Considering Linux - Another Option

I am not a Linux guru. At best, I am what some might call a Linux enthusiast, which is a glorified way to say I know enough about Linux to be dangerous.

But it didn't start out that way. I started in the IT field, like so many others, working with DOS and then going to Microsoft Windows. This was for economic reasons as much as anything. Most IT professionals' career paths often follow the money. You learn and work with the systems and technologies that the industry is using because that is where the jobs are, and where the money is.

I had heard of Linux early on but never gave it much attention because Linux began as such an obscure operating system. Later I became more interested and actually tried installing the system. I will be the first to admit that my first attempts at installing and running Linux were fairly unsuccessful and I abandoned the idea and then went back and tried again several times. The first few attempts with Linux were, at best, hit and miss.

It took time, learning, and a whole lot of patience with the system for me to get the the point where I am able to say I can truly work with Linux.

I have been able to make a comfortable conversion over to the Linux side. This is not to say that I have moved completely from Windows to Linux, but that I have found a balance between both worlds.

Linux still is not, for me a completely flawless and 100% working environment. Believe me when I say I have I have gone through many frustrating difficulties working with the system. Linux is not easy. It is not built with check boxes and buttons that fix everything. Linux has a long history of computer and software development and it is still growing, improving, and being shaped by the community which uses it. But if you think Linux is difficult to work with today, try setting up an early version of Red Hat when it was free, say about version 6 or 7. In those days, we dealt with hardware compatibility issues that make today's Linux a cake walk.

Linux was not originally designed to be a one-size-fits-all operating system, nor does it have the same goals and philosophies of business and customer service that commercial software has. This is my opinion, but in my view, the goal of the Linux community and the software that drives it is to provide the groundwork upon which users, developers, programmers, and designers can build. Any Linux distribution "out of the box" has the potential not only to do amazing things, but also has the potential to fail, leaving it up to the owner of the hardware to have the choice of which kinds of tasks they wish their computer to perform. It is the complexity and the uniqueness of these tasks that dictate how much effort will go into the software.

Microsoft and similar commercial software developers have but one goal - make money. It would be a mistake to perceive them in any other way because they are businesses who exists for this reason alone. With that in mind, it is easier to understand why and how they develop their products, and where their focus and philosophies differ from the Open Source community. One is not better or worse than another; they are just different.

It is, therefore, important to understand what our goals as end-users and developers are so that we can take full advantage of the benefits of whatever tools we wish to use. It is no more beneficial to completely disregard commercial products than it is to give up entirely on Open Source. Both have great benefits, and both are here to stay. I have chosen to take the best of both worlds and try use the best from each.

It is also true that, in general, those who help themselves tend to find clearer and more precise answers from other Linux users and within the Linux community because the struggle to find your own answers to technical questions will narrow down what you are asking. For example, the question, "Why does my video not function?" is a much broader question than, "Can anyone tell me where I can find drivers for my video adapter in kernel version such and such?" The second question indicates that some preliminary research was done before the question was asked. My experience looking for help within both the Linux community and commercial software support has been that the more I have done for myself, the more willing help I have received. And conversely, the times I have obviously not done my homework were the times that I have been told I need to look further.

The process of going from a novice understanding of Linux (or any operating system) to being able to solve your own problems can be a long and frustrating road. I have been at the beginning of that road and have gone through many frustrating hours of not finding answers, both in personal research and with the Open Source community. And sometimes there is no answer. Some things simply do not work. But my experience has also been that finding the answers and fixing the problems has its own rewards. The truth is, no software developer, commercial or otherwise, can really know how to create a tool to work just for you. If that is the goal, then you, the user, will have to build it. To me, there is nothing like being able to customize a computer system to perform the tasks that I need in the way that works best for me. My personal experience is that Open Source provides the most options to allow you to do this, but it does take work and it can be frustrating at times.

If you are interested in learning about the Linux operating system and want to experiment with it I say go for it. The only thing you will have to put into it is time - but it is time well spent. If you are prejudice, however, about Linux and unwilling to consider that there may be other options out there, other than commercial software, my considered opinion is that limiting your options also limits your choices and the Linux philosophy is all about choice and the freedom to use software which suits the user.

Obviously, Microsoft has a different philosophy.

Socialized Health Care or WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!?!?!?!?

Pamela over at Atlas has a great post here
here is an excerpt.

