Most people don't realize just how dangerous the internet can be, especially to Windows users. Everyone that is not a tech gets a computer virus sooner or later. The typical response is to discard the old computer or put it in the attic and buy a brand new one, an unnecessary waste of money. Where knowledge is lacking, the wallet must compensate.
To all users, I recommend the following. Use Firefox, and do not install any toolbars, but do install the addons AdBlock and NoScript. NoScript requires extra effort on the part of the end user, but the payoff in security is worth it. I do not install NoScript for clients unless specifically asked, because I appreciate the annoyance it can cause. For myself and loved ones, I will always install NoScript and train them how to work with it to have a safer browsing experience. Only scripts that have been specifically greenlighted by the user will be permitted to run. I also teach my users to be extremely skeptical of anything they read on a web site, in particular regarding their computer, but even beyond personal computer security, much of the information one finds on the internet is paid advertising or else people looking to "monetize" (the verb they choose) their web domain.
Also, backup an image of your Windows system to a separate hard drive--built-in Windows functionality available via the Control Panel--it only takes 20-60 gigs of space and will save your bacon in the event of operating system loss. I image my Windows systems every 3-4 months to capture any new program additions or removals. Be aware that backing up the system image is different than a complete backup. Microsoft does not make the differences quite clear to the user, but I discovered the differences through the time-honored method of trial and error. A system image backup captures the operating system and all files needed for Windows operation. A complete backup captures that as well as media files that may be stored on different drives. Everything should be backed up, but the system image is really important, because it allows very fast restoration of Windows in the event of a malware infection.
This is the best advice I can give to Windows users with my 30 years of experience, other than to consider giving Xubuntu a try for light duty such as Internet browsing. I use Xubuntu or SolydX on three different systems and consider it a worthwhile tool. It boots faster than Windows, is free, does not require much in the way of configuration, allows a high degree of customization, and requires very little in the way of system resources. Mine all run fine with 2 gigs of RAM in each box. The limitations of Linux have been described elsewhere on this blog.
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Monday, August 11, 2014
Bigoted Against China?
DistroWatch expressed their disdain of my rumour-mongering:
I'm biased against China, because it is a tyranny. Period.
Look, if China puts a backdoor in a Linux distro, and anyone in China talks about it, that blabbermouth is going to prison for a long time. If Distrowatch headquarters itself in China and starts talking trash about the government, then they can experience the tender mercies of Chinese tyranny first-hand. Funny how apologists for China like Distrowatch are careful to locate their offices and their families outside of tyrannical regions, while publishing an astonishingly all-positive review of a Chinese distro--the most positive review I've yet read in Distrowatch--for some as-yet undisclo$ed rea$on. I'm bluffing, of course--I don't actually know where the Distrowatchers are located. But if they call my bluff and declare themselves to be located in China, then that would be interesting.
Contrast China with the U.S. of A. If our NSA puts a backdoor in a Linux distro, and anyone in the U.S. talks about it, the blabbermouth is going to be featured in the media and earn a lot of money and recognition and career advancement for doing so. As for Eric Snowden, he signed a contract of non-disclosure, from what I understand, and so the Obama Administration is essentially pursuing him for violation of his contract. I don't approve of the Obama Administration's hunt for Eric Snowden. I believe that Eric Snowden did the right thing in principle, if not in execution. But in the U.S., we have people who do the right thing. A conscience is a very American trait.
So, yeah, I'm against tyranny, and for free speech. I am biased in the sense that I favor good over evil. And I do believe that such things exist--that there is a definite good and a definite evil that characterize the actions of human beings. And I think that choosing good matters. I have explained why many times in this space and will continue to do so.
Ignorant? I rather think DistroWatch pretends to be ignorant--of history, politics, current affairs--whether they are so or not. But perhaps they understand certain other matter$ well enough. I really doubt Distrowatch is as mind-numbingly naive as they pretend to be. Breezing by China's tyranny with the "all governments use spy tools" line just won't cut it with anyone that has any kind of education, but might deceive a certain percentage of geeks that only know computers and nothing else. Perhaps China calculates that even a tiny 1-5% penetration into the Linux market will help with its cyberattacks.
Distrowatch should go have a chat with some of the bloggers busting rocks in China's labor camps who dared post unfavorable reviews of the government. Then they can decide for themselves whether all nations really are the same. Trust China for your software? Why not trust them with all of your personal and private data, and see where that gets you? Because if China writes your software, then China gets your information. I refuse to believe that bonafide software engineers, developers, technicians, whatever they are, that have been in this business and writing about this business for years on end cannot understand this extremely simple and obvious concept. There has to be another motive lurking about in the shadows other than "all governments engage in spying, so hey, what's the biggie?"
I can tell you that my reviews contain only my observations, facts I can gather and my opinions on the experiences I have. I see no reason to consider rumours about which products may or may not include malware without proof. Almost all governments use spy tools and find ways to introduce back doors into operating systems. Those which do not make their own software back doors purchase such tools from companies in other countries. People who point fingers solely at Chinese products and complain about intentional back doors are either ignorant of other governments' actions or simply bigoted. I think it is worth noting that China has been restricting sales of selected closed source products because their government is just as concerned about American technologies as American organizations are concerned about products made in China.
I'm biased against China, because it is a tyranny. Period.
