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2003

Quote of the Day

Naturally the common people don’t want war neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

–Hermann Goering, at the Nuremberg trials

Whoa

Watch me in Quicktime. Or Xine. Or Mplayer. Whatever your mojo, but watch it.

Unless you’re Slivers and don’t want spoilers.

Red Hat 9

I just installed Red Hat 9 on my old gaming rig, and I just can’t believe how great it is.

I thought Red Hat 8 was good, worthy of up a full number upgrade over 7.3, Bluecurve was a step in the right direction, but 9 is really that good. The fonts are the best I’ve seen – and that’s something I had always wanted to update previously on my RH and Debian boxes, but 9 is fantastic. The software is good and up to date without being scary new, apt-get works like a charm (thanks Freshrpms!), the menu issues were fixed, and the network browser works great.

Just having installed it again, it’s slick, installs easily, and just runs. I replaced my Debian box with it — running a version called “unstable” just never seemed right, though I love Debian, both from a technology standpoint and a belief standpoint. I think Red Hat is doing the right thing in taking a stance on copyright issues similar to Debian with MP3, NTFS, etc. And Red Hat is doing it without falling behind on the applications front.

I can’t recommend Red Hat enough – it was more than worth it to buy a Red Hat Network subscription.

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Under Construction

As you can see, the site is still under construction. Updates will be sporadic until the site is done.

Big Dance

This weekend’s basketball tournament better go better than last weekend.

Criticism

I’m sometimes criticized for my liberal beliefs. That doesn’t bug me, especially in these times. Without getting into politics, one of the favorite ways to poke fun at me is for my technology views, especially when they’re viewed as paranoia. (See the links on right hand side of Silwenae.com.)

However, there is a story up at Kuro5hin discussing spyware, adware, and digital rights management. The article starts out with good definitions of each and then some editorial content. While the article tries to delicately avoid all-out Microsoft bashing, there is some, but the article describes very well the state of digital rights today, and some of the things being done to curtail our fair use rights.

So go ahead and make fun of me for using Linux. But at least read the article and understand some of the concerns. While parts of the article might be on the edge, some parts are right on, and these things paint a picture of what could come – if we don’t speak up.

On Wisconsin!

And the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee keeps up the tradition this year of winning their conference. That makes 3: Marquette winning Conference-USA, UW winning the Big 10, and UWM winning the Horizon. And Bo wins Coach of the Year again in the Big 10!

And this weekend I can just sit on my butt and watch the Big 10 and Conf-USA tournaments. What a way to spend the last weekend before the big tourney!

The Balance Act

I wrote my congressman, John Kline tonight in support of /temp/~c108QQUcWi::”>House Resolution 1066, The Balance Act, introduced by Rep Zoe Lofgren (D – CA). This resolution would repeal key aspects of the travesty that is the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). The DMCA has been invoked for such silly things as suing ink-jet refillers. Tell me how they’re invalidating a copyright again? Especially when they’ve reversed engineer it on their own!

For more information on the DMCA, visit Anti-DMCA.org.

Write your congressman today!

We need some stinkin' Badgers!

Badgers win Big Ten Title!

For the 2nd year in a row, the Wisconsin Badgers have won the Big 10 Men’s Basketball title. The big difference is this year they won it outright (as opposed to the 4 way tie last year).

Unfortunately the game was only available on the New England Sports Network so I was unavailable to watch it. (And what’s up with that? Why not Fox Sports, my regional sports network?) Congrats to all the players and Bo Ryan who becomes only the 3rd coach in Big Ten history to win a title in his first 2 seasons.

Now let’s win the Big 10 Tourney and on to the NCAA tourney!