• Experiments in Blogging: The Open-Source Model, Write To Done, and Other Tidbits | Zen Habits
  Fascinating read:)
  (tags: blog writing author web socialnetworking opensource)
• random incoherence and infantile meanderings — BrainWyrms
  a fun place by a dark friend…
  (tags: blog socialnetworking)
• ABC iView | Internet TV Service
  (tags: tv abc australia streaming media video online service)

When I saw Paul Fenwick's blog on autodie my soul leapt towards Nirvana, since I've wanted an autodie facility in Linux for a long time. Then I read the article and found it wasn't what I thought it was at all.

Let me explain.

Linux works. So some people don't update it. There's nothing wrong with that -- unless the machine on the Internet. In that case older and unsupported machines are very vulnerable to misuse. There's a lot of those machines about. I unplugged a machine running Red Hat Linux 5.2 the other day.

I'd love for all distributions to ship with an autodeath cron job. Ship the operating system with an expected expiry date, when that date arrives delete any default route. If the vendor extends maintenance then they can update the autodeath package as part of that maintenance. Similarly for an distribution "legacy" maintenance project.

Deleting the default route is sufficient. Standalone machines won't have a default route, so autodeath will have no effect, which sounds correct. Internet-connected machines will lose Internet connectivity, which sounds right. Especially if booting into single user mode and manually starting the network still works so the machine's owner has a path to doing a network-based OS upgrade.

• UNetbootin - Homepage and Downloads
  UNetbootin allows for the installation of various Linux/BSD distributions to a partition or USB drive, so it’s no different from a standard install, only it doesn’t need a CD. It can create a dual-boot install, or replace the existing OS entirely.
  (tags: blogs cd boot download dualboot eeepc howto windows ubuntu install usb linux)
• eeebuntu
  It is available in two flavours. First is the compiz enabled gnome version as shown in the screenshot and the second is based on Ubuntu Netbook Remix packages. I use the Ubuntu netbook remix flavour, and it is utterly brilliant! Hardy based.
  (tags: eee eeepc linux ubuntu hardy netbook)
• Vista: How To Get Refunded on Prepackaged Vista
  Given that a portion of any commercial PC’s purchase price includes software, users may find themselves forced into buying Vista even though they won’t be using it.That is, unless they don’t accept the software’s end-user license agreement (EULA).
  (tags: computing howto linux windows vista)
• Check Out Ubuntu s New Dark Knight Look - Webmonkey
  Ubuntu 8.10 alpha 1 debuted a radical new look for Ubuntu with a much darker, more subdued theme than the familiar orange and brown we’ve all come to love or hate depending on your tastes.
  (tags: ubuntu intrepidibex alpha theme)
• NASA - Apollo 11
  The first of six successful lunar missions, Apollo 11 marked the first time humans set foot on another planetary surface. This image is of the Apollo 11 crew ’suiting up’ for countdown demonstration test.
  (tags: nasa apollo lunar moon exploration image photo history)
• Does DNA Have Telepathic Properties?-A Galaxy Classic
  DNA has been found to have a bizarre ability to put itself together, even at a distance, when according to known science it shouldn’t be able to. Explanation: None, at least not yet.
  (tags: science dna mystery cool)

“Few things are better than spending time in a creative haze, consumed by ideas, watching your work come to life, going to bed eager to wake up quickly and go try things out. I am not suggesting that excessive hours are needed or even advisable; a sane schedule is a must except for occasional binges. The point is that programming is an intense creative pleasure, a perfect mixture of puzzles, writing, and craftsmanship.”

- Lucky to be a programmer indeed. From Gustavo Duarte, via Gus Mueller.

OK, so Dave Miller's pending deletion I can understand; if you didn't know how key he was, the article itself lacks references and is lacks detail (compare it with Andrew Tridgell's page. (At least he noticed; when I was deleted last time I didn't know).

But then I find out that the article on OLS was deleted back in February. Huh? This is the major Linux conference in the world. Some would argue that it's a bit faded at the edged these days, but none of the crop of contenders can genuinely claim that crown. I know conferences don't generally get pages as sexy as humans do, but still...

