Ever Increasing Entropy

More and More Americans Ditching Cable TV

2012-01-25T13:18:00.000-08:00

It seems that 20% of Americans have either ditched cable TV or are planning to do so:

"9 percent of people have already cut the cord and 11 percent are considering doing so because they can watch almost all of their favorite shows online."

Those same people might find they could get some of the remaining programs with an antenna.

I ditched cable when I moved to my present apartment almost a year ago. I was looking for ways to cut costs during a time when my income has been a bit erratic. Since digital television came along stations multicast, which means many TV stations now have 3 or 4 channels where they used to have one. I can pick up somewhere around 40 channels where I live in Raleigh. Some of the channels I receive are considered to be outside the Raleigh-Durham market and are not offered by cable or satellite in this area. My best friend in Franklin Co. (where I used to live) picks up about the same number, though the list is slightly different.

My antenna, an Antennas Direct ClearStream 2, is indoors, sits on top of my entertainment center, and gives me perfect HD reception. I live in a second story apartment. That's a stock picture. Mine sits sideways as I have very limited space between the top of the entertainment center and the ceiling. It works just fine on it's side and the extra height did seem to help a bit on one more distant station (4 channels). One month on HD cable costs as much as the antenna, which can also be mounted outdoors with even better results. As a renter in an apartment that just isn't an option for me.

There are also lots of opportunities to stream programming from the Internet for free. For example, CNN had free streaming of the last Republican debate they carried. Most of the networks will let you stream any episodes you missed from their websites as well. Hulu also offers lots of free programming including many cable programs.

If that isn't enough for you the add HuluPlus or Netflix for less than $10 per month. It's a lot cheaper than cable. I get all the TV I want to watch for free. I can't imagine ever paying the cable company again.

Be Careful What You Wish For

2011-12-04T21:25:00.000-08:00

Note: This is a rare cross post from my newly revived Zionism and Aliya blog. The issues involved deal with more than just the Arab-Israeli conflict. This piece touches on what I believe to be a fundamental flaw in U.S. foreign policy and in the media reporting of these and similar issues around the world.

For months the American and European media reported on the so-called Arab Spring as if it was a breakthrough for democracy in the Arab world. Dictators in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen have now been overthrown, with varying degrees of force and loss of life. The Western media acted as cheerleaders and Western leaders, including President Obama, first encouraged the overthrow of these regimes and then hailed these events as victories for freedom. Sadly, they were nothing of the sort.

Across the Arab world where elections, many of them the first free elections these countries have seen, are being won by Islamists who believe that democracy is a form of Western decadence. Assuming the Islamists come to power in some of these countries we could see the sort of one and done elections we saw in Gaza, where the winners, Hamas, promptly eliminated the democratic process that brought them to power as well as their opponents. It is very likely that the end result could be even more repressive than the dictators which have been deposed.

Somehow this hasn't quite dawned on the press who are trying to find distinctions and differences between the various Islamist and jihadist groups who seem poised to come to power across the Middle East. The Associated Press, in reporting the results of the Egyptian elections, engaged in some truly amazing and contradictory double speak. The first few paragraphs of their article are factual. For example:

The High Election Commission said the Islamic fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party garnered 36.6 percent of the 9.7 million valid ballots cast for party lists. The Nour Party, a more hardline Islamist group, captured 24.4 percent.

Having accurately described the parties involved the author(s) of the piece then find it necessary to tell us that, really, the Muslim Brotherhood might be moderates after all:

The party has positioned itself as a moderate Islamist party that wants to implement Islamic law without sacrificing personal freedoms, and has said it will not seek an alliance with the more radical Nour party.

Really? How could anyone come to that conclusion in the wake of what was said at the Brotherhood rally just before the election? The following is from The Jerusalem Post article on the rally since the American media somehow didn't find this newsworthy:

Muhammad Ahmed el- Tayeb, the imam of al-Azhar Mosque, told the crowd: “Al- Aksa Mosque is currently under an offensive by the Jews... We shall not allow the Zionists to Judaize al-Quds [Jerusalem]. We are telling Israel and Europe that we shall not allow even one stone to be moved there.”

Protesters chanted, “Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv: Judgment Day has come,” and passages from the Koran vowing that “one day we shall kill all the Jews.”

How is promising genocide for the Jewish people moderate? Can someone please explain that to me? Why are mainstream media outlets making excuses for these people?

John Henry, of the liberal Low Genius blog, hit the nail squarely on the head in a discussion on Facebook:

I think that western minds have a very serious problem parsing the idea that there really are some people - ordinary people who live under these regimes - who *don't want democracy*. We could go round for hours about why that is, but all the talk won't address that simple issue: what do you do when a people, given the option, *choose despotism*?

His comments referred both to the Russian elections and the recent elections in the Arab world. Here was my response to him:

Mostly it falls into cultural differences and what these people are taught in their schools (assuming they have them), by their media, and in their houses of worship. One of the reasons American foreign policy fails in so much of the world is that we tend to look at everyone as if they are displaced Vermonters. All we have to do is show them freedom and democracy and "the American way" (whatever that is) and they will suddenly be just like us. Both Republican and Democratic administrations have operated under this illusion. The result is what we are seeing in Iraq and Afghanistan, where Americans are absolutely despised and where we will likely end up with totally hostile regimes.

Sadly the media also operates under the "displaced Vermonter" notion and wishes for events that have horrendous consequences that they can't seem to fathom even though they should be obvious to anyone who knows the Middle East at all. I fear the end results will not only be more repressive regimes but also a destabilization of the Middle East and a bloody regional war started by an attack on Israel. An old saw seems to apply: Be careful what you wish for; it may come to pass.

Big Business is NOT Creating Jobs; Corporate Tax Breaks are a Huge Waste of Money

2011-11-29T12:43:00.000-08:00

Republicans keep telling us that only the private sector can create jobs. They claim, time and again, that reducing corporate tax rates and giving huge tax breaks to big corporations creates jobs. Maybe, once upon a time, there was a degree of truth to the idea. In today's economy it's pure bunk.

I'd like to share a recent example from here in North Carolina. Apple built a new, huge new data center here. How many jobs did that create? A whopping 50! That's right, there are only 50 new jobs there. Let me quote from an article on Yahoo! Finance, which is originally from Business Insider:

"Apple has chosen to manufacture its products where it can manufacture them most efficiently--outside the U.S. And Apple's shareholders are benefiting accordingly.

[...]

But the point is that the hope that a few more companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon will restore the U.S. economy to its former glory is misplaced.

The companies create amazing products and vast shareholder wealth, but they don't spread this wealth around as much as earlier industrial giants did."

Please note that I deliberately chose an article from a business publication, not a left-leaning political site. It seems even business reporters can see the truth now.

So, how can we create more jobs in this country? It's not all that hard: you hire people. It worked for FDR in the 1930s and it can work now. No, government hiring for public works projects didn't end the Great Depression, but it did reduce unemployment from nearly a third of the workforce down to 12%.

First, start by rehiring the teachers, firefighters and police officers who were let go because of state and local budget cutting and the end of stimulus funds. The "Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act of 2011", originally part President Obama's jobs bill, would have done that. It was blocked in the Senate by every last Republican, one independent (Joseph Lieberman) and two conservative Democrats (Bill Pryor and Ben Nelson). Polling shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans do not support the cuts to education and to first responders. The cost of the bill would have been $35 billion.

Second, rebuild our crumbling infrastructure in this country. Even the pro-business, conservative Chamber of Commerce endorsed President Obama's call for more investment in our nation's infrastructure. Once again, public support is there for repairing and building roads, bridges, the power grid, and other needed projects. Once again, the Republicans blocked the bill in the Senate. The cost would have been $60 billion.

Bare in mind that Republicans opposed closing tax loopholes on the wealthiest Americans to pay for these bills. I still have yet to hear a rational explanation from Republicans telling me how tax the breaks they defend for luxury yachts, private jets and second homes is good for the economy or will create jobs. I do know that employed people, whether in the public or private sector, spend money which helps businesses profit, creates more jobs and, in turn creates more consumer spending. Employed people pay a heck of a lot more in taxes than unemployed people too, which reduces the deficit. Coming back to my original point: corporate welfare, whether it's subsidies for oil and energy companies or tax breaks to build a new data center, are a huge waste of money which does nothing for ordinary taxpayers but does enrich a small slice of the top 1%. Corporate welfare also increases the deficit by more than enough to pay for the two jobs bills I referenced.

The plain fact is that Republicans are deliberately tanking the economy and killing job creation because they believe that people will blame President Obama and elect more Republicans next year. They are all about their own power and their wealthy and big corporate donors and to hell with the rest of us. Maybe, just maybe the Occupy movement is finally waking people up to that reality. Maybe instead of the "throw the rascals out" mentality we saw in 2010 we might just get the "throw the 1% and their lackeys out" mentality we really need. Maybe, just maybe, people will pay attention and put the blame where it belongs this time.

Where is the Outrage?

2011-11-25T01:29:00.000-08:00

I've been listening to ELO lately for the first time in a long time. What does a '70s and '80s pop band known for love songs have to do with anger and outrage?

Well... my first ELO album, one of the first records I ever bought, was Electric Light Orchestra II. I got it when I was maybe in ninth grade. On The Third Day, the first pop ELO album, was out by then, but the song that had originally received lots of airplay was the seven minute long cover of Roll Over Beethoven and that's what I wanted. Once I had the album that wasn't the song that grabbed me.

When Electric Light Orchestra II was recorded in 1972 the Vietnam War was still raging. ELO gave the majority of side 2 of the record to an antiwar song called Kuiama. Band members still claim it's the best song they ever did. If you haven't heard it the word "dark" doesn't even begin to do it justice. Even the instrumental section, which runs for maybe six minutes, is dismal. Don't get me wrong, it's brilliantly done, but it is effectively written to bring out the sadness and anger and guilt that match the story. From WikiPedia:

At 11:19, it is the longest track on the album, and the longest song ever recorded by Electric Light Orchestra. It tells the tale of a soldier who has found an orphan girl wandering the ruins of a battle-ravaged village in the Vietnam war. The soldier is trying to comfort the girl and also to explain how he was the one who killed her parents.

The deeply affected vocals feature some of ELO's trademark harmonies and lots of overdubs, but they aren't anywhere near the pleasant sound the band would be later known for.

Kuia stop your cryin,
there's no bombs a'fallin
no horsemen in the night
a'ridin through your dreams
and tearing at your life
baby goodnight

No more silver rain will hit your ground
and no more guns will sound
and no more life be drowned
No more trenches where the soldiers lie
and no more people die
beneath that big black sky

Wake up Kuiama, I got somethin to tell you
it's just that I mean, well that is to say,
that I'm trying to explain but I'll start again,
for you, I must be true.

[...]

Kuia please believe me. I just couldn't help myself.
I wanted to run but they gave me a gun
and they told me the duty I owed to my Fatherland.
I made my stand.

Kuia I just shot them, I just blew their heads open,
and I heard them scream in their agony

How many real life Kuiamas are there in Afghanistan today? What can we accomplish there? Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of 9/11, is dead. So are most of his lieutenants from that time. The Taliban are based now in Pakistan, not Afghanistan. Don't worry, our drones are bombing Pakistan too.

The government we support in Afghanistan stole the last election and has little popular support in the country. We Americans are absolutely hated in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. There is no longer any possibility of a good outcome, much like Vietnam in the early 1970s. President Obama says we will be fighting there for another three years. Why? Some Republicans excoriate the President for setting a departure date at all. They want us to stay and keep killing until the mission is accomplished. What mission? What on earth can be accomplished other than more needless deaths?

Where is the outrage that caused Jeff Lynne to write a song like Kuiama? Where is the horror at the senseless loss of life that goes on day in and day out. What possible purpose can it serve? What "victory" can we achieve?

Two Republican Presidential candidates, former Utah Governor John Huntsman and Texas Congressman Ron Paul, actually have the right answer: get out of Afghanistan and withdraw now. They are the modern equivalent of Senator George McGovern (D-SD) in 1972. Like Sen. McGovern they have no chance of winning. Heck, they have no chance of being nominated. The leading Republican candidates according to the polls are the most bloodthirsty of the bunch.

Have we, as a society, become so numb to the horrors of war that we just accept it? Where are today's protest songs? Why are we seeing people protesting Wall Street and greed and the corrupting effect of unlimited money flowing into the political system (which are worthy of protest) but nobody protesting a decade of unrelenting war? This 40 year old song can still stir emotions. Maybe people need to listen to it again.

Here is the original 1972 version and the 1999 version from Live at the BBC:

As Bad as Things Seem...

2011-11-24T21:45:00.000-08:00

This week, just before the Thanksgiving holiday, I learned that the company which had been my largest customer this fall had filed for bankruptcy and closed their doors. They were a wholesaler/distributor and the Christmas orders from retailers never came this year. Oh, I'm sure they had some but sales were so low compared to previous years they simply could not stay in business. The newly unemployed former IT Director, my main contact there, gave me the courtesy of a call to let me know. He's in his upper fifties. His job is not going to be easy to replace, especially in this economy.

As frustrated as I am at times with the direction I see things moving in I know that they could be much worse. I, at least, still have some customers and some income. The lights are on, the heat is running when needed, and I know when my next checks should arrive. My income isn't what it should be, but considering how many people are unemployed, some for a very long time, I'm fortunate by comparison.

CD Review: Bill Quist - Piano Solos of Erik Satie

2011-11-16T12:52:00.000-08:00

I think about three years have passed since I posted a review of a CD from my collection to my blog, and I don't think I've ever taken the time to review one of the classical albums I occasionally enjoy. Before returning to politics and news and other weighty matters I thought it might be nice to write about a CD I really like.

More than 30 years after it's initial release, this recording still stands up as my favorite of Erik Satie's piano works. Recorded in a studio rather than a concert hall, it has a rich and full sound and the works are performed beautifully. Windham Hill wasn't known as a classical label. This may be their only true classical release but it is an outstanding one. Brian Eno refers to Satie as the father of ambient music. That may fit for some of the pieces but I sure wouldn't want to try to nod off to Bill Quist's forceful perfomance of Ogives #1. Some of Satie's compositions selected here are delicate and beautiful, of course. In general, this is an excellent selection of his short piano works performed by a pianist associated with the San Francisco Symphony.

I should note that this album has been out of print for years. Used copies are usually available from Amazon.com and other websites which carry used CDs. Highly recommended.

NOTE: The main part of this review has also been posted on Discogs.

It's all President Obama's Fault

2011-08-20T14:45:00.000-07:00

Every day I see and read another right-wing opinion piece telling us how President Obama and an intrusive government are the cause of all our economic woes. Tea Party pundits and libertarian true believers seem to dominate the media, the Internet and the discussion despite their endless complaints about the "liberal bias" in anything that doesn't parrot their views. Living in a conservative state like North Carolina these views are now the real mainstream. My brother, who lives near Atlanta, made a comment that fits my feelings about my adopted home: "I used to be a conservative Republican until I moved to Georgia. Then I became a liberal Democrat... and my views didn't change." What was once conservative, or perhaps still is in New York where I cast my first ballot, is called liberal here.

Sorry, I don't see the government as more intrusive now than it was 30 years ago no matter how many right wingers say otherwise. We don't have a nanny state, though if social conservatives take power we might have government policing our bedrooms. We don't have too much government regulation. We have too little. Corporate greed rides rough shod over realistic planning for our future and for a sustainable economy rather than the quick buck. The right wingers who claim to be saving us all from an overbearing government that will tax us to death are ready to dismantle Social Security and Medicare, effectively handing granny a tin cup for her retirement, while refusing to cut one penny from corporate welfare (pardon me, subsidies) for big oil companies making record profits.

2011 resembles 1937. The Republicans were decimated in the 1932 election and we had one party rule for the next four years. With New Deal programs and the government building infrastructure FDR managed to cut unemployment from more than 25% in 1933 to 12% by 1936. That was still too high and people were suffering but the economy was in recovery. By 1937 the Supreme Court had thrown out some New Deal programs. A new Conservative Coalition in Congress called for fiscal restraint and deficit reduction. The economy went straight back into full blown depression and didn't recover until World War II.

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. --George Santayana

I believe in times of economic crisis, and that is where we are now, an activist government is a necessity. Yes, debts and deficits are a problem and they should be addressed. Start by ending what caused the deficits in the first place: unnecessary wars coupled with ill timed massive tax cuts that mainly benefit the wealthy. In wartime past Presidents have called on Americans to sacrifice. Neither President Bush nor President Obama has done so. Neither of them put this country on a wartime footing. The Bush tax cuts cost $4 trillion over 10 years, or roughly one third of our current deficit. Let the tax cuts expire next year, end the useless wars which we cannot possibly win and the deficit wouldn't look so daunting after all.

Make no mistake, President Bush and the policies of the right caused the current crisis. President Obama, through lack of leadership and a negotiating style that gives away the store before he even begins, has continued those policies and given as a Republican-light agenda that perpetuates the problems.

I am not a fan of President Obama. I'd gladly vote for someone else who would be an improvement. The current crop of Republican candidates is so extreme, so incredibly far to the right, that any of them would make things far, far worse. Unless President Obama faces a primary challenge or a strong independent with sane policies emerges I will have to hold my nose and while I vote to reelect him. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, is it?

Oh, and before the usual people simply write me off as some crazy liberal I will remind people that once upon a time I was a Reagan Republican. To paraphrase: I used to be a conservative Republican until I moved to North Carolina. Then I became a liberal Democrat. OK, my views on economics have moved to the left, but not by as much as you might think. As President Obama pointed out, President Reagan did take a balanced approach to deficit reduction. All too often President Obama's positions are far closer to those Ronald Reagan took than those of the Tea Party faithful who now effectively dominate the Republican Party.

Those who say it's all President Obama's fault want to take the policies that brought us to a crisis in the first place and put them on steroids. President Bush and a much more moderate Republican party gave us the Great Recession and record deficits. Those who ignore that bit of recent history don't want to repeat the mistakes of the past. They want to amplify them. Between TARP, bailouts, the stimulus package, new fiscal regulations and all the other policies they vilify we avoided a Second Great Depression. Yet on Fox News and on right wing and social media websites black is now white and white is now black. Those policies that saved our economy from going off a cliff are now the problem. Indeed, as the recent clamor on the right to not raise the debt ceiling amply demonstrated, they are more than happy to throw us all off that cliff.... and it will all be President Obama's fault.

It's Time For the Linux Community to Rally Around One of Our Own

2011-06-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

As some of you have undoubtedly seen, I published a piece this morning on O'Reilly Broadcast about the unfortunate situation Ken Starks and Diane Franklin of the Helios Project find themselves in. Diane had a stroke, the main arteries which deliver blood to her brain are largely blocked, and she needs surgery which may very well be the difference between life and death. If you haven't already please follow the link and read the piece I wrote.

Anyway, I wanted to write about it again, this time from a more personal perspective. This post is unusually long, even for me, and I have been known to get long winded now and again. Please bear with me and read it through.

Diane, Ken's partner, is 64, retired, and living on Social Security alone. She isn't eligible for Medicare yet and her puny $1,200 per month income is too much for her to qualify for Medicaid in the great state of Texas. Diane has worked as the Helios Project's Logistics and Planning Director for the past year without renumeration. She gave her time freely to help underprivileged kids. As is all too often the case in our great American society, no good deed goes unpunished.

As you might guess she can barely make ends meet at all on that income and she surely cannot afford health insurance. I know what health insurance costs for single coverage for a woman in her 50s very well, since that is my situation. It's prohibitively expensive. I can only imagine what it would cost for a woman of 64. I'll save the obvious political rant for later. I don't want politics to distract from what is at stake here.

I've never met Diane or Ken. Heck, I spoke to Ken for the very first time on the phone last night. My own history with Ken, as some of you may remember, got off to an inauspicious start. To say he rubbed me the wrong way would be an understatement and a half. For those who may have missed the little incident from 2008 let me tell you about it.

Ken was deeply involved in something called Lindependence. Part of the idea was to get an entire town to switch from Windows to Linux. OK, it was a small town in California, but still, getting an entire town to agree on anything takes some doing. Ken's style back then was confrontational. Heck, he even blogged about a physical confrontation he got into later over his Linux advocacy, but that's besides the point. Anyway, I was writing for O'Reilly quite a bit back then and Ken wanted publicity. He e-mailed me.

