Monthly Archives: April 2006
100 Things About Me
I know, I know, this meme died years ago…but here they are. A collection of facts, lies and half-truths that I feel define me in some obtuse way at this particular point in time, maybe. Regardless of how I try, I really can’t define myself, which leads me to believe that you will not be able to do so either. The majority of the interior of my house is painted blue. I don’t like grass. I find the concept of a lawn to be antithetical to my personal idea of what a good yard is. I would much prefer to have my yard covered in pipne needles from the trees on my property than cut them all down and plant grass everywhere. Some people are morning people, some people are night-owls, I am both. I would rather sleep during the middle of the day and be awake from just before sunset to just after sunrise. I suppose this makes me something of a vampire. I like to cook more than I like to go to restaurants., which is saying something, because I really like to go to restaurants. I… Read more
The Free Software Movement Is Anti-Capitalist
Reality: This really is one of the silliest of the myths floating around, but it is out there, and so needs to be addressed. If the Free Software Movement, of which the GNU Project is part, was anti-capitalistic, don’t you think that the leaders of that movement would object to for-profit companies such as Redhat, Novell/SuSe, etc. using their code to make money? As Richard Stallman has said: The Free Software movement is more like the environmental movement: we object to doing business in a way that poisons our society. As long as business respects our freedom, we are not against it, we even participate in… Read more
April Financial Wrap-Up & May Goals
As reflected by my NetWorthIQ, April has been an okay month for us financially. We made modest gains, mostly by making a small payment against principal on our car loan and better valuing our personal possessions. We are still waiting on our tax return, which will retire our auto loan in it’s entirety, which will not only improve our net worth, but will change our monthly cashflow by $200.00. In the next month we will be looking to divest ourselves of quite a bit of stuff that we can defiantely live without, which we are hoping will almost or completely pay off our student loans. Once that is accomplished, we will turn our attention towards preparing the house to go on the market next… Read more
The GPL Is Not Legally Sound
Reality: The GPL has not yet been tested in court, so there is not a court opinion to point you too one way or the other. There is no way to be certain until there is a court case, but our lawyers believe the GPL will stand up. More pragmatically, when they send letters to companies that are violating the GPL, the companies comply. They do not seem eager to challenge the GPL’s validity. – Richard Stallman, Founder of the GNU… Read more
Maintain and Improve
Since the beginning of this process of downshifting I have been looking for a sane, healthy way to get done all of the myriad things that need doing while still having time to explore and create, and without feeling rushed or stressed out about it. I know, why not just ask for the sky to be green, right? Well, after many unsuccessful attempts to organize or schedule my day in various ways, I came to the realization that what I am attempting to do here, the way I am attempting to organize my life, is so different from traditional ideas of work and recreation that the traditional tools and concepts that I was attempting to use to do so were not going to work. What I needed was an entirely new way to approach my day, and all of the things that I wished it to contain. In discussion with Jen we hit on the idea that really there were only two categories for all of the things that I wanted to do. Either an action falls under the heading of maintaining what we already have and how we… Read more
Change Your Relationship To Your Food – Step 4
Being A Picky Eater So far we have discussed eating on a schedule, eating a variety of foods and eating in moderation. Now I would like to address one of the key reasons that, I think, people have a hard time following those three rules for good eating; you just aren’t picky enough. Picky? Yeah, picky. A strong aesthetic sense when it comes to food is probably the single easiest way to get your eating, and therefore your weight, under control. Not only am I giving you permission, I am positively demanding that you become a food snob. No more fast-food lunches or bland, characterless chain restaurant visits. No more delivery pizza or all-you-can-eat anything. Americans eat one in three meals outside the home, and fast-food and delis account for 90% of those meals. No wonder America is full of grossly obese, stressed out malcontents. Eating a steady diet of fast food and sub-par restuarant fare is, in my opinion, the main reason people consume so much of their food so… Read more
Linux or GNU/Linux?
When I say ‘Linux’, I am referring to an Operating System that is made up of the Linux Kernel, tools from the GNU Project , and contributions from various other Open Source projects. Let me be clear; without the tools of the GNU Project, the OS we use today as Linux would not exist. I will call the full system by its commonly known name ‘Linux’, though many feel it should be more appropriately called ‘GNU/Linux’, and my doing so should in no way be considered a slight to the GNU… Read more
Welcome To The Linux Myth Dispeller
Welcome to the Linux Myth Dispeller. The purpose of this site is two-fold. On the one hand, there is a lot of misinformation floating around out there about Linux, some of it intentionally spread to confuse or scare you into not investigating Linux as an alternative for your servers, workstations and desktops. Setting the record straight about these misconceptions and combatting FUD is the first half of our purpose. The second part of our mission is to keep ourselves and others who are fans and boosters of Linux honest and free from the same kinds of prejudices and lies about other operating systems. There is no one right answer to every question, and no one solution to every businesses or individuals computing needs, and we won’t pretend that Linux is right for everyone. We will attempt to give you the straight dope on it, and other operating systems, so that you can make informed… Read more
Thirteen Reasons To Leave Myrtle Beach
Having lived here for almost 7 years now, I think I have given the place enough of a chance. Oh, and if I have any local readers, this is not just Myrtle Beach proper I’m talking about – this pretty well covers everything from Murrell’s Inlet to Cherry Grove. The locals all refer to it as “Murder Beach”, with good reason…the crime index for here is approximately 5 times the national average. Real estate prices should not be equal to (or occasionally exceed) Manhattan for what is basically swampland. Dolly Parton owns one of the most popular restaurants here. Bike Week Bike Week Bike Week Hurricane insurance premiums are up 40% from last year Imagine a 60 mile long, 3 mile wide strip mall surrounded on all sides by pirate themed mini-golf courses. Now imagine that 50% of the stores in the strip mall were carbon copy beachwear stores and 50% of the restaurants were pancake houses. If you couldn’t find a place to park at that strip mall, it would be almost like Myrtle… Read more
Oblique Strategies
If you haven’t heard of the Oblique Strategies, I would like to introduce you to one of the coolest tools in my creative arsenal. Paraphrasing from the best website about the cards that I can find The Oblique Strategies are a deck of cards that has its origins in the discovery by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt that they tended to keep a set of basic working principles which guided them through the kinds of moments of pressure – either working through a heavy painting session or watching the clock tick while you’re running up a big buck studio bill. Both Schmidt and Eno realized that the pressures of time tended to steer them away from the ways of thinking they found most productive when the pressure was off. The Strategies were, then, a way to remind themselves of those habits of thinking – to jog the mind. Each card is enigmatic and designed to shake whatever perception of your work you are holding on to at the moment. Their advice runs from the simple and direct Make an exhaustive… Read more