More than sixty concerned United States citizens and residents of Virginia’s 5th Congressional District gathered in the parking lot immediately outside Democrat Congressman Tom Perriello’s Charlottesville office today. Organized by Bill Hay and the Jefferson Area Tea Party, the rally’s purpose was to allow attendees a forum in which to express their concerns over the prospect of nationalized/socialized medicine directly to Congressman Perriello (who chose not to attend), or in close proximity to his office.
...
Approximately forty minutes into the event, Charlottesville police were called to the parking lot area. Unconfirmed reports from the scene tie at least one of the complaining phone calls directly to Congressman Tom Perriello’s office staff. While the attending police officers (professionally and politely) compelled the gathered crowd to disperse

there are a couple of videos that are telling and there is a partial list of items in the health care bill that will piss you off...

Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!!

Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benes u get

Pg 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill - YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED!!!

Pg 42 of HC Bill - The Health Choices Commissioner will choose UR HC Benefits 4 you. U have no choice!

PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill - HC will be provided 2 ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise

Pg 58HC Bill - Govt will have real-time access 2 individuals' finances & a National ID Healthcard will be issued!

Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Govt will have direct access 2 ur banks accts 4 elect. funds transfer

PG 65 Sec 164 is a payoff subsidized plan 4 retirees and their families in Unions & community orgs (ACORN).

Pg 72 Lines 8-14 Govt is creating an HC Exchange 2 bring priv HC plans under Govt control.

PG 84 Sec 203 HC bill - Govt mandates ALL benefit pkgs 4 priv. HC plans in the Exchange

PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs for of Benefit Levels for Plans = The Govt will ration ur Healthcare!

PG 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill - Govt mandates linguistic approp svcs. Example - Translation 4 illegal aliens

Pg 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18 The Govt will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps 2 sign up indiv. for Govt HC plan

PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs of Ben Levels 4 Plans. #AARP members - U Health care WILL b rationed

-PG 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill - Medicaid Eligible Indiv. will b automat.enrolled in Medicaid. No choice

pg 124 lines 24-25 HC No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No "judicial review" against Govt Monop

pg 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill - Doctors/ #AMA - The Govt will tell YOU what u can make.

Pg 145 Line 15-17 An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into pub opt plan. NO CHOICE

Pg 126 Lines 22-25 Employers MUST pay 4 HC 4 part time employees AND their families.

Pg 149 Lines 16-24 ANY Emplyr w payroll 400k & above who does not prov. pub opt. pays 8% tax on all payroll

This is a good thing to read if you do not believe me or this post, then look at the bill here

Another Ethics Complaint Filed Against the Governor

Something tells me that Sara Palin is quite a threat. They are still shooting arrows.....


Another Ethics Complaint Filed Against the Governor
July 20, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska – Once again, an ethics complaint has been filed and publicly released in violation of state law. This is the sixth complaint filed by Ms. McLeod. In addition, she has filed a lawsuit against the Governor's office and multiple public records act requests. All of her prior complaints that have been ruled on have been dismissed. The Ethics Act serves important state interests in ensuring ethical state government and was intended to prevent the various forms of corrupt misconduct that had plagued the Legislature in prior years and which resulted in the prosecution of legislators and others. It is unfortunate that the law has been abused and trivialized in the current manner............

More at www.gov.state.ak.us/pdf/VFpr-July20-2009.pdf

2+2= ???

Did Biden really say that we needed to spend our way out of bankruptcy? Sounds like basic accounting to me!

It should be illegal for people who can't do simple math to run the country!

Thats ALOT of money

Dear AARP - I'm Not Interested

Dear AARP,

Before you go to all the trouble of sending me a membership card and a packet with old folks information, please, don't bother. I don’t need it, I don’t want it, you can have it back. I am not retired, I am not old, I am not interested.

And where do you get the nerve to send a letter to my house telling me that I now qualify for your geezer fest and that if I mail in my $16 dues you’ll send me Polygrip coupons? First off, I don’t even qualify for your blue-hair bunch. To join AARP, you need to be 50, and I am not 50. I’m nowhere near 50. Even when I turn 50, I will not be retired. I won’t be close to retired. I’m on the backend of the Baby Boom, that means I get no pension, no Social Security and – after Obama is done with us – no money left in my 401k. I'm looking at another 30 years before retirement.

So write back then. Better yet, bring the card by yourself. That will make it easier for me to punch you in the nose. I’m not interested in your Viagra discounts or your expandable-waistband pants or your hearing-aid clinics. I don’t need to know about the price of condos at Boca Raton or Sun City, I’m not interested in magazine articles about Benny Goodman and I am not going to call my congressman and beg him to pass whatever free-pills-for-grama scheme you’ve got going.

