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This post is part of the freecomputers project . freecomputer20090226 I've been putting off working on this machine for a while, simply because it's so old. It's a Compaq Prolinea 4/66. Yes, it's a 486. It was donated by Narender, via FreecycleTO , and comes with modest hardware. I got some additional RAM from Norm this past week, and that helped somewhat. The CD drive that was in the machine was dead, so it was replaced. Still, there wasn't much to work with. The machine had WfW 3.11 loaded, which was a shocker seeing it. I booted it up just out of curiosity, and was floored. I hadn't seen WfW, since, well ... was it the mid-90s? Ancient times in the technology world. I tried right clicking on the File Manager before realizing how futile that was. It was a novelty to see the old OS, but it didn't last long. I loaded Damn Small Linux (DSL) onto the machine, and it performs fairly well. The unfortunate thing is the NIC, which is an old SMC IS...

NASA is looking to name the International Space Station's (ISS) Node 3 , a new connecting module and its cupola (that sounds rude), in the tradition set by the naming of Node 1 -- Unity -- and Node 2 -- Harmony . Plans are for Endeavour to deliver Node 3 to the ISS in December, but ahead of the launch schedule, NASA is running a contest to pick the name. It all seems simple, boring and straight forward. Enter the clowns. The user vanillagamer submitted the post to reddit (and similar submissions were made on digg, with all of this possibly originating on 4chan), giving instructions to vote on the NASA naming site, with the suggestion that Battletoad be entered as the suggested name. Apparently, NASA doesn't find it the least bit humorous, and is blocking the name from being counted. The comments on the reddit submission are hilarious however, and the submission has even made it to reddit's front page. speaker219 : It looks like they're blocking out votes for B...

I tried to read a little -- I can't concentrate. Two girls are yapping in hysterics behind me. One is getting married -- although the guy apparently doesn't know yet -- and she is telling her friend that god has someone for everyone. [Sigh] I wish they would keep their plans from god to themselves. It's a ridiculous conversation -- torturous to my ears. They're both putting such store into finding a guy to get married to, and getting a ring. (What's with the Second Cup today?) Sure they can have more ambition than that -- sure they can define themselves beyond a guy -- even if he is a potential partner. Next to us, a Filipino couple have moved in -- and we've picked up and moved along. They are an older and younger women -- and they're discussing the Bible . They're being very studious about it -- the older one seems to be tutoring the younger one on the finer points of misogyny -- and how to embrace it. 1 Corinthians 14:34: Women should rem...

I'm sitting at the Second Cup in Centerpoint Mall , waiting for my wife to finish a few errands. She thankfully saved me the shopping experience. It's crowded here, and I just slid my table over to separate it from the twosome it was in so an older couple could have sitting room beside me. The lady of the couple sat down, while he ordered the lattes. She has a small Peoples bag. When she sat, he asked her -- or rather, commented -- "You wouldn't be happy until you got that ring, would you?" I think he just got her the diamond on her left hand. Since she's been sitting here, she's had a sour look on her face. When I moved the table over, she stared at me -- an ugly look on her face. Sheesh -- are you constipated lady? Would it hurt people to be a little more friendly to the world? Anyway, I smiled at her -- she stared at me. (Maybe it's the goofie I'm wearing.) On the subject of diamonds. I find out from the conversation I overhear, ...

People who wear bluetooth headsets for their cellphones, look like idiots. Unless you're constantly using your cellphone, there is absolutely no need for it to be permanently ensconced in your ear. I see you. You're not constantly on the phone. Take this dude currently sitting in the Second Cup, listening intently to the woman in front of him using paper, pen, her hands and her mouth, to be very convincing. He doesn't look very convinced. That's because he isn't listening. He's too busy with that shiny appliance jutting out his ear -- looking like a jewelled beetle has gotten his ear in a death bite. He looks rather silly -- like some cyberpunk reject with an androidian fetish. The look just doesn't work on him. It would only work on the Borg. I can see the bluetooth appendage being useful for situations requiring hands-free phone operation, such as driving, operating heavy machinery, surgery -- but really, you're not that important folks -- ...

