Patriot Act, still?!?!

I know that the Patriot Act has already received it's extension on life with only minor powers added.  I'm releived that the normal extension time of two years was reduced a good deal.

Folks, I think most of you know where I might stand on this issue if you have read my blog at all for the last two years.   I feel that the patriot act and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security were the two worst possible answers to the events of 9/11 than could possibly be imagined.  I have my reasons for this and I didn't write this to debate them at the moment.

I just wanted to take a moment to ask that even if you disagree with me, stop and consider with a critical eye the Patriot Act legistation, why it was created and what purpose it serves today.

If you are one of the free-thinkers who already agrees with me and feel like I'm "preaching to the choir" please take this chance to grab one or both of these posters provided from the ACLU website and put it on your blog, email it to your favorite mailing list or post it in your community bulletin board as your active participation in awareness. 

In my good book the meek inherit nothing because the pigs ate it all.  Don't be one of the silent who lets the world spin on without knowing how YOU felt about the things that happened in your time.  Find your voice for this if nothing else.

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CafeNinja

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Tin Foil Hat Show - Episode 007

Episode 7. I had guilt as to my late release, so I made up for it in this and this episode is a little longer than usual.  I'm thinking to bring up some of the topics that didn't make it into the show here in the blog.  But I am also hesitant to do that since I really do want that in the show.  I've more thinking to do on that.

Second podcast review appears in this episode.  I reviewed my other partner in crime at The Fuzion Podcast network K5TUX and his QSK podcast.

The new episode should be in your favorite podcatcher for download already. If you haven't added me to your podcatcher software, please add the RSS feed on the right.

The podcast is also available to play directly online at the Fuzion Podcast Network.

For the instructions to get the show notes please see the instructions as posted in the post for the first episode. These instructions haven't changed.

Feedback as always is welcome, tinfoilhatshow@gmail.com or you can contact me by any of the other methods listed here on this blog. Please remember that the show is very new and still settling in, but constructive criticisms are always appreciated.

Enjoy and please do send me feedback and corrections, it can only make the show better. A permanent link to the show's rss feed is listed on the right side of the blog.

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CafeNinja

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Apple App store - Best news

Well, there was an Apple event and the "Master -o- Disaster" opened that hole under his nose to my own personal delight.

While others rant on about the 2nd usb port on the new Air or the "Jobs Reality Distortion Field"™ I was resting, non-plussed.  Then came my bombshell.

In the next iteration of the Mac OS X operating system they are going to include a lot of IOS4 features including an app store.  Really?!?!?! An app store?!?!?  I think only two things, both I mentally scream at the top of my lungs:  1.) No greater validation of an idea that was birthed in Ubuntu 9.10 (to much ridicule) and 2.) fantastic, they will just give me another avenue to speak to and convert mac-heads.  I can already imagine the pitch line of "An app store, we have had one in Ubuntu for years!" only to see their eyes light up and beg me to install Ubuntu on their old Mac hardware.

Apple, if the best you can do with OS 10.7 is make an app store and copy Ubuntu, BRING IT ON!  I truly used to hold Apple in high regard for their design and user interface features, but this single action has pushed them to the modest position of "even" with Ubuntu and truthfully, a step behind since they had to copy it and there is "prior art".

Long Live Ubuntu.  Thanks Mac.  You are no longer my hero, just my pimp.

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CafeNinja

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

AdBard - FOSS advertising

I read Thomas Gideon's blog post about advertising using a FOSS based advertiser.  I was as usual impressed on a personal and moral level with TheCommandLine's choices and one who truly supports, through actions and works, his support of digital liberties and Open Source.

So, as mimicry is the best form of flattery, I applied with AdBard to apply their adverts for FOSS companies using FOSS software on my blog too.  As Thomas points out in his blog post, they are even "endorsed" by the FSF which is the closest thing to a "golden seal" as there is by my measure.

