Sunday 27 July 2008

Why I don't have a picture of me at work...

A friend of mine I was chatting to recently asked me why I don't have a photo of myself up on the company's internal network. Simply, I don't look that great in photos. As you can see from...Ric thinking about somethingI'd like to see how long it will take before she pings me about this - if she ever gets around to reading this blog...

Saturday 26 July 2008

Politicians censoring wikipedia

As reported in a recent Sydney Morning Herald article, politicians, or possibly staff of those politicians are altering articles in wikipedia usually to remove information they do not like about themselves. This disgusts me. I have to be held accountable for all my actions. Every time I go for a new job, they do a background check on me, and my future employers query anything they think may require further explanation. Do our politicians truly believe that they are untouchable, and can just tell people what they want them to believe. Somethings they can't avoid - like if they were born into families of great influence. Other things they can - like choosing not to drink and drive.

Politicians (or their staff) should not alter their own wiki articles. It causes a waste of resources for people to patrol these articles instead of patrolling normal articles. Go and publish lies or cover ups on your own website guys, and leave wikipedia to the people! Fortunately, mediawiki comes with it's own versioning system, which allows for rollbacks to occur to more truthful versions. The only problem is that it takes resources for this to occur. The flip side to this is people posting lies on a politician's article page. My belief is that happens less then politicans attempting to cover up information. Any wild accusations need to be followed up with some external references. Keep in mind that "the truth is always the best defence against slander".

For more information, have a look at Timeshift9's wikipedia user page.

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." -- V (V for Vendetta - 2006)

Wednesday 23 July 2008

E pur si muove

It's only been 2 days since I last installed a new Linux kernel on my Gentoo machine, but another one has been downloaded and installed. Here's what I typed to install it:

root@lasek ~ # cd /usr/src
root@lasek /usr/src # rm linux
root@lasek /usr/src # ln -s linux-2.6.25-gentoo-r7 linux
root@lasek ~ # cd
root@lasek ~ # genkernel --kernel-config=/etc/kernels/kernel-config-x86-2.6.25-gentoo-r6 --menuconfig --splash=gentoo all && emerge nvidia-drivers && emerge madwifi-ng


Next was to check the configuration, and let the compilation occur. Then update the /boot/grub/grub.conf file. Reboot, and here is the result:

evilric@lasek ~ $ uname -a
Linux lasek 2.6.25-gentoo-r7 #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Jul 23 22:31:51 EST 2008 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux


Too easy! Truly seamless...

Monday 21 July 2008

Ubuntu and Gentoo kernels

I've just done an update on both my linux boxes that I use. One is running Ubuntu, and the other is running Gentoo. The main difference I see if that one has a newer kernel than the other. The guys at Gentoo have gotten out the 2.6.25 kernel out before the guys at Ubuntu. This is not saying that Ubuntu guys are off, or they are getting lazy, it's just an observation. So a quick uname on each shows:
  • ric_man@somename:~ $ uname -a
    Linux somename 2.6.24-19-generic #1 SMP Fri Jul 11 23:41:49 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

  • evilric@lasek ~ $ uname -a
    Linux lasek 2.6.25-gentoo-r6 #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Jul 21 21:58:15 EST 2008 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
As you can see from the compile time of the Gentoo kernel, it was only done a few moments ago, whereas the binary kernel from Ubuntu is a week and a half ago. Both distributions upgraded seamlessly, but one thing to note is Ubuntu was totally upgraded in about 2 hours (and this includes download time). The Gentoo distribution upgraded overnight. This was mainly due to an upgrade from Python 2.4 to 2.5, which with Gentoo meant the recompilation of many packages which were previously compiled against the lesser version of Python.

Both distributions do have their strengths and weaknesses. My personal choice of system would still be a Gentoo system, but I think this in part to the amount of time I have invested in learning how to use it and configure it. My choice to introduce people to GNU/Linux, or even for people that want to get work done, is to use Ubuntu. Fortunately for us all, like IBM says, the future is open!

