Want to swap your old tat for someone else's old tat? Trodo is a site where you can do just that. (One man's tat, is another man's..urm..tart?) If you do sign up for it, why not use this link (which gives me a free credit).
I've just been reading a post to the Politech mailing list suggesting the idea that civilians should spend time within the police force. In it, he tells of the attitude within the American Navy that its members must stick up for one another, and not reveal its misdoings externally.
The idea that the police should be populated, in part, by civilians taking temporary employment there, is one that I have been thinking about for a while. There is an almost ubiquitous attitude among young people in Britain that the police are an organisation to be fought against: that the general populus is constantly at odds with an authority having no interest in our well-being. However, it can be plainly seen that the police, at least according to their official job description, perform a very difficult and indispensable role within our society. How can this chasm be bridged? A potential solution seems to be an enforced merging of the two cultures: by making it the social duty of all people to contribute to the work done by the police service, at least during a short period.
This would allow us to become personally associated with, and presumably therefore sympathetic to, the work done by our law enforcement brigade. In addition, it would give us a direct influence in the way that service was run. Perhaps most importantly, at least from a pragmatic viewpoint, it would solve the problem of under-staffing so often blamed for poor response and arrest rates.
However, the main problem with this is the fear of corruption; how could we really be sure that if all citizens were asked to participate in the law enforcement of their country, they would do this with the honesty and commitment to duty which the job required?
Interestingly, in the post that I mentioned above, the author does not suggest an enforced internship in the service, but instead a carrot to encourage participation, such as scholarships for education in return for service. This is an intriguing idea, but seems like a half measure. It achieves his aims of allowing civilians to keep an eye on the police, but without application accross the population, it wouldn't serve to bridge the gap between the us and them.
I've installed the X11 server now: it installed flawlessly. Better yet: its excellent. X11 Windows (even remote ones) are virtually indistinguishable from MacOS windows. I am very happy indeed.
MacOS X is an amazing platform, and its really matured in the current release. If only it was entirely free, it would be perfect, but I guess you can't have everything.
Well done Apple!
I recieved my copy of Jaguar today, and so far I am pretty happy with it.
Check out the extended entry for more details.
I decided to do a clean install, so I rsynced my various home directories (MacOS and Linux) to a backup server (incidentaly, my PS2) and then reformatted the drive with the MacOS install disk. I have decided to give it a go without Linux for a while, which I haven't done in a long time. I decided to do this, because of the fact that I can now get Fink working, and best of all because of the new X11 Server that Apple have provided for 10.2.
The install itself went without a problem, and is, in fact, identical to the installation of previous versions of the OS. One of the first things I did once I had the system up and running, was get myself a copy of Safari, which so far I think is excellent. Like everyone else, I really miss tabbed browsing, but other than that, I find it a very solid and quick program. So far, its all I have used as my browser since the install.
There is definately a speed difference between 10.1 and 10.2. My iBook is not very well endowed in the processor and memory departments, so this is of big value to me. Although, admittedly the speed difference is far from huge, it is definately noticable, and all in all, the system feels a lot more stable and responsive since the re-install (although the former is more than likely an illusion).
iSync seems to work very well, I got it up and running with my Zire, and it works a treat. iCal seems like a good, solid program, but I haven't explored it very far yet.
The new Mail program seems very good. The spam filtering is a welcome addition, and I was pleasently surprised to see that it now imports Unix mbox format mail folders, which is very handy for me: I can finally incorporate all that old mail from my Linux installation that I have lying around. The only feature that's missing, in my opinion, is a proper threaded display. It has the ability to point out the other messages in a thread by highlighting them in a colour of your choice, but this is no alternative to a collapsable threading system.
All in all, I'm pretty happy so far, and although I still wince when I think about the price of this upgrade, I would recommend it to anyone who has the means.
My next step is installing the X11 server, so I'll post here about how it goes.
UPDATE: I just tried accessing a Windows share on my network: and it worked! I selected "connect to server" and after a few seconds the whole network just appeared in the window. This never worked in 10.1: suffice to say, I am very pleased.
This page has movies of masters playing Dance Dance Revolution. It is incredible, I can't imagine how much game-time they must have clocked up before they reached that level. Take a look.
I just heard from a French Esperantist about a Macintosh Magazine called Precision Mac. It sounds particularly interesting, because it focusses on the use of Unix on the Mac (focussing mostly on MacOSX). Thats just the kind of magazine I have been looking for, but unfortunately I am no Francophone, so I'll have to pass.
Can anyone recommend a good email package for MacOSX? If possible, I would like one that fulfilled the following criteria:
Now, you might say that what I am really after is Mutt, and you would probably be right, except for the fact that I can't get the latest version (1.4) to compile under MacOSX. Besides, I want to try something new ;-)
What on Earth happend to MyRealBox? It used to be a fantastic free email service, but about a week ago the website and imap server just completely disappeared, with no indication of the reason, or when it will be coming back up again.
UPDATE: The problem seems to be related to my ISP. Just out of curiosity, I tried logging into a machine at uni to access the site, and it worked fine. There are other addresses I cannot gain access to: for example www.omg.org. This is really strange, I'm going to have to get in touch with Pipex.
I just spent twelve hours working on coursework. I need a break, I think its time to stop. At least for a few hours anyway...
My brain is mush, and I can't think of anything more interesting to write. Shame really.
Just been having a look at the website for the online game Imperial Wars (thanks to this slashdot post). It looks excellent: really engrossing in a creative kind of way, where the players really contribute to the universe they are building together, rather than just competing for the best scores. Unfortunately, its Windows only, so no chance for me to give it a go. Shame.
When you compare the quality of some popular commercial products, with thier free as in speech equivilents, you often find a large gap in stability and reliability between the two. On the other hand, the amount of features is usually greater in the free offering.
