Justice for Dafur

Angelina Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, is now writing about Africa, not just doing goodwill work.

Made it out for my first ride of the year today. Yep, it's about time. The body was in a bit of shock at first - "Hey, what the hell is going on here? Are you fuckin' crazy? Put a halt to this ... NOW !!!" - but it came around after a few minutes in the saddle. Speaking of the saddle, it might take a while for the buttox to come around, it is still bitchin' about the ride. The legs aren't feeling to bad, but tomorrow will tell the truth on them. I am sure they would have been happy to have one of these for the ride.

Saw this Schwinn with a King bcycle motor at Lincoln Light Rail Station recently. I didn't see the owner so wasn't able to find out how well it works. Seems pretty cool though.

~ update ~

But doofus, that would take all the fun out of it!  

I have been using two different backup options to figure which I like best. To begin with, I did like ntbackup on my old XP install. It was straight forward and I like it did differential backups as I have never been a fan of incremetal backups. With my Ubuntu distribution, I have been using both Keep front end for rdiff and Simple Backup Suite (sbackup). I have decided to go with Keep. My main objection with sbackup is that I have to go into root to look at the backups, Keep doesn't require this. I do miss being able to do a full backup and then weekly differentials though. I will keep looking for possible replacements.

Since switching from XP to Ubuntu, I have noticed my battery is lasting longer per charge. Whether this would be true for all Linux distro's, I don't know, but I have noticed it with Ubuntu. I also don't know why except it must not have as much overhead and demands that XP did.

I am having an issue with the sleep mode. I rarely shut down my computer now, I usually just put it into sleep mode. After doing this a half dozen times, the power comes on but I just get a blank screen. I then have to do a forced shutdown. I have noted that this happens to others with laptops via various forums. It will be interesting to see whether the 7.04 release will take care of this issue.

~update~

I have noticed if I unplug any USB devices - mainly my mouse - the sleep problems goes away.

Do you have feelings of inadequacy? Do you suffer from shyness? Do you sometimes wish you were more assertive?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist about Tequila.

Tequila is the safe, natural way to feel better and more confident about yourself and your actions. Tequila can help ease you out of your shyness and let you tell the world that you're ready and willing to do just about anything. You will notice the benefits of Tequila almost immediately, and with a regimen of regular doses you can overcome any obstacles that prevent you from living the life you want to live. Shyness and awkwardness will be a thing of the past, and you will discover many talents you never knew you had. Stop hiding and start living, with Tequila.

Tequila may not be right for everyone. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use Tequila. However, women who wouldn't mind nursing or becoming pregnant are encouraged to try it. Side effects may include dizziness, nausea, vomiting, incarceration, erotic lustfulness, loss of motor control, loss of clothing, loss of money, loss of virginity, delusions of grandeur, table dancing, headache, dehydration, dry mouth, and a desire to sing Karaoke and play all-night rounds of Strip Poker, Truth Or Dare, and Naked Twister.

Tequila. Leave Shyness Behind.

I am sitting over at my local Einsteins using their hotspot and enjoying it. I wasn't sure how easy it would go with my Linux system, but no problemo. Just a click in the NetworkManager and away we go. It is slow compared to my wireless at home, but it's nice to be out of the house and connected.

Last week the power supply died on my DVR. With this opportunity at hand, I decided to go with a new Silverstone LC13 HTPC case to replace the Silverstone TJ06 case I had been using as I wanted to get it up off the floor. Because of the 3 dogs in the house and where it was located, the case seemed to be taking more that average amount of dust and dog hair which led to the eventual downfall of the power supply, and luckily just that. So, anyway, most of yesterday was spent rebuilding that system. I had no problems with the disassemble and rebuild, it was all very straight forward. The longest part of the day was installing WinXP and the required drivers, but once I was to the BeyondTV install, it was all downhill from there. The LC13 is not as quiet as the TJ06, but it does look better in the living room than the big tower case.

I did receive a little grief yesterday about using WinXP on that system. I would like to change over to Linux on it, but I am waiting for Linux DVR software to come of age. There are a few out there such as MythTV, but from what I have read they are close although still needing some development.

MIT Technology Review - Bush's Polar-Bear Problem

The administration tells scientists attending international meetings not to discuss polar bears, climate change, or sea ice.

Polar bears can't get a break these days. First we saw them in Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth desperately swimming about in the Artic in search of ice floes that seem to have disappeared due to global warming. Now we hear that experts working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can't talk about these giant white-furred beasts in overseas scientific meetings about climate change.

The order to squelch talk about polar bears came in a "new requirement" listing to government scientists traveling abroad. Henceforth, if they are participating in a meeting "involving or potentially involving climate change, sea ice, and/or polar bears," they need to report this and have a spokesperson assigned to articulate the administration's policies.

Read the rest

MIT Technology Review - Open Source and You

The real value of open-source software is the community it fosters.

No one would buy a car with the hood welded shut, but that is essentially what commercial software is. However, since computing began, some software has been distributed in such a way that users can change or repair it by modifying its source code--the step-by-step instructions that the computer executes when the software runs. Software distributed under a license that allows a programmer to modify the source code and freely distribute an improved version of it is called open source.

Open-source software can make good business sense. For example, a company might be able to reduce costs by building a product on top of an existing open-source application rather than writing it from scratch. But does open source matter to those who do not program computers? I think the answer is yes.

Read on

Check out this stop motion film on YouTube. It's pretty cool.

This is just pointless

Ben Sargent - 03.16.2007

From the free features section of Wall Street Journal comes:

Linux Starts to Find Home on Desktops
More Businesses Adopt Cost-Saving Software For Some Workers' PCs

The Linux operating system, having made inroads into corporations' backroom server computers, is showing hints of inching into a much broader market: employees' personal computers.

