Random Geek Links

For those of you who read my Ubuntu post, here is a great article about Ubuntu from WIRED magazine:

Is Ubuntu Linux for You, Too?

And if I could open any non-restaurant franchise in the world ( I would love to open a Sonic or a Chipotle ) it would be this place:

TechShop: Geek Heaven

Until then,
skybro

P.S. - My spell checker tells me I have "Chipotle" wrong, so I right-click for more options.... in gives me "Apostleship" ??? How weird!!!

Does your computer make you feel good?

Let me ask the question in the title one more time - Does your computer make you feel good? I know you are saying right now "what is this hopeless geek trying to say now?"... well, I will tell you, just give me a little of your time and some leeway (sp?)

I used to not feel good about my computer. It ran slow, it was infested with viruses, and once those were removed, it had so much anti-everything on it that everything else did not run well at all. Not to mention that the Operating System I had was, um, not.... well... it wasn't mine. Since I always constructed my own machines, I sometimes had to load things for which I didn't have a license. For that I am sorry.

But that has all changed now. Enter UBUNTU! Ubuntu is a version of the popular Linux operation system, which is rapidly becoming a viable contender to traditional Microsoft systems. Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'Humanity to others', or 'I am what I am because of who we all are'. They take this philosophy because the whole of Linux itself is a community effort; skilled individuals donating their own time to improve a product they believe in. As such, Ubuntu is free, as in "you never have to pay a DIME for it". That is a big factor in my appreciation of it. Here is a list of several of the reasons I prefer to use Ubuntu over XP.

• Free - no money down, no money ever. No licenses, no registration, plain and simple. You can either download it from their site [ http://www.ubuntu.com ] or you can have the CD shipped to your address free of charge ( they will even throw in some extras if you want to hand them out. )
  
• Try it first - Ubuntu and several other Linux distributions make use of a "Live CD"; this is where the entire system can be booted off of a CD without overwriting anything on your existing system, letting you test drive the operating system. If you don't like it, you take the disk out, reboot the computer, and your computer never knew anything happened.
  
• More Free Stuff - Need a word processor? Photo editor? Games? Look no further, as you can install all of this and more off of the main menu under "Add/Remove". ( Also, Ubuntu by default installs "Open Office.org" - a MS Office compatible suite of application for all your Document\Spreadsheet\Presentation creating needs. )
  
• Support - The Ubuntu Forums is a huge user community and can answer many of your questions regard Ubuntu. You can search through their countless posts, or post your own question if nothing seems to match your own question. Again, all of this is free
  
• Secure - Although there is some Linux "malware" out there, it is exponentially less frequent than on a Windows machine. And Anti-virus scanner are mostly free for Linux machines. ( FYI - Spyware on Linux is virtually non-existant. )
  
• Major Players - Dell computers is even offering computers from their site with Ubuntu pre-installed.
  

Ok, so, this is starting to sound like an infomercial or something cheesy like that. But, what I am really trying to say is that I like it, and I don't feel shackled by software restrictions or guilty because I didn't buy a license. Here is a picture of the graphical capabilities of a FREE software package called Beryl that plugs in seamlessly to the desktop.



Speaking of the desktop, there are numerous desktop environments, like Gnome, KDE, Xfce, Fluxbox, and many more.

Anyway, it's good stuff, check it out.

But for now, my computer makes me feel good again.

Until then,
skybro

Weird Words....

"Blog".... I have never liked that word; it has always seemed to me a bit, well, gross.

Take the following conversation, for example:

[Start Conversation]

Person 1: "I am SO tired... I was up blogging all night"

Long Pause

Person 2: "ewww... You should really see a Doctor about that....."

[End Conversation]

Yes, I know that the term "blog" is just an amalgam of the phrase "web log", but I personally have never been that fond of them. [Authors Note: How may times to you get to use the word "amalgam" in normal conversations? -skybro ] I read several different blogs from time to time, and have really enjoyed several, but I guess my opinion of them is really only due to one thing:

Blogs scare me

Now, I am not talking about your average everyday blog. Some I find funny, others educational, and more still are anecdotal, informative, heart-warming, gut-wrenching,.... the list can go on and on. The one that scares me is the one you are reading right now.

And here is the main issue behind this statement. I have a tendency to share WAY too much information about myself and my life. I really do think that I lack the little piece of my brain that tells me "Whoa! They don't need to hear that!" or "STOP! You've gone too far... Again!!!" ( Don't believe me? Ask my wife. She would tell you it's most definately true.) On the Interwebs, giving out too much info is very dangerous. Mind you, I would never post my SSN or driver's license or PIN number to my bank card, but still, there is stuff that I would post without thinking, only to realize ALOT later the error in my judgement. So, I tend to read over these postings several times before ever hitting the "add entry" button ( I don't even write them on the entry page, just in case. I compose them in an editor and paste them into the page right before I post. I probably have 7 different entries that will never see the light of a computer screen because I am not able to "complete" them properly. )

The other problem I have with blogs is the comments. The allure of a private journal or diary is that you are sharing your innermost thoughts, dreams, ideas. However, with that type of media, it is just that - Private. No one commenting, criticizing, plagiarizing, demeaning, or belittling something that could be very important to you. And when these items are finally read, you would not receive comments anyway, as the person reading it is either a younger sibling, or the item is found posthumously, i.e. - The Diary of Anne Frank . With a blog, you often publicize this same content that would be found in these journals, painting a bull's-eye on it for any whackjob with a keyboard. I have seen flame wars on blogs that disparage everything from the article the author just wrote, to their beliefs, to the author's possible questionable parentage, their dubious sexuality, or any other general bit of cyber nastiness these faceless trolls can accomplish behind the safety of the anonymity of the Interwebs.

That is what scares me. Now do you see why I am a little hesitant?
( not that anyone here would do that ;-) )

Until then,
skybro

Sky is falling....

Being sick is the worst.....

...I have had stomach flu for the last 5 days....

NOT cool


Until then-
skybro

Skybro is here

Sky Brother has now created a blog... great.
So I am a little late to the game. But I have done it...

... the world may officially end now.

'Till then,

skybro