(see https://lists.launchpad.net/club-ubuntu/msg00014.html for a list of games, summary, etc. Note: it isn’t in that email, but we also added armagetronAD to the rotation list).

still on the to-do:

-configure/test armagetronAD
-configure/test cube2/sauerbraten
-enable/test voting on urban terror

it’s open to anyone who wants to play! i encourage you to stop by and check it out. connection details are in the topic for the ##club-games channel on freenode.

all the games are free in cost at the very least, and most are fully open-source as well. all have linux ports, all have windows ports as well, and most have mac ports also.

linux and other tech stuff is gonna be on this’un, and personal life will be at blogspot.

obviously, the other one will probably get more frequent posts.

today is spring cleaning day!

except it isn’t spring. but i AM cleaning the apartment in preparation for a certain (insert long string of positive adjectives here) lady friend of mine’s visit.

and doing homework.

and laundry.

HUZZAH FOR GTD!

…whatever happened to me updating at the very LEAST twice a week?

yeah. sorry about that. things got a little hectic.

but i’m taking the time to update!

so here’s what’s new:

-new job! i now work at ACE Technology Group in Malvern, PA. it’s an hour-long commute from me, but that’s okay. i’ll move closer once i’m salary instead of contract (3 months).

-new girl! she’s fantastic, beautiful, sweet, kind, loving, cuddly, adorable, quite short, quite attractive, and loves jesus. still have no idea how i managed to pull this one off, but i’m absolutely smitten. even just thinking about her makes me all sorts of giddy and other kinds of non-masculine things.

-it’s really cold. and i hate cold weather.

that’s it, in a very oversimplified nutshell.

i woke and found eyes staring at me- one thousand million eyes watching my every move in the dark. i could almost feel smiles behind those eyes, just as you know when a cat is smiling at you when all you see is the dual full-moon reflections staring back at you, wide as dinner plates and as wild as a desperate man.

“i see you. i always have.”

and you don’t even need to say it, i can look into those headlights and as i freeze as the deer does moments before the collision, i recognize a small reflection of myself in you.

and i welcome the collision.

and i am nocturnal again. i stay awake until 430am simply because i can, and not for any other reason. i spend hours in my head writing and typing out what i want to mail to you.

i am writing you one million love letters in the cellar of my heart…

i am suffering from insomnia, and i do certainly and jealously wish you were as well so i can call at three am and ask you about your day and night, and you will read to me to help me sleep. i will softly hum songs to you from four hours away to help you sleep.

i am not blind;
i can see the eyes.

(sorry for the messy formatting. maybe i’ll clean it up some other time. VERY text-heavy, but has a LOT of good info in it.)

_______________________________________________

“How about security, firewall and antivirus? I don’t know anything about how that works on Linux, other than that it’s said to be a safer, more stable system etc.”

(someone replied)

Security wise, Linux is more secure (debatable) because there are not a bunch of people targeting the system (debatable, too). Either way, your security needs are covered via system updates, where you only need to keep an eye for security updates. Thats it. The firewall (a must in most environments) can be installed for free via a simple update, and so is the anti virus (Kaspersky makes one, but haven’t tried it yet).

(my reply)  :

security: like (above) said, it’s secure out-of-the-box. when a security hole is found, it’s fixed ASAP- no matter what the possible threat level (a model M$ could learn from; they “prioritize” their threats. takes on average about a week for a very serious security hole to be addressed whereas more minor exploits may never be addressed).

another reason it’s more secure is not necessarily because it’s less targeted but rather the inherent design of the system- it runs in “layers” (the windowing/graphics system is separate from the system kernel” whereas in windows, it’s all intergrown together (in other words, a security exploit present in the windowing/graphics system can potentially provide a route for a hacker to set up a rootkit).
also, aside from layering, linux has right from the beginning been focused on multi-user security/functionality. it’s been designed ground-up with this in mind. multi-user protocol hasn’t really been implemented in windows since NT, and it does a shady job at best implementing (such as the default user running with administrator rights? uh. what?).