This post is part of the freecomputers project . freecomputer20090221 I finished rebuilding this old Compaq Deskpro last night, and it's suffering. It's an OK machine, and could just use a little more RAM. The machine can handle up to 384MB RAM, but unfortunately, it has only got 32MB -- in 2 16MB DIMMs. I've appealed to the folks on FreecycleTO to see if anyone has some old memory laying about that can be thrown my way, otherwise I don't think the machine will be of much use to anyone. I've loaded Damn Small Linux (DSL) onto the machine, and it boots pretty fast -- a testament to the efforts of the DSL team. The Dillo browser loads fast, as expected, but the one drawback that the browser has is support for JavaScript. It was great that support was added for SSL, but no JavaScript means that websites with some interactive requirement, such as email, simply will not work. Firefox is installed by default as part of the DSL build -- yes, they did stuff it i...

The following comes courtesy of Cecil's Facebook page, where he shared a link to April Winchell's post of Obama's potty mouth . Apparently, Obama read the audio version of Dreams From My Father , in which he quotes Ray, a fellow classmate who could swear up a storm. The post has audio clips of Obama quoting Ray as saying, This shit's getting way too complicated for me Ignorant motherfuckers That guy ain't shit. Sorry ass motherfucker Sure, you can have my number baby! You ain't my bitch, nigga. Samuel Jackson, eat your heart out!

Today I dropped by the Indigo by my workplace, picking up a card. I went to the cash, and in front of me, was a woman with over $200 worth of magazines. I didn't get it. She had her son with her, and asked him to pick up two of the blue Indigo reusable bags for her purchase. Noble. As she was paying at the cash, the cashier was trying to make small talk. The woman cooperated halfheartedly. He wanted to tell her more about their cloth bags, but she interrupted him with a little polite but condescending laugh, stating that she already knew all about them, and how it was the right thing to do for the environment. The chitchat continued, sort of, and the woman took her magazine purchase, son in tow, and left the store, her long fur coat, swinging carelessly behind her.

This post is part of the freecomputers project . freecomputer20090218 The bulk of this machine comes courtesy of Trinity via the FreecycleTO community. The machine was in pretty good shape, but still a bit dusty -- I have to blow out the innards this weekend. The CD-ROM drive was dead, so again I pulled from the spares that Narender supplied. The machine comes with an integrated Ethernet port, but had a spare network card installed, which I promptly pilfered for another machine I will be working on. The machine is probably the fastest one I have recovered, so I decided to go with Kubuntu, since the KDE GUI is a little bit more demanding of system resources. It still performs fast though. My youngest commented that the machine runs much faster than her W2K machine that has more hardware horsepower. (I think I have some other work to do now.) The machine is suitable for office applications, as well as general internet surfing, email and even browsing videos on YouTube. It wor...

Back in 2003, the Union of Concerned Scientists built the better SUV -- the Guardian XSE, with a V6, 170 hp engine and a 6-speed transmission. It was an exercise to demonstrate to the automotive industry -- Detroit specifically -- that they could build a safer -- and more fuel efficient SUV, using existing technologies, with no need to go hybrid. The SUV got 30MPG. Of course, that was years ago, and technology has made progress , especially with the growing demand for hybrid vehicles. It has gotten so that even Detroit is getting on the bandwagon, after years of being implored by environmentalists to make an effort. What stopped them? Lack of motivation. There was no mandate to make more fuel efficient cars, and Detroit was hostile to being told by anyone how to design their vehicles. Even now, after Detroit is being bailed out of their bad business practices, they're still resisting change. Begs the question -- should they be saved?

The Pirate Bay operators are going to trial today in Stockholm, facing up to two years in prison and fines of 1.2 million kronor. The civil suit was brought against them by Warner Bros. Entertainment, MGM Pictures, Columbia Pictures Industries, 20th Century Fox Films, Sony BMG, Universal, and EMI, who claim that the Pirate Bay's operation has resulted in millions of dollars in lost revenues. Of course, these claims are bullshit. As if the movies and music being downloaded would actually be purchased if they weren't downloaded. Not a chance. Who's next anyway? Google? Try a search by appending filetype:torrent to see how futile the fight against file sharing has become. The only alternative is to make legitimate sources of media more accessible and just as easy to get to and use. It's the business model stupid.

