet. Little Big Planet (LBP) seems to go against this Sony theory of "make it hard to use, and hard for anyone to get" in the most major way. (See: The Onion on Sony NSFW)
LBP has tons of user made maps, many of which are ridiculously involved and made with the same tools as were originally used to make the levels for the main game. Anyone can make a map and upload it to the web.
LBP is the main selling point for the PS3 right now, and it's the only lasing content they have right now, despite wanting to be able to have people using and buying PS3 games for the next 9 years. I see problems with this...
I will admit, I have been stung by Sony.I got, one Christmas, the Sony NWA-3000 20GB mp3 player, which was one of the first with an OLED display. It's the model where, if the screen is off, you can;t see there is a screen there, and it does look damn cool. Except for the part where it lasted under a year, yet I know 3 people who bought them almost a year later (around July, September and October for the three) and all there's still work fine, yet mine and another friend who got his at the same time as me both have non-working product.
I never bothered asking Sony for a refund/replacement etc, because the things were so shoddily made that I had caused accidental damage in daily use, which is obviously a way for them to escape their responsibilities under the warranty.
My only advice is this: Sony make everything hard for themselves, and their customers, and always give a good number of months after release before buying a Sony product (Sony Ericsson phones generally excluded from the rule thankfully) since there is a high likelihood it won't work for very long, and there will be little support since they will release a new version with half the battery life and twice the features you never use inside of a year.
On a brighter note, It's becoming more and more likely they WILL be pushing out USB3 onto their laptops faster than expected, though still not till February/March time 2010 (which, in Sony time, means they'll rush it out for the xmas release the year AFTER it's expected, so hopefully Novemeber 2010, when Asus will already have managed to get it affordable into a EEE series computer)
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Java
I have, after a year and a half, FINALLY understood how Java works.
Know what my problem has been? I have been trying to get away from the VB.net way of thinking, but Java is more like VB than it is like C or anything else.
Granted, there's a fair amount of stuff in Java which is as far from VB as possible, and Java doesn't have the nice, simple, "wysiwig" editor for the gui's (admit it, you want a VB style IDE for Java) but a lot of it is the same. (Button in VB is like an object in java, and both have methods inside the overall program they can utilise, etc, etc.)
FINALLY I understand.
Now to play TF2 for a bit, and return to Java later.
Know what my problem has been? I have been trying to get away from the VB.net way of thinking, but Java is more like VB than it is like C or anything else.
Granted, there's a fair amount of stuff in Java which is as far from VB as possible, and Java doesn't have the nice, simple, "wysiwig" editor for the gui's (admit it, you want a VB style IDE for Java) but a lot of it is the same. (Button in VB is like an object in java, and both have methods inside the overall program they can utilise, etc, etc.)
FINALLY I understand.
Now to play TF2 for a bit, and return to Java later.
Friday, 20 February 2009
More Problems on the Net
First, we had "Spectrial", the trial of the Pirate Bay and the Internet Blackout movement against the New Zealand s92a (read about both here)
Now?
DHCP Bill on CNN
Read it, then come back?
Right.
Every single broadband user is using at least one DHCP server. If you have wireless broadband, or even if you have wired, chances are you have a DHCP server, Because your Router does that for you.
A DHCP server is what gives your computer an IP address, so that it knows how to send things to you. (just like your street address is used to send your mail to you)
DHCP is a dynamic IP addressing system. it's what stops us all having to tell our computers what IP address to use.
Most every home user, most every hotel, pub, bar, coffee shop, McDonald's and even some buses and subways (it's being brought in over here soon) have wireless internet and, ergo, DHCP.
Most routers don't HAVE the functionality to keep logs of every connection. They have no memory space, so they aren't designed with the function in mind.
This bill is a horrid invasion of privacy, a massive cost to everyone, since they would be forced to get new routers and, worst of it all, anyone who doesn;t want to keep the logs could:
a) delete them.
b) keep their old router with no logging functionality
or
c) Replace the firmware on their new router with one where they either don't log or where it only logs certain events/certain time frames.
this is RIDICULOUSLY easy to circumvent, and a horrid waste of money.