firewall: there isn’t exactly a “firewall” as you’re probably familiar with it. rather, the system default is unless specified, a port is not active. you just need to edit a config file to allow/disallow custom ports to listen in (but usually you can also configure this in the service’s configuration itself. like MANY things in linux, there’s multiple ways to do things)

antivirus: there are AV scanners for linux (and IDS as well). clamav and avg free come to mind. however, these are usually not needed at all- it’s a myth that there’s no such thing as a linux virus. i think seven or so have been developed. however, as i mentioned above in reference to multi-user and layering, the virii can’t propogate and infect the rest of the computer and thus, won’t propogate and thus, you don’t contract them. in order to successfully infect a linux machine, you’d have to know WHERE to get a specific virus, and execute it from the commandline (which is something most users aren’t comfortable with anyways). so ironically, the MORE you know about linux, the easier it is to infect a linux install. not the other way around, as with windows.

________________________________________________

“The more I look at this, the more I think that the gOS is for low-income users who cannot afford anything else, and would already be shopping at WalMart. But the article suggests that this would work for a basic machine for grandparents and kids. I agree with you that this would not work. Facebook and Google are already slow on a normal system. This idea is strictly for low-income families and this article stinks of marketing propaganda.”

(my response)

facebook and google are slow on which system? linux and windows handle threading differently. 512mb is PLENTY enough RAM for surfing the ‘net, no matter what site, because the enlightenment window manager (the thing that uses up the most RAM) still uses much less RAM than WinXP windowing (i have a workstation that only has 128 and it still works just fine). or even Aqua windowing on Mac, i’d venture. there’s also the swap partition which, although slower transfer than RAM, still helps a good deal with caching of internet sites, caching libraries, etc. in this way, you can browse the internet quite comfortably on a system with only 64mb of RAM with damnsmall Linux. don’t expect miracles, but as far as checking e-mail and news sites and just generally surfing the web, it’s enough.

don’t expect to run Half-Life 2 with the res and detail turned all the way up on this baby, but if you run an internet cafe, this is the perfect machine.

you can shove 4gb RAM in a box and it still won’t make your internet faster. the box itself just needs to be fast enough to HANDLE the browsing. and this hardware certainly does. not many people still use dial-up but those that do are, i’m sure, aware that their internet is going to be slow and will simply be patient. broadband is NOT that expensive, and i say that as a full-time student.

and don’t accuse an article of propaganda in this case without having a deep understanding of technology across the board; it’s like calling the kettle black. would you trust a schizophrenic derelict on a streetcorner at midnight to give you cancer prevention advice? i wouldn’t. in the same vein, you need to really understand the way both OS (as well as network protocol, etc.) work before criticizing and making assumptions. if you are interested in learning more, i’ll be glad to point you towards excellent educational resources.

not trying to be a jerk or anything, i just want to make sure you have your facts straight. linux suffers enough FUD, mudslinging, and propaganda from Micro$oft; we don’t need any more.

__________________________________________________

(in reference to software management)

when you install software in windows (and yeah, macs), you download an installer/binary from the project’s website (or torrent it, or run it from CD, whatever). you then run that file which usually installs the software (sometimes it’s a standalone binary or “executable”).

with linux, you have something called “repositories”- these are servers or clusters of servers hosting software (both binaries AND source code, usually)- it is also possible to put repositories on CD/DVD/local server (although HIGHLY not recommended due to slower access to updates, decreased security, etc.).
when you want to install something, you use an interface (called a “packaging tool”) either with or without a GUI front end (in ubuntu and DEB-based distros, aptitude/apt-get is the frontend to repository access and synaptic is one of the GUI frontends to aptitude). usually in repositories, there are THOUSANDS upon thousands of software, libraries (“dll files” for you windows users), etc. ALL which have been rigorously tested and tested again for security holes, memory leaks, etc. and then tested again, and so on so forth (and depending on which branch you choose- for example, stable vs. testing- you can have certain tradeoffs. more recent cutting-edge releases at the expense of stability, and vice versa).