Look, if China puts a backdoor in a Linux distro, and anyone in China talks about it, that blabbermouth is going to prison for a long time. If Distrowatch headquarters itself in China and starts talking trash about the government, then they can experience the tender mercies of Chinese tyranny first-hand. Funny how apologists for China like Distrowatch are careful to locate their offices and their families outside of tyrannical regions, while publishing an astonishingly all-positive review of a Chinese distro--the most positive review I've yet read in Distrowatch--for some as-yet undisclo$ed rea$on. I'm bluffing, of course--I don't actually know where the Distrowatchers are located. But if they call my bluff and declare themselves to be located in China, then that would be interesting.
Contrast China with the U.S. of A. If our NSA puts a backdoor in a Linux distro, and anyone in the U.S. talks about it, the blabbermouth is going to be featured in the media and earn a lot of money and recognition and career advancement for doing so. As for Eric Snowden, he signed a contract of non-disclosure, from what I understand, and so the Obama Administration is essentially pursuing him for violation of his contract. I don't approve of the Obama Administration's hunt for Eric Snowden. I believe that Eric Snowden did the right thing in principle, if not in execution. But in the U.S., we have people who do the right thing. A conscience is a very American trait.
So, yeah, I'm against tyranny, and for free speech. I am biased in the sense that I favor good over evil. And I do believe that such things exist--that there is a definite good and a definite evil that characterize the actions of human beings. And I think that choosing good matters. I have explained why many times in this space and will continue to do so.
Ignorant? I rather think DistroWatch pretends to be ignorant--of history, politics, current affairs--whether they are so or not. But perhaps they understand certain other matter$ well enough. I really doubt Distrowatch is as mind-numbingly naive as they pretend to be. Breezing by China's tyranny with the "all governments use spy tools" line just won't cut it with anyone that has any kind of education, but might deceive a certain percentage of geeks that only know computers and nothing else. Perhaps China calculates that even a tiny 1-5% penetration into the Linux market will help with its cyberattacks.
Distrowatch should go have a chat with some of the bloggers busting rocks in China's labor camps who dared post unfavorable reviews of the government. Then they can decide for themselves whether all nations really are the same. Trust China for your software? Why not trust them with all of your personal and private data, and see where that gets you? Because if China writes your software, then China gets your information. I refuse to believe that bonafide software engineers, developers, technicians, whatever they are, that have been in this business and writing about this business for years on end cannot understand this extremely simple and obvious concept. There has to be another motive lurking about in the shadows other than "all governments engage in spying, so hey, what's the biggie?"
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Upgrade from Netrunner 14.04 to Windows 95?
I really need to upgrade from Netrunner 14.04. Everytime I try to edit a text file from within FileZilla, Netrunner goes haywire. The operating system cannot find Jedit. I have to drop to a command line, chdir to the correct directory, and enter "sudo jedit [ name of text file ]. What's the point of having a GUI desktop if I have to use the command line to load a text editor? None at all.
"Primitive" doesn't even begin to express my feelings here. I don't know what audience Neanderthal is designed for, but it certainly wasn't designed for anyone that needs to get work done.
The screenshot below illustrates what I call the "KDE Stupidity". There is no option for setting any default text editor in the operating system, because KDE is philosophically opposed to people getting actual work done.What does the dropdown menu display? Why, nothing, of course. There are no text editors available, according to Netrunner, despite Kate, LibreOffice and Jedit being installed on the system. A more schizophrenic operating system I never hope to see.
I did find "File Associations" in the Settings, but although it seems promising, it just doesn't work; the text editor is not known to FileZilla. Editors are listed, but the paths to those editors are not passed on to an application such as FileZilla, perhaps because FileZilla is a non-KDE app. There is only one way to edit a text file from FileZilla when Neanderthal rules the roost, and that is to drop to a command line, chdir to the right location on the drive, and sudo jedit [ name of text file ]. And everytime I have to do that, I rue the day I ever installed Neanderthal on my machine, and go hunting on Ebay for install disks for Windows.
In Windows, editing a text file takes all of one second. I right-click on the file, load Notepad++, and I'm there. What did I, the user, have to do in order to set up this miraculous convenience? Why, absolutely nothing, other than install Notepad++. With Neanderthal, editing a text file is a complete nightmare. The operating system simply is not designed for any kind of useful work at all besides, I suppose, surfing the Net, hence the name.
I don't honestly know what KDE has been working on the past twenty years other than screensavers and desktop effects. It would be nice to have a text editor available to edit text files without having to drop to the command line. Perhaps that feature will be available in KDE by 2015?
Update: I bought a copy of Windows 8 Pro today, although Windows 95 would have been a dramatic improvement. I can't think of a better use of $100 that to be able to edit a text file whenever and wherever I please and not have to think twice about it.
Netrunner, your days are numbered. I'm going to format c:\ and get rid of the blasted thing once and for all. No more "uh, I dunno where your text editor is, go run and find it." No more of Muon's infamous "Enter your password to update your system. Okay, you entered the right password, but I still won't let you update, because I've got a bug. Thank you for helping test this alpha-ware software." No more "can't install such-and-such because it's not compatible." No more "Oops, your desktop crashed. Were you wondering why Firefox froze, and the keyboard and mouse were unresponsive? Well, that's why." No more "you cannot use the Netrunner forum and get help with technical issues, even though you did register, because the Netrunner forum registration is broken, just like Kubuntu's." No more, "Oh, were you searching for that .htaccess the past ten minutes and wondering why you couldn't find it? It's because I decided to hide it from you! Hee hee!"