I encourage all US citizens to fire off a quick email saying you're not happy with this to your senator.
It won't take more than 5mins tops, and you'll have done something for democracy and freedom.
Now?
DHCP Bill on CNN
Read it, then come back?
Right.
Every single broadband user is using at least one DHCP server. If you have wireless broadband, or even if you have wired, chances are you have a DHCP server, Because your Router does that for you.
A DHCP server is what gives your computer an IP address, so that it knows how to send things to you. (just like your street address is used to send your mail to you)
DHCP is a dynamic IP addressing system. it's what stops us all having to tell our computers what IP address to use.
Most every home user, most every hotel, pub, bar, coffee shop, McDonald's and even some buses and subways (it's being brought in over here soon) have wireless internet and, ergo, DHCP.
Most routers don't HAVE the functionality to keep logs of every connection. They have no memory space, so they aren't designed with the function in mind.
This bill is a horrid invasion of privacy, a massive cost to everyone, since they would be forced to get new routers and, worst of it all, anyone who doesn;t want to keep the logs could:
a) delete them.
b) keep their old router with no logging functionality
or
c) Replace the firmware on their new router with one where they either don't log or where it only logs certain events/certain time frames.
this is RIDICULOUSLY easy to circumvent, and a horrid waste of money.
I encourage all US citizens to fire off a quick email saying you're not happy with this to your senator.
It won't take more than 5mins tops, and you'll have done something for democracy and freedom.
Thursday, 19 February 2009
"Democracy is the worst form of government we have,
except for all the others" - Winston Churchill.
Today, democracy lost out against reason and better judgement.
Let me first say that I choose no side in Israel vs. Palestine.
Let me now continue to say that BAE systems, one of THE biggest companies in the world are now under-threat from having their connections with my university severed due to politics and publicity.
The democratic system can be abused in several ways. One of which is to make only those who support your position present for an important decision.
BAE Systems sponsors many people through their degree at Strathclyde, yet expect nothing in return. There is no obligation to work for BAE when you graduate, they merely wish to ensure those with a passion for engineering and science have the chance to study these hard subjects, and be able to dedicate the time to them.
BAE Systems, and all other companies involved in ANY of the arms trade are now to be pressured out of the university, regardless of the personal beliefs of those students actively involved with it: the engineers. None of the people who voted for this proposal are affected directly by the involvement of any of these companies with the university, and next they are trying to make that one of the things the Union does. They personally only care about the arms companies financing the Israelites. They care not about any who fund Palestine/Hammas, and they are using this as an attempt to make their side win out.
They are having a candidate stand for election for The President of my students association, even though the Union is allowed no political association. And with good reason: we have Labour, Conservative, Socialists and Lib Dems. The aim of the Union is to do what they can for every student, regardless of his or her individual beliefs, not to try to be a political organisation towards one direction or another.
Yes, democracy is the best, but only because the other options are abysmal.
Today I saw democracy "working", and I am not happy. thankfully, their candidate won't win, because he won't even take charge of his club, never mind taking charge of an organisation with tens of thousands of members.
It's the point of the matter.....
Gahhhh /story-of-my-day
Today, democracy lost out against reason and better judgement.
Let me first say that I choose no side in Israel vs. Palestine.
Let me now continue to say that BAE systems, one of THE biggest companies in the world are now under-threat from having their connections with my university severed due to politics and publicity.
The democratic system can be abused in several ways. One of which is to make only those who support your position present for an important decision.
BAE Systems sponsors many people through their degree at Strathclyde, yet expect nothing in return. There is no obligation to work for BAE when you graduate, they merely wish to ensure those with a passion for engineering and science have the chance to study these hard subjects, and be able to dedicate the time to them.
BAE Systems, and all other companies involved in ANY of the arms trade are now to be pressured out of the university, regardless of the personal beliefs of those students actively involved with it: the engineers. None of the people who voted for this proposal are affected directly by the involvement of any of these companies with the university, and next they are trying to make that one of the things the Union does. They personally only care about the arms companies financing the Israelites. They care not about any who fund Palestine/Hammas, and they are using this as an attempt to make their side win out.
