Manny Larson

Star Trek kitten joke

2012-01-21T13:58:00.001-06:00

Did that little black dog steal my gift again!

2012-01-21T13:54:00.002-06:00

A new Vietnamese restaurant !!!

2011-10-09T09:12:00.001-05:00

Saigon Cafe, Temple, TX

RED SHIRTS

2011-10-08T23:26:00.001-05:00

Black gun and dog

2010-10-23T22:01:00.003-05:00

I am your Texas flag!

2010-07-29T09:02:00.000-05:00

I am your Texas flag!

I was born January 25, 1839.

I am one of only two flags of an American state that has also served as the symbol of an independent nation--The Republic of Texas.

While you may honor me in retirement, the spirit I represent will never retire!

I represent the spirit of Texas--Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow!

I represent the bravery of the Alamo and the Victory at San Jacinto.

My spirit rode with the Texas Rangers over the Forts Trail of the Big Country and herded cattle through the Fort Worth stockyards. I have sailed up Galveston Bay and kept a watchful eye over our El Paso del Norte.

My colors are in the waters of the Red River and in the Bluebonnets of the Texas Hill Country.

You'll find my spirit at the Light House of Palo Duro and in the sands of Padre Island;

I am in the space station at Houston and atop the oil wells of West Texas.

From the expanse of the Big Bend to the Riverwalk of San Antone--all of Texas is my home!

I wave over the cotton and grain fields of the High Plains, and I am deep in the rich soil of the Rio Grande Valley.

I am proudly displayed under the Capitol Dome, and I fly high above the concrete canyons of downtown Dallas.

You'll find my spirit in the East Texas piney woods and along the Grandeur of the Rio Grande.

I represent Texas--every Child, Woman, and Man!

The blue field in me stands for the valor of our ancestors in the battles for our country.

Let us retire the blue--Salute!

My white field stands for the purity in all our Texas hearts! It represents the honor that each of us should pay to our state each day.

Let us retire the white--Salute!

The red is for all of the men and women who have died in service of our state--whether as members of the armed services or as citizen Samaritans.

Let us retire the red--Salute!

My lone, independent star is recognized worldwide because it represents ALL of Texas and stands for our unity as one for God, State, and Country.

Let us retire the lone star--Salute!

Join in the pledge to the Texas flag:

"Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one and indivisible."

Center of all sci-fi

2010-06-29T14:18:00.002-05:00

Finally, got my Diploma…

2010-06-14T12:52:00.001-05:00

Kakashi's Team 7 is back!!!!

2010-03-02T10:39:00.003-06:00

Programmers Solving Problems for Future

2010-02-28T12:09:00.005-06:00

A young woman seeking her apotheosis, ages ago, opens a portal, and changes the destiny of society, as we know it. Now endow as the first computer programmer, this woman propose an analytical engine, to construe society problems and to make exquisite music for mass. She is the Countess of Lovelace, Ada Byron. Presently, society, as a whole, is profuse in Ada design. It has advanced the education systems, automated manufacturing, globalized media, and globalized commerce. This “system break” is still having profound changes in our society today and some of these metamorphosis are not good (Shane, 3). For this reason, programmers need to understand society problems and solve them for the future.

In conjunction with the institutions being wiring, our education system is vividly seeing the impact of Ada design (Holmes, 13). Institutions are now using programs and the Internet to facilitate training in hopes of attaining sound results in schooling. An Integrated Learning Systems (ILSs) is good paragon of these new program tools (Schofield, 217). ILSs are hardware-software solutions designed to deliver instructional content.

Nowadays, almost every textbook you purchase will have some kind of ILSs content; unless, you acquire a used textbook. In this case, undergraduate/graduate can buy the Internet access, without purchasing a new book, at your friendly neighborhood campus bookstore or at the textbook publishers’ Web site. To access this content, a publisher uses some kind of secured Internet Web portal. The portal site could have supplementary slides, glossaries, audio, video, and plenty of practice examinations.
Texas A&M University Central Texas (TAMUCT) business statistics class textbook uses a special ILSs called ALEKS . ALEKS acronym is:

• Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Space

ALEKS is a Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system. Students use ALEKS to execute the class requirements of homework, quiz, and exams. Professors use ALEKS to do the lecture and the roster. Essentially, ALEKS automates everything to include the grading. So, ILSs tools can be very beneficial for institutions.

Other useful tools institutions have access be computers, projectors, and internet access in classrooms. The use of these tools could produce sound results in schooling; however, it is “apparent that preexisting attitudes” are still a big problem (Schofield, 94). Some educationist and students will not take the time to learn how to use these tools that are available to them.

For example, there is a web site called Blackboard that could be use to post the class syllabus, to do the roster, post assignments, start group chats, and to communicate with the class outside of the classroom. Unfortunately, many institutions do not have it or prefer not to use it.

Likewise, lots institutions have projectors connected to computers; howbeit, they are not using them effectively. Utilizing these projectors as an electronic whiteboard would be a very smart move. Why squander school funds on markers and erasers for whiteboard usage? Electronic whiteboard could be use at institutions, and whiteboard usage done virtually is brilliant green politics to boot.

Another smart move is converting these electronic whiteboard notes as a Portable Document Format (PDF) and posting them on a school website or Blackboard for further study. All the same, we must keep in mind that the “digital computer is just a tool. As with a hammer, the benefits of using it depend on the scale of the user” be it students, professor, or Institution (Holmes, 45).

To adjudicate what is best for an academic, institutions need to be flexibility if they are incline to use these tools; they must receive appropriate training and support (Holmes, 100). Programmers will need to make sense of these problems of preexisting attitudes, training/support, and making the software easier to use. Now, the impact of Ada design has not of course been limited to the education system. We have robots invading our homes!

No, this is not some kind of Isaac Asimov science fiction novel. There is a bona fide Roomba clean the floor. The Roomba is nothing more than a robot. Robots are reprogrammable machines designed to move materials, parts, tools, or specific programming motions for the execution of range of everyday jobs (Shane, 28). The Roomba is an autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner made and sold by iRobot Corporation (http://www.irobot.com).

Moreover, this corporation name comes from the classic novel called “I, Robot,” which is a collection of nine science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov. Now, the iRobot Corporation’s Roomba automates the job of cleaning the floor. Under normal operating environment, this robot is able to plot a course in a living space and avoid obstacles while vacuuming your floor. For the robot to perform its job, a programmer had to solve the problem of plotting a course for the Roomba to clean the floor properly. Haphazardly, programmers have given foundation to Isaac Asimov vision; yet, they are not abiding to Isaac Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotic:” (Shane, 28)

1. A Robot shall not injure a human being.
2. A Robot must obey humans unless their order conflicts with 1.
3. A Robot must protect itself as long as its action does not violate 1 or 2.

Isaac Asimov’s three laws adhere to Ada design; however, programmers are automating war machine.

Right now, robots are now substitute human soldiers in dangerous missions, like searching tunnels and caves for terrorists, saving wounded soldiers, intelligence work on enemies and even slaughtering humans. In Iraq, robots have defused over 10,000 roadside bombs, which are responsible for 40% of U.S. casualties there. In the past, other robots were not so shocking.