As for text editors, KDE installs Kate by default and seems to prefer it, but even Kate is not accessible to FileZilla. I could possibly make do with Kate, if it would just load for once after a right-click. But Kate is not a programmer's text editor. Kate is cute, I'll grant you, but Jedit is a real programmer's text editor. Jedit is what I use when I want to get things done. Jedit is the Notepad++ to Kate's Notepad. When KDE has Jedit installed and working in all apps, including FileZilla, then it will have arrived. It will be a civilized operating system. Until then, KDE is not ready for prime-time, and sorry, but I just don't have time enough in my day to help alpha-test it.
"Primitive" doesn't even begin to express my feelings here. I don't know what audience Neanderthal is designed for, but it certainly wasn't designed for anyone that needs to get work done.
The screenshot below illustrates what I call the "KDE Stupidity". There is no option for setting any default text editor in the operating system, because KDE is philosophically opposed to people getting actual work done.What does the dropdown menu display? Why, nothing, of course. There are no text editors available, according to Netrunner, despite Kate, LibreOffice and Jedit being installed on the system. A more schizophrenic operating system I never hope to see.
I did find "File Associations" in the Settings, but although it seems promising, it just doesn't work; the text editor is not known to FileZilla. Editors are listed, but the paths to those editors are not passed on to an application such as FileZilla, perhaps because FileZilla is a non-KDE app. There is only one way to edit a text file from FileZilla when Neanderthal rules the roost, and that is to drop to a command line, chdir to the right location on the drive, and sudo jedit [ name of text file ]. And everytime I have to do that, I rue the day I ever installed Neanderthal on my machine, and go hunting on Ebay for install disks for Windows.
In Windows, editing a text file takes all of one second. I right-click on the file, load Notepad++, and I'm there. What did I, the user, have to do in order to set up this miraculous convenience? Why, absolutely nothing, other than install Notepad++. With Neanderthal, editing a text file is a complete nightmare. The operating system simply is not designed for any kind of useful work at all besides, I suppose, surfing the Net, hence the name.
I don't honestly know what KDE has been working on the past twenty years other than screensavers and desktop effects. It would be nice to have a text editor available to edit text files without having to drop to the command line. Perhaps that feature will be available in KDE by 2015?
Update: I bought a copy of Windows 8 Pro today, although Windows 95 would have been a dramatic improvement. I can't think of a better use of $100 that to be able to edit a text file whenever and wherever I please and not have to think twice about it.
Netrunner, your days are numbered. I'm going to format c:\ and get rid of the blasted thing once and for all. No more "uh, I dunno where your text editor is, go run and find it." No more of Muon's infamous "Enter your password to update your system. Okay, you entered the right password, but I still won't let you update, because I've got a bug. Thank you for helping test this alpha-ware software." No more "can't install such-and-such because it's not compatible." No more "Oops, your desktop crashed. Were you wondering why Firefox froze, and the keyboard and mouse were unresponsive? Well, that's why." No more "you cannot use the Netrunner forum and get help with technical issues, even though you did register, because the Netrunner forum registration is broken, just like Kubuntu's." No more, "Oh, were you searching for that .htaccess the past ten minutes and wondering why you couldn't find it? It's because I decided to hide it from you! Hee hee!"
As for text editors, KDE installs Kate by default and seems to prefer it, but even Kate is not accessible to FileZilla. I could possibly make do with Kate, if it would just load for once after a right-click. But Kate is not a programmer's text editor. Kate is cute, I'll grant you, but Jedit is a real programmer's text editor. Jedit is what I use when I want to get things done. Jedit is the Notepad++ to Kate's Notepad. When KDE has Jedit installed and working in all apps, including FileZilla, then it will have arrived. It will be a civilized operating system. Until then, KDE is not ready for prime-time, and sorry, but I just don't have time enough in my day to help alpha-test it.
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Good for Target
I admit to being a little surprised that Target came out for gay marriage. I had considered boycotting them a while back when there was news that they had contributed money to some kind of anti-gay organization, but in the end concluded that Wal-Mart was no better and probably worse, and besides, Target seems a little bit nicer or cleaner, somehow.
Good for Target. I think it just shows they're smart. Not a terribly courageous gesture in this day and age, but smart enough.
I never did understand conservative opposition to gay marriage. Marriage is a conservative value. It may be the most conservative value of all values. In the past, I think some right-wingers opposed gay marriage in a knee-jerk reaction without really thinking about the idea very much. Gay marriage represents the ultimate in conformity and assimilation and brings gays "into the fold." I don't see how anyone could be opposed to that unless they're just blinded by a negative attitude.
Good for Target. I think it just shows they're smart. Not a terribly courageous gesture in this day and age, but smart enough.
I never did understand conservative opposition to gay marriage. Marriage is a conservative value. It may be the most conservative value of all values. In the past, I think some right-wingers opposed gay marriage in a knee-jerk reaction without really thinking about the idea very much. Gay marriage represents the ultimate in conformity and assimilation and brings gays "into the fold." I don't see how anyone could be opposed to that unless they're just blinded by a negative attitude.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Four Things I Hate about Linux
1. Hidden files. Why? If the file merits existence, it should be seen by the user. Many hidden files, such as .htaccess, contain critical configuration settings that must be modified to get things to work. Just stop it with the hidden files. Probably fifty million man-hours around the world have been lost because some developer thought it was wise to hide files from the user. This is anti-social sadism on the part of developers.