They are having a candidate stand for election for The President of my students association, even though the Union is allowed no political association. And with good reason: we have Labour, Conservative, Socialists and Lib Dems. The aim of the Union is to do what they can for every student, regardless of his or her individual beliefs, not to try to be a political organisation towards one direction or another.
Yes, democracy is the best, but only because the other options are abysmal.
Today I saw democracy "working", and I am not happy. thankfully, their candidate won't win, because he won't even take charge of his club, never mind taking charge of an organisation with tens of thousands of members.
It's the point of the matter.....
Gahhhh /story-of-my-day
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
Bad Evidence
Spectrial is only a day and a half in, yet half the charges against The Pirate Bay have been dropped. (see Torrentfreak)
Due to the fact that the evidence used cannot prove that the Pirate Bay's tracker was used for a set of .torrent files the prosecutor had for "evidence", the charges of "assisting copyright infringement" have been dropped, leaving only "assisting making available" which is, as I said, something Google and every other search Engine on the Internet is also guilty of. As is your ISP, might I hasten to add.
If The Pirate Bay lose this trial now (not likely, IMO) then you will quickly see any company on the internet that has any user content on it that IFPI/RIAA/MPAA/etc don't like being sued.
Those companies wouldn't try to take on Google (so my blog is safe, for now at least) but if the remaining charges succeed, then expect any ISP that doesn't agree with whatever IFPI/RIAA/etc want, then expect to see something like New Zealands propsed S92a.
Monday, 16 February 2009
Spectrial
The trial of The Pirate Bay has started in Sweden.
Apparently, the prosecutor wrote a memo in 2005 saying a trial couldn't be argued over evidence (source: Torrentfreak) indicating what we all thought: This trial is purely political. It is a political attack on The Pirate Bay and it's creator's.
Several media outlet's have been banned from all of the Pirate Bay's conferences for making it all personal. They have been making the trial about the creators and their political views, not about the issue at hand and The Pirate Bay itself, which I think we can all agree is wrong.
Well, here's my two cents (or whatever denomination you choose.)
The Pirate Bay is no different from Google or your ISP. They are all carriers of information, and it is up to the users to decide what to do with the information.
Google is a very good finder for torrents, or any direct methods of illegal downloading.
P2P technology is a very good idea and, to be totally honest, the reason why it's mainly used for illegal downloading (other than because it's more anonymous) is that no company has started to use it for legal filesharing, despite to costing companies less, easy enough to control, and very efficient.
When Microsoft failed to release Windows 7 Beta on time, everyone blamed it on the fact that they didn't use P2P. There are ways of controlling who gets it (there have been small uses of P2P for legal things, all of which MUST have been suggested to Microsoft) and it decreases load on the original servers exponentially once some people start seeding it other than the original server.
Anyway, back to the point: You wouldn't blame Google for being able to find websites with people offering illegal downloads.
Nor would you blame your ISP for allowing you to access Google, even though, as we just pointed out, Google has lots illegal content. if you blame The Pirate Bay for allowing you to see any torrents people put up, legal or illegal, then you need to blame Google and your ISP too, plan and simple.
Now, assuming you blame the carriers (something you can't do in any medium other than the internet: would you blame the postal service for delivering a mixtape?) then every ISP on the internet is breaking the law and owes millions or even billions of pounds/dollars/etc. to the various companies (IFPI, RIAA, MPAA, etc.) who "own" the material. (With about 5p in every pound going to the indvidual recording companies, and about half a penny or something ridiculous going to the artists.)
Now, the only way ISPs could continue to deliver the internet would be to have limited access to specific sites to ensure you never see any illegal content. Think about the ramifications of this: You could see this site, but not my site (Mehall.co.cc) because I couldn't afford to pay the fee they would inevitably charge to check my site had no illegal content (or any content speaking in any negative way about the ISP, filtering, circumventing the filter, the current, past or future governments, laws, etc etc etc.)
