F*** me dead I just discovered I have not updated this since you last visited... You would not believe how much it's costing me. Dudes!.
I am not going to post now with waiting for a fine young gentleman to propose, learning to fart the theme to neighbours, just generally being a biatch to recognise my children again, my day is full to bursting from mid-morning to I run out of alcohol. I am totally exhausted. I need some perspective.
I will try to remember I promised you that when the weather turns bad, I will blog more often. You have my word! Or if he morphs into an a$$..
Found this while stumbling, and since I haven't posted in a couple weeks, I decided to use it.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Trying out Linux
I'm looking to get a new computer soon, and that computer will need a "new" operating system. I've been using windows xp since before it came out, and am frankly more than a little tired of it. Vista, I've learned, from the few baleful encounters I've had with it, is a great big steaming pile of worm infested dog crap. Microsoft seems to have taken all the worst from xp, added enough glitter and sparklies to attract the ADD crowd, then shoved it down their, and everyone else's throats. With xp not being sold any longer, it is only a slow road to its eventual demise, and as I just stated, vista isn't even an option. This leaves me with one option, as I see it. Linux.
BSD, & Solaris as the next largest operating systems, that I know of, they just have too small a user-base for my liking. I have tried live cds of both and have nothing against them, but they just aren't for me when it comes to my everyday machine. Hacintosh does deserves an honorable mention though. Unfortunately, having to fight an OS onto a system it doesn't want to be on is too much hassle for me consider using it as my primary. I wish that Apple cared more for expanding their userbase, than they do for selling their over-priced hardware.
So, Back to linux. Ubuntu seems to be the popular distro dujour, and heaven forbid I wander from the crowd, I chose it as my first foray. (Disclaimer: I have tried a few distros in the past, but I was never serious about switching. I would say 'just think of them as one night stands', but even I'm not that much of a loser) I can easily see why Ubuntu is very popular right now. Aside from one issue I will go into later, it was remarkably stable. This coming from someone who really does know what he's doing on windows and has beaten the beast into submission as best he can. I still, can barely get a day without it bluescreening for some reason or other(one of the main reasons I'm looking for a new pc.) I push my systems hard and can't wait for a nice multi-core processor that can keep up with me. Anyways, I stuck with the basic everyday tasks for my test.
That, and I just couldn't help but play around with compiz-fusion. I can't even imagine using something like compiz fusion on windows with out bluescreening it. Here's a video I pulled from youtube showing off the incredible eye-candy.
I know, I complained about vista being dolled up for the ADD set, but fusion isn't standard on Ubuntu. And truthfully I wouldn't be using it on an everyday basis. I care more for speed than looks, and disable most visual stylings as a matter of course.
So, back to those basic tasks. I spend most of my time on the computer entertaining myself, I have extensive libraries of music, movies, tv shows, books, magazines, and comics. I had little to no trouble accessing all of my media. The only real complaint was with Amarok, I had heard good things about this music player being an itunes killer, but it was slow and buggy on my system. Rythmbox, the standard Ubuntu music player ran great though, so it all evens out. There will always be buggy programs no matter what system you're using. Movies played great on VLC, a great little media player which has a windows port I've been using for years. My only complaint about video playback stems from my use of two monitors. I've grown used to being able to play video fullscreen on my tv (the second monitor) automatically. I can still clone the video window in Ubuntu and maximize it on the second display, but this is far from perfect. I have read that KDE handles multiple monitors much better, and once 4.1 comes out of beta I will be sure to try it. Until then I can deal with the work around.
I had no problems with any of the other media files, but there was there was that one re-occurring bug I mentioned earlier. This one little bug is a deal killer though. See, key-presses would get stuck on repeat at random. So, I would be typing along anddddddddddddddddddddddd something like that would happen. Now, if you've gotten this far you can tell I like to type. I was able to fix this a couple times by disabling key repeats, but more often than not, I had to resort to a reboot. There are multiple bug reports about this, but nothing has been done yet. I just can't see a major operating system letting a basic input problem get so out of hand. Is forcing a key-release signal after 30 seconds of continuous input so hard to think of? Not the cleanest solution I'll admit, but it is a decent workaround until they solve the real problem. I do hope the developers fix this soon, I really would like to use Ubuntu everyday. Anything to get away from windows.