Ken is, to say the least, very passionate about Linux. I read his website, his blog, his comparison of running Windows to a "ball and chain" and found it full of zealotry and way, way , way over the top. I wrote a very formal, business like response to "Mr. Starks" declining to cover his story. I wasn't alone. Most of the tech press had pretty much decided to ignore him en masse. Well, my e-mail rubbed Ken the wrong way every bit as much as his writing had done to me. I was the blogger Ken called a "coward" in this 2008 post from his blog.

I have no idea if my e-mail had an impact or not. I don't know if others found a more effective way to critique his work. I do know that Ken's once overly long, wordy and sometimes difficult to follow prose became crisper and more precise. The confrontational attitude slowly disappeared. Thankfully the passion never dissipated and Ken became a very, very effective advocate for Linux.

His Helios Project, which recycles old computers for kids who otherwise cannot afford them and successfully solicits fund to make sure these kids get Internet connectivity to go with it undoubtedly helped. The mellower Ken won awards for his public service and earned praise for his selfless and, I should add, full-time efforts to help those in need in his community. Ken also does some Linux consulting work but, based on what I've read, his income is scarcely better than Diane's. Neither of them can afford much. Their reward comes in what they do for others. Oh, and yeah, somewhere along the line I earned Ken's respect as well, as evidenced by this 2010 blog post.

In contrast to Ken's very public persona, both as a Linux advocate and community activist, is Diane's very much behind the scenes contribution. Ken described her work in the Helios Project to me as "critical." From what I gather she has made serious improvements in the gathering and allocation of resources, making the Project all the more effective. Now the Project is on hold as Ken scrambles to find help for Diane.

In a few short years Ken Starks has become one of the best advocates for Linux I know of. There was a time I never imagined I would say such a thing. Now it simply is true. His work for the less fortunate people of his Austin, Texas community is a great example of one of what the first President Bush called "a thousand points of light." Let's make sure that light is neither dimmed nor extinguished. All of us in the Linux community need to gather around and help a little.

There are tens of millions of Linux users around the world. If 10,000 of us gave just $10 to fund Diane's surgery it would be paid for. It really doesn't take much. The Linux community, the public, non-corporate face of who we are, will be well served in Ken and Diane can get back to doing what they love to do.

Ken has setup a PayPal account to allow those who would like to contribute to do so. Contributions should be made to dianekfranklin@hotmail.com. For those without a credit/debit card or a PayPal account contributions can be sent to the address found here. I run a small consulting business that recently lost it's largest customer. Add some slow payers and I am not exactly having an easy time of it right now. Despite that, I am expecting some checks to come in this week and I will do my small part. I am asking you to do the same.

There is one other thing I am going to ask: the major Linux portal sites are not covering this story. One has a prohibition against fund raising. I don't know what excuse the others have. This needs to be a grass roots effort within the community to get the word out. If you have a blog, a Facebook page, anything at all related to Linux or helping needy kids or whatever then, please, share Ken and Diane's story. It can still have a happy ending.

How To Reduce the Federal Budget Deficit: It's Not Rocket Science

2011-06-04T12:01:00.000-07:00

When you look at polling most Americans want spending cuts to reduce the deficit, but when you get to the actual spending items most Americans do NOT want to see cuts to Medicare, Social Security, education, or fighting terrorism. Without radically cutting those items you can never meaningfully reduce the deficit without raising taxes.

We had a balanced budget in 2000. Four things moved us from balance to record deficits:

The Bush tax cuts

Unfunded wars (Afghanistan and Iraq) paid for through supplemental spending bills, not included in the regular budget process by the Bush administration

The Medicaire prescription drug benefit

A deep recession

When I talk about the wars, I would argue that we have won absolutely nothing in Iraq, where violence is on the rise and most Iraqis see America as the enemy. We also can't win anything in Afghanistan. It's time to get out of both places expeditiously. This is one area where Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) is right. We also need to look at how valuable other overseas troop deployments are and how many are cold war relics.

I like lower taxes as much as anyone, but... eliminating the Bush tax cuts for everyone slashes $4 trillion from the deficit and would have the largest impact in terms of getting our financial house in order.

Storm Damage

2011-05-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

First, I'd like to say that my heart goes out to all those who have suffered from what Gwen Ifill referred to last night on the PBS Newshour as the "plague of tornadoes" which have struck the midwest and the southeastern United States this spring. My deepest condolences to those who have lost loved ones. I also hope that those who have been hurt or who have lost their homes can recover quickly.

The city of Raleigh, North Carolina, where I live, was hit with a record breaking cluster of tornadoes on April 16. Here is some video of the damage on South Saunders St., maybe 10-15 minutes from here by car. Areas all around my neighborhood had severe damage but not much happened right where I live. OK, a tree outside my (home) office window came down and an awning downstairs was damaged, but all in all we were spared.

I wasn't quite so fortunate less than two weeks earlier on April 4. Shortly before 4:00 that morning a severe thunderstorm came through. Lightning struck a tree directly behind my building. The old oak came down, partially on my roof, and partly through my roof, through my attic and through the ceiling into the kitchen. This photo doesn't really show how large that hole was or how bad the damage really was. What you do see is the sky from what used to be my kitchen.

A few hours later water was coming in all across the back of my apartment. The place was uninhabitable.

I've got to give tremendous credit to my landlord. He owns a lot of rental units and found three for me to look at that morning. I picked one that I liked and with the help of three of his maintenance crew I was moved out by late afternoon and into the new place. My personal property loss was pretty minimal. Nobody was hurt. All things considered, it could have been a lot worse.

It took me maybe a month to get my life back to normal between the storm damage and other things that were happening at the time. Looking at what has happened in Joplin, Missouri and other cities and towns in recent days makes me realize how fortunate I am. It also makes me realize just how close I've been to being among those who really suffered this spring.

We had a White Hanukkah and a White Christmas

2010-12-26T17:15:00.000-08:00

Hanukkah was in early December this year and we had an inch and a half of snow on that Saturday. What was unusual was that it stayed cold and the snow stuck around for a week. That just doesn't happen in the Piedmont of North Carolina in a normal winter. Anyway, we had a white Hanukkah which was kind of nice. In typical Southern style an even smaller snowfall (0.8", 2 cm) meant no mail delivery due to icy roads on a Thursday 11 days later. It doesn't take much to shut things down here.

Well... we all know that Christmas is a much bigger deal for a lot more people than Hanukkah is in the United States, and that is especially true here in the South. The last time it showed on Christmas was 1947. Raleigh had 0.4" (1 cm) of accumulation before midnight last night so it was officially a white Christmas. Of course, the snow didn't stop at midnight...

As of an hour ago we had 8" (20.3 cm) of snow with another inch or two possible by midnight tonight. Raleigh (RDU airport), last I heard, had 6.5" (16.5 cm). A little to our north and east heading up towards Roanoke Rapids they already have 15" (38 cm) and snow is still falling. That's a big deal around here and the whole state of North Carolina is under a state of emergency. It's below freezing so we are also under a black ice advisory for tonight and tomorrow.

Much to my amazement the road I live on has already been ploughed. They usually clear the main roads around here on the first day but a little one like mine usually takes a day or two more if things don't melt away. So... despite the icy conditions as things refreeze and state government asking people to please stay home cars are flying up and down my street. Idiots! I hope the accidents they cause don't block my road tomorrow. There is only one road out of the community I live in.

I shoveled a path out to the street from the front door. I also cleared the area in front of the garage where the snow piled up just in case. I don't have to go anywhere tonight so I am staying home. I'll make a nice dinner and give the ferrets a good, long playtime. There is nothing so important that compels me to go out and drive on black ice.

My best friend is up north with her family and she insists she is still driving home on Tuesday. Somehow I don't think so. The area she's in is supposed to get 15-20" (38-51 cm) of snow tomorrow. Sure, the interstates will likely be cleared by Tuesday but the roads to and from are another matter. There won't be much melting by Tuesday anywhere between here and there. The forecast is for more cold weather with a warm up starting on Wednesday.

Anyway, I hope those who enjoy a white Christmas are happy. I hope everyone is having a great holiday season, whichever holiday(s) you choose to celebrate.

In The Garden

2010-09-25T11:14:00.001-07:00

This year we've had 92 days above 90°F (32°C) crushing the old record for really hot summer days, which have now dragged on into the fall. Today's forecast calls for a high of 95°F (35°C). The hot weather has been great for some plants in my vegetable garden but not so good for others. Overall, so far, it has been a successful year and I've been able to eat lots of home grown organic produce. I've had fresh tomatoes, hot peppers (habanero, jalapeno, cayenne and banana peppers), sweet peppers (bell and banana peppers), three varieties of eggplant, zucchini, okra and an assortment of fresh herbs.

The hot weather seems to have been especially good for the hot pepper plants. In past years I've planted as many as four habanero pepper plants which produced more than I could eat. I give any excess produce to friends and neighbors but everyone is afraid of the habaneros. They think they are just too hot. This year I grew just one plant but it turned into a huge habanero bush, the largest I have ever seen, and I am getting as many habaneros as I ever did in the past. Fortunately I've learned how to control the heat. For example, I had brunch with my housemate and cooked omelets and potatoes. In my veggie omelet I diced up half a small habanero without the seeds. That added just a little bit of a kick and a really nice flavor. I'm using habaneros in just about everything you can imagine this year, cooking with them more than ever before, and really enjoying the results. I also made my own habanero salsa for the first time this year and it came out really good.

In general I've had plenty of fresh veggies constantly since late June. (OK, tomatoes and peppers are fruits but you know what I mean.) Around here we sometimes get well into November without a freeze even in a normal year so I hope to get another couple of months of production out of the garden. However serious global warming may be and however much Americans seem intent on denying it or ignoring it, at least this year's garden is one small short term benefit.

A Meaningful Fast

2010-09-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

Tonight at sunset is the beginning of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Observant Jews fast for 24 hours and go to services. It is meant to be a day of prayer, reflection and repentance.

There are three forms or good wishes I see around Yom Kippur every year: a wish for an easy fast, a wish for a meaningful fast, and the more religious Gmar Hatima Tov, a wish that the person receiving the greeting is inscribed in the book of life for good.

While roughly 70% of Israel's Jewish population is categorized as secular I read this week that only 6% refrain from observances during the High Holy Days. I believe it is the same for many American and other diaspora Jews who disregard observance during most of the year. Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are different.

So... if you are observing the Yom Kippur holiday this year, may it be a meaningful fast and a meaningful day for you.

The HP Mini 110 Netbook: Almost One Year Later

2010-09-09T21:07:00.000-07:00

Last October, after my third Sylvania netbook failed, I took the refund I had received and bought an HP Mini 110 netbook as a replacement. I ordered directly from HP and customized the little machine to my needs, choosing a 16GB SSD over the 160GB conventional hard drive. I also chose to upgrade the machine to 2GB RAM but did it myself with after market RAM rather than pay HP's rather inflated price for memory. My system came preloaded with Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) and HP's now defunct Mi interface. I've now had the machine for just short of 11 months and I am still completely pleased with it.

In my various articles about since late 2008 I've had numerous comments about how netbooks are really toys, how they are underpowered, how they can't do real work, and so on. I have a one word reply: nonsense! Oh, perhaps they are underpowered when running Windows, a bloated and overly resource hungry operating system. Running Linux, as in any of a variety of distributions, there is nothing I can do with my desktop that I can't do with my HP Mini 110. Video editing? No problem. Compiling software? Yep, just fine. Writing with the little, built-in keyboard? I do it all the time. The netbook isn't as fast as the desktop when I use resource intensive applications, of course, but the portability has made it a constant companion for me.

I also write Linux distribution reviews now and again for either O'Reilly or DistroWatch. The net result is that I have installed and tried probably far too many distributions on the little machine. All of them except for openSUSE 11.2 worked well. (I have not tried a newer openSUSE version yet.) I did find some distros require that a parameter be passed to the kernel in order for the installer to boot properly.

The most frequent complaint I've read online from folks who install Linux on the HP Mini 110 is that some have problems getting Broadcom 4312 wireless to work with some distributions. I've found that Ubuntu works out of the proverbial box and on others I need to add the proprietary Broadcom STA (wl) driver. Some distributions package the driver (i.e.: Pardus) but most do not. If you are relatively new to Linux you probably want to stick to Ubuntu or one of the derivatives that use the Ubuntu repositories. The Pardus wiki also has good instructions for getting wireless and the 3G modem going. If those instructions are clear to you then Pardus is another distro that is quite easy to use on the Mini 110. A more advanced user who is comfortable at the command line, with editing configuration files, and with compiling software should be able to make almost any Linux distribution work well with this system. I am currently using SalixOS 13.1 as my primary Linux distribution on the netbook. That is, as always, subject to change.

It did take me a little while to get used to the keyboard but the small size was not the issue. I don't mind a small keyboard. This netbook actually has larger keys than my old full size Toshiba laptop did but the keys aren't beveled: they are completely flat. Until I got used to typing on the HP I made more errors with this keyboard than I did with the smaller Sylvania netbook. Now that I've had the HP Mini 110 for 11 months I can type at full speed on the keyboard and it seems perfectly natural to do so to me.

The screen on the Mini 110 is bright and easy to read even without my reading glasses. Battery life is OK, at something under three hours, but I have not upgraded to the long life battery pack. I am still using just the stock pack that came with it. The Sylvania was better in this respect.

In summary: everything just works for me and works well. The HP Mini 110 is rugged enough to go anywhere and it has been 100% reliable for me. I like the SSD because the system is all but silent and the performance seems to be every bit as good if not better than a conventional hard drive.

Why write about a discontinued netbook now? Well, for one HP has a very similar model (the Mini 210) for sale. Second, there is always the used market. Finally, I've actually used the thing long enough to write in an informed way. It's a pity HP no longer offers Linux preloaded. If they did I would recommend their netbooks to anyone.

Shana Tovah

2010-09-08T09:59:00.000-07:00

This evening at sundown is the start of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. It is also the beginning of the High Holy Days for Jewish people, 10 days of reflection and penitence. It is the start of the year 5177, a year that is shaping up to be interesting to say the least.

I would like to take a moment to wish everyone Shana Tovah. May the coming year be happy, healthy, prosperous and sweet for you.

Ground Zero Mosque? What Ground Zero Mosque?

2010-09-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

As the debate about the building of a mosque and Muslim community center in lower Manhattan rages on I have to wonder how much of this has been deliberately fueled by the media for their own profit. I can understand why ideologically driven opponents of the project would falsely label it a "ground zero mosque" to prey on the emotions surrounding the attack on 9/11/2001. The problem is that much of the press, both on the left and right, are willing accomplices who sensationalize the story to sell papers or boost ratings.

The fact is that there is no mosque proposed for the site where the World Trade Center stood, or ground zero. There is no Muslim community center proposed across the street or around the corner, either. It's two blocks away. That isn't "in the shadow of ground zero." (A hole in the ground doesn't cast a shadow, does it?) The project, when completed, won't be visible from ground zero. If and when the Freedom Tower is finally built if you go way up on a nice, high floor then you will certainly see the new Park51 community center among the many other buildings in lower Manhattan.

The Associated Press, to it's credit, sent out a memo instructing staff not to use the phrase "ground zero mosque". Some other news organizations, including The New York Times and MS-NBC have scrupulously avoided misleading people about the location as well.

Well-intentioned people of good faith can disagree on this issue. There are arguments that can be made on both sides that are not representative of bigotry or intolerance. I have my own opinions which I will be sharing at length. Before I do that, though, let's at least agree to stick to facts and not allow hype and hyperbole to inflame what is, by nature, a heated discussion.

Secretary Kathleen Sebelius On Healthcare Reform

2010-08-02T22:52:00.000-07:00

On tonight's PBS Newshour Judy Woodruff interviewed Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius regarding the status of the healthcare reform law which passed earlier this year. They discussed both the court challenges and what the new law means for Americans. I thought Secretary Sebelius did a good job presenting how the law will benefit most of us.

There was one part of the interview, about the misinformation spread by reform opponents (read: mainly Republicans) that I found both a bit surprising and more than a little disheartening. From the transcript:

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: Well, when you think about what happened to seniors during the course of this debate, it borders on outrageous.

Seniors, I would say, were really targeted with a whole series of misinformed statements that were designed to scare them about the law, to get them to actually call on their members of Congress and Senate to stop it, starting with everything from death panels, which still most seniors think are part of the Affordable Care Act.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Is that right? Most seniors still think that?

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: Absolutely. The recent polling says that seniors think this actually was passed into law. Seniors think that there is a change in their guaranteed benefits under Medicare.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The guaranteed benefits are not only stronger than ever. We're going after fraud and abuse in a way that has never been focused on. And the Medicare solvency is much stronger than it was before the law was passed.

More than half of seniors still believe there are "death panels"? Amazing and truly sad.

Folks, find out the truth for yourself. Visit www.healthcare.gov and find out what is really in the law.

The full transcript and video of the interview with Secretary Sebelius is available on the PBS Newshour webpage.

Congressman Bob Etheridge on Health Care Reform

2010-07-23T17:53:00.000-07:00

One thing I have repeatedly said about the Health Care Reform bill that passed this year is that if people really knew what is in it the vast majority would be all for it. The one thing President Obama failed to do was to explain the law in clear terms. Perhaps a month ago Congressman Bob Etheridge (D-NC) did precisely that on an oversized postcard sent to constituents. I live in Mr. Etheridge's district so I received the mailing. I've decided I should share it.

For the skeptics out there: yes, this is campaign literature. Having said that, fact check the statements Congressman Etheridge made and you will see that everything he says is true. Here is the text:

WHAT DOES HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM MEAN FOR FAMILIES?
Better plans at lower costs.
Brings down costs. Limits premiums, reduces out of pocket costs, and bands caps on benefits. In North Carolina, family premiums will be $1,570 - $2,240* less than without health reform.

Takes care of children. All insurance will cover maternity benefits, eliminate pre-existing condition exemptions for children, and allow young adults to stay on their parent's plans until 26.

Ends discrimination. Currently, women and minorities pay as much as 50% more for coverage. Reform makes it illegal to charge more for some groups than others, and expands access to preventative care.

WHAT DOES HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM MEAN FOR SENIORS?
Lower out of pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries.
No Co-Pays For Checkups. Covers 100% of the cost of preventative care to keep you healthier.

Makes Medicine Affordable. Immediate 50% discount on brand name drugs and a $250 rebate if you enter the "donut hole." Over time it totally eliminates the coverage gap.

Strengthens Medicare. Reduces average cost for Medicare beneficiaries by $400 and extends the life of the trust fund by a decade so beneficiaries get the benefits they were promised.

*Senate Finance Committee estimate based on CBO, 11/30/09

There it is in simple terms. There is no government take over of healthcare. There are no "death panels" and it won't kill granny. It does NOT increase the deficit. It is simply much needed regulatory reform.

Please, don't believe Fox News or right wing talking heads. Look into it for yourself. You'll see that Congressman Etheridge is doing what the President should have done all along: laying out the facts.

Finally... The President Speaks Out About the Failure to Extend Unemployment Insurance

2010-07-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday President Obama finally spoke out about how all but two Republicans have been blocking the attempt to extend unemployment insurance in the U.S. Senate. I wrote about this two months ago, but... hey, better late than never. It takes less courage and less in the way of leadership skills when you probably finally have the votes to end the filibuster. Mr. President, is that the reason for the delay?

I'm still glad President Obama spoke out and did so forcefully. Perhaps even more important was that the President finally called the Republicans out on their rank hypocrisy.

The reason this has been held up, according to Congressman John Boehner, not because Republicans oppose extending unemployment, but rather because the measure wasn't paid for and would add to the deficit. Funny, Republicans are all for extending the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy, which will add $685 billion to the deficit, but are against spending $33 billion to help middle and working class Americans who can't find jobs. If you take away the Bush tax cuts and the cost of the two wars President Bush got us into we'd have still been running a surplus until 2008. We would have had seven more years with no deficits at all.

Oh, and while the Republicans have been playing politics with people's rent and mortgage payments and other essentials over 2.5 million people have lost their unemployment benefits. Nearly one third of American families now include someone who is unemployed, and a frighteningly large number have been unemployed for a long time.

Let's also be very clear about something: most people who are unemployed long term right now really do want to work. In most cases it's through no fault of their own. Here are three articles which explain why:

80% of those unemployed last summer were still unemployed this spring according to a Rutgers University study. The situation is worse for workers over 50, where only 12% have been able to find new jobs.
CNN reports that many companies will not hire unemployed workers and will only consider those presently working.
The longer people are out of work, the harder it is to land a new job according to a June 16 report in the (Raleigh, NC) News & Observer.

