Showing posts with label new. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new. Show all posts

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year! Unix and Linux Resolutions.

Good morning/afternoon/evening... is it January 2nd already?!?!?!?!

Today's bit of humour might help you shake off the hair-of-the-dog that you (if you're like me) are completely covered in by now. It's oddly amusing that New Year's Day (we're not counting however long you made it past midnight yesterday ;) is generally composed of a confusing and awkward hangover coupled with a nagging half-memory of something really stupid you promised to do this year (probably something beneficial and good-for-you... when will you ever learn ;)

The beauty of the New Year's resolution is that no one ever really expects you to keep it. I can't tell you how many people promised to quit smoking in 2009, at the party I attended last night, proceeded to light up within 5 minutes of midnight and got away with it scot-free. It's not that the information is classified, I just don't remember all that well. One of them may have been me ;) In any event, the life of a New Year's resolution (from my experience) usually plays out like this:

1. An inebriated promise/vow/declaration is made at some time before midnight (local time zone) regarding quitting a really bad habit or, conversely, working to form a really good one.

2. Within the half hour previous to midnight on New Year's Eve, this promise is made again, at least once. Often, the pronouncement is backed up by some form of peacocking and/or strangely primal mammalian behaviour ;)

3. About 5 minutes after midnight, on New Year's Day, the resolution is broken. All is not lost, however, due to an unwritten rule of universal law (Jim Beam's 67th Time-Space Assertion) which actually redefines the strict rules of linear time by allowing for the previous year to continue until the person who invokes the rule either falls asleep or passes out. Many people don't know this (and they'll never teach it in our public schools), but this is the real reason there are 365.25 days in a year, give or take. The concept of the leap year (along with all of its Byzantine provisions), and every calendar ever widely used, was invented as a way to keep from traumatizing our youth and instilling a sense of order in a universe powered by chaos but inhabited by "intelligent" life. I understand that most human beings need order and/or a sense of purpose in order to justify the "sanctity of life" they, out of necessity, hold so dear (except for the life of "pesky critters" and animals that taste good ;), but you must always consider that your God is probably still rolling on the floor laughing about how a simple brain-tweak that allowed you to realize you exist is "still" messing with your thought process, giving you a false sense of security in your species' superiority and causing you to exponentially waste more and more of your life philosophizing. I'm kidding, of course... Your God doesn't have a sense of humor anymore. He's been around a long long long time and he's well beyond bitter at this point ;)

4. The next day, the resolution is broken again, although, this time, after several minutes of nagging self doubt and an occasional burst of enthusiasm or really positive thought that's inevitably trampled under foot.

5. Lather, rinse, repeat ;)

Seriously, I hope you have a great New Year and keep at least one resolution (one of the good ones :) - Worst case, you can exercise your right to be a better person, quit a bad habit, start a good habit, etc, any day of the year. Once the year's freshness seal has been cracked, the year may be old, but any day is just as good a day as any :)

Happy New Year, everyone!

BTW: See this post if you're curious to know how I feel about computer-illiterate people referring to us all as geeks and play a fun little bloody Ninja penguin game to go with that Bloody Mary. Kill your headache and some virtual corporate goons at the same time :)



From GeekOfTheDay.com







Geek New Year's Resolutions






The upcoming new holds much hope and promise, and like everyone else, geeks have their own goals to meet . When it comes down to it, aren't that much different than regular, ordinary people. Right?


Geek New Year's Resolution List


Image1. Promise to install Linux on: Portable DVD player; Timex Ironman watch; Talking Santa; House arrest ankle bracelet


2. Learn to identify all O'Reilly books just by animal on cover


3. Remember Pi to at least 12 more decimal points


4. Finish writing thesis on Silly String theory


5. Establish skin re-pigmentation process using mild solar radiation exposures (ie. get out more)


6. Market own brand of open source Cola with triple-caffeine


7. Start another rally outside Paramount about reviving Star Trek franchises--this time without the massacre of ten thousand baby tribbles


8. Master control of three "World of Warcraft" characters simultaneously


9. Buy every copy of The Butterfly Effect 2 from Blockbuster Video and place in time capsule for me to find when I'm older


10. Appeal restraining orders from Geri Ryan, Jolene Blalock, and, um, Nichelle Nichols






, Mike




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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

New Year,s Eve News: Unix And Linux Users Beware

Hey there,

As part of a non-existent tradition, composed of this year's "New Year's Eve post" (being written as I type ;) and last year's zany and over-the-top network port querying script post, we're going to make this year's EOY post short, to the point, hopefully fun and somewhat worthwhile, so you can leave work early without getting it ok'ed and begin making bad decisions as soon as possible ;)

