Friday, January 22, 2010

Bits 'n Pieces: 2010 #1

Judge Tosses NSA Spy Cases

Judge tosses NSA Spy Cases

This is why I have read George Orwell's "1984" about a dozen times and never cease to marvel at that author's observations and how they become more and more relevant as Time marches on and Globalization becomes the curse of Humanity.


YouTube Videos now available in HTML5:  Good Riddance Flash!

YouTube Videos in HTML 5

I am so glad to see some attempts at "good" coding.  Although this is still in the Beta form, it is an attempt to snap Adobe's long time monopoly on various formats.  To those in the 'know', Adobe is now the IE of the NET.  What with the incursions of hacking of PDF's, Adobe Reader and Flash, the constant "security" updates have become Windows-ish in their frequency and ineffectiveness.  And let's face it, Adobe apps usually have a HUGE footprint - as Mr. Rogers used to say, "Can you say 'Bloatware'?"

Whatever happened to programming in Assembly?  Yes Folks, it's still alive and well and only the real serious developers use it anymore only because it's a real pain-in-the-ass to use.  The High End Languages have taken over and removed all the slickness, speed and solidity that an app composed in Assembly can deliver.

It's Laziness, pure and simple.  I have to confess that I had fallen into that condition when I was doing my thing because it was way easier and faster to use a High End Language rather than slave and expend hours, nay, days, over the composition of an app in Assembly.  I even confess to jumping onto the scripting bandwagon of Perl because it was way faster to come up with something that would just work.  No compiling was needed, dubugging wasn't as intensive and annoying and the syntax was so C+-ish without the constant, nagging need for proper structure and protocols of C+ that one could almost call it "Draft Programming" - a tool Programmers use to flesh out a programme without really writing it, just to build ideas and structure.

It's been so long since I've even attempted to use Assembly that I've forgotten it and would have to relearn it again - ahh, gawd!  Even now I can feel those cerebral, cirrhotic cells in my head squirming in apprehensive discomfort at the  mere thought of dueling with the evasive and subliminally syntactical miasma that is Assembly code.

As far as HTML 5 is concerned, it's just another step in the development of HTML as was the step from HTML 1.1 to 2; from 2 to 3; from 3 to 3.5 and currently the running standard is HTML 4.  Time moves on.




How to Put Your PC to Good Use While You're Sleeping

Using Your PC While You Snooze

This is one for you WW's out there who aren't too savvy about hardware, backups 'n stuff like that.  This is an article on how to use those super-duper, brand spankin' new, multi-processor, huge storage capable desktops or even laptops that you bought at Future Shop for a real 'bargoon' price.  There's even a link that I've extracted that will suggest on how to extend the life of your Hard Drive(s):

Self Repairing Hard Drive(s)

Good Luck with this, eh?


Red Hat Continues to Flourish

Reading articles like this does my old heart good.  I remember using Red Hat when it was still a Freebie OS.  I had picked it up via a Linux magazine that featured an OS disc with every issue.  I installed it and stuck with it for almost two years until the news came that Red Hat would be going commercial and devoting its development toward the Enterprise market.  I dabbled with Mandrake after that for about a year until it had its financial woes and merged with a Brazilian distro to become Mandriva and started to charge for anything good.  That's when I discovered my beloved Debian.  I've been with it going on seven years and really don't think that I would switch although Gentoo is niggling at my curiousity and I even have the new Gentoo install DVD.  But my beloved Debian is too faithful, too efficient, too solid and I've become so used to it, like an old marriage.  Unless I had another computer, with a solid Internet connection to install Gentoo onto, I'll just stick with 'Old Faithful'.

Anyway, I digress.  Us 'Old Fahts' tend to do that occasionally and here's the blurb from Slashdot that brought a throb of Joy to my old ticker.  Seeing as how the main man, Bob Young, is a Hamilton Boy (actually, he was born in Ancaster) and has since semi-retired back home, started LuLu.com, a self-publishing website and bought and rejuvenated the Hamilton Ti-Cats, he continues to serve the community and makes a lotta bucks doing it.  Now, is that a success story or what?  Oh, BTW, the actual founder of Red Hat is Mark Ewing and merged with Young's Company, ACC, back in '94 or '95.