BSD, & Solaris as the next largest operating systems, that I know of, they just have too small a user-base for my liking. I have tried live cds of both and have nothing against them, but they just aren't for me when it comes to my everyday machine. Hacintosh does deserves an honorable mention though. Unfortunately, having to fight an OS onto a system it doesn't want to be on is too much hassle for me consider using it as my primary. I wish that Apple cared more for expanding their userbase, than they do for selling their over-priced hardware.
So, Back to linux. Ubuntu seems to be the popular distro dujour, and heaven forbid I wander from the crowd, I chose it as my first foray. (Disclaimer: I have tried a few distros in the past, but I was never serious about switching. I would say 'just think of them as one night stands', but even I'm not that much of a loser) I can easily see why Ubuntu is very popular right now. Aside from one issue I will go into later, it was remarkably stable. This coming from someone who really does know what he's doing on windows and has beaten the beast into submission as best he can. I still, can barely get a day without it bluescreening for some reason or other(one of the main reasons I'm looking for a new pc.) I push my systems hard and can't wait for a nice multi-core processor that can keep up with me. Anyways, I stuck with the basic everyday tasks for my test.
That, and I just couldn't help but play around with compiz-fusion. I can't even imagine using something like compiz fusion on windows with out bluescreening it. Here's a video I pulled from youtube showing off the incredible eye-candy.
I know, I complained about vista being dolled up for the ADD set, but fusion isn't standard on Ubuntu. And truthfully I wouldn't be using it on an everyday basis. I care more for speed than looks, and disable most visual stylings as a matter of course.
So, back to those basic tasks. I spend most of my time on the computer entertaining myself, I have extensive libraries of music, movies, tv shows, books, magazines, and comics. I had little to no trouble accessing all of my media. The only real complaint was with Amarok, I had heard good things about this music player being an itunes killer, but it was slow and buggy on my system. Rythmbox, the standard Ubuntu music player ran great though, so it all evens out. There will always be buggy programs no matter what system you're using. Movies played great on VLC, a great little media player which has a windows port I've been using for years. My only complaint about video playback stems from my use of two monitors. I've grown used to being able to play video fullscreen on my tv (the second monitor) automatically. I can still clone the video window in Ubuntu and maximize it on the second display, but this is far from perfect. I have read that KDE handles multiple monitors much better, and once 4.1 comes out of beta I will be sure to try it. Until then I can deal with the work around.
I had no problems with any of the other media files, but there was there was that one re-occurring bug I mentioned earlier. This one little bug is a deal killer though. See, key-presses would get stuck on repeat at random. So, I would be typing along anddddddddddddddddddddddd something like that would happen. Now, if you've gotten this far you can tell I like to type. I was able to fix this a couple times by disabling key repeats, but more often than not, I had to resort to a reboot. There are multiple bug reports about this, but nothing has been done yet. I just can't see a major operating system letting a basic input problem get so out of hand. Is forcing a key-release signal after 30 seconds of continuous input so hard to think of? Not the cleanest solution I'll admit, but it is a decent workaround until they solve the real problem. I do hope the developers fix this soon, I really would like to use Ubuntu everyday. Anything to get away from windows.
βeta, out.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Talented friends
MY buddy came over earlier to shoot a video of his newest amp, apparently his camera gets shit for sound, and I've got my brand new canon sd870, which does everything perfectly(I love my camera). He's recently gotten into circuit bending, and has been building his own amps and synths, and shit. It's some cool shit, so I'm sharing it with you, my non-existent audience.
This first video is the one we shot tonight. He's selling all this stuff, so if you're interested please post a comment and I'll pass it along. He'll be putting his own site up soon, but until then he's just on youtube, & myspace.
This second video is an altoids tin synth with a very cool 8-bit feel to it.
This final vid is of his band, The Unwanted Guests playing at the Key Club last year. He's the base player in the funny hat. They used to have a website, but it seems to be down at the moment. So, check `em out on myspace
This first video is the one we shot tonight. He's selling all this stuff, so if you're interested please post a comment and I'll pass it along. He'll be putting his own site up soon, but until then he's just on youtube, & myspace.
This second video is an altoids tin synth with a very cool 8-bit feel to it.
This final vid is of his band, The Unwanted Guests playing at the Key Club last year. He's the base player in the funny hat. They used to have a website, but it seems to be down at the moment. So, check `em out on myspace
βeta, out.
