Want Faster Internet? Move to Uruguay.

The Week has an article on why U.S. internet is so slow. Basically, the right-wingers in Congress hamstrung the country as they always do, all in the name of less government and more "freedom." Enjoy your freedom today while people in other countries access the Internet at 3-5x the speed that you do.

I don't believe that most people in Congress really understand or care about what is going on in this country. The Republicans in particular only care about making money in the short-term for themselves through various scams and deals. They don't understand computers, science, or morality. Twenty years ago, I used to think that Republicans could manage the economy fairly well, but they can't even do that. When we had a Republican President and Republican majorities in Congress, the economy sank down into a long-lasting recession because of their incompetence. The Republicans can do nothing well. They have no ideas that are worth anything, and at some level, they know it. All they do is obstruct the other side from getting anything done. Meanwhile, the nation's power and wealth dwindle away.

Turn Off AT&T's Voice Mail Indicator Light

I told the technician I didn't want AT&T's voice mail service when he installed U-verse. Nevertheless, all my phones started blinking with the voice mail message indicator after he installed U-verse.

To get around this particular AT&T annoyance, call 1-888-288-8893, go to setup, and turn off the voicemail message indicator. This is just another bullying attempt by AT&T to try to pressure their customers into buying more unnecessary and inferior AT&T services.

I Use IP Chicken

I like the above service for determining the local IP address. Clean, fast, and simple, with a privacy policy I can understand. There are many competitors, but IP Chicken does IP-checkin' (chicken) the way it should be done.

How to Configure Your Mail Reader When Switching from DSL to AT&T U-Verse

One of these days I'm going to pop a gasket. With me, the odds are higher due to Mitral Valve Prolapse and lack of medical insurance. Those with MVP can just drop dead any old time according to Wikipedia's wisdom. Well, I just hope it's later rather than sooner. If my blog stops having updates, then my readers can put two and two together. Even from beyond the grave, I will ensure that my blog remains a spam-free zone due to my security settings.

The latest irritant to elevate my blood pressure was AT&T technical support. I recently switched from DSL to U-verse. When I tried to check my AT&T email via the popular Thunderbird mail reader, I received an error message that indicated something was wrong with AT&T's mail server. I waited a couple of hours and tried again and got the same error. I called AT&T and spent about half an hour on the phone with a friendly guy who assured me that my new account was provisioning and all would be fine by the morning. Great, I said.

Trouble was, AT&T's guy lied. Through his teeth. Just outright lied. He had no idea what he was talking about. The following morning, I still got an error message, and twelve hours later, ditto. I called AT&T tech support again and got someone who sounded like she had been smoking weed and swigging tequila. She was giggling and talking to other people in the background, and the background noise was very intense, with people talking in Spanish and English, so much so that she did not hear half the things I said. I had to repeat every other sentence. In addition to this, the line went mute, cutting her or me off sporadically. She asked if she could call me back, and I said yes, but that didn't help. The same problem persisted throughout the call. We were talking on my landline, incidentally. The problem was certainly not on my end, because I have talked to other people on the same phone without any issue. My connection was completely wired, not in any way wireless. Her connection had the problem.

Between bouts of silence and background noise, she reminded me that AT&T does not support Thunderbird. Over the years, I have received the same scripted line every single time I call AT&T asking for help configuring my mail reader. AT&T gives short shrift to mail readers. Why do they hate mail readers? Well, let's think about that, shall we? It is in AT&T's interest to herd people through their web portal, isn't it? That way, their customers are exposed to all kinds of advertising.


Whatever. I'm not the type of guy to take "No" for an answer, not when I pay over a hundred dollars a month for the service. My mail reader was working yesterday, and after their guy installed U-verse, it stopped working. I had changed nothing on my end. I knew it was their fault and anyone with intelligence would know that too.

She asked if she could take control of my computer, and I said no, because I run Linux and I'm not sure how to grant that kind of access and don't want to, either, because I'm absolutely certain it would not help. Then she wanted me to reboot my computer, and at that point I went over the edge, because rebooting is something a tech tells people when he doesn't know anything. I started ranting about AT&T's contractual obligations, and then she muted me again. So I hung up. Clearly she knew nothing and was not going to help.

I called back, chose a different option on their phone menu, hoping to contact someone different, and got a tech rep that sounded nicer. She was in a different office, a quiet one. I guessed the water bong hadn't made the rounds at her office. There was no background noise, and she didn't sound like she was high. She wasn't giggling at obscene jokes her co-workers were sending in the office. She actually walked me through Thunderbird's set-up, but everything she told me about the configuration was already set. After all, the mail reader had been working perfectly prior to the switch to U-verse. Although she was nice, her advice was useless.
 
Here's the bottom line after about two hours of aggravation with AT&T's tech support. No configuration changes need to be made to the Thunderbird mail reader. Nothing needs to be done to the mail reader at all. The only reason the techs suggest that is because they don't know what they are talking about.

Thunderbird is a highly intuitive mail reader developed by Mozilla, the same company that develops Firefox. Thunderbird configures itself automatically. There is no need for the end user to input anything other than email address and password. There is little chance of an incorrect configuration. AT&T technical support does not know what time of day it is. It is aggravating to call up technical support and listen to pushy drunks that don't know anything other than what their script tells them. I have to teach them their job, because they do not know anything about computers. Meanwhile, I can't access my email.

There is only one thing a customer needs to do to fix the mail reader after the switch from DSL to U-verse. Log in via the web browser. Period. Yahoo has a serious bug or else an intentional, selfish annoyance (take your pick). The end user is required to log in via the web browser once in order to use the mail reader, even if he has been using the mail reader for years via DSL.