• Is a ‘Dark Force’ Pushing the Universe Apart?
  No observation in recent history of science has been more disturbing than the discovery of dark energy in 1998.
  (tags: darkforce physics cosmology science astronomy)
• LinuxTreat: Pass it On!
  Description: What Microsoft can offer, is offered in a better way by Open-Source Communities.
  (tags: opensource microsoft linux difference)

…nor all those who wander are lost.

Things are not always what they seem.

We are adamant and ephemeral in our feelings. There are core feelings, deep, abiding tides, then there are the shifting currents of emotion.

We make decisions based on both, but too often, on the latter.It is so hard to recognise what is solid, real feeling, and what is the mood of now.

The difference between depression and being depressed, really.

The currents were rising above my head tonight. I got thrown a lifeline by a simple message that made me laugh with joy, and yet had nothing to do with me except as a shared tale.

Through all that has happened in the last few years, I have struggled with currents. They are just currents though, and I can swim, for I have so many lifeboats in my ocean.

The quote is from Lord Of The Rings - and very apt for my rescuer tonight. A lover of Ents.

• Hi-tech is turning us all into time-wasters | Science | The Observer
  Time-wasting is not just an irritating habit. According to new research, one person in five now suffers from the problem so badly that their careers, relationships and health are threatened.
  (tags: time waste timewasting affliction)
• Mars Odyssey Mission THEMIS: Feature Image: Unraveling the Chaos in Aram
  When Mars was still young, more than four billion years ago, a large asteroid sailed out of the sky and slammed into an area known today as western Arabia Terra.
  (tags: mars planetary exploration planet solarsystem nasa odyssey)
• Ancient Egyptian boat to be excavated, reassembled
  Archaeologists will excavate hundreds of fragments of an ancient Egyptian wooden boat entombed in an underground chamber next to Giza’s Great Pyramid and try to reassemble the craft, Egyptologists announced Saturday.
  (tags: archaelogy boat egypt cool history)
• Search for Alien Life Gains New Impetus - washingtonpost.com
  the scientific explosion taking place in astrobiology, the multi-disciplined search for extreme forms of life on Earth and for possibly similar, or more advanced, life elsewhere in the solar system and in distant galaxies.
  (tags: astrobiology science extraterrestrial cool exploration)
• GNU/Linux is my home
  this poster says it all for me:) linux is my 127.0.0.1!
  (tags: linux home poster)

Sure, linux-next is a useful way of early-detecting patch conflicts with random developers. But the second order effect has been more useful to me: forcing me to get my shit together. Now I regularly publish my patchqueue in a form which applies and compiles, and has clear "production" vs "alpha" demarcation.

Obviously, this is good for people trying to follow various patches (and there are quite a few independent efforts at the moment, including typesafe patches, virtio, lguest, module, tun/tap, stop_machine, kmod-removal and down_trylock removal), but it also makes the arrival of the merge window far less stressful.

In theory, I could have been this organized before. But just like the concept of doing homework long before the deadline, it was never going to happen. So thanks Stephen!

• Cyclone’s Sketchblog: Bigglesworth the penguin
  a friend of mine is adding to my penguin collection with his inspiration, and i love it:) thanks mate!!!!
  (tags: cyclone artist sketch penguin collection)

• Top 10 Week | WordPress Plugins for Social Media Users | Social Web Tools
  It’s really hard to come up with a list of just 10 WordPress plugins that are social media related; there’s so many available now.
  (tags: wordpress plugins socialnetworking)
• TECH SOURCE FROM BOHOL: 5 Most Popular Linux-hackable Gadgets
  Linux is a powerful and versatile operating system that can be utilized to hack just about any electronic hardware device. To prove it, I have here a list of popular gadgets that are already known to run Linux.
  (tags: tech technology hack linux hardware gadgets)
• How Mars and Alaska Are Alike | LiveScience
  Little did Bucknell University geology professors Craig Kochel and Jeffrey Trop know, as they were working in Alaska, that they would soon predict one of the most important planetary observations ever made.
  (tags: astrobiology scince mars alaska)
• Last.fm gets a makeover, ventures into iPhone, living room
  Music streaming and social community Last.fm has redesigned for a more mature experience, adding more integration and ubiquity across a variety of devices. Ars Technica put on some headphones and rocked out with some of the new features.
  (tags: last.fm iphone community socialnetworking)