Friday, July 4, 2008
I hate america
Great topic for the fourth of july, huh? Most of this hatred was brought to the surface today by too much exposure to americans. I work in property management, and the community I work for hosts an annual bbq, catered of course. So, I had to deal with around 200 flag t-shirt wearing morons for about five hours on a day when I would much prefer to sit on the couch in my underwear playing mariocart wii. A game, which, if it had voice chat, I would rate as one of the best games of all time. It's just no fun hitting somebody with a red turtle shell if he(or she(or it)) can't hear the witty line you just said to your empty living room.
Enough of that, though. I'm no video game blogger, or political blogger, for that matter. I promise this is a one off rant brought on by the holiday. So, let's just get back to my hatred.
I'm sure you're saying to yourself, that dealing with that many people on what should be your day off will garner hatred in even the most gentle hearted soul. At least, you would be, if you didn't have an indignant flag pole shoved up your ass after reading my heading. My hatred goes deeper than that, though. See, like I said before, I'm no political blogger. In fact, I tend to stay as far away from politics as possible. I may live in america, and am grateful for the options granted me by growing up here, but I do not, by any means, consider myself an american. Go ahead, shove another flag pole up there. I have not considered myself one for nearly eight years now. Yes, yes, call me a bush hater, but it's not as simple as that. See, I just can not bring myself to be part of any country that is willing to let it's first and foremost tennent be bought and sold like some cheap whore. America was founded of the people, by the people, and for the people, or something like that. That's Democracy people:) In the year 2000 of your christ(go ahead shove a cross up there too, it's got to be getting crowded, but I'm sure you're used to it), Al Gore won the presidency, but bush senior bought off the supreme court to get his son in the whitehouse. That's Plutocracy people:) Look it up:(
I don't have a problem with wealth, or capitolism, but wealth should not be the deciding factor of who runs a country. Neither should popularity, that's all that democracy really boils down to. A Meritocracy based on lottery of the most qualified individuals, kinda like jury duty, is the closest thing to an organized power structure that this anarchist could get behind.
Democracy is what this country chose for itself though. It is what americans believe in, that they have a say in how this place should be run. That is why americans love america, because everyone has a say. The fact that the people who actually run america, the wealthy, and those skilled in manipulating others, don't care what americans want. They care only to live their lives of power, and control at the expense of anyone who gets in their way. That is anatema to me, and that is why I hate america. To see the "everyman"(or everywoman(or everyit))praising a country that stabs them in the back every day. That, that is what I hate.
Enough of that, though. I'm no video game blogger, or political blogger, for that matter. I promise this is a one off rant brought on by the holiday. So, let's just get back to my hatred.
I'm sure you're saying to yourself, that dealing with that many people on what should be your day off will garner hatred in even the most gentle hearted soul. At least, you would be, if you didn't have an indignant flag pole shoved up your ass after reading my heading. My hatred goes deeper than that, though. See, like I said before, I'm no political blogger. In fact, I tend to stay as far away from politics as possible. I may live in america, and am grateful for the options granted me by growing up here, but I do not, by any means, consider myself an american. Go ahead, shove another flag pole up there. I have not considered myself one for nearly eight years now. Yes, yes, call me a bush hater, but it's not as simple as that. See, I just can not bring myself to be part of any country that is willing to let it's first and foremost tennent be bought and sold like some cheap whore. America was founded of the people, by the people, and for the people, or something like that. That's Democracy people:) In the year 2000 of your christ(go ahead shove a cross up there too, it's got to be getting crowded, but I'm sure you're used to it), Al Gore won the presidency, but bush senior bought off the supreme court to get his son in the whitehouse. That's Plutocracy people:) Look it up:(
I don't have a problem with wealth, or capitolism, but wealth should not be the deciding factor of who runs a country. Neither should popularity, that's all that democracy really boils down to. A Meritocracy based on lottery of the most qualified individuals, kinda like jury duty, is the closest thing to an organized power structure that this anarchist could get behind.
Democracy is what this country chose for itself though. It is what americans believe in, that they have a say in how this place should be run. That is why americans love america, because everyone has a say. The fact that the people who actually run america, the wealthy, and those skilled in manipulating others, don't care what americans want. They care only to live their lives of power, and control at the expense of anyone who gets in their way. That is anatema to me, and that is why I hate america. To see the "everyman"(or everywoman(or everyit))praising a country that stabs them in the back every day. That, that is what I hate.
βeta, out.
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