AT&T and Yahoo don't like mail readers. They wish to discourage their use, because mail readers do not add to their bottom line. They make the mail reader difficult to use because they want to push more of their crap products via the web site. They wasted two hours of my time with this nonsense for no other reason.

The mail reader still reports an error indicating a problem with their internal service when I first load Thunderbird. I have to press OK to accept the message, then click "Check Mail" to check mail again. This is because AT&T does not configure the U-verse mail server properly. I suppose they never will fix it, because they very nearly have a monopoly in my location. They treat their customers like dirt because they can get away with it.

Judgement Day

At the end, I emerged from darkness and stood before the watchers of the world. 

I said, "I gave what I was given. I did what could be done."

Among the watchers, truth prevails. Everything is known.

The light consumed what I was before. 

Annihilation,

Recombination and regeneration.

There have been others. 
There are others. 
Before the breaking of the world, there will be others.

The wheel spins
and so it goes.

I thought about Judgement Day as I woke up this morning. I do feel a general sense of satisfaction over my life. I've avoided some bad things and chosen some good things. I sidestepped many of the snares and pitfalls of this world. I found what was good and helped it along to the limited extent that my abilities permitted.

Judgement Day means different things to different people. Upon reflection, my dream could occur to a saint, an ordinary person or even a suicide bomber. People have such different ideas about God. Who is right? That is one of the problems with religion. It is possible to adapt the same meme to different uses.

I think that hearing so much and so often about God from so many unpleasant people turned me off from religion. They inoculated me against religion. My intellectual immune system eliminated the weak germs of door-to-door proselytizers and televangelists. I developed adaptable and effective antibodies and am now immune to all strains of religion.

I reuse the material acquired early in life and spin it into positive things rather than throw it away. I retain certain feelings about divine retribution, divine oversight of the world and even divine intervention. Because I like people and want to understand them, I continually absorb a certain amount of the beliefs of my friends and relatives. Until I open myself to another person's thoughts, they remain "other." I have to step inside their mind. I have to look around and see what there is to see through their eyes. Once I drink of their thoughts, then they become understandable, predictable and a warmth and intimacy may develop.

The Apple Shareholder's Meeting

I was impressed by a story about an Apple CEO who apparently cares about more than just the bottom line or ROI (Return on Investment). He demonstrates enlightened selfishness. Some people will never understand, not in a million years, why a business should do the right thing even when it costs more money. They look at spreadsheets and count up numbers and think about money. I think it is better to look at people and think about people. We are human beings. We are not machines.

If people get the impression that Apple is good, that matters when they're thinking about making a technology purchase. They may be willing to pay a little extra for an Apple product. Goodwill cancels out buyer's regret. Goodwill makes excellent starting points for conversations about Apple.

Uganda

Uganda bites the hands that feed it. Those in the West who donate to Uganda will now have blood on their hands. Such a stain is difficult to wash off. It is one thing to give charity to those of gentle hearts and minds or those of unknown quality who might be given the benefit of the doubt. It is another to donate to declared, boastful, outright cold-blooded hate-mongering murderers. There will be political consequences for any politician in the West that proposes sending aid to Uganda at any time now or in the future. In the past, it was unknown what sort of people the Ugandans were. Now we know all that we need to know. The equation is simple. Aid to Uganda = aiding and abetting murderers.

Where is the U.S. Going?

The problem with America is that too many people place money before country. They sell out. In order to save money, they send jobs overseas or import workers from other countries to do jobs Americans could do. Everywhere one reads that tech companies need to hire skilled immigrants, but this is a lie. There is more than enough indigenous talent to go around. Companies just don't want to pay living wages. They want to pay $1 an hour for tech support.

The reality is that the rich are only concerned about getting richer. The politicians do not care about any of the problems impacting workers. All they care about is assisting their cronies to sell bullets and bombs. That is the only real reason we invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, in order to enrich the cronies of politicians. All of the other reasons given are transparent lies. I read recently that the U.S. spends $4 billion a month to protect Afghanistan, where the economy generates $1 billion a month. That is clear and obvious stupidity, unless one's cronies are getting rich from the protection racket. The whole situation regarding foreign policy just seems stupid and designed to benefit a few rich cronies at the top at the expense of the rest of the country.

The politicians work tirelessly to make the country worse off than it was before, creating new problems rather than solving old ones. They start new wars, continue old ones, waste money, and create new problems for the workers.

At least Obama did something. He won health care for the workers, but in order to pass something through the stodgy, right-wing Congress, a Congress of millionaires, many compromises had to made. The result is still better than the old system, but it's not perfect. I give Obama credit for actually doing something positive to help working-class people, whereas his predecessor Bush did nothing except make the country poorer. There are a lot of things Obama could have done, had the Congress worked with him instead of against him. Any perceived shortcomings are the fault of the Republicans, who sabotage anything that might help workers.

I have come to believe that Republicans hate workers even more than they hate gays and racial minorities. Any issue that touches on the lives of working people, the Republicans are predictable. They don't even need to think about it. Anything that might harm, impoverish, hinder, or complicate the lives of workers, Republicans support 100%. All the changes made by Republicans tend to make workers poorer and sicker. I cannot think of a single thing the Republicans have ever done to help workers, but I can think of about a dozen things the Republicans have done to harm workers.

Foreign policy and national security are issues where President Obama has proven naive and unaware. He does not seem to grasp the long-term ramifications of his foreign policy decisions. I think it is really horrible to bribe the hostile state of Pakistan with billions of dollars so that we can bomb their country. I think it is such a bad decision that it may in fact be a symptom of collective insanity, of schizophrenia.