• The End II: the worst movie endings ever, from Grease to Blade Runner - Times Online
  Times critics present the 20 worst endings in film. From the absurd to the underwhelming, these are the closing scenes that have ruined memorable films.
  (tags: movies endings awful worst list)
• You can’t expect to meet the challenges of today with yesterday’s tools…
  (tags: openoffice staroffice google documents plugin extensions googledocs)
• HowStuffWorks “How green is a self-contained composting toilet?”
  With memories of rancid portable toilets and primitive outhouses dancing through our minds, we first want to know, how green is this toilet? Actually, I have friends with them, they rock:)

7 Essential Cheat Sheets To Download | MakeUseOf.com

Ever wanted to master the keyboard shortcuts and get more productive on the web? Here is everything you need - 7 quick cheat sheets for some of the most widely used tools on the web. Download, print and stick them somewhere near your desk.

(tags: cheatsheet list download print useful)

Lifehacker Top 10: Top 10 Computer Annoyances and How to Fix Them

let’s take a look at 10 of the more common gripes amongst computer users and our humble suggestions for fixing them.

(tags: annoyances computer tips windows lifehacker howto software hacks computers computing crossplatform article)

Google’s Android platform: not so open after all

3rd party Android developers, increasingly frustrated with the lack of SDK updates, were shocked to discover that Google has been secretly making new versions of the SDK available to the Android Developer Challenge finalists under nondisclosure agreements

(tags: android google sdk opensource developers issues)

GNOME 3.0 officially announced… and explained

the GNOME release team announced a proposal for developing the next major iteration of the open source desktop environment. The plan offers a long-term strategy for moving GNOME development forward and defining future goals for the desktop.

(tags: gnome desktop release gnome3 linux)

The 10 Commandments of Web Design

The Internet is constantly changing. BusinessWeek.com spoke to a bevy of experts and distilled the must-follow rules top online designers live by in 2008

(tags: internet development webdesign webdevelopment design)

wattOS: Light weight, Ubuntu-based Linux distro - Download Squad

WattOS is a new Linux distribution that’s based on Ubuntu, but designed for low-power machines. It has low system requirements, which means you can run it on older hardware.

(tags: distro light linux ubuntu mobile portable power)

TOBLES - NASA + twitter

Many NASA projects now have twitter accounts, so you can get up-to-the-minute updates from mission specialists themselves. Here’s a list of NASA’s twitter usernames, and what they’re about.

(tags: nasa twittter updates projects cassini phoenix mars shuttle moon lnuar exploration cool)

Sometimes things don't follow the Grand Strategy. Such as Sun slipping SCO some money for a license Sun's says was required to open source Solaris, and incidently paying for litigation against IBM and Linux. The Grand Strategy says this is a marvellous 1, 2 punch.

But the related SCO v Novell litigation has just found that SCO had no rights it could sell to Sun -- they were Novell's rights. So Novell can accept US$2.5m from SCO to correct that "conversion" or it can accept nothing, invalidating the sale and leaving Sun with no license which Sun claimed was required to release OpenSolaris.

Doubtless we're about to see some backpedalling from Sun about just what the SCO license was for. But not too much back-pedalling, least IBM's lawyers get very upset.

Novell gets to make a very interesting choice. It has the chance to doom OpenSolaris. That sort of move could have bad PR, but Novell has already damned itself with Linux true believers anyway. Personally if I were Novell I'd be asking Sun for $2.5m and a GPL license for OpenSolaris.

…and expect to be in business tomorrow.

This OpenOffice/StarOffice plugin allows you an easy way to export and import your documents from OpenOffice.org 2.0.4+ or StarOffice 8 to Google Docs & Zoho. Also works on OpenOffice3 Beta2.

As usual with Google, it is in Beta. Everything is in Beta, it seems:)

In Ubuntu Hardy & later, to enable the Options, you need to tweak Java, as that is a requirement. Simply go Menu Tools -> Options -> Java, and select the latest Sun Java 1.6 you have installed - mine is 1.6.01. (It needs at least 1.6).

Known gotchas:
Won’t update docs, just upload new ones and download old ones.
Forget any other type of format at the moment but documents - no presentations of spreadsheets at this stage.

There are some other issues and fixes on the wiki page.