The much-hyped notion that Linux would be viable software to run desktop and notebook PCs seemed dead on arrival a few years ago. But the idea is showing some new vital signs.

Chief information officers have experienced the cost savings that Linux has brought to their server computers, which do narrow and repetitive tasks such as data storage and serving up Web sites. Now some CIOs are taking new interest in installing Linux on workers' PCs as well, for certain narrow applications.

Auto maker PSA Peugeot Citroen last month said it will start using Linux on 20,000 of its workers' PCs. Novell Inc., which sells a version of Linux and is supplying it to Peugeot, says it has recently signed up several large U.S. financial institutions that are installing Linux on some employee PCs. Sales of Linux PCs are showing a "really nice uptick" at Novell, says Ronald Hovsepian, chief executive of Novell.

Read on ...

I have summitted my laptop configuration to Linux on Laptops for their consideration.

Now it is wait and see time.

Yet another side of Mr. Zimmerman as envisioned by NYC's Post Show ensemble. Bob Dylan, the omnipresent Top-40 songwriting god, has never seemed more lucid.

~ update ~

I tried embeding the video, but those with IE7 couldn't see it or anything else on this page. So, instead, here is a link the the video. Just another day of MS not playing fair again.

This is sweet, check out what you get when you go to www.ie7.com.

Guess MS never got around to registering that domain.

Check out OldAmericanCentury.org

Saw the Gin Blossoms last night at the Walnut Room.

Favorite quotes (probably not the exact quote, but you'll get the idea):

Jesse Valenzuela - It's nice to be in Denver. You have a drinking problem, but I like you any way.

Robin Wilson:

1. We know about 20 songs and we are going to play most of them tonight
2. Give us a few minutes, we're going to drink our shots and figure out what where playing next. - This was right after Jesse above statement (:

The Walnut Room is a small venue to say the least, it holds maybe 200. Being that small there is not a bad view in the house, unless some tall guy with a big head is in front of you - I think tall people should be regulated to be behind those of us that are vertically challeged. I think I'll call my rep in DC about this. ;) - Anyway, where was I, oh yea, they have an excellent sound system and lights for such a small place - I would definitely suggest ear plugs if you go. Last night was the 2 year anniversary so the included a couple free drinks and free pizza prior to the show.

The pizza was damn good and so was the show.

~ update ~

Forgot to mention Pete's Kitchen for after show breakfast burrito. Nothing like Pete's Kitchen for late night breakfast.

Fears of a YouTube Swiftboat

To get a sense of the confusion the mega-viral Vote Different anti-Hillary Clinton video is sowing in professional political circles, just ask Clay Johnson, a veteran of Howard Dean's presidential campaign and a certifiable big thinker on online electioneering.

I know that the (Barack) Obama folks are saying that they didn't make it ... but people will still believe that it's from them," said Johnson about the YouTube clip in an interview Wednesday afternoon, when the identity of the ad's creator was still a mystery. "The real trouble ... is that as people get more sophisticated in producing these videos, you're going to see a very large blur in what's official and what's not."

As if to illustrate the point, within hours of Johnson speaking with Wired News, the creator of Vote Different revealed himself on the Huffington Post as one of Johnson's employees. Phillip de Vellis had been working at Blue State Digital, a political technology consulting firm that provides Obama's presidential campaign with software development and web hosting services, where Johnson is a founding partner.

Read on

I don't know what I did, but Google doesn't like me anymore. They have removed me from their database. When you type in "anthony peter larson" into Google, I don't show up anywhere - as compared to Yahoo! or Live, where LarsonsWorld shows up usually first. I have gone pages deep and found nothing. After checking Dogpile, Altavista, Ask and other search engines, LarsonsWorld shows up on the first page somewhere. Very strange.

Check it out:

• Google
• Yahoo!
• Live
• Dogpile
• Altavista
• Ask
• Excite

~ update ~

I finally found it on Google, page #86, the second to last page!

~ update ~

If you put anthony peter larson in quotes, just one website shows up.

~ update ~

I must have pissed off the pigeons

Because we all share this planet earth, we have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and with nature. This is not just a dream, but a necessity.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

For years, conservationists have warned about over fishing of large sharks in the northwestern Atlantic, as the demand for meat and fins, coupled with slow growth and reproduction rates of many species, has caused sharp declines in populations of hammerheads, duskies and other sharks.

Researchers are now reporting repercussions beyond the declining shark populations. Depletion of large sharks, they write in Friday's issue of the journal Science, has led to the destruction of the bay scallop fishery along parts of the Eastern seaboard.

The study, by Ransom A. Myers of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and colleagues, is among the few to document the cascading effects that the loss of a top predator can have on a marine ecosystem. In the absence of large sharks, the researchers say, the smaller sharks, skates and rays that they feed upon have thrived. In turn, the study shows that as one of these middle links in the food chain, the cownose ray, has become more abundant, it has wiped out scallop beds in North Carolina.

Read on ...

Credit: Technology Review

Anxiety-ridden dogs that go berserk when left alone by their owners will soon have a new treatment option--a reformulated version of the antidepressant Prozac, known generically as fluoxetine. To be marketed under the name Reconcile by Indianapolis-based drugmaker Eli Lilly, the drug is chewable and flavored with a doggie-delectable zing. It is the latest in a string of recently approved canine drugs, reflecting the growing market for pet pharmaceuticals.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Reconcile in February after clinical tests in dogs showed it significantly improved symptoms of separation anxiety, a problem that strikes 10 to 20 percent of canines with varying severity; dogs affected may bark, chew household items, or urinate in inappropriate locations when left alone. The drug, which will go on the market in April and will be sold along with a behavior modification program, is the first product introduced by a new division of Lilly devoted entirely to pets.

Read on ...