Patrick Hosking, writing a business opinion piece in the Times , wonders out loud, when we'll be lynching bankers in the street. The public, not just in the UK, holds the few in the financial industry responsible for putting the world in the current financial crisis, where tens of thousands of jobs continue to be lost every month. Despite public opinion -- no, rage -- the financial industry continues to dispense huge year-end bonuses. Which other industry is currently doling out bonuses at that rate? The financial industry is fueled by greed, and it seems regardless of current economic conditions, the infusion of public cash is only serving to sate the hunger of the bastards at the top. Shouldn't the current environment call for some restraint?

The CRTC is currently conducting a review of the Internet traffic management practices of Internet service providers, and are in the process of public consultation. ISPs have been throttling bandwidth, bitching that traffic has grown as broadband penetration increased and users have been accessing more rich content. This is your chance to participate in a democratic discourse. Tell the CRTC what you think. You can review the notice of consultation here and click on pt2008-19 or pt2008-19-2 to provide feedback. Stop the throttling before it seriously starts hampering Internet use.

I finished reading Charles de Lint 's the Onion Girl , a few weeks ago. It's only been a few months since I've discovered de Lint, and I've already read a number of his books. The Onion Girl is by far, my favourite, so far, with the Blue Girl following closely behind. The Onion Girl was not an easy read. It started out depressing, and didn't stop. By one third through the book, I was expecting things to start to turn around for the main character, Jilly Coppercorn, who, having survived childhood abuse, must now contend with being crippled by a hit and run, and being pursued by her younger sister, who's bent for revenge for being abandoned by Jilly to the abusive brother when she was a child. There is further exploration of de Lint's fantasy world, the Dreamlands or Manidò-akì -- a world just as real as ours, where everything ever imagined exists, and where we journey to in our sleep -- and those who know the doorways, can journey to, wide awake. ...

Conservapedia, billing itself as "the trustworthy encyclopedia," has some of the scariest propaganda and misinformation on the internet today. Just check out their entries -- the one on Barack Obama for instance, opens with, Barack Hussein Obama II (allegedly[1][2][3] born in Honolulu Aug. 4, 1961) is the 44th president of the United States Allegedly? That's only for starters. The entire entry works hard to cast doubt on Obama's religion and patriotism. The fact that the site continues to operate, and hasn't been challenged legally is surprising.

I just finished reading Cory Doctorow 's Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town (SCTSLT) -- completed as I was tussled and tossed on the TTC ride home tonight. That's how I pretty much read the book, reserving the morning rides to a pretense of sleep or the occasional article from the Economist , and the evening rides home to reading a novel -- SCTSLT being the latest off the piles that surround me in my office. I'm catching up to my reading -- I swear! This is the first Doctorow novel I've read. The sheer lunacy of the cover description compelled me to pick it up from BMV. Alan is a middle-aged entrepreneur in contemporary Toronto who has devoted himself to fixing up a house in a bohemian neighborhood. This naturally brings him in contact with the house full of students and layabouts next door, including a young woman who, in a moment of stress, reveals to him that she has wings -- wings, moreover, which grow back after each attempt to cut them off. Alan un...

The bad news continues. The IMF has revised down the world's growth rate [PDF] to the lowest level since the second world war. The world's economy is simply projected to come to a standstill in 2009. And since we live in a globalized world, where national economies can't affect sustained growth on their own, a coordinated effort is being called for. The advanced economies of the world won't be suffering alone in 2009. As noted in the whining recently at Davos, the developing economies will also be feeling pain. The rampant consumerism in the advanced economies is being brought to a full stop as wallets empty and credit cards are maxed out -- that in turn is leading to a dramatic cut in demand for cheap products from the developing economies -- who are also experiencing a slow down in consumer demand at home. In calling for concerted global effort to restore the financial sector to good health, the IMF is calling for "capital injections, and disposal of prob...