Obama is just as bad as Bush was with his national security dementia. But perhaps the problem is systemic. Obama inherited a massive national security complex, and it wants to be used. The machines want to be used, and all the people who think like machines also want to be used. To not use them has political costs. Newspaper editors characterize Obama as "ineffective" and "vacillating" because he does not bomb Syria into the Stone Age. But Obama has cooperated with the machine in most respects. Perhaps Obama is not courageous enough to challenge long-held assumptions and existing political dogma, such as the war against marijuana. I do not think we have had a really courageous, dynamic and interesting President in my lifetime. We have had men who follow. They just go along with whatever is going on when they inherit the office. They are not thinkers.

I foresee the swift decline of this country's economic, educational, democratic and social measures. Already we see that the rights we once held dear are being eliminated one by one. This country is less free with every passing year. The state is getting more paranoid and more effective at using technology to spy on citizens.  Anyone can be put in prison for life at the touch of a button. If someone is inconvenient, they can be quite easily framed for any number of sex or drug offences. The apparatus to make this happen is already in place. It may even have been used already. No one knows, because there aren't many investigative journalists around anymore. Very few changes would be required to change the U.S. into a country resembling, say, Russia or China.

There will be a massive lower class, people entrenched in poverty, and a tiny upper class. Crime, drug use, and political instability will become much more common. Education will decline as people realize that it has little or no economic value. A college degree means nothing in the U.S. It is just a piece of paper that represents debt.

Russia is Better than North Korea

North Korea is one country that's more screwed up than Russia. North Korea's dictator epitomizes a devil sworn to absolute evil, someone who has absolutely no concern about anyone besides himself, someone who delights in the suffering of others and seeks it out even when there is a considerable cost. The clearest match for the North Korean tyrant would be Hitler or Stalin.

I don't think there's any way that Dennis Rodman can make up for the fact that he travelled to North Korea, put on a show and praised the tyrant. He's covered himself with the tyrant's slime and will always have that stench about him. Long after Dennis Rodman has departed from this world, the one thing that will be said about him is that he was the North Korean tyrant's trained poodle. Everything else will be a mere footnote. Was that infamy worth the hundreds of thousands of dollars, the publicity, or whatever?

Servants of evil delude themselves with expectations of various rewards. In reality, they are used while useful, then thrown to the dogs. Sometimes they are thrown to the dogs even if they are useful. Evil-doers happen to like throwing people to the dogs.

Internet Trolls

Slate Magazine has an interesting article on internet trolls. I had an internet troll comment on my blog just this week. He left homophobic insults, expecting me to be outraged, to respond or just to publish his inflammatory remarks. I did none of the above. I deleted his comments without a second thought, grinning at the thought of the time he wasted typing them in. I have experience with the most savage and sophisticated Internet trolls, both as a forum moderator and web site admin.

You know what baby? Igor was not born yesterday. Nothing outrages me and nothing surprises me. I've seen it all. I know that trolls have zero interest in the truth, zero interest in goodness, and maximum interest in discord, evil and chaos. They are sworn to the darkness. They are like arsonists or rapists, except they operate online because it's easier and doesn't expose them to mace, gunfire or arrest. They are fulfilling a little need that isn't getting satisfied elsewhere. Internet trolls are not difficult to identify, understand or deal with. The only question is which can of pesticide to spray on them.

I had a good friend who believed all comments should be published even if they contain death threats or bomb formulas. He was an ultra-libertarian. I suppose that if a rapist came along, he would spread his legs in the name of freedom. That is his prerogative. His site, his rules.

I play by a different set of rules. A stranger that seeks my attention had better unball his fists, wipe the drool from his beard, zip up his trousers and speak in a civil tone of voice. Otherwise, the door is shut, locked and bolted, and if need be, the police are on their way. End of discussion.

Pussy Riot is Awesome

I used to listen to punk. Nowadays the only punk band I listen to is Pussy Riot. I listen to their political interviews. I think that they are a nice fresh cup of Awesome. An article in the Washington Post relates how they are still trying to get jailed protesters released. What would make me believe in God is if the dictator Putin were put in prison for his many crimes, and Pussy Riot took over the reigns of power in Russia and implemented a true and lasting republic. That could only be accomplished with divine intervention, I think!

There is something about virtue that makes a person even more attractive, lending them a bit of the divine. To stand for something lends that something to an individual. A virtuous person has substance that is more than skin-deep. I see Liberty and Motherhood in these two courageous young women. Their likeness has been struck on coins for hundreds of years. They do not belong just to this age. They are eternal.

From another story on CNN

God's Indifference

Some believe in religion. Who can say where the truth lies or whether the priest lies? If there are gods, I think that they are indifferent to our fate. Our suffering moves them not at all. In a human being, such cold-blooded ambivalence is deemed evil. God is given a pass, but what is God?


Riddle me this. Precisely to what do you pray and why? I have spoken with many believers, but never received a satisfactory answer to that question.

In the Bible, HE remains anonymous with no history and no background. HE displays neither visible form nor audible voice. HE could be anything at all--devil, charlatan, fiction, alien, or arch-villain, take your pick. Perhaps this is a strategic rather than accidental omission. HE adapts to his audience, shape-changing to appear just a little bit different to every believer. HE is the playdough of philosophy, adapting like a virus to the requirements of his individual hosts. This is why there are so many different sects and even within the sects, individuals believe different things. There is no agreement among believers.

I do not think any religions have got God right. They do not even know what they worship. They are placing all of their money on the table to buy a mystery gift box without knowing what is inside the box. I think it would be better to know what is inside the box first.

---

Common ground among believers and non-believers can be found on practical issues, such as morality. I do not think religion is necessary for morality, and it may even get in the way by inserting an unnecessary and fragile support structure.

