Month: May 2004

Future Weapons

Great article on the Popular Science website talking about weapons project that Pentagon is looking at. Some very cool stuff. Now if we can only find a way to know exactly who the bad guys are (ala: X-men 2 Cerebro.)

My Own Distro

Found this old but very good article on using kickstart and RPMs. Some of the most interesting information includes “Munging your own RPMs into the distribution” and “Modifying the Red Hat installer”. Useful for anyone wanting to make or improve a Red Hat Linux distribution of their own.

Man Rules

My co-worker sent me this email. I generally don’t post tons of chain mail posts but this one hits a little too close to home.

Guys’ Rules :

  1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You’re a big girl. If it’s up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don’t hear us complaining about you leaving it down.
  2. Sunday sports. It’s like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.
  3. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.
  4. Crying is blackmail.
  5. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!
  6. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.
  7. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it That’s what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.
  8. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor.
  9. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days.
  10. If you won’t dress like the Victoria’s Secret girls, don’t expect us to act like soap opera guys.
  11. If you think you’re fat, you probably are. Don’t ask us.
  12. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.
  13. You can either ask us to do something, or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.
  14. Christopher Columbus did not need directions and neither do we.
  15. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings.
    Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.
  16. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.
  17. If we ask what is wrong and you say “nothing,” we will act like nothing’s wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.
  18. If you ask a question you don’t want an answer to, expect an answer you don’t want to hear.
  19. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine…Really.
  20. Don’t ask us what we’re thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or monster trucks.
  21. You have enough clothes.
  22. You have too many shoes.
  23. I am in shape. Round is a shape.
  24. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight; but did you know men really don’t mind that? It’s like camping.

The Gnome Standard

I have had a chip on my shoulder for the 2.x series Gnome since its inception. The design decision to go with “less is more” was possibly the worst decision in desktop Linux history because it assumes that users want simplicity and the cost trade off for it is flexibility. Thankfully we have another choice when it comes to the Linux desktop.

What encouraged this rant is an article by Computer World that lambastes Gnome for some of these decisions. Good article, bad DE.

File Bugs and Help Test

There has been a great deal of frustration in the Fedora community sense its inception with the lack of community input on this “community distribution.” It has lead many of us wondering exactly what Red Hat plans to do with Fedora. The whole process only became more confusing with the recent announcement that Red Hat Linux is back

This post does a pretty good job of summing up the feelings of many us in the community. One has to wonder how long can Red Hat continue to take advantage of its core supporters and still remain a main-line distribution?

Failing US Technology

This article from the New York Times talks about the slow slide of American technology dominance as the world becomes more advanced. The article is from the NYT so take it with a grain of salt, but the tracking numbers referenced are interesting.

One of my college professors was a lead engineer for the critical path data on the U.S. Super-conducting Super-collider when the government canceled the project. His statement at the time was “this will put the Europeans in the lead in particle physics research for the next 50 years.” Politicians in the U.S. (over the last 50 years) have been thinking more and more in the short term, and I am afraid we are starting to reap the rewards of our inaction.