(there are, of course, exceptions- sometimes a smalltime project isn’t in repositories yet, or refuse to be included in repositories, etc. in this case, they usually have a pre-compiled binary you can run, an “installer”(which utilizes the distro’s packaging tool), or the source code (and compiling from source is about as hard as unzipping a file as long as the makefile’s configured correctly- and it usually is. if it isn’t, there’s ample documentation on compiling on the project’s site).

what it all comes down to, in comparison for windows users, is this:
imagine your control panel listing not only what you DO have installed but what software you COULD install (as well as a checkbox and “apply” button to install it). no more going to google to find the software company’s webpage to download the installer to only find out you’re missing a certain library- SO! off to google again to download the dll you’re missing, etc.

the advantages to this method are numerous- free software at one command/one select of a checkbox, a list you can scroll through/search through for software you need to accomplish a certain feat/goal (repositories are indexed, cross-referenced, etc.), AUTOMATIC UPDATING WITH ONE CLICK/COMMAND (both windows and mac lacks in this area), increased security (when you install from a repo, you KNOW the software is what it says it is and not some malevolent backdoor/trojan. that is why virii propogation has not occurred in linux- even though it is possible to write virii for linux that do VERY limited damage (due to the multi-user internals), it doesn’t propagate because the only people who would GET virii are the ones who wouldn’t be installing from source (aka “grandma and grandpa” users).

__________________________________________________

“I can’t imagine that a Linux PC is ready for the unwashed masses.

Can anyone imagine walking your parents through how to untar and ungzip an application and install it? For that matter what if they have to “make”? LOL!

Computers are getting harder to use for people like this, not easier. What is truly needed for people like my parents is a computer that provides IN YOUR FACE step-by-step instructions for EVERYTHING and a dead simple interface with 3 or 4 giant icons to mash like – EMAIL, INTERNET, PHOTOS, DOCUMENTS, etc.

Oh, and a built in – always on – vnc server so I can fix everything remotely when they inevitable screw it all up. “

(my response)

a couple things i have problems with regarding your assessment.
-you’re making assumptions that they’ll need to install from source- if a distro’s repos are set up properly, they won’t (unless they’re hardcore geeks and do coding, penetration testing, database administration, reverse engineering, hardware reconfiguration… my parents don’t do any of these. do yours? if it’s THAT hard for them, you can always SSH in. or give them a bash script to run.
-which is harder? “Administration > System > Synaptic, select Firefox, select Apply” (ubuntu users, correct me if i’m wrong. doing it from memory) or “url:www.getfirefox.com, click Download, save installer (or run… but that takes forever) run installer, etc.” i’d prefer the former. i think linux is MUCH more newbie-friendly.
-as for “step-by-step documentation for EVERYTHING”… it does not and will never exist. on ANY os. gnome and ubuntu have help documentation, just as windows does. openoffice has help documentation just as m$office does. however, and here’s the problem, PROBLEMS WILL ARISE INEVITABLY. they will any OS, no matter what. the normal user, NO MATTER WHAT OPERATING SYSTEM, will have no clue what to do. this is where the service industry comes in- you pay for support. you can always find it free online, too.
-as for your always-on built-in VNC server, i have a couple problems with that.
1. vnc is a proven insecure protocol. nomachine or VNC over SSH tunneling would be better.
2. most distros have VNC installed out of the box, already. the service (the thing that lets people connect), however, usually isn’t turned on by default. this is a security precaution, done intentionally, and is a trivial matter to turn on. same reason when you install windows, it doesn’t have Remote Desktop turned on by default. security hazard.
3. if your parents (as in your model) have a NAT router (as they should), vnc WON’T work out of the box unless you’re on their subnet. you’d still need to set up port forwarding. there are ways around this such as NAT repeaters, but that’s a different subject.

occasionally we’ll talk about politics. well, he’ll talk about them. i prefer not to because it usually only ends in argument or judgment, etc. because people seem to think that your character should be entirely based upon your ideas of political guidance and so forth.

well, over the past two days it really hit the fan.

a bit of background. i’m a bit closer to the “liberal” political spectrum (i’m a pacifist, i support civil rights and liberties, etc.) and he’s a bit more republican (extremist conservative, in some cases). so we don’t always agree (that’s not even the issue; i don’t care if we disagree. he does).

conversation (paraphrased, because my memory is horrible) goes as follows:

B: so you think that war is wrong?

me: this war? yes. absolutely.