---

I see many references in classified advertisements to so-and-so being a Christian, implying that therefore they will be honest and not cheat others, but I think that such a statement reveals spiritual immaturity and spiritual arrogance. There are countless cases of professed Christians doing evil. I think it is more likely a professed atheist would be honest and not cheat others, because more honesty is required to admit to a minority belief. I avoid those who insert a statement about their religion while advertising a product or service, because I think that they may have something to hide. They are playing upon the prejudices of gullible believers and seeking out those who are easy to cheat.

---

The most foolish among the non-believers, especially those who have recently lost their religion, assume that, since there may be no divine punishment or reward for behavior, they should do whatever they please. Perhaps the choice for good or evil is a matter of taste, but if so, evil is in poor taste and more likely to obtain poor results in the long run. There are examples in history of both believers and non-believers doing evil and doing good. I am not sure what the correlation is between belief system and moral behavior and probably no one really knows.

---

The greatest tragedy of modern religion is the low calibre of modern priests. The exodus of the intelligent over the centuries has forced churches to subsist with dim lights indeed. Of course the churches must change fundamentally not only their opinions upon social issues but their very doctrine in order to attract the intelligent in large numbers. Some perceive that, but many resist change, because change is a disturbing thing for many people who do not wish to think about the ramifications. Unfortunately, the world that we live in is extremely complicated, and there is a natural human desire for simplicity. I love to watch movies about magic, gods and goddesses. Such things appeal to me a great deal. I do think the world could be a better, more interesting place with gods and magic, although there is a possibility it could be worse.

I believe that the church must retreat to a proper sphere, that of morality alone, and leave questions of history, science and theology alone. Perhaps the Unitarians are closest to this ideal at present. Of course it is tempting to venture into other fields, writing opinions about things such as God and angels and passing them off as facts, but doing so places credibility at risk. Better it is to say, I am human, and I do not know of such matters, nor can I know. In regard to those religions that claim to know what they cannot, I am atheist. I do like to think about a goddess watching over me, because that would be nice, having a protector and all, but I doubt she would really bother. Surely she would have better things to do with her time, being a goddess. At any rate, lately I've noticed that when I am in need, she hits the snooze button and can't be reached on the telephone.

I do not think that many churches have mastered the basics of morality, because they are so tied up in knots over relatively simple questions of human sexuality. If they cannot understand issues having to do with mere genitalia, then it is difficult to see how they will ever cope with weightier issues, and indeed the church was missing in action over all the big issues of the twentieth century. Where were the priests when the Holocaust happened? They were busy chastising their flock about such matters as divorce, contraception and homosexuality, no doubt.

Three Fingers are Pointing Back at Russia

The media attention given to Russia's inadequacy as an Olympic host is worth reading. Thanks, Russia. I never laughed so hard thinking about Russia before.

Sochi's woes remind me of an ancient proverb. When you point a finger at others, three fingers are pointing back at you. Russia declared war on gays for no apparent reason other than to create another scapegoat for social ills. Should we be forgiving of Russia's inadequacies? Should we look the other way when brown liquid pours from the faucets? Should we gloss over the sit-down toilets side-by-side in the men's and ladies' restrooms?

Three fingers, Russia, and they are your very own.

On February 7th, 2014, four activists were arrested in St. Petersburg "for taking photos with a banner referring to Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter ‘Discrimination is incompatible with the Olympic Movement.’”

One would think Russia's leaders would want to improve their image in the world, not tarnish it further. Perhaps the leaders lack social intelligence along with basic morality. Having both handicaps is a severe limitation indeed. That explains why corruption and mismanagement are rampant in that country. Brown liquid pouring from the faucets, indeed.

Clever Frenchman

I found it interesting to read the translation of a French editorial today. There was something refreshing and intelligent about it. I'm not sure I agree with all of the opinions, but that doesn't matter.

Imprisoning the Mentally Ill

Great article by the New York Times on how we, as a society, have turned back the clock to the 1800's by incarcerating the mentally ill. I seem to remember that Ronald Reagan was the President that emptied all the mental hospitals in what he deemed a "cost-saving move."

I'm beyond Obamacare. I'm for socialized medicine based upon Canada's model and free psychiatric medicine for all schizophrenics and manic-depressives. The mentally ill should not have to pay a dime to get the pills they need. I think it is in the clear self-interest of society that they get that help. I think that in the long run, it is cheaper to help all members of the working class achieve soundness of mind and body. Republicans on the other hand feel we should just let crazy run amok with loaded guns.

Obamacare was a nice baby step toward socialized medicine, but it's not good enough. It is the result of a compromise with right-wingers in Congress who have sold out to the insurance industry. Employers are saddled with health care costs. I don't really feel that an employer should foot the bill for health care. Instead, the nation as a whole should foot the bill. The government is ultimately responsible for health and safety anyway. The government controls the roads and seas, runs the military and police, and even provides social security and food stamps. Health care is a natural extension of an already existing prerogative. If we simply follow in the footsteps of the other Western powers and implement socialized medicine, we will eliminate the chief objection raised by small business owners. Even poor old Cuba manages to make socialized medicine work, so I'm sure that America can.

A Recurring Nightmare

In a recurring nightmare, I am back in college. I have forgotten about one of my enrolled college courses. There was some confusion during enrollment, and the class slipped beneath the radar. The forgotten course is a weighty subject like microbiology with many homework assignments, a lengthy paper, and a brutal final exam, and I have not done anything. There is one day remaining before the final exam, and I'm panicking. My straight-A record will be ruined, and I've come to doubt all the things about myself that fill me with pride.