In the late 1960, a “new industrial revolution” happens in the automotive industries. This revolution brings about assemble-lines that are safer, cheaper, faster, and a more advance automotive industries (Shane, 29). These robots followed Isaac Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotic” word for word.

Presently, Ada design is not so divine anymore. It now comes in many shocking shades of gray. Not all robots are as alarming as the automated war machine. Some have contributed to the good of society; however, a few robots do have a Cimmerian side. The issues of programming ethics will have to grasp by programmers. Another consequence of Ada design is observe in the globalization of “the media” (Shane, 36).

In a flash, a media explosion is appear across the world! It has resulted in more information being more quickly gathered, more carefully process, more rapidly distribute, more overwhelmingly difficult to combine (Pylyshyn, 399-400). This media explosion is the Internet. The Internet is a worldwide system of interconnected computer systems that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (commonly known as TCP/IP) to serve billions of users globally. The Internet is a network of networks that consists of millions of individual, community, academic, business, and government networks of local to the global expanse. This network of networks is connected by an array of electronic/optical networking expertise, and is a very handy tool in the development of a research paper.

Researchers’ acquiescence of the Internet has not diminished their purpose, but in fact, has ameliorated their reasoning by adding more credibility. The difficulty of researcher paper composition is lessened, and information is more rapidly gathered. This is in keeping to Ada design; however, there are always two sides to every coin. “Too Much Information” has overwhelmed society. “Man is severely limited in a number of data-processing functions. He can attend two very limited numbers of things at one time” (Pylyshyn, 366). An individual’s limited ability to process information will have to be contemplated by programmers. Global commerce and worldwide trade is another aspect globalization.

Electronic commerce (E-commerce) is what this commerce globalization is call. “E-commerce refers to performing any type of financial transactions online, such as paying the phone bill, ordering products or services, or buying and selling stock” (Morley, 81). This activity is termed business-to-consumer (B2C) transaction. Large companies like L.L. Bean, Dell computers, Wal-Mart, Macy’s, and Amazon.com can conduct business with consumers via their web sites. For this activity to work together, a programmer had to do the code. E-commerce has conferred to the advancement society; however, e-commerce has a nefarious side. Online fraud, credit card fraud, and identity theft are raising problems (Morley, 81). Programmers will need to take care of these snags too. More beneficent of this E-commerce is appreciated in entertainment business.

Because of the Internet, the procurement of entertainment is now a smoother process. The public can go to different online stores without leaving their abodes. They can purchase music by file compression software (Morley, 81), which is Ada Byron’s dream of exquisite music for masses. In addition to audio, the Internet has increased the demand of videos and TV rebroadcasting. The public can enjoy interactive TV (iTV) or video-on-demand (VOD) (Morley, 84-85). However, entertainment business now has the complications of piracy.

Piracy concerns are increasing because of the availability of pirated copies of books and movies on the Internet. One such site is The Pirate Bay (http://thepiratebay.org/). The public can go to this web site and download illegal copies of books and movies. As a result, programmers will need to address this problem too. More aspects globalization is online training and working.

Hanging out at school or go to work is so outdated. The public can do it all online thanks to the “Information Society” (Holmes, 253). They do not need to leave their homes; again, this is attributed to programmers. This Web-based training and working is termed: (Morley, 86-87)

o Distant Learning
o Telecommuting

All these are wonderful innovations, but they too have many glitches.
The notorious “digital divide” is one of these glitches (Holmes, 250). Poverty and inequality is still a very big problem for our society. The poor do not have access to computers. Another glitch is outsourcing. Outsourcing is jobs leave your country and go overseas, and to stay competitive, several companies have sent many jobs oversea.

All of this is good for e-commerce; however, this is bad news especially for American programmers who have to contend with oversea programmers whom have a much lower cost of living. The most significant glitch is the scale of terrorism as seen in September 11. This innovation made it possible. Ada design “built both of the towers and the plane that destroyed them” (Holmes, 253). Programmers will need to propose possible solutions for these misfortunes too.

Solving society problems has caused many new problems to arise. As society seeks to find its apotheosis, we need to turn Ada design for new solutions. Society has advanced the education systems, automated manufacturing, globalized media, and globalized commerce. However, we still have digital divide, and many new problems have arisen. We are still having profound changes in our society and some of these changes are contemptuous. For this reason, programmers will have to decipher our future problems - deo volente.

Work Cited
Holmes, W. Neville. Computers and People Essays from the Profession. New York: Wiley-IEEE Computer Society Pr, 2006.

Moore, Doris Langley. Ada, Countess of Lovelace Byron's legitimate daughter. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.

Morley, Deborah. Computers and technology in a changing society. Australia: Thomson/Course Technology, 2003.

Pylyshyn, Zenon W. Perspectives on the computer revolution. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1970.

Schofield, Janet Ward. Computers and classroom culture. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1995.
Shane, Harold Gray. Teaching and learning in a microelectronic age. Bloomington, Ind: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1987.

1 Internet. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan 26, 2010, from the Internet Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet

2 Integrated Learning Systems. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan 22, 2010, from the Integrated Learning Systems Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_Learning_Systems

3 TAMUCT - Course Number GB311-580

4 ALEKS - http://www.aleks.com/

5 Blackboard - http://online.tarleton.edu/Dual/DualLoginPage.htm

6 Green politics. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan 24, 2010, from the Green politics Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_politics

7 Portable Document Format. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan 24, 2010, from the Portable Document Format Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF_(Adobe)

8 Isaac Asimov. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan 24, 2010, from the Isaac Asimov Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov

9 Isaac Asimov. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan 24, 2010, from the Isaac Asimov Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov

10 Roomba. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan 24, 2010, from the Roomba Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roomba

11 The Ethical War Machine. (June 22, 2009). Retrieved Jan 26, 2010, from the Forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/18/military-robots-ethics-opinions-contributors-artificial-intelligence-09-patrick-lin.html

12 Internet Protocol Suite. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan 26, 2010, from the Internet Protocol Suite Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCP/IP

13 Lyrics from the band The Police - Too Much Information” http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/police/too+much+information_20110047.html

14 Business-to-business. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan 26, 2010, from the Business-to-business Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B2b

15 Interactive television. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan 27, 2010, from the interactive TV Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_TV

16 Video-on-demand. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan 27, 2010, from the Video-on-demand Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_on_demand

17 The Pirate Bay. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan 27, 2010, from the Video-on-demand Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Bay

18 Online and offline. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan 30, 2010, from the Online and offline Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-line

19 September 11. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan 30, 2010, from the Online and offline Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-line

20 Latin – “God being willing”

China Town Market in Austin

2010-02-24T13:46:00.004-06:00

Few years back in NM

2010-02-24T13:36:00.003-06:00

Dad's new/used Truck

2010-02-18T22:21:00.002-06:00

A prayer for Spring Term 2010

2009-12-19T21:05:00.002-06:00

HAIL, and blessed be the hour and moment
At which the Son of God was born
Of a most pure Virgin
At a stable at midnight in Bethlehem
In the piercing cold
At that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee,
To hear my prayers and grant my desires
And to finished Spring Term 2010!

Through Jesus Christ and His most Blessed Mother.

Linda's trip to Vietnam

2009-11-15T18:21:00.005-06:00

JUBI - the ten tail beast

2009-10-09T13:23:00.001-05:00

Sakuke uses the the Third Powers SUSANOO!