I think that more companies should devote themselves to developing and selling free software for profit. I really believe that many more people would be prepared to pay for high quality, stable, reliable software, even if they don't have to. If the compaines involved adopted a regime of providing guarenteed stability and quality comparable to the more successful commercial companies, they would have a highly saleable product.
With the developers recieving an income from the sale of the products, they could devote thier full-time to development, which would result in the more stable and usable products we seek.
The only problem is, in that kind of economy, it will be very hard to compete with the opposition, when they have the same right to sell your product, in an identical form, as you do. The solution, I suppose, it simply to encourage purchase of your product from a source which funds the developers, without making that illegal. If the product was popular, I am convinced that this is a feasible paradigm; at least for products that have already proved themselves, but could do with a finincial surge to make them comparable to commercial offerings on all levels.
The thing that sparked these thoughts, is the the current problem I am having trying to decide on the software to use for drawing UML diagrams. Its basically a choice between under-featured but more reliable commercial software, and free alternatives, with all the features I could dream of but so many bugs which I need to work around. Now, I don't have a problem paying a reasonable price for software, and I would be even more likely to do so, safe in the knowledge thay by buying that software I was not forfeiting my rights (i.e. the software is licesened in a free as in speech fashion); but I don't want to spend my money on an offering which does provide comparable functionality to the free alternatives. My ideal choice, would be to purchase the free products, and receive commercial quality from them.
This guy is walking backwards to raise awareness about AIDS. The intersting thing about the article, though, is that he identifies lorry drivers as a 'high-risk' group. Why is that? I suppose during the long journeys away from home, they indulge in some sexual activities with people they meet.
I've not been posting much lately, because I have been really snowed under with Uni work. I have a big coursework due on Tuesday, so all my time is currently taken up with that.
Just got my shipment notice for Jaguar, so I should have it in a few days.
I finally gave in and bought Jaguar. I feel really bad about it now though...I feel like I shouldn't fund companies who don't give their software away for free. Now that I've made the purchase, I feel kind of guilty, not least of all because I can't afford it.
Still, I've done it now, so when it arrives (I have no idea when that will be) I'll post my opinions about it here. I bought it from the Apple store with my student discount.
I just tried to run EspressoBlog. No dice: it requires 10.2
I am slowly giving in, but I am not happy about it.
Jaguar has been out for a while now, and I am really starting to feel like I need it. More and more software requires it every day, and I want in on the action with stuff like Safari and iCal.
But I just can't bring myself to pay for it! Not least of all because I simply cannot afford it it (I'm only a student, with no real income at the moment). The problem is, I come from a linux background, where all I have to do to get the latest version of my operating system is type a couple of commands and wait for the download. The release of OS10.2 was the main thing that encouraged me to stick Debian onto my iBook, so I knew that I'd always have at least one current OS on the machine; but now I'm really starting to feel left out not having the latest version.
Oh well, I'll just have to lump for a while longer until I can get the cash together.
It was my birthday last week, and I got Linux for the PS2! Its really cool. It means I can finally have that server I've been wanting to build too, without taking up any extra space in our flat.
I've set it up as a Jukebox (and I'm currently in the process of ogg-ifying all my CDs), and it plays through the speakers on our TV. I can control it via the PS2 or over the network from any of my other computers.
The thing I really want to do though, is modify the code of the music player I'm using (cplay) so that I can control it via the PS2 gamepad. Then I could use the remote game pad I have to make my ogg music player seem like just another black box audio device.
I don't think this will be too hard, as the PS2 linux system comes with a great library for accessing the gamepad. All I need to do is create an interface betweent that and Python, then make a few modifications to cplay, and I'm there (the beauty of free as in speech software...) Hopefully I'll get the chance to look at this once I have skimmed a bit of the top of my huge pile of pending coursework.
Many cultures and religions believe that your 'essence', the thing that makes you you, can survive without your body. It does not require the physicality of your brain to exist, and when your body dies your 'soul' will continue to exist.
I've often thought this might be true, and still do. But something occured to me a little while ago. If we can exist without our bodies, why are people so blighted by brain damage, such as in the after effects of a stroke? Is it, perhaps, that the soul goes on in its natural form, with sufferers having the full fluency of thought and experience that they once had, but because the channel into the physical world is damaged they can no longer articulately express those sensations via thier bodies?
I can't figure this one out.
Our flat mate has announced that he is moving out of the house when the lease comes up next month. This is pretty bad news, because we can't afford to stay here on our own. That means we either need to find ourselves a new flat mate (a complete stranger, no less) or move to somewhere less costly. This is a shame, because we have got really attached to living here, and if we leave, I for one will be very sad to say goodbye to the place.
Every blog has been mentioning this book recently. In case you haven't heard about it, its Corey Doctorow's (of, among other things boingboing.net fame) first novel. Its sci-fi of the highest calibre and I strongly reccomend it.
Best of all, Corey has been magnanimous enough to make the online version available for free in a number of different formats, and he encourages readers to share it. In order to join in the fun of that last bit, I have put a version of his book available on my website in plucker format. For those who don't know, plucker is an excellent open source program for view websites and other content on your Palm PDA.
After a long hiatus, I have finally decided to start blogging again. I am trying out the Moveable Type system, and so far I am very happy with it.
Its basically a series of scripts and other utilities for hosting a blog on your own webspace, so that works out pretty well for me, because I am quite happy where I am, at UKLinux.
My Esperanto blog is still up, but it hasn't been updated in a while. I may just start it up again, so watch this space. Unfortunately, I have removed the old posts to the egg blog, because I don't think there is really anything worth looking at in them. If there is a deman (yeah, right!) then I'll consider merging the stories into this new incarnation.