DUI

The case of the teen accused of "affluenza" struck a nerve in the national psyche. People read this article and understand that for the rich, our legal system is about forgiveness and light. It seems the rich seldom go to prison and often can buy their way out of any legal difficulties under the sun.

According to the article on CNN, "Two people riding in the bed of the teen's pickup were tossed in the crash and severely injured. One is no longer able to move or talk because of a brain injury, while the other suffered internal injuries and broken bones." I found this chilling, because the young man paralyzed for life due to a brain injury could have been me, if I had been unlucky.

One night when I was nineteen or so, I rode in the back of a pick-up truck with about twelve other guys, just like rednecks the world over, I imagine. We had been drinking, of course. I don't know how much the driver had had but I doubt he was completely sober. I thought it was a stupid idea to go riding around at night with no particular place to go, especially given our state of intoxication, and I said so, but went along in order to remain with my friend, and because I didn't have a ride home. The alternative would have been desertion and possibly a falling-out with my friend.

We were soon pulled over by a cop. Why we were stopped was never made clear. Ever the civil libertarian, I wanted to ask the cop why he stopped us, but my friend told me to keep quiet, which may have been for the best. Amateur lawyers aren't really appreciated by police officers. Having twelve guys in a pickup truck probably violated a traffic safety law.

Our driver transformed from yahoo into polite young gentleman in an instant, smooth with the yessirs and nosirs, and his tone of voice was apologetic, even servile. I feared the cop would take us all to jail, but instead, he seemed to be enjoying himself. He adopted a paternal attitude with the young man, reflecting that he used to do things like ride around at night with his friends raising hell. He wasn't against a little bit o' fun, now and again. However, we had better stay out of his territory, because if he saw us around again, there wouldn't be no second chance. Now get back in the truck, go back where you come from and don't come back, you hear?

In all my days, I never drove under the influence of any substance. I think it's the height of negligence to operate a vehicle under the influence. Some people may think that being a stupid idiot isn't as bad as being evil. In reality, the difference between wickedness and negligence is a very fine point of philosophy that doesn't matter much to the family of the victims. Often, negligence is worse than wickedness. At least wickedness has a plan whereby harm might be reduced and somebody might gain, whereas negligence is chaotic and may result in utter catastrophe for everyone involved.

I think another problem related to DUI is driving while distracted. I know someone who texts while driving, and I think that is an idiotic thing to do, no matter how agile one thinks one's fingers are on the keypad. It is a lottery ticket for catastrophe, and one day, the unlucky number may pop up.

Snags

The world is not an even playing field. Every society has snags that ensnare the unwary or the unlucky. Some are very wary, but unlucky and get caught in a snag. The better society has fewer snags, and the worse society has more and deadlier snags.

For a human being, a snag might be a disability, quirk, minority status, or physical or psychological limitation. Humans are extremely complicated machines. Life is a roll of the dice. Some souls inhabit bodies that thrive in the environment they find themselves in. Some souls may have splendid bodies, yet exist in an unfavorable environment. Some are unlucky enough to inhabit both a poor body and environment. It is a mistake to look down upon the unsuccessful and the unlucky. They are not "bad." Placed in a different environment, such an individual may thrive. They are unlucky. Luck is fickle, however, and those that are on top today may fall from grace tomorrow, because life is ever-changing, and life soon gives way to death, so that all who are high today will be low tomorrow.

It is always a mistake to jump to conclusions. First impressions are helpful, but one should never cease listening and watching and absorbing new data as it comes to light, because first impressions are often inaccurate. The whole story is not told. First impressions provide merely the title of the book and the cover picture. How much information does that transmit? Not very much. I would not expect to know much about Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" by looking at the cover. And yet some people persist in leaping to conclusions about others based upon their first impression, which they neglect to modify.

My Review of SolydX 201401

 

An Introduction to Solyd, the New Kid on the Block

Not long ago, Linux Mint offered a flavor known as Linux Mint Debian Xfce.. When Linux Mint discontinued this flavor, those developers and users that wished to keep it going forked from Linux Mint to create their own separate distro, SolydX. The same history applies to Solyd's other flavor, SolydK, forked from now-defunct Linux Mint Debian KDE.

SolydX and SolydK are both rolling releases, which means the user need only install the operating system once to receive automatic updates in a similar fashion as Windows. As in Windows, reboots may occasionally be necessary during updates. The rolling release model stands in contrast to default Ubuntu-based versions of Linux Mint, which require complete reinstallation to install a new version.

Solyd's Update Manager bears a striking resemblance to Linux Mint's Update Manager

Although Solyd users can point their update manager directly to Debian Testing, which is the ultimate source of all Solyd updates, the default configuration points the update manager to Solyd's own repository for a very good reason. Solyd developers test new updates before adding them to Solyd's repository. Updates that cause breakages are delayed or modified. This results in greater stability for the end user, hence the name "Solyd."

To install new software, a user can use either Solyd's Software Manager or Synaptic Package Manager. I usually use the Software Manager, which is bug-free, unlike the one found in recent editions of Kubuntu and Xubuntu. Solyd's Software Manager works all the time, without reporting an internal error in a pop-up dialogue and asking the user for permission to transmit a detailed error report. Solyd's Software Manager also has some helpful user reviews, though I believe the reviews are now divorced from the pool provided by Ubuntu, and Linux Mint has its own separate pool as well. I would prefer that all the Linux distros pooled their review base, but I suppose competition interferes with efficiency in this area.

Solyd's Software Manager also resembles Linux Mint's

 

Why Choose Solyd over, say, Linux Mint or Xubuntu?