2009-09-20T12:43:00.002-05:00

No Agenda

2009-08-24T13:32:00.000-05:00

http://cagematch.dvorak.org/index.php/board,45.0.html

Sakuke & Raikage fight!!!

2009-08-21T17:46:00.002-05:00

Ninja cat II

2009-07-19T22:09:00.001-05:00

Ninja cat

2009-07-19T22:05:00.001-05:00

Is that my Dad?

2009-07-03T10:14:00.002-05:00

Emily & Lonnie have become husband and wife in legal ceremony

2009-06-05T19:55:00.007-05:00

kakashi Lives!!!

2009-06-03T13:41:00.002-05:00

No! I didn't get any flowers!

2009-05-10T10:29:00.002-05:00

Opinion: IT can suffer from its own broken window effect

2009-04-29T22:16:00.002-05:00

Overview

In this article “Opinion: IT can suffer from its own broken window effect” by John D. Halamka, IT professionals learn about the effects of inattention of IT organization’s networks. The journalist use parallelism to make his case and to bring clarity to his idea. The relation that is use is “broken windows effect.” This is an “involving a process” that gradually transforms a handsome white picket fence neighborhood into violent, neglected and unsafe areas that no one wants to live. It becomes a place where people encompass the same old attitude of inattention and the property value of the neighborhood diminishes. This effect of inattention does not happen overnight. The transformation is very gradual and for the most part unseen. This effect of inattention can creep into a network, and if not fixed, this type of apprehension will increase and further degrade an IT organization’s networks. Mr. Halamka proposes a “zero-tolerance attitude” to fix the attitude of inattention by staying on your guard for the “broken window effect,” keeping the IT professionals engaged, and promoting the renewal of outstanding attitude in the IT.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=334270

Pat's new wall

2009-04-29T22:08:00.005-05:00

Oh no! I'm going down!

2009-03-27T19:47:00.001-05:00

Naruto finds the real Pain!

2009-03-27T19:39:00.002-05:00

Wisdom of Dune

2009-02-03T11:05:00.001-06:00

The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand.

The function of science fiction is not always to predict the future but sometimes to prevent it.

The people I distrust most are those who want to improve our lives but have only one course of action.

Humans live best when each has his place, when each knows where he belongs in the scheme of things. Destroy the place and destroy the person.

The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.

There is no escape - we pay for the violence of our ancestors

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

Don’t bother me, I’m busy!

2009-01-27T13:32:00.002-06:00

Don't eat me!

2009-01-23T19:57:00.002-06:00

Naruto kicking Pain Butt!!! (432)

2009-01-23T19:54:00.001-06:00

Naruto Returns!!!

2008-12-31T09:53:00.001-06:00

Where's the milk?

2008-12-21T00:31:00.002-06:00

Naruto finds out about Kosuke the frog...

2008-12-19T15:56:00.001-06:00

Lonnie earns his BA!

2008-12-18T10:13:00.006-06:00

~ RASENGAN ~

2008-12-12T11:21:00.002-06:00

Hmmmmm....

2008-12-05T15:55:00.001-06:00

It is so good...

2008-12-05T09:37:00.001-06:00

Bad Cat!!

2008-12-05T09:34:00.001-06:00

Bad, Dog...

2008-11-30T23:25:00.002-06:00

Konohamarukun is going to fight PAIN!!!

2008-11-27T20:18:00.001-06:00

Is Kakashi Dead or alive!!! (Nothing in 425 & 426)

Kakashi Dead or alive!?!

2008-11-15T17:19:00.002-06:00

kakashi is still fighting Pain!

2008-10-27T22:32:00.002-05:00

Do not bother me; I'm sleeping through this election!

2008-10-23T13:41:00.001-05:00

Danzo Strikes!!!

2008-10-18T00:07:00.002-05:00

"Oh," cried Little Cat, "the sky is falling."

2008-10-11T18:41:00.004-05:00

A.I.G. to Get Additional $37.8 Billion - NYTimes.com

Pain is here!

2008-10-10T11:30:00.001-05:00

McCain-Palin 2008

2008-10-03T17:50:00.001-05:00

McCain, McCain, He's Our Man, If He Can't Do It, No One Can.

DS Cat

2008-10-03T14:49:00.002-05:00

Cover letter

2008-09-30T11:14:00.001-05:00

September 30, 2008

Hiring Agent Name
Title
What Company
123 Commerce Street
Dallas, TX 12345

Dear Mr. Hiring Agent:

This communication is in response to an opening for a “__JOB__” being publicized by your firm. As an accomplished supervisor in the technical field of Telecommunications, my duties and responsibilities include project administration, inventory scrutiny, installation, quality inspection, testing, O/M (operation/maintenance), and problem solving.

Skills you may wish to note:

o Leadership - extensive experience in building strong technical teams and inspiring teams to reach established company goals; make sound decisions that focus on the company’s mission; has solid reputation for fairness

o Project Administration - prepared and disseminated work schedules, abide by vendors’ operational procedures, instruct and evaluate the performance of subcontractor

o Time Management - steadily achieved every projects’ anticipated time objectives and meet budget deadlines without sacrificing the quality of work specifications required by vendors to confer job completion

o Problem Solving - exceptional troubleshooter with finely honed analytical skills, broad technical knowledge and practical experience. Frequently requested by colleagues to assist on difficult projects

This experience and diligent work behavior will contribute to the success of your organization. Look forward to speaking with you about your current needs. Please contact me at your convenience, through the above telephone number or e-mail address.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Very truly yours,

___YOUR_NAME___

Sage Mode!

2008-09-30T11:13:00.002-05:00

Sum of Two Integers

2008-09-29T12:30:00.002-05:00

Newbies: 7 Useful Ubuntu Linux Tips

2008-09-19T19:23:00.000-05:00

In this article we're going to look at 7 useful tips to make your Ubuntu experience even better. This is particularly aimed at newbies, and shows you step by step how to tweak Ubuntu with some must have extras.

http://blogs.howtogeek.com/tuxgeek/2008/09/13/newbies-7-useful-ubuntu-tips/

Danger!

2008-09-16T19:25:00.002-05:00

Ike!!!!

2008-09-16T17:54:00.001-05:00

Please, Global Warming, can I at least have this?

2008-09-12T22:22:00.002-05:00

What's going on?

2008-09-12T00:47:00.000-05:00

Tio comes home to NM

2008-08-31T18:58:00.003-05:00

Coco's day in Trujillo

2008-08-23T09:22:00.004-05:00

That is when .... I ATTACK!

2008-08-20T18:56:00.002-05:00

If Jobs says "people don't read anymore," does this headline really exist?

2008-07-30T18:03:00.001-05:00

by Ryan Block, posted Jan 16th 2008 at 3:06PM

Jobs to NYT on Kindle: "It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don't read anymore." Yes, it's true, the only books Steve thinks we need are MacBooks.

Irony: You're reading right now.

Further irony: You're probably not reading Engadget on a Kindle (at least not through its regular RSS reader).

Is this like geeky Koan or something? Does this mean Engadget doesn't exist? Either way, we get his point. It's a damn shame fewer people aren't reading real books.