The same would apply for hundreds upon thousands upon millions of sites all over the internet. The internet could have been kept closed, with Tim Berners Lee (who invented the internet at CERN in the early 1990's) able to make millions of pounds. Instead, he used his vision and made it free for everyone to use, to allow a global community to be created, with no one person having a greater sway over any site than any other.
Now, I agree, some filtering of content has to be done, but I only think this should be done in cases such as paedophilic content and hindering the progress of terrorist activity, with the latter verging on allowing more, than denying more. Our freedom's in real life should also apply to our freedom's on the internet, and they should not be curtailed for any reason.
I look forward to the whole of "Spectrial" (the name of The Pirate Bay trial which, it has been said by Pirate Bay owners, will eventually be a soap opera) and I look forward to see the outcome.
Apparently, the prosecutor wrote a memo in 2005 saying a trial couldn't be argued over evidence (source: Torrentfreak) indicating what we all thought: This trial is purely political. It is a political attack on The Pirate Bay and it's creator's.
Several media outlet's have been banned from all of the Pirate Bay's conferences for making it all personal. They have been making the trial about the creators and their political views, not about the issue at hand and The Pirate Bay itself, which I think we can all agree is wrong.
Well, here's my two cents (or whatever denomination you choose.)
The Pirate Bay is no different from Google or your ISP. They are all carriers of information, and it is up to the users to decide what to do with the information.
Google is a very good finder for torrents, or any direct methods of illegal downloading.
P2P technology is a very good idea and, to be totally honest, the reason why it's mainly used for illegal downloading (other than because it's more anonymous) is that no company has started to use it for legal filesharing, despite to costing companies less, easy enough to control, and very efficient.
When Microsoft failed to release Windows 7 Beta on time, everyone blamed it on the fact that they didn't use P2P. There are ways of controlling who gets it (there have been small uses of P2P for legal things, all of which MUST have been suggested to Microsoft) and it decreases load on the original servers exponentially once some people start seeding it other than the original server.
Anyway, back to the point: You wouldn't blame Google for being able to find websites with people offering illegal downloads.
Nor would you blame your ISP for allowing you to access Google, even though, as we just pointed out, Google has lots illegal content. if you blame The Pirate Bay for allowing you to see any torrents people put up, legal or illegal, then you need to blame Google and your ISP too, plan and simple.
Now, assuming you blame the carriers (something you can't do in any medium other than the internet: would you blame the postal service for delivering a mixtape?) then every ISP on the internet is breaking the law and owes millions or even billions of pounds/dollars/etc. to the various companies (IFPI, RIAA, MPAA, etc.) who "own" the material. (With about 5p in every pound going to the indvidual recording companies, and about half a penny or something ridiculous going to the artists.)
Now, the only way ISPs could continue to deliver the internet would be to have limited access to specific sites to ensure you never see any illegal content. Think about the ramifications of this: You could see this site, but not my site (Mehall.co.cc) because I couldn't afford to pay the fee they would inevitably charge to check my site had no illegal content (or any content speaking in any negative way about the ISP, filtering, circumventing the filter, the current, past or future governments, laws, etc etc etc.)
The same would apply for hundreds upon thousands upon millions of sites all over the internet. The internet could have been kept closed, with Tim Berners Lee (who invented the internet at CERN in the early 1990's) able to make millions of pounds. Instead, he used his vision and made it free for everyone to use, to allow a global community to be created, with no one person having a greater sway over any site than any other.
Now, I agree, some filtering of content has to be done, but I only think this should be done in cases such as paedophilic content and hindering the progress of terrorist activity, with the latter verging on allowing more, than denying more. Our freedom's in real life should also apply to our freedom's on the internet, and they should not be curtailed for any reason.
I look forward to the whole of "Spectrial" (the name of The Pirate Bay trial which, it has been said by Pirate Bay owners, will eventually be a soap opera) and I look forward to see the outcome.