We have millions of people who now face a truly daunting task when it comes to finding work. Surely in the richest country in the world we can help these people get by until the do land on their feet. We also, in time of high debt and deficits, do not need to maintain tax breaks for the wealthy. It seems like affluent Americans did just fine in the 1990s under Clinton era tax rates.

I hope people are taking note of which party is looking out for working people who have been hit hard by the recession and which is looking out for the wealthy and will vote accordingly in November.

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T17:36:00.000-07:00

To anyone here in the U.S. who reads my blog: a very Happy Fourth! It's Independence Day and I would like to encourage and challenge everyone to do more independent thinking. Look at what the media presents or what politicians say to you with an oh-so-critical eye.

Again, a very Happy Fourth!

101 Degrees Of No Fun

2010-06-24T10:10:00.000-07:00

WRAL is predicting a high temperature of 101°F (39°C) for the Raleigh, North Carolina area today, including where I live. They report: "...we will probably see the warmest day so far in this heat wave, the warmest so far this year and the warmest since June 10, 2008, when we saw 101 degrees at RDU." (RDU is Raleigh-Durham International Airport.) It's also very humid. The air quality is not good today, with high ozone levels. I am feeling it in the forum of sinus issues typical of my seasonal allergies and a raw, sore throat. I do need to make a quick run to the market but otherwise, fortunately, can work from my nicely air conditioned home.

Pardon me if I wax political... A heat wave like this is not evidence of global warming. We've always had heat waves and there have always been unusually hot days. What is evidence, indeed proof, of global warming is a sustained increase in the average temperature of the planet over a number of years and a continued warming trend. We have that data and yet there are those, for political reasons or out of plain old greed, continue to deny that global warming exists or that it is a problem despite all of the scientific evidence.

The worst part is that these naysayers, those who ignore science for profit or simply because they just don't want to pay a bit more for energy in the short term, are having their way. Here in the U.S. our Congress is poised to ignore the President's energy proposals and do precisely nothing about global warming or our dependence on oil, even in the wake of the worst oil spill in history.

I really, truly believe our children and grandchildren will curse us for leaving them a decidedly unpleasant planet to live on. They will call us greedy and stupid and they will do so with plenty of justification. Indeed, if things continue to go unchecked I expect that our grandchildren and great grandchildren will have a very difficult time indeed. Of course that can still be avoided if enough people demand action.

Remember To Thank the Republicans

2010-05-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

The U.S. economy continues to struggle and unemployment remains right around 10%. The job market really hasn't begun to improve yet. Despite this more than a million Americans are about to lose their unemployment insurance benefits. The House passed the bill to extend unemployment but a combination of all the Republicans and a handful of moderate or conservative Democrats have stalled things in the Senate.

So, come Wednesday, if you've been unemployed for a while you may have real problems paying the rent or buying groceries. Others may not be able to make mortgage payments and run the risk of losing their homes. If you are one of those people please remember who is responsible for this and give those Republicans and conservative Democrats the thanks they deserve come November.

Oh, remember that stimulus bill to boost the economy? You know, the one that the Republicans claim did nothing at all. Well... it may have paid for teachers in your local school system. It turns out states would have had to layoff huge numbers of teachers last year but didn't have to thanks to the stimulus bill. Of course, Republicans tell us this was terrible for the budget deficit and no matter how bad the economy still is, well.... no more stimulus for you. The net result is that close to 100,000 teachers are expected to or already have received pink slips as stimulus funds run out. Of course, this is fine with right-wing Republicans who have been trying to undermine the public school system for decades. If you can't afford private schools for your kids that's your problem.

So, if come the fall some excellent teachers are no longer at your child's school, class sizes are simply huge and the quality of instruction declines please be sure to thank the Republicans the way they deserve to be thanked in November. If you or your spouse or a member of your family is now going to join the ranks of the unemployed be sure to thank the Republicans for it as well.

I listened to both news stories on NPR this afternoon with absolute disgust. Right now there is an insane "throw the rascals out" mentality in this country, with the far right and the Tea Party crazies leading the call to defeat all incumbents. By all means, throw out those incumbents who ignore the needs of ordinary citizens. Those would be the conservatives. Let's keep the ones who have actually looked out for the American people, particularly those who are hurting in this economy.

The Hypocrisy Behind Religious Justifications of Prejudice and Discrimination

2010-05-24T16:24:00.000-07:00

Following up on my post about The Rising Tide of Intolerance In America I'm going to pick on one of the most popular targets of bigotry and discrimination in our society today. When people from the Christian right and also some in the Orthodox Jewish community argue against equal protection under the law for the gay community they often seek to justify their prejudices with the Bible. In order to do so they have to pick and choose selected texts to believe in and follow and others, the ones which are inconvenient, are often ignored.

This was amply demonstrated some years ago in an open letter to radio personality Dr. Laura Schlesinger, an observant Jew, who railed against homosexuality and used "G-d's word" as her justification. Fortunately some people have actually read the Bible, and the link I provided above annotates the letter with the actual scripture. Here is the well-known letter once again:

Dear Dr. Laura,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to best follow them.

a) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

b) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

c) I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

d) Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

e) I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

f) A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an Abomination (Lev 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?

g) Lev 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

h) Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev 19:27. How should they die?

i) I know from Lev 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

j) My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Lev 24:10-16) Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help.

Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Your devoted disciple and adoring fan.

So... when I see the religious right protesting outside of Red Lobster against the abomination of eating shellfish I'll start believing they are truly sincere about "G-d's word" and not just hypocritically justifying their own bigotry. After all, they once used the Bible to justify institutionalized racism in America as well.

The Rising Tide of Intolerance in America

2010-05-24T15:10:00.000-07:00

This past week we've had Rand Paul, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Kentucky and a Tea Party favorite, call for businesses to have the right to discminate against, well, anyone they want. Yesterday John Stossel on Fox News was defending Paul's call for repealing part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the "right to discriminate." To me that is defending the absolutely indefensible. I'm watching the rising tide of racism and all sorts of intolerance with disgust. In the wake of current right wing efforts to justify and legalize discrimination of all sorts I thought it was time for me to take a stand.

I believe in equal rights and equal protection under the law for all Americans. I really don't care where you or your family or ancestors are from. It doesn't matter what religion you believe in or if you believe at all. I don't care what color your skin is. I don't care if you are male or female. I certainly don't care about your private life or who you are attracted to. When it comes to the law we should all be equal.

Politicians like Rand Paul or Tom Tancredo, who called for a return to Jim Crow era literacy tests at the Tea Party Convention earlier this year, strike me as more than a bit phony when they claim they aren't racists. When you defend racism or call for undoing the laws that ended institutionalized de jure racism in this country then what are you if not a racist? Tolerance of and defense of racism is, in and of itself, a form of racism.

The Tea Party movement isn't "beautiful" as Sarah Palin would have us believe. The radical libertarianism of Ron and Rand Paul would turn back the clock on civil rights 50 years or more. I have studied history and know full well that during times of economic difficulty there is a growth of fringe political movements, especially those on the far right. That phenomenon isn't unique to the United States. What is unique to our country is the fear raised among the ignorant and small minded on the far right by the election of an African-American President. It has magnified and multiplied the growth of the far right to something far beyond the fringe into something truly dangerous to American freedoms as we have known and enjoyed them.

Am I accusing all Tea Party supporters of racism? Consider the enthusiastic applause former Congressman Tancredo received in Nashville for a speech that David Duke would have been proud of. Consider the defense of Rand Paul. If Tea Party supporters aren't racist they are at least tolerant of the racism in their midst. Once again, tolerance of and defense of racism is, in and of itself, a form of racism. So, yes, I am most certainly making that accusation. I will repeat it often between now and the November elections as well. Sometimes the truth hurts. Sometimes it isn't popular at all. There is a truly ugly undercurrent of racism and intolerance in the Tea Party movement that keeps rising to the surface.

Some friends have suggested I shouldn't speak out. Doing so, they say, might hurt my business or my chances of going back into a corporate job rather than working freelance. I shouldn't "limit" my opportunities. Frankly, if someone would discriminate against me because I believe in equality and tolerance then I really don't need their business and don't want to work to promote theirs.

Hag Sameach! Happy Passover! A Zissen Pesach!

2010-03-29T12:47:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone reading this has a great Pesach. For those of you who aren’t Jewish and don’t know much about the holiday, Pesach (Passover) is the celebration of the deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt as told in the biblical book of Exodus. It’s all about freedom, something which is always worth celebrating wherever we find it. My greeting says Happy Holiday in transliterated Hebrew, Happy Passover in a funny little language called English, and A Sweet Passover in transliterated Yiddish.

Pesach is also about the food! Really good homemade matzo ball soup is to die for. I’ve also have some Israeli chocolate this year and some triple dipped bittersweet chocolate covered matzoh.

Oh, and for my Christian friends out there, a Happy Easter as well.

The S Word

2010-02-17T20:29:00.000-08:00

I almost have to chuckle when conservatives use the word socialism as if it's a curse. They accuse Democrats in general and President Obama in particular of being socialists. Either they have no idea what socialism is or else they really do know but assume their audience is ignorant.

Here are a few questions for those conservatives: You are opposed to socialism? Hmmm... do you want to get rid of Medicare? It's a government run, socialist program that most Americans, including many who consider themselves conservatives, support. How about public libraries? Public safety, as in police and fire protection, that are government run? Public schools? Social security? All those things are examples of socialism, good common sense socialism. All are socialism which most Americans would not want to do away with.

Every successful western democracy has a blend of capitalism and socialism for its economic system, including the United States. The only differences are how much of each. Frankly, we need a bit more socialism in this country. I originally wrote much of this as a response to a conservative in a political discussion online. He accused me of advocating "moving to a failed system of socialism". Socialism has nothing to do with failed systems in eastern Europe or elsewhere. It certainly has nothing to do with Communism or Marxism or the old Soviet Union.

I've often said most Americans don't know what socialism is but the more I think about it the more I realize I've probably been wrong to say that. After all, the good people of Vermont elected Bernie Sanders, an avowed small s socialist, to the U.S. Senate. Oh, and yes, I consider myself a socialist, in a decidedly small d democratic sort of way, much like Senator Sanders.

Happy Hanukkah

2009-12-12T09:28:00.001-08:00

To all my Jewish readers (and anyone else who celebrates the holiday), I'd like to wish you a Happy Hanukkah. Hag Sameach!

Oh, and don't eat too many latkes :)

Legitimate Limitations On Freedom Of Speech

2009-12-04T06:23:00.000-08:00

Based on some of the comments I've received in response to last week's post about what defines freedom of speech, both ones I've posted and and the handful I rejected, I've decided a follow-up is in order. Many talk about freedom of speech as if it is an absolute right (it isn't) and as if it is always good and desirable (it's not). Let me explain.

In the United States courts have long upheld limitations on free speech that most of us find to be quite reasonable. The most famous example is that falsely shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater is not protected free speech. The reason is obvious. Such speech could cause people to be trampled, resulting in injury or death. The United States Declaration of Independence only enumerated three rights as "inalienable": "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Notice that life comes first and since being trampled to death denies someone their life it is perfect reasonable for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule the way it did in 1919. Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. laid out the reason why speech can be limited:

"The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent."

Other examples of where free speech is limited in free societies falls into the category of where allowing an absolute right of free speech would deny others of rights which take precedence. In the United States there are laws against incitement to riot and incitement to violence. Defamation of character, including libel and slander, is also not protected speech precisely because of the harm done to the target of such speech.

Laws against sedition are certainly more controversial but the principle is the same: the harm done to citizens of the country could conceivable deny them of their life or liberty. In the United States the Smith Act is still the law of the land. The same justification is used for laws against treason and espionage, as well as prohibitions against some news reporting in war zones. Many Americans will remember that Geraldo Rivera of Fox News was expelled from Iraq for revealing the location of U.S. troops, an act which could put those troops in danger.

OK, up until now I am talking about broad principles and governments. The reason I went off in that direction is to make the point that most reasonable people in free countries do understand, accept and support reasonable limitations on free speech. By the strictest definition of the word these examples are all forms of censorship. Censorship, in and of itself, is not evil. What is evil, or at the very least damaging to a free society, is the indiscriminate or unjustified use of censorship. This brings us back to last week's post. What about individuals, blogs and websites?

Let me reiterate the basic premise of what I wrote last week. You have a right to your ideas and opinions about pretty much anything at all. You have a right to express them. That is the essence of freedom of speech and expression. You do not have the right to publish your ideas wherever you want without the approval of the owner of the media where you want to publish. You do not have the right to order a website or a blogger to publish your comments whether they want to or not. That isn't freedom of speech. That's dictating what speech will be published. It is the antithesis of free speech which is being misrepresented as free speech.

Let's go back to the example of LXer.com and their Terms Of Service (TOS). There was a period some months back where it seemed to a number of the regulars in the LXer.com forum, including myself, that a few individuals were effectively hijacking the site, turning the forum into a soapbox for a particular political agenda. They would dominate threads and post long diatribes anytime someone would disagree with their views. I visit LXer.com to read news about Linux and FOSS (Free and Open Source Software), not to debate politics. Yes, the agenda in question was one with which I disagree but that really is irrelevant. I don't go to Linux news sites to read about politics of any stripe. A number of us complained to the editors and the Terms Of Service are now being enforced. I was sharply criticized and personal attacks were leveled at myself and others because we wanted a Linux site to be a Linux site.

I made the point last week that many websites and blogs are designed to express a particular viewpoint or opinion. That is no different from other forms of media. Fox News is known for expressing a conservative Republican political agenda in the United States. As I pointed out last week I cannot demand they air my decidedly more liberal views. In the case of a blog or website, particularly one that expresses unpopular minority opinions as I often do, without comment moderation it is entirely possible for the message to be lost in all the noise. Another possibility, particularly when a site has a an agenda, is that the other side of the debate tries to effectively take over and weaken the message. Moderation, even though some define it as "arbitrary" or "capricious" is an absolute necessity in these cases. Why? Without moderation the ability to express the viewpoint the author or editor wants to express can be diluted or lost. In effect, those who insist on their "freedom of speech" in the form of unlimited, unmoderated comments are denying those same freedoms to those they disagree with.

I received a perfect example in a comment I rejected today which concluded with the commenter telling me he want me to "shut up and get lost." I will do neither. It's funny how those who cry "censorship!" and claim a denial of "free speech" the most vociferously are willing to deny that speech to someone they disagree with. They demand the right to dictate what I or anyone else will or will not publish but would deny me the right to say something they don't like. As I said last week: some people have very strange ideas about freedom of speech.

Strange Ideas About Freedom Of Speech

2009-11-28T15:15:00.000-08:00

As many of you have undoubtedly noticed I do moderate comments on my blog. If you've read the comments you know that I almost always publish what people have to say even if they strongly disagree with me. On rare occasions I hold a comment to check something before publishing or to compose a thoughtful response. However, if someone is abusive or offensive I do reject comments. A person who wrote such a comment then accused me of having a "strange idea of free speech" and censorship. It's actually nothing of the sort.

If you write something is the New York Times obligated to publish it? Must the Washington Post run a sharply worded op-ed? Can I compel Fox News to give voice to my liberal opinions? The answer to all these questions is an unequivocal no. Private media is permitted editorial control of their content. Websites and blogs are no different. They are simply a newer, different form of private media.

O'Reilly Media editors have deleted comments to things I've written once in a while: comments I would have accepted. It's their website, they own it, so it's their choice. Thomas Holbrook II recently complained about the Terms of Service on LXer.com in a post on his The Nixed Report blog. He finds their prohibition on political discussion "ridiculous". I happen to disagree but I certainly recognize Mr. Holbrook's right to express his opinion on his website. He, too, discussed this prohibition in terms of "freedom of thought and expression" and it is no more a limitation on his freedom than a refusal from a local paper to publish something. The owners and editors of LXer.com have a right to manage their site as they see fit.

I'm not preventing anyone from voicing an opinion or expressing themselves. I am merely exercising my right to editorial control on my blog and websites. If someone wants to post something I won't publish they have every right to do so... on their own blog or website. Everyone has a right to setup their own proverbial soapbox and voice their opinion. Nobody has a right to take my soapbox and appropriate it for their own use. Those who argue otherwise are the ones who have strange ideas about freedom of speech.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T10:39:00.000-08:00

Too everyone who is reading this and is here in the United States... Have a very Happy Thanksgiving holiday!

Oh, and don´t go too crazy with black Friday shopping tomorrow.

Some People Don't Know When To Leave Well Enough Alone

2009-11-20T14:12:00.000-08:00

I've had enough of the hatred spewed at me from the Puppy Linux forums and Puppy Linux users everywhere. I am hounded, week in and week out, including three comments on DistroWatch this week, about my "refusal" to run Puppy Linux and my "crazy review". It never stops, it continues in e-mail and on every Linux forum where I write. Why are the Puppy Linux community members so obsessed with me? Here is the only reason I can think of:

A couple of years back I wrote a very short piece for the old O'Reilly Linux DevCenter blogs stating that Puppy Linux 2.17 (the current version at the time) wouldn't boot on my systems except for one ancient desktop and that made it impossible for me to give it a fair review. The Puppy Linux community got all bent out of shape and it escalated from there, into intimidation and threats, including what many interpreted as a death threat in the comments section of DistroWatch Weekly. Puppy Linux community members also tried to get my writing pulled from O'Reilly. My editor at the time saw the post in question as threatening and backed me up.

I have no clue whether Puppy Linux is good, bad or in between nowadays. I won't look at the code because of the community which keeps after me incessantly. There are different parts of the Linux community which are everything from very good to truly awful. The Puppy community is the worst of the lot when it comes to absolute fanaticism. No dissent or criticism is tolerated.

Meanwhile truly nasty personal attacks on me continue unabated two years later. Heck, they've even got Notorik, a user who insists on DistroWatch that information security is "poppycock", telling everyone there I'm "unbalanced" because I believe security is important. (I wonder if people there still agree after the Puppy Linux website was defaced recently.) The threat, which many others saw exactly as I saw it, is a "demented fantasy". I can do no right and the Puppy Linux community is perfect. Sure, that's it.

I've received e-mail and seen comments from others who have had bad experiences and/or feel the same way. No, sorry, it's not just some delusion on my part.

Don't you people know when to leave well enough alone? I would NEVER, EVER mention Puppy Linux in any context if you'd just let well enough be. That's a message they can't seem to get in what I see as the deepest, darkest, nastiest corner of the Linux community.

The Problem With The Linux Community

2009-11-20T11:58:00.001-08:00

The following appears on the O'Reilly Community website. I don't usually crosspost between there and here but I will be writing a follow-up which will appear on this blog only. The reason: it will be decidedly controversial in a way which I don't want to bring to O'Reilly. So... in order for that post to make sense here is part 1:

---

I wrote a less than stellar review of openSUSE 11.2 this week for DistroWatch. Why? Well.. because this particular release really has issues: the installer choosing the wrong driver causing it to hang, serious instability in KDE on my two month old netbook in a release that touted itself for netbooks, and numerous smaller issues. It's a shame because, in general, I've always liked openSUSE. It was never my true favorite, but that was because of some personal preferences, not because of faults in the distro.

First, I must compliment the openSUSE developers. I've had great correspondence from Joe "Zonker" Brockmeier and Will Thompson, a developer in the KDE team in Nuremberg, which were truly first rate. These are Linux professionals who clearly are much more interested in solving problems and putting out a quality product than anything else. I'll be filing bug reports by tomorrow to try and help them resolve the issues that I found.

While I'm very positive about the openSUSE team I must say that I am a lot less sanguine about some in their community. Some fans (or really fanatics) came out in force ready to attack the reviewer (me), to question my skills and even my sanity, to attack Ladislav Bodnar for posting the review, to blame the hardware, anything at all but the distro code which is, according to some, "the best release ever". Fine, whatever, I'm used to it. Writing honest reviews will never win friends or make me popular in the Linux community. Some folks (way too many) only want fawning fan reviews and distro commercials.

Here are three response comments that I found especially clueful and pretty much spot on:

There is too much fanaticism in the world, people getting all exited over nothing - over stuff which is meaningless. The really important and relevant stuff is ignored.

But the reason is clear - the real issues are ignored because what is most important to me? ME.

So, forget the real issues - you better watch what you say about MY distro (religion, team, car etc., etc.) because what you are saying, you say about ME.
Remember, this is MY distro (religion, team, car etc., etc. ) I have chosen it. Therefore, if it is less than perfect then I am less than perfect......and THAT I can't bear.