2. This infernal pop-up which arises in every Linux program. Trying to edit a text file from within a program like Filezilla is impossible. Instead, one must drop to the command prompt, because the Linux GUI is useless. Even if one does, somehow, track down the location of the text editor using the Browse button, Linux permissions will not allow the saving of the text file. Potential time lost? 5 - 10 minutes per attempt to edit a file. In Windows, I can load a text file from any program using Notepad++, and it takes me approximately one second to do so. Why is Linux retarded?
3. Networking in Linux. I hate networking above all other things. But Samba is a program that is confusing in the extreme. It is designed for a server, which means it is about a trillion times more complicated than necessary for a home network. What do all the settings mean? Why do I need or want to enter a password to access a directory on a networked computer at my own home? Why is everything so slow on the network? Why isn't there some kind of GUI? Over the years, I cobbled together a configuration file for Samba that I use in every Linux distro. I spent many hours sweating over that thing, trying to figure out what it all means, but I still don't understand half of it. I don't envy the new user to Linux that has to figure out home networking for the first time.
4. Muon. I don't like the Kubuntu Software Updater or the Kubuntu Software Manager. I can't find the programs I want in them, for one thing. In keeping with the general Linux philosophy, the program I want are "hidden". I can find the programs I want in Synaptic, but not in Kubuntu's programs. As for Muon Software Updater, it's buggy. It used to be a lot buggier, but it still has strange problems. Synaptic just works all the time, on the other hand.
2. This infernal pop-up which arises in every Linux program. Trying to edit a text file from within a program like Filezilla is impossible. Instead, one must drop to the command prompt, because the Linux GUI is useless. Even if one does, somehow, track down the location of the text editor using the Browse button, Linux permissions will not allow the saving of the text file. Potential time lost? 5 - 10 minutes per attempt to edit a file. In Windows, I can load a text file from any program using Notepad++, and it takes me approximately one second to do so. Why is Linux retarded?
3. Networking in Linux. I hate networking above all other things. But Samba is a program that is confusing in the extreme. It is designed for a server, which means it is about a trillion times more complicated than necessary for a home network. What do all the settings mean? Why do I need or want to enter a password to access a directory on a networked computer at my own home? Why is everything so slow on the network? Why isn't there some kind of GUI? Over the years, I cobbled together a configuration file for Samba that I use in every Linux distro. I spent many hours sweating over that thing, trying to figure out what it all means, but I still don't understand half of it. I don't envy the new user to Linux that has to figure out home networking for the first time.
4. Muon. I don't like the Kubuntu Software Updater or the Kubuntu Software Manager. I can't find the programs I want in them, for one thing. In keeping with the general Linux philosophy, the program I want are "hidden". I can find the programs I want in Synaptic, but not in Kubuntu's programs. As for Muon Software Updater, it's buggy. It used to be a lot buggier, but it still has strange problems. Synaptic just works all the time, on the other hand.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Chrome Faster than Firefox? Horsefeathers!
I call horsefeathers on the Internet for all the claims that Google Chrome is faster than Mozilla Firefox.
Maybe Chrome is faster when watching videos. But I don't watch videos and don't give a monkey's tail about YouTube.
Firefox is fast where it counts--web sites that I must use to get work done. And it uses far less memory. Chrome opens up a new instance for every page, which makes about as much sense as paying a hundred dollars for a pack of gum. So not only is Firefox faster, but the system as a whole runs faster when the user has enough sense to steer clear of Chrome. More memory equates to a more responsive user experience on any properly configured operating system.
I used Chrome for a month at work. Then I switched over to the latest version of Firefox. The difference was like night and day. Firefox was faster all the time. The only tweaks I made were installing the AdBlock add-on and expanding Firefox's cache from the rather conservative 350-odd mb to 1 GB.
I really don't understand all the buzz about Chrome, unless Google has bought a lot of positive buzz, which seems likely to me.
I write my blog purely for pleasure--to vent and call horsefeathers--and receive no payment from anyone. Even Google won't pay me for ads due to some weird technical glitch on their end, so I'm completely unremunerated.
But the mainstream media is presumably in the game to make a profit somehow or another. Whenever I read something that sounds peculiar to me, the very first thing I think about is how much money changed hands for that article to appear on a popular web site, and who is it that wants to shape public opinion, and why.
Horsefeathers, horsefeathers, h o r s e f e a t h e r s !
Maybe Chrome is faster when watching videos. But I don't watch videos and don't give a monkey's tail about YouTube.
Firefox is fast where it counts--web sites that I must use to get work done. And it uses far less memory. Chrome opens up a new instance for every page, which makes about as much sense as paying a hundred dollars for a pack of gum. So not only is Firefox faster, but the system as a whole runs faster when the user has enough sense to steer clear of Chrome. More memory equates to a more responsive user experience on any properly configured operating system.
I used Chrome for a month at work. Then I switched over to the latest version of Firefox. The difference was like night and day. Firefox was faster all the time. The only tweaks I made were installing the AdBlock add-on and expanding Firefox's cache from the rather conservative 350-odd mb to 1 GB.