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Recent Happenings
First things first, I found a belated entry to my "The good, the bad and the Ugly" blog, the Internet Five. As shown in the image (unless Vern Troyer is reading my blog now, better viewed in full-size, so click on it, the come back here to read the blog) you merely place your hand on the screen. similar to the self-five, yet individual in it's own right.
EDIT: Fixed. At all those reading the Crunchbang #! Planet, I apologise. In my blog post, the image is scaled to a reasonable size, but not on the planet. I'll try to be more aware in the future.
Anyway, on to other matters.
Terry Pratchett
I finally got around to watching "Terry Pratchett: Living with Alzheimers" on iPlayer and find that, even when he is talking about a matter so serious, and so close to home, he still gets his lovely wit through.
My favourite two quotes, one from each episode as it would happen, are thing's I Twittered when watching the show. The first one is when he is showing you his office in his house. He has a decent computer, and he has six (yes, 6) screens on his desk. Three large widescreen ones, with non-widescreen versions above. He tells the viewers "Some people ask why I have six screens. It's because I don't have enough room for eight." He is a man after my own heart, and the money to fund it. (I don't even OWN six screens just now, never mind the graphics cards to use them all.)
The quote from the second episode, he is starting to wonder about the future, and he says "I'm thinking will I end up lying somewhere as a vegetable. And part of me is wondering: What kind of vegetable shall I be?"
I'm going to contact his agent, Colin Smythe, and see if there is a chance for him to visit my club at Strathclyde Uni, "The Fanatical Guild of Terry Pratchett Fans" next time he happens to be in Glasgow, as I would love the chance to meet him again.
Crunchbang #!
Philip Newborough is hard at work on the new version of Crunchbang, 8.10.03 (the 3rd version based upon Ubuntu "Intrepid Ibex" aka Ubuntu 8.10) and this one shows many changes. The most important thing is that Crunchbang is now hosted on Launchpad, so anyone can now offer to help Philip with the new version.
The other major change is the introduction of Crunchbang's second supported architecture, though it is only 64-bit support, rather than adding in PowerPC or SPARC. (Or even Alpha ;)
Crunchbang is coming along nicely, and it is currently my Operating System of choice, being on 3 different computers, and soon to be my dad's EEE PC (a 701 4G if anybody cares.)
Final Note
My mum was doing a clear-out of her room, and she found my Primary 1 report card. It's something she has considered throwing out every time she clears out, but always kept it. This time she said either I could take it, or it could go in the bin, so I lifted it for now.
This report card showed I started as I intended to continue in that the teacher's main criticism was that I "Can be rather talkative during task times", a motif that was repeated throughout my time in Primary and Secondary School.
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Learning? No need for learning.
I saw something indescribable today. I was on IRC and someone I know was admiring another user's bot, and asking about using it himself. He declined using the bot from his own computer/our department/on an extra shared shell server we have that can run it. Why? "I don't have Python on my computer. How do I invite your bot into my channel?"
What is the point in having the option to try out something so simple, especially when there are various options open to him, and it's an opportunity to learn something, and declining it because of so simple a reason?
Whatever you're studying, whatever you do, whatever you are interested in, you shouldn't ever pass up on a chance to learn about something you're interested in using.
What is the point in having the option to try out something so simple, especially when there are various options open to him, and it's an opportunity to learn something, and declining it because of so simple a reason?
Whatever you're studying, whatever you do, whatever you are interested in, you shouldn't ever pass up on a chance to learn about something you're interested in using.
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Websites don't belong to the community.
Yes, that's right.
Far too often I see member's of a community on any number of websites assuming that just because they don't think the site should run the way it does, it should change, or that a possible decision shouldn't be made because they don't like it on the site.
A website is owned by a person, a group, or a company/organisation.
It is up to the site owners what does and doesn't, can and can't happen on a site.
Yes, most sites value their communities and take them into consideration when considering any changes/additions to the site, but the community DOES NOT RUN the site.
Repeatedly making comments about something when they have been shot down by the community as a whole or by the site owner will not make a difference.