--Antony, DistroWatch comments section, post #291

I love Linux, but I sometimes hate the community. I think often the community is Linux's worst enemy. Let me clarify that: I do love the development community, where the focus is on collaboration and making things better and sharing those improvements for the benefit of all. But I can't stand the "user community", at least the vocal part that have nothing better to do that going around with "mine is better than yours" nonsense.

[...]

Why can't this positive development spirit be extended to the user community? Why do some in the user community need to "defend" their distro? Why do some, as Antony brought out, take criticism to "their" distro personally?

--Patrick, DistroWatch comments section, post #295

Patrick, I agree that in many cases the Linux community is its own worst enemy. I say that with myself being a big (Linux) free software open source community fan. Unfortunately in many of the comments, from both sides in discussing the reviews in this distrowatch weekly, there have been comments which are only part of the technical, and appear to have been posted either out of ignorance, or posted only designed to hurt.

--oldcpu, DistroWatch comments section, post #297

The three comments above illustrate, that this is not a problem with just the openSUSE community. It plagues large parts of the wider Linux community. I'll have more about perhaps the worst example of this I know, and some people who just can't leave well enough alone, in my next post.

U.S. House Pases Heath Care Bill; One Republican Votes "Yea"

2009-11-07T20:21:00.000-08:00

I was watching live on CSPAN just a few minutes ago when the U.S. House of Representatives passed the heathcare reform bill, HR 3962. The Affordable Healthcare for America bill passed by a vote of 220-215. Only one Republican, Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana was willing to put ordinary Americans ahead of the big insurance companies and their lobbyists. Rep. Cao is a freshman Comgressman and he is to be congratulated for standing up to his own party and voting his conscious. 39 Democrats voted against the bill.

The bill, as passed, is far from perfect but it is definitely a step in the right direction. It does not provide universal health insurance but does make insurance obtainable and/or more affordable for millions of Americans. It ends the ability of insurance companies to deny coverage for "preexisting conditions", which has been grossly abused up until now. It does have a public option but it is very weak in that it does not resemble Medicare but rather forces the government to negotiate rates with health providers. Still, it is a huge step forward.

I'll have more on healthcare later, particularly as the Senate debate moves forward.

An Amazing Coincidence or Something More Sinister?

2009-10-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, as anyone involved in computing knows, Windows 7 was released by Microsoft with much marketing hype and fanfare. Apple responded with some new clever commercials basically saying that Windows 7 comes with all the security problems and other issues that previous Windows versions have had. Maybe so.

Canonical chose the day to announce the release candidate of their upcoming Ubuntu Linux 9.10 (Karmic Koala), scheduled for final release next week. I'm running Karmic on the HP Mini 110 in a dual boot configuration with HP Mi, a customized Ubuntu 8.04 LTS for netbooks. So far this release is extremely promising and may be their best since Edgy Eft. I certainly haven't found any show stopping bugs.

Hewlett-Packard also did something yesterday, albeit very quietly. HP removed Linux entirely from the part of their website where they sell netbooks. The day Windows 7 became available the HP Mi interface appears to have died a quiet death. A visit to the HP Mini pages reveals that HP is only offering "genuine" Windows 7 and "genuine" Windows XP. I also noticed that the HP Mini 110 also sports a new, higher starting price, a full US $25 more than when I ordered mine earlier this month. I have to assume the Windows license is part of the higher price.

The timing of the apparent death of Mi may be an amazing coincidence. I have no inside knowledge of the decision making process at HP. However, there is substantial history of Microsoft playing hardball with hardware vendors. There is also significant evidence of increased interest and demand for Linux, with Acer unveiling a new Linux (Android) netbook offering after having previously dropped from the Open Source operating system.

The Asus story is particularly striking example of how Microsoft is widely believed to have forced a hardware vendor out of the Linux market. The company which started the netbook revolution with their EeePC running Linux in 2007 launched an "It's better with Windows" campaign early this year which drew the ire of many in the Linux community. Then in June at Computex in Taiwan Asus proudly displayed an EeePC with a Qualcomm Snapdragon (ARM) processor running Android. The following day Asus' chairman Jonney Shih found himself sharing a stage with Microsoft corporate VP, OEM Division, Steven Guggenheimer. Shih apologized for showing the Android EeePC, a move which resulted in many angry columns about Microsoft strong-arm tactics.

Around the same time Asus executives were doing all they could to throw Linux under the proverbial bus. Asus Australia consumer market product manager Gordon Kerr stated in late May that Linux was likely to be completely phased out by Asus on netbooks. At the time he said:

"People bought the original seven- and eight-inch Eee PCs for a computer to give to the kids. If you want the full functionality of a notebook you are going to go with Windows.”

Never mind that the relatively poor performance of Windows on netbooks when compared to Linux didn't exactly help create satisfied customers as I reported back in June. The response from many previously satisfied Asus EeePC owners was typified by blogger James Sparenberg in a post titled "We don't need you either Asus."

As I reported in my survery of Linux netbooks currently on the market published just yesterday it turns out Asus never did fully leave the Linux market. Toys 'R' Us still sells Linux based EeePC, albeit older models, both online and in its stores. Asus also continues to offer Linux on their Eee Box nettop PCs. However, when Betanews questioned Josh Norem, a senior technical marketing specialist at Asus, about the possibility of a new Linux offering last month he replied "Not at this time." This from a company that had touted its Linux offerings and high Linux sales early this year.

Some may also remember testimony by Garry Norris of IBM when the U.S. Department of Justice went after Microsoft a decade ago. He detailed how Microsoft effectively killed OS/2, IBM's technically superior operating system, and how Microsoft effectively controlled IBM's PC business at the time.

There is little doubt that Hewlett-Packard devoted considerable development effort to the Mi interface. I'm not one who believes much in conspiracy theories but in light of Microsoft's historical dealings with it's vendors it sure would be one amazing coincidence if HP decided to kill Mi on precisely the day Windows 7 launched without any undue influence from Redmond.

American Brand Name, Chinese Computer

2009-10-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

10 days ago I wrote an article for O'Reilly about the premature failure of my Sylvania netbook. I ended up deciding to buy an HP Mini 110 Mi Edition (more on my choices soon) and ordered it custom built to my specs directly from Hewlett-Packard. It was competitively priced (and slightly less expensive than what's on HP's website now) and I was promised that the netbook would ship within six days. The turnaround time was much better than what Dell offered. I've read mainly positive reviews of this particular netbook, including one by Ladislav Bodnar on DistroWatch Weekly. As many of you probably know I write fairly regularly for Ladislav and I definitely to respect the man and his opinions. The netbook did, in fact, ship on the sixth day: from Shangai, China.

I knew that most if not all the netbooks, laptops, and notebooks sold today are built in a handful of factories located either in mainland China or Taiwan. I was under no illusion that buying an American brand name meant an American product. What surprised me is that HP apparantly doesn't even have stock of this netbook in the U.S. and doesn't even do simple customizations here.

In recent weeks Dell announced it was closing a Winston-Salem, North Carolina manufacturing plant and giving the work to "third parties" in Mexico and other countries. Despite President Obama's campaign rehtoric about keeping American manufacturing jobs in the United States companies keep outsourcing the work offshore or moving their own facilities to other countries with less expensive labor costs, poor or no environmental regulations, and little or no protections for workers. Meanwhile unemployment in the United States continues to rise. Here in North Carolina our unemployment rate is well above the national average.

I see this continuing loss of American manufacturing capacity, which is already a small fraction of what it once was, as a long term disaster for this country. Anyone who knows their history knows that when the U.S. entered World War II it rapidly converted the then unmatched manufacturing facilities to wartime production very quickly. If a major world conflict started today or in the near future I fear that we have no ability to do the same thing again. A pretty smart guy named Albert Einstein, who was a pacifist prior to the Second World War, held much more pragmatic views after the rise of Nazism. He famously said, "So long as there are men there will be wars." Sadly I believe he was right. That makes it the height of foolishness to leave the United States in a position where it cannot be ready for war quicky no matter how much we value peace.

I've come to believe a little protectionism would go a long way, particularly when it comes to industries vital to our economy, our defense, or both. I am mindful of history and the last thing I'd want Congress and the President to do is pass something like the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act during a deep recession or what, I believe in retrospect, we will call a depression. The last thing I want to do is severely curtail international trade. Having said all of that I am no longer the believer in free trade that I once was. I do feel trade will need to be a little less free and a bit more regulated to insure both American jobs and American defense capability.

The kind of severely under-regulated free trade we now have has meant lower prices for consumers. The fact that my new computer is made in China is one of the reasons it is so inexpensive. I would gladly pay more for one made in the United States. I can remember when this country was the leading manufacturer of personal computers. Today, to even recapture a small share of PC manufactuing in the U.S. would require government intervention.

Every President we've had since Ronald Reagan, Republicans and Democrats alike, have repeated the mantra of free trade over and over again. I wonder how Republicans who claim to be so concerned about national defense can justify promoting the wholesale export of manufacturing which has happened over the past 30 years. Similarly, I wonder how Democrats who claim to be so deeply concerned about the environment and workers' rights can do precisely the same when many of the countries which have succesfully imported manufacturing capacity and jobs have no such concerns. Any claim of concern about human rights by either party, by liberals or conservatives, rings hollow when we export our jobs and manufacturing capacity to countries that have abominable human rights records. It seems corporate profits and corporate lobbyists trump any and all other concerns. Greed remains the real G-d of early 21st century America.

It's way past time we examine the real costs of "free trade" instead of just parroting well worn lines about the benefits. I think if we do an honest cost-benefit analysis of free trade we will find that it is anything but free and, indeed, may do more harm than good as it is structured today.

Boycott Britain

2009-10-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me knows I like tea. I drink a lot of it. I always buy loose leaf tea of all sorts. One of the least expensive brands of loose leaf tea, and one that sells excellent English and Irish Breakfast Tea blends, is Twinings, a British company. Today I went shopping and walked right past the Twinings tea. I am buying tea from American companies, imported Chinese tea, anything but British. Today I started my personal boycott of all things British and I urge everyone who supports Israel to join me.

In case you haven't following the news the British are increasingly boycotting Israeli goods and services. Major British trade unions have been boycotting Israel since 2007. AISH has published an alarming report about the rise of anti-Semitism, not just anti-Zionism, in the UK and how it is no longer taboo to express hate and loatihing for the Jewish people in Britain. Even the BBC, which has repeatedly stoked the flames of anti-Semitism with its strong anti-Israel bias, reported a record rise in UK anti-Semitism in the first half of this year. In the spring of last year Hebrew University historian Robert S. Wistrich, who was himself educated at Cambridge Univesity stated, ”Britain has become the center for the meeting of anti-Semitic trends in Europe.” The sharp rise in anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic attacks in Britain has been reported every year since 2005.

So.. if the British hate me and my family just because we are Jewish why should I support them, their businesses and their economy? If the British hate Israel, where much of my family lives, with a passion, why on earth would I want to send my hard earned money to that dispicable country? I'd rather buy American or Israeli products. When it comes to products that aren't made or grown in the U.S. Or Israel, like tea, then I'll support almost anybody else before I'll support the UK. I'm enjoying a wonderful cup of Blooming apricot flavored black tea from China right now.

Please follow the links I've provided and read up on this for yourself. If you're Jewish, a supporter of Israel, or just plain think that anti-Semitism is as disgusting as any other form of ethnic or religious intolerance or racism, please join me in this boycott.

Shana Tovah! Happy New Year!

2009-09-18T11:30:00.000-07:00

For those of you who happen to be Jewish:

Shana Tovah! May you have a happy, healthy and sweet new year.

Actually, the good wishes apply to everyone.

9/11 - Eight Years Later

2009-09-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

On 9/11/2001 I was in the RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer) fast track class on the Red Hat campus. They had a TV in the room that morning and we watched the events unfold rather than have class early on. Class resumed later that day. Clearly what we were seeing on the TV was more important than the workings of a Linux operating system that morning, even one we had all paid good money to learn.

In 2005 I was working as a consultant for Red Hat and I was in New York for them. Here is what I wrote in the old version of this blog on August 20, 2005:

World Trade Center Station

I just finished a two day trip to New York City. I stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Jersey City so I took the PATH tube into lower Manhattan. The World Trade Center station was rebuilt where it always was, which was under the Twin Towers. Now the train goes into the hole where the Towers once stood and that station is in the bottom of the hole. I hadn't been back to New York since 9/11 and this was an eerie way to see the results up close. It's absolutely chilling.

I can remember watching the World Trade Center go up. Lower Manhattan looks wrong to me. I always navigated by the Towers. I'm not sure I can describe all the feelings that went through my head when I saw the hole my train was traversing or as I walked around it up on Church Street. A sense of loss, sadness, and definitely anger were all part of it. Everyone should take the PATH to World Trade Center station at least once, just to see what's left of the site from the inside.

You know what bothers me most today? They people who did this, the ones who masterminded and paid for the 9/11 attacks, are mostly still out there. They still hate us with a passion and sooner or later they will strike again. The country has all but forgotten the resolve and has certainly abandoned the unity of purpose we had in the days after 9/11. Neither President Bush nor President Obama ever put this country on a wartime footing and neither has been successful at truly going after those responsible.

Today we fight among ourselves. We had the spectacle of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives heckling the President and calling him a liar during a joint session of Congress. What ever happened to respect for the office of the President? What ever happened to realizing that we are all in this together and our enemies really don't care if we're liberals, moderates or conservatives. They hate all of us regardless of our ideology or affiliation.

It's time we wake up as a nation and realize what 9/11 really meant, both then and now. We Americans like to think of ourselves as the greatest nation on earth. A great nation would have rebuilt the Twin Towers already.

The Amazing and Twisted Right Wing Smear Campaign Against President Obama

2009-09-08T14:31:00.000-07:00

This is from an e-mail circulating around the Internet which someone in my family received:

HB 1388 PASSED !!

You just spent $20,000,000 to move members/supporters of Hamas, a terrorist organization, to the United States ; They get housing, food, the whole enchilada.

HB 1388 PASSED

Whether you are an Obama fan, or not, EVERYONE IN THE U. S. needs to know.....

Something happened.... H.R. 1388 was passed, behind our backs. You may want to read about it.. It wasn ' t mentioned on the news... just went by on the ticker tape at the bottom of the CNN screen.
Obama funds $20M in tax payer dollars to immigrate Hamas Refugees to the USA . This is the news that didn ' t make the headlines...

By executive order, President Barack Obama has ordered the expenditure of $20.3 million in "migration assistance" to the Palestinian refugees and "conflict victims" in Gaza . (...including by contributions to international, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations...") The "presidential determination", which allows hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States , was signed and appears in the Federal Register.

It sounds really sinister, doesn't it? Thankfully it's all a pack of lies designed to mislead the ignorant.

If it's a House Resolution (H.R) it passed in the House of Representatives and is not an Executive Order. It would also have to pass the Senate and be signed by the President to become law. This person is mixing apples and oranges. Whatever they are concerned about can be either an Executive Order or a bill that passed Congress, not both. For someone who knows anything about how the American legislative process works that should be the first obvious clue that something is very wrong with this e-mail.

So, let's take a look at H.R. 1388 and see what it's all about. The title of the bill is: "The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, an Act to reauthorize and reform the national service laws." It's an extension and expansion of the National and Community Service Act of 1990, first signed by President George H.W. Bush. In 1993 this was expanded with the founding of AmeriCorps, created by by the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993, signed by President Clinton and expanded by 50% by President George W. Bush. H.R. 1388, which was signed into law back in May, is about Americans doing national service: public service work for the country. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with the Middle East or Palestinians or Hamas. After repeatedly mentioning H.R. 1388 the e-mail has no specifics and completely misrepresents the bill.

OK, maybe the author got his or her numbers wrong and really wants us to look at an Executive Order. He or she was even kind enough to provide a link to the Federal Register, so naturally I followed the link to see what it's all about. I assume the author was hoping that either nobody would actually follow the link or that they simply wouldn't bother to read the details. The Presidential determination in question, which I do remember well, spent funds already allocated for refugee assistance. It is dated January, a full eight months ago, and has nothing to do with any bill currently before Congress or which passed Congress recently. Second, the idea, as I read it, was to help people flee Hamas, not help Hamas. These are refugees from Hamas, not Hamas supporters. If you followed the news at the time you know that Hamas used the conflict with Israel as cover for arrests, torture, and murder of Fatah members in Gaza and any remaining non-Muslim Palestinians (mainly Christians) in the territory. The idea of helping these people did have support from members of Congress of both parties: the same members of Congress who voted unanimously to support Israeli defensive actions in Gaza just three weeks earlier.

The author goes on to list a bunch of other horrible things that President Obama has done, from closing Guantanamo (which hasn't actually happened) to federally funding abortions (which also actually hasn't happened). It ends with the ominous line: "We are losing this country at a rapid pace." Actually, the far right and the know-nothings among the conservative movement haven't figured out that they lost the 2006 and 2008 elections. They already lost the country as the American people have rejected their agenda.

What is so galling about this is that it's all lies. Nothing new has passed Congress, President Obama hasn't signed any new laws or issued any new executive orders regarding Hamas or the Palestinians. If he had I'd be the first to write about it. If this President supported Hamas in any way, shape, or form I'd be up in arms about it. Here's reality: it never happened. It's just part of the right wing smear campaign, the hatred directed at President Obama, which goes on each and every day in this country. It absolutely disgusts me.

Circling The Wagons

2009-08-21T05:48:00.000-07:00

As anyone who reads my blog regularly knows by now I do a fair amount of writing about Linux and Linux distributions for a number of websites. Over the past year I've been paid to do so, moving me out of the "just another blogger" category and into the tech journalist category. Once upon a time when someone called me a "journalist" I would dispute the label but writing professionally has changed that.

Writing honestly about Linux distributions is not a way to become popular or make friends. When a given distribution, any distribution, has problems and a reporter writes about it there are always fans who will circle the wagons and/or go on the attack. I am very used to that by now. It's no surprise at all that has happened with a few CentOS loyalists. What is surprising is that it is continuing more than two weeks after I last wrote about the subject. Ken Leyba's post on the Cooking With Linux blog gets things seriously wrong on a number of levels.

A netbook is nothing more than a small notebook. Mr. Leyba is completely off base when he claims otherwise. Machines like this have been used in business for about forever. I remember the CEO and other senior execs of a company I supported when I contracted to IBM Global Services using the itty bitty Toshiba Libretto with a 7" screen for travel back in 1999. Nothing has changed all that much other than the fact that you no longer pay a premium for tiny and that has helped make small machines popular. Linux makes them more productive.

Enterprise Linux is marketed for the desktop. To claim that CentOS, an EL clone, is only for servers and that my experiment was somehow invalid because it was done on a desktop/notebook/netbook is patently ridiculous. When I was consulting for Red Hat in 2004-2005 I visited a number of companies that were and undoubtedly still are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux on desktops, workstations, and yes, on laptops. Those enterprise customers would have considered a failure to deliver a Firefox patch that closed a number of critical security vulnerabilities to be a serious problem. The idea that a Firefox patch is irrelevant on an enterprise distribution as some have claimed is simply preposterous.

CentOS has to prove they can get patches out on a timely basis to be taken seriously as an enterprise product. Their track record in that area over the past year has been atrocious. It wasn't one Firefox package. It was a year of things arriving late, sometimes months late.

The response from CentOS developers to the security issue in the comments of my business-centric article for O'Reilly Broadcast on the subject was actually spot on:

"Your point about the security updates is well founded, we try a lot harder to make sure we get things right and we have a much more involved process to establish when the 'right' is. An easy way to work through this would be if Red Hat were to share more info with us. Not sure if that is likely to happen and what the timeframe for that would be, but over the course of the next few months we hope to have a more transparent process in place that lets users track exactly what is going on, where and how."

When patches are a few days late it can, indeed, have something to do with the upstream vendor. When they are two months late that seems entirely unlikely. The fact that a member of the CentOS development team is owning the problem making a commitment to "get things right" in the future is a very positive step.

My complaints about the dependency on third party repositories and the lack of packages in general is an issue that is hardly unique to CentOS. I raised the same issue when I reviewed Slackeare 12.1 last year. It's a significant issue for any desktop/laptop user, not just on netbooks. The need to go to third parties for packages to adequately support newer hardware isn't netbook specific either.

I also feel that the issues around the open letter to Lance Davis called into question how that distro is being managed. Yes, it was blown way out of proportion by the tech media and I said as much in my O'Reilly Broadcast article. That one issue may well have been solved and I certainly bear the CentOS devs no ill will. That doesn't change the fact that Scientific Linux has done a better job with getting patches out on a timely basis. It is not dependent on a few volunteers and has the backing of and funding from major laboratories and universities all over the world. From a business perspective that makes Scientific Linux a safer choice for an Enterprise Linux clone.

