BunkBlog

Yet another new store with a simple design.
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From a review of Red Hat 8, the mildly off-topic quote which follows really amused me.

I do not like the idea that my government has enacted a law that turns me into a criminal for watching on my own computer a movie I paid for unless I do so using an operating system that same government acknowledges as an illegal monopoly (note that I’m not bashing Microsoft, just pointing out the absurdity of criminalizing me if I choose for moral reasons not to support a criminal corporation).

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Grabbed the trailer, having fun. Expect a couple more tomorrow.

Pretty cool, eh? If you want it, use it.
current_music: Lisa Loeb – Everyday
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I find it amusing that half the feature articles written in Windows-oriented computer magazines can be summed up with the line, “How to make Windows stop doing stupid shit and behave like a normal person would expect it to.”

Wonder why the vaunted Microsoft usability studies never pick up on these things.
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Ever get something in your head that you must exorcise?

In a silly conversation in which Kristy smacked me around, I remembered the quote, “Fresno? Nobody goes to Fresno anymore!” But now I can’t find the source for the quote. It was a movie or song from the mid-80s, and I’ve found two references to people quoting it via Google, but no source document.

ARGH! Does anyone remember where that came from? Was it “Valley Girl” or what?

Update – it was from Airplane.
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pointed out this wonderfully inane petition. Here’s one of my favorite quotes from one of the petitioners:

i pray every day that mr jackson will see the light and pull the plug on this project. Mr Tolkien if that is his indead his real name does not seem to be a very christian person to be so cynically cashing in on this tragedy.

Yeah, Tolkien is so cynical and taking advantage of a tragedy, 29 years after he died. He was a freakin’ psychic, apparently, who knew that his 1954 book would be made into a movie a year after two towers were destroyed in a terrorist bombing using technology that didn’t even exist when he wrote the book.

The majority of the folks who signed that petition in support have no grasp of English, much less of literature. Astounding how clueless folks can be.
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Man booby-traps his house, then triggers the traps.

Ah, Darwin…

Woman kisses man on forehead, could be sentenced to 74 lashes.

But Islamic laws are not in any way bizarre or anachronistic.

Man robs bank at the drivethru. Teller gives him money.
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I’m spending weekends up in Tucson now, in case you were wondering about email pauses.

But, I do have new pictures up. New Alex photos, some from the park up here that he enjoys running around.

Life is good, although I hate watching so many of my coworkers looking at layoff notices and scrambling to find jobs. I’ve got to get out of the government-support nonsense. No private citizen can get away with not paying his bills when they’re due, but the federal government breaks the due date for a budget every freakin’ year. Odd.
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And drum even.

1. What size shoe do you wear? 8 1/2 or 9
2. How many pairs of shoes do you own? 5
3. What type of shoe do you prefer (boots, sneakers, etc.)? Sneakers
4. Describe your favorite pair of shoes. Why are they your favorite? These ones, because they are very comfortable, durable, and they’re so unusual I annoy boring people by wearing them.
5. What’s the most you’ve spent on one pair of shoes? I think combat boots were 80 bucks, and the blue shoes listed above were 75.

Thus ends another edition of the Friday Five. Have a good weekend.
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I’ve got mad userpic skillz, yo!

Using Fireworks, that userpic is composed of 4 objects. The background is a bitmap, the star in the corner is a symbol that can easily be swapped with any other picture or color in one step, the text is editable, the purple box is editable. Coolio, eh?

I’m proud of myself, I’ve only made two of those “translucent box” things before and I’ve got it down to a quick-and-easy template now.
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When I asked someone on an icon group today the simple question, “Why do you prefer program A over program B?” I got told off and never got an answer. I realize that it is impossible to see the usual non-verbal cues to intent online, but how about if we all assume that people are not trying to be offensive when a statement could go either way?

I attempt to broaden my knowledge by asking for some information, and I don’t receive the information, just attitude. I still don’t know why she prefers program A over program B. If her reasons made sense, I might go through the learning curve of playing with a new program. Since she is apparently unable to form a response other than, “I am used to it so stop bugging me” I have no reason to think she even has thought about why she uses the tools she uses. That’s the way we’ve always done it is a silly way to make decisions. But, then I have noticed a remarkable lack of self-analysis among most folks online. I mean, other than the ones who do nothing but navel-gaze. 🙂
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I’ve long given up on ever finding MTV playing music (wonder what the M stands for), but at least VH1 would play a good 1 or 2 hours of videos during their 24 hour day. Not any longer. They’ve replaced many of their usual music blocks with reruns of the Adam West version of Batman, and the Brady Bunch, and other crap TV from the late 60s and early 70s. This stuff was dreck in 1975, it’s dreck now. And, what is the relationship between these shows and a channel ostensibly devoted to playing Video Hits? I realize that their “Rerun Show” was a hit, but that doesn’t mean they need to replace the music with real reruns. Who is in charge of the logic behind cable programming?

Up next, the Home and Garden channel will play Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Animal Planet will play NASCAR races. Why let the viewers expect to find something on your station at all related to the name of the channel, anyway?
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What is up with this dress?

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Good thing I waited to buy the new Clie. There’s a newer one out soon. Anyone want to make my Christmas?
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Did you know that not all books pay royalties to their authors or estates? Public Domain is a great concept, in fact it is the default status for all works. Copyright is an artificial construct intended to encourage artists to publish their works, in exchange for a time-limited monopoly on copies. Gets the authors some money for their work, but the art is eventually free for all. When the USA was founded, copyright was set at 14 years, with an additional 14 year extension possible. Copyright now in the US is set at 70 years after the death of the author. Nuts, eh? How is giving his heirs a monopoly going to encourage the author to produce more work after he’s dead? The logic behind copyright is completely twisted by post-mortem rights, especially on the order of 2 generations.

Anyway, I’ve gotten up to 1995 in downloading the Gutenberg Project, and now I see this new thing. It’s a bookmobile that doesn’t loan books, it gives them out. That’s right, the books cost about one buck each, all nicely bound and laser-printed. The catch – the books are all public domain, which is the only way to afford giving them away, and led to my opening rant. Ta

So my December trip to Florida is now in November, and the October trip to Hawaii is now in December. Wonder what will change next?

So, anyone in the Jacksonville area have any suggestions for 14-15 November activities?
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Computer reviewers should really know of what they speak before writing an article as an expert in the field. From an article on Lindows:

The KDE desktop looks and feels like Windows, with a few exceptions. You have to double-click an icon on the desktop to get it to open, but only single-click an icon in the toolbar to get the same result.

Now, forgive me if I’m dense, but on the equivalent of the “toolbar” in Windows, the Quicklaunch Toolbar, do you single-click or double-click? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
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1. What are your favorite ways to relax and unwind? Read, play simplistic video games.
2. What do you do the moment you get home from work? Look at the answering machine, hit CTRL-E to download email.
3. What are your favorite aromatherapeutic smells? NONE of them.
4. Do you feel more relaxed with a group of friends or hanging out by yourself? Alone, more often than not.
5. What is something that you feel is relaxing but most people don’t? Can’t think of anything. Some people don’t find making graphics relaxing, but they don’t count.

What is up with question #3? That doesn’t fit at all!
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Is that really the guy from “Men At Work” in there?
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Why can I barely break 70,000 on Big Money for Windows, but I can reliably hit 150,000 on Big Money for Palm? I’d think the scoring and difficulty would be comparable…

Can you tell my job is not too challenging at times? It’s like being back in the army – long stretches of boredom punctuated by short periods of panic. Management by Panic, suppose that’s a term yet?
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