People far too often forget that sites are not a community item, but something owned by someone.
Edit: I'd just like to clarify that this is not strictly aimed at any one site, and chances are if you're reading this, it's not aimed at what you think it is. This is just something I've been thinking about for a while.
Far too often I see member's of a community on any number of websites assuming that just because they don't think the site should run the way it does, it should change, or that a possible decision shouldn't be made because they don't like it on the site.
A website is owned by a person, a group, or a company/organisation.
It is up to the site owners what does and doesn't, can and can't happen on a site.
Yes, most sites value their communities and take them into consideration when considering any changes/additions to the site, but the community DOES NOT RUN the site.
Repeatedly making comments about something when they have been shot down by the community as a whole or by the site owner will not make a difference.
People far too often forget that sites are not a community item, but something owned by someone.
Edit: I'd just like to clarify that this is not strictly aimed at any one site, and chances are if you're reading this, it's not aimed at what you think it is. This is just something I've been thinking about for a while.
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
High Fives: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
We are all familiar with the common or garden high five, but there are many other ones out there. In this, I aim to enlighten you as to which to avoid, and which to covet.
The Good
Meme Five
Now don't mistake me, I love Internet Memes, but there are far too many of them. Over 9000 some might say. So when I say this, I mean more friend specific in-jokes, rather than full-blown memes. Having said all that, there IS the following:
Rick Astley/ RickRoll Five
Sometimes, this can come across as a bit of a jerk thing to do, but when rickrolls are properly executed (the best ones being ones IRL like this) They can actually be excellent, and in such cases generally deserve a Five.
The Bad
Self Five
The Self five is one of the most pitiable objects on the earth.
The Ugly
Torture Five
The Torture Five is when the Geneva Convention is pushed to its limits in order for one person to take an undeserved Five from another. The Torture Five is to be avoided at all costs, and it is often reccomended to give an undeserved Five, rather than be involved in someone taking a Five from you.
"Thats what she said" Five
Now it may seem that this is, in fact, a very positive thing, but under many occasions, the phrase gets overused, and you end up with needless Fives being given for things that, in retrospect, weren't very great at all.
Remember: only allow Fives when they have been earned.
In other, more serious news, I'd like to tell everyone about a great Linux Distrobution I have been using called #! Crunchbang Linux.
It uses the "Openbox" window manager, and has a cool resource monitor called Conky. Conky can be set up to tell you network usage, disk space, your rapidshare points, you could probably use it with twitter, you can have it tell you the weather, it's endlessly scriptable, and there is a large following of people who love to mess about with it.
That's one of my set-ups, though I did keep mine simple. Oh, and the standard theme is very minimalist, but I picked an even MORE minimalist theme. The thing entitled "Terminator" on the left is the standard terminal for the distrobution, but my theme means its top bar fades into the black of the wallpaper.
EDIT: Fixed all the superflous apostrophies. Sorry Al!
The Good
Meme Five
Now don't mistake me, I love Internet Memes, but there are far too many of them. Over 9000 some might say. So when I say this, I mean more friend specific in-jokes, rather than full-blown memes. Having said all that, there IS the following:
Rick Astley/ RickRoll Five
Sometimes, this can come across as a bit of a jerk thing to do, but when rickrolls are properly executed (the best ones being ones IRL like this) They can actually be excellent, and in such cases generally deserve a Five.
The Bad
Self Five
The Self five is one of the most pitiable objects on the earth.
The Ugly
Torture Five
The Torture Five is when the Geneva Convention is pushed to its limits in order for one person to take an undeserved Five from another. The Torture Five is to be avoided at all costs, and it is often reccomended to give an undeserved Five, rather than be involved in someone taking a Five from you.
"Thats what she said" Five
Now it may seem that this is, in fact, a very positive thing, but under many occasions, the phrase gets overused, and you end up with needless Fives being given for things that, in retrospect, weren't very great at all.
Remember: only allow Fives when they have been earned.
In other, more serious news, I'd like to tell everyone about a great Linux Distrobution I have been using called #! Crunchbang Linux.