(we talk some more about it, etc.)

B: so i’ve got a question for you, then.

me: shoot.

B: if you had the chance to “take out” (his actual words. it’s murder, B. not “killing”- murder) someone you know was going to kill a million people, would you do it?

me: (long story short, i say no. summation: it’s impossible to know for sure that he would do such a thing. military intelligence is able to lie and be manipulated, and i am not able to know the heart of another human so it’s not my right to place judgment. more on this at the end)

B: really? what about when you stand in front of G-d and He asks you, “why did you let those people die?”

me: i’m not worried. i didn’t “let them die;” i never killed them. i’m not responsible for them. also, G-d knows my heart, He knows i didn’t want them to die.

B: i’m sorry, that’s just immoral, and evil, etc. and-

me: yeah. okay, goodnight.

i had to just walk away. because he wasn’t going to listen. he wanted me to agree with him; he was trying to trap me in some logic snare. but that’s the thing- it’s true. G-d doesn’t care about what we do, He cares about why we do them. i know you can turn this into a case of support for capital punishment and so forth, but there are problems with doing that (in the case of capital punishment, for instance, it’s got a commandment against it… not to mention Christ preached on pacifism and loving thy neighbour. and throwing someone in a chair and electrocuting them is not loving them, no matter how you spin it).

so then today, he apologizes for calling me immoral because he knows i’m loving.

but he dives right back into it. he can’t just let it drop.

B: i’d save your life, man. if i had to kill someone to save your life, i’d do it.

me: i’d save your life, too, but…

B: but? would you kill someone to save me? would you kill someone to save K (his 2?yr old daughter)?

me: you can’t put it like that. the chances of that happening are not existent. it’s not gonna come down to me mono-a-mono some axe-wielding maniac.

B: but you wouldn’t take him out?

me: no, i wouldn’t. because you don’t need to kill someone to incapacitate someone. i’m all for restraining him, but i wouldn’t kill the guy.

B: you would let my daughter get hacked up by some maniac?

me: no. i wouldn’t hand K to the guy and be like, “here! whack away!”

B: wow. man, i thought you were better than that.

(see? not listening to what i say.)

i kept trying to tell him maybe this p.o.v. will change when I’M a father, maybe it won’t. he just can’t respect that other people have different valid opinions, i think. also, i think he’s slightly racist, or biased, or something. there’s some underlying hate issues here that he’s not really acknowledging; he’s making and taking it all too personal.

i just hope he doesn’t get possessed. “no guys, it’s totally okay! you can take him out with a clean headshot, don’t even bother with an exorcism! let’s solve our problems by murder!” no. sorry.

he called me idealistic and naive.

WHAT IS FUCKING WRONG WITH THAT? why should i give into what the world wants me to feel, to think? why should i compromise what’s been laid on my heart, why should i deny others love, simply because other people are doing so? that’s motherfucking stupid. i’m sorry, the thought that i need to start giving in to some bullshit political system and some false indoctrinated religion and some fucked-up sense of selfishness just makes me angry. (you’re right, B. i’m pretty sure you aren’t reading, but i WAS getting mad. i wasn’t there yet, but that is why i left. you need to LISTEN. conversation is a two-way street, and your turning a discussion into an argument because i disagree is really unnecessary.)

Christ could have murdered the man that Legion possessed. but He didn’t. He had mercy and tried to (and did) REMEDY THE PROBLEM, not take the “easy” way out.

i just think his faith is weak and he’s cynical (funny, usually i seem to be the cynic because in a prev. discussion we had, i don’t trust people as easily. i still think you shouldn’t trust everyone completely right off the bat; that’s not trust). i can understand that, he’s been through a lot.

but he places too much focus on his family. i think he makes his family an idol.