Buy Nokia 6301: the Need of the Hour

2008-07-26T16:50:00.002-05:00

Author: Austin David

Today technology has entirely changed the life. Mobile phones are one of its byproduct and have become compulsory for us in this fast moving time. Nokia 6301 is a new outcome from the Nokia’s kit. It has stylish look as well as well organized features which are simple to use and quite durable.

Hence, buy Nokia 6301 to take the full advantages of latest technology in your hand. Nokia 6301 is very innovative in its looks as it comes in a stainless steel frame and sports a hand-hugging design. It offers the users to have seamless experience of voice and data mobility across GSM cellular and WLAN networks via UMA technology. UMA technology and worldwide Tri- band GSM coverage have made the excellent coverage both at office and in home. Its 2 inch QVGA screen enchants the users in using the handset to a major extent. It is ready to float in your hand or pocket with its light weight of 93g. Its TFT screen displays 16M colours with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels.

Buy Nokia 6301 for taking everlasting experience with its 2 Mega-pixel digital camera. The 8 x digital zoom and full screen viewfinder makes the camera wonderful to a common user of mobile phones. It also supports resolution of up to 1600 x 1200 pixels. Its 30 MB of internal memory is expandable through microSD card support and it allows you to store a wide range of your memories as well as important data and even you can share them with your friends.

If you want voice dialing, copy voice commands and video recording in your handset then you simply need to buy Nokia 6301, as it is the single device but capable to fulfill your requirements. You can buy the handset through many plans provided by various retail online mobile shops. You can go with PAYG deal, PMMP deal and contract mobile phone deals according to your need and interest. This handset also allows you to listen to your favourite music as it has MP3 as well as FM Radio. Now you are capable to have entertainment whenever you need of it.

Beowulf's Vanquished Monsters

2008-07-20T22:39:00.012-05:00

How does anyone entertain themselves without cable TV or high-speed Internet? This was a major problem facing many people centuries ago. After a hard day of gathering food, people want to be entertained, and this was accomplished by the “Old English” heroic epic poem (Tolkien 41). A storyteller would stand before the crowd and tell marvelous tales by the use of these heroic epic poems. If you were a storyteller of any worth, he did not tell stories about Bob going up the hill to get a pail of water. You told tales that were bigger than life. The poet needed to have a hero, magic, and monsters to do this. In the poem of “Beowulf,” the readers are taken on an excursion of grandeur and needs to know if Beowulf would overcome his struggle against the evils of this world (Greenblatt 29-100)? In Beowulf, the poet demonstrates his skill by pitting the hero against three evil monsters Grendel, Grendel's mother, and 50 foot dragon that is virtually indestructible. All this was done to bestowed hefty honors onto hero named Beowulf; however, there would be no epic poem about Beowulf without monsters. The character Beowulf would not develop. The audience would lose interest and would forget. Hence, if there were no monsters to vanquish, there would be no “Beowulf.”

The first monster of the three monsters to face Beowulf was Grendel. Grendel was “a large, man-eating monster who lived in a swampy lake. He may be a kind of troll. He hated human joy and lived only to wage war against the Danes” (Stavor 24). What made Grendel very special was the devastation “for the space of twelve years” done by this “demon” (Token 83). “He had no difficulty killing and eating a man” (Stavor 30). Grendel was a very “fierce, evil monster” that needed to be killed (Stavor 34). This evil is notice in other kingdoms. It opens the door for a hero to come save the day, and if a monster needed to be killed, Beowulf would be summon because “fighting monsters is Beowulf specialty” (Stavor 101). Beowulf did have some experience killing sea monsters; however, he had never faced an evil like Grendel. Beowulf performs his duty, and Grendel is killed with his hands. The legend of Beowulf is born and is tested right away. Another monster is lurking in the woods, and it is Grendel’s mother.

The second of the three monsters is Grendel’s mother. The purpose of Grendel’s mother is to keep the substain elavation to the poem and grab hold of the readers once more. “Grendel’s mother, seeking vengeance for the death of her son, renews the attacks” (Tolkien 43). If Grendel’s mother did not arrive, Beowulf would have no reason to stay with the Danes. The legend would have disappeared; however, the evil has returned yet again, and this monster seems to be greater than the first. The mood of the poem is changing. Beowulf now has to enter into the “enemie's hall” (Stavor 75). This fight would not be won as easily as the first. When Beowulf slip, “Grendel’s mother does not play by the rules and puts a knife on to him” (Stavor 75). This monster uses weapons! Beowulf performs his duty for a second time; “he takes a” magical “sword from the wall and brings it down on her neck, beheading her” (Stavor 75). The readers cannot believe it. Beowulf wins, but by the use of this magical sword. The legend of Beowulf is enhanced because the robust Beowulf is now very intelligent too. Now, Beowulf’s mission to the Danes is fulfill, and he returns home with his Geats. Beowulf continues to build on his legend, but the cycle of the poem goes into a trough. The audience would start to lose interest because “the hero is not occupied killing monsters” (Tolkien 52). At this point, after many years in the trough, a 50 foot dragon that is virtually indestructible enters the poem.

The third and the last of the three monsters is the dragon. “Beowulf, King of the Geats, is now about seventy-five old” (Stavor 99). The dragon takes vengeance on the Geats, and “Beowulf royal hall is burnt to the ground” (Stavor 99). The audience sees that the Fates or the wyrd have turn against King Beowulf as seen in Beowulf canto 2341 to 2344:

After many trials, he was destined to face the end of his days, and in this mortal world, as was the dragon, for all his long leasehold on the treasure.
(Greenblatt 83)

The poet has placed the pieces on the sixty-four squared board. The mood of the poem has changed once more. The audience knows what is going to happen, and has become incarcerated. King Beowulf knows what is going to happen. The audience wants to know if King Beowulf is still the great warrior that defeated Grendel and his mother. Both the audience and the protagonist have doubt which keeps the tale in substain elavation. King Beowulf performs his duties and kills the dragon. The dragon dies and this “is important cheifly to Beowulf himself. He was a great man. Not many even in dying can achieve the death of a single dragon” this bestowed hefty honors to King Beowulf (Tolkien 52). Like Beowulf, the epic poem about “Beowulf” has to come to an end; however, grand excursion is still alive in the audience (Greenblatt 29-100).

The epic poem of “Beowulf” is a very simplistic tale which delivered a hero, magic, and monsters (Greenblatt 29-100). The audience could enjoy after a hard day’s work. The epic poem entertained the people and fulfilled its purpose, but it could not do this feat without the monsters. In the epic poem of “Beowulf,” the monsters are a very crucial element in the poem (Greenblatt 29-100). The monsters keeps the poem going and gives it sustain elevation. They even change the mood of the poem. The monsters keeps the people entertained. And most important, the vanquished monsters developed the character of Beowulf. The skill of the poet is seen during these conflicts, and the poet developes King Beowulf into a great man even onto his death. This is a death that echoes into the minds of the readers or listeners. So, truly it can be said, if there were no monsters to vanquish, there would be no “Beowulf” (Greenblatt 29-100).

Works Cited

Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. “Beowulf.” Literature: The Norton anthology of English literature.” Trans. Seamus Heaney. 8. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1962.

Stavor, Route Johnston. “A Companion Beowulf.” Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.