No thank you. Not now or ever.

If somebody wants to join the AARP, they can hire a 13-year-old to look it up for them on the Internet. People who work in nursing homes could be specially trained to sign folks up for AARP. Coupons could be put in boxes of adult diapers. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t disrespect old people, I just don’t happen to be one of them. I have old-people friends. But they all lie about not being old, too. There’s no shame in being old, but there’s no great glory in it either.

Let me set the record straight. Yes, I have been feeling aches in places I've not felt before, I no longer run from one place to the next, and my clothes are starting to show that "middle-aged" look, but I am not old. I’m barely mature.

Being congratulated for becoming eligible for the AARP is like being told you’re the prettiest girl at Weight Watchers, or like being valedictorian of your drug rehab class. It’s like getting your GED in prison. It’s like being congratulated for getting old. In fact, that’s exactly what it is.

And, call me crazy, but I don’t need junk mail to remind me that I’m closer to the grave than I am to the cradle. My perpetual-youth bit is unraveling and the last thing I want is the mailman to make incontinence jokes when he hands me the mail.

Sure signs of age are, first the AARP envelope arrives in the mail, then comes the black balloons and all your moron friends making old-fogy jokes. After that you get no more promotions at work, they put a 25-year-old in as your boss, the music sucks and everybody starts mumbling. In the end, you look like Walter Matthau and smell like Ben-Gay. You find yourself clipping recipes out of the AARP magazine, and save for vacations to Pennsylvania Dutch country, and wonder whatever happened to Shelley Winters.

To which I respond: No thanks. I’m not hard of hearing, I’m ignoring you.

I’m not old, I just have an unusual familiarity with the music of the 1970s, I remember the moon shot, and in the right light Nancy Pelosi is not a bad-looking woman.

I’ve got a moon shot for the AARP. A wrinkly old saggy-baggy moon shot, but a moon shot none the less.

I'd prefer if the AARP would kindly take me off their mailing list. I'm not interested.

Because I’m not old.

Of Pit Bulls and Hockey Moms

You know the difference between a Pit-Bull and a Hockey Mom?

Lipstick... Sarah Palin

This was, arguably, one of the best ad lib moments of the 08 presidential campaigns. If you do not count B. Hussien's stuttering and searching for words trying not to say what he believes.

I know that Palin has stepped down as governor of Alaska. I know that there is a lot of speculation about why she has done this. I will offer my own humble opinion in this article and do my best to support with facts the suppositions i will advance.

Look at the joke that was told by Mrs. Palin and that will give you a clue. The comparison of Pit Bulls and Hockey Moms was not an accident then and the meaning still applies now. Mrs. Palin stepped down in an effort to save her family from the Maelstrom that they were not ready for. Let’s take a look at some things that support this.

Google Sarah Palin ethics complaints and you will get around 744k hits. Of course this includes news stories and hit pieces by 'news' outlets from the huffington post to cnn to the major 'news' networks.

According to The Christian Science Monitor

Alaska’s response to ethics allegations and requests for information concerning the conduct of soon-to-be-ex-governor Sarah Palin has cost the state $1.9 million...

All 15 ethics complaints against Palin considered so far by Alaska’s Personnel Board have been dismissed, though one resulted in a settlement requiring the governor to reimburse the state for travel costs incurred by her family...

...the governor and her husband are struggling with legal bills that exceeded $500,000.

Yes, there is a defense fund set up that will pay some of those costs but it will not cover all of them. The frivolous and petty ethics complaints have become a distraction for Mrs. Palin and that is no way to spend the time of the governor. Then lets look at the jokes and stories told. there is no end to the hypocrisy and the hate leveled at not only Mrs. Palin but her family. SO WHAT if she has decided she no longer wants to put her family through the meat grinder that has become public life on the Conservative side of the isle. If that is the only reason then you have to respect that decision.

It is said that the Conservatives are the only group that eat their wounded. If there is an allegation of impropriety we resign. If we don't resign we are ostracized. If a Dem is indicted or accused of a crime that actually ENHANCES their resume. We have kicked out, shut out and ostracized so many effective leaders that we don't have many left.

Maybe she has committed political suicide, i am not convinced that she has. Is she out of the public eye? No. Is she through with politics? Maybe. I can guarantee we have not seen the last of her, not by a long shot, and those on the left are scared.