The process includes a human review of your site to ensure that your content aligns with the views of AdBard.  They have a different payment model for the ads, than the popular AdSense from Google, and approval process for those companies as well.  They have a very hands-on approach to both the ads going out and where the ads are seen, which I feel is good since it means there will be relative ads where the relevant content is.  Feel free to show your support for Adbard by applying to display ads on your site, and if you don't have a site, click the advert from them you see on the right of this blog just to show your support for the whole idea.

I'll be leaving the AdSense on my blog as well, in the hopes that one day they might show pertinenant links.  As a quick disclaimer at the time of this writing I have not been paid by any advertiser as a result of having this blog.  But I felt that this was a step in the right direction and with motivation I could get behind.

Kudo's and much respect as always to Thomas Gideon who's podcast I've reviewed.  I am always impressed with the maturity, insightfullness, leadership and critical thinking that goes into his productions both on his blog and in his podcast (yes, I'm a fan).


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CafeNinja

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Paranoid security or just modern Privacy?

As many of you have noticed I'm posting in my social networking streams using base64 decode statements.  I just wanted to explain that I will be doing this even for the mundane.  I have had the ephifany that "some is good, more must be better" is maybe not the way I intended for my social live to be.

I should explain that I expected that these would be mostly walled gardens with each social networking service offering it's unique and special approach to the broadcast communication issue.  As more of these services have started integrating, using back door API's and making it a giant collective, that while my single voice is not important, it adds to a logarithm of what is the collective whole. 

I am not foolish, I don't think that my posting the command to decrypt what I post keeps my messages "secure", and that is not my intention for them.  What I do hope to succeed in is that my messages aren't being grokked for the commercial, financial and statistical benifit of corporate entities for whom I hold no allegiance, holding or care.  It's mine, and I made it for public consumption.  As I see venture capitalist investing millions of dollars in companies who scrub what is the internet collective for profit and gain, I am saddened.  I would understand if doing this created a benefit for the consumer or the internet as a whole. 

My goal is to allow me, my family and my friends to continue using the tools as they were originally designed without offering my portion of mind-share away.  I feel that, especially in the case of the base64 posts, I achieve the goals of:

1. communicating with family and friends with miniumum tech overhead.
2. make it easy for someone to ignore me on a broadcast stream.
3. upset the machines on the far side of the services I use from gaining profit over my ideas and opinions.

I would be lying if I didn't see the added benifit of this preparing myself and family for secure communications in the case we feel corporations or the state care far too much about what we say or limiting our freedoms.  This is just an advance warning that it only escalates from the base64 posts.  It is my humble opinion that what used to be called "paranoid" measures, by todays standards, can at best be referred to as moderate privacy.

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CafeNinja

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Software Freedom: Sentiment or Cause

So, I just wanted to take a moment to talk about all the issues going on recently in the Open Source community. Warning: this is a rant. If you don't want to read it please skip to the next article in your rss reader, or navigate away now. Last warning.

The most recent stir is Mono based applications, but previous discussions have hovered around binary blobs in Linux distributions, proprietary drivers, and pure free vs. quasi pure free vs. free-as-in-price.

I do have some opinions about this, but no firm convictions. I mean to say that I am moderately educated on both sides of the discussion but that the discussion itself has recently turned into a "pitch fork and torch" kind of affair. I am far more hurt by the conduct from groups talking about these points than the points themselves.

I've been a computer user for many years. Part of my interest in computers as a hobby was the hacking and tweaking to get things just working. It is surprising to me that the tone of voice used by these people is borderline zealot. It feels like most people are missing the forest for the trees because they are hugging them too tight. Let's remember that we can roll with this one of two ways. We ostracize the average user completely or we do what needs to be done to let most folks into the fold if they so choose.

I can honestly say that I don't have the resources to install asterisk boxes on two continents so that my mother and I may speak using home brew voice services. We can both, with relative ease install and use skype. I know that might disappoint a few out there, but if a binary blob in my distro prevents my computer from being an overheated paperweight, then I'll use it. If I rely on an application that is available in the repos of my distro, then I really don't monitor what language the thing is written in, so long as it works when I launch it.