The attempt to replicate my business environment on my netbook was a valid experiment. I thought other Linux users, those who think highly of Red Hat Enterprise Linux as I do, might want to do the same. The original DistroWatch Weekly feature article documented the difficulties in doing so. The post here which Mr. Leyba responded to was the fourth of five if you include the original DistroWatch piece and the business-centric O'Reilly piece. Considering that I linked back to the preceding articles should be a very clear message that the one post shouldn't be taken out of context but as part of a larger whole. In any case it wasn't a "rant" against CentOS as Mr. Leyba claims, but rather it tied the proverbial ribbons on the end of my experiment and explained why I decided the whole thing was more trouble than it was worth.

I did make a mistake in putting issues regarding servers and desktop-specific issues in one blog post. While many of the issues involved impact both areas the fact that I did not make a clear enough delineation between the two almost certainly generated misunderstanding. In that sense I did fail to communicate clearly. Mea culpa.

It's important to note that the experiment really wasn't a total failure. In the end I did get the netbook hardware to be 100% functional running CentOS. I also managed to improve performance significantly. What I also did was document the difficulties involved. I don't think there was anything wrong with doing so.

Mr. Leyba has shown integrity by allowing me to respond to him and to his readers directly on the Cooking With Linux blog. I do appreciate that and I will certainly afford him the same opportunity if he wishes to comment.

I thought I had put this issue to bed and moved on a couple of weeks ago. Clearly some people had other ideas. That's perfectly fine. In the final analysis nothing has really changed. I stand by all the pieces I wrote on the subject of CentOS. I'm using Scientific Linux instead and that will continue to be my recommendation for anyone who wants a no cost, no support Enterprise Linux clone either in the server room or on the desktop.

A Perfect Illustration of Why I Now Choose Scientific Linux Over CentOS

2009-08-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

The following comment was posted in response to my business oriented article about the CentOS situation for O'Reilly Broadcast. It perfectly illustrates why I have made the decision I did:

By Peter Griffin on August 6, 2009 10:15 AM | Reply

I've been running CentOS as a file/intranet server since 5.0 was released. I started becoming concerned during the protracted period that it took to get 5.3 out. Not about the "lateness" in getting 5.3 out, but the complete lack of security updates in the interim for my 5.2 system. This "No updates available" went on for over a month. My version of Firefox trailed behind Red Hat's by two versions.

We can go back and forth about how many developers CentOS has vs. Scientific Linux. To me, that is academic if the Scientific Linux developers get their distro out several weeks in advance of CentOS, and more importantly, provide more timely security patches. If I'm not mistaken, Scientific Linux also supports older "dot" releases, such as 5.1, 5.2, etc., while CentOS does not. Not an issue for me, but it does indicate a little more thoroughness on the part of the Scientific Linux developers, few in number as they may be.

This wasn't a hasty decision. It wasn't made in a vacuum. Firefox wasn't the reason I talked about late patches, only the most recent example.

I wish the CentOS project and its developers well. Maybe in the future the CentOS developers can correct the issues that I've raised and I will reconsider the distro. They would not only need to get security patches out on a timely bases but they would also need some sort of institutional backing to insure their future before I will consider recommending them again.

The End of the CentOS Netbook Experiment

2009-08-05T09:26:00.000-07:00

I no longer have CentOS running on my netbook. It won't be back. At the moment I am not recommending CentOS for anything, not even servers. On my netbook and on desktops in general it has very little to do with the overhyped and exaggerated claims that miscommunication between the developers would lead to the death of CentOS. I have a story I'm writing forO'Reilly Broadcast about that CentOS misadventure, a combination of self-inflicted pain when the developers aired their dirty laundry in public and some in the tech press sensationalizing a story. On servers that story actually does play a significant part in my decision making. Before the CentOS fans out there get all angry at me and start with the inevitable flames let me explain my decisions.

I've decided that RHEL/CentOS just isn't for the typical desktop. The repositories are sparse compared to other distros and I would have had to compile quite a number of apps and dependencies for things I use every day. It was just plain too much work. Yes, I am aware of and tried RPMForge and EPEL and Odiecolon Repo and CentOS Extras. ELRepo proved tremendously useful for firmware and drivers. All of these repos provided useful packages. I tried using yum-priorities to keep all the repos from conflicting with one another and for a time that even seemed to work. With all of those third party repos I still was missing way too many things I use all the time.

I also abhor depending on third party repositories of variable quality. Yes, most of the packages I ended up using were quite good. Some had issues. The fact is that I just do NOT want to rely on multiple sources of packages which I may or may not truly trust. I want the distributor to provide a decent selection of software which they maintain with a decent level of quality assurance. CentOS just doesn't provide that for desktop applications. This was one of my main complaints when I reviewed Slackware 12.1. As much as Slackware fans berated me for this complaint I still don't trust that multiple repos will always play nicely together. They don't. I also do not want to have to build my own packages all the time. I write reviews and write about Linux professionally nowadays. I have to try new things all the time. CentOS is just not well suited for that.

Speaking of new things, I had to go to a third party repo and to compile a webcam app (as there is none worth having in any of the repos) just to make all of my netbook hardware work. My choice of apps was further complicated by the old libraries and tools included with CentOS. Older code makes perfect sense for a stable server environment which, after all, is what CentOS and the upstream Enterprise Linux are designed for. If I want to compile a newer desktop app which depends on newer libraries it may simply mean that the app isn't going to build.

Next comes the performance issue, or more correctly the lack of performance issue. After much tweaking and shutting off of unnecessary services I still found CentOS to be slower than any other distro on the netbook. (This also applies to my aging Toshiba laptop which has hardware fully supported by CentOS.) Even allegedly bloated distros running KDE 4 were faster than CentOS running Xfce. CentOS was and is the only distro I've tried on the netbook that was sluggish at all. Might I have found more stuff to rip out and more performance tuning to do? Sure! I probably could have made it better. The big question is this: Why bother? Was I really getting that much advantage running a business environment on my netbook? I decided the answer was no.

So, between lack of apps, multiple sources and old code CentOS was pretty well doomed on my netbook anyway. The coup de grace came with my last update. After rebooting the system would hang when the ACPI module was loaded. Sure, I could go into single user mode and troubleshoot and fix the problem. I have no doubt about that. I just decided I couldn't be bothered.

OK, so CentOS isn't for netboooks or desktops. You've undoubtedly noted that I said I'm not recommending it on servers either. None of the above really applies to servers, of course. The issue, of late, is the speed, or should I say slowness, of CentOS security patches. This is of vital concern to business and organizational users. When Mozilla released Firefox 3.0.12, a security patch which closed five vulnerabilities identified as "critical", Red Hat had an updated package the very same day. That's what a professional enterprise distro has to do. Downstream Sceintific Linux had a package ready the next day. It took CentOS over a week. This isn't the first such case, either. CentOS has been erratic at best about getting security patches out. The Firefox package was simply the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back.

The net result is that I am now recommending Scientific Linux for people who need a RHEL clone for their business or organization. The story about Lance Davis, the developer that went missing for a time, while overhyped and exaggerated in terms of the impact on the future of CentOS, is relevant here. Scientific Linux is backed by Fermilab, CERN and other major labs and universities. As a result it has a level of funding and stability that an independent project like CentOS does not have. One of the reasons Red Hat does such a good job selling their Enterprise Linux offerings is the support they offer and the strength of the company behind the distro. Scientific Linux may not offer the support or charge for the subscriptions, but the organizational backing insures its future and makes it a stronger choice than CentOS. The recent news forced me to take a long, hard look at Scientific Linux and I decided it was a better choice.

So, for me, CentOS is gone. I do wish the project well. I just hope they find a way to reassure their user community that they can be stable and reliable. The recent bad press has hurt them in that regard.

The Ongoing "CentOS 5.3 On A Netbook" Saga

2009-07-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

Last week I wrote a feature for DistroWatch Weekly on the trials and tribulations of installing CentOS 5.3 on my Sylvania g Netbook Meso. I was very pleased when Dag Wieërs, a CentOS developer and long time packager and maintainer of an excellent repository of additional packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, posted in the comments section with some useful suggestions and a request that I document how to get the netbook completely functional in the CentOS wiki. That's a project I'll take on when I have everything working to my satisfaction. In the meanwhile I thought it might be useful to report my progress here. That's the kind of thing blogs are for, right?

Anyway, following Dag's suggestion I ripped out the wireless driver I compiled from source and tried to use what CentOS provides. As before that simply didn't work. Then I installed the rt73usb-firmware package from ELRepo. This worked after a fashion. CentOS did recognize my wireless card and, three passwords later (for the keyring and twice for my own WPA2 protected network) I actually was able to connect. I did have one instance since yesterday when NetworkManager locked up, something I used to see in Ubuntu all the time. That, plus the relatively slow performance and all the GNOME dependencies are just a few of the reasons why I tend to truly hate NetworkManager. Unfortunately nobody has a wicd package for CentOS. If I stick with CentOS I will definitely have to package wicd and write a how-to documenting replacing NetworkManager with it.

I also followed Dag's suggestion for installing the kmod-video4linux package from ELRepo in the hope that it may contain drivers for my webcam. No distro supports the webcam out of the box so far as I can tell. Only the factory preinstalled Ubuntu Netbook Remix 8.04 worked without significant effort. Testing with the video conferencing software is a royal pain and possibly not a fair test so I decided to install either wxcam or cheese or both. Guess what? None of the CentOS repos have packages for those either. Grrr!

I did install Xfce 4.4.2 from the CentOS Extras repository and, as expected, it's a bit faster and less resource intensive than GNOME. I'd have liked a somewhat newer version but I'm happy with the results.

I also received an e-mail from Radu-Cristian Fotescu, who writes the Planète Béranger blog, asking me to test his recently rebuilt Odiecolon repository for RHEL/CentOS 5. He has some more up-to-date multimedia packages than other repos so I decided to give it a go. His repo is also known to conflict with the much larger and definitely necessary RPMForge repository. In order to avoid "rpm hell" I am trying to keep things in order with yum priorities. So far it's doing a good job of excluding conflicting packages.

If all this sounds overly complex, well... it is. Back when I wrote my somewhat controversial review of Slackware 12.1 one of the things I complained about was the dependency on third party repositories of variable quality. RHEL/CentOS as a desktop distribution definitely suffers from the same shortcoming. Getting all the repos to play nicely together, even with yum-priorities, appears to be an arcane art. Only time will tell whether or not I've mastered it. I will also need to compile a bunch of apps from source and will probably end up building and contributing significant numbers of packages if I intend to stick with CentOS.

I should also add the performance is still nowhere near as good as my favorite desktop distro, VectorLinux or even as good as Ubuntu Netbook Remix. With further tweaking and streamlining I'm fairly certain I can improve things enough to be reasonably happy.

If it weren't for the fact that Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the absolutely dominant business distribution I honestly wouldn't bother with all of this. The main reason for the effort is to be able to use the netbook for business related demonstrations and to have a fairly uniform operating environment for my systems. Check back for further progress reports.

Hotel WiFi Disservice

2009-06-24T07:42:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my housemate went to Atlanta for an event she wanted to attend. She stayed at what is generally considered a moderately priced hotel chain which caters mainly to business travelers. After a nearly nine hour drive she wanted to unwind on Friday night and, being very much the geek, chose to go online. The hotel, like most major chains, offers free WiFi service. Perhaps more relevant to my point, they advertise free WiFi service.

Well, she could connect to their wireless network but couldn't get to the internet or connect to any websites. The hotel staff was neither helpful nor knowledgable when she reported the problem. She could ping their router so she suspected a DNS issue. She called me and I gave her the IP addresses for the OpenDNS nameservers. That solved the problem. It turns out the hotel did have free WiFi provided you are technically competent enough to troubleshoot a DNS problem and have alternate nameserver IP addresses on hand for DNS resolution. I somehow think that for most of their guests WiFi was effectively down.

A few years ago I traveled extensively for business. I found that hotels which had wired internet service were generally reliable. Hotels which offered WiFi services had problems far too often. I can't expect a hotel clerk or even a hotel manager to know how to solve wireless networking issues. I can expect them to care if the service is down as much as they would care if telephone service or TV was down throughout the hotel. In my experience they just don't.

In one place without working WiFi I was told they hoped to have the service provider in to check the system the following week. I had reservations for four nights. I checked out after one night and went to a different hotel. My work depends on my remaining connected. That is one hotel, a fairly expensive one at that, where I would never stay again. I would think, in this day and age, hotels would begin to realize just how important connectivity is to their guests. Sadly it often isn't the case.

Deceptive Pricing At CompUSA

2009-06-01T23:16:00.000-07:00

On Friday my housemate and I went down to what used to be the Tiger Direct retail store in Raleigh. It turns out that Tiger Direct bought out what was left of CompUSA and has renamed their stores. I guess the CompUSA name is better known as a brick and mortar retail computer store.

The main reasons for the visit were for my housemate to upgrade the RAM in her Dell laptop from 1GB to 2GB and for me to buy an SD card to use in my Sylvania netbook. Some of you may have already noticed that I am now writing regularly for DistroWatch Weekly which means I am trying out different Linux distributions on a regular basis. It might be nice (not to mention less risky and somewhat easier) to install to the SD card rather than my hard drive when first checking things out. Anyway, Tiger Direct has always had very good prices on such things.

The good news is that my housemate did find the memory she wanted for the very nice price of $14. She also pointed me to an 8GB SD card priced at $9.99. Just what the doctor ordered! I also picked up a spindle of LightScribe CDrs which were way less expensive than anywhere else. I went to the register where the SD card rang up for $29.99. It turns out that the $9.99 price is after a rebate.

Here's the issue: the only way you'd know there was a rebate was to read some microscopic print on the price tag. I mean really, really tiny print. This is in the "bring your magnifying glass" category of tiny. I kid you not. There are price tags all over the store that have rebates. Most have the words "Final Price" in big, bold, red letters so that you know there is a rebate involved. This one didn't. It also wasn't the only tag like this.

My housemate immediately called this "deceptive pricing". I have to agree. So do some of our state legislators. A few years back some tried to pass a bill to ban this sort of pricing. I guess it never passed because the practice continues.

Look, I would have had no complaint if the price tag made it clear that a rebate was involved. As it is I decided I didn't want to lay out over $30 with tax and wait months for a check in the mail. Since a 4GB SD card is really all I need I decided to choose one of those instead. In that case the price on the tag was all I paid.

Will I still go to CompUSA? Yes, so long as they have really good prices. I'm not organizing a boycott or anything. However, I did voice my displeasure in the store. Maybe if enough of us complain they can be convinced that they'd do better to make it clear what you pay up front and what will be returned in the form of a rebate.

New Websites For Me and For the Ferrets

2009-04-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

Nowadays it seems you can get free web hosting and a free domain without annoying ads. How did I miss out on that up until now? See what I get for not paying attention to such things!

Anyway... my personal website now has its own domain and has been separated from other stuff that isn't me. It still looks archaic, like the 1990s design that it is. The content sorely needs updating as well. All of the will happen as time permits so you can visit now and again and watch me struggle through web design until I get something that's worthwhile :)

The new website is at http://www.caitlynmartin.co.cc.

I've also decided that my pet ferrets rate their own website. Considering the impact they have on my budget (recent vet bills for Chin Soon, especially) I obviously place a high value on the little weasels. If you aren't a pet owner you probably won't understand and think that this is all insanity. You may be right but it is an insanity that responsible pet owners all share. Our pets become like four legged family members.

The ferrets' website is at http://www.ferretsofdisorder.co.cc.

There is a good, sane reason for splitting the site into two or three pieces. More bandwidth. Free hosts have bandwidth limitations. OK, I probably will never reach them but you never know. I also get more gigs of storage I'll probably never use up.

So... feel free to visit.

President Obama Hosting Passover Seder

2009-04-08T14:50:00.000-07:00

NOTE: This is a rare cross post from my Zionism & Aliya blog.

Barack Obama will become the first American President ever to host a Passover seder at the White House.

While the story has received minimal mainstream media coverage here in the U.S. it was much bigger news in the Jewish and Israeli press. The historical significance was not lost on The Jerusalem Post:

'I'm really happy to hear about it,' said Steve Rabinowitz, who once led a staff Seder in the Clinton White House but didn't know of any White House Seder in which the president had personally taken part before now. 'It's been an extremely open White House to all faith communities, certainly including ours.'

William Daroff, who runs the United Jewish Communities' Washington office, recalled that former president Franklin D. Roosevelt snuck out the back door of the White House in 1943 to avoid seeing rabbis marching out front to demand US action to save European Jews from the Nazis.

'Sixty-six years later the President of the United States is spending Thursday evening with his friends and family celebrating the liberation and survival of the Jewish people,' Daroff noted, calling the event 'a testament to how far we have come as a Jewish people in America.'

In a bit of irony former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) chose today to declare that the Obama administration is "anti-religious". He was referring to the appointment of Harry Knox, a former Methodist minister and an outspoken gay rights advocate to the White House advisory council on faith-based initiatives. Apparently Mr. Gingrich believes anything other than right-wing evangelical Christianity isn't worthy of consideration as a religion. There are any number of liberal and tolerant Christian denominations. Reform Judaism is openly supportive of gay rights as are many in the Conservative (Masorti) movement.

I'm often asked why Jews tend to vote Democratic by conservative friends who see liberals as insufficiently supportive of Israel. While many European leaders were issuing warnings and thinly veiled threats to the new Israeli government even before Prime Minister Netanyahu officially took office President Obama chose that day to declare America's "unwavering support" for Israel. Support for Israel among Democratic leaders is not lacking.

Many right-wing Republicans, on the other hand, are very tied to Christian fundamentalism. Mr. Gingrich also accused President Obama of being "intensely secular". As a Jewish woman and a member of a religious minority in this country I am more comfortable with a secular government than an intolerant fundamentalist Christian one. My mainstream Jewish values are very different than those of the American Christian religious right.

I, for one, am grateful to President Obama's support for Israel even if I have some reservations about specific elements of his foreign policy. I think Mr. Gingrich's comments on the day before the President is taking part in a truly historic Jewish religious observance illustrate very well why I can't support his views.

To President Obama, and to all my readers:

Hag Sameach! Happy Passover!

Former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg's Testimony Doesn't Pass The Smell Test

2009-04-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

There's an odor that's more than a little rotten around former AIG CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg's congressional testimony. Mr. Greenberg stated that his leadership team had "nothing to do" with the company's failures. He added, "When I left the company, it was a healthy company.” Really?

In the fall of 2004 I interviewed for a position with American Financial Group. Here is what Mr. Greenberg has to say about AFG at the time and what the MSNBC article has to say about their business:

“AIG’s business model did not fail; its management did,” Greenberg said. He went on to criticize their handling of the financial products division, which he said “functioned quite well” under his leadership.

That division wrote the notorious credit-default swaps that have forced the company to pay more than $50 billion to U.S. and foreign banks.

AFG was the division now blamed for the catastrophic losses and near failure of the company that led to the huge government bailouts. According to Mr.Greenberg all was well in March, 2005 when he left and all the problems came later. Funny, that isn't what I remember.

The AFG position required me to move to Cincinnati, something I had doubts about doing particularly for a contract position. The job was a 90 day contract-to-hire position and the interviewers did all they could to reassure me that the permanent position was mine so long as I did a good job for them. I was repeatedly told that AIG has never had any layoffs during the company's 176 year history. That was a major selling point and it helped crystallize my decision to join AFG.

Fast forward three months after I moved to Cincinnati and started on the job. My manager informed me that my contract was going to be extended. Bringing me on board permanently was delayed, I was told, by internal politics. They wanted to keep me as a contractor until the issues could be resolved and then I could be hired permanently. I had all the normal benefits including health insurance through the consulting firm I was working for so I had no problem with this and I continued as a contractor.

In March, 2005, the same month Mr. Greenberg left AIG, the first layoffs in the company's history were announced. There were reports of financial troubles and losses even then. Someone from another group which was being closed, an AIG employee, was going to fill my spot as a Linux/UNIX Systems Administrator. I was told I would not be hired after all. This was after I had moved to and lived in Cincinnati for five months. The consulting firm I was working for placed me with Red Hat so things worked out OK for me, but... AIG was strong and profitable in March, 2005 according to Mr. Greenberg. If so, why the layoffs? Why the reported losses and financial problems at the time?

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) has his own doubts about Mr. Greenberg's testimony:

"I'm convinced that the systemic problems at AIG go far deeper than mistakes made in the four years since you left the company," Cummings said. "What you failed to mention was that a good portion of those risky (bets) were written" before Greenberg's 2005 departure.