I really don't understand all the buzz about Chrome, unless Google has bought a lot of positive buzz, which seems likely to me.
I write my blog purely for pleasure--to vent and call horsefeathers--and receive no payment from anyone. Even Google won't pay me for ads due to some weird technical glitch on their end, so I'm completely unremunerated.
But the mainstream media is presumably in the game to make a profit somehow or another. Whenever I read something that sounds peculiar to me, the very first thing I think about is how much money changed hands for that article to appear on a popular web site, and who is it that wants to shape public opinion, and why.
Friday, August 1, 2014
How Much Did Hamas pay for the Telegraph?
I read the Telegraph the other day, and it sounded like a propaganda organ for Hamas. I wonder how much money they are taking from Iran?
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
How much does a positive review cost?
How much did the tyrants in China pay for all the positive reviews that Deepin has received in the Linux press--reviews that completely miss the main point, that Deepin was developed by a fascist tyranny for a reason that has not yet been revealed.
Hint: the reason probably has to do with using the personal computers of unsuspecting nerds around the world to steal passwords, information, bandwidth, and computing power.
I watched a BBC Storyville documentary the other day called "China's Bleak House," that reveals how China treats the poor. Those poor people that dare to complain about their treatment by corrupt officials are beaten, tortured, dispossessed of whatever meager possessions they have, separated from their families, witness their families getting beaten, and have all manner of ill visited upon their heads for merely asking for justice.
It was a depressing show, and I tuned out late in the show when a peasant woman was pushed in front of a train by goons. The police did not bother investigating her murder, and they did not even bother cleaning up the body parts. Her friends walked along the tracks the next day and found parts of her jaw bone, skull, and even a large portion of her hand. This illustrates what I think about China. It may have pilfered a lot of our technology and stolen our jobs, but the country remains tyrannical and does not give a damn about its working class. It is one of the worst places in the world to work.
I think Westerners that install things like Deepin on their computers have no knowledge of world affairs or history.
However, there are a lot of Westerners that would gladly buy their food from China and absorb all manner of heavy metals and carcinogens into their bodies because they think all countries are equal. Good luck with that. For my part, I think I will buy my food from local farmers and get my software from people that live in democratic lands where people can provide feedback without worrying about the police coming a-knocking on their door.
Hint: the reason probably has to do with using the personal computers of unsuspecting nerds around the world to steal passwords, information, bandwidth, and computing power.
I watched a BBC Storyville documentary the other day called "China's Bleak House," that reveals how China treats the poor. Those poor people that dare to complain about their treatment by corrupt officials are beaten, tortured, dispossessed of whatever meager possessions they have, separated from their families, witness their families getting beaten, and have all manner of ill visited upon their heads for merely asking for justice.
It was a depressing show, and I tuned out late in the show when a peasant woman was pushed in front of a train by goons. The police did not bother investigating her murder, and they did not even bother cleaning up the body parts. Her friends walked along the tracks the next day and found parts of her jaw bone, skull, and even a large portion of her hand. This illustrates what I think about China. It may have pilfered a lot of our technology and stolen our jobs, but the country remains tyrannical and does not give a damn about its working class. It is one of the worst places in the world to work.
I think Westerners that install things like Deepin on their computers have no knowledge of world affairs or history.
However, there are a lot of Westerners that would gladly buy their food from China and absorb all manner of heavy metals and carcinogens into their bodies because they think all countries are equal. Good luck with that. For my part, I think I will buy my food from local farmers and get my software from people that live in democratic lands where people can provide feedback without worrying about the police coming a-knocking on their door.
Deepin?
I'm surprised none of the reviews I've read about Deepin, including at Distrowatch, make any bones about Deepin being developed in China. You know, the same country that has been hacking Western corporations, governments and private citizens for years. China has about a million reasons to want to push a Linux distro, and none of them are benevolent. In Distrowatch's interview with a developer, I read that Deepin has 30 developers. Actually I thought there would be more, given that the Red Army is actively engaged in computer hacking. I would not touch a Chinese distro. Lose the illusion! China is a tyranny; there is no free speech, no real justice system and the government does whatever the heck it wants to do, whenever the heck it wants to do it. No matter how many positive reviews Deepin buys for cheap in the online press, the fact remains it derives from a highly suspect source.
Hamas and Its Tunnels
Instead of building hospitals or trying to improve the economy, Hamas builds tunnels to murder and kidnap civilians. The responsibility for the current conflict is all on the side of Hamas. No country in the world would accept terrorists pouring across the border through secret underground tunnels.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Here's for Linux Mint XFCE
One thing I like in Linux Mint Xfce and that I don't see in Netrunner KDE is the ability to right-click a file, choose a program to open it, and then teach the desktop to always use that program in the future. With Netrunner, it's an ongoing battle to have it use Jedit to open up .sql, .html, .shtml. Netrunner wants to always use Kate, which is extremely limited and has a lot of problems dealing with plain text files. I cannot even open, as root, using Jedit, a text file at all in Dolphin and have given up on what should be an elementary procedure that even Windows 3.1 was capable of managing.
What I have had to do in Netrunner as a workaround is drop to the terminal in the directory with my .sql file and enter sudo jedit suchandsuch.sql each and every time I need to edit the file. That annoyance is enough to make me not want to use Netrunner in the future, and combined with KDE's propensity to freeze, then reboot the desktop for no apparent reason makes me not want to choose KDE in the future as a desktop. I think I will stick with good, old, tried-and-true XFCE, Linux Mint edition, thank you very much.