Tolkien, J.R.R. “Beowulf and the Critics.” Tempe, Arizona: Arizona State University, 1937.

By Manuel B. Larson

Paradise Lost by John Milton

2008-07-05T19:41:00.006-05:00

Text

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20

Audio

http://librivox.org/paradise-lost-by-john-milton/

Under Sea Cable

2008-06-27T12:27:00.002-05:00

King Lear Weeping...

2008-06-25T16:32:00.002-05:00

James Barry, "King Lear Weeping Over the Death of Cordelia"
(1786-87)

http://www.lehigh.edu/~spg4/spg4.html

Java becomes Open Source

2008-06-21T09:51:00.001-05:00

Java is finally Free and Open
Jun 19th, 2008 by sharps

At JavaOne in May, 2006, Sun Microsystems announced they were going to release Java as free software under the terms of the GPL. The size of the task (6.5 million lines of code) was only eclipsed by the size of the opportunity for Java as a free and open technology.

At JavaOne in May 2007, Sun announced that the work was largely completed and so OpenJDK was launched. What was less newsworthy was the fact that on release - OpenJDK still relied on code that was encumbered - between 4 and 5 percent of the code was closed, non free source that Sun didn’t own.

Richard Stallman described the encumbered code as :

“The one last obstacle [which] remains in liberating JDK and disarming the Java Trap completely”

and rallied the FOSS and Java communities to

“… work together to replace that code with free software”

So, who would step up to the challenge of making Java truly free and open ?

In June, 2007 - Red Hat launched the IcedTea project with the goal of making OpenJDK usable without requiring any other software that is not free. That in turn would allow OpenJDK to be included in Fedora and other Linux distributions without restrictions. The IcedTea Project made use of previous work developed under the GNU Classpath Project which had been independently driving towards a free and open implementation of the Java class libraries.

This week the IcedTea Project reached an important milestone - The latest OpenJDK binary included in Fedora 9 (x86 and x86_64) passes the rigorous Java Test Compatibility Kit (TCK). This means that it provides all the required Java APIs and behaves like any other Java SE 6 implementation - in keeping with the portability goal of the Java platform. As of writing, Fedora 9 is the only operating system to include a free and open Java SE 6 implementation that has passed the Java TCK. All of the code that makes this possible has been made available to the IcedTea project so everyone can benefit from the work.

The Java TCK is a complex suite of tools and documentation that verifies that Java implementations conform to the Java specification. It consists of more than 80,000 tests and over 1 million lines of code.

From here the initial plans are to make OpenJDK part of Red Hat Enterprise Linux distributions starting with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 and to expand the platform support. Beyond that our plans are still evolving, but clearly this creates some great opportunities for both Red Hat and Java. For example :

Improving Java for virtualized, hosted environments - an area where Red Hat Linux has excelled but Java has struggled.
Optimizing the performance and scalability of the full stack of Java-based JBoss Enterprise Middleware for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Linux in general
Being able to better manage the lifecycle of JBoss Enterprise Middleware platforms and the Java Virtual machine on which it depends
A more fundamental opportunity is for Red Hat to be able to increase the depth of support for the JBoss Enterprise Middleware platforms running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Over the coming months, we’ll continue working with our communities of users, customers and partners to better understand the opportunities that OpenJDK and IcedTea present to us.

Working with Sun Microsystems and the broader Open Source Java community; Red Hat’s OpenJDK team included Tom Fitzsimmons, Lillian Angel, Gary Benson, Keith Seitz, Mark Wielaard and Andrew Haley.

Tom Fitzsimmons will be at the Red Hat Summit in Boston between June 18th and 20th, so if you want to chat about the project - swing by the Exhibit Hall, grab a beer, and ask him how much fun the Java TCK testing was.

Java, Java SE, OpenJDK and Java TCK are all Trademarks of Sun Microsystems Inc.

Tags: java, JBoss, jdk stallman, open source, OpenJDK, Red Hat, sun

Posted in open source
http://blog.softwhere.org/archives/196

Chauntecleer

2008-06-17T13:38:00.004-05:00

Mulier est hominis confusio
Woman is the ruin of man

"The Canterbury Tales"
written by Geoffrey Chaucer

Linux May Power New Nokia Phones

2008-05-26T18:44:00.002-05:00

goto http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/146286/linux_may_power_new_nokia_phones.html#

More Cows in Trujillo, New Mexico

2008-03-01T11:19:00.003-06:00

Smart or stupid

2008-02-27T12:29:00.001-06:00

Smart or stupid

This is VERY FAST so be prepared. You only have 8 seconds for each question.

http://www.flashbynight.com/test/

Water for the cows...

2007-12-19T20:41:00.000-06:00

Tia

2007-12-19T20:35:00.000-06:00

Lonely Cows in Trujillo...

2007-12-19T19:59:00.001-06:00

In Trujillo NM

2007-12-17T19:36:00.001-06:00

In Abilene, TX at The Hampton Inn

2007-12-15T21:16:00.001-06:00

Designing a Tragedy

2007-12-06T13:27:00.000-06:00

The purpose of a Greek Tragedy is to bring understanding by provoking emotions that stir the viewers. In Sophocles' “Oedipus the King,” Sophocles examines life in hope of conveying such a message to shape humanities moral center. A moral center shaped by design in clarity and truth. Aristotle appreciated this creativity because it taught ethics and moralities that society could use in true life. In “Oedipus the King,” Oedipus, already famous for solving the riddle of the sphinx, believes he knows everything, but he is wrong. Illumination does not mean much for King Oedipus; however, the drama does give something important to viewers. By seeing Oedipus' error, the viewers could avoid Oedipus' misunderstanding. Also simultaneously, the Greek Tragedy of “Oedipus the King” stirs emotions of the viewers and motivates them to learn from the drama. For these reasons, Aristotle premises that Greek Tragedy is a real treatment for moral matters is true.
In the beginning of the drama “Oedipus the King,” Sophocles arouses the people of Thebes with burning emotions with a plague. In the drama, Sophocles uses of burning emotions induces the full attention the viewers. Sophocles increases the burning emotions even further with the uses of the great King Oedipus. The people of Thebes are calling on their King because he is their “greatest power” and can save them (Sophocles 1365).” Being captivated by all the emotions seen in the drama, the viewers are waiting for Oedipus to act.
The viewers want to know what the great King is going to do. Oedipus takes on the responsibility to fix the problem yet in the following scenes the viewer start to see his pride too. King Oedipus is the smartest guy in Thebes, however, his pride exaggerated his belief to the point that he thinks he makes no errors. Oedipus truly thinks he is better than everyone. “Pitiable children, oh I know, I know that you are sick. And yet, though you are sick, there is not one of you so sick as I (Sophocles 1365).” The viewers see Oedipus giving rhetoric to the people of Thebes. What is Oedipus doing? This is not the kind of action the viewers wanted to see or the kind of help that the people of Thebes need. The viewers are starting to think that Oedipus does not know everything.
The truth is Oedipus does not even know his true origins and is running to his personal Waterloo. In time, Oedipus learns the truth. He killed his real father, married his real mother, and thus becomes the tragic hero. Maybe, Oedipus should have faced his fears (or fate) instead of running from it. Maybe, Oedipus should not have asked so many questions and lived a quite life in Corinth. The truth is Oedipus acted imprudent in all the things that he did. Because of this, Oedipus actions serve to teach the viewers and give meaning to their own lives. By seeing Oedipus pain and fall, the moral lesson is burned into the mind of the audience.
Sophocles shapes audience moral center with burning emotions that causes people to learn from his drama. Sophocles' drama gives something essential to society, by showing error's in life. With this knowledge, audience could avoid misunderstanding and not acted foolish like King Oedipus. For this goal, Aristotle assumption that Greek Tragedy is a cure for moral concerns is accurate.