Do you want the latest versions of your applications? As of this writing, the latest version of Digikam in the 201401 edition of SolydX and SolydK is 3.5, whereas the very latest releases of Xubuntu and Linux Mint are limping along with version 3.3. Why care about the latest versions? Well, the updated version may have an important bug fix or a brand new feature that means a great deal to you. I don't see the point in waiting around for Ubuntu to finish their meditation on the meaning of life before I can get the latest edition of Digikam. Here's what Solyd offers me right now, today:

I don't wait around for Ubuntu before grabbing the latest copy of Digikam hot off the presses

Does your HTPC use VLC to watch movies? Then the latest version of VLC might be something you really care about. Right now, Xubuntu 13.10 is limping along with version 2.08 for no real reason other than they haven't gotten around to making a new release yet. Well, too bad. SolydX is ready with VLC version 2.12 Rincewind right now, today:

Do you play one of the most awesome games around for Linux, which is Wesnoth? Well, Wesnoth did release version 1.10.7 about two months prior to the release of Ubuntu version 13.10, but Ubuntu chose not to include it for whatever reason, possibly feature freeze or some such thing. SolydX offers 1.10.7, no question about it, no nonsense, it's right there in the repository, just grab it:

Solyd offers the latest stable of Wesnoth

There are other, esoteric reasons for preferring Solyd, for those that would rather their distribution shed some of the baggage that comes with a Ubuntu-based distro. I have yet to notice anything lacking in Solyd due to the absence of a Ubuntu base.

Why I Chose SolydX

Of the two flavors offered by Solyd, I opted for SolydX, which uses the light-as-a-mouse--hence the mascot--XFCE desktop environment. SolydX fit the bill for my $95 Thinkpad R61 laptop with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2 GB of RAM. Why are these reliable Thinkpads that run Linux like a champ so darn cheap nowadays? I don't know. A better question may be, why do my good friends spend $500 on a brand new laptop just to run Windows 8? Alas, I don't know the answer to that, either.

The cousin of SolydX, SolydK, has its merits, too, and many people prefer its KDE desktop environment. I like the superb applications that tend to be included in KDE, such as K3b for burning DVDs and Digikam for managing photo collections. Dolphin is a pretty competent file manager, as well. I would recommend SolydK to anyone with a more powerful computer than mine.

Some people fear that the many excellent KDE applications may not work quite as well in an XFCE environment, but that's just not the case. I replaced a few of SolydX's application choices. I installed KDE applications Digikam, K3b, and Ktorrent and use them often. I've heard about Gnome's Transmission, which has many devoted fans, but Ktorrent is what I'm used to and it has never let me down.

Xfce boots fast, and that's important to me because I don't like waiting around. Another thing I like about Xfce is the file manager, Thunar, which fully supports time-saving custom actions.

I made a couple of changes to SolydX's desktop environment. The first of course was to the calendar. Everyone has their own preference, I suppose, but mine specifically is %R on %A, %B %d, %Y, and feel free to copy and paste that bit into your own desktop clock. I'm a diehard when it comes to military time. I don't see the need for the suffixes AM or PM and just want my time displayed in 24-hour format. AM and PM put me in mind of the Middle Ages and sundials.

The second change was to the wallpaper. I eliminated it. It's not really bad or anything, but I'm bothered that the computer has to load a .jpg file and keep it in memory just to fill up the screen. I want to bypass that load and shave a few milliseconds off the boot time. What I really like, anyway, is pure pitch black, or hex code #000000. A wallpaper would have to be awfully good to beat pitch black.

My Off button, a handy little time-saver, executes "/sbin/shutdown -Ph now"

In stark contrast to Xubuntu, SolydX has just a single panel. I use Xubuntu on two computers, but don't care for Xubuntu's two-panel approach, with one panel at the top of the screen and one panel at the bottom. A single panel will be most familiar to users of Windows, and I come from a Windows background.

Changes to SolydX and SolydK Introduced in 2014

Released on January 25th, 2014, the latest edition of SolydX and SolydK heralds an important strategic change. Going forward, the developers have wisely opted to change the update process from monthly to quarterly, which I think is better for both developers and users. Developers can spend more time adding features for the users and less time on the drudgery of updates, while users won't have to do massive downloads every month. A monthly update in my opinion may be too risky. There are thousands of different hardware configurations out there in the Linux user community, and every system can be a little bit different in one way or another. There is a lot that can go wrong, and not all problems can be foreseen. Limiting updates also mitigates risk. There is a golden balance that needs to be achieved between risk of breakage and enjoying up-to-date applications. In my opinion, either quarterly or even biannual updates offer the perfect balance. Either timeframe surpasses the Ubuntu family's nine-month schedule.

Summary

My laptop still uses the latest version of SolydX and I remain pleased with it. I have not encountered any problems and have enjoyed newer versions of applications that are not available on my Xubuntu-based computers.

At the moment, I only use Xubuntu and SolydX, both of which use the XFCE desktop environment. Xubuntu runs my workhorse computer and my HTPC, and SolydX runs my laptop, but I may introduce SolydX to the other computers in the future as I gain more confidence in it.

The only thing I miss in SolydX is the menu editor that is found in Settings in Xubuntu. However, it can be added to the Settings menu. XFCE's menu editor seems buggy, anyway, at least from my experience on Xubuntu, and that may be why the SolydX developers chose not to add it to the Settings menu.

What I really like about SolydX is having access to the latest and greatest applications and never having to reinstall. If that's important to you, too, then you should definitely look at this distro. Click here to visit their web site.

Cable and Phone Companies are Robber Barons

The collusion of government and corporations, as in this case, makes me angry. Municipal broadband would be a dream come true for all Americans, and the cable companies want to ban it. I would be delighted if broadband were offered by my city.