In all seriousness, if you go out tonight, have one (or maybe three or four ;) on me, but try to stay safe. According to a recent study by law enforcement and the National Association of Situations You'll Regret Later (NASYRL), lots of people get into, sometimes fatal, accidents and/or end up in jail for driving under the influence during the holidays. Everyone here wishes you a safe, happy and fun New Year's Eve and highly encourage you to partake of your legal drug of choice in quantities that will make you question your prior state of mind tomorrow (we can't officially condone the other stuff, but would recommend - if we were in the business of minding yours ;)- that you do whatever you want to do in moderation. Although certain substances have a higher lethality-rate than others, excess is the enemy. Basic food and water will demonstrate this very well any day of the year ;).

And, if possible, if you must go home at the end of the night, please find someone sober to drive you. If you're that sober person, please do what you can to round up a few rummies that need a lift ;)

And here's a little cautionary tale from 3 years ago, ripped from today's headlines! (wait... no... that's this week's episode of Law & Order ;) This piece is actually from LinuxReviews.org regarding the dangers of using a text web browser, especially during times of crisis and/or excess. Hopefully, it will scare the cr@P out of you and you'll begin doing what you're told. If not, and you either enjoy it, hate it or feel absolutely nothing for it, yet still refuse to walk the line, we salute you!

Have fun this New Year's Eve! Best wishes for your safety and maximum enjoyment from all of us :)

Cheers,

NOTE: We left in all the spelling mistakes from the original articles to maintain the integrity of the sources and, also, to simulate drunken journalism in keeping with the night's theme ;)



Solaris-user arrested by British Police for using Lynx


Lynx is a popular text-based browser user by Unix and Linux users. British Telecom, who are the web site administrator for a Tsunami aid site mistook a Lynx web browser user who donated money for a hacker because of the strange user agent the browser leaves in the logs and reported the user to the police.



The police, apparently equally incompetent, raided the private citizen who made the donation swat-style while he was having a quiet lunch.



BBC reported this as Officers from the Metropolitan Police's Computer Crime Unit have begun an inquiry after BT blocked the attempt on New Year's Eve. A 28-year-old man from east London was arrested and released on bail in connection with alleged offences. and this is a good example of how state media reports violent crimes against private citizens when done by the same stats police force.



The persons only crime was to use the non-standard Internet browser Lynx.



From a mailing list:






For donating to a Tsunami appeal using Lynx on Solaris 10. BT (British Telecom) who run the donation management system misread an access log and saw hmm thats a non standard browser not identifying it's type and it's doing strange things. Trace that IP. Arrest that hacker.



Armed police, a van, a police cell and national news later the police have gone in SWAT styley and arrested someone having their lunch.



Out on bail till next week and preparing to make a lot of very bad PR for BT and the Police....



So just goes to show if you use anything other than Firefox or IE and you rely on someone else to interogate access logs or IDS logs you too could be sitting in a paper suit in a cell :(






What is Lynx?



Lynx, Links, Dillo and other rare browsers are used by thousands browsers are used by thousands of Linux and Unix users world wide, but they only make up a very small percentage of visits to mainstream entertainment sites. This may because many such sites frequently use javascript, flash and other garbage non-standard elements that make these sites impossible to render in standard-compliant browsers.



Average Entertainment Website, Browser market share Desember 2004



























202932 visitsBrowser
53.54%Internet Explorer 6.0 (Windows)
27.10%Gecko 1.7.x (Mozilla/Firefox/Galeon/Epiphany/etc)
4.21%Internet Explorer 5.0
4.14%Safari (OSX)
2.54%Opera




The picture is very different for Linux related sites.



Linux Reviews, Browser market share Desember 2004



























56360 visitsBrowser
36.63%Gecko 1.7.x (Mozilla/Firefox/Galeon/Epiphany/etc)
17.58%Internet Explorer 6.0 (Windows)
10.43%Internet Explorer 5.0
3.37%Opera
2.83%Konqueror




Lynx was not in the entertainment site numbers and had 0.53% share at Linux Reviews.



SourceForge, Slashdot, Freshmeat, Lxer and other sites like these have regular visitors who use rare browsers, but if you are using Lynx then you may want to stay clear of official UK government web sites and perhaps also other government web sites in general.






, Mike




Please note that this blog accepts comments via email only. See our Mission And Policy Statement for further details.