Cummings asked multiple times how many of the credit-default swaps were written while Greenberg was in charge.

"The amount we wrote was for European banks," Greenberg replied. "As far as I know, there was never a loss on any of that."

Hmmm... I certainly had no access to AFG's books or to the particulars about the financial problems that raised alarm bells and forced layoffs in March, 2005 so I can't say if Mr. Greenberg was truthful in his response or not. I, like Rep. Cummings, have my doubts. "As far as I know..." is a hole you can drive a Mack truck through. Those are the kind of weasel words that guarantee that Mr. Greenberg isn't lying or perjuring himself even if his account isn't exactly accurate.

As I've already noted I have and had no access to the company's finances now or then. I do know for a fact that things weren't nearly as rosy as the picture that Mr. Greenberg paints.

March Snow in North Carolina

2009-03-02T07:27:00.000-08:00

As of 10:30 this morning we still have a few flurries in the air but otherwise the snow is probably over. We got about 3" (8 cm) of snow in all which is a big deal in North Carolina. Folks further west got quite a bit more than we did. In this area schools are closed, events have been canceled and businesses delayed opening. As I mentioned yesterday people up north find this funny. In New York or Wisconsin 3" of snow is no big deal. Here it dominates the news.

One thing for certain is that it is cold with temperatures likely to stay below freezing today. Right now it's 29°F (-2°C) and it is expected to drop to 13°F (-11°C) tonight. Roads will probably become quite icy in time for the morning commute tomorrow.

The photos were taken by my housemate in the backyard this morning taken around 8:30 this morning. It is pretty around here and the coffee is hot.

Snow Again! (...or a conspiracy to sell more bread and milk)

2009-03-01T14:34:00.001-08:00

Back in January we got a little over 5" (13 cm) of snow. The picture above is what my street looked like after a plow came through. Looks pretty, right? My housemate and I thought so and we went out for a walk and she took some pictures. We get a snowstorm like this maybe once every three to five years where I live. They predicted a second big storm last month but all we got was a dusting.

Actually they predict several of these events every year but most never materialize. My housemate claims to believe this is a conspiracy concocted by retailers and meteorologists to sell more bread and milk. As I noted last November supermarkets are jam packed before every would-be snowstorm and they always sell out most all of their bread and milk.

Well... depending on which media outlet or meteorologist you believe we should be getting anywhere from 2" to 8" (8cm to 20cm) of snow tonight and tomorrow. Right now it's just raining but this is supposed to become snow and, by North Carolina standards, lots of it, as in enough to paralyze the area.

Yes, folks who live up north in snowy climes or came from the north like I did find it all very humorous. It's funny until you see the locals try to drive on snow or ice. Then it's not so funny and you want to stay home as much or more than they do.

Anyway, I did go to the market today and yes, they were busy. They still had plenty of bread and milk. I guess there is less panic buying during a depression. (Yes, I still believe our "economic crisis" or "most severe recession in 70 years" is really a depression. More on that in upcoming posts.)

Will it snow? Probably. Will we get lots of snow? Who knows. They're even predicting "thundersnow", a thunderstorm with snow instead of rain. I've never seen that, even when I lived up north.

In the meanwhile here is another pretty picture from January taken a few minutes later during our walk a bit futher up my street:

It wasn't quite as pleasant a walk at this point. We'll see if tonight and tomorrow bring more of the same. If they do I'll try to get some more pictures.

Netbooks Become Ubiquitous and Linux Becomes Mainstream

2009-02-17T16:07:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday I took my ferret Chin Soon to her vet. While I was waiting I pulled my Sylvania g Netbook Meso out of its case to get some writing done. When the vet came in she commented on my "cute little netbook" and asked me if it was an Acer. Hers, it turns out, is an Acer and mine looks quite similar.

I read the reviews last year where people claimed that netbooks looked more like portable DVD players than computers. Well... nobody has mistaken mine for a DVD player. Lots of people recognize it as a netbook. I keep running into more and more people, both in the real world and online who have taken the plunge and bought themselves a little netbook. Many, like my ferrets' vet, are intelligent, professional people but are by no means technology professionals or even particularly technically inclined.

16 million netbooks have sold so far with growth estimated at 60% per year. I expect it could be higher that that. Netbooks are the least expensive new computers on the market in what is now a seriously troubled worldwide economy. Cool new technologies tend to snowball when they catch on. I've found I can do everything with my netbook that I could do with a conventional PC. Others will discover the same. Netbooks probably won't be as ubiquitous as cell phones but they will turn up in more and more places with more and more ordinary, non technical users.

Yes, the vet's Acer runs Windows. While the vast majority of new netbooks will be sold with either Windows XP or Windows 7, a substantial minority will continue to be preloaded with Linux. Millions of people have been introduced to Linux through netbooks and are satisfied with it. Educated consumers who learn that Linux, which requires fewer system resources, will run faster and comes with a wide variety of software preinstalled will choose Linux.

Despite the posts by various so-called tech journalists who always cheerlead for Microsoft claiming that Windows has "kicked Linux to the curb" or "crushed" Linux on netbooks, Microsoft's own estimate places Linux at 30% of current market share. Asustek's Samson Hu, quoted in the same Bloomberg article, places Linux on 30-40% of all EeePCs currently sold and expects Linux to maintain a 30% market share. Acer spokesman Henry Wang expects 20% of his Aspire One models to ship with Linux this year.

There were one million netbooks sold in 2007, all running Linux. There were 15 million sold last year. Assuming that Microsoft has no reason to deflate its own sales figures or inflate Linux numbers then the 30% figure becomes a good, conservative estimate of Linux netbook market share in 2008. That would make 4.2 million more Linux machines sold. Estimates for 2010 are as high as 29 million units. I've seen similar estimates for 2009. Let's assume the total market share for Linux across the industry will fall somewhere between the two leaders, around 25%. That would mean 14.5 million more new preloaded Linux boxes over the next two years, putting the total number since the summer of 2007 at 19.7 million.

I'm sure the Windows cheerleading section will be happy to point out that three times that number will run a Microsoft operating system and this will be touted as another great victory for Windows. Of course, these are the same folks who just a year ago were claiming Linux was insignificant in the consumer market with a less than one percent share of preloaded systems. Tell me again how going from less than 1% to 30% in the fastest growing segment of the consumer PC market is a crushing defeat for Linux and a great victory for Microsoft. Sorry, but I don't see it.

Consumers now are aware they have a choice and Linux has gone mainstream. Oh, and speaking of things snowballing, how many of those 19.7 million Linux netbook users will also choose Linux for a desktop or conventional notebook? How many will show Linux to their friends, family, or neighbors? How many of those friends, family, or neighbors may then make the same Linux choice? The results for an OS that's been "crushed" or "kicked to the curb" might be quite impressive indeed.

The Home Computer In 2004 (As Imagined In 1954)

2009-01-18T11:34:00.000-08:00

Please click on the image to see this in all its glory and to read the caption. Yep, that teletype interface sure makes it easy to use, doesn't it?

Thanks to WinDoze on the Vector Linux forum for digging up this gem.

More Kudos To J&R Music World

2009-01-12T08:56:00.000-08:00

In my last post I wrote about the premature failure of my Sylvania g Netbook. I also noted that the dealer, J&R Music World of New York City, offered an immediate exchange. I called to follow up this morning and I should have my replacement on the way very shortly. I also am being reimbursed for the shipping and insurance charges to return the netbook. In addition the price has dropper by $40 since I ordered mine and I am, in fact, receiving a $40 credit as well. When all is said and done I will have paid $239 for the computer, a price that is still available today.

First, kudos to J&R Music World for their outstanding customer service. Second, if the new computer works as expected I will have gotten a very capable little laptop for a truly minuscule price. $239 for a system with a 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 30GB hard drive is impossible to beat. Oh, and yes, it runs Linux.

The Netbook Experience Is A Little Less Shiny Right Now

2009-01-07T14:34:00.000-08:00

During the holidays I received some Hanukkah gelt from family specifically earmarked for buying myself a new computer. The Toshiba laptop I'm writing this on is six years old now, it's slow by today's standards and it has developed a highly intermittent harware problem. Sometimes, out of the blue, it will shut itself off for no apparent reason. Since having a reliable and portable computer is vital for me to make a living right now a replacement was the best gift I could possibly get. A netbook seemed like the perfect solution to me and I ordered the one that seemed to give me the most power for the least money in a very small and lightweight case: a Sylvania g Netbook.

For the first couple of weeks I was thrilled with the little laptop. I was less than pleased with the stock gOS Linux implementation but once I replaced it with a Linux distribution that actually had the proper support and drivers for the hardware I was really, really happy. I used the little Sylvania for everything. Then, like the Toshiba, it started having an intermittent problem. It would lock up for no apparent reason. I went back to the stock gOS configuration and it still locked hard at random times.

I bought the netbook from J&R Music World in New York City via Amazon.com. Kudos to J&R for immediately authorizing an exchange and promising that they would ship a replacement within 24-48 hours of receiving my defective unit. J&R is a long established brick and mortar store that I shopped at when I lived in New York. They have an excellent reputation for customer service and it seems to be well earned so far. They also had some of the best prices on netbooks when I shopped for mine. So... the replacement should be here next week some time.

In the meanwhile I'm back on my old computer. Having worked on the Sylvania for two weeks this one really does seem slow now despite only a small difference in the processor (1.2GHz Via C-7M ULV in the netbook vs. 1GHz Intel Celeron in this one). Of course the fact that the netbook had twice the memory (1 GB vs. 512MB RAM) is probably a big part of the performance difference.

Back in the 1980s I did work for a major electronic manufacturer. I learned back then that 90% of electronic failures happen in the first 5% of service life. What happened with my netbook is just plain bad luck. It could have happened with a Dell or an HP or an Asus netbook. In any case it would have been handled promptly under warranty. I certainly don't blame Sylvania at this point. I really have nothing to complain about. OTOH, it's always frustrating to have something new fail like this. For me, temporarily, the shine is off the netbook experience.

I have written a detailed review of the Sylvania g Netbook for O'Reilly Broadcast but for the moment I'm not publishing it. I want to make sure the replacement works as it should before I publish my opinions on a large public tech forum. I expect the review will go out pretty much unchanged but... Yeah, things just aren't shiny right now.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-24T23:32:00.001-08:00

I wanted to take a minute and wish everyone a very happy holiday season. Please pick the greeting that's right for you:

Happy Hanukkah!
Merry Christmas!
Happy Holidays!

First Snow

2008-11-20T21:35:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while now knows I live not too far from Raleigh, NC. I've lived here for nine of the past 11 years. In those 11 years we've had a real honest to goodness snow storm here exactly twice. Even the mention of the word snow sends people rushing to the supermarket to buy up all the bread and milk they can find. My housemate claims it's all a trick by the supermarkets to boost sales. Anyway, I digress...

The other day we had what the local news called a "10 minute blizzard", as in near white out conditions. Of course, nothing stuck to the ground and it was over. The fact that 10 minutes of non-stock snow even makes the news tells you just how little snow we get around here. Still, that was our first snow of the season.

When will the second snowfall come? The forecast calls for snow showers tomorrow. I guess I'd better run out and get some bread and milk :) Oh yeah, that's right, I don't drink milk. Make that soy milk.

The Panic of 2008: History Repeats

2008-10-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
-George Santayana, 1924
This famous quote was also paraphrased by Winston Churchill:

"Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it"
With stocks continuing downward precipitously today, the following cartoon and commentary which appeared today on Planète Béranger is particularly apropos:

From the Library of Congress description: «This poster for the stage production of The War of Wealth depicts what might have been any number of nineteenth century-financial crises. During that time, the U.S. experienced panics in the years 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, and 1893. The major financial catalyst for the panic of 1857 was the August 24, 1857, failure of the New York branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company. It was soon reported that the entire capital of the Trust's home office had been embezzled. What followed was one of the most severe economic crises in U.S. history. Almost immediately, New York bankers put severe restrictions on even the most routine transactions. In turn, many people interpreted these restrictions as a sign of impending financial collapse and panicked. Individual holders of stock and of commercial paper rushed to their brokers and eagerly made deals that "a week before they would have shunned as a ruinous sacrifice." As the September 12, 1857, Harper's Weekly described the scene on the New York Stock Exchange, "…prominent stocks fell eight or ten per cent in a day, and fortunes were made and lost between ten o'clock in the morning and four of the afternoon."»

Sound familiar?

The Second Great Depression

2008-10-09T21:33:00.000-07:00

With Yom Kippur over I turned on the news this evening. It was consumed with two things. The American Presidential election was down to number two after the now global economic crisis.

Stock markets the world over continue to crash down. The Bush administration, once the voice of laissez-faire capitalism, is considering following the British example and taking the decidedly socialist step of purchasing parts of private banks, in effect partially nationalizing them, albeit "voluntarily". How voluntary is it if the choice is semi-nationalization or outright failure? We also have the spectacle of a possible national bankruptcy in Iceland. Has a nation ever gone bankrupt before?

All these events are, I think quite accurately, being described as "the worst financial crisis since the great depression" by various talking heads on all the major and not-so-major news media. Normally optimistic economic voices are now saying we're going into a deep recession. Hello? We're already there and I honestly believe this is the start of a second great depression. 2008 and 1929 will often be linked from this point forward.

I think a lot of us are going to have to rethink our lifestyles, our finances, and how to plan for our future. Too many Americans, encouraged by our consumer culture, have lived way beyond their means. A little economic panic may actually have a healthy result if people pay down debts and start saving for a rainy day. It may also make some rethink their political ideology and make a more sane choice in the November election. Those would certainly be silver linings to the proverbial dark clouds.

What about me? What will I do? Believe it our not this may actually be beneficial to my business if I do some clever marketing. OK, I hate marketing. Only chasing people down for monies owed is worse. I truly loathe collections. Yet I honestly believe suddenly being very good at marketing is vital to me.

Let's face it: Linux can save companies money. It can do lots of really serious work well on machines that can't even minimally run a current version of Windows. That's true both for servers and desktops. Linux can allow companies to leverage the existing, aging systems and extend the productive life of hardware they already own. There are no licensing costs either, and for small and medium sized businesses the savings involved can make a huge difference in difficult times. My expertise is Linux. I'm very good at making it turnkey, easy to use, and optimizing for performance. Now I need to be especially good at showing people how using my expertise will save them money, as in many times what they pay me for my services.

It's not just Linux, of course. It's also using Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) to replace proprietary and often costly software. If I can offer alternatives that save licensing costs for multiple products a business needs the savings can add up, perhaps more than enough to make learning a new product and transferring or converting data worthwhile.

Can I do it? I honestly think so. No, it won't be easy. Selling change never is. Asking people to step outside of their comfort zone and dive into new software is difficult at best. Now, though, people may make some tough choices they wouldn't have made in better times when they weren't counting their pennies so closely.

A new website, perhaps a little print advertising, and a few successful engagements to create word of mouth advertising is what I need. It's a challenge but then again, riding out tough times and keeping heads above water is a challenge lots of us will be facing now.

You'd Think Mortgage Lenders Would Have Learned By Now

2008-09-17T15:21:00.000-07:00

Considering all the recent gloomy financial news about the housing market, mortgage defaults and foreclosures you'd think that mortgage companies would insist on making loans that were safer and more secure. Apparently not,. For the second time in the last few weeks I received a post card offering me 100% financing and no money down on homes in my area. Considering that housing prices here are in decline and are projected to continue to decline such a mortgage is almost guaranteed to become "upside down", meaning it will be for more than the property is worth in a short time. That's part of the recipe that brought us all the foreclosures we've seen to date. It's madness.

At least Senator Obama's six point plan to deal with the economic crisis calls for more regulation. This is consistent with his views in his four years in the Senate. John McCain, on the other hand, is now a born-again regulator. For years as Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, he was a champion of deregulation. We've seen how well that deregulation works. McCain is part of the problem and is one of the causes of the current crisis. I don't trust him to fix anything. At least with Obama there is a chance for reregulation since that change is consistent with his beliefs and his record.

A Religious Argument For Being Pro-Choice

2008-09-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

I originally posted the piece below in the first incarnation of this blog on February 27, 2006. With Republican Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates who are strongly anti-choice I felt it was time to post this again. The anti-abortion position is always portrayed by the right as somehow the correct moral choice and the position that anyone who believes in G-d must take. It just isn't true and even Christianity is hardly unified on the issue of abortion.

Anyway, here is what I wrote. It seems particularly timely in this election season when faith and politics are mixed all too often:

---

When the anti-abortion crowd states unequivocally that abortion is murder they are voicing a belief based on fundamentalist Christian interpretation of scripture. It certainly isn't based on science or medicine which would argue that you have a child at some point in the pregnancy when the fetus is viable and can live outside the mothers womb. Nobody would argue based on science that a newly fertilized egg is a distinct individual. To make that argument one must turn to religion.

Similarly, based on my Jewish religious tradition and a mainstream (Conservative or modern Orthodox) interpretation of scripture I could argue unequivocally that life begins at birth, not before, and abortion is never tantamount to taking a life.

Yes, I know conservative Christians use some of what they call Old Testament scripture to justify their position. The problem with this is that from a Jewish perspective Christians reorder the Tanakh (Bible), mixing up Nevi'im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings). They also weigh the whole Tanakh equally while Jews give greater weight to the Torah (Law), or the five books of Moses. So, then... what does the Torah have to say about abortion? Quite a lot, actually.

Let me quote Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, from his excellent book The Ten Commandments of Character, which I highly recommend:

"My view is shaped by Jewish tradition, which, while strongly limiting instances in which it regards abortion as permissible (e,g., when the mother's physical or mental well-being are imperiled), categorically rejects the notion of abortion as murder. The classic case in Jewish law is one discussed in the Torah. Exodus 21:22-23 rules that if two men are fighting and one murders the pregnant wife of the other, the killer is executed. But if instead of killing the wife, he wounds her and causes her pregnancy to be aborted, "the assailant shall be fined." As this passage makes clear, whatever value the fetus has, the Hebrew Bible (which Christians call the Old Testament) doesn't grant the status of human life. If it did the punishment for killing the fetus wouldn't be a monetary fine, but the same as that for killing the woman, i.e., death. Therefore, according to the Hebrew Bible, abortion is definitely not murder."

It should not be surprising that Israel, a Jewish nation in which Orthodox religious leaders have considerable sway, permits abortion on demand. Israel, unlike the United States, does not have separation of religion and state.

Abortion is a necessary evil. The choice must belong to the woman. One would hope she would consult with her doctor, her spiritual advisor (in a Jewish setting this would be a rabbi), and, if appropriate, the father. The state, though, has no right to interfere.

In a nation where one of it's chief founders, Thomas Jefferson, called for "a wall of separation between church and state" imposing a ban on abortion based on one religious belief, no matter how prevalent, is simply wrong. If polls are right a majority of Americans are pro-choice in any case, not that numbers should matter. I, as a member of a religious minority, do not want to see any one religion or set of beliefs given supremacy over all others. That issue goes far beyond abortion. Once that happens, once the United States starts moving towards theocracy, it would no longer be a country I could be comfortable living in. Banning abortion based on Christian religious belief is, indeed, theocratic.

I certainly don't want the state or someone else's religion making medical decisions which could have severe consequences for the woman involved for the rest of her life.

9-11

2008-09-11T22:14:00.000-07:00

Tonight, on the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks on 9-11-2001, MSNBC ran the NBC coverage of the events in real time beginning at 11 PM Eastern Time (US). It may still be running for all I know. I couldn't watch any more.

On the morning of 9-11-2001 I was in a Red Hat classroom at their old location in Durham taking a prep class for certification. Instead of learning the inner workings of Red Hat Linux we all ended up watching the events unfolding on TV. I remember watching the second plane crash into the tower, the buildings collapsing, and so on. Watching it again seven years later I ran through the whole gamut of emotions again: the horror, the sense of loss, and the overwhelming anger at those who did this.

In the past week we read and heard reports of a U.S. strike at a Taliban stronghold inside the South Waziristan region of Pakistan. The attack has drawn sharp criticism from the Pakistani government which has vowed to defend Pakistani sovereignty. Our so-called allies in France and Germany have also criticized the U.S. military action.

The Pakistanis, in promising to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their country are, in effect, threatening to turn their arms on U.S. and NATO forces fighting the Taliban and al-Qaeda. I seem to remember Senator Barack Obama warning during one of the Democratic primary debates that Pakistan would become a major problem for the U.S. He took some flack for his comments if I remember correctly. He seems prescient about now.