Roy C. Smith, a professor of finance at New York University's Stern School of Business, and a former partner of Goldman Sachs, makes an argument for greed, in the Wall Street Journal . But I find the argument is bullshit. Greed is not good. Greed is what got the US, and the rest of the world, into the present economic predicament. Holding financial soothsayers in high regard to the detriment of the actual engines of the economy is drove the irrational exuberance to the point where it all came crashing down. The market thrives on locating new opportunities, providing innovation and a willingness to take risks. It is also, regrettably, subject to what the economist John Maynard Keynes called "animal spirits," the psychological factors that make markets irrational when going up or down. For example, America has enjoyed a bonus it didn't deserve in its free-wheeling participation in the housing market, before it became a bubble. Despite great efforts by regulators to...

These are the things I learn-ed from a crossword puzzle with my wife this afternoon, over coffee at the local watering hole: French moms are mares and they go neigh, The most overused place name: Oh Shit! Aaaah!, Nfld. -- originally, of Newfoundland, now many other places around the world, and, On departing China with loads of pasta for the starving Italians, the Chinese waved at Marco Polo and yelled, "Chow!" He responded with a slightly confused, "Ciao!" And the rest, I'm afraid, is history. OK, maybe you had to be there.

Indian society is actually divided by this. Divided! WTF?! 30 men, belonging to the right-wing Hindu organization, Sri Ram Sena, went out and attacked women in a pub in Mangalore . Why? They claimed that they were protecting traditional Indian culture. Indian culture? Apparently traditional Indian culture includes the beating of their women. Again, WTF? There is division over this? This is religious misogyny. Nothing more. Acts like this just takes India backwards, like some its neighbours in the region. It's not the behaviour that a nation with economic and social aspirations should condone. But condone it, it did. Within a short while after 28 of the men were arrested, they were released on bail. Unacceptable. If Indians, Hindus, don't step up to ensure a just outcome, they will condone violence against women and give the green-light for religious fundamentalism to grow.

This post is part of the freecomputers project . freecomputer20090202 This machine comes courtesy of the generous freecyclers . The machine and monitor was donated by Sharon. The keyboard and mouse are from Cheryl. The machine was missing a CD-ROM drive, so I installed one from Narender -- who also contributed a secondary harddrive to the machine. Keyboard and mouse comes from another freecycler who I can no longer remember -- but thank you! Since the RAM was limited, I loaded Ubuntu onto the machine. It runs OK. The machine is suitable for surfing the internet -- email and the like, but not for watching streaming video. The typical Ubuntu desktop offers OpenOffice.org 2.4, which runs just fine. It obviously doesn't scream with performance on an older machine (see config below), but it performs well enough for occasional use. Configuration of freecomputer20090202 : IBM Aptiva, Model 2163504, S/N: AG03G11 Pentium II 350MHz, 224MB RAM Video: Creative CT6730 AGP 8MB Crea...

PSA time: This unique festival features films that address issues of global concern. ReelPolitik showcases outstanding political films—both contemporary and historical--that deserve wide circulation, and genres include feature, documentary, animation, as well as experimental film. Screenings are accompanied by in-depth introductions and panel discussions with scholars from the University of Toronto, and elsewhere. Topics range from the various international political contexts addressed by the films, to the nature of politically engaged film-making. ReelPolitik promotes public education on global issues. ReelPolitik promotes public education on global issues. The screenings will be held at the Vivian and David Campbell Conference Facility, in the Munk Centre South House of the University of Toronto, from Feb. 5-7. The films: War/Dance For the past 20 years, northern Uganda has been at war with a rebel force, the Lord’s Resistance Army (L.R.A.), and the country’s children have been...

Obama has made the promises -- and now UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, is also calling on the world to use the current economic crisis as a platform to launch the economic recovery and build a green future. Ban in a speech at the World Economic Forum held in Davos, is asking for the world to invest up to US$515 billion in the next 20 years, in building out a clean energy infrastructure. "By tackling climate change head-on we can solve many of our current troubles, including the threat of global recession. We stand at a crossroads. It is important that we realize we have a choice. We can choose short-sighted unilateralism and business as usual. Or we can grasp global cooperation and partnership on a scale never before seen." For more, see Green Investing: Towards a Clean Energy Infrastructure -- a report by the Forum, highlighting the green energy business opportunities; the webcasts, podcasts and vodcasts from the 2009 meeting; and the YouTube channel .