Work Cited
Sophocles. “Oedipus the King” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed.
Edger V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River. Prentice Hall,
2007. 1363-1398

Ubuntu Customization

2007-11-24T15:45:00.001-06:00

November 23, 2007 — Dark Star

http://tuxenclave.wordpress.com/2007/11/23/ubuntu-customization-guide-v2/

The Riddle of the Sphinx

2007-11-19T22:16:00.000-06:00

What goes on four feet in the morning, on two feet at noon, and on three feet in the evening?

Linux.com :: When open source projects close the process, something's wrong

2007-11-04T10:32:00.000-06:00

When open source projects close the process, something's wrong
By Nathan Willis on November 03, 2007 (1:00:00 PM)

Twice in recent weeks open source projects have surprised me with their lack of openness. In both cases, developers acted or spoke out in such a way as to intentionally push other developers away from their work.
Case one: Evil icon thieves
The first incident originated with KDE's Oxygen project, an icon redesign on track for inclusion in KDE 4. Oxygen designer David Vignoni expressed his disapproval that someone outside the project team put together a theme package incorporating the project's publicly accessible icons. He asked the theme packager to remove the Oxygen icons. Commenters on his blog cheered.
A few days later, Wade Olson of KDE's Marketing Working Group attacked the theme packager in his own blog post, calling the second-hand theme morally suspect and a violation of the Social Contract. Commenters on his blog cheered as well, and soon began to attack the theme packager in comments on the theme's page at the art portal gnome-look.org.
The Oxygen icon set was available under two licenses: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, or GNU LGPL. Both permit reuse by others. The icons themselves were available via public Subversion repository. There was no license violation or misappropriation, a fact that both Vignoni and Olson affirmed.
Criticism of the second-hand icon theme centered on the notion that the Oxygen project proper should get to release the icons first -- since the official Oxygen theme wasn't dubbed a public release yet, no one else should be allowed to publicly release them either. As one commenter put it, "What about the people who spend two years of work on this? Should not they have the right to publish it in their project before you copy it?"
But the answer is a clear and resounding "no." When you choose to place your work on a publicly accessible server, and when you decide to place it under a free software license, you give up the right to control what other people do with it.
The secondary complaint -- that it is wrong to release the icons before the project declares them "ready" -- is entirely incompatible with the "release early, release often" philosophy. Artwork is no different from executable code in either regard.
The fact that free software licenses and the open source development model force everyone to relinquish that level of control is intentional, and is key to making community-driven development work.
Case two: We have enough ideas without you
The second incident cropped up in the GIMP's User Interface Redesign effort. When I researched the GIMP UI brainstorm in October, I was struck by the stark "us" versus "them" language used in the project.
The project's wiki repeatedly makes the distinction between the team and everyone else. Creation of new accounts is disabled, so that only the team can make changes.
Under the heading "got ideas?," where you would normally expect an open source project to invite participation, interested parties are instead directed to submit their comments to the GIMP UI brainstorm. "It is moderated by our team, we listen to what you show us and broaden our horizons."
But that absence of an open invitation to contribute is topped by direct rejection. In August, an excited would-be participant learned about the project and wrote to the gimp-developer mailing list volunteering to help. GIMP UI Redesign team leader Peter Sikking replied, saying, "I am afraid that I do not have positions open at the moment."
Elsewhere in that same message, and in other posts to gimp-developer, Sikking's comments back up the notion that he regards the GIMP UI redesign as his team's project and his team's alone, and that that team has no room for anyone else.
Clearly the team members are qualified, but refusing to entertain even the possibility that there are other individuals with worthwhile contributions flies in the face of free software and open source ideals. It is Cathedral thinking, not Bazaar.
Free software acknowledges Bill Joy's Law -- that no matter who you are, most of the smartest people work somewhere else -- and opens up the development process for the express purpose of subverting it.
If you are afraid of openness, you have come to the wrong place
The root of both problems is an unwillingness to commit to a truly open development process.
That is explicitly clear in the GIMP UI case, but perhaps less so in the Oxygen case. What directly sparked the ire of the Vignoni and Olson was that an unapproved person did something with the icons. And the distinction between approved and unapproved people stems from Oxygen's "restricted to us" team of artists.
Through the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, you can examine the Oxygen project's site all the way back to 2005. Ever since the beginning, two things have remained unchanged: the only images available are "previews" licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs, and the team does not invite outside participation.
Contrast that with the Tango project, which invites participation openly -- in multiple places on its Web site, and through multiple avenues. Contrast the GIMP UI redesign with the GIMP project as a whole, which invites and receives patches, bug reports, and ideas from scores of outsiders.
Which is the way it is supposed to work: software freedom doesn't begin and end in the COPYING file; it applies to the whole process.
No matter what the Oxygen and GIMP UI teams may think, opening up to outside participation makes a team stronger, not weaker. And it is a key part of the philosophy that created the open source software movement. Listening to other people's ideas -- love 'em or hate 'em -- is not optional.
By all objective standards, Vignoni and the other Oxygen artists are doing beautiful artwork, and Sikking and his team have done excellent work pushing the GIMP's interface in a better direction. But by restricting their respective processes, they are hurting themselves and others. They hurt themselves by shutting out good ideas and by losing available manpower, and hurt others by preventing cross-pollination and by discouraging newcomers from helping out.
I have no doubt that Sikking meant no harm when he told that volunteer on gimp-developer that his help wasn't needed. I have talked to Sikking and he is a sincere and hard worker. But that volunteer stopped writing to gimp-developer. Tell me: was driving him away worth it? I don't think so.

1302

2007-09-16T20:09:00.000-05:00

Poverty Must Vanish, Not the People

On Eudora Welty's symbolic story “A Worn Path,” the reader sets aside warm regard to an issue that will not go away and has been hidden. Poverty will never go away and the victims of poverty need help to amend their circumstances. The protagonist is an elderly black lady by the name of Mrs. Phoenix Jackson. She is on a worn path (138). Phoenix and the worn path symbolizes a group of people that are impoverish and forgotten. Addition symbols like a grandson with an illness are brought into the story to further persuade the reader to fight poverty and disregard. Therefore, resolutions need to be found that are ethical, holistic, and worthy to help these deserving people amend their condition and better their world.

Should someone make ethical changes in Phoenix's life? In story, the reader sees that Phoenix’s mind is forgetful (139). She forgets about her grandson which illustrates her feeble mind again (142). Phoenix needs assistance immediately. Furthermore, the readers perceive that Phoenix as very poor (138). For example, she bends over to pick up a nickel because she has no money (141). She walks to town with a broken umbrella because she has no transportation (138). So the proper and ethical thing to do is to help impoverished.