My feelings on this are clear. If the Pakistanis choose to harbor and even defend Taliban and al-Qaeda forces they are, in effect, changing sides in the war. They may find themselves at war with the United States. I, despite my normally left-leaning politics, am with the conservatives on this issue. That is one war I would wholeheartedly support. I also would not care one little bit if the French and Germans were upset about it.

Tonight's coverage of 9-11 was a stark reminder of why we are at war in that part of the world. More Americans were killed on that day than in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. My main criticism of the Bush administration actions is that they have not fully and forcefully prosecuted that war and brought it to a successful conclusion.

New Home For My Linux and General Computing Blog

2008-09-10T11:01:00.000-07:00

O'Reilly Media has been reorganizing and restructuring their website recently. One of the net results is that my articles and blog posts on Linux, Open Source Software, and computing in general have been moved around a bit. I originally was writing for the old O'Reilly Linux Dev Center blog. Then it was O'Reilly News from June through September. Now it's O'Reilly Broadcast. You can also find all of my writing for O'Reilly, old and new, albeit listed in no particular order I can fathom, here. In addition, all my new writing for O'Reilly is available via atom feed.

Confused yet? Hopefully this is the last set of changes.

The simple version: new stuff here or by atom feed.

Oy Fay!

2008-08-21T12:40:00.000-07:00

Tropical Storm Fay is expected to make a third landfall in or near Flagler Beach, Florida this afternoon. The storm brought up to 30 inches of rain to the Melbourne area and heavy flooding. The storm is moving slowly so Florida will continue to experience more rain and more flooding, mainly in areas further to the north.

Further south, in Palm Beach County, there is little or no flooding. This isn't a hurricane and for most people in that county there is little or no damage from the storm. My mother was not so lucky. Her roof was damaged on Tuesday. She has moisture in the garage and some plaster has fallen. A roofer came out yesterday, looked at the damage, left some materials, and promised to come back today once the rain had passed to do repairs. I guess this is just another reminder that living in Florida means dealing with hurricanes and tropical storms.

This is also a reminder that if the view held by most responsible experts in the field is that global warming will cause stronger, larger and more frequent storms. Anytime some right winger talks about "global warming alarmists" or complains about the cost of making changes in our energy policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions we need to remind them of the very real financial and human costs of doing nothing.

Technorati Tags: hurricanes tropical storm fay storm damage global warming climate change tropical storms

I Never Though I'd Say This But....

2008-08-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd say this but I am very glad that John Edwards did not win the Democratic nomination for President. Enough said.

Something New From Neuronium Founding Member Carlos Guirao

2008-08-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

Carlos Guirao was an original member of Neuronium, appearing on their first five albums. The New Digital Dream is probably still my favorite Neuronium disc even though there have been plenty of excellent albums in the years since it was first released. Guirao also played on A Separate Affair, the collaboration between Neuronium and Vangelis which is one of my favorite pieces of ambient electronic music to relax to.

After he left Neuronium in 1982 Guirao recorded one solo album and then was part of a techno duo called Programa. Aside from the mid '90s releases of In London (the Neuronium & Vangelis CD single) and A Separate Affair, both of which were recorded in 1981, there has been nothing new from Guirao in something like 23 years... until now. A friend visited Guirao and borrowed a tape of his unreleased second solo album. After listening to it he obtained permission to distribute the album, Pesadillas De Un Ser Viviente, Spanish for "Nightmares of a Living Being", at no charge via the Internet. As a result Carlos Guirao's album has been released on the 'net and can be found here. Oh, and yes, it's perfectly legal to download.

The music covers a variety of styles. It's mainly upbeat electronic music with some drumming and occasional vocals. It's closer to Programa than to Neuronium but really doesn't sound like either one. There are bits that remind me of Jean-Michel Jarre or Christopher Franke but there is probably more that's pretty unique. The 16½ opening track, "Oceanic", is probably the highlight of the album while the fifth track, "Desconocido", is probably the most interesting, at times giving just a bit of the Neuronium sound, perhaps with elements of '80s or '90s Tangerine Dream mixed in. This isn't Guirao's best work to date and there's a bit more of the commercial synth-pop feel than what I usually like, but it's skillfully done and some of the tracks are quite good. Definitely worth a listen.

Technorati Tags: music electronic music neuronium carlos guirao

Slackware 12.1 First Impressions

2008-05-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

Late last week I downloaded and installed Slackware 12.1 on my aging (OK, old) Toshiba laptop side by side with Vector Linux Light. I'll post a full review to my O'Reilly Linux Dev Center blog once I've had more opportunity to use the latest version of Slack.

My first impression: Slackware is still Slackware. The installer assumes you know what you are doing (think Expert install if you're an Ubuntu user) and that you want the ability to control every aspect of the installation. A newcomer to Linux would be utterly, totally lost. I've actually done two installations: a fully functional one with an Xfce desktop and all the dev tools that currently occupies about 2.7GB of disk space, and a truly minimal but usable installation with a minimalist window manager (PekWM) and a handful of apps and tools. That takes up only 600MB of disk space. Slackware always was flexible and that hasn't changed.

You can tell you're dealing with a distro for serious Linux geeks when booting into the GUI isn't even offered as an option by the installer. Heck, the installer doesn't even deal with X configuration. You start at the command line. GUI system administration tools? You can get them from third parties but Slackware itself is devoid of such things. Edit your config files or use command line tools.

Is this a bad thing? If you know what you're doing and don't mind taking some time to get your configuration right and your favorite apps from various third party sources it really isn't. OK, it's time consuming but the end result is a fast, rock solid system. That's what Slackware is known for. It remains seriously user unfriendly, hence all the derivative distributions like Zenwalk, Vector Linux, Wolvix, etc... that try and fix that. They all succeed to a large degree, giving users a friendly environment with all of the speed and stability.

Most of the usual third party packages sources like LinuxPackages.net and Slacky.eu don't have a full selection of apps built for 12.1 yet but that is rapidly changing. The project I'm working on is going to force me to do a lot of compiling from source in any case.

Could I live with Slackware as my main distro? Yes, easily. Would I recommend it? Only to those who know what they are getting into.

In a way I've come full circle. In late 1995 I was introduced to Linux by a coworker. When I asked which distribution to choose she suggested two: Red Hat Linux and Slackware. I chose Red Hat because she said it was easier to learn. It's also what she ran on her workstation in the office. Slackware was the second distro I looked at all those years ago.

What's changed since then? First off, I was very skeptical about Linux at the time and probably for about three or four years after that. I didn't think it would ever be a serious OS or that it was anywhere near ready for prime time. That sounds silly now but 13 years ago the state of Linux was still pretty primitive. Second, I don't think any of us would have dreamed of downloading a 3.8GB DVD iso image in an hour and a half and burning it ourselves. Thankfully time and technology really do march on.

What hasn't changed? In a fundamental way Slackware is the same as it ever was. It isn't any easier to get going now than it was all those years ago. You really do have to either know how Linux works under the hood or else you have to be willing to learn.

Technorati Tags: linux computing slackware linux distribution slackware 12.1 review

Back From A Few Days In Computer Hell + Advances In Green Computing With Linux

2008-05-21T21:23:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I lost my desktop system to hardware failure -- the kind of failure not worth repairing. This closely followed a laptop dying as well. I found myself scrambling to make life and work go on with less for now. The end result will probably be that I'll buy two systems in the coming weeks, a small and inexpensive travel system, probably an Asus Eee PC I wanted anyway, and something powerful enough to be a desktop replacement and to allow me to do demos for consulting customers or potential customers.

For right now I'm down to two systems, both laptops, both very long in the tooth. I'm writing this on my five and a half year old vintage veteran Toshiba Satellite 1805-S204, with a 1GHz Celeron processor, 512MB of RAM, and a 20GB hard drive. The second system is 10 years old: my one surviving itty bitty Toshiba Libretto SS1010, a system about the size of a paperback book with a 233MHz Pentium MMX processor, just 64MB of RAM, and a minuscule 2.1GB hard drive. I decided to rebuild both with an idea of optimizing for speed. The idea is to use a Linux distribution designed to get the most out of limited hardware. Don't misunderstand me: Vector Linux 5.9 Standard, Xubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04, and Wolvix Hunter 1.1.0 all ran brilliantly on the Satellite. Still, if I'm going to do serious work I want to use as few resources as possible for the desktop and overheard and leave as much as possible for applications, particularly things like OpenOffice and multimedia apps that eat memory.

I decided to play with fire and try out some beta code, particularly Vector Linux Light 5.9 Beta 5. This is the first beta with the new LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment). The previously offered window managers, JWM (still the default) and Fluxbox, are also still included in the iso. There are some bugs which I've dutifully reported as you'd expect in a beta but nothing serious. All in all it works very well and is remarkably close to ready for prime time. Best of all... it's fast on the Satellite. Really fast!

LXDE looks good. Vector Linux has a unique replacement for the HAL daemon called VL-Hot. It doesn't continually poll the hardware bit rather is triggered by udev events. You can choose between VL-Hot and HAL in Vector Linux standard as either will work perfectly well with KDE and Xfce. VL-Hot also works correctly with pcmanfm which is used to control desktop icons in LXDE and in the Vector Linux Light implementation of JWM. Not only is this far less resource intensive than HAL but the fact that it mostly works well on lightweight desktops is truly impressive. This is a huge step forward for those with limited, low end hardware and for green computing in general.

I'll definitely be writing more about LXDE, VL-Hot, and Vector Linux Light in more formal articles and reviews for my blog over on the O'Reilly Linux Dev Center. I just thought a quick, informal posting of my first impressions might be of interest to the more adventurous Linux users out there who like to play around with bleeding edge software. The nice thing is that this is working well enough that it doesn't feel like bleeding edge. I've actually had more problems with the released version of Xubuntu Hardy Heron, but that's another story.

I also have the ancient Libretto running Damn Small Linux for the moment. An installation of Vector Linux Light seemed to go flawlessly but when I rebooted I got a kernel panic. I've seen this before with VL 5.9 and I've reported it as well. I'll be experimenting with a few very small lightweight distros on the box in a dual boot configuration with DSL. What I want is a fairly current 2.6.x kernel and current if lightweight apps, something DSL just doesn't offer. I'll definitely write about what works for me.

Technorati Tags: linux computing lxde computer hardware failure vector linux removable+media green computing

Primary Day

2008-05-07T21:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was primary election day in North Carolina. I went out and voted in the early evening. In the best known races I voted for Hillary Clinton for President. She was trounced by Barack Obama, of course. My choice for Governor, Richard Moore, was also trounced. I did vote for Kay Hagan, who won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. I expect she'll get trounced by Elizabeth Dole in the fall. Oh well...

Far more disappointing to me than the results was what a nice old lady who was working at the polls told me. They had a very slow day with very poor turnout. For once North Carolina actually had a say in determining who would be the Democratic nominee for President. We had major statewide races in both parties. In this county we also had a school bond issue on the ballot. You'd think people would come out and vote but at least here they really didn't. I find this sort of voter apathy very troubling, particularly with all the challenges our area and our country as a whole now face. Don't people realize how much the outcome of the 2008 elections will effect our future? I guess not and that is truly sad.

Technorati Tags: politics apathy elections north carolina democratic primaries hillary clinton barack obama

CD Review: Neuronium - Synapsia

2008-03-29T21:41:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I wrote a CD review so I decided to write up one of the newest additions to my collection:

You get the idea in listening to Synapsia that Michel Huygen sat down with a stack of old vinyl LPs before recording this album. For example the third track, "Vortopsia", sounds like a recent Neuronium track for all of a minute. Then the electronic bass line kicks in and the synth melody changes and you get the feeling of some vintage Tangerine Dream in their mellower moments. The piece could have been inspired by the B-side of Stratosfear or "Haunted Heights" from '70-'80. Every track on Synapsia has an electronic bass line. Some of it definitely has that vintage sequencer driven Berlin School sound. There's a fair amount of Vangelis and Patrick O'Hearn influence as well, with a dash of Klaus Schulze here and there. Really, though, I think more than anything Huygen listened to his own early works with Neuronium.

Don't misunderstand me; there's none of the high flying space rock of The New Digital Dream. Huygen is completely on his own now despite keeping the Neuronium name. At times I wish it wasn't so. "Brainsucker" could have really benefited from the powerful electric guitar that Santi Pico brought to The Visitor rather than a synthesized sort-of guitar sounding section. All in all what Huygen has done is blend the gentler sound of newer Neuronium with the sensibilities and sounds and influences of early Neuronium. The result doesn't sound like something out of the late '70s and early '80s. The instrumentation is pure 21st century. The good news is that it doesn't sound like sickly sweet new age glop either. It's brilliant, interesting electronic music that builds in complexity as it goes. It's an updating of the early Neuronium feeling in a way that's long overdue. Synapsia is the best album released under the Neuronium name in a quite some time.

NOTE: I also posted this review to Discogs.

Dr. Who Is Evil

2008-03-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

"God delivered me from the evil that is Dr Who, materialism and alcoholism."

So says Simon White, who, by now, has sold off an extensive collection of Dr. Who stuff on eBay. Christianity saved him from the evil of Dr. Who. Uh huh... Now who will save him from the evil of fanatical Christianity?

Oh, and no, I'm not anti-Christian, really. I am anti-fanatic though. I'm also looking forward to the fourth season of the new Doctor Who, the 30th season overall.

Technorati Tags: doctor who dr. who evil religion christianity

Stand With The People Of Tibet

2008-03-27T15:06:00.000-07:00

When I checked my inbox this morning I was surprised to see an e-mail from Hans-Joachim Roedelius. Herr Roedelius is one of my favorite musicians. I met him in person at a performance he gave in Asheville, NC in 1999 and I have corresponded with him a couple of times, most recently after I expanded the WikiPedia page for Cluster. Herr Roedelius was kind enough to provide a photo and to fact check the page for me.

It turns out the e-mail contained a link to Avaaz.org urging people to sign an online petition to be delivered to Chinese President Hu Jintao on March 31. The petition urges restraint, respect for human rights, and the opening of a dialogue with the Dali Lama. While I have little hope that the Chinese government is at all open to or moved by international public opinion I certainly see no harm in signing the petition. Avaaz.org wants at least 2,000,000 signatures and they are more than 80% of the way there. Who knows? Maybe, against all odds it will even do a little good.

I encourage everyone to take a couple of minutes to sign the petition.

I also thank Herr Roedelius for championing this issue and giving me the opportunity to do what I can.

Technorati Tags: tibet dali lama china politics human rights online petition rodelius Hans-Joachim Roedelius

OK, Make That Hillary Clinton For President

2008-01-30T13:15:00.000-08:00

Today both John Edwards and Rudolph Giuliani dropped out of the race for the White House. Senator Edwards was the only candidate I really felt good about -- one I would vote for because I believe he'd make an excellent President, just not that he'd be less of a disaster than the opposing candidate. Mayor Giuliani was the only Republican in the race that wasn't totally unpalatable to me. He's the only one I'd even consider given my pro-choice position, my belief in equal rights for all Americans, even gay and lesbian Americans, and my support for restrictions on handgun ownership. There are a lot of Giuliani's positions that I'm uncomfortable with but from the Republican field he was the best available.

Of the choices remaining I have no doubt that Senator Hillary Clinton would make the best President. She is a two term U.S. Senator with what I consider an excellent voting record on the issues important to me. If I go by issues and not personality or campaign style there is no question that she has the qualifications and experience to be President. I don't believe the same can be said for Senator Obama.

One key issue to me is support for the State of Israel. I believe anyone who doesn't understand Israel's importance to the United States as a strategic ally in the Middle East doesn't have much of a clue about foreign policy. Since entering the Senate Hillary Clinton has been a steadfast supporter of Israel. She admitted early in her first term that it wasn't always so and many on the right will never forgive her for a certain meeting and photo op with Suha Arafat when she was First Lady. Senator Clinton claimed after entering the Senate that studying the issues in the Middle East forced her to alter her position. Whether that change was heartfelt or a political necessity for a Senator from New York I simply can't say. I can say that her voting record, her speeches since then, and her actions show that she understands the importance of Israel now. Once again, I am not sure I can say the same of Barack Obama. There isn't much of a record there.

Perhaps in four or eight years I'll be convinced that Senator Obama is ready for the Presidency. Perhaps then I will look at his record and extol his virtues. I can't do that yet and in a dangerous world we need an experienced leader. Senator Hillary Clinton is the best remaining candidate with the credentials to be that leader.

Technorati Tags: clinton john edwards elections politics democratic primaries hillary clinton rudy giuliana barack obama

John Edwards For President

2008-01-17T14:49:00.000-08:00

While the pollsters and pundits were pronouncing John Edwards' campaign for President dead after his third place finish in New Hampshire, Democrats in Nevada were showing their own independent streak. The latest polls from Nevada show Senator Edwards in a statistical dead heat with Senators Clinton and Obama. The Nevada caucuses are followed by the South Carolina primary. Senator Edwards was born in South Carolina and won the state primary in 2004. It's certainly possible that a win in Nevada would revitalize his campaign sufficiently to make him very competitive there.

I'm urging everyone to ignore the pollsters and pundits, the same people who predicted a big Obama win in New Hampshire that never happened. These are the same people who also left John McCain for dead months ago in the Republican race. He doesn't seem dead now, does he? 47 states have yet to vote in the race for the Democratic nomination. The people of those states will decide who the nominee will be, not a bunch of TV talking heads.

Having said all that I'm asking every Democratic voter to reconsider John Edwards for President. Here's why:

Electability: While I personally think Senator Clinton has done a fine job representing New York in the U.S. Senate I seriously question whether she can win a national election, pollsters and pundits to the contrary not withstanding. Hillary Clinton is a divisive and polarizing figure. Most everyone has already made up their mind about her and she has huge negatives. I find it very difficult to believe she will attract the independent and moderate Republican voters she would need to win in November. Senator Obama has things in his past that the Republicans will use to swiftboat him. By contrast Senator Edwards has a record of being able to successfully defend against attacks from the Republicans and to attract unlikely voters. I lived in North Carolina, a truly conservative red state, when he defeated incumbent Senator Lauch Faircloth, a protege of then senior North Carolina Seantor Jesse Helms. Edwards came from 30 points down in the polls to win that race.

The Economy: As a recession looks more and more likely, as oil companies and other huge corporations continue to make record profits, as the housing crisis fueled by predatory lending practices deepens, and as middle class Americans increasingly worry about their economic future, I think more and more people will realize that Senator Edwards economic message makes good sense. We need a leader who is not co-opted by large corporate interests.

Health Care: Senator Edwards is correct when he says that mandatory coverage is a necessary ingredient of a successful national health care program. Insurance companies make their profits by spreading their risk among a large pool of insured. There is no larger pool than everyone. A mandatory program spreads out the risk as far as is possible and will be less costly than a program that simply doesn't insure everyone. Making health care available isn't enough.

Foreign Affairs: Senator Edwards has shown himself to be both knowledgeable and sufficiently experienced to understand and deal with the challenges we are facing in the world, particularly in the Middle East. Senator Edwards also has a long record of supporting Israel, our most important ally in the region. While Senator Clinton also has a good record vis a vis Israel since entering the U.S. Senate I feel that Senator Edwards' support has been unwavering and heartfelt.

Learning From and Admitting Mistakes: Senator Edwards voted to authorize the war in Iraq. He has been willing to admit that was a major mistake in hindsight. Senator Edwards ego isn't so huge that he can't admit a mistake and learn from it.

I could go on but those are areas where Senator Edwards is clearly different than the other two serious contenders for the Democratic nomination. I urge everyone to study Senator Edwards' record and join me in supporting his candidacy.

Technorati Tags: edwards john edwards elections politics democratic primaries nevada+caucuses nevada south carolina primary

Halloween Night

2007-10-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

I'm not big on Halloween but this year was especially nice. A friend from down the street came by with her two year old daughter who got to meet my oh-so-gentle ferret Ella for the first time which worked out really well.

A friend I hadn't seen since before the identity theft nightmare began also stopped by with his family. We talked for about 45 minutes and it seems that the friendship is intact. It turns out mail he sent me bounced (probably when my mail server was compromised) and he wasn't sure on how to get in touch. He finally stopped by and renewed the friendship and that was good too.

I did watch the Halloween episode of Pushing Daisies which was cute. It's a Bryan Fuller series and it's quirky so I'm sure it will be canceled soon but in the meanwhile I kind of like it. OK, it isn't as good as the oh-so-short lived Wonderfalls, which Fuller did with Tim Minear, but it's cute.