It is impossible to register for Netrunner's forum, so raising the issue there is a no-go.
What I have had to do in Netrunner as a workaround is drop to the terminal in the directory with my .sql file and enter sudo jedit suchandsuch.sql each and every time I need to edit the file. That annoyance is enough to make me not want to use Netrunner in the future, and combined with KDE's propensity to freeze, then reboot the desktop for no apparent reason makes me not want to choose KDE in the future as a desktop. I think I will stick with good, old, tried-and-true XFCE, Linux Mint edition, thank you very much.
It is impossible to register for Netrunner's forum, so raising the issue there is a no-go.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Vandals in Paris
The vandals in Paris that torched Jewish businesses should be prosecuted for hate crimes. Perhaps France does not understand the meaning of the rule of law. If mob violence is to rule, then what is the point of having a government at all?
The only reason that some people, especially in Europe, go on against Israel is not because of ethics, but because their hearts are cold and their minds are blank, and they're playing the game of hopping on the bandwagon with the apparently popular choice.
A country such as Israel has every right to defend itself against rocket attacks. There is not a country in the world that would turn a blind eye if rockets were pouring in across their border and terrorists were creeping out of underground tunnels and murdering teenagers. Nations go to war for far less. Building underground tunnels into a neighboring nation constitutes a violation of border. Hamas invaded Israel. Period. End of story.
It would be a different matter, aye, if Israel launched a war unprovoked. Some people live in an alternate universe where they pretend that is the case. Some people don't care what the facts are. There are a lot of people with tribal loyalties that will just hurrah for their team no matter what their team is doing.
What needs to happen for peace is that Hamas needs to stop pursuing violence as a means to an end. They need to disarm and engage the Israelis in sincere negotiations in good faith--and, yes, give even more than they think they should. They need to show themselves as bigger than their enemy thinks they are.
As long as they remain small-minded and intent upon perpetuating a cycle of hate and violence, then hate and violence is all they will ever get, even if it persists for ten thousand years.
The only reason that some people, especially in Europe, go on against Israel is not because of ethics, but because their hearts are cold and their minds are blank, and they're playing the game of hopping on the bandwagon with the apparently popular choice.
A country such as Israel has every right to defend itself against rocket attacks. There is not a country in the world that would turn a blind eye if rockets were pouring in across their border and terrorists were creeping out of underground tunnels and murdering teenagers. Nations go to war for far less. Building underground tunnels into a neighboring nation constitutes a violation of border. Hamas invaded Israel. Period. End of story.
It would be a different matter, aye, if Israel launched a war unprovoked. Some people live in an alternate universe where they pretend that is the case. Some people don't care what the facts are. There are a lot of people with tribal loyalties that will just hurrah for their team no matter what their team is doing.
What needs to happen for peace is that Hamas needs to stop pursuing violence as a means to an end. They need to disarm and engage the Israelis in sincere negotiations in good faith--and, yes, give even more than they think they should. They need to show themselves as bigger than their enemy thinks they are.
As long as they remain small-minded and intent upon perpetuating a cycle of hate and violence, then hate and violence is all they will ever get, even if it persists for ten thousand years.
Sunday, July 20, 2014
The Way to Report War
I don't like hearing about numbers of Palestinians killed and numbers of Israelis killed. The way to report on war is in totals--the total number of human beings killed. They are the same and genetically not very different.
The reason that the war persists is that Iran and Hamas continue to refuse to recognize Israel's right to exist. There is no point dwelling in the 1940s and continuing a generations-old conflict over what happened before most people were even born. Israel is a civilized state that operates in a rational manner and by rules and procedures. Hamas is nothing but a gang of thugs addicted to the bribes given them by Iran.
Hamas is like a flea infection in a big woolly dog. Periodically, the dog has to be given a thorough flea bath to kill the fleas. The flea bath is very unpleasant. The dog doesn't like it and complains, but it's necessary, because otherwise the fleas sneak out and kill human beings. The dog is not intelligent enough to remove the fleas on its own and needs help to do so.
CNN has a good essay exposing Hamas and its culture of lies, stupidity and cowardice. It is not a culture worth preserving.
The reason that the war persists is that Iran and Hamas continue to refuse to recognize Israel's right to exist. There is no point dwelling in the 1940s and continuing a generations-old conflict over what happened before most people were even born. Israel is a civilized state that operates in a rational manner and by rules and procedures. Hamas is nothing but a gang of thugs addicted to the bribes given them by Iran.
Hamas is like a flea infection in a big woolly dog. Periodically, the dog has to be given a thorough flea bath to kill the fleas. The flea bath is very unpleasant. The dog doesn't like it and complains, but it's necessary, because otherwise the fleas sneak out and kill human beings. The dog is not intelligent enough to remove the fleas on its own and needs help to do so.
CNN has a good essay exposing Hamas and its culture of lies, stupidity and cowardice. It is not a culture worth preserving.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Putin's Russia Sucks
Putin is an idiot, and Putin's Russia sucks.
Shooting down an airliner for no reason is the capstone on Putin's life and career as a thug.