In story, who else can help Phoenix beside herself? At the end of the narrative, the reader learns a shocking truth about Phoenix and her grandson. They are alone. Phoenix had to leave him home by himself to make the trip into town. Phoenix has no one to help her watch him. Are not Phoenix and her grandson not a part of the whole community? Are not citizens of the “United States” considered a part of the whole? Welty uses these questions very effectively to stir emotions, bring out compassion and change the heart of the reader, as the indifferent attendant’s heart is change (142).

What can be done to improve the conditions of Phoenix, and people like her? A great improvement would be a road passing her home used for public transportation would be good a solution. A phone, foodstuff, and clothing donation would give them much needed help. Education and moving them to a better location in town would be commendable. Someone from town or the churches could go visit them to ensure their welfare. These are the kinds of solutions the impoverished need to revise their condition and make humanity better.

In this third-person narrative, the reader goes down a worn path to meet the down trodden in “A Worn Path.” The intent of this wonderful and figurative story is to influence the reader’s emotions through Phoenix and other contextual symbols like the worn path. The reader understands the persuasive hidden messages about Phoenix and the worn path. The impoverish need assistances right now. For that reason, the government should find resolutions that are ethical, holistic, and worthy to help these commendable people to make better their lives and our world. The victims of poverty do not need apathy; they need help and a remedy to make poverty go a way.

Work Cited
Welty, Eudora. “A Worn Path” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edger V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River. Prentice Hall, 2007. 138-43

Linux kernel map

2007-08-15T15:28:00.000-05:00

2007-07-31T17:02:00.001-05:00

Court ruling supports claims that Microsoft’s first OS was stolen

Filed under:

General

— John C Dvorak @ 9:50 am

So what?

EETimes.com - Court ruling supports claims that Microsoft’s first OS was stolen — I didn’t even know this lawsuit was going on. I discuss the folklore of this story on today’s Tech5 podcast here. Look for the episode titled: Who Wrote DOS

My brother max is here!

2007-07-26T15:20:00.000-05:00

Walmart to sell $300 PC with Vista and no Trialware + OpenOffice

2007-07-25T13:10:00.000-05:00

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070718-298-wal-mart-pc-features-openoffice-org-no-crapware.html

Build a $250 Ubuntu PC

2007-07-25T13:05:00.000-05:00

http://computershopper.com/feature/build-a-250-pc-that-doesnt-suck-200707

My new Goodman 3 Ton 14 SEER Air Conditioner System

2007-07-21T19:15:00.000-05:00

SSX140361A - ARUF374316 - 3 Ton 14 SEER Air Conditioner System
3 Ton 14 SEER this product is designed for the homeowner, who desires superior comfort, Description The Goodman® SSX14 uses the environmentally friendly...

Linux Timeline

2007-07-14T17:30:00.000-05:00

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/5090/linuxdistrotimeline75cr6.png

The computer virus turns 25

2007-07-13T20:23:00.000-05:00

The computer virus turns 25 years old this year. It's been a rocky quarter-century, but according to Richard Ford and Eugene Spafford, two computer scientists writing in this week's issue of the journal Science, viruses can look forward to a long, fruitful life. The researchers say that in today's hyper-connected world, when everything's got a chip in it and is running software, stopping malware is basically an impossible task. (Their article is not online.)

The computer virus conception story begins in 1981, when a tech-savvy 9th grader named Richard Skrenta got an Apple II for Christmas. Over the following few months he began cooking up ways to trick his friends using the machine. "I had been playing jokes on schoolmates by altering copies of pirated games to self-destruct after a number of plays," Skrenta once told the tech news site Security Focus. "I'd give out a new game, they'd get hooked, but then the game would stop working with a snickering comment from me on the screen."

When his friends realized his tricky ways, they banned Skrenta from their machines. And that's when he had an epiphany: He could put his code on the school's computer, and rig it to copy itself onto floppy disks that students used on the system. Thus was born Elk Cloner, the world's first computer virus to spread in the wild. The virus didn't do much damage; it infected the Apple II's OS and copied itself to other floppies, and every so often would display a tittering message on the screen:

Elk Cloner: The program with a personality

It will get on all your disks
It will infiltrate your chips
Yes it's Cloner!

It will stick to you like glue
It will modify RAM too
Send in the Cloner!

Ford and Spafford note that in the years since, as viruses spread to other computer platforms and throughout the world, wreaking billions in damages, there has been little progress in fighting them. There is a scientific reason for this: "Building a computer program that can tell with absolute certainty whether any other program contains a virus is equivalent to a famous computer science conundrum called the 'halting problem,'" they write. The halting problem concerns the difficulty of spotting whether a program will terminate or continue to run forever. "It has no solution in the general case and has no approximate solution for our current computing environments without also generating too many false results," they write.

Ford and Spafford also take on the idea that Microsoft is to blame for our current virus ills. Certainly MS has neglected to secure Windows, but any platform that obtains ubiquity will become a target for attack, they note. Some say the solution is to have a diverse computing environment -- if the world ran all kinds of different platforms, rather than a Windows monoculture, viruses would spread much less slowly. But diversity, Ford and Spafford point out, creates its own problems -- if the Mac, Linux and Windows all had roughly equal share, you'd need anti-virus teams working to protect all three platforms, any one of which could serve as a weak point for wider network destruction. Platform diversity, that is, increases the "attack surface," they write.

Worse still is the potential for completely computer-free computer viruses. They point to a chain e-mail message that counseled people to delete a particular file from their computer to keep it secure. "The file they deleted was critical to the system," it turned out. The "virus" that caused its deletion was "executing" only in people's minds. And you can't get a virus checker for the brain.

So right: Happy birthday, computer virus. Many happy returns!

http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2007/07/12/virus_birthday/index.html
2007.07.12 • 14:59 PDT

Confessions of a Linux Fan: 10 Things You Might Want To Know Before Switching Over To Linux

2007-07-09T13:50:00.000-05:00

Need to check this out....

http://thinkthick.blogspot.com/2007/07/confessions-of-linux-fan-10-things-you.html

Take your desktop with you!

2007-07-04T12:47:00.000-05:00

"Migo OEMs its flash memory software to Kingston Technology, SanDisk and other media makers. Migo copies an entire desktop—including Outlook e-mail data, browser bookmarks and desktop settings—and then displays that desktop when you plug the flash unit into someone else's computer."

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2008189,00.asp

5 Most Unique High Technology USB Gadgets

2007-07-01T14:41:00.001-05:00

http://riseofforums.com/forums/index.php?topic=175.0

Two Gnome easter eggs

2007-06-26T17:48:00.000-05:00

Want to have a little bit of fun with your Gnome desktop? here are a few easter eggs for you.

First, hit the Alt-F2 keys together to bring up the Run Applications dialog.

Type “gegls from outer space” (sans quotes) and hit the enter key. You should get the below game, a la space invaders.

Next, try typing “free the fish” (sans quotes) into the Run Applications box. You’ll get Wanda on your desktop.

How to restart Gnome without rebooting computer

2007-06-25T12:55:00.000-05:00

Ubuntu Linux Tip of the Day - How to restart Gnome without rebooting computer
Posted on 23 May, 2007 by Matt.
Categories: Linux, Ubuntu Linux.

http://blog.clickonline.org.au/category/ubuntu-linux/

Do you need to restart Gnome but dont want to restart your whole Ubuntu machine?

