Friday, January 23, 2004

Pondering the Imponderable -- 8:38 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I can't believe that I'm about to type tar xvfj linux-2.6.1.tar.bz2. I must be insane.

Well, I got everything compiled and it did boot. Unfortunately, I didn't have it compile the tulip driver for my NIC (oops). It also pukes on iptables and with my UPS monitoring stuff. Relatively small hurdles.

This has nothing to do with anything, but since my fantasy football team is named the Fightin' Wombats, I enjoyed it. It's a little poem that is a part of the Fortune program:

THE WOMBAT
The wombat lives across the seas,
Among the far Antipodes.
He may exist on nuts and berries,
Or then again, on missionaries;
His distant habitat precludes
Conclusive knowledge of his moods.
But I would not engage the wombat
In any form of mortal combat.

(N.B. A bit of further web searching reveals that the author of this poem is, in fact, Ogden Nash.)

R.I.P. Captain Kangaroo -- 5:14 pm CST, Update by J.t.Qbe

CNN reports that Bob Keeshan, AKA Captain Kangaroo, died today at the age of 76. Another part of our childhood is gone.

R.I.P. United Linux -- 4:21 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

News.com.org.edu.tv.info reports that for all intents and purposes, United Linux is dead. You may recall that United Linux was a joint effort of SuSE, Turbolinux, Conectiva, and Caldera (now SCO). Basically, SCO's anti-Linux saber-rattling made it impossible for the group to do anything. I don't think that they'll be missed. Thanks Slashdot.

Microsoft Patenting XML w/Office -- 2:38 pm CST, Update by The Master

Here's a good one: Microsoft is looking to patent methods of accessing their Office XML documents. Sweet. They're telling anyone who will listen that they're moving to open formats and standards, and then they make it impossible to access those supposedly open formats. I'd swear, but it's not worth it anymore . . .

DeCSS Case Dropped -- 9:54 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

The DVD Copy Control Association has dropped its case against Andrew Bunner for posting the DeCSS code. Basically, the court felt that CSS was no longer a trade secret. Thus, the DVD CAA decided to cut its losses. I'm not sure, but it would seem that this would remove any threats to people like me who want to use libdvdcss to watch the DVDs they bought in Linux. I suppose they could charge him with a DCMA violation, but if they would lose, the results would be catastrophic.

Thursday, January 22, 2004

Pondering the Imponderable -- 11:31 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

It is officially brutally cold up here. The Weather Channel says that it is -8F with -33F windchill. My thermometer says -12F. I just got done shoveling the snow. I had to stop three times to come in and warm up. I don't mind winter weather, but this is ridiculous. I'll try not to think that Orlando was (and probably is) at least 80 degrees warmer.

We Love/Hate Cellphones -- 10:29 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I had to chuckle when I saw that according to an MIT survey the cellphone is the most hated yet most needed piece of technology. When I was flying down to Orlando and back, I was amazed at the number of people talking on cellphones. 95% of the conversations went something like this, "I'm at the airport. The airport. No, I'm not on the plane yet. I'm still at the airport." A couple of people were conducting business too, but the majority were using theirs as a way to kill time. I whittled away my time playing yahtC or listening to MP3s on my PDA.

In a mostly unrelated note: I wonder how Chicago O'Hare airport got the woman from the opening sequence in Half-Life to do their pre-recorded announcements. It was especially odd hearing that on the moving sidewalks. Thankfully, no goateed guys with orange and black jumpsuits came running by, screaming about "containment failures."

In a absolutely unrelated note: It was interesting just to sit and listen as I waited for my return flight from Orlando. Next to me was a British man talking on his cellphone. Beyond that were two German men in black turtlenecks talking about something on a laptop. To my left was a family speaking Spanish. A little further down was a family speaking (I assume) Korean. Quite the melting pot experience. I don't get to see that much in Northern Wisconsin.

Past Two Days' News

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