Shooting down an airliner for no reason is the capstone on Putin's life and career as a thug.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
KDE Likes to Crash
One of the rude bugs of KDE is that it likes to crash when I'm browsing the Internet. Firefox will suddenly freeze for a solid minute, after which Netrunner throws up an error message saying, "The KDE desktop had to be restarted because the graphic environment was reset." That is very annoying, and it's something I never experienced in Xubuntu.
I turned off most desktop effects and will continue paring them down to zero if the bug persists.
Right at the moment, I'm busy hunting for the option that will let me set up keyboard shortcuts. KDE hides this away for an unknown reason. In Xubuntu, I found the option in about a minute. I'm still searching in KDE's wilderness that they call a Settings Manager...
Update the answer to keyboard shortcuts in KDE is here and, compared to Xubuntu, it's ridiculously complicated. I'm beginning to think that XFCE is much more advanced than KDE. The supposed advantage to KDE is the bells and whistles, but if they cause the desktop applications to freeze at random intervals, then that is not of much use to anyone at all. Reliability is the most important factor in a desktop, bar none. I would rather go with XFCE being 99.9% reliable than with KDE being 99.89% reliable, because that .01% error rate is going to cause a lot of irritation in the long run.
Update # 2 I think I found the answer after about a half hour's Googling. Settings | Shortcuts | Custom Shortcuts actually allows entering in a simple command such as /sbin/shutdown -P now, which after doing a sudo chmod u+s /sbin/shutdown works like a charm. I suppose, in retrospect, the shortcut manager was rather obvious, but I don't find Netrunner's organization of settings obvious at all. What precisely is the difference between the categories "Hardware" and "System"? Actually, nothing. Hardware is the system, and the system is the hardware. Advanced | Other just seems strange. I rather like Windows' way of listing everything when one selects the traditional view of Control Panel. Sure, it's a long list, but it is organized alphabetically, and once one has looked it over a couple times, one can find things quickly. I really don't like the categories in Netrunner's System Settings, because they are unintuitive and not helpful. Xubuntu's settings could use some tweaking too, but they are light-years ahead of Netrunner in terms of ease-of-use. Whoever designed Xubuntu's settings understands. He just understands.
I'll continue using KDE. Perhaps it is unfair to hold it to the same reliability standard as Windows 7. Microsoft, after all, has legions of full-time programmers and testers. I really like Netrunner overall, at least when my browser isn't freezing up on me.
However, next time I'm in the market for a new desktop, I think I'll pass on buggy KDE and go with tried-and-true XFCE. I like a desktop most of all that just works.
I turned off most desktop effects and will continue paring them down to zero if the bug persists.
Right at the moment, I'm busy hunting for the option that will let me set up keyboard shortcuts. KDE hides this away for an unknown reason. In Xubuntu, I found the option in about a minute. I'm still searching in KDE's wilderness that they call a Settings Manager...
Update the answer to keyboard shortcuts in KDE is here and, compared to Xubuntu, it's ridiculously complicated. I'm beginning to think that XFCE is much more advanced than KDE. The supposed advantage to KDE is the bells and whistles, but if they cause the desktop applications to freeze at random intervals, then that is not of much use to anyone at all. Reliability is the most important factor in a desktop, bar none. I would rather go with XFCE being 99.9% reliable than with KDE being 99.89% reliable, because that .01% error rate is going to cause a lot of irritation in the long run.
Update # 2 I think I found the answer after about a half hour's Googling. Settings | Shortcuts | Custom Shortcuts actually allows entering in a simple command such as /sbin/shutdown -P now, which after doing a sudo chmod u+s /sbin/shutdown works like a charm. I suppose, in retrospect, the shortcut manager was rather obvious, but I don't find Netrunner's organization of settings obvious at all. What precisely is the difference between the categories "Hardware" and "System"? Actually, nothing. Hardware is the system, and the system is the hardware. Advanced | Other just seems strange. I rather like Windows' way of listing everything when one selects the traditional view of Control Panel. Sure, it's a long list, but it is organized alphabetically, and once one has looked it over a couple times, one can find things quickly. I really don't like the categories in Netrunner's System Settings, because they are unintuitive and not helpful. Xubuntu's settings could use some tweaking too, but they are light-years ahead of Netrunner in terms of ease-of-use. Whoever designed Xubuntu's settings understands. He just understands.
I'll continue using KDE. Perhaps it is unfair to hold it to the same reliability standard as Windows 7. Microsoft, after all, has legions of full-time programmers and testers. I really like Netrunner overall, at least when my browser isn't freezing up on me.
However, next time I'm in the market for a new desktop, I think I'll pass on buggy KDE and go with tried-and-true XFCE. I like a desktop most of all that just works.
Grobbing Around
The Grob is particularly effective against the English. Throws the Englishman for a loopity-loop-de-loop.