The cable companies provide lousy broadband at extremely high prices, as do the phone companies. Broadband should be cheap and reliable today. The reason it is anything but that is because cable companies and the phone companies enjoy monopolies, and the reason they do is because they have put corrupt politicians into power. Why are my only choices cable or phone? Those are lousy choices. Each one wants me to cough up $100 - $200 a month just to access the Internet. I receive a letter in the mail every week with one of their "offers" that never vary from the week before. Always the advertised price is $100, with hidden fees, costs, fines, and contractual obligations that amount to $200 a month after the introductory period has passed. Municipal broadband can deliver faster Internet much, much cheaper. Cable and phone companies are not innovators. They should be recognized for what they are: robber barons, bribing politicians to entrench their monopolies in American society.

This article states that municipalities are being sued repeatedly by cable and phone companies to keep them out of the broadband market. Cable and phone companies represent a cabal opposed to innovation and opposed to choice.

Corruption is the greatest problem in our society, the filthy intersection between politics and business, or "the grease that makes the capitalist engine hum," as one of my Republican acquaintances put it. We are all on the business end of the exhaust pipe. I suggest building a better engine.

Delightful Milkshakes, Composting and Alcoholism

Milkshakes are one of my favorite foods. There's nothing simpler than dropping things in a blender and liquefying them. Shakes are the best way to eat bananas. I think bananas are the perfect food, because they offer potassium and vitamin C, are cheap, and available at most grocery stores. They come prepackaged by Nature in an easy-to-open yellow wrapper that rapidly decomposes when tossed onto the ground.

Composting is easy. Dump organic rubbish in a designated bin, and when the bin is full, dump it somewhere in the yard a good distance away from the house. There are a lot of products being sold to people to assist with composting, but none of it is necessary except to the vendors, who hope to make a living by selling composting equipment. The only equipment I use is a bucket, and those are easy to come by, and if one's not available, then cardboard boxes or paper bags work fine.
 
I prefer organic bananas not because they're organic but because they taste better. I've noticed that many organic foods taste better, and I'm not sure why, but whenever that is the case, I prefer the organic variety. When my nose and tongue detect no difference, then I prefer the cheapest of the two. In some cases, "organic" is just a word being prostituted to sell something that is nothing of the sort.

I began my love of milkshakes through alcoholism, which introduces one to various ways of making drinks, but over time I discovered that drinks taste better without alcohol and that I feel better after drinking them if there is no alcohol. The idea of putting vodka or rum in a blender just seems gross to me now, though it seemed appealing many years and several vomits and headaches and upset stomachs ago. Like any fool, I was ensnared by the marketing, the hype and all my peers that were so enthusiastic about alcohol, but all of that is poppycock, just like the music we used to listen to. I'm secretly amused by wine snobs and those that praise expensive, carefully aged bottles of Scottish whiskey. The best defence against alcoholism is contempt for the product. It seems to me a vast amount of verbiage in the media promotes a contemptible substance, ethanol alcohol, the waste product of fungi. Alcohol is a superb preservative for dead things and those that want to become so. But I digress.

My recipe is simple. Drop two peeled bananas in a blender, add a pint of milk, and for variety's sake, cinnamon, vanilla, cocoa, coffee, tea, malted milk, fruit slices, or ice may be added. There will never be any milkshake mix or anything sold at Starbucks that is as good as two bananas and milk in a blender.

Neanderthals

My father and I are both interested in Neanderthals. Unlike me, my father takes a negative attitude against them. He believes primitive behavior in human beings derives from our shared Neanderthal ancestry. I don't think his attitudes ever evolved from the "caveman" stereotype common on television from the 1950s and on. I think we should keep an open mind about Neanderthals and not be guilty of retrospective racism. After all, none of us has ever met a Neanderthal in person nor spoken with him.

I wonder whether it is true that Neanderthal ancestry is mostly present in non-African people. Apparently, those with red hair and pale skin are more Neanderthal than others. I read an interesting article about Neanderthal research today.

Besides invisibility, one my great wishes would be to travel backward in time and just be a spirit hovering about, at different times, in the homes of every one of my ancestors. I would like to observe their lives even from a distance, even if I were not permitted to intervene in any way. I think that would be a fun and revelatory way to spend the afterlife. Yet surely, for any observer of real events, there would be at some point a temptation to intervene in some way, wouldn't there? One would desire most of all the power to communicate. Modern science allows us a dim, out-of-focus window into the lives of our distant ancestors, but much remains obscure, and there will never be a way to communicate with our ancestors unless the final great mystery, time travel, is unravelled.

Good and Evil

My local newspaper is depressing. Crime is the main thread throughout the paper. It is because there are no investigative journalists anymore. The paper takes free news from the local police department. I suppose that saves money on the salary for a real journalist.

This week, I read about men shooting one another and / or themselves either in my own town or the nation.

A fool and his money are soon parted, but a fool with a gun is soon departed.

I think there are too many guns, too many gun nuts and too many angry young men in the world who don't know why they're angry and don't know who they should be angry at.

I think it's a pity guns don't require the solving of a random quadratic equation in order to be operated. Guns and other weapons are far too simple and far too powerful. They cheapen life.

The greatest problem of our species is advanced technology coupled with low morality and a small understanding. This is why the U.S. does not want Iran to have nuclear weapons, because Iran has low morality and a small understanding. That North Korea has nuclear weapons is bad enough.

I also read a disturbing story about some unknown evil-doer living in a nice, middle-class suburb who is poisoning his neighbor's beloved cats and dogs. I would imagine the poisoner is either a young man, because young men often do evil in their ignorance, or else an angry older man that is enraged because cats and dogs stray onto his property or he hears dogs barking and wants silence.