It uses the "Openbox" window manager, and has a cool resource monitor called Conky. Conky can be set up to tell you network usage, disk space, your rapidshare points, you could probably use it with twitter, you can have it tell you the weather, it's endlessly scriptable, and there is a large following of people who love to mess about with it.
That's one of my set-ups, though I did keep mine simple. Oh, and the standard theme is very minimalist, but I picked an even MORE minimalist theme. The thing entitled "Terminator" on the left is the standard terminal for the distrobution, but my theme means its top bar fades into the black of the wallpaper.
EDIT: Fixed all the superflous apostrophies. Sorry Al!
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Windows 7: Now we're getting somewhere
Well, now that people have actually been allowed to get the Windows 7 Beta, I have to say it's looking good. Not the greatness that Microsoft needed right now, but good. it's what Vista wanted to be, basically.
As is normal for a Microsoft release, they have moved some of the advanced options further away from us. I spent a good half hour trying to find how to do something that takes 2 minutes in Xp and 5 in Vista, so not all is good.
There are various posts in the web talking about how you can fix any of the issues annoying you (most notably, having text on the "superbar", so you can see which have active windows, and which are quickstart buttons.)
Overall I'm happy enough with Seven, but it's just Vista SP2, and Microsoft needed mroe than that.
XP is dying on my machine, despite only being there for a few months, so I'm moving to Linux full-time. Seven's not there as a full-time OS, in my opinion, so I'll be wiping my computer when there's a final version of a Linux OS with ext 4 support (probably looking at kubuntu 9.04)
As is normal for a Microsoft release, they have moved some of the advanced options further away from us. I spent a good half hour trying to find how to do something that takes 2 minutes in Xp and 5 in Vista, so not all is good.
There are various posts in the web talking about how you can fix any of the issues annoying you (most notably, having text on the "superbar", so you can see which have active windows, and which are quickstart buttons.)
Overall I'm happy enough with Seven, but it's just Vista SP2, and Microsoft needed mroe than that.
XP is dying on my machine, despite only being there for a few months, so I'm moving to Linux full-time. Seven's not there as a full-time OS, in my opinion, so I'll be wiping my computer when there's a final version of a Linux OS with ext 4 support (probably looking at kubuntu 9.04)
Saturday, 10 January 2009
The "Adamo"
Dell have announced a range of laptops, the Adamo, which are targeted in the same way as the Macbook Air. Hit this link for pictures.
News is still slim, but as Neowin says, the first one is definitely under an inch thin, and will have a 13" screen, so it's still up a bit from a Netbook.
Before I consider anything else, not that there's much to consider given the sparse details at this point, but it has an Ethernet Port (something lacking from the Air which has always annoyed me) and it also appears to have an external SATA port, which is good for high speed external HDD's, though tbh, I'd wait until they release a version with USB3.0 if that's what you're worried about.
News is still slim, but as Neowin says, the first one is definitely under an inch thin, and will have a 13" screen, so it's still up a bit from a Netbook.
Before I consider anything else, not that there's much to consider given the sparse details at this point, but it has an Ethernet Port (something lacking from the Air which has always annoyed me) and it also appears to have an external SATA port, which is good for high speed external HDD's, though tbh, I'd wait until they release a version with USB3.0 if that's what you're worried about.
Micro$oft
I guess it was too good to be true.
Microsot appeared to be giving a good, well-finished piece of code. For free no less.
But, alas, the Windows 7 Public Beta is not with us yet.
As many have come to expect, Microsoft are no masters of the web. There were many ways they could have avoided their servers not coping with the demand (a queuing system to ensure only those 2.5mill that were there first got a key, using bittorrent protocols (even heavily managed ones like Akami) to allow people to DL the Beta. (As it is, there are already gonna be more than 2.5mill who download it, so surely it doesn;t matter then?)
