A 42 year old mother of four is accosted by her neighbors for holding a peace sign in Cobb County Georgia. This is what it’s coming down to folks…
Archive for February, 2003
More on the Sad State of Democracy
February 27th, 2003Ever Wonder what that Root Thing Is?
February 27th, 2003Have you ever been enjoying a few beers out with your signifigant other and his/her computer geeks pals when they started talking about ‘Root’ access? Has this always confused the hell out of you? If so, here is a really nice explanation of what Root is on Unix operating systems like Linux in terms anyone can understand:
“In contrast, Unix systems are designed for multiple users. Like an apartment building, many people can be using the system at the same time. Because of this, only one person — or a few select people — are given permission to make changes that affect the whole system. While a tenant can turn off the lights in his living room, a super can shut off power to the entire apartment complex. Of course, there would have to be solid justification to do so. By using root access appropriately, super users can keep their “apartment computers” running smoothly.”
Forced Democracy
February 27th, 2003Our latest reason — this week at least — for War in Iraq is to instill democratic values upon the people of Iraq.
Prez. Bush said today that when we conquer Iraq, and we will conquer Iraq, that the puppet democracy we set up Post Saddam will be an ‘inspiring example’ to other Middle Eastern counties. Has anyone ever considered that democracy isn’t always the best solution to every regions problems? The history of humanity has prospered, more or less, in the Mid-East without democracy, but now we’re here to show them the Star-Spangled light?
Maybe instead of imposing our own ideals on the world that surrounds us, we should let the people decide the best system of governance for themselves. After all, isn’t that what democracy really is? I’m not saying Saddam shouldn’t go, but forcing our own morals on a civilization that we have almost nothing in common with sounds just like the kind dictatorship of we’re trying to stamp out here. Does it matter where the dictator hails from? Is a dictatorship that comes from of a foreign nation that forces it’s belief system upon the citizenship better than any other form of dictatorship?
Democracy isn’t just something we can shove in the toaster oven that is the Mid-East and expect it to pop out toasty fresh like a warm batch of Hot Pockets. Forcing democracy on a people is no democracy at all. The next time you hear that our political process is the best in the world, and therefore should be applied on a global basis, remember how many democracy’s exist in the world on the plane between Morocco and Japan.
Does the Xserve RAID Stack Up?
February 21st, 2003Apple’s new External RAID device sure looks pretty, but how does it stack up against offerings from other companies not only in terms of price, but performance?
I’m gonna try digging up a few numbers to compare and will post them here, since Friday’s are usually my ‘research days’ anyways :)
Dane County (WI) Anti-War Resolution
February 20th, 2003If you’re a Dane County resident here in Wisconsin (The county which our capital of Madison resides) and support a peaceful resolution the the Iraq conflict, the Dane County Board of Supervisors is meeting tonite to consider voting on Resolution 270, 2002-2003 � Supporting Protecting Families and Jobs Rather than Waging War in Iraq. The board is currently split about this matter, so if you have the time TONITE and support peace in Iraq, try to make it and let your voice be heard. The actual text of the proposal can be found here in PDF format and the meeting is tonite at 7:30PM in room 201 of the City-County Building, which if I’m not mistaken is in the Capital.
Hiatus From Free Time
February 12th, 2003Been a rough weeek…
First off, sorry about the interruption of service here on the site, both in terms of prose and MySQL errors, both should be resolved now, and back on track. There were some pretty annoying MySQL problems on the f2o.org server recently which caused random connection errors to the database, and I didn’t have much time for anything this week, including updating the weblog, untill that problem was fixed. :)
Last Saturday’s game between the Avalanche and Red Wings was the best I’ve ever been to, even if the Wings did lose 5-3. In all fairness, Detroit was missing 4 of their best players (Yzermen, Chelios, McCarty, and Juri Fischer) for the game, but didn’t use that as an excuse.
The game was incredible for a lot of reasons. Great hitting like you’d expect in an Av’s/Wing’s game, fifth row seats, the anticipation of Brett Hull becoming the 5th player to score 700 goals (He did get his 700th Monday night at home BTW), and watching Sergei Federov – the Wing’s superstar center – get in a fight for the first time in his career.
It’s good to be home and done with putting a few f2o.org/work fires out. Jenny and I will be spending a fair part of this weekend trying to finalize some of our wedding reception plans, and tomorrow night, we’re seeing the Beuna Vista Social Club in Madison with Russ & Miriam, which should be a lot of fun as well.
I should be back on my regular schedule of anti-government/microsoft/war postings soon! ;)
I live in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Milwaukee, WI with my wife Jen, our daughter Emerson, and sons Carter and Colton.