Monday 7 July 2008

Gentoo 2008.0 is released!

Gentoo has finally release its 2008.0 live CD. This is more proof that the project is far from dead. There seems to be more drivers added, a new kernel (duh!), as well a lighter GUI. If you haven't tried Linux before, then don't start with Gentoo. Try at least one distribution before starting with Gentoo.

Keep up the great work Gentoo devs!

What's been happening with me recently?

So... what's been happening with me?

A few ups and downs. And they are strange ones that I would have never predicted. Things have changed with me, some that I didn't want happening that have happened, others I had hoped for.

Firstly, the reason I haven't seen my wife or my puppy for over a month is that my wife no longer wants to see me. She's asked for a separation. Am I upset ? Well I was - but I don't think I am anymore. I can't make her love me, and if she chooses not to be with me, then I can't stop her. She seems to be very angry with me for different reasons. She seems to be very upset, and this is what intrigues me the most - she seems to be thinking that I am a totally different person to who I think I am. Without going into details, she seems to be confusing me with someone else - someone else who has hurt her deeply when she was younger. She won't discuss things with me. She is channeling her anger towards me. I hope she comes a realisation that she needs to seek some answers - some proper answers - and not to just blame me for everything in her life. I know what I did wrong, and I take responsibility for what I have done, but I am not as bad a person as she believes I am. I hope she finds happiness and inner peace, but for the moment I am happy to be available to her - but I have not communicated with her since her announcement.

My friends and family (including my in-laws) are telling me to go out and meet people. My agent ("PappaD") also got me to visit him, and took me out. It's strange at the moment. I'm not interested, and I feel alright with this all. I don't seem to be interested in meeting anyone new to "have a partner" again. I know this may change with time, but I feel fine at the moment. It gives me time to think. Time to work on things that I want to work on. I've been listening to a lot of music. The Counting Crows have been comforting - I hope they come back to Australia, but I may just go over to the US and find out where they are playing. It's not like I have to plan for a future anymore - I can afford to live in the moment.

Secondly, and this is to do with work - work in Canberra is good for the moment - with the exception of the work I do on Microsoft Windows environments. I find doing tasks / work on Windows environments to be inefficient. I am so used to writing a script on a centralised server in a Linux or UNIX environment, and then firing it off. With Windows (unless someone knows better), you have to log onto each box individually, and run applications via the desktop. It's slow, and prone to error - with a script, you've got accountability and repeatability. I don't understand how IT departments can run servers with Windows technology. With a desktop, I understand that people need more visual tools, and therefore Windows may be useful, but in server land, a GUI is a hindrance.

Along the lines of work, the guy I was living with had his contract cut early. Therefore I am up in Canberra by myself, living by myself. It's got its good and bad sides. I don't have to wait to use the laundry, but it is very quiet now, and there is no one to talk to for a chat. Coupled with the fact I'm not talking to my wife (which I should be labelling as my ex-wife), it's very quiet. The whole fiasco of my friend's contract being axed is a story in itself, but I don't think this is the time to write about it.

I was happy last month from the fact of the Boston Celtics winning their 17th championship. I grew up in the 1980s, and remember seeing on television the games where Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish led the Celtics to championship titles. The former Big 3 have been replaced by Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen. The new Big 3 (or as they are termed - "The Boston Three Party") were certainly a powerful force in professional american basketball.

So that's me for the moment. Two bad incidents, and one bit of good news to prop me up. All in the period of 2 months.

"I need a phone call..." -- Raining in Baltimore (Counting Crows - 1993)

Saturday 5 July 2008

I wonder what Jazz is doing now...

As I mentioned before... I haven't seen my puppy for a while. I miss her heaps.Jazz the Vizlsa This photo was taken of her around September 2007. I think she's at full size here and will not get any bigger. As you can see, she has a lot of character in her face. I wonder if she misses me...