All in all it was a nice night. We handed out maybe 70 bags of candy which means there is some (too much) left. Oh well...

Recent Music Choices:
Phew - Our Likeness
Can - Landed
Deuter - Aum
Deuter - D
Adelbert Von Deyen - Sternzeit
Asmus Tietchens - Alpha Menge

Technorati Tags: halloween halloween night ferrets ella friends pushing daisies bryan fuller wonderfalls

A Hike On A Beautiful Fall Day

2007-10-28T21:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (Sunday) I went on a hike with a good friend in a state park about 45 minutes from home. It was a beautiful crisp, cool fall day and the scenery was just gorgeous. We hiked just under five miles of trails. In addition to some much needed exercise for me the hike reminded me that no matter how hectic or unfair or difficult my life has seemed lately that taking some time out in nature can remind me or any of us just how much good life has to offer.

Another great stress reliever: some ambient and electronic music with a little jazz mixed in. You'll notice an almost complete lack of rock in my recent listening list below. The one notable exception is the psychedelic Ash Ra Tempel material and that, too, is instrumental.

My recent music selections:
Michel Huygen - Elixir
LAND - Archipelago
Asmus Tietchens - Zwingburgen des Hedonismus/Mysterien des Hafens
Asmus Tietchens - Musik An Der Grenze
Jeff Greinke - Cities in Fog
Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht
Conrad Schnitzler - Gelb
Conrad Schnitzler - Rot
Manuel Göttsching - Private Tapes, Vol. 1
Manuel Göttsching/Ash Ra Tempel - Private Tapes, Vol. 2
Manuel Göttsching/Ash Ra Tempel/Ashra - Private Tapes, Vol. 3
Club of Rome - Grosse Statik

Technorati Tags: hike hiking state park fall music ambient music electronic music exercise

A Death Threat From A Puppy Linux Supporter

2007-10-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

I've just been informed by e-mail that not only are some defenders of Puppy Linux flaming me on the new DistroWatch Weekly comments but one actually issued a death threat against me for being "negative" about his or her favorite distribution in a recent post on the O'Reilly Linux Dev Center blog. It's one thing for a distribution to be well liked and inspire loyalty. It is something very different indeed to threaten the life of someone who disagrees. The point of my post which so outraged this person was that I couldn't review Puppy Linux because the distro won't run on my laptops.

If you're curious about the threat see post #90 on DistroWatch Weekly's comments. I have not responded there and I will not. I also won't back down or be intimidated and I stand behind my previous post.

This is a public appeal to Barry Kauler and the Puppy Linux user community to speak up against anyone who would resort to threats of violence to defend their distro. Indeed, I'd like to see some of that community speak up against the personal attacks on me in general. Do you believe there should be "hell to pay" (quoting post #90 again) if someone has a bad experience with Puppy Linux and reports on it?

Digg It!

Some recent music choices:
Phew
Earthstar - Atomkraft? Nein, Danke!
Conrad Schnitzler - Trigger Trilogy
Jean-Michel Jarré - Equinoxe
Vidna Obmana - The Trilogy
Eberhard Schoener - Sky Music/Mountain Music

Technorati Tags: death threat linux linux community puppy linux o'reillynet linux dev center fanatics

Linux Journal's Offensive Sexist Content: The Whole Story

2007-10-02T07:38:00.000-07:00

Since her posts on O'ReillyNet which I wrote about, Carla Schroder has tried in vain to get some sort of response from Linux Journal after offensive ads were run and articles were published. The same is true for Linux Journal's sister magazine, Tux Magazine. Carla has gone ahead and chronicled the whole sordid mess in an article for LXer.com.

"I have to wonder- where on Earth did Ms. Fairchild get the idea that alienating her customers is a good business practice? So what if she finds sexist, demeaning humor funny? It doesn't belong in Linux Journal. I paid my subscription money in good faith for many years, trusting to receive good Linux articles. If I want to read about blowjobs or read about how helpless and stupid women are, I don't expect to find it in Linux Journal. There are abundant sources for that elsewhere."

As far as I am concerned the whole article is a must read.

Digg It!

Some recent music choices:
Steve Roach & Vidna Obmana - Inner Zone
Dieter Moebius - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: "Blue Moon"
LAND - Road Movies
King Crimson - Thrak
Asmus Tietchens & David Lee Myers - 60:00
Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds
Pink Floyd - A Saucerful of Secrets
Hans-Joachim Roedelius - Jardin Au Fou
Between - Dharana
Moebius & Beerbohm - Double Cut

Technorati Tags: sexism linux linux community linux journal carla Schroder lzer.com advertisement gender stereotyping feminism

Earthstar Wikipedia Pages

2007-09-05T21:47:00.000-07:00

With some surprise help of former Earthstar guitarist Dennis Rea I've written Wikipedia pages for Earthstar and for their three releases on Sky Records between 1979-1982. I must say I was absolutely floored and thrilled when I saw Dennis Rea's name in my inbox. Earthstar has been a favorite of mine since I was introduced to their music in college nearly 29 years ago. (Yep, I'm dating myself here.) To get mail from one of the members....

Anyway, according to Dennis we now have the most comprehensive documentation of the history of the band online anywhere. Links to individual album pages are in the discography section.

I learned a lot doing this. I never knew that the "Atomkraft? Nein, Danke" lineup recorded another album, still unreleased. I certainly didn't know that there were misspellings of the musicians' names on the liner notes. I also had no clue that the Musique Intemporelle reissue of "French Skyline" on CD was unauthorized. Yes, I own a copy, a gift from a close friend who knows how much I like Earthstar. Anyway, having Dennis Rea step in and make corrections and additions was invaluable.

What I did find was a lot of documentation of the band and lots of people who seem to love Earthstar's music online. I am now more convinced than ever that limited edition reissues of their albums (say 500-1000 copies) could easily sell out and that their unreleased works could probably do as well if not better. Maybe with the new articles on Wikipedia and the obvious interest in the band online someone, somewhere associated with a record label will figure that out.

Music selections since last post:
Neuronium & Vangelis - A Separate Affair
Ash Ra Tempel - Schwingungen
Cluster - Cluster II

Digg It!

Technorati Tags: earthstar music dennis rea wikipedia

So Predictable

2007-09-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

The responses to my previous post on the blatant sexist attitudes of some IT recruiters was originally posted on the O'Reilly Linux Dev Center blog. The usual responses, the ones that are so very predictable, the ones that are repeated over and over again by a certain loud minority of male commenters, the ones that turn up every time there is a discussion of gender related in any way to the world of computing, have once again reared their ugly heads.

I've been told I'm "oversensitive" and I should "just roll with it". I've been accused of calling all men "male chauvanist pigs", a phrase I'm sure I've never used to describe anyone. I've had my experiences dismissed and been called naive. I've been told to "quit bitchin". All of these posters are male. None have experienced the type of sexism I'm describing. Many posts are just plain immature, defensive, argumentative, and/or just plain offensive. Some guys are just plain clueless and don't want to even consider other people's feelings and experiences.

Why am I not surprised?

Yes, there have been a handful of clueful responses but they have been overwhelmed by the other type.

Why do I bother with posts like this? The best way to tackle a problem like sexism is to shine a light on it and bring it out in the open. If I get even one person to reconsider their actions or attitudes it's all worthwhile. I had a little proof that I do have a small positive impact this week. The following was written by Joseph James Frantz in the comments to Carla Schroder's article about the offensive ad at Linux Journal:

Thank you for educating me on the term feminazi. I have never considered those aspects of the term. From now on, if I should disagree with a woman, I will not use that term.

It's a small bit of progress but I'll take it.

Music choices since my last post:
John Renbourn - The Lady and the Unicorn
Michel Huygen - Elixir
Fleetwood Mac - Mystery To Me
Fleetwood Mac - Heroes Are Hard To Find
Cosmic Couriers - Other Places
Brian Eno - Ambient 1 / Music For Airports

Digg It!

Technorati Tags: sexism linux linux community oreillynet linux dev center it gender stereotyping feminism

No, I Need Mister Caitlyn

2007-09-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

I promised to write about my recent experiences with sexism in the IT industry, so... Here is a rare cross post of an article from the O'Reilly Linux Dev Center blog which I contribute to:

Lately I've been looking to pick up a new contract or even possibly move back into a long term corporate position. My résumé (CV for those outside the United States) is, I think, fairly impressive. I am a competent systems administrator and security geek with over 27 years of experience in the industry. I've had lots of calls from recruiters: some quite good, some not so good, and some, well...

In the past couple of weeks I've had several calls like this. I'm pretty close to word for word on the most recent:
Me: Hello.
Recruiter: Can I speak to Martin please?
Me: This is Caitlyn Martin. How can I help you?
Recruiter: No, I need Mister Caitlyn Martin.
Me (annoyed): There is no Mr. Martin. What is this about?
Recruiter: (sputters and trips over his tongue, then goes on to say it's about a job)
These recruiters have several things in common:

They are all male
All but one have a foreign (Asian or Middle Eastern) accent
All simply can't believe that the woman on the phone is a skilled technical professional

Yes, one spoke unaccented American English, but most come from places even more misogynistic than the United States. None of them, regardless of whether the position made sense or not, gets to represent me or submit my résumé anywhere. I have to believe that their prejudice will get in the way of them doing a proper job of presenting me to a prospective employer or customer.

I read the replies to Carla Schroder's recent posts about the sexism at Linux Journal. You know, the ones that claim there really is no sexism in IT and that we women are being oversensitive. I even got similar comments when I blogged about Carla's posts. Let me tell you that in my experience things have gotten worse since the turn of the century, not better. If you still don't believe there's sexism in IT in general and in the Linux community in particular either you are blind to it or part of it.

Oh, and how many of you have ever met a man named Caitlyn?

Digg It!

Music selections last 24 hours:

Michael Rother - Katzenmusik
Steve Hillage - Fish Rising
Nik Tyndall - Lagoon
King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black
Edgar Froese - Aqua

Technorati Tags: sexism linux linux community technical recruiters recruitersr oreillynet linux dev center it gender stereotyping feminism

On File Sharing and Music

2007-08-31T12:37:00.000-07:00

Much has been written on file sharing and music and illegal downloads. I'll probably take some heat for saying this but I do think the music industry has a point. Most of the music I listen to isn't popular and some is downright obscure. I have music on in the background all the time. I think it's what keeps me sane sometimes. The artists aren't getting rich from it and the record companies aren't making huge profits from it. So... I own several hundred CDs, all purchased nicely and legally. The last album I purchased was Conrad Schnitzler's Trigger Trilogy. I certainly don't begrudge Herr Schnitzler what royalties he gets or Important Records any profits they make. I definitely enjoy the music when I listen to it.

What do you do when music isn't legally available anymore? What do you do if only 26 copies of an album were pressed? Yes, I'm serious. 26. Here is what I'm talking about.

Earthstar's first album, "Salterbarty Tales", has been out of print for 30 years now and is, according to guitarist Dennis Rea, impossible to find. No, I'm not aware of any file sharing site that has a copy. I'm not aware of any way to acquire that album at all. I would love to see "Salterbarty Tales" reissued on CD. I'd buy a copy. Ditto for the Eruption album that the Mutant Sounds blog I linked refers to. I'm not holding my breath that it will happen any time soon.

In cases like these I have no objection to file sharing. Nobody is being deprived royalties or profits. However, with the RIAA's heavy handed enforcement methods I'm more than a little reticent about downloading anything myself.

Music choices since last post:

Asmus Tietchens & Vidna Obmana
Jean Michel Jarré - En Attendant Cousteau
Genesis - Spot The Pigeon
Nychael Danna & Tim Clément - Summerland
Tangerine Dream - Rubycon
Kluster - Eruption

Digg It!

Technorati Tags: music file sharing rare music rare albums eruption earthstar salterbarty tales mutant sounds cds

Sometimes Writing Reviews Has Its Perks

2007-08-28T09:19:00.000-07:00

I seem to be the one and only (out of seven) O'Reilly Linux Dev Center bloggers who writes reviews of Linux distributions now and again. I've written four this year. Most recently I reviwed Wolvix 1.1.0. It was a generally favorable review but Wovix, like all other distros, isn't perfect. Given my propensity for brutally honest reviews and for pointing out flaws you'd thing a Linux distributor would steer clear of me. Guess again!

I was actually asked to write a review by the folks at one of the commercially produced (but still Open Source) distributions and they offered to send me a CD. Granted I could easily have downloaded their distribution but sending the CD was a nice touch. Since the distro in question is one I wanted to try eventually anyway I said yes. The CD arrived last week and I'll probably install it on this system today.

Having the CD sent was a nice little perk of writing reviews on a semi-regular basis. Will it affect the review? Not in the least. They may still come to regret sending me the CD if they have a less than acceptable release. On the other had, if they are confident that they've done Linux right... We'll see. In any case over the next few weeks I'll be learning my way around yet another Linux distribution.

Music choices over the last few days:
Kate Bush - Aerial
Conrad Schnitzler - Trigger Trilogy
Vidna Obmana - The Trilogy
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Roedelius - Lustwandel
King Crimson - Larks' Toungues In Aspic
Harmonia - Musik Von Harmonia
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

Digg It!

Technorati Tags: writing linux reviews linux distributions o'reilly linux dev center perks o'reillynet

The New QSOL Ad

2007-08-20T19:36:00.000-07:00

Following up on my post from Saturday, it seems QSOL has a new ad for Linux Journal, this time with a male face. Once again a tip of the hat to Carla Schroder for this.

Guess what? The ad is STILL inappropriate and offensive. As Carla pointed out in the comments to her Part 1, every time somebody points out some case of sexism, something "crummy to women" as she put it, someone (almost always male) will answer "What about men?" The new QSOL ad pretty much answers that, doesn't it? Yep, it still stinks.

Oh, and I still don't think white males have it so awful or are such an oppressed class in our still largely patriarchal society.

P.S.: I've been informed that the "new ad" is actually a Photoshop or GIMP creation. That doesn't change anything. The original ad is still totally uncalled for. Sexism in IT in general and the Linux community in particular is still rampant. I'll post about my latest personal experience with sexism in IT after I cool off a bit.

Music choices, last 48 hours:
Henry Wolff & Nancy Hennings - Tibetan Bells III: The Empty Mirror
Earthstar - French Skyline
Cluster - Apropos Cluster

Digg It!

Technorati Tags: sexism linux linux community linux journal carla Schroder advertisement gender stereotyping qsol

Sexism In The Linux Community Redux

2007-08-18T22:23:00.000-07:00

I've been in the IT industry for over 27 years now. I first was introduced to Linux almost 12 years ago, I've really been a part of the Linux community for over nine years now. You'd think in that time things would have gotten better for women in IT in general and the Linux community in particular. There are certainly more of us in IT and Linux than there were a decade ago, right? I think the answer to the second question is yes, more women are involved. I think the first question, sadly, is answered with a resounding "NO!". Women still have to be better than their male counterparts to be respected or even hired and we still earn less than our male counterparts. There are all sorts of reasons why that is true but sexism, both quiet and overt, is still a huge part of it.

Carla Schroder blogs for the O'ReillyNet Linux Dev Center, as I do. Over the past three days she has posted twice. The first post told of and linked to details and a photo of a truly sexist and offensive ad which appeared in Linux Journal. The second post linked directly to a Linux Journal article from earlier this year filled with more gender stereotyping demonstrating that this is an ongoing issue at Linux Journal. I had dropped my subscription to the magazine last year after receiving the magazine in my mailbox every month for eight years. As a female Linux Professional I felt they had sent me many clear messages that I just wasn't part of their target audience.

The reactions to Carla's posts were entirely predictable. I see some, both men and women, but mostly men, who clearly GET IT. They understand why this is unprofessional and why some, both men and women, would be offended.

I see some men who want to tell us uppity women what to feel, why we shouldn't be offended, why Carla shouldn't have blogged about this, why the ad is funny or effective or generally no big deal. They JUST DON'T GET IT. They don't get that offending women, who happen to be just over half of the human race and a significant minority of IT decision makers, is just plain bad business. They don't get, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that men are offended too. If they don't see the problem it just doesn't exist. They are part of the problem.

We have a few, thankfully very few, who have the immature mentality typically seen on Slashdot whenever gender comes up. The usual attack on feminism is thrown in. CLUE: "Feminism is the radical idea that women are people too." It's about equality and equal treatment, nothing more.

One even resorts to the Rush Limbaugh "feminazi" name calling. That post is even more offensive that the ad, not just because I'm a woman and a feminist. It bothers me most as the daughter of two Holocaust survivors. The Nazis committed genocide, murdering 12 million people, including 6 million Jews and 3 million Romani (gypsies) in death camps. The term "feminazi" either equates the struggle for women's rights with genocide (I don't seriously think anyone believes that) or else it trivializes the Holocaust. Either way it's incredibly offensive and yet it's used to tell me I'm wrong for being offended.

HUGE CLUE: You can't tell Carla or me or any other human being how we should feel or react to something. We are entitled to our own feelings and our own free speech. You have a right to feel differently, of course. You don't have a right to silence us. Oh, and since Carla was kind enough to provide multiple links to people who also were offended and since so many commenters to Carla's post agreed with her I think it's safe to say that the ad offended a LOT of people.

Music choices, last three days.:
Steve Roach & Vidna Obmana - Inner Zone
Eno, Moebius, Roedelius - After The Heat
Tangerine Dream - Phaedra
Kluster - Klopfzeichen
Neu! - '72 Live! In Düsseldorf

Digg It!

Technorati Tags: sexism linux linux community linux journal carla Schroder oreillynet linux dev center advertisement gender stereotyping feminism

The Return of Cluster

2007-08-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

Cluster, the duo of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius, has recorded some of my favorite music. They have recorded 13 albums since parting ways with Conrad Schnitzler and their earlier incarnation, Kluster (with a K) in 1971. After the release of their ninth (and weakest) album, Curiousum in 1981 Moebius and Roedelius went their separate ways. A decade later they got back together, releasing four more albums between 1991 and 1997. They last played together on their 1996 U.S. tour and their final release, First Encounter Tour 1996 was released the following year, a solid decade ago.

I joked to a friend that since another decade has gone by that it was time that Cluster reunite again. Well... it turns out it wasn't a joke. Here is their concert schedule for the next couple of months. Their second set of U.S. concerts starts in Ojai, CA on October 27. You can be sure that if they play anywhere near where I live I'll be there. I saw Roedelius in a solo performance in Asheville, NC in a small club in 1999. I actually got to meet and talk to the man. I have never seen him perform with Moebius, though, and that would truly be something special.

Music choices, last 36 hours:
Roedelius & Morgan Fisher - Neverless
Osamu Kitajima - The Source
Neu! - Neu! 4
Kraftwerk - Autobahn

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Technorati Tags: cluster roadelius hans-joachim roedelius moebius dieter moebius kluster reunion avant-garde music experimental music ambient music

Streaming From The Top Of The World

2007-08-14T07:42:00.000-07:00

Lots of radio stations stream their programming over the Internet. That's nothing unusual. One station that is unusual is KBRW in Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost town in the United States. Sure, KBRW broadcasts NPR news and music you can hear on a thousand other stations, but it also gives listeners a chance to hear local programming that gives an insight into life way up in the Arctic, in a place with midnight sun in the summer and noon nights in the winter, a place where there are only an average of 109 days a year where the mercury climbs above the freezing mark, a place where Inupiat cultural programming is mainstream.

Even if you end up listening to absolutely ordinary programming that local stations might have carried listening to it on KBRW is somehow special. Why? It's coming from a place that was truly remote not all that long ago. Now it's connected to the rest of the world, at least in cyberspace.

Yesterday's music choices:
Anthony Phillips - Private Parts and Pieces IV: A Catch At the Tables
Al Gromer Khan - Mahogany Nights
Cluster - Cluster '71

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Technorati Tags: alaska barrow internet radio streaming arctic top of the world

The Return of the Entropy Blog

2007-08-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

Almost exactly one year ago I deleted my personal blog, the original Ever Increasing Entropy, after it became obvious that information I had posted was being used to harm me. This was during the period I had learned that my identity had been stolen. It's been a difficult year since then. I guess entropy really was increasing and my world was definitely falling apart.

The new Entropy blog will include far less personal information but will have a lot of the other elements that the original had, as in everything from political opinion to music I like to a new type of tea I may try. I still wanted some place to express myself, albeit a bit more cautiously. I hope you find some of what I post here worth reading and enjoy the new version of Ever Increasing Entropy.

Technorati Tags: entropy personal blog Caitlyn Martin