[Event "Live Chess"]
[White "anon"]
[Black "igor"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1451"]
[BlackElo "1354"]
[TimeControl "12|0"]
[Termination "igor won by checkmate"]
1.c4 g5 2.Nc3 Bg7 3.d4 g4 4.e4 d6 5.Nge2 Nf6 6.Ng3 h5 7.Be2 Nbd7 8.Nf5 Rg8 9.Nxg7+ Rxg7 10.O-O c5
11.d5 Ne5 12.Bg5 Nh7 13.Bh4 Ng5 14.f4 gxf3 15.Bxf3 Ngxf3+ 16.Rxf3 Bg4 17.Qa4+ Bd7 18.Qd1 Nxf3+ 19.Qxf3 Bg4 20.Qf2 Bh3
21.Bg3 h4 22.gxh3 hxg3 23.hxg3 Qd7 24.g4 O-O-O 25.Kh2 Rh8 26.Rg1 Rxg4 27.Ne2 Rxe4 28.Rg3 Rxc4 29.Qxf7 Rc2 30.Rg8+ Rxg8
31.Qxg8+ Kc7 32.Qg2 Qb5 33.Nc3 Rxg2+ 34.Kxg2 Qxb2+ 35.Kg3 Qxc3+ 36.Kg4 Qe5 37.h4 c4 38.h5 c3 39.h6 c2 40.h7 c1=Q
41.h8=Q Qxh8 42.Kg3 Qe5+ 43.Kf3 Qce3+ 44.Kg2 Q5g3+ 45.Kf1 Qef2# 0-1
[Event "Live Chess"]
[White "anon"]
[Black "igor"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1451"]
[BlackElo "1354"]
[TimeControl "12|0"]
[Termination "igor won by checkmate"]
1.c4 g5 2.Nc3 Bg7 3.d4 g4 4.e4 d6 5.Nge2 Nf6 6.Ng3 h5 7.Be2 Nbd7 8.Nf5 Rg8 9.Nxg7+ Rxg7 10.O-O c5
11.d5 Ne5 12.Bg5 Nh7 13.Bh4 Ng5 14.f4 gxf3 15.Bxf3 Ngxf3+ 16.Rxf3 Bg4 17.Qa4+ Bd7 18.Qd1 Nxf3+ 19.Qxf3 Bg4 20.Qf2 Bh3
21.Bg3 h4 22.gxh3 hxg3 23.hxg3 Qd7 24.g4 O-O-O 25.Kh2 Rh8 26.Rg1 Rxg4 27.Ne2 Rxe4 28.Rg3 Rxc4 29.Qxf7 Rc2 30.Rg8+ Rxg8
31.Qxg8+ Kc7 32.Qg2 Qb5 33.Nc3 Rxg2+ 34.Kxg2 Qxb2+ 35.Kg3 Qxc3+ 36.Kg4 Qe5 37.h4 c4 38.h5 c3 39.h6 c2 40.h7 c1=Q
41.h8=Q Qxh8 42.Kg3 Qe5+ 43.Kf3 Qce3+ 44.Kg2 Q5g3+ 45.Kf1 Qef2# 0-1
How to Complain about the USPS
As the United States Postal Service employs many thieves and lowlifes, there is no guarantee that complaining will get one anywhere. However, this site offers information on how to complain against the government-run monopoly when it does its usual bit of stealing, lying and obfuscating.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Netrunner's Closed Forum
Another thing Netrunner has in common with Kubuntu is that it does not have an accessible forum. Registering for that thing is an ordeal, if it is at all possible. I solved all of their little puzzles to prove I'm human, clicked on the email verification, logged in, and was not logged in. No error message--nothing. Their forum is broken, just like Kubuntu's was when I tried it a year ago. I tried Netrunner's forum about six times without any luck. I don't really need the forum, anyway. I was just trying to register to praise the design. Sometimes I err on the side of over-enthusiasm. Perhaps a bit of distance is a good thing.
Linux distros that have functional forums include: SolydXK, PCLinuxOS, Linux Mint, and Ubuntu.
Linux distros that have broken forums include Kubuntu and Netrunner.
If one considers a functional forum to be helpful from time to time, then that will have an impact on the choice of distro. For now, I'm willing to go without, because Netrunner is similar enough to Ubuntu that I can just use Google to answer questions I may have. If I ever run into any kind of difficulty, however, then I'm thinking that Linux Mint KDE might be a good choice for the future.
Linux distros that have functional forums include: SolydXK, PCLinuxOS, Linux Mint, and Ubuntu.
Linux distros that have broken forums include Kubuntu and Netrunner.
If one considers a functional forum to be helpful from time to time, then that will have an impact on the choice of distro. For now, I'm willing to go without, because Netrunner is similar enough to Ubuntu that I can just use Google to answer questions I may have. If I ever run into any kind of difficulty, however, then I'm thinking that Linux Mint KDE might be a good choice for the future.
Netrunner 14.04 is a Nice Strong Cup of Awesome
I haven't the time to compose a proper review, but just a quick note that Netrunner "Frontier" 14.04, 64-bit Kubuntu edition, is out of this world. I thought I'd be tweaking for hours to get the desktop nice and comfortable, but no. Netrunner is a distro that knows what users want and delivers it to them with a nice pretty bow on top.
If you want to check out a modern operating system outside of Microsoft's realm, then be sure to torrent a copy of Netrunner.
I haven't tried the Rolling Release and have no plans to do so--Manjaro seems Greek to me--but I can definitely vouch for the Frontier edition.
KDE is looking mighty good these days on an Intel Haswell Celeron G1820.
If you want to check out a modern operating system outside of Microsoft's realm, then be sure to torrent a copy of Netrunner.
I haven't tried the Rolling Release and have no plans to do so--Manjaro seems Greek to me--but I can definitely vouch for the Frontier edition.
KDE is looking mighty good these days on an Intel Haswell Celeron G1820.
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