Here's the link to the SlashDot blurb:

Red Hat Flourishes In Recession


Ontario and Samsung seal 6.7 Billion deal for Green Energy

Now, this reallllly burns the hair off of my ass!  A Korean company doing Energy in Ontario?  Samsung has promised to provide 4000 jobs - over a 25 year period.  Meanwhile, the average Joe will be getting a $1.60/Kw increase on his Electric bill for the next 25 years to fund this debacle - why?  Ontario has so much Natural Resource in the way of Hydro, but then most of it is directed toward the US - why?  Why aren't the local Energy Developers - the Wind Guys, the Fuel Cell Guys, the Solar Cell Guys given more of an incentive to develop their stuff?

I really despise politicians.  Why have these Liberal assholes retained their hold?  Immigrants, that's why.  These Effin' Liberals promise all sorts of fast tracking, stipends and grants if the Immigrant groups vote Liberal in the Elections and these Immigrant groups, really fast on the uptake since graft is so common in their cesspool part of the third world, readily agree. They band up and attack the voting polls with their multiple identities and make sure that these Liberal assholes get in.  Canada is an International Joke!

Anyway, I almost went into a rant of which I could probably expound upon with many pages of slavering, offensive rhetoric that would undoubtedly bring CSIS kicking my door down at 0300h and hauling my sorry, wrinkled, bald, allegedly racist ass to some underground  Gitmo-like Fortress of Solitude, 160k NE of Inuvik.  But I didn't, did I?

Sigh . . .  I wish it was the RCMP that was still kicking in the doors.  At least they would throw me a party and make sure I was good 'n drunk 'n high before they buried me in the Ice.  They're Warriors and I can get along with that ilk.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I really like Samsung products.  I think they make good electronic stuff.  Hell, I'm viewing my composing on a kick-ass Samsung monitor; I like their Hard Drives - dependable, tough and efficient.  Their stuff is really, really good and getting better; they're giving Sony a real run for the money.  They saw an opportunity and they grabbed it - hey, it's business.  It's that McGuinty slimeball that I can't stomach.  I don't imagine that he'll ever have to stand in line for hours at the local Food Bank to ensure he'll get in to obtain the laughable pittance of sustenance that's deemed to be sufficient for a single male to exist on for two weeks - more like four days, six if you really stretch it.  Hey, McGuinty's a lawyer, too - I guess that sort of explains things - he sold his soul a long time ago.

Anyway, here's the link to the story.  Click on one of the "More Coverage" links although the Globe &; Mail does give many more details than the Toronto Sun:

McGuinty Sells Out To The Koreans

--- Grrrrrrr!


Firefox 3.6 Released

Now, for something completely different and definitely more pleasurable - the final release of Firefox 3.6 and Hey!, you know what?  It's really not bad at all.  I've installed it in both my 'doze and Linux and it does really well on both platforms.  For one thing, I've noticed that it is actually quicker than its predecessor and right there, that's the thing thing that won me over to uninstall Debian's equivalent, "IceWeasel" and do the Firefox thing.  Of course, I'll check to see when Debian finally upgrades 'IceWeasel' to the 3.6 version - basically, it's Firefox but the name and some minor coding has been changed to agree with Debian's Free Software Policy - there were some Licensing issues that didn't agree with Debian's philosophy that caused this stoopid Naming issue.

Since lawyers are such vultures, jackals and hyenas, Debian thought it best to change the name so as to not cross any copyright or copyleft statutes that would give those scavengers any reason to file suit.

I'll do this because although my beloved Debian is tolerant and self-healing to a certain degree, it doesn't seem to tolerate software incursions which are generally contrary toward its basic philosophical guidelines.  Yes, it's alive.  I made it so.  As Mr. Rogers would have said, "Can you say, A.I.?" 

Here's the link for those of you that are interested or haven't yet bothered to upgrade:

Firefox 3.6 Released


I guess that's about it for now.  I hadn't planned on doing this but I managed to get a good NET link and have been indulging myself, so I thought, "Why not?"

Later kiddies  .  .  .

~A~


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