We all have known people in our Linux lifetimes who would be happy to try and switch and give Linux the "old college try", but when they do so much of their hardware was unsupported that they could not justify the loss in functionality for the moral choice of open source software. Why should we condemn our own for something of less importance at the end of the day. I mean really, curse words are the correct way to respond to my choice of note taking application because some programmer used a different language? I know there are issues with this licensing and that, and even further discussions could be had with other programming languages (not mono) if you really wanted to make that such a point.

I would like to make a formal request to the Linux community that if you have an opinion about programming languages or issues with certain licenses, please verbalize your opinion. You can even use words with more than two syllables. But don't make others in the community out to be a villain, or the embodyment of evil just because they don't agree with you. I like to think that we are one of the largest brain trusts on the planet, and it is more than a little disappointing when the best word you use in a debate is "sucks".

I hate to sound like everyone's mother, but grow up. You may be passionate about your cause, but be respectful of those who do not share your view. I think there are many good conversations to be had, as long as they are honorable and mature. In my heart of hearts I feel like we (as a community) come up with the best solutions when we try to solve a problem. But we are also the best at creating problems that aren't really that bad.

Now take a time out, and go sit in the corner while I cool off.

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CafeNinja

Podcast Review: Real Time with Bill Maher

Real Time with Bill Maher is a new platform for the old Politically Incorrect format. While Bill himself is very "Left" I find that when his panel is too one sided even he will play devil's advocate and it is a forum in which opposing views are shared by people who normally would not be publicized in any mainstream media format.

I've enjoyed the political commentary that Bill has brought to the public view over the years and even if from time to time I may not agree with him personally, I find that those even with an opposing view are given a chance to air their opinions in an uncensored format. I admire his spirit of "tell it like it is" along with his openness to hear out people with different views.

This hour long podcast I receive in the audio form since I live outside the US and iTunes doesn't allow the video version here. I suppose if you were in the US you could subscribe to the video version also. This is the second of only two political podcasts that I listen to and find that between them both I am generally informed, if not in a comic way, about all the political news I care to hear about. Honestly, I find too much political news to be just a point of frustration and causes ulcers. I feel that like myself, Bill is on the lookout for any candidate who is in the political camp of Common Sense and that subscribes to the policies of honesty. I have to say that would be the politician that all of us could get behind but is a rare breed.

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CafeNinja
of previous fame on .... views....podcast.

American's need to grow up, really.

America, grow up.  Last week, President Obama was on the Late Show with Jay Leno.  In an article at Newsday.com they covered the statement that the President made about himself in regards to the Special Olympics.  There seemed to be such an outcry that the President needed to make an official apology and even call the Director of the Special Olympics directly.

I really am disappointed that now in the 21st century the President who in a moment of honesty and humility is condemned for making a reference that any one of us would have made at the water cooler, speaking with our friends.  Anyone who is not the parent or participant of the Special Olympics would make the same comment without a second thought and not fear being stoned for having said it.




Are we as a nation so hypersensitive that casual conversation is potentially a huge political offense?  If we berate the President for having said something in a human moment, you must expect the reaction...that he will not do that anymore.  I don't think, that even the parent of a handicapped child, could in good concience think for one moment that what the President said was in any way an attack on the Special Olympics.  He was being critical of himself in the comment if you pay attention.  I just wish that we would pay attention to the value of that candid moment of our nation's leader and take away from it, that he is human, and humble. 

If you wish the reward of a President who will no longer share with you the side of himself that you would most like to know about, please, just bite his head off one more time for something so trivial as a comment that normally would not be given a second thought.

Just grow up. 

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CafeNinja

P.S. Sorry for the political comment post.  When I saw this, it made me want to vomit, and I had to say my two cents worth.

Crazy about Little Brother

So, I've read Cory Doctorow's book "Little Brother".  I have so many things to say about this book and author that this post may seem like a rant.  Please, if you are discouraged by rants, avert your eyes.  This post will be long, wordy and passionate.