“what? such heresy, brent!” you might say. no, it’s true!

B brings up the OT (that’s Old Testament for you non-xians) an awful lot as support for “killing” (murdering) others. but conveniently, he does not reconcile the story of Abraham and Isaac- when a boy’s OWN FATHER is commanded to murder his son as a sacrifice (it wouldn’t really be a sacrifice if it wasn’t murder, technically; all sacrifices need suffering. that’s why we call things sacrifices today- they cause us to suffer for a greater good).

and i don’t just have the OT on my side on this one. he also forgets the New Testament’s Luke 14:26-33(NIV) (emphasis added)! these are the words of Christ!

26“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

28“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’

31“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

WOW! that’s pretty powerful stuff! we should never abandon G-d’s encouragement of purity and Christ’s teachings of love, not even for vengeance (for what IS our own sense of “justice”? it’s pretty fucked up; we, as human beings, are very imperfect so we cannot ever rely on our internal sense of “humane-ness” or what’s important to us- we need to rely on what Christ has shown us).

(note: i’d love any and all of you to leave feedback. even if you disagree with me; that’s okay! i’m curious to hear what you think/feel and why you do, whether you agree with me or not! leave a comment!)

when that finishes, i’m going to:

1. partition it into a ~345gb partition and a ~405gb partition
2. set up ext3 filesystems on both
3. GNU ddrescue the old dying data drive into an image file on the 405gb partition
4. mount the image file as a loopback device, and copy what i can to a 160gb hdd i had lying around. once i get the image’s contents down to ~320gb, i’ll copy the rest to the 345gb partition.
5. use GPartEd to delete the second partition and grow the 345gb partition to the whole drive.

here’s hoping it works with no hitches.

EDIT:
venting and frustration below. not for young eyes.

SON OF A BITCH.

the drive won’t even boot, not even after i kept it in the freezer. it spins up but i’m pretty sure the electronics controller board is fried (dear B: don’t ever let the power fluctuate down here again. if you do, give me a UPS plz. thx.).

so here’s the new game plan.

1. RMA a new drive to come with hopefully the same controller board. if it matches, swell. if not, i shell out ANOTHER ~$100 for ANOTHER drive. i hate you and your non-returnable RMA’s, Western Digital.
2. also if not, i need to send it out to a data recovery place (SIGH). this is getting expensive. don’t ever, EVER let anyone EVER tell you that redundancy and back up are not worth it. they are.

any recommendations?

i’ve always felt so-so about the Futureheads. they had that dime-a-dozen britpop post-punk sound to them. while i generally do enjoy those sort of artists, they can grow a bit tiresome when they all begin to sound like one another.

enter the Futureheads’ cover of Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love”..

i’m a mediocre Kate Bush fan. i’m not about to skin people alive for tickets to one of her concerts, but i am able to listen to her for quite a while if i’m in a certain mood.

that all being said, this cover gripped me.

there is a rather cute music video on youtube here, as well as the original. i prefer the former. there’s urgency and confession there. the new context of the lyrics is something i can relate to well, i think.

lyrics:

“Hounds of Love” – the Futureheads (orig. by Kate Bush)

when i was a child running in the night,
i was afraid of what might be
hiding in the dark and hiding on the street,
and of what was following me.

do you know what I need,
do you know what I need?
i need love!
take your shoes off
and throw them in the lake,
and i will be
two steps on the water.
do you know what i need,
do you know what I need?
i need love!
do you know what I need,
do you know what I need?
i need love!

after knowing it was coming for ages and still not backing up, it finally happened.

my data drive is dead. dying, rather.

so, being the conscientious techie i am, i took it out (my OS drive still works fine) and have it resting on a shelf. i ordered a replacement (a lovely 750 GB beast from seagate). i plan on doing a dd_rescue to see what i can get from it. maybe i can also get a RMA from WD for a new 400gb. i’d like to RAID the drives but to do that, i need a larger case ($$) and another 750 gb ($$$).

i desperately need a job. it’s frustrating that i’ve only gotten two interviews after sending out about 16 of my resumes.