First save and close all opened applications.

Press ‘Ctrl + Alt + Backspace’

or

Start a terminal window and type:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart

What the hell?

2007-06-25T11:36:00.001-05:00

http://idea.opensuse.org/content/hackweek

Global Stats

2007-06-23T17:37:00.000-05:00

Operating Systems
1 Windows XP 84.47%
2 Windows 2000 4.28%
3 Mac OS X 3.87%
4 Windows Vista 1.94%
5 Windows 98 1.55%
6 Linux 1.21%
7 Windows 2003 0.67%
8 Windows ME 0.52%
9 Windows NT 0.07%
10 Mac PowerPC 0.07%

http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php?date=2007-05-20

Ubuntu, Red Hat reject Microsoft patent deal

2007-06-19T16:17:00.001-05:00

Ubuntu, Red Hat reject Microsoft patent deal
Martin LaMonica and Richard Thurston, CNET News.com

19 June 2007 09:22 AM

Red Hat, the largest Linux vendor, and Ubuntu-maker Canonical have both rejected calls from Microsoft to forge a deal similar to the one the Redmond giant signed with Linux distributors Novell, Xandros, and Linspire.

Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical's CEO, said in a blog posting on Saturday, that Canonical has declined to talk to Microsoft about any agreement that provides legal protection to Ubuntu users related to "unspecified patents".

"Allegations of 'infringement of unspecified patents' carry no weight whatsoever. We don't think they have any legal merit, and they are no incentive for us to work with Microsoft on any of the wonderful things we could do together," he wrote.

Shuttleworth said these patent agreements create "a false sense of security" and do not effectively protect the user from a patent suit from a big company like Microsoft.

Canonical is a commercial company that sponsors free-software projects and provides services for the Ubuntu Linux distribution.

Following Microsoft's wide-ranging deal with Novell last fall, Microsoft in the past month has announced similar deals with Xandros and Linspire. They cover technical interoperability and offer legal indemnification to some customers who use those Linux distributions.

Microsoft has not yet sued any of those companies but has said it has identified 235 Microsoft patents on which Linux infringes.

Last week, Microsoft's general manager of interoperability and standards, Tom Robertson, said Microsoft is eager to extend these types of arrangements to other Linux and open-source companies, calling it an "issue of coexistence".

No deal between Microsoft and leading commercial Linux distributor Red Hat has happened. After the announcement of Microsoft's Novell contract, Red Hat said it would not pay an "innovation tax" to Microsoft.

Red Hat remains unmoved
Red Hat said there would be no such deal. Referring to previous statements distancing itself from Microsoft, the company insisted: "Red Hat's standpoint has not changed."

The company referenced a statement written when Microsoft revealed it was partnering with Novell, saying that its position remained unaltered. Red Hat director of corporate communications Leigh Day added: "We continue to believe that open source and the innovation it represents should not be subject to an unsubstantiated tax that lacks transparency."

Many open-source followers argue that Red Hat, as the largest Linux vendor, would have a lot to lose from partnering with Microsoft.

Ubuntu cold on Microsoft Open XML
In the same blog post, Canonical's Shuttleworth said pursuing technical interoperability between rival document formats Office Open XML and OpenDocument -- included in the other Linux deals -- was not worth the effort. He did say Ubuntu stands to benefit from investments to improve interoperability between Linux and Windows.

"I have no confidence in Microsoft's Open XML specification to deliver a vibrant, competitive and healthy market of multiple implementations. I don't believe that the specifications are good enough, nor that Microsoft will hold itself to the specification when it does not suit the company to do so," Shuttleworth said.

OpenDocument Format, or ODF, is better, and Microsoft should improve its support for that standard, he said.

Shuttleworth did not rule out working with Microsoft in some capacity but made clear that the makeup of its existing Linux partnerships held little interest for Canonical.

"All the deals announced so far strike me as trinkets in exchange for air kisses," he said.

Linspire and Xandros
Microsoft has already made deals with Novell, Linspire and Xandros, but the latter two are much smaller companies.

Linspire will work closely with Microsoft in a number of areas, including instant messaging and Web search. Although Microsoft has said that open source infringes its patents, the software giant has agreed not to sue users of Linspire.

Microsoft's deal with Xandros, a distributor, is based on both technical and legal considerations. They will work on improving interoperability between their servers to improve systems management.

Microsoft's pact with Novell is rather more complex. The two companies are marketing each other's products and are working on product interoperability. Their pact is subject to a series of sales- and patent-related payments worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Norton AntiVirus is A Virus

2007-06-18T11:54:00.000-05:00

The most precompiled program in all new computers IS a virus to anyone who knows anything about computers.

What Qualifies as A Virus
Uses Up Massive System Resources
DDOS "Zombies" viruses can use up tons of your CPU space while they send looping pings of invalid lengths to their coordinated servers of choice. They're no match to Norton AntiVirus though, which can easily use 40% of your CPU and a gross amount of Memory.

Fake Error Messages & Getting Your Credit Card Number
If you do not choose to activate the trial version of Norton. You still have their disgusting services activited and eating your computer resources. Every startup you will be hassled with "You're NOT PROTECTED AGAINST THE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE PROBLEMS THAT AWAIT YOU!! ACTIVATE THE TRIAL". This mortifies the average computer user that feels no confidence.

Once your trial period is up, you'll be given the same grossly inaccurate message once again that you need Norton AntiVirus or your computer is completely insecure. Either give norton your credit card number or face being scared into giving them it with each subsequent logon. Most computer users are not confident enough to delete their antivirus and don't know how to disable norton from startup.

Is Your Computer Secure Without Norton?
YES. You can use a powerful cocktail of programs that's even more secure and faster than the bloatware that is norton. You should really ask yourself, "Is it worth having my computer go slower to have Norton AntiVirus scan every file I look at and every program I run." Many people confuse hardware problems for their old computers as viruses and anecdotally fear removing the antivirus even if they don't download anything risky.

Security Recommendations
Delete Norton: They have an uninstall utility if normal uninstall fails. It can cause serious issues if improperty uninstalled or installed due to its need to have rabid control over EVERYTHING.
Disable Windows FireWall And Defender: Sygate as a firewall and adaware+syboy do the same thing, only better.
Install ClamWin and FreeAV: Two Free AntiViruses that are very ligh tweight
For those who just worry about certain files from p2p networks Jotti and Virus Total provide the ability to scan with several different virus scanners with one upload.
Install Sygate Personal Firewall: Very small firewall that does the job, it's completely free.
Install Adaware and Spybot: Free anti spyware programs with a great reputation.
Install SiteAdvison: Extension for firefox. It alerts you of the good sites and the bad sites. Don't ever click on google sponsored ads when looking to download software.
Scan with Windows OneCare: Good spyware / vulnerabilty scan by microsoft.
Checkout this list of online free virus scanners.
I just bought Windows Vista. Not by choice. My laptop came with it. As far as security it had the following enabled: Windows Firewall, Windows Defender, Windows User Account Protection which gives an annoying alert every single time a program is opening and Windows Parental Controls. Windows firewall and Defender are downloadable free for XP too.

If You Value Computer Performance and You're Over 10
DELETE NORTON