First about the author.  Cory Doctorow is a very creative cat.  This guy is all over and has had the experience to have some authority of the subject of the book.  I only want to say that while I was reading the book, my first idea was "who is this guy".  After Google and I had a chat about him, I kept reading with a new found respect and perspective of the person who wrote the words.  Highest accolades, for Mr. Doctorow.  I'll leave it at those understated words since anything more would just sound like I was kissing butt, which I'm not.  And in the effort to save a few bits, I'm going to refer to Mr. Doctorow as Cory for the rest of this article.

Second, the book.  Ok, so the book was released in digital format free to download.  This is the first big shift in the concepts of selling books.  I could just imagine in my head some stuffy boardroom where stuffy men called publishers would hear the words of the author, that he wanted to give away free digital copies of the book, where he would quickly be escorted from the room.  But it turns out that Cory was SO right on.  I mean to say that I downloaded it, I read it.  I liked it so much that I felt it would be a great have for my two boys 15 and 9 in the coming years.  So I bought it.  Yes, I had a free digital copy and had already read it, still I purchased a dead-tree version of the book.  Cory, thanks for proving them all wrong on this point.  That giving a copy for free doesn't mean you won't sell books.

Third, the content.  I, like Cory, am of the generation that were raised in the final decades of the cold war era while living in North America.  Which means we were both in school when the book 1984 by George Orwell would have been shoved down our throats for about 3 years of our education.  I remember that when they were making us read this book in the United States, they were really pushing the simile of Big Brother to the communist USSR of old.  I also remember at the time that the Orwell novel did not impress me nearly as much as it probably should have.  Cory's story is a thousand time better.  It is also spoken in the voice of the participate rather than someone recording the events from the 3rd person.  I was touched by Cory's book, really touched in a way that hasn't happened for a long time.

Fourth, the after.  Ok, I know what Cory wrote was fiction.  There was a lot of true stuff, but a healthy dose of fiction too.  I personally think that some of his fictional ideas in this book are worth seriously looking into.  I admire his creativeness with the concepts of the unreal stuff he made in the book.  But I think they are noteworthy and quite honestly quite possible to do.  I am not sure how, but Cory's book has inspired me to at least have the motivation of trying to work on my first open source project.  I really don't want to get into huge descriptions since that might ruin the book if you haven't read it.  But if Cory is guilty of nothing else, he is guilty of inspiring another member of his generation to possibly create, organize or at the very least dream of doing something.  Causes as they are have not been the forte' of our generation.  That was what "hippies" did for nukes and equal rights.  I really think that Cory may have identified the single cause of our generation that can get me excited.

Cory, thanks for your work, this book is great.  I'll also be happy to now join whatever "Cory Doctorow fanboy" club or status board is required to show that I am a full paid-up member.

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CafeNinja

First Political Post for me

Well, I don't normally get involved or concern myself with political views here.  Only in this case it mildly affects my geek.  The Italian National Government has decided to block Piratebay because it is the "way" that italian citizens are able to get copyrighted material that belongs to the privately owned national TV station.  It just so happens that the current Premier of Italy owns said station.  And now the torrent host service of Piratebay (who physically stores none of the material in question) has been blocked not just via DNS blacklist but has also mandated that all Italian National ISP's block it by IP address.

I normally wouldn't care so much except that I transfer movies of my family back to the States this way as well as download current ISO images of Linux distributions.  It's very disheartening to see a civilized "free" state resort to aggressive internet content control for the commercial interest of it's leader.  Somehow it feels much more Chinese than Italian.

Anyway, that's enough of my soapbox.  More geek to come to prevent me from going mad over stupid DNS filtering policies here in Italy.

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CafeNinja

Missed language opportunity

After a recent trip to Germany I found myself asking which opportunity did I miss out on most.  Learning German while in Germany or learning Ruby from experienced coworkers who swear by the programming language.

Either presents real world advantages, but in retrospect I would give both equal weight.  When there are cool new ajax applications and ruby-on-rails developments happening, it is very interesting.  German of course would offer me a new world of ideas and people with which to share.  Neither is needed for my day to day, but would be another nice thing to keep in my hip pocket for a rainy day.

I'm still in Europe, and I'm still relatively young....maybe I have time to learn both yet.

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CafeNinja

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