I think we can all agree that Microsoft need to think more about large deployments, especially over the web. The beta, which is the same "Build 7000" that has been floating around for a few weeks on torrent, is apparently very polished. Microsoft knew the Beta was already on torrent, so surely it would have made sense to publish an official torrent, and just leave their servers to distribute the key to those lucky 2.5million users (whom I hope to be one of)? C'mon M$, the key is under 1Kb, you can do better than this!
All I can say is, a shout out to @brandonleblanc on Twitter for doing his best to keep us informed.
Anyway, I have Ben & Jerry's to go eat (Chunky munky as comfort food for no Windows 7 key =P) so I'll leave you all to it.
Microsot appeared to be giving a good, well-finished piece of code. For free no less.
But, alas, the Windows 7 Public Beta is not with us yet.
As many have come to expect, Microsoft are no masters of the web. There were many ways they could have avoided their servers not coping with the demand (a queuing system to ensure only those 2.5mill that were there first got a key, using bittorrent protocols (even heavily managed ones like Akami) to allow people to DL the Beta. (As it is, there are already gonna be more than 2.5mill who download it, so surely it doesn;t matter then?)
I think we can all agree that Microsoft need to think more about large deployments, especially over the web. The beta, which is the same "Build 7000" that has been floating around for a few weeks on torrent, is apparently very polished. Microsoft knew the Beta was already on torrent, so surely it would have made sense to publish an official torrent, and just leave their servers to distribute the key to those lucky 2.5million users (whom I hope to be one of)? C'mon M$, the key is under 1Kb, you can do better than this!
All I can say is, a shout out to @brandonleblanc on Twitter for doing his best to keep us informed.
Anyway, I have Ben & Jerry's to go eat (Chunky munky as comfort food for no Windows 7 key =P) so I'll leave you all to it.
Thursday, 8 January 2009
Well now... I've never heard such crap in all my life.... Where do I start on the Fox News team?
"You're an atheist, but let's use one of the ten commandments to prove your point."
There are two major things wrong with that sentiment.
The first is that stealing is illegal and that, while you go to say we are undermining civility, we aren't the ones who stole the sign (I think it's a fair assumption to make that this was no atheist who stole the sign, yes?)
The second point is that, if we surmise it was someone of faith, most likely the Christian Faith, who stole the sign, then that means a Christian broke the commandment, and the sign is to feature it as a reminder to those who would steal the sign again.
"People who can't leave well enough alone and enjoy the good cheer of the season."
Most atheists enjoy the "good cheer", and many still even celebrate christmas, as it is a good chance for the family to get together, and to show our appreciation for each other. Even Richard Dawkins, probably the most high-profile atheist of our time, has said that he celebrates christmas.
"Now atheists need their 15minutes of fame"
Seriously? We're just trying to make people think. To remind them there ARE alternatives. Most people believe in the religion most popular in their country, or the one their parents believe in. Many don't realise there are alternatives, and just blindly follow their faith without questioning if they are following the right one, or if they should follow one at all. If you read the original sign (the stolen one) then you would see that all we wanted was to make people think, to question.
She then goes on to call atheists "trolls", but has also said 10 seconds previously that some of her "best friends are atheists". Given the narrow mind she is showing, and the fact that she just called these people trolls, I would be surprised if those people are her friends for much longer.
"If you don't stand up and fight for it, it might just disappear"
It's now only right, according to this fox news anchor, for the christians to "stand up and fight" for what the believe in. All we atheists ask is the respect that we try and give you (or I certainly do) in return. At school, being an atheist was not sufficient reason to not pray, or not attend church at christmas and easter, and in my primary school, we had a prayer at most assemblies, as the local minister attended.
She has said, to the entirety of the United States of America live, and viewable the world over on youtube, that the best solutions to atheists are to either ignore us, or to make a mockery of us.
I'd like to actually use the topic of Rudoplh here to make an analogy: Atheists are currently Rudolph, and we need to prove to the world, or certainly Fox News, that we deserve to be let in out of the cold. That we are just as good as the other Reindeer.
"That's a complete insult" referring to what was said about "Thou shalt not steal", re-read my above points on that please.
Anyway, just a quick blog, because I had too many points I wanted to make about this.
- Michael
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