I would like to be a policeman just to investigate such a crime and identify and arrest the culprit. I think I would be good at that. Unfortunately, policemen often spend their time on trivial matters. Crimes against animals are not perceived in their proper light as practice for crimes against humans. The perpetrator is evil and has chosen an easy target for his very first practice-murders, because house pets are ignorant of the evil of humans, yet I believe that an investigator could find him by studying the residents of the neighborhood and talking to the people who live nearby. 

The case reminds me of a knock on the door I received years ago. I opened the door to find a scowling elderly neighbor holding a dead cat in his arms. He told me that he had found my cat in his yard. He told me I shouldn't have let my cat wander onto his yard. "Look, see? Now it's dead." I replied that it was not my cat. He insisted that it was, but he was a deranged old man. I reiterated what I had said before, but his stubbornness persisted until finally I ordered him to leave my property and take the carcass with him. He was used to orders, being ex-military, and I think that was just what he needed. It was the only interaction that he and I ever had in all the years I lived at my home. He died several months later of natural causes, and I can only assume that his mental state had declined along with his physical. Upon reflection, I have wondered whether the old man had killed the cat himself. There are a lot of angry and sad old men in the world living alone who have driven their friends and relatives away with their bad manners. After he died, his children inherited and moved into his home. I had never known he had so much family. They had not been interested in visiting when he was alive, which is no great mystery. People do create their own worlds, driving others away or attracting them, as the case may be.

To harm human beings or their beloved pets, their cats and dogs, is a wicked blasphemy. It changes destiny. The changer cannot possibly know how many thousands of alterations will be wrought far into the future. In his ignorance, he may not even care.

A humble soul respects the complexity of this great chess game between Darkness and Light. One does not shake the board and remove random pieces, because there are ramifications that cannot possibly be fully understood, complications that cannot possibly be calculated to their conclusion by a human being. How much better it is to pass through this life in quiet reflection while leaving this world unchanged!

Some believe that having a mighty name and many possessions is the most important thing, but such matters are temporary. Even the humblest of the poor has a better lot than the mightiest of the dead.

Perhaps there is no divine punishment for dark deeds. Evil-doers operate with seeming impunity in savage times and places. They scorn what is good and boast about their evil deeds. Perhaps the choice between good and evil is merely one of taste, with the more refined preferring good and the primitive preferring evil.

Divine judge or no, consequences may still be observed by those who watch and listen. Those who prefer wickedness find themselves among the wicked, for the righteous will not suffer the company of the wicked. To dwell among the wicked is hell. Those who prefer righteousness will dwell among the righteous, and that is heaven.

I think that an evil-doer must suffer in the memory of wrongs committed in the past. Contrariwise, to know that one has done well and given happiness to others is a reward in itself. If I die tomorrow--and there is no guarantee that any of us will not--then I will pass from existence without regrets on the spiritual level. There will be others. We are not the last generation. There are many chapters still. The world is mysterious and complex, regenerating and always changing, and the simple math of subtraction and addition isn't all that existence is about.

China, Russia, and the U.S.

I believe the U.S., with all its well-documented and freely reported imperfections, compares favorably against many other countries in the world in the area of human rights. Human rights, to me, encompass freedom of speech, due process of law, the absence of torture and other forms of state-sanctioned violence, and equal opportunity. The U.S. may not be the very best. I am not sure which country would be the very best.

I am absolutely certain the U.S. is far superior to countries such as Syria, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Iran on human rights. The difference is like day and night. I also believe the U.S. is superior to Russia and China.

Now a critic of the U.S. may suppose that Guantanamo Bay, or some other incident, or even a pattern of abuses might shake one's faith in the U.S. The answer is no. The U.S. is good precisely because we have documentaries, reports and publication of human rights abuses. The reports and resultant scandals and controversies are evidence that human rights abuses are not acceptable in the U.S., and that attempts are being made to correct them. In China and Russia, there is just a great yawning silence, because the police are busy repressing attempts to correct human rights abuses. They are busy silencing critics of the government. They are locking people away who complain and protest. The governments of Russia and China utter outrageous lies and punish those who point out the lies.

When someone tells me that Russia and America, or China and America, are basically the same, or even that China or Russia is better, they are doing me a favor. They may as well be wearing a tattoo on their forehead that says: Do not trust me. There are human beings for whom power is all, and righteousness pales by comparison. Such people are aligned with evil. There is no better way to put the matter. They have made a choice, and their dwelling is in the darkness.

Rhea

Rhea is an unusual name that arose a few nights ago in a dream, and I wonder whether it has any significance to me at all. Wikipedia reveals the name to be that of a Titaness and the mother of the Olympian gods.

A possible connection to my life is that I have been playing "Age of the Titans" recently, and in that game, out of all the available gods and goddesses my civilization may worship, I select Gaia, the Earth-Mother, who was the mother of Rhea.

There are competing versions of Rhea's identity. Some believed her to be the same entity as Cybele. This sort of confusion is common in ancient mythology. Virtually every god and hero has multiple versions of myths regarding his exploits. I am not favorably disposed to Cybele, because ancient worshippers of Cybele were known to both self-castrate and completely remove the penis as a form of religious devotion. That is distasteful to me, but perhaps to an ancient transgender person, it would offer liberation from a man's role in ancient society, and Cybele would grant social and religious sanction to perform the deed. Forever after, such a devotee would be regarded as a priest of Cybele, perhaps, and lodge in the local temple, exempt from draft and other male duties and functions.

I do feel a strong connection to the earth and to living and growing things, so I am favorably disposed to Gaia and her daughter Rhea. I think that life is beautiful, mysterious, and worthy of study.